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Transforming Animal Breeding in India: Breed Conservation to Breed Prioritization
V. B. Dongre
Vol 9(5), 19-31
DOI- http://dx.doi.org/10.5455/ijlr.20181206103804
India is the hub of low producing non-descript cattle and buffalo population with 43 well recognized cattle and 15 buffalo breeds. The present manuscript deals with the identification of priority breeds of cattle and buffalo which are mostly addressed for breed improvement programs in the country, preferred in around 44 semen stations, research institutes and farmers preference for these priority breeds. In almost every states livestock breeding policies, it was observed that for upgradation of non-descript population preferred breeds of choice are Gir, Sahiwal, Hariana, Red Sindhi and Tharparkar. While in buffaloes, Murrah and Surti were preferred. In general, if the focus was on between breed diversity, the Gir cattle breed and Murrah buffalo breeds classified as top priority. The increased milk production in India has resulted in the increase in per capita availability of milk from 176 grams per day in 1990-91 to 322 grams per day by 2014-15. It is more than the world average of 294 grams per day during 2013 (The Economic Survey, India, 2015-16). However, after reviewing the lacunas in implementation of present breeding policies and farmers preference for a specific breeds, author through this manuscript proposes that these aforesaid cattle and buffalo breeds needs to be prioritized in the future to meet demand of per capita milk requirement for Indian population without harming present breed conservation programs for conserving unique featured genes in diversified livestock population of India.
Keywords : Buffalo Cattle Conservation Milk Prioritization
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