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Researchers of National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) here have cloned a female buffalo calf. The calf, which has been named as Lalima, is the work of advanced "hand-guided cloning technique" and delivered on May 2. The achievement, though, was disclosed on Monday.
Lalima is NDRI's seventh cloned calf. The institute had produced the world's first cloned buffalo calf in 2009. Three of the seven cloned calves had died. Lalima was born by normal parturition and its weight at the time of birth was around 36kg. The calf is keeping in good health and weighs 42kg at present.
In Lalima's case, the donor cell was taken from the ear of an "elite" murrah buffalo of institute's livestock farm which produced 2,713kg milk in standard lactation period of 305 days. The calf was produced after standard gestation period without any assistance and had normal birth weight.
Congratulating the scientists, director general of Indian council of agricultural research (ICAR) S Ayyappan said the new achievement of producing cloned calf from adult lactating animals by "hand-guided cloning" technique would facilitate faster multiplication of elite germplasm and help to face the challenges of increasing demand of milk.
NDRI director A K Srivastava hoped that the technology could go a long way in multiplying the number of best milch buffaloes in the country. "India has world's largest population of buffaloes, which contribute about 55% of the total milk production in the country but even then there is an urgent need to enhance the population of elite buffaloes as their number is very small," he said.
Known worldwide for its high yield, a murrah buffalo produces up to 32kg of milk daily, almost double than that of an ordinary buffalo. Normally, a good murrah can fetch between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, though, a farmer from Andhra Pradesh in 2013, bought a murrah buffalo from a Haryana farmer for Rs 25 lakh.
The glorious past
Researchers at NDRI had produced the world's first cloned buffalo in 2009 through "advanced hand-guided cloning technique" and used a donor cell from a foetus. It was an advanced modification of the "conventional cloning technique". The clone had survived for six days only. The second clone, which became the first surviving clone of buffalo, died after two years in 2011 -- due to some health aliments. Garima, which was the third cloned buffalo born on August 22, 2010, survived without any complications and went on to deliver a calf in 2013.
National Dairy Research Institute clones female buffalo calf - The Times of India
Lalima is NDRI's seventh cloned calf. The institute had produced the world's first cloned buffalo calf in 2009. Three of the seven cloned calves had died. Lalima was born by normal parturition and its weight at the time of birth was around 36kg. The calf is keeping in good health and weighs 42kg at present.
In Lalima's case, the donor cell was taken from the ear of an "elite" murrah buffalo of institute's livestock farm which produced 2,713kg milk in standard lactation period of 305 days. The calf was produced after standard gestation period without any assistance and had normal birth weight.
Congratulating the scientists, director general of Indian council of agricultural research (ICAR) S Ayyappan said the new achievement of producing cloned calf from adult lactating animals by "hand-guided cloning" technique would facilitate faster multiplication of elite germplasm and help to face the challenges of increasing demand of milk.
NDRI director A K Srivastava hoped that the technology could go a long way in multiplying the number of best milch buffaloes in the country. "India has world's largest population of buffaloes, which contribute about 55% of the total milk production in the country but even then there is an urgent need to enhance the population of elite buffaloes as their number is very small," he said.
Known worldwide for its high yield, a murrah buffalo produces up to 32kg of milk daily, almost double than that of an ordinary buffalo. Normally, a good murrah can fetch between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, though, a farmer from Andhra Pradesh in 2013, bought a murrah buffalo from a Haryana farmer for Rs 25 lakh.
The glorious past
Researchers at NDRI had produced the world's first cloned buffalo in 2009 through "advanced hand-guided cloning technique" and used a donor cell from a foetus. It was an advanced modification of the "conventional cloning technique". The clone had survived for six days only. The second clone, which became the first surviving clone of buffalo, died after two years in 2011 -- due to some health aliments. Garima, which was the third cloned buffalo born on August 22, 2010, survived without any complications and went on to deliver a calf in 2013.
National Dairy Research Institute clones female buffalo calf - The Times of India
