Research Achivements

Achievements ICAR-CIRC, Meerut

The Central Institute for Research on Cattle (CIRC) formerly known as Project Directorate on Cattle (PDC) was established on 3rd November 1987 at Military Farms School and Research Centre, Meerut by upgrading the status of All- India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Cattle. Being a premiere Institute solely working on the genetic improvement of cattle, it plays significant and pivotal role in improving the cattle production. The ICAR- CIRC conducts interdisciplinary research in the field of cattle breeding, feeding, management and reproduction to enhance productivity and profitability. The Institute plan, coordinate and monitor the research projects on cattle and serve as national data repository and provide consultancy for cattle production and reproduction.

The institute played significant role by providing superior male germplasm to the stakeholders. The Institute help to produce high producing cattle through the supply of superior progeny tested male germplasm. The production performance of daughters born out of the semen doses supplied by the Institute is comparatively better than the female cattle in other similar programmes. The Institute provides training to the AI workers and farmers involved in cattle rearing and thereby motivate the rural youths and to generate self-employment. The institute also coordinates three important genetic improvement projects through AICRP on cattle to increase the performance of cattle maintained under both farm and field conditions along with suitable technologies for sustenance of production and reproduction. The institute also acts as a key player in the socio-economic upliftment of cattle owners by infusing superior germplasm in the farmer’s herd with suitable feeding and management technologies for enhancing the milk production and optimizing the reproduction.

AICRP on CATTLE

The AICRP on cattle aims to improve the performance of cattle maintained under farm and field conditions. Under the Frieswal project, a national milch breed “Frieswal” was evolved using the facilities in 36 military dairy farms located at various agro climatic regions of the country.  Subsequently, the Indigenous Breeds Project (IBP) was also started in collaboration with the State Veterinary/Agricultural Universities, State Government, Non-Government Organizations and Gaushalas. The Field Progeny Testing (FPT) project was initiated to bring about improvement in crossbred cattle at farmers’ herd in collaboration with the SAUs, State Govt. and Non-Government Organizations.

 

Continued maintenance of Frieswal herd of elite cows would be required for production and selection of bulls which can be used in FPT project where crossbreds are being reared for milk production. The Indigenous Breeds Project (IBP) and Field Progeny Testing programme (FPT) needs to be continued to improve the production potential of both Indigenous and crossbred cattle of the country. As per objective of long term project, the conservation and genetic improvement of all the recognized indigenous cattle breeds of our country should continue. The progeny testing and evaluation of a bull require minimum 5 to 5.5 years and this is the only technique for producing genetically superior bulls. There is acute shortage of progeny tested bulls in our country. In order to get a meaningful result as envisaged by the objectives of the project, the FPT project needs to be continued as a long term project for the genetic improvement of crossbred cattle which contributes maximum milk production of our country.

The IBP project is being operated in three indigenous cattle breeds viz., Gir, Kankrej and Sahiwal in collaboration with various SAUs and ICAR institutes for conservation, propagation and improvement of these indigenous cattle breeds. Under these projects, semen doses of genetically superior indigenous bulls are supplied to Gujarat, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Punjab States for breeding the respective breeds of cattle. The FPT programme is undertaken at four field units viz., GADVASU, Ludhiana, BAIF, Pune, KVASU, Mannuthy and GBPUA&T, Pantnagar for the genetic improvement of cattle maintained by the farmers.

