| After 40 years of cross-breeding of livestock under the Centre’s Operation Flood project to augment dairy production, the Tamil Nadu government has turned to its roots to conserve indigenous cattle breed and improve milk production. As part of an aggressive campaign, the department of animal husbandry has adopted genetic tools and modern technology to produce pure indigenous livestock. In the 1970s, Operation Flood was done scientifically with the native breed to increase the average milk yield to 6.7 litres per day from around 2 litres. Today the indiscriminate cross-breeding by unauthorised people has increased the risk of diseases among exotic breeds such as jersey. “It has turned into a vicious cycle after the jallikattu protest in 2017, as many developed a passion to rear native breed livestock,” said joint director (extension) of animal husbandry R Saravananbavan. Explaining the problems with cross-breeding, Saravananbavan said exotic genetic (blood) level should not go above 50%. “Indian breeds are resistant to climate changes and many diseases but yield less. Exotic animals have high yield but can’t withstand the climate here. So the best characteristics from the animals are taken. But now, dairy farmers out of ignorance are breeding exotic animals raised in the country only for high milk yield, but this is leading to health complications in the animals,” he said. On foreseeing the cascading impact of indiscriminate cross-breeding, the government has launched several programmes as preemptive measures. “The techniques such as semen sexing, frozen semen straw and frozen embryos are meant to gradually improve the genetic merits of indigenous breeds and improve their milk production,” said director of the animal husbandry A Gnanasekaran. The programmes are undertaken as part of the Centre’s Rastriya Gokul Mission. The department has envisaged adopting the latest genetic tools for breed improvement. The existing frozen semen stations at Eachenkottai and Hosur would concentrate more on producing frozen semen straws of Umblachery and other native breeds like Kangeyam, Pulikulam and Bargur breeds. “The frozen semen straw will be restricted to the respective districts where a specific breed belongs,” he said. The department is contemplating using semen sexing technique and artificial insemination on a pilot basis. “In the new, the technology of sexing the semen, sperms responsible for the birth of male calves are eliminated and as a consequence, only female calves are produced,” said animal husbandry minister Udumalai K Radhakrishnan in the policy note tabled in the assembly last Friday. The department will be using imported frozen embryos for production of native cattle. Hitherto, the department was using embryos of foreign breeds. “We are planning to enter into an agreement with agencies that possess the technology,” said another official. In-vitro fertilization would be used for genetic up-gradation of the existing in the state. On its part, Tanuvas research centres would concentrate on genetic improvement of the specific breed. genetic up-gradation programme would be undertaken at a cost of `15.75 crores. The three-year programme will be conducted in Salem, Tirupur, Karur and Dharmapuri districts through natural breeding. The project devised to distribute 36,117 upgraded Mercheri lambs in the next five years. In the poultry sector too, the high demand for free-ranging country chicken and eggs has led to the state giving a push to indigenous varieties like Aseel and Giriraja. “Since people are becoming health conscious and aware about how broiler chickens are reared, they are preferring country chicken,” said animal husbandry department official. The government is planning to establish a native chicken breeding and hatchery complex in the upcoming integrated livestock park in Salem. The facility would supply 20 lakh Aseel chicks per year. But despite these initiatives, only a state policy on animal breeding can be a long-term solution, said Karthikeya Sivasenapathy, managing trustee of the Senaapathy Kangayam Cattle Research Foundation. Tamil Nadu has the highest number of draught animals in south Asia and the best dairy department. A census needs to be conducted to frame a policy to get the best of our breeds,” he said. |