The National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB), Hyderabad has launched a chip called IndiGau.

IndiGau

• IndiGau is India’s first Cattle Genomic Chip for the conservation of pure varieties of indigenous cattle breeds like, Gir, Kankrej, Sahiwal, Ongole etc.
• It is purely indigenous and the largest cattle chip in the world.
• It has 11,496 markers more than that placed on 777K Illumina chip of US & UK breeds.
• The manufacturing of this chip is in synergy with Rashtriya Gokul Mission and is a great example of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Utility of IndiGau

• Indigenous bovines are robust and resilient and are particularly suited to the climate and environment of their respective breeding tracts,
• Their productivity is less likely to be impacted by the adversities of climate change.
• The milk of indigenous animals is high in fat and SNF (solids-not-fat) content.

(SNF content are the substances in milk other than butterfat and water in the form of casein, lactose, vitamins, and minerals which contribute significantly to the nutritive value of milk.)

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Back2Basics: National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development

• The NPBBDD has been formulated by merging four ongoing schemes of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries in the dairy sector.
• It was launched in Feb 2014.
• This merger has been done to integrate milk production and dairying activities in a scientific and holistic manner to meet the increasing demand for milk in the country.

Components of the scheme

NPBBDD has the following three components.

• National Programme for Bovine Breeding (NPBB)
• National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) and
• Rashtriya Gokul Mission.

Differences between all these schemes:

1) National Programme for Bovine Breeding

It aims-

• To arrange quality Artificial Insemination services at farmers’ doorstep
• To bring all breedable females under organized breeding through Artificial Insemination or natural service using germplasm of high genetic merits

2) National Programme for Dairy Development

It aims-

• To create and strengthen infrastructure for the production of quality milk including cold chain infrastructure linking the farmer to the consumer
• To strengthen dairy cooperative societies/Producers Companies at the village level
• To increase milk production by providing technical input services like cattle-feed, and mineral mixture etc.

3) Rashtriya Gokul Mission

It aims-

• To undertake breed improvement programme for indigenous cattle breeds so as to improve the genetic makeup and increase the stock.
• To enhance milk production and productivity of indigenous bovines.
• To upgrade nondescript cattle using elite indigenous breeds like Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Deoni, Tharparkar, Red Sindhi.

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