9 new breeds of indigenous livestock registered

Nine new breeds of indigenous farm animals have been registered by the Karnal-based Indian Council of Agricultural Research-National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (ICAR-NBAGR), taking the total number of indigenous breeds of livestock in the country to 160.

Details:

• Approval for the registration of the new breeds of livestock and poultry was recently given by the breed registration committee of the ICAR.
• The new germplasm of indigenous farm animals registered as breeds by the NBAGR includes one breed of cattle, two breeds each of goat and sheep, three breeds of pig, and one breed of chicken.
• Among the newly registered breeds, the cattle is found to be more disease resistant than the other known indigenous breeds.
• The newly identified and registered breeds include Badricow (Uttarakhand), Teressa goat (Nicobar Island), Kodi Adu goat (Tamil Nadu), Chevaadu sheep (Tamil Nadu), Kendrapada sheep (Odisha), Tenyi Vo pig (Nagaland), Nicobari pig (NicobarIsland), Doom pig (Assam) and Kaunayenchicken (Manipur).

Background:

Indigenous breeds of livestock and poultry are identified and registered as part of an exercise to conserve them, taking in view their area-specific suitability and heat\cold and disease resistance capabilities.

• The ICAR had initiated the mechanism for ‘Registration of Animal Germplasm’ through the NBAGR. It had in 2008 constituted a Breed Registration Committee that takes a call on registration of newly found indigenous breeds based on scientifically produced evidence.
• Registration of breeds is also aimed at creating a sense of ownership among local communities responsible for development of breeds.
• The registration of various unique populations as breeds shall also help in inventorisation, improvement, conservation and sustainable utilisation of animal genetic resources of the country.