Karnal (Haryana), July 15 (IANS) The National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) marked a key success in animal breeding technology recently, by producing a Gir breed calf, using In-vitro Fertilisation (IVF) technology.

The NDRI scientists implanted the embryo developed from the egg of Ganga, the country’s first cloned Gir breed cow, into the womb of a Sahiwal breed cow and successfully produced a Gir breed calf on July 11.

The move is aimed at increasing the number of milch animals. The use of the OPU-IVF technique has also reduced the reproduction cycle. Normally, it takes 60 to 84 months for two generations to be produced, but this technique has brought down the cycle to just 39 months.

NDRI scientists claim that this will prove effective in increasing the number of high-breed cows rapidly.

While with natural animal breeding technology, a cow gives birth to 10-12 calves in her entire life, this technology can significantly spike the numbers.

A team of scientists, namely Dr Manoj Kumar Singh, Dr Naresh Selokar, Dr Ranjit Verma, Kartikeya Patel, Dr Priyanka Singh and Dr Nitin Tyagi, under the guidance of NDRI Director Dr Dheer Singh, achieved this feat.

Director of National Dairy Research Institute, Dr Dheer Singh, said that the calf born from the egg of cloned cow Ganga using OPU-IVF technology through a surrogate mother is a big achievement of the scientists of the institute.

He said that with the combined use of clone and OPU-IVF technology, the number of high-yielding high-breed animals can be increased rapidly in the country.

He said that the number of Gir cows in the country is 9 lakh, which are mainly found in Gujarat and Rajasthan. They are also reared in Hisar and Jind of Haryana.

The cloned cow whose egg was used to give birth to this calf has been named Shravani, as it was born in the month of Saavan. Its genes will be tested to see how much per cent of the Gir breed it is.

–IANS

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