Section A : Domestic animals as comparative models to humans 1. Equine Exercise Physiology: A Historical Perspective 2. The Pig Model for the Study of Obesity and Associated Metabolic Diseases 3. Growth Hormone and the Chick Eye 4. Porosome Enables the Establishment of Fusion Pore at its Base and the Consequent Kiss-and-Run Mechanism of Secretion from Cells Section B : Molecular regulation of growth / metabolic efficiency 5. Epigenetics and Developmental Programming in Ruminants _ Long-Term Impacts on Growth and Development 6. Molecular physiology of feed efficiency in beef cattle 7. Hormonal Control of Energy Substrate Utilization and Energy Metabolism in Domestic Animals Section C : Reproduction 8. Reproduction in Poultry: An Overview Section D : Animal stress and welfare 9. Stress in Livestock Animals: From Domestication to Factory Production 10. Biology of Stress in Livestock and Poultry Section E : Future directions 11. Nutrient Transporter Gene Expression in Poultry, Livestock and Fish 12. Novel Peptides in Poultry: A Case Study of the Expanding Glucagon Peptide Superfamily in Chickens (Gallus gallus) ----- There is increasing interest in the biology of domestic animals ranging from genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, nutritional physiology, and systems biology. This book touches on all of these, with a particular focus on topics such as domestic animals as comparative models to humans, molecular regulation of growth, metabolic efficiency, reproduction, and the impact of stress on growth and development. The book concludes with a discussion on the current and future directions for researchers.