Sultan Qaboos University

College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences

Department of Animal & Veterinary Sciences

Introduction to Animal Science

(ANVS2101)
Spring2025
Instructor: Hani Mohammed ElZaiat
Time & Place: Lecture : Sunday 08:00-09:50 am
Laboratory : Tuesday 08:00-09:50 am
Office Hours: No appointment necessary
Office: 3647
Telephone: 98891687
Email: h.alzaiat@squ.edu.om
✓ This course is the entry-level course (introductory course) for the
Animal Science Pathway and consists of 11 chapters and designed
to increase your knowledge in the area of basic animal science.

✓ After a brief introduction to the overall course, you will be learning

through theoretical means (lectures as power point presentation)
and practical means.
 Course Topic Outline:
Tentative weekly Schedule

Topic/Material to be
Week Lecture # Assessment
covered
1 Introduction to Animal science. Course Outline
History of Domestication
2 Animal Resource in Oman Numbers and distribution of
farm animals in Oman
3 Eukaryotes and Prokaryotes Cells Cell components and their roles.

4 Introduction to Genetics DNA, genes & chromosomes

5 Introduction to Animal Breeding History and developments in

animal breeding.

6 Poultry Management and Production Poultry Industry

 Tentative Schedule

Week Lecture # Topic/Material to be covered Assessment

7 Test 1
8 Functional anatomy of the digestive Nutrients, functions of ingredients,
system digestion and absorption of feed
9 Beef Industry Meat industry – single largest money
making-generating commodity in all
of agriculture
10 Reproductive Physiology-I Reproduction systems, and related
functions in livestock

11 Reproductive Physiology-II Estrus, fertilization, pregnancy,

reproductive disorders in livestock
12 Dairy Industry The role of dairy industry in
providing milk and milk products for
human

13 Final Lab test.

Final Lab
14 Test 2
Assessment Components and Weight (%)

➢ Final practical test (week 13) : 20% of Grade

➢ Tests (week 7 and 14) : 40% of Grade
➢ Final Exam (Comprehensive) : 40% of Grade
Total : 100%

Policies for Attendance:

Attendance is mandatory, it is the student’s full
responsibility to attend all classes and to obtain
information from any missed lecture or lab.
 Course Grading Methods: A-F Scale
Performance Grade Score Points
Excellent 94-100 A 4.00
Excellent- 90-93 A- 3.70
Very good+ 87-89 B+ 3.30
Very good 84-86 B 3.00
Very good- 80-83 B- 2.70
Good+ 77-79 C+ 2.30
Good 73-76 C 2.00
Good- 70-72 C- 1.70
Pass+ 65-69 D+ 1.30
Pass 60-64 D 1.00
Fail 00-59 F 0.00
 Course description and general objectives
❖ This course will introduce basic concepts and principles of animal science
including:
➢ The economic impact of animal agriculture in the Sultanate of Oman and global.
➢ The application of biology in the use and care of animals that live in close
association with humans, including food animals, companion animals.

✓ Animal Genetics,
✓ Animal Anatomy,
✓ Animal physiology, reproduction, and Artificial Insemination,
✓ Meat and Growth,
✓ Lactation Performance,
✓ Poultry (egg and meat production),
✓ Animal Nutrition,
✓ Animal Disease.
 Course description and general objectives
The practical tentative weekly schedule of this semester will cover the following
topics: (20 marks). At AES and Lab.

Week Topic/Material to be covered

Week 2 Brief description about Dairy and milking unit
Week 3 Brief description about camel and horse units
Week 4 Brief description about Sheep and goat units
Week 5 Brief description about Poultry production unit
Week 6 Brief identification of cell division stages under a microscope
Week 7 (Midterm 1) Field trip
Week 8 Description about the complete Animal feed analyses
Week 9 Meat quality and evaluation parameters
Week 10 Brief description about the Artificial Insemination (AI) in cattle
Week 11 Brief description about the Artificial Insemination (AI) in cattle
Week 12 Daily routine in dairy plant for raw milk evaluation and Quality Testing
Week 13 Field trip
Week 14 (Midterm) Final Practical exam
However, the course will discuss the following topics:

➢ The basic concepts and principles of animal science.

