Badri calf born via OPU-IVF in Uttarakhand, a first for the native breed

A healthy female calf of the Badri breed, an indigenous cattle variety native to Uttarakhand, has been born through Ovum Pick-Up and In Vitro Fertilization (OPU-IVF) technology, the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare said. The calf was delivered on Friday by a Sahiwal recipient cow, following the transfer of a Badri embryo.

The work was carried out jointly by ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (ICAR-NDRI), Karnal, and GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, with funding from the Uttarakhand Biotechnology Council, Haldi. The ministry described the outcome as a demonstration of how advanced reproductive biotechnology can support conservation, rapid multiplication and genetic improvement of valuable Badri germplasm.

Under the programme, oocytes were harvested from selected genetically valuable Badri donor cows using ultrasound-guided ovum pick-up. These were matured and fertilised in the laboratory with semen from a genetically superior Badri bull sourced through the Uttarakhand Livestock Development Board. The resulting embryos were cultured under controlled conditions and transferred into synchronised recipient cows. One such embryo, implanted in a Sahiwal cow, produced the calf.

A second synchronised crossbred recipient is expected to calve within five to seven days, the ministry said.

Dr Dheer Singh, Director of ICAR-NDRI, Karnal, said technologies such as OPU-IVF allow elite female germplasm to be multiplied faster and can underpin structured breed-improvement and conservation programmes for Badri cattle. The institute has previously used the same technique to produce calves of the Sahiwal and Gir breeds. Dr Praveen Malik, Chief Executive Officer of Agrinnovate India, called the development an important milestone for indigenous breed conservation.

The Badri research programme began in 2023 under the leadership of Dr M S Chauhan, then Vice-Chancellor of GB Pant University. The ministry said the technology makes it possible to obtain multiple embryos from genetically superior females, raising the rate of multiplication of elite germplasm compared with conventional reproduction.

The team is also exploring cloning of elite, high-producing Badri cows. Cloned Badri embryos have been generated through several stages of ongoing research, and the next phase will involve transferring OPU-IVF- and cloning-derived embryos into suitable Sahiwal, crossbred and Badri recipients, the ministry added.