Scientists from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-National Dairy Research Institute (ICAR-NDRI), Karnal, have successfully implemented a breed improvement model under the National Gokul Mission of the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India.
According to the scientists, 100 villages of UP’s Muzaffarnagar district were adopted for the project. With the help of artificial insemination technology and use of high-quality bull semen harvested by ICAR-NDRI, the team achieved promising results in the production of quality progeny. The researchers expect that the technology would be beneficial for livestock farmers and enable them to achieve higher production from their animals.
Moreover, the researchers were also successful in producing animals that showed an improved growth rates and attained maturity earlier in comparison to regular livestock. “Farmers can get better quality animals at lower costs and increased productivity would make dairy farming more profitable," claimed researchers, emphasising the potential of their findings.
They claimed that the model could prove to be a milestone for increasing the income of livestock farmers across the country. Under the special project carried out in Muzaffarnagar district, artificial insemination was performed on 39,803 cows and buffaloes. Of these, 16,200 cows and buffaloes became pregnant, and most of them have already been calved.
Since livestock farmers of this area did not have good quality germplasm and their livestock production potential was average, the project was started in 2022 with funds received under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission. It was successfully completed recently.
This was operated through NDRI’s Farmer Service Centre at Lalukheri village in Muzaffarnagar. From there, 25 trained workers covered dairy animals in 100 villages, and a sum of Rs 3.75 crore was spent on this project, said Dheer Singh, Director, ICAR-NDRI.
“This model can serve as an example for other states. State governments can adopt this model to promote breed improvement programmes. This will boost milk production, strengthen the dairy sector and give new direction to the rural economy," he added.
Experts believe that if implemented on a large scale, the model will help double farmers’ income and also make India stronger in the field of dairy production.
