Union minister applauds varsity for uplifting livestock farmers

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 8

Giriraj Singh, Cabinet Minister, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, visited Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) and discussed current issues related to livestock, today.

He appreciated low cost nutritional strategies developed by the university based on fruit and vegetable waste for livestock and suggested that research work on concentrated whey for its utilisation as animal feed should also be conducted by the university. He discussed animal nutrition and ethnoveterinary medicines and shared his own experiences with Moringa as animal feed in improving their production and preventing diseases such as mastitis .

The Minister visited the university dairy farm and showed keen interest in breed improvement programmes being carried out by the university on ‘Murrah’ and ‘nili Raavi buffaloes’, ‘Sahiwal cattle’ and ‘Beetal goats’. He laid stress on using in-vitro fertilisation technique for fast breed improvement of indigenous breeds of cow and buffalo. He was also of the opinion that cost-effective embryo transfer technology may yield better results in the breed improvement.

Applauding significant contribution of the university in developing shrimp farming in saline areas of the state, the minister informed that shrimp farming industry would be promoted in saline areas of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh by developing an export hub in the region. He was also apprised about the work conducted on estimation of cost of milk production at farm level in Punjab, and it was requested that it should be included into the network project of ICAR for better data generation and policy formulation.

The minister visited the university veterinary hospital and appreciated the facilities developed for treatment of small and large animals. He was apprised of the common diseases of dairy animals and steps to prevent them.