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Agricultural College now a data centre for ‘Sahiwal’ breed of cow
In September 2022, the College of Agriculture Pune had for the first time witnessed the birth of a calf of the Sahiwal breed through ovum pickup and in-vitro fertilisation (OPC IVF) technique at its premises
The Indian Council for Agricultural Research-Central Institute for Research on Cattle (ICAR-CIRC) this week approved the College of Agriculture Pune as a data centre for ‘Sahiwal’, an indigenous breed of cow.
According to College of Agriculture officials, the data centre will help maintain information on Sahiwal cows across India, especially those with better sperm quality, so as to increase the population of this breed of cow which yields more milk.
In September 2022, the College of Agriculture Pune had for the first time witnessed the birth of a calf of the Sahiwal breed through ovum pickup and in-vitro fertilisation (OPC IVF) technique at its premises. The calf had weighed 27 kg at birth. In the next two years, the College of Agriculture Pune witnessed the birth of 60 Sahiwal calves through embryo transfer.
In a letter to Mahatma Phule Agricultural College (MPAC) vice-chancellor (VC) Prashant Patil, ICAR-CIRC director Ashok Kumar Mohanty said, “As your university has established a Sahiwal herd with around 1,000 Sahiwal cows being reared successfully by the members of the Sahiwal Club under the guidance of the College of Agriculture Pune, the data centre has been approved.”
While MPAC VC Patil replied, “It is a great achievement for the College of Agriculture Pune as ICAR-CIRC has approved the data centre for Sahiwal cows for Pune. The main aim of this is to preserve the indigenous breed, promote and improve it.”
Earlier, the government had approved such data centres at Karnal (Haryana), Ludhiana (Punjab) and Pant Nagar (Uttarakhand) for different purposes. These centres are involved in different kinds of research on the Sahiwal breed. The Karnal centre provides superior germplasm for breeding of Sahiwal cows and data generated is shared with the CIRC. Patil said that the Sahiwal breed is one of the best indigenous breeds with origins in the Sahiwal district of Punjab province of Pakistan.
The Sahiwal cow on an average yields 2,500 to 2700 litres of milk during a single lactation cycle. This is higher than the 1,200 to 1,700 litres of milk given by a normal cow in the same lactation cycle.
Somnath Mane, chief scientist, indigenous cattle research-cum-training centre, College of Agriculture Pune, said, “The aim of the programme, underway only at our institute, is to conserve the indigenous cattle breeds.”
Officials said that public awareness has helped the Sahiwal Club of Maharashtra with 7,000 cows belonging to 350 farmers. The number of Sahiwal cows has risen substantially from just 18 around five years ago which is an indication that more and more milk producing farmers are preferring Sahiwal cows, Patil said.
Keeping in view the importance of indigenous breeds, known for their adaptability and resistance to disease, Indigenous Breeds Project (IBP) was started at the College of Agriculture Pune with help from the Maharashtra government.
