ANIMAL HUSBANDRY RESEARCH
The Animal Husbandry Division (AHD) of Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) was established in 1990. The chief aim of the AHD is to genetically improve local goats and sheep, and to improve the management of these animals on which the livelihoods of many rural people are dependent. A recent video about AHD work is at this site.
AHD’s work over the years can be summarized under the following heads:
NARI suwarna
Development of NARI Suwarna sheep was the greatest achievement of the AHD. It was developed by introducing the ‘FecB’ or Booroola gene from the Garole sheep from Sunderban, West Bengal into the local Lonand Deccani sheep. The resulting NARI Suwarna sheep is taller, larger and faster growing than the Deccani sheep and most importantly, it has a 60% chance of producing twin lambs. Due to increased rate of twinning, NARI Suwarna gives higher returns to the sheep herders. Over the past two decades, NARI Suwarna breed has been disseminated to a large number of sheep owners in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
boer goat
Boer goat (best meat goat breed in the world) embryos were imported from Australia by NARI and the Maharashtra Goat and Sheep Research and Development Institute. The embryos were then introduced into local goats and a nucleus flock of Boer goats was established. The Boer has proved to be a fast growing and hardy breed for Indian climates and conditions. Thousands of goat keepers from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh have benefited by crossbreeding their goats with the Boer breed.
artificial insemination
NARI pioneered the development of technology for cervical Artificial Insemination (AI) of goats under field conditions in India. The AHD set up a state of the art semen freezing laboratory in 2014 with a grant from the Ministry of Agriculture, GoI. The laboratory stores frozen goat (buck) and sheep (ram) semen in 0.25 ml French mini straws. The usual AI gun is used to inject the straws into sheep and goats. Typically, the inseminated sheep/goats have a conception rate of 60 percent. A recent video about this work was shown on DD Marathi channel.
training
AHD has prepared brochures/manuals in simple Marathi, Hindi and English to give training in sheep and goat management and artificial insemination. AHD has also conducted more than 100 training programmes and workshops nationally and internationally for sheep/goat keepers, livestock supervisors and veterinarians. The programmes usually range from 2 to 6 days, covering topics such as housing, nutrition, breeding and first-aid for the small ruminants.
NARI Suwarna ewe with its twin lambs
Boer goat
Damascus cross doe with kids
Training session on Artificial Insemination
Parasite control under All India Goat Improvement Project
Goat Vaccination Camp under All India Goat Improvement Project
Exposure visit at NARI AHD
AHD manuals and brochures
Mulato
Dashrath
