The effect of hormones on the productive qualities of cattle

Animal husbandry as a branch of agriculture plays a vital role in providing the world's growing population with food products of animal origin: meat, milk, eggs, wool. At the same time, the need for them only increases every year. In this regard, deeper and more extensive knowledge is required about the hormonal processes that regulate metabolism in cells, tissues and the body as a whole, which will allow for a more complete realization of the genetic potential of animals. To solve this problem, it is necessary to apply new effective biotechnological methods of regulating the productive functions of both the brood stock and fattened young stock. One of these methods is the assessment and correction of the hormonal status of farm animals to improve their productive and reproductive qualities. This is explained by the fact that the level of hormones affects many important indicators, such as growth and development, productivity, product quality, fertility and health, characterizing their physiological state and adaptive abilities. Thus, the hormones testosterone, somatotropin (growth hormone), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) affect productive qualities (weight growth, slaughter indicators), quality characteristics of meat and conversion of feed into products, which is important for fattened cattle. Lactotropic hormone, oxytocin and prolactin play a key role in the lactation process, increasing the volume and changing the quality characteristics of milk. It has been proven that the use of exogenous hormones in animals improves a number of quantitative and qualitative characteristics of livestock products. However, today there are gaps in understanding the role, application and consequences of hormone use in animal husbandry, which makes further research promising. In this review, we have conducted a comprehensive analysis of available domestic and foreign literature sources using the following databases: Pubmed, Elsevier, Google Academy, Russian Scientific Citation Index (elibrary) and others on the mechanism of action of hormones, their level, affecting meat and milk productivity.