Agricultural+Uses

Animal production around the world is limited by poor growth and reproductive performance of livestock. This limits the availability of animal products such as meat, milk, leather, and others for the use of humans. The production from animals can be improved by changing genotypes to make them better suited to the environment to which they are exposed. Isotopes and radiation play an important part in identying and aleviating the genetic and environmental limitations to animal production. With plant breeding, you can use isotopes to produce mutations but with animals you cannot do this. Instead, animal breeders use the information from isotopes to produce desirable characteristics. They then cross-breed the animals to combine these characteristics and higher production of animals is accomplished. Isotopes of nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus are comonly used in livestock production. [] []