Introduction Rajasthan has a vast animal genetic resource with a wide variety of indigenous cattle breeds. The valuable indigenous cattle breeds have evolved over generations to adapt to the local agro-climatic conditions and socio-economic needs of the people. These indigenous breeds of cattle are now subjected to fast genetic degradation and dilution because of unplanned breeding, crossbreeding and introduction of exotic germplasm. |
Now, because of the mechanization of agriculture and introduction of various means of transportation, the utility of male cattle is reduced. Crossbreeding of native cattle to increase milk production has been advocated as a breeding policy across the country including the Rajasthan state. As a result, some indigenous breeds are under threat, while others are in the process of replacement by certain high producing strains. If this trend continues for few years, the valuable native breed's germplasm would grossly be depleted or even lost forever. Thus conservation of indigenous breeds of cattle is essential due to their potentiality for production of milk or draught capability or high resistance to diseases and heat tolerance ability. |
It is reported that survival of more than 20% of indigenous cattle breeds are threatened. The main and important factor which has contributed to the loss of cattle bio-diversity, it is the deliberate cross breeding of native breeds of cattle with exotic breeds carried out extensively in order to increase milk yield. The focus on immediate financial returns has alarmingly threatened the breeds. |
The best cattle breeds of Rajasthan Tharparkar, Rathi, Nagori, are reduced in number and faced genetic dilution over the years. Under these circumstances it is imperative to improve and conserve these valuable germplasm. |
Top Vulnerability of a breed The FAO expert Panel on preservation of Animal Genetic Resources proposed that whenever the population size of a breed reduces to 5000 breeding females, appropriate action should be initiated for its preservation. The panel observed that in case of developing countries, a breed with an effective population size of less than 2000 is to be taken as rare, with less than 500 as vulnerable and less than 100 as endangered (Table 1). It also suggested that whenever the total number of animals falls below 10,000 one should start preserving semen and embryos.
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Based on the above classification that is recommended by Nivsarkarand Bhat in 1996 for Indian conditions, our indigenous breeds of cattle Tharparkar, Rathi, Nagori, breeds are in insecure stage. The local breeds of cattle are degenerating both in quality and quantity due to the inadequate availability of breeding services and technologies. The net result is that, well-established breeds are approaching the stage of extinction. Excellent draft breeds Nagori, Tharparkar and good milch breeds Tharparkar and Rathi, has reduced in number as well as in quality of genetic code. The genetic base of our cow is declining due to crossbreeding of indigenous cattle with Jersey and Holstein-Friesian to improve the milk production in state. |
The total cattle population in state is decrees 11.87% in comparing to last livestock census 1997. (Livestock census 2003 (provisional) published by Board of Revenue for Rajasthan, Ajmer) It is important that the cross bred (bred with exotic breed) cattle population is increased by 120.10%, but indigenous cattle population is decreased 14.83%. The fall in indigenous cattle population is more than the total decrees in cattle population in state, it indicate, the decreasing trend of indigenous breeds of cattle rearing & increasing the interest in cross bred cattle due to high milk producing capability. |
One another important thing is, livestock census 2003 gives only total numbers of cattle in Rajasthan, the population of various breeds of cattle in state is not exhibited, so it is very difficult to plan and implement various scheme and programs related to conservation without knowing accurate breed population (Table 2).
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Top Causes of genetic erosion in indigenous breeds of cattle There are following causes responsible for genetic losses in indigenous cattle: |
Inappropriate Aid: Lack of appreciation of the value of indigenous breeds and their importance. More stress given to introduce exotic and cross breeds by AI. Changes in Agriculture: Changes in agriculture mixed farming systems, introduction of modern techniques and limited knowledge about traditional livestock husbandry practices Change in Technology: Replacement of animal draught and transport by machinery, artificial insemination program for cross breeding, rapid replacement of indigenous breeds Change in Economy: Decline in economic viability of traditional livestock production systems and dual local breeds of cattle replaced by higher milk yielder, Disaster: Natural disasters such as, drought or famine, floods can result in loss of valuable local breed, breeding tracts and mixing of genetic characters of various local breeds in each other.