Brief summary of achievements and initiatives made by ICAR-CIRC, Meerut during 2017-20 are as follows:

During the 13th Plan period, ICAR-CIRC, Meerut has made significant achievements in germplasm Production as it made availability of more than 20 Lakh doses of Frieswal and 160708, 71436 and 88642 doses, respectively of Gir, Kankrej and Sahiwal indigenous breeds for meeting the breeding demand of the country. Studies for improvement of semen quality through mineral supplementation, survey for formulation of area specific mineral mixture, optimization of superovulatory response, improvement on reproductive efficiency of bovines, reduction in prevalence of mastitis were also done during the period. Institute also obtained two design patents for resolving the reproductive problems in bovines, developed and applied patents for six new technologies in addition to three diagnostic methods. Developed a mobile app “COOWLER” on management of thermal stress in cattle and also developed web based software “SIReDAM” for real time data entry in AICRP on Cattle. Transferred three technologies viz., BLAD, CVM, CowCAM to Agriinnovate for commercialization. Published nearly 69 research articles, 3 review papers, 5 popular articles, 5 books, 10 Hindi leaflets and 5 English leaflets. Conducted 15 trainings to nearly 1281 farmers on various aspects of advanced dairy cattle farming. Attended 14 Kisan Melas and conducted health camps for treatment of cattle for infertility, anestrus, mastitis, metritis etc.  Also distributed floor mats for cattle, CMT kits for detection of mastitis, mineral mixture supplements, improved seed varieties of different crops and fodders. Conducted 5 training programmes (1 ICAR WS; 3 MANAGE sponsored Certified Livestock Advisor trainings; 1 Model training course) and a national conference on “Livestock Improvement for Sustainable Livestock Production”. Signed MoU with five National Institutions / Universities of high repute and conducted more than 52 radio school programmes on various aspects of cattle farming for dissemination of scientific knowledge to the needy stakeholders.

Under the Frieswal Project of AICRP on Cattle, successfully evolved “Frieswal” a national milch breed of crossbred cattle (5/8 Holstein Friesian and 3/8 Sahiwal) yielding mature lactation milk production of 3628 kg and obtained the trademark “Frieswal”. Increased the number of Frieswal cows to 20673 in 2017-18 (During the closure of Military Farms) compared to 2305 in 1989 and also increased the number of elite Frieswal cows to 992 in 2018-19 from 484 in 1989. Increased the 300 days milk production of Frieswal cows from to 3340 kg in 2019 from 2774 kg in 1989 and 3308 kg in 2009-10. Established bull mother farm of Frieswal cattle at NDRI, Karnal with nearly 200 elite cows for its conservation, genetic improvement and propagation. Under the Indigenous breeds project, identified and registered about 18050 Gir, 6200 Kankrej and 813 Sahiwal females in their respective breeding tracts. Produced 219823 frozen semen doses of Gir, 143482 doses of Kankrej and 174172 doses of Sahiwal bulls and 160708, 71436 and 88642 doses, respectively are available for future breeding. Produced a total of 5561, 2380 and 862 Gir, Kankrej and Sahiwal daughters, respectively. Increased the milk production by 36.69% (2563 kg in 2019 from 1875 kg in 2010) in Gir, 24.25% (1957 kg in 2019 from 1575 kg in 2010) in Sahiwal and 20.00% (2004 kg in 2019 from 1670 kg in 2010) in Kankrej breeds of cattle. Also identified elite females yielding 3238 kg of milk in Gir, 3553 kg in Kankrej and 3393 kg in Sahiwal cattle. Under the Field Progeny Testing (FPT) Project, increased the average first lactation 305 days milk yields of the Frieswal progenies under field conditions by 56.59 % in KVASU (3066 kg in 2019 from 1958 kg in 1994 and 2463 kg in 2010), 40.10 % in GADVASU, (3780 kg in 2019 from 2698 kg in 1995 and 2904 kg in 2010), 9.76 % in BAIF (3216 kg in 2019 from 2930 kg in 1995 and 2922 kg in 2010) and 29.66 % in GBPUA&T unit (3235 kg in 2019 from 2495 kg in 2010).

 

 

Gist of the achievements and initiatives made during 13th Plan is tabulated below.

