The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Experts suggest gene sexing of livestock to help farmers

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Experts suggest gene sexing of livestock to help farmers

Special Correspondent

Three-day national symposium on animal reproduction begins

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

On livestock: (From left) Manmohan Singh, president, ISSAR, and Secretary, Department of Infrastructure and Investment, Andhra Pradesh; Suresh S. Honnappagol, Vice-Chancellor, Karnataka Animal, Veterinary and Fisheries Sciences University; Revu Naik Belamagi, Minister for Animal Husbandry and Pro Chancellor of the university; and K.M. Bujarbaruah, Deputy Director-General, ICAR, at the inauguration of the seminar and symposium in Bangalore on Thursday.

BANGALORE: Animal breeding experts on Thursday stressed the need for the country to adopt gene sexing, cloning and transgenic reproduction for breeding good varieties of livestock with higher productivity in terms of milk and meat.

They were speaking at the inaugural session of a national symposium on “Recent trends and future strategies for improved reproduction of livestock, companion and wild animals” organised here by the Indian Society for Study of Animal Reproduction (ISSAR).

Better breeds

ISSAR president Manmohan Singh, who is also a civil servant, told The Hindu on the sidelines of the symposium that India could provide a boost to its animal husbandry sector by adopting gene sexing, which would help in the breeding of cows that would be of more benefit to farmers.

Normally farmers would like to have female livestock, especially with respect to animals like the buffalo, for milk as well as for further breeding. Gene sexing technology to breed females would be a boon to poor farmers. The technique, which has been tried out in some countries, is yet to be tried in India. Bangalore had the potential to play a lead role in gene sexing, he said.

Dr. Singh suggested that the country opt for cloning of native cattle species in a bid to ensure that these time-tested varieties, which were suitable for native conditions, did not become extinct. Besides, cloning would ensure that the purity of the original species was not lost in the process of breeding.

Transgenic animals

Deputy Director-General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research K.M. Bujarbaruah stressed the need for trying out transgenic breeding of animals to produce species that suited local requirements and expectations. “We should think about how best we can make use of this technology to help our farmers,” he said.

Suresh S. Honnappagol, Vice-Chancellor, Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, observed that animal husbandry was an effective tool to alleviate rural poverty through additional income to poor and marginal farmers. In fact, there were not many instances of cattle-rearing farmers committing suicide due to crop losses as they had access to some regular income from animal husbandry.

About 250 delegates from different States are participating in the three-day symposium, which is mainly focussing on the application of new technologies to increase the productivity of farm animals in terms of milk and meat.

Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Department Principal Secretary Shamim Banu and Veterinary College (Hebbal) Dean S. Yatiraj spoke.

The Union Government will provide financial support of Rs. 3,000 crore for research in animal sciences, including infrastructure development in veterinary universities and laboratories, Mr. Bujarbaruah said.

He told reporters that the proposal was cleared by the Union Cabinet a fortnight ago.

When asked how much of this money would be given to Karnataka, he said details were yet to be worked out.

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