Nine new indigenous farm animals registered

NEW DELHI: Secretary (DARE) and Director General (ICAR), Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra presided over a ceremony held here on Tuesday for awarding certificates to the applicants of breed registration. Nine new germplasm of indigenous farm animals registered as breeds by Karnal based National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources(NBAGR), on Tuesday. Dr.Trilochan Mohapatra, Director General, IndianCouncil of Agricultural Research presided overthefunction to award certificates to the applicants   for breed registration.

Dr. Mohapatra said “The registration of various unique populations as breeds shall help in inventorization, improvement, conservation and sustainable utilization of animal genetic resources of the country”.

He appreciated the efforts of ICAR in cataloguing the animal genetic resources of the country and emphasized that registration of breeds will create a sense of ownership among local communities responsible for development of breeds.

The nine new indigenous farm animals include one breed of cattle, two breeds each of goat and sheep, three breeds of pig, and one breed of chicken.  After including these newly registered breeds, total number of indigenous breeds now in the country is 160, which include 40 for cattle, 13 for buffalo, 26 for goat, 42 for sheep, 6 for horses & ponies, 9 for camel, 6 for pig, 1 for donkey and 17 for chicken.

Earlier, Dr H. Rahman, Deputy Director General (Animal Sciences) in his welcome address, praised NBAGR, Karnal for its dedicated efforts to characterize and conserve indigenous livestock. He lauded the efforts put in by livestock keepers, scientists and officers of institutes/departments in identifying and characterizing unique populations which lead to their registration as new breeds.