In Lord Krishna's land, IVF produces a goat

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In Lord Krishna's land, IVF produces a goat

By Lola Nayar Aug 21, 2006, 4:22 GMT

 

New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS) Indian scientists have been successful in

genetically engineering goats, holding out the promise of the

animals being reared in the country for their high milk yield and

high quality meat to boost farmers' incomes.

 

A kid goat, Krishna, was born at the Central Institute for Research

on Goats (CIRG), Mathura, on Thursday morning, a day after

Janmashtami was celebrated to mark the birth of Lord Krishna in the

Uttar Pradesh town considered his birthplace in ancient lore.

 

 

The four scientists involved in the project took three years to

achieve success in impregnating a nondescript breed goat with an

ovum of a goat taken from an Agra abattoir and fertilised with the

sperm of a Sirohi buck.

 

 

'Our effort was a success as the kid is brown in colour, showing

that it has inherited the Sirohi characteristics and not its foster

mother's. The foster mother is black and white in colour,' S.K.

Jindal, principal scientist at CIRG, told IANS.

 

 

The CIRG is the second institute after the Karnal-based National

Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) to have successfully bred a goat kid

through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).

 

 

'Our aim through IVF is to conserve the germ-plasma of good breeds

of goats and sheep and go in for genetic engineering of goats for

multiple births,' said CIRG director N.P. Singh.

 

 

The CIRG team of scientists, including scientist-reproduction S.D.

Kharche and senior scientist-reproduction A.K. Goel, are hopeful

that their test-tube kid - weighing a healthy 3.15 kg - will survive

unlike the first test-tube lamb that died within days of its birth

at Karnal.

 

 

The team is also anxiously awaiting the outcome of two other Sirohi

goats that have been impregnated. The gestation period for goats is

146 days. Further success would lead to qualitative improvement in

the breeding of goats.

 

 

'We are trying to perfect the IVF technique. Our first success is

definitely a step forward, but we need to do more work before we go

in for genetic engineering for improvement and conservation of

better breeds of goats and sheep,' said Jindal.

 

 

The institute is working to promote breeds like Jamnabai, Barbari

and Chakrani in addition to Sirohi.

 

 

The goat population in the country is estimated to be around 120

million, out of which only 20 percent belong to any of the 23

recognised breeds known for their high milk yield of 1-1.5 kg and

good quality meat.

 

 

As much as 80 percent of the goat population in the country are of

nondescript breeds. IVF offers an opportunity to improve the breed

of goats and sheep in the country and thus provide alternative and

more reliable means to help farmers supplement their income.

 

 

In addition, goat milk is highly valued in many parts of the

country, particularly in the rural areas where it is often the

preferred diet for children, the elderly and the sick.

 

 

Many believe that goat milk cures diseases like tuberculosis.

 

 

'Unlike in the case of larger animals like cow and buffaloes, there

has been very little success in IVF of small ruminants as it is

difficult to implant the embryo,' said O.P. Dhanda, assistant

director general of the Animal Science Division of the agriculture

ministry.

 

 

'Sheep and goat have natural anatomical barriers that make the

implant very difficult. We do not have the small instruments

required to propel the fertilised egg into their womb,' he added.

 

 

The CIRG had used the conventional surgical method for implanting

the fertilised egg while NDRI had used the endoscopy technology to

implant the embryo, meeting with success. Both techniques are too

expensive for an average farmer.

 

 

In the case of cows and buffaloes, however, the success rate of IVF

is around 33 percent in India.

 

 

Dhanda said the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12) would focus on making

the IVF breeding of good breeds of goats and sheep more economical.

 

 

© 2006 Indo-Asian News Service

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Krishnas_land_IVF_produces_a_goat