Emerging Applications of Nanotechnology in Livestock: Updates and Perspectives – A Review

Meemansha Sharma; Yasotha Tirupathi; Raushan Kumar Singh; Ajoy Das; Thakur Uttam Singh; Ayon Tarafdar

doi:10.2478/aoas-2025-0081

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Emerging Applications of Nanotechnology in Livestock: Updates and Perspectives – A Review

Annals of Animal Science

Volume 26 (2026): Issue 3 (April 2026)

By: Meemansha Sharma, Yasotha Tirupathi, Raushan Kumar Singh, Ajoy Das, Thakur Uttam Singh and Ayon Tarafdar

Open Access

|Apr 2026

Figures & Tables

Techniques used in top-down and bottom-up approaches for the nanoparticle synthesis

Methods of na noparticle characterization

Diverse applications of nanotechnology in the veterinary sector

Various therapeutic applications of nanoparticles in veterinary sector

Categories	Nanoparticles	Species of animals	Application	References

1	2	3	4	5
Drug delivery and therapeutics	Doxorubicin, paclitaxel and vincristine loaded liposomes	Canine	Canine metastatic osteosarcoma	Walewska et al., 2023; Ahmad et al., 2021
	Curcumin loaded silver nanoparticles	Bovine mastitis causing bacteria	Bovine mastitis	Vo-van et al., 2023
	Gold nanoparticles	Canine tumors	Gold NP-mediated photothermal therapy for canine osteosarcoma	Malik et al., 2023
	Polymeric chitosan nanoparticles	Chicken, cow	Colibacillosis, metritis	Carvalho et al., 2021
	Zinc oxide nanoparticles	Canine, equines and other animal species	Neoplastic diseases, mastitis and wound healing	Rahman et al., 2022
	Graphene oxide	Cow	Bovine mastitis	Neculai-valeanu et al., 2021
Vaccines	Gold nanoparticles	Poultry and bovines	Vaccines for influenza, foot-and-mouth disease and listeriosis	Ingrole et al., 2021; Teng et al., 2021; Dykman, 2020
	Silica based NPs	Cattle	Vaccine for Anaplasma marginale infection	Kumar et al., 2024
	Oxidized carbon NPs	Mice	Subunit vaccine for Mycobacterium tuberculosis	Sawutdeechaikul et al., 2019
	Polymeric NPs	Mice	Anthrax and tetanus toxoid vaccine	Al-Nemrawi et al., 2022
	Liposomes and chitosan polymer	Chicken	Influenza, Newcastle disease, and avian colibacillosis	Yang et al., 2020; Attia et al., 2021; Ahmad et al., 2021
	Dendrimers	Mice	Ebola virus, Toxoplasma gondii and H1N1 influenza	Kisakova et al., 2023
Disease diagnosis	Nanosensor of gold nanoparticle quantum dots	Cattle	Bovine tuberculosis, foot-and-mouth disease and bovine mastitis	Tewari et al., 2021; Rios et al., 2024
	Nucleic based nanodiagnostic	Livestock	Viral, bacterial and parasitic infection	Kumar et al., 2024
	Wearable nanosensor	Livestock	Diseases monitoring, behavior tracking, pregnancy detection and nutritional monitoring	Alipio and Villena, 2024
Nutrition	Lipid nanoparticles	Dairy cow	Enhance the rumen bypass efficiency of amino acids	Albuquerque et al., 2020
	Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles	Equine	Reduces release of urea	Reddy et al., 2020
	Selenium NPs	Ruminants	Better growth and enhance immune function	Malyugina et al., 2021
	ZnO NPs	Pig	Improve nutrients absorption as feed additives	Baholet et al., 2022
	Alginate chitosan glycerol NPs	Ruminants	Encapsulating glycerol to bypass rumen fermentation	Hashem and Ganzalez Bulnes, 2021
Reproduction	Propylene glycol	Sheep	Estrous synchronization	Santos-Jimenez et al., 2020; Saadeldin et al., 2020
	GnRH		Enhanced follicle growth and ovulation
	GnRH chitosan TPP Nps	Rabbit	Enhanced follicle growth and ovulation
	SeNPs	Camel	Enhance the cryoresistance of camel epididymal spermatozoa	Shahin et al., 2020
	ZnONPs	Goat	Enhance post-thaw semen quality	Abedin et al., 2023
	Gamma-oryzanol nanoparticles	Rooster	Enhance the post-thaw quality of rooster sperm	Najafi et al., 2022
	Biochips	Ruminants	Fetus gender determination	Wang et al., 2022
Milk production	ZnNPs	Guanzhong dairy goats	Improve lactation and metabolism by modulating the rumen microbiota	Xie at al., 2024
	ZnNPs	Barbari goats	Effectively reduced somatic cell count, indicating improved udder health	Shafi et al., 2020
	ZnNPs	Baladi goats	Increase in milk yield and upregulation of genes associated with milk production	Mansour et al., 2025
	SeNPs	Dairy goats	Increased milk yield, milk fat, and lactose content	Ying et al., 2025
	CuNPs	In vitro (bovine mastitis pathogens)	Biofilms from S. aureus, E. coli, others nearly fully inhibited	Lange et al., 2021
Meat production	Curcumin nanospheres	Pigs	Enhanced growth performance, improved meat quality, better intestinal health	Moniruzzaman et al., 2023
	Green zinc oxide nanoparticles	Bonsmara steers	Negative effects on growth and meat quality due to potential toxicity	Gamedze et al., 2024
	ZnO/Pectin bionanocomposite films	Poultry	Extended shelf life, reduced microbial growth	Przybyszewska et al., 2023
	Chitosan/Starch films with cellulose nanofibers and cinnamon oil	Beef	Significant microbial load reduction, improved preservation	Sreekanth et al., 2024
	Nanostructured lipid carriers with savory essential oil	Beef	Reduced microbial growth, lower pH and spoilage indicators	Ghasemi et al., 2024
	Chitosan nanoparticles	Pigs	Improved skeletal muscle mass, enhanced meat quality	Gelaye, 2024
Stem cell research	Magnetic nanoparticles	Human lung stem cells	Stem cell level and sorting	Liu et al., 2020
	Gold nanorods	Human and animals	Stem cell imaging and tracking	Dong et al., 2021
	Quantum rods
	Polymeric nanoparticles
	Iron oxide

