The Animal Science Department is composed of three sections that are Animal Husbandry and Breeding, Feeds and Animal Nutrition and Biometry and Genetics sections. The basic aim of the department is to conduct undergraduate and postgraduate education to students. Meanwhile determination of morphological and physiological traits of farm animals, hereditary and environmental factors effective on animal production and products, feed quality studies, principles of animal nutrition, breeding principles to increase the yields and improve the quality of animal products are among the interests of Department of Animal Science. Besides educational activities the other purposes of the department is to plan and conduct basic scientific researches and research-implementation projects that are aiming to solve national as well as regional animal husbandry, breeding, animal nutrition and livestock production problems. In relation with the aims mentioned above the following farm animals are being raised at the department; sheep, dairy cattle, poultry (layers and broiler), ostrich, dairy goat, honeybee, fattening cattle, fattening lambs and fattening turkey. Meanwhile basic feed analysis, determination of values of animal feeds by nylon bag method, in vitro gas production and enzyme techniques are being carried out and the laboratory of the department acts as the reference laboratory at feed evaluation and analysis area. The other function of the department is to serve consultancy to research institutes of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, feed producers, animal industry and conduct mutual research projects on animal breeding and animal nutrition areas.
Total education period is four years at this department and students are trained as agriculture engineers and they are awarded with BSc diplomas. They are employed at official and private organizations as well as at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and municipalities.
The mission of the Department of Animal Science is to provide education through which patriotic individuals with developed skills to carry out researches and solve problems, able to guide others, adapting the principles and revolutions of Atatürk will be trained; and to provide education important in terms of economy, meeting the demands of producers and consumers, consistent in the context of increasing animal production and products and integrated with other branches of science. In this context, undertaking of animal production, protection of animal production resources and environment form the mission regarding the animal production program.
Animal Science Department have bilateral agreements with Georg August Universität Gottingen, Germany (under graduate, post graduate and Ph.D degrees); Szent Istvan University, Hungary (under graduate degree) and Universita degli Studi di Catania, Italy (under graduate degree) under Erasmus Student Exchange Programme
The objectives of the Animal Science Department;
- To contribute undergraduate and post graduate (M.Sc. and Ph.D.) education of students offering theoretical and practical courses on biometry and genetics, animal nutrition and animal breeding areas.
- To educate qualified "Zootechnician" Agricultural Engineer; who has an aggregation of knowledge with sound theoretical and practical background, who can use scientific technics and who can study biometry and genetics, animal nutrition and animal breeding areas of various animal species.
- To educate "Zootechnician" Agricultural Engineer; who can function effectively and play leadership role in multi-disciplinary teams, identify and solve the current and future agricultural and animal science problems and who has an understanding of professional and ethical responsibilities.
- To acknowledge that education has a dynamic structure, it should be improved by reviewing every year and students and graduates and related stakeholders evaluate the education being carried out; and undertakes the necessary regulations.
- To plan and conduct basic scientific researches and research-implementation projects that are aiming to solve national as well as regional animal production problems.
- Serve consultancy to research institutes of the Ministry of Agriculture and producers, to conduct mutual research projects on animal nutrition area,
- To specify, only by academic rationale, the conditions that knowledge should be produced, applied and distributed in every field. To refuse inflexible thoughts and ideas to an extent and in a style worthy of contemporary scientific approaches,
- To believe in the multi-directional benefit of the unity of different disciplines and the academic studies carried out by making use of the richness and the power created by holistic thought in the creation of scientific, cultural, technologic and artistic values; and to support these kind of activities.
- To acknowledge that the principles and revolutions of Atatürk are the indispensable guides and to spend unconditioned and unlimited effort for the existence and the development of our Republic which is a secular, democratic social state of law and an undividable whole.