Top How to conserve Prior to plan any process of cattle conservation first we determine the vulnerability of a breed on the basis of: |
The size of a population, The recent trends of breeding in the population, The number of herds of a population, The availability of breeding bulls in a population, And extent of crossbreeding in the breeding tract should be considered.
Once genetic resources have been identified and characterized, two basic conservation activities can be followed, i.e., in situ and ex situ. |
In situ conservation In situ conservation requires establishment of live cattle breeding farms and their maintenance. In situ conservation strategies emphasize wise use of indigenous cattle genetic resources by establishing and implementing breeding goals and strategies for sustainable animal production systems. In any such program, the success depends upon the participation of the farmer for which he needs support and incentives. Therefore, it is difficult to organize the farmers for conserving the breeds, which are no more economical to him. In the case of breeds, which are no more economically viable, therefore, the only alternative is to bring them under government farms. This approach is limited to those breeds, which are highly endangered. Major advantages of in-situ conservation are: live animals can be evaluated and improved over the years, genetic defects can be detected and eliminate. They are always available for immediate use and act as a gene bank for future use. In situ conservation involves a large infrastructure of land, buildings, feed and fodder resources, water supply, technical and supervisory manpower, etc. Therefore, new establishments for in situ conservation of farm cattle genetic resources are quite costly and even the maintenance of existing ones is cumbersome. The cost needs to be estimated for each ecosystem. Ex-situ conservation Ex-situ conservation includes cryogenic preservation. Cryogenic preservation is the preservation of frozen semen, preservation of oocytes, preservation of embryos, preservation of ovaries, use of embryonic stem cells or blastomeres, production of embryos in vitro, embryo splitting etc. It is the storage of genetic resources, which the farmers are currently not interested to use. Ex situ conservation is based on the use of live animal populations wherever practicable, supported by cryopreservation where technology exists or can be developed, combining within-country gene banks with global repositories. Interested governments, nongovernmental organizations, research institutions and private enterprises should be encouraged to maintain in vivo samples of breeds at risk, with national inventories being established and kept up to date so that the genetic resources are readily available for use and study. Advantages of cryogenic preservation are, to maintain populations without genetic change, it can be best done by cryogenic storage as it is difficult to breed many generations of animals without any environment interactions in the genetic structure. Ex situ conservation is comparatively more convenient, economical and easy with the application of modern reproductive technologies. Top Conservation program of indigenous breeds of cattle Survey of breeding tract Before taking up any meaningful breeding improvement and conservation programme in a breed it is necessary to know the present status of breed, need and requirements of the farmers, their habit, habitat and management practices, availability of local feed and fodder, grazing land etc. Identification of cattle First of all, the breeding objectives must be identified for each indigenous breeds separately, before starting conservation programmes. The breeding objectives should be relevant to the prevailing production system of an area and needs of people. The selection of the best indigenous cattle should be made according to their well performance in adverse climatic condition, heat tolerance capacity, sustainability on locally available fodder, high disease resistance and need of people. For improvement and upgrading the genetic code of non-descript cattle, selective breeding program must be adopted in place of crossbreeding programme with exotic breeds. The bull to be used for this purpose should be produced from superior dams, which have more than 2000 kg as lactation yield for Tharparker and Rathi breeds of cattle. This will improve the milk yield by 500 to 800 kg in first generation. General genetic characterization Genetic characterization of the breed and its similarities and dissimilarities with other breeds using molecular genetic techniques like micro satellites, Amplified Fragment Length polymorphism etc., should be taken up for Tharparkar, Rathi, Nagori breeds of cattle. Milk yield capacity Indigenous breeds of cattle e.g. Tharparkar, Rathi, have potential to produce about 2500 liters milk per lactation. The milk yield in Nagori breed is very poor. The genetic variation in the milk yield should be utilized for the improvement of dairy characteristics using appropriate breeding strategies. In present animal husbandry system there is no provision for regular milk recording and breeding record keeping at farmers' level except commercial dairy farms, So it is very difficult to know accurate milk production and pedigree