introduction

Farm Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR) include all animal species, breeds and strains (and their wild relatives) that are of economic, scientific and cultural interest to humankind in terms of food and agricultural production for the present or in the future. There are some 40 species and 7616 breeds of AnGR that have been domesticated during the past 10,000 to 12,000 years.

With the introduction of industrial farm production bio-diversity is vanishing at rapid rate; every year about 34,000 plant and 5,200 animal species disappear, a rate 50-100 times higher than the losses expected through natural processes. About 1,000 of the 7,616 recognized livestock & poultry breeds extinct in the last 100 years, and 300 of these alone during the last 15 years.

Another 2,000 breeds are at stake if no counter measures for their conservation are taken. India registerd 129 breed in NBAGR Among the domesticated breeds 1-2 breeds are lost every week FAO reported that -World watch list domesticated animal diversity 6300 breedsbelong to 30 species

GeneticDiversityinAnGR inIndia
(Numberofbreeds)

Species Cattle Buffalo Yak Sheep Goat Horse Donkey Camel Pig Rabbit Fowl Quail Duck

As per World Watch List 70 20 5 62 34 7 3 9 (+1 Bactrian) 8 3 19 2 6

As per Indian literature 30 10 Nil 42 20 6 Nil 8 Nil Nil 15 Nil Nil

NBAGR,2009

JUSTIFICATIONFORCONSERVATIONOR REASON?
Economicandbiologicalreasons: Scientificreasons: Historicalandculturalreasons Environmentalconsideration Energysources

Economicandbiologicalreasons:
A. Genetic variation both within and between breeds is the raw material with which the animal breeder works. Therefore, any loss of genetic variation will limit our capacity to respond to changes in economic forces for the exploitation of animal production in future.

Breedswithspecificqualitieslike, Diseaseresistance,protozoandiseases Heattolerance, Abilitytosurviveandproduceunderstress lowinputandproducegoodproductlike meat,milk,etc..

Contin
Future requirements of type and quality of animal produce (milk, draught power) may change and this requires conservation of animals with better performance in specific production traits.

Magnitude of heterosis depends upon the breeds crossed. For exploiting the heterosis in animal production, it is necessary to maintain breeds which are complementary to each other and on crossing result in maximum heterosis.

2. Scientificreasons
Breeds with unique physiological or other traits are of great value as they provide missing links in the genetic history of a livestock species by The study of blood groups The study polymorphic traits. To identify the dna sequences causing the distinctive traits, Preservation of breeds with unique traits will be essential for long term research in molecular engineering.

To evaluate the magnitude of genetic change due to selection, maintenance of a sample as control population is very much essential. Investigations in different areas like Physiology, Biochemistry, Genetics immunology, etc. Require maintenance of diverse populations.

Variety of populations are an asset for research work in biological evolution, behavioural studies, etc. Diverse populations form an excellent teaching material for students of animal science, ecology, etc.

3. Historicalandculturalreasons
Conservation of historically important, culturally interesting and visually unusual and attractive population is very important for education, tourism etc. Further, conservation of breeds Can be a valuable material of nature and culture,

Serve as research and teaching material in history and ethnography, Will be preservation of populations with diverse sizes, colours and other morphological features, for aesthetic reasons, and Need be done to take care of existence of different creations of the nature for posterity.

4.Environmentalconsideration
Every organism has its own role to play with in an ecosystem Loss of germplasm has adverse effect on the ecosystem which is hazardous to the existing mankind Domesticated breed integral part of our ecosystem

5.Energysource
India has number of good drought breeds of cattle used to perform number of agricultural operation before intensification of the mechanized agriculture Non-renewable source of energy may exhausted sooner or later In such condition animal drought power will be required

Statusofbreeds
s,.no 1 2 3 4 5 Status Normal Insecure Vulnerable Endangered Critical Number >10,000 10,0005,000 1,0005,000 1001,000 < 100

MECHANISMOFCONSERVINGCATTLE GENETICRESOURCES
Once genetic resources have been identified and characterized, two basic conservation activities can be followed, In situ Ex situ.