➢ The breeding, feeding, reproductive physiology, health, disease prevention,
artificial insemination, genetic selection, and crossbreeding systems,
management and marketing of major and minor species.
➢ The influence and contributions of animal production and its commodities to our
society.
➢ Introductory scientific principles of animal science, livestock production
systems, and related issues.
➢ Large animals, small animals, companion animals and production livestock will
be covered.

By the end of the course the student will:

❖ Develop a basic understanding of the role of livestock in agriculture (Oman and
worldwide).
 Reference books

Animal sciences: Modern Livestock &

The biology, care, and production of domestic animals.
Campbell, John R., M. Douglas Kenealy, and Karen L. Campbell.
Poultry Production:
James R. Gillespie/Frank Flanders
4th Edition; Waveland Press, 2009. 8th Edition, 2010.
 Objectives
Students will be able to know:
➢ What is an Animal? and Animal Science?

➢ An overview of Animal Science relevant to agriculturally

domesticated animals, including their specialties.

➢ Identify the various species of livestock as well as breeds within

each species

➢ Contribution of animals to human.

➢ Familiar with terminology used in animal science

➢ History of domestication of various animals

 What is an Animal?

Animals are:
Multicellular eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia
characterized by:
➢ A multicellular body,
➢ Can reproduce sexually,
➢ Specialized tissues and organs,
➢ Voluntary movement.
• e.g Birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish and insects.
 What is animal science?
➢ Animal science
The branch of science/biology that deals with domestic animals.

➢ Biology:
Is the study of life - that seeks to provide an understanding of the
natural world.

• Studying the biology of animals that are under the control of

humankind".
• The production and management of farm animals.

❖ Animal husbandry is the art of working with farm animals.

 Animal Science Specialties
Animal science specialties can be broken down in
many ways, but the following categories are common.

✓ Genetics
✓ Nutrition
✓ Physiology
✓ Animal health
✓ Ethology (Animal Behavior)
✓ Meat science
✓ Dairy product science
✓ Biotechnology
 Species
What is a species?
A group of organisms consisting of similar individuals
capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
ex.. Horses & Tigers, ….
The principal natural biological classification and taxonomic unit,
ranking below a genus.
Population
Any group of individuals, single species, occupying a given
area at the same time.
➢ Herd of buffalo, school of fish, flock of birds
 Hybrid Infertility
➢ Hybrid adults are sterile or have reduced fertility
• E. g. Liger, Mules, Zonkeys, Hinny, Beefalo…

Mules
Is the offspring of a Male donkey and Female horse.
They are different species (with different numbers of
chromosomes).

Hinny
Is the offspring of a Male horse and Female donkey.
 (infertile)

Zonkeys
Is a crossbred (hybrid offspring) between a Male Zebra and
Female Donkey.
Both animals belong to the horse family.

Liger
Is a crossbred between of a Male lion and a Female tiger.
The liger has parents in the same genus but of different species.

Beefalo
Is the offspring of a male buffalo and female cow.
 World Animal Distribution
Greater than ⅔ of the large farm animals were found in developing
countries, but they produced only about a ⅓ of the meat, milk, and
wool produced in the world.

• Reasons for this low productivity include:

1) Poor genetics, (Breeding and management factors)
2) Lack of access to technology in livestock production, (management factors)
3) Poor marketing and trade, and socioeconomic constraints, (management factors).
4) Lack of quality feed, (Nutrition and Feeding factors)
5) Less comfort needs, (Environmental factors: Housing, climate changes tresses)
6) Scarcity of water resources, (Environmental factors)
7) Health and disease challenges, (Economic Factor)
 Animal Science and Food Security
Food security is a concept that is used to think systemically about:
How and why malnutrition arises?,
and What can be done to address and prevent it?.

Malnutrition: Lack of proper nutrition, caused by:

❖ Not having enough to eat,
❖ Not eating enough of the right things, or
❖ Being unable to use the food that one does eat.
What is food security?
The measure of the availability of food and individuals' ability to
access it.

