Livestock Breeding Policy for Genetic Improvement of Cattle and Buffalo in India
India's diverse agro-ecological regions host a wide range of farm animal breeds. The livestock breeding policy aims to enhance the productivity of cattle and buffalo through strategies such as grading up with indigenous superior dairy breeds, crossbreeding with high-yielding exotic breeds, and selective breeding in the original breeding tracts. Recommendations include improving non-descript cows in remote villages and enhancing indigenous zebu cattle breeds. The policy focuses on small, marginal, and landless farmers to ensure sustainable genetic improvement in the livestock sector.
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ANIMAL GENETICS & BREEDING UNIT III Principles of Animal Breeding Theory Livestock Breeding Policy Dr K G Mandal Department of Animal Genetics & Breeding Bihar Veterinary College, Patna Bihar Animal Sciences University, Patna
Livestock Breeding Policy Breeding Policy for improvement of Cattle and Buffalo productivity: India possesses vast and varied forms of farm animal genetic resources and are widely spread in the length and breadth of diverse agro-ecological regions. The mega biodiversity of farm animal breeds comprising of 50 well defined cattle breeds, 17 of buffaloes, 34 of goats, 44 of sheep, 10 of pigs, 9 of camels, 7 of horses, 3 of donkey, and 19 of poultry, besides large number of variants of native yak and Mithun.
The large spectrum of cattle and buffalo breeds with vast population and widely distributed in diverse agro-ecological regions of the country and possessed in small herd size (1-2 animals) largely by small, marginal and landless farmers of different socio- economic levels cannot have a uniform cattle and buffalo breeding policy. The Government of India on the recommendation of National Commission of Agriculture as well as subsequent expert panels constituted by it, has laid down the following broad guidelines of breeding policy for bovines.
(A) Breeding policy for cattle: Following policies have been recommended for genetic improvement of cattle: 1. Improvement of non-descript cows by Grading up with indigenous superior dairy breeds in remote village areas. 2. Improvement of non-descript zebu cows by crossbreeding with high yielding exotic breeds. 3. Improvement of indigenous zebu cattle breeds by selective breeding in the original breeding tract of the breeds.
1. Improvement of non-descript cow by Grading upwith superior indigenous breeds: The low producing, local non-descript cattle constituting more than 75% of the total cattle population in the country is the target population to be improved. Grading up programme will be implemented in the remote village area because of following factors: i. feed and fodder resources are not available in sufficient quantity, ii. the farmers are not resourceful iii. lacking in infrastructure development facilities, iv. poor marketing of milk and milk products
The non-descript cows of that area can be genetically improved through grading up by using elite bulls of best dairy breeds. For successful grading up programme, the superior bulls of well known indigenous breeds like Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Gir, Tharparkar, Deoni, Hariana, Kankrej etc. available in the breeding tract should be used. The bulls to be used for this purpose should be produced from superior dams, which have more than 2000 kg as lactation milk yield for Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Gir and Tharparkar and more than 1500 kg for dual purpose type cattle like Hariana, Kankrej and Ongole.
This will improve the milk yield by 500 to 800 kg in the first generation. Same bull should not be used in the same location in the next generation to avoid inbreeding. By use of Zebu bulls of high transmitting ability for grading up subsequently in few generations, the milk yield can be improved by 5 to 10 percent per annum.
2. Improvement of non-descript zebu cow by crossbreeding with high yielding exotic breeds: Crossbreeding of low producing nondescript zebu cows with exotic breeds like Holstein Friesian, Jersey and Brown Swiss is recommended for rapid genetic improvement for enhancing the productivity of non descript zebu cows. Crossbreeding is recommended in i. milk shed areas where there is good market for milk and milk products. ii. urban, peri-urban and industrial town where there is high demand of milk and milk products. iii. Where farmers are resourceful. iv. Where adequate quantity of good quality feed and fodder resources are also available,
v. Where infrastructure facilities like AI, cryopreservation of germplasm (semen straws), Liquid nitrogen, AI technician and frozen semen from elite germplasm, electricity, etc. are available. Holstein Friesian is recommended in the irrigated plains and urban area whereas Jersey is recommended in peri- urban, hilly terrain and coastal areas. The optimum level of exotic inheritance should be 50% but may go up to 62.5%. HF and Jersey crossbred perform well at 50% exotic inheritance in tropical climate of our country.
Use of semen of exotic bulls of high transmitting ability will result in enhancing milk production by 5 to 8 times to that of non-descript cows, reduce age at first calving and shorter calving intervals in crossbred progeny. The crossbred cows so produced through crossbreeding programme should be mated inter-se with crossbred bulls of high genetic merit selected on the basis of pedigree, sib and progeny performance in such a way that the level of exotic inheritance ranges from 50 to 62.5%.