INSITUCONSERVATION
In situ conservation requires establishment of live animal breeding farms and their maintenance. The generation and loss of alleles is a dynamic process that should be maintained at close equilibrium through sound management. In situ conservation strategies emphasize wise use of indigenous cattle genetic resources by establishing and implementing breeding goals and strategies for animal sustainable production systems. Information for animal recording and breeding is well established in developed countries through breeding associations which zealously protect the interest of breeds including rare ones

Typesofinsitu conservation
Active process breed development and breeding programes Passive process only maintenance of animal in their natural environment

MAJOR ADVANTAGES OF INSITU CONSERVATION:

1.Liveanimalscanbeevaluatedandimprovedoverthe years. 2.Geneticdefectscanbedetectedandeliminated. 3.Liveanimalsarealwaysavailableforimmediateuse. 4.Theyareagenebankforfutureuse. 5.Theyareaconstantreminderthattheneedsof posteritymustbeconsidered.

Contin .,
6.Theherdmayhavesomeeconomicadvantages(heat tolerance,diseaseresistance)whichcanbeexploited andsorendertheenterpriseeconomicallyviable. 7.Theproducefromliveanimalspartlycompensates theexpenditure,ifnotentirely. 8.Fromaestheticpointofview,theliveanimalsare, visible,apleasuretolookat,thepeoplearedelighted toseevarietyofanimalsandhavesomeculturalvalue.

THEMAJORLIMITATIONOFLIVE ANIMALCONSERVATION
Whilefixingthenumberforpreservationofabreed, Thecostofmaintenance, Availabilityofanimalsandrateofinbreedingshouldbe takenintoconsideration. Withsmallpopulationsize,theeffectivepopulationsize decreasesandthegeneticstructureofthepopulationis affectedduetoinbreedingandrandomdrift. Manymodelsarenowavailablewhichreduceinbreedingto aminimum,butrandomdriftoverlongperiodsmaylead toapopulationverydifferentingeneticcompositionfrom theinitialone.

Cont..,
GeneXenvironmentinteractionsisanother disadvantage. Insituconservationinvolves Alargeinfrastructureofland, Buildings, Feedandfodderresources, Watersupply, Labour, Technicalandsupervisorymanpower,etc.

EXSITUCONSERVATION
Ex-situ conservation includes cryogenic preservation. It is the storage of genetic resources, which the farmers are currently not interested in using. Ex situ conservation is based on the use of live animals populations wherever practicable, supported by cryopreservation where technology exists or can be developed, combining within-country gene banks with global repositories.

Interested governments, norgovernmental organizations, research institutions and private enterprises should be encouraged to maintain in vivo samples of breeds at risk, with national inventories being established and kept up to date so that the genetic resources are readily available for use and study.

Advantages
1. If the preservation is to maintain populations without genetic change, it can be best done by cryogenic storage as it is difficult to breed many generations of animals without any change in the genetic structure. 2. The resources requirement for in situ preservation is quite large as compared to cryogenic methods.

Limitations
1. Ex situ preservation using frozen semen delays the restoration of a breed as it can be restored in the future only by upgrading. But this could be overcome through preservation of embryos. 2. Another important factor is the danger faced by a breed restored from cryogenic preservation from important changes in the environment like germs, climate, etc., that have taken place over the years. 3. Variability in cryogenic storage of germplasm, accessibility to their physical location, ownership, behaviour of animal, response of germplasm to freezing and thawing techniques, and poor conception rate.

EXSITU/CRYOGENICPRESERVATION INCLUDES
1.Preservationoffrozensemen 2.Preservationofoocytes 3.Preservationofembryos 4.Preservationofovaries 5.Useofembryonicstemcellsorblastomeres 6.Productionofchimeras 7.Productionofembryosinvitro 8.Embryosplitting 9.Transgenesis 10.DNAlibraries

Semenpreservation:
Semen cryopreservation and artificial insemination are important tools of animal improvement with vast scope of genetic improvement, conserving indigenous cattle resources because of their simplicity and relatively cheaper costs. Semen storage and distribution activities are being carried out in a few wellknown indigenous milch cattle. Still, many breeds like Amrithmahal, Dangi, Gaolao, and Punganur lack such facilities. Spermatozoa may also be collected from the epidydimis

Oocyte preservation:
This method provides an opportunity for conserving females in the same way as sperm is conserved. The oocyte can be recovered by surgery, laparotomy or slaughtering of donor animals. The frozen thawed oocyte can be used for IVF successfully . The immature and mature oocyte from slaughtered animals could be useful in near future for cryopreservation of genetic material of endangered breeds.

