NDRI scientists clone endangered wild buffalo of Chhattisgarh

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, January 4

Scientists of the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) in Karnal have achieved another milestone in the field of cloning through hand-guided cloning technique. They successfully produced a female clone (named Deepasha) of endangered wild buffalo of Chhattisgarh on December 12.

“It is the clone of the lone wild buffalo (named Asha) in the country. This is the state animal of Chhattisgarh which is also known as ‘ban bhainsa’. Asha is at the Udanti Wildlife Sanctuary in Chhattisgarh,” said AK Srivastava, director, NDRI.

“After the confirmation in the third party DNA parental testing today, I have the pleasure to inform that scientists of the NDRI have proved that besides multiplication of superior germplasm, the conservation of endangered species through cloning has a great potential,” the director said.

Talking to The Tribune, Srivastava said, “This buffalo is a schedule-1 animal under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and is in the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is an endangered animal as there is only one wild buffalo in the country. Deepasha is the second female of its species.”

“Earlier, Asha had delivered male calves after natural mating. It was a major concern of the Chhattisgarh authorities to protect it due to its old age and other risks. The Wildlife Trust of India, the technical partner of Chhattisgarh state, approached the NDRI for assistance and our team of scientists visited the state,” the directed said.

“Team members collected somatic cell from the lone buffalo Asha and cultured it in the NDRI, which has resulted in the birth of clone Deepasha,” Srivastava said.

“The calf took birth by normal parturition and its weight at the time of birth was 32 kg. It is in good health,” he added.

“My team of scientists, including SK Singla, MS Chauhan, RS Manik, P Palta, SS Lathwal, Anuj Raja and Amol Sahare, has proved its mettle and has brought laurels to the institute and the country in the world as it accepted the challenge to explore the possibility of cloning the endangered buffalo,” said the director.

Srivastava stated that the Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, S Ayyappan, had congratulated the team and said the achievement had opened a new era in cloning technology.

He said they would keep Deepasha under the vigil of scientists for a year at the NDRI and would monitor its growth. Later, they would try to produce more buffaloes of the species through it by natural process.