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This review examines genetic strategies for improving disease resistance, enhancing production efficiency, and reducing methane emissions. Livestock play an important role in global food security, providing essential sources of food and income for billions of people. However, viral outbreaks can cause the death of entire farms, resulting in food shortages and substantial economic losses. Modern challenges, such as low production efficiency and environmental impact, have made livestock cultivation increasingly difficult. Advancements in CRISPR-based gene editing offer promising solutions to these challenges. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) enable precise genetic modifications that can improve livestock health, productivity, and sustainability. Notable applications include gene knockouts of CD163 in pigs and ANP32A in chickens to confer viral resistance, as well as modifications to the MSTN gene to increase muscle mass and feed efficiency. The targeting of methane-producing microbes in ruminants has shown promising developments, hinting at a future of environmentally friendly livestock agriculture. These advancements suggest that CRISPR technology has the potential to revolutionize the livestock industry on a global scale.