3.Embryopreservation:
The main advantage of cryopreservation of embryo over that of sperm or oocyte is that it contains the complete genome. The embryo transfer technique coupled with micro manipulation, embryo sexing and splitting are more useful and economical to carry out ex situ conservation of animal genetic resources. This technique is very useful in conservation of genetic resources by rapid multiplication of superior or rare germplasm. MOET can be used in resurrecting the endangered cattle breeds like Sahiwal, Punganur and Vechur.

Preservingofovaries:
The preservation of slices of ovaries in liquid nitrogen is a new technology which may be of great use in conservation of animal genetic resources. The ovary slices might be transferable into suitable recipients to obtain oocytes which can be fertilized.

5.Embryonicstemcellandnuclei:
Preservation of embryonic stem cells could represent an important method of genome conservation and would be helpful in propagating animals from a single embryo of elite or rare animals belonging to endangered breed/species.

6.Chimaeras:
Chimaeras mean the animals having body cell population with different karyotypes which have been formed from two or more zygotes with different karyotypes. Chimeric embryos have been frequently made by the aggregation of cells from two individual embryos or by injecting cells from one embryo into the blastocyst cavity of another embryo.

So long as cells from both embryos are represented in the inner cell mass, the composite embryo will develop into a chimaeric animal. A more important aspect of chimaerism in genetic conservation is the potential use for interspecies embryo transfer. Using this technology sheep have been born to goat foster mother and vice versa. This would be especially important if it was a species rather than a breed of animal that was on the verge of extinction.

7.Productionofembryosinvitro:
This technology involves salvaging mature oocyte from ovaries of slaughtered animals and developing methods for their

maturation, fertilization and in vitro culture for normal embryonic development. For conservation of rare breeds, such a method could provide an opportunity to salvage a few oocytes from the ovaries of rare and superior animals even after their normal reproductive life and to produce some blastocysts for conservation by deep freezing.

Embryosplitting:
Embryo splitting is more advantageous in the circumstances where only few embryos of particular genotype or breed or species are available. This technique of manipulating embryos could be helpful in producing more number of animals from a few stored embryos of rare and endangered animals.

9.Transgenesis:
Recent developments in molecular biology have enabled introduction of specific genes into the animal genome. A small amount of DNA is injected into the nucleus of an egg soon after fertilization. In some instances the DNA becomes integrated into the chromosomes and an embryo and foetus develops in which all the nuclei contain copies of the inserted gene. As any sequence can be spliced with any other (Anderson, 1986), transportation of genes across breeds and species is possible by recombinant DNA techniques. Successful microinjection of genes in mice embryo and their expression

10.DNAlibraries:
Theoretically, an animal can be produced from its complete DNA complement. However, at present technical developments are limited to the

identification and manipulation of only a few genes. But the direction in which technical advancements are taking place gives an indication that in future breeds/species can be reconstructed from their DNA complements

SPECIESSPECIFICRECOMMENDATIONS
s.no 1 species CATTLE Breedatrisk Red Sindhi ,Sahiwal ,Tharparkar, and Gir, Kankrej and Ongole ,Punganur, Red Kandhari, Vechur, Bhagnari, Deoani, Lohani, Bengal, Hill, Kachcha Siri, Tarai, Umblacherry Toda,Nilliravi ,Bhadawari the 42 breeds of sheep, all the breeds of Jammu & Kashmir and other indigenous breeds like Pugal, Nilgiri and Garole need immediate steps for preservation Beetal ,barbari,jamunapari,surti,jhakrana,chegu ,changthangi Doublehumped,jaisalmeri,sindhi Bhutia,manipuri, Allbreeds

2 3

BUFFALOES SHEEP

4 5 6 7

GOAT CAMEL HORSE POULTRY

REDUCTIONINNUMBERSOF INDIGENOUSLIVESTOCKARE
The intensive efforts being made to introduce superior germplasm to overcome the low production of the local genotypes, without any consideration to the local ecological and socioeconomic situation (demand for increased milk production and introduction of exotic milk breeds of cattle like Jersey,Holstein), b. No serious organized effort in maintaining the purity of the breeds .

