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| News from land of Lord Krishna | | Scientists produce a kid goat through IVF | |
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, AUG. 21: Central Institue for Research on Goats (CIRG), Mathura, has succeeded in genetically engineering goats. And scientists in the institute hold out the promise of the animals being reared in the country for their high milk yield and high quality meet to boost incomes of Indian farmers.
According to a delayed report from Mathura in UP, a kid goat was born at CIRG barely a day after Janamashtami wascelebrated to mark the birth of Lord Krishna on August 16. Mathura, in ancient lore, is considered Lord Krishna's birthplace. The report divulted that the four scientists, involved in the project, took three years to achieve success in impregnating a nondescript breed goat with an ovum of a goat taken from an Agra abattoir and fertilised with the sperm of a Sirohi buck.
SK Jindal, principal scientist at CIRG has been quoted as saying: "Our effort was a success as the kid is brown in colour, showing that it has inherited the Sirohi characteristics and not its foster mother's. The foster mother is black and white in colour". The CIRG is the second institute after the Karnal-based National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) to have successfully bred a goat kid through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Obviously, the aim through IVF is to conserve the germ-plasma of good breeds of goats and sheep and go in for genetic engineering of goats for multiple births. The CIRG team of scientists are hopeful that their test-tube kid-- weighing a healthy 3.15 kg -- will survive unlike the first test-tube lamb that died within days of its birth at Karnal. The team is also anxiously awaiting the outcome of two other Sirohi goats that have been impregnated. The gestation period for goats is 146 days. Further success would lead to qualitative improvement in the breeding of goats.
The goat population in India is estimated to be around 120 million, out of which only 20 percent belong to any of the 23 recognised breeds known for their high milk yield of 1-1.5 kg and good quality meat. As much as 80 percent of the goat population in the country are of nondescript breeds. According to scientists, IVF offers an opportunity to improve the breed of goats and sheep in the country and thus provide alternative and more reliable means to help farmers supplement their income.
This apart, goat milk is highly valued in many parts of the country, particularly in the rural areas where it is often the preferred diet for children, the elderly and the sick. Many believe that goat milk cures diseases like tuberculosis. |
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