Means that all people, at all times, have physical, social and
economic access to safe and sufficient food supply” to meet their
food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.
 Food security main components
Today, the concept of food security is generally understood to incorporate four main
components.

For a state of food security to be existed, all these components must be sufficiently present.

The four components of food security

An animal scientist job is improving animal breeding, nutrition and
health producing more food for humans with the available resources.

There is no food security without food safety, thus we

need proper food preparation, storage, and handling.

Animal scientists study how to stop pathogens from spreading to

animal products.

Therfore, food Safety refers to:

The conditions that preserve the quality of food to prevent
contaminations.
 Contribution of Animals to Proteins
Animals have made human life much easier by providing us with food, medicine,
clothing etc….

Food Source:
Animals are a more important source of protein than calories,
supplying 38.5% of the total protein consumed in the world.

Of the animal protein sources:

➢ Meat supplies approximately 49.5%,
➢ Milk provides approximately 25.8%,
➢ Fish supplies approximately 16%,
➢ Eggs supplies approximately 8.7%.
 Animal Contributions to Society

Meat, Milk and Eggs

• Lamb (< 1 YO sheep)
• Mutton (>1 YO sheep),
• Chevon (adult goat meat), Cabrito (<3 months old goat)
• Venison (meat from deer)
• Beef (meat from cattle)

• Horse meat and camel meat are also eaten in some parts of the world!
• Milk from various animals (cows, sheep, camels, buffalo)
• Chicken and ducks' meat and their eggs

Religions and Meat

• Certain religions restrict beef and pork consumption
– Hindus do not eat meat etc.
– Muslim, and Orthodox Jews do not eat pork
 Animal Contributions to Society
Clothing
• Wool, hair, hide and leather have commonly been used for clothing.
• Even today, in more than 100 countries, hair and wool are used in manufacturing
cloths, bedding, housing and carpets.
➢ Animal hair can be used to make blankets, jackets helping us:
to keep ourselves warm in winters.

Religion Recreation
Some societies worship animals. Companionship and sports
horseback riding
Laboratory animals are
commonly used for
research.
 Animal Contributions to Society
Power:

• India has more than 200 million cattle and buffalo, but because
cattle are sacred in India, most are not slaughtered for meat.
These animals are used to provide power for field work.

The transport of natural resources and farm products to other

communities for sale….
 Domestication
Is the process by which species of animals are genetically modified
over time by humans for traits that are more beneficial or desirable for
humans.
So, the domestication is called as:
The interactive relationship between animals and the humans who
have influence on their care and reproduction.

Animals are considered domesticated when:

1) Their survival depends on humans.
2) Humans control their breeding (selective breeding)
3) They are kept for a well-defined purpose
4) They develop traits that are not found in the wild
 Benefits of Domestication
➢ Domestication allowed humans to:
❑ Maintain a constant food supply
❑ Keep animals with the right temperament
❑ Use animals for:
➢ Companionship,
➢ Religious purposes
➢ Draft work

➢ In return, the animals

❑ Received protection
❑ A constant food supply.
 Domestication & Taming

❖ The term "domesticated" refers to an entire species or variety

– sheep, dogs, goats

❖The term "tame" usually refers to just one individual within a species or variety.
– A tame elephant, tiger, and bear.

Animals domesticated for Animals domesticated for

home companionship food or work
are called: pets. are called: livestock or farm animals.
 Which of these farm livestock was
domesticated first?

Estimates for domestication of livestock animal

species are (B.C: before Christ).

8000 B.C.— Sheep

6500 B.C.— Goats, Cattle, and Pigs
6000 B.C.— Chickens
4000 B.C.— Donkeys
3500 B.C.— Horses
3000 B.C. — Camels
 Animal Domestication
Sheep: Domesticated (for wool and meat) in Southeast Europe and Central Asia
and are would be unable to return to the wild.

Goats: Domesticated in Western Asia and could possibly revert to its wild state.

Cattle: Domesticated near the boundary of Europe and Asia

Chickens: Domesticated in China and Southeast Asia

Turkeys: Domesticated in North America.

Horses: Domesticated in Eastern Europe and Western Asia used for meat and
milk, and draft animals.