5 ‘elite’ calves born through surrogacy

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 10

Three female and two “elite” male calves have been born to two Sahiwal cows through application of embryo transfer technology by vets at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) under field conditions. This has given a major boost to conservation and propagation of Sahiwal cows.

In the past, through the crossbreeding of indigenous cattle breeds with exotic breeds, led to higher milk production, however, due to crossbreeding the indigenous breeds got neglected and their number drastically decreased.

Of indigenous breeds, Sahiwal cows, having their natural tract in Punjab, are well known for their adaption to survive and produce milk under harsh climatic conditions of tropics. Encouraged by low-rearing costs and higher milk prices, the dairy farmers are inclining towards rearing Sahiwal cows. However, the poor availability of pure Sahiwal cows due to their decreased population is hindering its propagation and further improvement.

Dr PS Brar, Director, Livestock Farms, GADVASU, said through this technique embryos were collected from the reproductive tract of donor female and were transferred to the reproductive tract of recipient females, which serve as surrogate mothers for the remainder of pregnancy.

“Under natural process, a single female will produce a single progeny in about a year. But using superovulation and embryo transfer technology, it is feasible to collect around 30 transferrable embryos from one female in a year. Assuming an average success rate of 40 per cent in the embryo transfer, an average of 12 progeny can be derived from one superior female in a year,” he added.

In cattle, this technique is being used for breed improvement programme through collection of embryos from donor cows of superior germplasm and transferring them to recipient cows of average or inferior genetics, Dr Brar added.

“Of the five calves, four were born from a single Sahiwal cow with peak milk production of 20.66 kg. Thus, four calves from one genetically superior cow can be produced in less than a year, which otherwise would have taken four years. All the calves were delivered normally and are in good health,” Dr Brar added.