13 More Breeds Added to The List

India, as is known for its biodiversity, is also a megadiverse nation in terms of livestock with a total of about 536 million livestock population at present. In 2007, recognizing the need for an authentic national documentation system of valuable sovereign animal genetic resource, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has initiated a mechanism for “Registration of Animal Germplasm” by giving temporary authority to National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR), Karnal. Subsequently, in 2008, ICAR constituted a Breed Registration Committee (BRC) under the chairmanship of Deputy Director General (Animal Science), ICAR and having members from National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and Dept. of Animal Husbandry Dairying & Fisheries, Govt. of India for registration of new breeds. This mechanism is the sole recognised process for registration of livestock and poultry breeds at the national level. Since then, ICAR-NBAGR has registered numbers of indigenous breeds of livestock and poultry. The latest addition to the list of the registered breeds was of 13 new breeds of livestock and poultry on the 24th day of January 2020 at New Delhi under the approval of the Breed registration Committee. This includes 7 breeds of cattle, 2 breeds of pig, and 1 breed each of buffalo, sheep, donkey and duck. After inclusion of these newly registered breeds, the total number of indigenous breeds in the country now stands at 197, which include cattle (50), buffalo (17), goat (34), sheep (44), horses & ponies (7), camel (9), pig (10), donkey (3), yak (1), chicken (19), duck (2) and geese (1). A chicken line ‘PD2 (Vanaraja Female)’ developed by ICARDPR, Hyderabad was also registered.

Below are the newly registered breeds along with their hometracts

Newly Registered Cattle Breeds