Research

AICRP projects

·        Three sub projects of AICRP on Cattle

Institute Projects

·        Eighteen In-house  projects

Externally funded projects

·        Five externally funded projects (DST&DBT)

Inter-Institutional projects

·        Three Inter-Institutional projects

Service projects

·        Three service projects

Outputs from research:

publications; products/ processes; technologies commercialized

·        69 research articles

·        3 review papers

·        5 books

·        10 Hindi leaflets

·        5 English leaflets

·        3 technologies transferred to AgriInnovate India for commercialization

·        7 patents filed for processes/methods/kits developed

Capacity Building Development (CPD) Initiatives

Training

Ø  1 ICAR Winter School trainings

Ø  3 Certified Livestock Advisor trainings sponsored by Department of MANAGE approved by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, GoI.

Ø  1 Model training courses sponsored by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, GoI.

New Initiatives

Research, Academic and Extension activities

·      Established bull mother unit of Frieswal cattle of ICAR-CIRC, Meerut at NDRI, Karnal

·      Developed an online data entry software SIReDAM for cattle data management in collaboration with ICAR-IASRI, New Delhi

·      Signed 6 MOUs between ICAR-CIRC and RAJUVAS, Bikaner; MPKV, Rahuri; CKU, Raipur; IIT, Roorkee; IISWC, Dehradun and MIET, Meerut for academic and research collaborations.

·      Established network with the farmers through Mobile Veterinary Extension services

·      Conducted series of 52 radio Pathasala in collaboration with AIR Nazibabad

·      Developed Urea Molases Mineral Blocks (UMMB) for supplementary feeding of minerals in Paudi region of Uttarakhand State.

Services Offered

Providing input to the cattle farmers and other stakeholders

·      Supply of male germplasm of different Indigenous breeds of cattle and Frieswal catte.

·      As member of verification committee, conducted verification of the newly proposed cattle populations for registration as a breed.

·      Trained farmers on production of vermi-compost as manure and supplied vermicompst to needy stakeholders.

·      Testing of genetic defects of young breeding bulls before their induction for semen production

·      Conducted awareness and sensitization programmes for dairy cattle farming under SCSP.

Participation in Flagship programmes of GOI

Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan;

Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav (Village adoption); Cashless transactions; Digital India; Skill India

·      Complying with directives in totality

·      Institutionalizing all initiatives at the institute

·      Ensuring stakeholders’ participation

 

Quality Management System

ISO Certification

·      Institute has become an ISO 9001:2015 organization for Research and development of cattle for higher production and productivity.

 

Research Achievements of XIII Plan (2017-20)

 

Germplasm Production

 

Made availability of more than 20 Lakh doses of Frieswal and 160708, 71436 and 88642 doses, respectively of Gir, Kankrej and Sahiwal indigenous breeds for meeting the breeding demand of the country.

 

Research accomplishments

 

·         Mineral supplementation (ppm/kg DM) of Cu (25), Mn (80) and Zn (80) as a single salt and in combination improved semen quality.

·         Conducted survey for formulation of area specific mineral mixture (ASMM) for Meerut district.

·         Developed supplementary feed formulation as Urea Molases Mineral Block (UMMB) licks for the Uttarakhand State under the SCSP programme.

·         Optimized the superovulatory response in cattle with pFSH:  Sahiwal and Tharparker - 200-240 mg pFSH; Gir and Kankrej cattle  - 240-260 mg; Frieswal – 400 mg.

·         Successfully demonstrated ETT at farmers doorstep by producing two live Sahiwal calves and two additional pregnancies.

·         Improved the reproductive efficiency of bovines under the Farmers First Programme. Of 6212 bovines examined, 42% were found with reproductive problems which reduced to 32% resulting in 600 additional calving with additional milk production with a lactation yield of 2500 lit.

·         Reduced the prevalence of mastitis in bovines (N=300) from 42 to 6.36% through management interventions viz., teat dipping for first 100 days of calving, CMT screening and providing floor mat.

·         Published nearly 69 research articles, 3 review papers, 5 popular articles, 5 books, 10 Hindi leaflets and 5 English leaflet.

