Why future of India’s livestock sector rests on OPU-IVF
Over the years the Ovum Pick-upin Vitro Fertilization (OPU-IVF) has gained traction in the animal husbandry industry. The technology has helped overcome some challenges that animal breeders have been facing. This has helped farmers both with the breed of animals that they can have and also the produce that the cattle can provide. At a recently held national webinar entitled ‘OPU-IVF and Embryo Transfer Technology: Future and Impact on Livestock Improvement in India’, experts examined the challenges and advantages of this revolutionary technique.
OPU-IVF technology has come a long way over the years but there is still a need for more information and awareness to percolate to all stakeholders involved. Dr Shyam Zawar, CEO, JK Trust, Thane, Maharashtra opened the discussion with , “IVF is an expensive technique, an extension of education by visiting farmers, telling them success stories and the cost per pregnancy has to definitely come down. Today we are averaging five embryos per ovum pick up (OPU), which is almost an international standard.”
He continued, “The small limitation that comes with IVF is freezing of embryos, we must try and get better rates for frozen IVF embryos, which is gradually improving. There are 31 ET-IVF labs, which are in various parts of the country, funded by the Rashtriya Gokul Mission. Satellite mobile labs for each district which have been recommending the DHD with one aspirator and two embryologists. With the help of the satellite mobile lab a big building isn’t needed.”
“Farmers around our area who are maintaining crossbred animals are not interested in having cows and raising them. So, we started using their recipients for transferring the IVF embryos from the farm to almost 200 km. We pay them Rs 10,000 for establishing a pregnancy, Rs 5,000 in the fifth month and Rs 5,000 at the time the calf is born and from their crossbred animals we produce different indigenous like Gir and Sahiwal,” concluded Dr Zawar.
Dr UC Sharma, President, Veterinary Council of India, Madhya Pradesh emphasised the need for penetration of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) among the small scale dairy farmers. He said “we need to convince the dairy farmers about the importance of ART. Madhya Pradesh state animal husbandry department and veterinary universities are working together to spread awareness about germplasm and ART among the dairy farmers. We need to increase the productivity of every cattle for which we need to achieve the best germ-plasm.” He informed about the various schemes of the government to bolster the growth of dairy farming. Madhya Pradesh Government has started 'Gopal Puraskar (Award)' scheme which honours the highest milk capacity cattle to encourage the dairy farmers. List of the highest milk capacity animals has been made under this scheme.
Dr Sharma said “by using the best germplasm from farmers in ART, we can multiply the number of milk capacity cattle. We also need
to make ART affordable so that it can be used by small scale dairy farmers. There is a need to make a road map for transferring the ART to the grass root level in India. Dairy farms under government which are not working so well should be handed over for ART implementation.”
Prof. (Dr) AK Misra, Chairman, Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB), New Delhi commented, “We have been the largest producer of milk since 1998. In 1970 it was 17 million tonnes and today it is close to 200 million tonnes, a phenomenal progress. When we talk of average production it is about 2000 litres and developed countries like the US average is about 10000 litres, and Israel is even more. When we talk of the challenges that we are facing, there are four pillars of animal husbandry: breeding, feeding, healthcare and management. Our situation as far as all these four pillars are concerned is miserable. We don’t even have dry fodder to feed our animals, not to talk about green fodder concentrate and so many other things.”
He further stated, “We don’t have enough bulls and bull mothers to breed our animals. To produce more animals we have to use some kind of technology. Today we say that our production system is a population driven production system. We have 10 million buffaloes and 92+ million plus cattle. The situation has to change in the coming days and we have to increase the average productivity of the animals.
“We all know that there are a limited number of animals that can be classified as elite animals, which can be used as bull mothers of the bulls. There is a need to multiply these animals at a much faster rate. The Government of India has also realised its potential that this can do wonders in this country. When Rajiv Gandhi was our Prime Minister, he had launched a national mission using the Department of Biotechnology, National Mission of Embryo Transfer Technology for producing elite animals,” added Prof. Misra.
He continued, “In OPU-IVF there is no hormonal treatment. The ovary is checked for the number of follicles developed in the ovary and the follicles are aspirated. This technology is far more economic and efficient as compared to conventional technology. Our indigenous breeds are very, very important. Our indigenous breeds are distinctly divided into milch, dual purpose and dwarf breeds. Be it Sindhi, Sahiwal, Tharparkar, Gir, Kankrej. Their production is very good, we should focus on these breeds.
These breeds are far more adaptable as compared to the cross-breeds. They are far more efficient converters of the feed and fodder, their fed percentage is much more than cross-bred or other exotic animals.”
“We must start valuing our animals. We can very well push our animals from a level of 2000 litres to easily 4000 litres in the next two-three generations. We also need to concentrate on exotic animals instead of crossbred animals. If there are resources to feed to exotic animals, why not go for exotic animals,” concluded Prof. Misra.
“The small limitation that comes with IVF is freezing of embryos, we must try and get better rates for frozen IVF embryos which is gradually improving and there are 31 ET-IVF labs which are in various parts of the country, funded by the Rashtriya Gokul Mission.”
- Dr Shyam Zawar, CEO, JK Trust, Thane, Maharashtra
“Using the best germ-plasm from farmers in ART, we can multiply the number of milk capacity cattle. We also need to make ART affordable so that it can be used by small scale dairy farmers. There is a need to make a road map for transferring the ART to the grassroots level in India.” President, Veterinary Council of
India, Madhya Pradesh
“Our ingenious breeds are very, very important. Our indigenous breeds are distinctly divided into milch, dual purpose and dwarf breeds. Be it Sindhi, Sahiwal, Tharparkar, Gir, Kankrej. Their production is very good, we should focus on these breeds. These breeds are far more adaptable as compared to the cross-breeds. They are far more efficient converters of the feed and fodder, their fed percentage is much more than cross-bred or other exotic animals.”
- Prof (Dr) AK Misra, Chairman, ASRB, New Delhi