Biothermoimaging Tools for Management of Climate Smart and Precision Livestock-Assisted Reproduction

Biotechnological interventions have been identified as a faster and precise approach to climate change mitigation in animal agriculture by facilitating the complementarity of genetics and the environment to achieve improved performance and enhance productivity in livestock. Novel biotechniques are being developed to provide possibilities for visual understanding of the physiological and genetic changes in biological organisms including humans and animals. Biothermoimaging and Biophotonics are an integral part of these biotechnologies that are developed to provide visuals at cellular and molecular levels, thereby providing clearer templates for the understanding of the biological changes of the genome. These biotechnologies are desirable mostly in the tropical regions of the world to track the impact of climate change in livestock at both laboratory and farm levels. The non-invasive and contactless methods of using these tools for the biological evaluation of the livestock species gave them an edge on the existing diagnostics and testing methods that requires sample collection with risks of sample contamination and zoonosis. Generally, digital infrared thermoimaging (DITI) have been used for biomedical evaluations and associated researches in human and animals based on the thermal changes in injured and diseased parts of the body compared to other regions. However, these biotechniques have not been used extensively to monitor and evaluate physiological changes associated with livestock reproduction on a large scale. Therefore, this chapter provides insights into the use of digital infrared thermoimaging in the testicular evaluation of White Fulani bulls and Red Sokoto buck, lactating White Fulani cows and Red Sokoto nanny goats. These evaluations using bioimaging protocols are required to support the implementation of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), precision livestock farming and smart animal agriculture interventions in Nigeria.