 

Developed and applied patent for six new technologies

 

·         Colour based test for differentiation of Cow vs. Goat milk/meat samples

·         An in-house built LAMP assay for rapid detection of cow components adulterated in buffalo milk/meat

·         Easy and economical Protocol for BLAD testing in bulls and all the technologies have been filed for patenting.

·         Single tube tetra ARMS PCR-based assay for genotyping FMD virus receptor in cattle

·         Development of tetra primer displacement PCR assay for detection of complex vertebral malformation (CVM) in cattle and

·         ICAR-CIRC COWCAM kit for detecting cow milk adulteration in camel milk or vice versa at the level of 1%.

 

Diagnostic methods developed

·         Identify nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within HSP 70.1 and HSP 90AB1

·         Double PCR RFLP (DPR) methodology for screening promoter region of stressor genes in cattle,

·         RT LAMP assay for profiling of bovine HSP70 during thermal stress in cattle, a single tube tetra PCR based strategy for genotyping FMD host receptor tropism in cattle

 

ICT developed

  • A mobile app “COOWLER” in collaboration with Nucleo Pesquisas Replicon University,     Goiania, Brazil on management of thermal stress in cattle.
  • A web based software “SIReDAM” for real time entry of the data collected under the AICRP project in collaboration with ICAR-IASRI, New Delhi has been developed and presently in the process of validation.

Technology transfer

·         Frozen semen technology and vermi-composting technology have been exploited to a large extent to supply the frozen semen doses and vermi-compost to the needy stakeholders and scientific knowledge on water budgeting has been given to the cattle farmers for sustainable utilization of the limited available water resources.

·         Developed and transferred BLAD, CVM, CowCAM technologies to Agriinnovate for commercialization.

 

Extension

·         Conducted 15 trainings to the farmers and needy stakeholders on various aspects of advanced dairy cattle farming covering breeding, nutrition, management, reproduction and health.

·         A total of 1281 farmers were trained during the above mentioned 15 training programmes

·         Attended 14 Kisan Mela organized by different agencies and demonstrated and trained a sizable number of farmers on the activities and technologies developed by the Institute.

·         Regular visit to the villages adopted under MGMG and FARMERS FIRST programme.

·         Distributed floor mats for cattle, CMT kits for detection of mastitis, mineral mixture supplements, improved seed varieties of different crops and fodders.

·         Conducted health camps and treated the cattle for infertility, anestrus, mastitis, metritis and improved the reproductive and health status of animals.

 

 

 

 

Other achievements

·         Conducted one ICAR Winter School training, 3 Manage sponsored Certified Livestock Advisor trainings, one Model training course.

·         Conducted a National Conference on “Livestock Improvement for Sustainable Livestock Production”.

·         Signed MoU with five National Institutions / Universities of high repute viz., RAJUVAS, Bikaner, MPKV, Rahuri, Kamdhenu Chattisgarh University, Durg, IIT, Roorkee and  MIET, Meerut for research and academic collaborations.

·         Conducted more than 52 radio school programmes on various aspects of cattle farming for dissemination of scientific knowledge to the needy stakeholders

Capacity building

Provided regular training to the farmers on various advanced aspects of dairy cattle management and also conduct training programmes for scientists, academicians, technical officers and students under HRD activities.

 

S.No.

Year

Trainings attended by CIRC staff

Trainings organised at CIRC Meerut

 

 

Scientists

Technical

Admn

SSS

Total

For ICAR staff

 

For Other

 

Total

 

No. of participants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ICAR

Non ICAR

 Total

1

2017-18

8

1

9

9

27

1

2

3

8

29

37

2

2018-19

5

0

4

8

17

2

1

3

22

15

37

3

2019-20

5

2

2

0

9

0

2

3

0

8*

12*

* include only MTC participants

 

 

AICRP ON CATTLE

Frieswal Project

Ø  Successfully evolved “Frieswal” a national milch breed of crossbred cattle (5/8 Holstein Friesian and 3/8 Sahiwal) yielding mature lactation milk production of 3628 kg with an age at first calving of 970 days (31.9 months).

