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Innovative dissemination of small ruminant genetic improvement by a non-government institute in India
This report describes the dissemination methods of superior genetic material from sheep and goat breeding programs established by the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) in Maharashtra State of India. The FecB gene carrier, moderately prolific NARI Suwarna breed of sheep developed by NARI is being disseminated since 2014 in village flocks in 7 districts of Karnataka State by the State Government. The first 20 sheep owners who received breeding rams were trained at NARI in management of multiple-born lambs and their dams. Out of a total of 425 rams and 620 ewes sold for breeding so far, 167 rams and 128 ewes have been distributed in Karnataka. 73 lambs born in these flocks were genotyped at the FecBlocus at NARI and 19 good quality homozygous ram lambs were purchased by the State Government for dissemination to more flocks. The average litter size of NARI Suwarna ewes in these flocks is 1.8 with around 15% mortality in multiple-born lambs, leading to about 1.5 lambs weaned per ewe per lambing. Local ewes usually wean less than one lamb per ewe on average. The revenue generated by the sale of breeding animals has made the nucleus flock at NARI self-sustaining. NARI selects buck kids of the Osmanabadi goat breed from villages in four districts of Maharashtra State where performance recording is carried out under the All India Coordinated Research Project on Goat Improvement of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. NARI purchases from goat keepers, 6-months old, twin-born male kids with high growth rates, born to dams with a high milk yield. They are reared on NARI’s farm and their semen is frozen after they attain sexual maturity. Each dose contains 100 million spermatozoa and the post-thaw progressive motility is more than 60%. Private Artificial Insemination (AI) technicians purchase buck semen straws (3,800 so far) and provide cervical insemination to does in natural oestrus in the villages they visit. Village women trained by NARI under a collaborating NGO’s program have been found to be honest, hard-working, sincere and skilful in goat AI. The same AI gun as in cows can be used in goats. Since 2009, NARI has made available frozen semen of Boer (10,000 straws) and Damascus (2,000 straws) breed bucks from its nucleus flocks. Conception rates have been found to be about 50%. Dissemination methods that fit into the existing ethos and circumstances are likely to be more successful.