RRJoVST (2016) 1-6 © STM Journals 2016. All Rights Reserved Page 1 Research & Reviews: Journal of Veterinary Science and Technology ISSN: 2319-3441(online), ISSN: 2349-3690(print) Volume 5, Issue 1 www.stmjournals.com Application of Nutrigenomics for Enhancement of Body Growth in Ruminants M. Mondal*, M.K. Ghosh ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Eastern Regional Station, Kalyani, West Bengal, India Abstract Many a times different animals fed with the same diet may perform differently and it is due to differences in ability of nutrients to interact within the biological systems affecting molecular pathways resulting in differences in body weight gain, production or reproduction performances. For better understanding of the above processes, nutrigenomics and endocrinomics; two emerging fields that are of great help to discover the differential expression and function of genes occur with different diets, have come up. Nutrigenomics is dealt with the effects of each and every bioactive chemical in foods and supplements that alter gene expression in an animal. On the other hand, nutrients alter the hormonal inter milieu of the animal thereby ‘turn on’ or ‘turn off’ of a particular set of pathways affecting ‘switching on’ or switching off’ of a defined set of genes (Endocrinomics). Hence, there is always a crosstalk between nutrigenomics and endocrino-genomics. This paper highlights the importance of nutrigenomics and endocrinomics, and their interactions during the process of growth in domestic animals in general and bovine species in particular. Keywords: Endocrine genomics, transcriptome, microarray, nutritional genomics, diet-gene interaction *Author for Correspondence E-mail: drmmondal@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Livestock farming, an important part of Indian agriculture, contributes significantly to Indian economy in terms of household nutritional security and increased household income thereby poverty alleviation. In India, the livestock sector alone contributes nearly 25.6% of value of output at current prices of total value of output in agriculture, fishing and forestry sector. The overall contribution of livestock sector in total GDP is nearly 4.11% at current prices during 2012–13 [1]. As per the 19th livestock census, India has the world’s largest numbers of bovine population (299.9 million heads) [1]. As estimated, the rapidly growing world human population will require around 67% more protein of animal origin by 2050 than it is today. Recent studies indicated that an increase in consumer’s income in fast-growing BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries consisting about 50% of global population is supposed to induce important changes in the amount and types of food consumption. Hence, the livestock sector can significantly contribute towards augmenting rural livelihood, poverty alleviation, and food security [2]. However, developing and fostering livestock systems that require low to moderate amounts of economical and external inputs and will significantly enhance production potential are key features of sustainable development. Sustainable livestock development, including diversifying livestock production, is a pragmatic approach to address both hunger and food security [2]. Among all domestic animals, Indian ruminants including cattle and buffaloes hold the greatest promise and potential for fulfil the expected demand of animal protein in near future. Though we have the largest numbers of livestock population in the world, the Indian bovines suffer from some of the inherent problems like; (1) late maturity (2) poor estrus expressivity/anoestrus/repeat breeding, and (3) long postpartum calving intervals etc. Age at puberty influences production efficiency in animals. The slow growth rate and thus late maturity of dairy cattle and buffaloes leads to a great economic loss at organized as well as unorganized dairy farms in India. Sexual