"OPU-IVF Technology Produces First Badri Cattle Calf for Indigenous Breed Conservation"
OPU-IVF
Ovum Pick-Up and In Vitro Fertilization; collects oocytes from a live donor using ultrasound-guided aspiration for lab fertilization.
Badri cattle
Indigenous high-altitude cattle breed of Uttarakhand; the state animal, known for hardiness and high-fat milk.
India holds one of the world's largest and most diverse livestock populations. Indigenous cattle breeds are a critical part of this heritage. They are adapted to local climates, resistant to tropical diseases, and suited to low-input farming systems. For smallholder and marginal farmers, especially in hill and tribal regions, indigenous cattle provide milk income, draft power, and supplementary livelihoods. However, decades of unplanned crossbreeding with exotic breeds to chase higher milk yields have eroded the genetic diversity of many indigenous breeds. Several breeds now face population decline and genetic dilution.
Badri cattle are a recognised indigenous breed of Uttarakhand, adapted to the high-altitude Himalayan environment. They are also the state animal of Uttarakhand. Badri cattle are hardy, disease-resistant, and capable of surviving on sparse mountain forage. Their milk has a high fat content and is valued locally. Despite these qualities, the breed's population has been declining. Conventional breeding methods are slow. A single superior cow can produce only a limited number of calves in her lifetime through natural reproduction. This limits how quickly elite genetics can be spread through the population.
Advanced reproductive biotechnologies offer a way to overcome this biological bottleneck. They multiply superior germplasm at a pace that natural reproduction cannot match. The same principle underlies how technologies like embryo transfer have been used globally to accelerate genetic improvement in dairy cattle. It is now being applied to conserve India's own indigenous breeds.
Ovum Pick-Up and In Vitro Fertilization (OPU-IVF) is an advanced reproductive biotechnology. In conventional embryo transfer, a donor cow is superovulated using hormones, mated or artificially inseminated, and the resulting embryos are flushed from her uterus and transferred into recipient cows. OPU-IVF bypasses several of these steps.
In OPU-IVF, oocytes (immature egg cells) are collected directly from the ovaries of a living donor cow using an ultrasound-guided needle. This procedure can be repeated multiple times without harming the donor. The collected oocytes are then matured, fertilized with semen from a selected bull, and cultured in a laboratory until they develop into transferable embryos. …
What are the research and developmental achievements in applied biotechnology? How will these achievements help to uplift the poorer sections of the society?
How can biotechnology help to improve the living standards of farmers?
Consider the following statements regarding Ovum Pick-Up and In Vitro Fertilization (OPU-IVF) technology as applied to livestock:
1.Oocytes are collected from a living donor animal using an ultrasound-guided needle.
2.The collected oocytes are fertilised inside the donor animal's reproductive tract.
3.The resulting embryos can be transferred into recipient cows of a different breed.
4.OPU-IVF allows faster multiplication of elite germplasm compared to conventional natural reproduction.
How many of the above statements are correct?
Consider the following statements about Badri cattle:
1.They are an indigenous breed adapted to high-altitude Himalayan conditions.
2.They are recognised as the state animal of Uttarakhand.
3.The first OPU-IVF calf of this breed was born through a Sahiwal recipient cow.
4.Badri cattle are classified as an endangered species under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Consider the following pairs:
Indigenous Cattle Breed — State/Region of Origin
1.Badri — Uttarakhand
2.Sahiwal — Punjab/Rajasthan
3.Gir — Gujarat
4.Ongole — Andhra Pradesh
How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?
With reference to the conservation of indigenous cattle breeds in India, consider the following statements:
Statement-I: OPU-IVF technology allows embryos from a genetically superior donor cow to be carried by recipient cows of a different breed.
Statement-II: This is possible because the genetic identity of the calf is determined by the embryo's own DNA, not by the recipient cow carrying the pregnancy.
Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?
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