Pune-based BAIF Development Research Foundation (BDRF) has embarked on a project to produce semen that increases the probability of birth of cows and she-buffaloes to 92 per cent
Dairy farmers in India can soon plan the birth of extensively female milch animals, reducing the possibility of unproductive males. Pune-based BAIF Development Research Foundation (BDRF) has embarked on a project to produce semen that increases the probability of birth of cows and she-buffaloes to 92 per cent.
The technology is based on sorting of semen, whose genetic material determines the sex of offspring. Genetically semen contains X- and Y-chromosomes; females are conceived when sperm with an X-chromosome fertilises the female’s egg, and males when the sperm carries a Y-chromosome. The sorting technology seeks to ensure that only sperms with X-chromosomes fertilise the eggs.
Special reagents are used to stain the semen. Post-staining, the semen is passed through a narrow tube illuminated by laser beams. The X-chromosome-carrying sperms exhibit fluorescence under laser beams, which facilitates their sorting. A minor electricity charge is used to separate the fluorescent sperms.
Semen-sorting technology has had relatively narrow exposure in India but developed countries have been using it since 2002. The global patent is held by US-based Sexing Technologies. It is now in its third version and allows for 95% sorting of sperms. BDRF has signed an agreement with the company after field trials.
“In 2014, around 1.4 lakh straws of sorted semen were imported by BDRF to conduct trials. Of these, 70,000 straws were distributed at our centres in Maharashtra, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and recently in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka,” said Dr Ashoke Pande, senior vice president and head of BDRF’s Central Research Centre. Pande said the conception rate using these straws has been around 44%, and 90% of 400 calves born were female.
BDRF has now decided to set up a facility to produce such semen at its Urali Kanchan facility, with Pande looking at the first week of April for starting production. “Sexing Technologies is in the process of arranging the machinery as well as recruiting skilled manpower to run the facility,” he said. Sorted semen of both pure and crossbred Holstein Friesian, Jersey as well as indigenous Indian breeds and buffaloes will be produced at this facility.
Since the beef ban in Maharashtra, birth of males calves has been a burden for farmers. Earlier, such animals were sold at the cattle market for slaughter but now farmers are forced to rear these unproductive animals, which drain their owners’ resources. Straws of sorted semen are priced at Rs 1,200 each, as against Rs 50 for normal semen. Production in India will not reduce the cost as BDRF will still have to pay fees to Sexing Technologies for using its technology, Pande said. “To start with, we will store such straws in 2,500 of our 4,300 centres,” Pande said.
Technicians have been retrained in proper handling and usage of such straws. Farmers opting for such straws, too, need to ensure that the animals to inseminated are under proper supervision.