Changes

in

cropping of

pattern

and with

increased neglect of

mechanization

agriculture

indigenous draught breeds of cattle. The global awareness for conservation of domestic animal diversity was touched up on at the

International Conference held in Rome in 1936, which resulted in several recommendations being made in this regard

StepstakeninIndia
In India the need for conservation of animal genetic resources has now "become clear, and the lack of necessary documentation and evaluation has been recognized. A National Bureau of Animal Genetics Resources and one for fish have been sanctioned, which will have the following functions: To undertake systematic cataloguing of animal germplasm and to establish a data bank and information service on animal genetic resources. Identification, evaluation, cataloguing and conservation of herds or flocks identified as valuable for purposes of conservation consisting of important indigenous breeds of livestock and poultry in the country. To undertake survey for the evaluation of merits or attributes of breeds discovered recently or threatened with extinction.

Formulation of criteria and parameters to enable identification of animals and flocks of superior genetic merit or worthiness for conservation. To take steps for the preservation of germplasm both as live animals or by setting up frozen semen and embryo banks. Documentation of pertinent information in regard to identity of herds and flocks on a computer readable format. Processing of information collected under surveys carried out for the identification of valuable animal resources material. Dissemination of information in a cogent manner to enable individuals and agencies to use information in regard to the available animal genetic resources,

Maintenance of national/international liaison with institutions concerned with similar work. Rendering financial assistance to universities, IGAR institutes and government and private bodies, where maintenance of such valuable germplasm is considered desirable. Monitoring of the entire improvement programme and maintenance of rare breeds/herds/ flocks in the country. Monitoring of new introduction of animal germplasm and new synthetics. To stimulate programmes for improvement in the various breeds and to give adequate financial and technical support to these

Conclusions and recommendations

1. Zebu breeds are endowed with highly desirable characters like adaptability to harsh conditions and resistance to diseases. A more reliable and objective assessment of performance of indigenous breeds with special emphasis on diseases resistance and adaptability to harsh environments is essential, 2. In view of the rapidly increasing costs of conventional energy inputs, it is highly desirable to generate adequate information on draft ability of indigenous cattle and buffaloes which is very insufficient at present. 3. Precise and reliable estimates of different genetic components of variability of important economic traits of indigenous breeds of livestock should be obtained. This would be needed for evolving appropriate breeding plans for their improvement. 4. An atlas of performance of indigenous breeds and the appropriate breeding plans based on the information thus collected be drawn up.

Such information would allow the best utilization of genetic resources in cattle and buffaloes and other specie s. 5. Properly designed selection experiments should be carried out for important indigenous breeds which are not involved in genetic improvement experiments through crossbreeding. 6. Since sizeable populations of different crossbreds are available around a number of milk shed areas, such populations should be utilized for performance recording and progeny testing of crossbred sires, in order to take full advantage of crossbreeding, progeny tested half bred bulls should be used for the development of new breeds/strains adapted to the given environment.

7. The present evaluation of different breeds and breed crosses is being done only under intensive management system. Such evaluation should be done under intensive, medium and low input (as close to the existing practices in the farmers fields as possible) so that the most efficient genotypes for each of these management levels could be identified. 8. A number of native breeds, strains or varieties are, or may be, in danger of genetic dilution through indiscriminate crossbreeding with exotic breeds. Such native breeds should be identified, so that they can be evaluated before this process leads to their essential loss.

Some native breeds are in danger of losing genes for high production because highperforming animals are withdrawn from breeding populations for use in units of high production and/or subsequent slaughter (e.g. city milk production in India or slaughter animals closen because of large size). Such breeds should be identified and breeding units kept intact.

Strategies for Characterization

Identification and listing of all the available animal genetic resources. Breed description and characterization to understand their unique qualities and potential contributions. Prioritizing the breed for characterization and conservation based on their population structure, economic utility and genetic diversity. Establishment of breed societies for conservation of the breed in-situ. Creation of data-base on indigenous animal genetic resources. Development of technology for collection and freezing of genetic material. Documentation and creation of mass awareness.

METHOD OF CHARACTERIZATION
Decide Markthebreedingtract Selecttherandomsample Conductcomplte survey Collectionofdata Generalinformation Demographicdetails Morphologicalfeatures Economictrait production&reproductiontrait Managementalsystem

Collectionofbloodsamples Dna isolation highsaltmethod Checkingagorose gel Selcetion ofprimer specific Pcr Dna sequencing

UseofCharacterizationby MolecularGenetictools
Genetic distinctness of breed/ population Inbreeding level in the population Population bottleneck in the past Evolutionary pattern of the breed/ population Genetic endangerment level