Transforming Animal Breeding in India- Breed Conservation to Breed Prioritization

Abstract

India is the hub of low producing non-descript cattle and buffalo population with forty well recognized cattle and 13 buffalo breeds. The present manuscript deals with the identification of priority breeds of cattle and buffalo which are mostly addressed for breed improvement programs in the country, preferred in around 44 semen stations, research institutes and farmers preference for these priority breeds. In almost every states livestock breeding policies, it was observed that for upgradation of non-discipt population preferred breeds of choice are Gir, Sahiwal, Hariana, Red Sindhi and Tharparkar. While in buffaloes, Murrah and Surti were preferred. In general, if the focus was on between breed diversity, the Gir cattle breed and Murrah buffalo breeds classified as top priority. After reviewing the lacunas in implementation of present breeding policies and farmers preference for a specific breeds, author through this manuscript proposes that these aforesaid cattle and buffalo breeds needs to be prioritized in the future to meet demand of per capita milk requirement for Indian population without harming present breed conservation programs for conserving unique featured genes in diversified livestock population of India.