Ø  Obtained trademark “Frieswal” for the crossbred milch breed.

Ø  Increased the number of Frieswal cows to 20673 in 2017-18 (During the closure of Military Farms) compared to 2305 in 1989.

Ø  Increased the number of elite cows to 992 in 2018-19 from 484 in 1989.

Ø  Increased the 300 days milk production from to 3340 kg  in 2019 from 2774 kg in 1989 and 3308 kg in 2009-10

Ø  Decreased the age at first calving to 967 days in 2019 from 1040 days in 2004 and 975 days in 2009-10.

Ø  During the period from 2009-10 to 2018-19, produced 28,24,589 number of Frozen semen doses and distributed 15,62,412 doses to the needy stakeholders and a cumulative balance of 20,55,322 doses are available for future breeding.

Ø  Established the bull mother farm of Frieswal cattle with nearly 200 elite cows for its conservation, genetic improvement and propagation.

 

Indigenous Breeds Project

Ø  Identified and registered about 18050 Gir, 6200 Kankrej and 813 Sahiwal females in the breeding tracts of respective breed.

Ø  Produced 219823 frozen semen doses of Gir, 143482 doses of Kankrej and 174172 doses of Sahiwal bulls and 160708, 71436 and 88642 doses, respectively are available for future breeding.

Ø  Produced a total of 5561, 2380 and 862 Gir, Kankrej and Sahiwal daughters, respectively.

Ø  Increased the milk production by 36.69% (2563 kg in 2019 from 1875 kg in 2010) in Gir, 24.25% (1957 kg in 2019 from 1575 kg in 2010) in Sahiwal and 20.00% (2004 kg in 2019 from 1670 kg in 2010) in Kankrej breeds of cattle.

Ø  Identified elite females yielding 3238 kg of milk in Gir, 3553 kg in Kankrej and 3393 kg in Sahiwal cattle.

 

Field Progeny Testing Project

Ø  Increased the average first lactation 305 days milk yields of the Frieswal progenies under field conditions by 56.59 % in KVASU (3066 kg in 2019 from 1958 kg in 1994 and 2463 kg in 2010), 40.10 % in GADVASU, (3780 kg in 2019 from 2698 kg in 1995 and 2904 kg in 2010), 9.76 % in BAIF (3216 kg in 2019 from 2930 kg in 1995 and 2922 kg in 2010) and 29.66 % in GBPUA&T unit (3235 kg in 2019 from 2495 kg in 2010).

Ø  Improved the reproduction efficiency of the Frieswal progenies under field conditions by decreasing the average age at first calving (AFC) of the Frieswal progenies by 7.22 % in KVASU (1054 days in 2019 from 1136 days in 1994 and 1109 days in 2010), 12.5 % in GADVASU (1043 days in 2019 from 1192 days in 1995 and 1198 days in 2010), 4.4 % in BAIF (957 days in 2019 from 1001 days in 2010 and 976 days in 1995) and 4.96 % in GBPUA&T unit (1092 days in 2019 from 1149 days in 2010).

 

The research activities would be undertaken under following proposed broad research programmes of the Institute:

1.      Genetic improvement of other important indigenous breeds of cattle viz., Tharparkar, Rathi etc. using conventional and modern breeding techniques.

2.      Large scale production of quality cattle germplasm.

3.      Identification of genetic markers for increasing the productive and reproductive performance of cattle.

4.      Application for Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) for multiplication of elite females.

5.      Nutritional and managemental interventions for increasing the productivity of cattle.

6.      Dissemination of technologies and impact analysis.

7.      Comparative economics of productivity of Indian cattle breeds vis-à-vis crossbred cattle.