NDRI working on affordable, indigenous sex sorting semen tech
The ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) Regional Centre, Bengaluru, is working on an advanced indigenous technology for sorting ‘X’ and ‘Y’ chromosome-bearing sperms among dairy animals, aiming to make it more accessible and affordable for farmers.
The innovative technique is based on the identification of ‘Y’ chromosome and its separation using magnetic nanoparticles-based immune-separation. This method offers a cost-effective alternative to the currently available sex-sorting semen, which is expensive.
The technologies present in the market cost around Rs 800 per dose for sorted semen, but with this new technology, the scientists claimed, the cost is expected to be significantly reduced to just Rs 100 per dose.
The pre-preliminary trials of this technology in Bengaluru have yielded good results, achieving approximately 70-75 per cent success in producing female calves. As per the scientists, this breakthrough could revolutionise dairy farming by helping farmers enhance milk production, selectively breed high-yielding female calves and reduce the financial burden associated with conventional sex sorted semen.
“The scientists at our regional centre in Bengaluru are working on developing a technology for cost-effective sex-sorted semen at farmers’ doorstep. This technology separates ‘X’ and ‘Y’ chromosomes at the laboratory, which will further be used in fields by farmers while doing artificial insemination. The initial trials have shown promising results and we are hopeful that soon we will achieve the target of over 90 per cent of production of female calves with the help of this technology,” said Dr Dheer Singh, Director ICAR-NDRI, Karnal.
“Once the NDRI obtains more promising results, we will conduct more trials on around 1,000 animals to check the viability of the technology,” he added.
About the key features of this technology, Singh said once the technology was standardised, it would be used at the semen stations across the country for sorting of semen to make it available to the farmers easily.
The Director further said that there would be no specialised equipment and skill required for producing sex-sorted semen. It is less time consuming and preparation of each dose requires only 10 minutes.