of cattle. The regular milk recording and pedigree history record of a breed will help in selection of a young bull and identifying elite cows to be selected as future bull dams. The incentives should be given in the form of regular health care and technical advice on managemental practices at the doorsteps by concerned Govt Departments like, Animal Husbandry, Agriculture etc. Molecular markers with productive and reproduction performance can be used in identifying breeding bulls at an early stage and for cryopreservation, embryo transfer technologies to produce large number of elite males and females. Draught power Our indigenous breeds are mainly known for their high draft ability e.g. Nagori, Tharparkar, Rathi, but very little objective assessment has been made about their work efficiency. There is need to evaluate the draft efficiency in a systematic manner. There is also a need to evolve packages of feeding and management practices for obtaining better draft power from these draft breeds. Identification of simple morphological or biochemical attributes closely associated with work efficiency could help in genetic improvement of draft power of the breed. Marker Assisted Selection using molecular markers associated with work efficiency will also yield quick results. Govansh savardhan sangh The movement of improvement, up grading and conservation of cattle can't be success without involvement and participation of farmer's, because they play major role in this movement. There is an urgent need to start “Govansh Savardhan Sangh” at district level for individual cattle breeds of state like, Tharparkar breeder's sangh, Nagori breeder's sangh, Rathi breeder's sangh. The members of district breeders associations are farmers/villagers have concerned pure breed of cattle, district veterinary officer, district agriculture officer, etc. At the state level “Central Govansh savardhan sangh” should be made. The Central Govansh savardhan sangh should act as the nodal agency for monitoring all activities relating to a particular breed including genetic improvement, conducting cattle shows, identifying the areas of research and to act as a liaison between Government, Rajasthan gosewa ayog, agriculture universities, research institutions, organized farms and the farmers. Information center An information center should be established on indigenous breeds of cattle and it should have all the information about their distribution, farming practices, physical and molecular characteristics of the breeds, information of breed's herds and availability of elite breeding male and female cattle etc. The information also needs to be updated periodically and easily available to all. Top Recommendations Immediately conduct a survey in the breeding tract of the Tharparkar, Rathi, Nagori, breeds of cattle to know the present status, population, herds, demographic and geographic distribution of breeds, habits and habitant of farmer's, their needs and management practices, availability of land, fodder etc. Appropriate breeding strategies for the genetic improvement of threatened breeds of cattle Selective breeding using latest biotechnologies such as marker assisted selection, and embryo transfer technologies for identification of superior breeding animals and their faster multiplication. More stress should be given on indigenous breeds of cattle and stop the cross breeding programs in their breeding tract districts. Availability of good quality breeding bulls and artificial insemination services to the cattle owner helps in conservation program. Improve the nutritive value of poor quality roughages and educate the farmer about balanced complete feed e.g. concentrate feed block, bricks, etc., using non conventional feed and concentrate in balanced ratio. Transfer of technologies to propagate methods of composting, vermi culture from cattle dung and urine based pesticides, insecticides and medicine etc. Forming a co-operative society under state Govt supervision for develop a marketing of cattle products. Providing suitable subsidy on balance complete feed at time of scarcity and drought periods to save animals from starvation deaths/distress
Tables | Table 1: Classification of animal population in Indian condition.
| | Status | Population size | No. of breeding females |
| | Normal | Population is not in danger zone. No visible changes are seen in population size | More than 25,000 | | Insecure | Population numbers are decreasing rapidly. | 15000–25,000 | | Vulnerable | Some disadvantageous effects on the existence of the population. Prevent further decline in number. | 5000–15000 | | Endangered | The population size is high in breeding and is reduced. Need to initiate conservation action. | 2000–5000 | | Critical | Close to extinction. Genetic variability is reduced. Action to increase the population size is essential. | Less than 2000 |
| | | Table 2: Livestock census–2003 (provisional) of Rajasthan state
| | No | Category | 2003 | 1997 | Increase or Decrease |
| | Nos. | % |
| | 1 | Cattle | 10853492 | 12141402 | −1287910 | −11.87 | | A | Cross-Breed | 463714 | 210685 | 253029 | 120.10 | | B | Indigenous-Breed | 10389778 | 11930717 | −1540939 | −14.83 |
| | (Published by Board of Revenue for Rajasthan, Ajmer) |
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