The Institute of Animal Science NAAS is an integral part of the research institutes network of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine.
On October 8, 1929, the Decree No. 706/2594 of the People's Commissar of the USSR was established the Ukrainian Institute of Dairy Farming - the first name of the current Institute - located in the branch network of research institutes of the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
The main directions of the Institute's activity at that time were providing scientific support for dairy cattle breeding, pig breeding, sheep breeding, poultry breeding in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, the Central-black soil region and the North Caucasus.
The institute changed its name several times, which was primarily caused the expansion of the field of research. In the structure of the Institute there were departments (sectors) of fodder production, dairy farming, genetics, breeding and selection, animal feeding, mechanization, organization and economy of dairy farming, laboratory of zoochemical analysis, scientific library, department of propaganda and inventions, publishing group and museum.
In the first years of activity at the Institute, research of different types farm animals feeding were expanded, on the basis of which the "Information about the composition and nutrition of feed in Ukraine" was published. In the late 40's of the XX century, the database already consisted of 474 different feeds and data on their digestion, vitamin and mineral composition.
In the pre-war years, the Institute started research on artificial insemination of animals (I. Bukharin), economics of animal husbandry (A. Solovyov). The breeds resources of Ukraine and the results of local breeds localization were studied (A. Yatsenko). The first Scientific and Technical Bulletin of the Institute was published in 1932.
In December 1943, upon returning from the evacuation, the staff of the Institute restored laboratories, research work was being established. New departments have been created at the Institute: Department of Equestrian, Laboratory of Physiology, Laboratory of Biochemistry. For some time the Institute worked on beekeeping and fishing.
In 1947 the first artificial insemination station for animals was established at the Institute.
The post-war formation of the Institute under the head of I.A. Danylenko is marked by the development of scientific activity in the field of animals keeping and feeding technologies development, optimal terms of feed preparation, in particular, silage, norms and rations creation, regarding to protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and trace elements content requirements.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Institute became the leading scientific institution in the field of animal husbandry in Ukraine and the former USSR. Cooperation with foreign scientists and specialists was established, the department of external relations was created for coordinating work with foreign scientific institutions.
That period is significant for the creation of scientific schools that carry out educational and research work now (F.I. Ostashko, E.M. Dorotyuk, D.A. Volkov, E.I. Admin, V.V. Tsyupko, S.I. Kutikov, A.A. Omelyanenko, A.E. Myand, etc.).
Over the past 50 years, the Institute's scientists have made many theoretical and practical developments that are widely used in production. In the years 1949-1951, I.V. Smirnov proved the ability of sperm to retain biological value and genetic information under long-term storage at low (up to –196 °C) temperatures and subsequent production of normal offspring. This was the discovery of world importance. At the Institute for the first time in the world rabbits, lambs and calves were obtained after fertilization of the uterus with semen, which was stored frozen in liquid nitrogen. This course is being successfully developed even today by the students of the Prof. F.I. Ostashko, Prof. A.D. Bugrov, Prof. M.D. Bezugly and others. Prof. Ostashko has developed the theory of temperature shock, fortification of germ cell membrane apparatus, various methods and technologies of artificial insemination of cows, in particular, the well-known Kharkov technology for semen collection, evaluation, dilution and cryopreservation. Under his leadership, in 1983, for the first time in Ukraine, a calf from an embryo transplant was obtained, a progeny from embryos cultured outside the body (1995), and genetic engineering research began.
On the basis of the Institute of Animal Science (1998) the Biotechnology Center was established in Ukraine, which is a leader in the development of modern biotechnologies for animal husbandry.
Significant achievements of the Institute in the development of theoretical issues of selection and breeding of new highly productive breeds, lines and hybrids of farm animals: Mirgorodska pig fat breed (1940); Lebedin dairy and meet cattle breed (1950); Ukrainian Riding Horse (1990); Ukrainian Red-and-White dairy cattle breed (1992); Ukrainian Meat cattle breed (1993); Ukrainian Meat breed of pigs (1993); Volyn cattle breed (1994), Ukrainian Black-and-White dairy cattle breed (1995); breed of horses - Novoaleksandrovskaja horse breed (1998). In total, the breeders of the Institute in close cooperation with scientists of other institutes have created more than 10 domestic breeds and more than 100 new types, lines and hybrids of animals, the productivity of which exceeds the parental forms by 12-15%.
In the 60-80's the Institute was actively involved in the development of technologies for complexes and agro-industrial associations. New departments were development at the Institute: department of dairy cattle production technology, beef production technology, pork production technology, etc. One of the first in Ukraine was the development of technologies for unattended keeping of a dairy herd for 1200 cows on a deep litter with milking in a milk hall, implemented in the form of an experimental dairy complex of SE "Kutuzivka", which is now a regular field for the development and implementation of innovations in dairy cattle.
Today the Institute of Animal Science of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine is a leading scientific and methodological center "Technologies in animal science", a breeding center for dairy and meat cattle breeding, horses, pigs, sheep, rabbits and fur animals. By the Ministry of agro-industrial complex of Ukraine has been assigned for the Institute, in the context of the structural divisions, the status of a laboratory for quality assessment of meat, milk, wool, genetic control, embryo transplantation, breeding centre in cattle category III.
The Institute employs 77 researchers, including 1 NAAS Academician, 1 NAAS Corresponding Member, 8 Doctors of Sciences and 49 Philosophy Doctors.
The Animal Science Institute's Testing center is accredited according to ISO / IEC 17025: 2006 for animal feed and products of animal origin analyze by physic-chemical and quality and safety indicators.
The Institute is based on the Technical Committee (TC 158) "Livestock: technology, breeding and reproduction."
The Institute is the coordinator of interlaboratory comparisons of measurement results programs and a specialized center of the State Service for Standard Samples.
The Institute operates a metrology service, whose efforts are carried out by constantly checking and adjusting accurate equipment and apparatus and preparing it for metrological tests.
Nowadays, the activity of the Institute is aimed at substantiation of the industry structure parameters and optimization of agricultural production of enterprises of different sizes; development of business plans; introduction of modern energy-saving technologies of livestock production, genetics, biotechnology, cryopreservation and artificial insemination of animals; means of mechanization and automation of production processes, technologies of production, procurement and preparation of feed for agricultural animals feeding; research and ecological monitoring of the quality of livestock products.
The Institute's network includes the State Enterprise "Gontarivka", which is the basis for research and implementation of scientific developments, producer of valuable genetic resources - breeding dairy and beef cattle, pigs and sheep.
The Institute has qualified to provide scientific training through postgraduate study in the specialty 204 - technologies for the production and processing of livestock products.
The Institute has a specialized Scientific Council for the examination and approval of PhD and Doctoral theses in the specialties: 06.02.01, 06.02.04 (Agricultural Sciences), according to the Order № 261 from 06.03.15.
The Institute has its own scientific journal "Scientific and Technical Bulletin of the Institute of Animal Science of NAAS" (included in the New list of scientific professional publications of Ukraine, in accordance with the decision of the Attestation Board of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Order No. 747 from July 13, 2015 in the field of "Agricultural Sciences", and in the scientific metric database - the Russian Scientific Citation Index (RSCI)).