List of different methods for preparing nanoparticles loaded with thermosensitive therapeutic agents

Method	Description	Therapeutic agents	References

1	2	3	4
1. Cross-linking techniques
a. Physical cross linking	This method allows ionic cross-linking between nanoparticles and cross-linking agent.	Insulin, tetanus toxoid	Chen et al., 2023; Kabiri et al., 2021
b. Chemical cross-linking	Chemical cross-linking with the help of glutaraldehyde or ascorbyl palmitate and p-phthalaldehyde.	NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), antineoplastic, opioids, antifungal drugs	Dey et al., 2022
2. Drying methods	The process of removal of water or solvent by evaporation from liquid, solid or semisolids. The common methods of drying are spray, freeze and supercritical drying	BSA (bovine serum albumin), salmon calcitonin	Abdelkader et al., 2018
3. Reverse micellar method	Organic solvent mixture containing nanoparticles along with therapeutic agent has been kept overnight after adding the cross-linking agent. Further, drug loaded nanoparticles have removed by centrifugation.	Anticancer drugs	Liao et al., 2021
4. High pressure emulsification	This procedure implies high pressure emulsification of polymer solution into an aqueous solution then removal of organic solvent is done by continuous stirring or by evaporation.	Lipid soluble drugs	Mehanna and Mneimneh, 2021
5. Emulsion-diffusion method	The encapsulated polymer is mixed with water-miscible solvent such as benzyl alcohol, propylene carbonate. Further, emulsification of polymer-water saturated solvent phase is performed in aqueous solution containing stabilizer and then formation of nanoparticles has occurred according to oil : polymer ratio.	Doxorubicin, cyclosporine	Chaudhary et al., 2021; Pandey et al., 2022
6. Solvent displacement and precipitation	This method includes precipitation of preformed polymer from organic solution and diffusion of organic solvent in presence and absence of surfactant.	Poor soluble drugs	Khan et al., 2022

Different types of nanoparticles and their therapeutic applications

Nanoparticles	Application	References
Silica based	Drug delivery, bioimaging, biosensors, delivery of vaccine against Anaplasma marginale in cattle	Bruckmann et al., 2022; Kumar et al., 2024
Selenium based	Enhance nutrient absorption and boost immunity in animals	Malyugina et al., 2021
Silver	As antimicrobial and anticancer agents, drug delivery, as imaging probes and as diagnostics	Harish et al., 2022
Zinc oxide	As antiviral and anticancer agents, drug delivery carriers, as a growth promotor in pigs	Krishnan et al., 2021; Baholet et al., 2022
Gold	Tumor detection, drug and vaccine delivery, photodermal and photodynamic therapy	Reddy et al., 2023; Danchuk et al., 2023
Iron oxide	Magnetic resonance imaging, cancer diagnosis and treatment	Wu et al., 2022
Polymeric NPs	Delivery of anthrax and tetanus toxoid vaccines, and used as drug carrier	Al-Nemrawi et al., 2022
Carbon and grapheme quantum dots	Bioimaging, cancer therapy, gene and drug delivery	Osorio et al., 2024
Liposomes	Cancer therapy (paclitaxel and vincristine) in dogs, Toxoplasma gondii vaccine in sheep, avian colibacillosis vaccine in chickens	Ahmad et al., 2021
Dendrimers	Drug delivery, therapeutics against viral and parasitic diseases and cancer	Folliero et al., 2021; Filipczak et al., 2021

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aoas-2025-0081 | Journal eISSN: 2300-8733 | Journal ISSN: 1642-3402

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Language: English

Page range: 717 - 730

Submitted on: Sep 23, 2024

Accepted on: Aug 12, 2025

Published on: Apr 30, 2026

Published by: National Research Institute of Animal Production

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: Volume open

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Zoology,

© 2026 Meemansha Sharma, Yasotha Tirupathi, Raushan Kumar Singh, Ajoy Das, Thakur Uttam Singh, Ayon Tarafdar, published by National Research Institute of Animal Production
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 26 (2026): Issue 3 (April 2026)

Emerging Applications of Nanotechnology in Livestock: Updates and Perspectives – A Review

Figures & Tables

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Various therapeutic applications of nanoparticles in veterinary sector

List of different methods for preparing nanoparticles loaded with thermosensitive therapeutic agents

Different types of nanoparticles and their therapeutic applications

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