3. Improvement of indigenous zebu cattle breeds by selective breeding: To meet the huge requirement of superior bulls of important zebu cattle breeds, the superior milch cattle breeds like Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Gir and dual purpose breeds like Hariana, Ongole, Tharparkar and kankrej need to be improved genetically by selective breeding. By selective breeding, it is expected that genetic improvement will be achieved from 1 to 1.5% per annum in organized herds and 10 to 20 per cent per annum in farmer s herds.
The areas of the country, where the indigenous breeds need to be improved by selective breeding are: i. Gujarat for Gir and Kankrej; ii. Rajasthan for Rathi, Nagori and Tharparkar; iii. Haryana, Punjab and western UP for Hariana; iv. Karnataka and Maharashtra for Hallikar, Amritmahal and Deoni; v. Tamil Nadu for Kangayam, and vi. Andhra Pradesh for Ongole.
B. Breeding policy for buffalo: 1. Improvement of non-descript buffalo by Grading up 2. Improvement of buffalo breeds by selective breeding
(B) Breeding policy for buffalo: 1. Improvement of non-descript buffalo by Grading up: The production potential of non-descript buffalo can be increased rapidly through grading up with superior sires of improved breeds, like Murrah, Surti and Mehsana up to 6th 7th generation. Surti is recommended for Karnataka, kerala and parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan; Murrah and Nili-Ravi both for Punjab;
Besides Haryana, Murrah is also recommended in other parts of the country, where sufficient feed and fodder resources are available. In other parts of the country grading up with Surti and Mehsana is recommended. The grading up is expected to increase the milk production of non-descript buffaloes by 2 to 3 times within first few generations. The grading up of non-descript buffaloes yielding on an average 500 kg milk with improved buffalo bulls having genetic potential of 2000 kg or more may yield on an average 1250 kg in first lactation.
2. Improvement of buffalo breeds by selective breeding: All the important dairy breeds of buffalo in the world are present in our country. Hence, crossbreeding with any exotic breeds is required. Selective breeding is a very effective tool for genetic improvement of pure breeds. Selective breeding is to be carried out regularly in the home tract of the indigenous breeds. Selective breeding is also essential to produce large number of superior bulls of those breeds which can be effectively used for grading up programme.
For effective implementation of Grading-Up programme more number of superior bulls of improver breeds i.e., Murrah, Surti and Mehsana are to be produced. Bulls may be produced through Progeny Testing programme, Associated Progeny Testing programme, or Field progeny testing programme. For effective implementation of selective breeding, the existing organised farms of Murrah, Surti, Mehsana, Nili- Ravi, Nagpuri, Bhadawari and Jaffarabadi buffalo breeds should be strengthened. More farms are required to be developed for production of adequate number of superior breeding bulls.
In certain pockets of the state like Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka, Surti is recommended to be the breed of choice; Murrah is generally the breed of choice in the states of Punjab, Haryana, UP, Bihar and West Bengal besides a few pockets in Punjab where Nili- Ravi has sizeable population, also needs improvement through selective breeding. Besides Murrah, Mehsana is also recommended in Bihar.
The genetic improvement in indigenous buffalo breeds is required for: higher milk production, reduction in age at sexual maturity, reduction in service period and calving interval This will lead to higher economic returns to the farmers.
3. Breeding Policy for Sheep and Goat I. Crossbreeding with exotic breeds. II. Selective Breeding in the home tract / native tract I. Crossbreeding with exotic breeds of sheep: A number of breeds have been developed in sheep through crossbreeding in India. Some of them are as follows (a) Apparel wool production i. Kashmir Merino: Gaddi & Poonchi x Rambouillet & Merino ii. Bharat Merino: Nali & Chokla x Rambouillet & Merino iii. Avivastra : Nali & Chokla x Rambouillet & Merino iv. Hissardale : Bikaneri x Australian Merino v. Nilgiri Synthetic : Nilgiri x Rambouillet & Merino
b) i. c) Mutton production i. Avimans d) Fur/Pelt Production i) Indian karakul II. Crossbreeding with exotic breeds of goat: Following three exotic dairy breeds of goat were used for crossbreeding with indigenous breeds in the past for development of new breeds but efforts were not successful. i) Alpine , (ii) saanen & (iii) Toggenberg Carpet wool production Avikalin : Malpura x Rambouillet : Malpura & Sonadi x Dorset & Suffolk : Marwari, Malpura & Sonadi x Russian Karakul
ii) Experiment for crossbreeding of Black Bengal with Jamunapari, Beetal, Barbari and Sirohi is going on at different place in the country to increase the size of Black Bengal. 4. Breeding Policy for Pig: i) Crossbreeding of desi pig or hog with exotic breeds like Large White Yorkshire, Middle Hampshire, Landrace, Tamworth etc. is the only breeding policy of pig. One pig breed namely, T&D has been developed at Ranchi Veterinary College, Ranchi by crossing between Tamworth and Desi pigs. ii) Very recently some indigenous breeds like Ghoomru, Ankamali and Ghori have been identified, documented and registered by NBAGR, Karnal as a breed. Hence, selective breeding is to be conducted in their home tract for genetic improvement. White Yorkshire, Berkshire,
