VARANASI: With the help of assisted reproductive technology (ART), a female Sahiwal calf was born at the Rajiv Gandhi South Campus (RGSC), BHU on Tuesday.
This marked a significant achievement in the project running under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), which aims to conserve the elite indigenous cattle breeds namely Gangatiri and Sahiwal, using assisted reproductive technology (ART), including embryo transfer and surrogacy. This initiative is being carried out at the faculty of veterinary and animal sciences (FVAS), Institute of Agricultural Sciences, RGSC, BHU. The campus is located at Barkachha in Mirzapur district. The work was carried out by a team from FVAS headed by Dr Manish Kumar (principal investigator) and Co-PI, Dr Kaustubh Kishor Saraf and Dr Ajeet Singh.
They said that this is the first successful embryo transfer of the Sahiwal breed at BHU, contributing to conservation efforts of this valuable indigenous breed.
The Sahiwal cow was inseminated with semen from a bull with a good pedigree, ensuring the transfer of high-quality genetic material. On Feb 25, 2024, the embryos were successfully recovered, with eight high-quality embryos of various stages (compact morula, early blastocyst and expanded blastocyst) being obtained. These embryos were then transferred into synchronised surrogate cows. The calf is healthy and weighs 19.5 kg. The team is planning to adopt newer, more advanced techniques like OPU-IVF-ET in the coming years with the support of the university to further improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the assisted reproductive technologies.
"The success of this project to conserve the indigenous breed of cow will play a key role in the uplift of the economic status of the farmers of the Vindhyan region," said Dr Manish. On this achievement, Prof. SVS Raju, director of the institute, congratulated the project team.