Artificial neural networks- An introduction and application in animal breeding and production: A review

With the advent of newer methods and tools for accurate analysis, the outcomes of researches have become increasingly precise. This increase in reliability of research findings and forecasting is well demanded in various fields of science including those under animal breeding as well as its allied aspects such as production. One such recent breakthrough is an artificial neural network (ANN), which is a system of hardware and/or software programmed to function like the operation of neurons in the human brain. ANNs are a variety of deep learning technology, which also falls under the umbrella of artificial intelligence. The determination of milk yield, quality of meat animals, predicting breeding values, inferring demography and recombination, genome-enabled prediction are few of the sectors where ANN has proved to be a valuable asset. The correlation coefficient between the experimental values and those predicted with the help of ANN was found to be close to 1. These studies were a significant indication of the impactful ability of ANN. The early selection of superior bulls, culling of low performing ones, frequent prediction of breeding values and taking into account the non linearity encountered in biological research are few of the many benefits of using ANN in researches of animal genetics and production. Hence, considering its prodigious role, this current review has been written to highlight the role and impact of ANN in livestock studies.