23-Oct-2021: India’s First Banni Buffalo IVF Calf Born
With the birth of first IVF calf of a Buffalo breed namely Banni in the country, India’s OPU - IVF work has reached to next level. This first IVF Banni calf is born out of 6 Banni IVF pregnancies established at the doorsteps of a farmer, Vinay . L. Wala of Sushila Agro farms, located at Dhanej in Somnath district of Gujarat.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had talked about the Banni buffalo breed during his visit to Kutch region of Gujarat on December 15, 2020. The very next day, i.e. December 16, 2020, Ovum Pick-Up (OPU) and aspiration processes for the in vitro fertilization (IVF) of Banni Buffaloes were planned.
The scientists aspirated 3 Banni Buffaloes of Sushila agro farms of Vinay. L. Wala of Dhanej in Somnath district of Gujarat. They subjected 29 oocytes (egg cells) to intervaginal culture device (IVC) from these three Banni buffaloes. Total 20 oocytes from one of them were subjected to IVC.
In fact, 20 oocytes from one donor resulted in 11 embryos. Embryo transfer (ET) was done with 9 embryos, which resulted in 3 IVF pregnancies. Total 5 Oocytes from second donor resulted in 5 embryos (100 %). Of five embryos, four were selected for the ET which resulted in 2 pregnancies. From the 4 oocytes of the third donor, 2 embryos were developed and the embryo transfer resulted in one pregnancy.
Overall, 18 embryos were developed from 29 oocytes (62 % BL rate). The ET of 15 embryos resulted in 6 Banni pregnancies (40 % Pregnancy rate). Of these 6 pregnancies, the very first IVF Banni Calf is born today. This is the first Banni Buffalo IVF calf in the country.
Both the government and the scientist fraternity see a great potential in the field of IVF of buffaloes and are striving hard to improve cattle wealth in the country.
13-Aug-2021: Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh released “IndiGau’, India’s first Cattle Genomic Chip for the conservation of pure varieties of indigenous cattle breeds like Gir, Kankrej, Sahiwal, Ongole etc.
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today released “IndiGau’, India’s first Cattle Genomic Chip for the conservation of pure varieties of indigenous cattle breeds like, Gir, Kankrej, Sahiwal, Ongole etc.
This indigenous chip was developed by the concerted efforts of scientists of National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NAIB), Hyderabad, an autonomous institution under the aegis of the Department of Biotechnology. At this occasion, Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, DBT, Senior scientists of NIAB and senior officials of DBT were present.
In his address, Dr Jitendra Singh said this is an occasion for triple Celebrations-Celebration of India’s Cow and Cattle, Celebration of calibre of India’s Scientists and above all Celebration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of AtmaNirbhar Bharat. He said, Prime Minister always underline to apply scientific knowledge and innovations for “Ease of Living” for all sections of society.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that IndiGau is purely indigenous and the largest cattle chip of the world. It has 11,496 markers (SNPs) more than that placed on 777K Illumina chip of US & UK breeds. The Minister said, this CHIP of our own indigenous cows is a great example of self-reliant India / “ATMA NIRBHAR BHARAT”. He said, this chip will have practical utility in the Governments schemes to achieve the goal of conservation of our own breeds with better characters and help towards doubling of farmers’ income by 2022. He took pride that even Departments like DBT and NIAB are contributing to the welfare and income augmentation of farmers. The Minister also launched two booklets on the occasion.
Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary DBT speaking in the occasion thanked the Union Minister for releasing the IndiGau chip and also congratulated NAIB for this achievement. Dr. Swarup also informed that DBT is looking forward to implement this technology in the field with the help of other agencies like NDDB, DAHDF, ICAR etc. To further the use of this chip in generating phenotypic and genotypic correlations, NIAB has entered into a collaborative agreement with National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
Since NDDB has well organized presence in the field for collection of phenotypic record, NIAB and NDDB complement each other to undertake this research for generating information for low density SNP chip for any important trait detection, like high milk yield or heat tolerance etc. This will eventually help in elite bull selection and improvement of productivity characters of Indian cattle.
NIAB has also entered into a MoU with private industry to generate capability within India for designing and making our own SNP chips. These may be very low density SNP chips in the beginning and slowly this technology can be further strengthened for bigger chips, making India self-reliant in this field.
3-Aug-2021: Use of Modern Technology for Crop Production Forecasting
The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare is funding various projects for Crop Production Forecasting, which includes FASAL Scheme (Forecasting Agricultural output using Space, Agro-meteorology and Land based observations) and CHAMAN (Coordinated Horticulture Assessment and Management using geo-iNformatics).
FASAL is used for crop production forecasting of field crops while CHAMAN is for horticulture crops. In both the projects, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has played a major role in developing methodologies. However, currently the programmes are being operationalized by Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) of Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, with technology support from ISRO.
Nine crops which are assessed under FASAL are Rice, Wheat, Tur, Rabi Pulses, Rapeseed & Mustard, Rabi Jowar, Cotton, Jute and Sugarcane. The seven crops which are being assessed under CHAMAN project are Potato, Onion, Tomato, Chilli, Mango, Banana and Citrus.
The Government is using satellite based estimates for planning and decision making purposes with respect to storage, pricing and import/export. In addition to this satellite based indices are used for drought assessment and satellite data is also being used for various applications under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Crop Intensification in Rice fallow areas and horticulture expansion in North-eastern States.
The Government has identified various advanced technologies which includes Space and Geo-spatial technology as one of the major technologies. Areas identified for space technology applications are crop estimation, drought assessment, horticulture development, crop insurance, pest & disease impact assessment, crop loss assessment, soil resource mapping, crop intensification, precision farming, sustainable agriculture and climate change impact on agriculture.
The KISAN project launched by Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare carried out various pilot studies for evaluating the role of satellite technology in crop yield estimation. Based on these studies and many consequent pilot studies carried out by the Ministry, currently, the satellite remote sensing is being used for various operational applications under PMFBY, such as Smart Sampling for Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs), Yield Dispute Resolution and Direct Yield Estimation. The PMFBY guidelines have devised SoPs for use of satellite data for various aspects of crop insurance.
The Government of India proposes to migrate to technology based yield estimation from the conventional CCE based yield estimation. Towards this, the Government is conducting large-scale pilot studies by engaging various agencies. During Kharif 2019, pilot studies were conducted by 13 agencies in 64 districts of 15 States for 9 crops which were validated during Rabi 2019-20 in 15 blocks of 6 States.
In Kharif 2020, large-scale pilot studies were conducted for Rice crop in 100 districts of 12 States by 8 agencies, which is being continued in Rabi 2020-21 for Rice and Wheat crop in 100 districts of 13 states. In addition, request for Expression of Interest (EoI) has been floated for conducting pilot studies in non-cereal crops.
Government of India have also rolled out smart sampling for Rice, Wheat, Rabi Jowar, and Rapeseed and Mustard crops during last 4 seasons.
Protocols have also been prepared for Two-Step Yield Estimation where technology will be used initially for loss categorization and then more CCEs will be conducted in ‘moderate’ or ‘severe’ areas and less CCEs will be conducted in ‘mild’ or ‘normal’ areas.