Importance of conservation of indigenous breeds of livestock and poultry
Aishwarya Dash
2nd year BVSc&AH, Institute of Veterinary Science & Animal Husbandary
Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar,Odisha-751003
E -Mail ID :aishwaryadash07@gmail.com
Abstract:
Indigenous cattle, significant milch, drought-resistant and dual-purpose breeds for genetic advancement, conservation and future research. The flat forehead, drooping ears, fatty hump on the shoulders, and huge dewlap are traits of indigenous cattle. Indigenous/native breeds of chickens are playing an important role in rural economies in most of the developing and underdeveloped countries. They play a major role for the rural poor and marginalised section of the people with respect to their subsidiary income and also provide them with nutritious chicken egg and meat for their own consumption. The conservation of breeds means the preservation of genetic potential as well as its improvement and maintenance of a breed for use in the future.
Keywords: Indigenous cattle,Breeds,Conservation, Native,Poultry,Livestock
Introduction:
The biodiversity with varied genetic resources of India are the backbone of our culture and the foundation of livestock farming. India is one among the twelve mega biodiversity countries of the world. It is a home to large diversity of livestock and poultry genetic resources, having 307.4 M cattle out of which 53 breeds are registered as native cattle breeds and 851.81M poultry of which 22 are registered as native breeds(2023 report of NBAGRweb site). Native breeds or Indigenous breeds are the breed of animals that belong to India or local breed of a particular country.These breeds are adapted to the soil and climate conditions and sanitary environment of its own defined geographical area.
As native breeds have so much importance Conservation of breed is also important as it involves the captive propagation of endangered species to help maintain genetic diversity, to produce viable individuals for release and ultimately mitigate species’ extinction.Some of the effect of crossbreeding using indigenous birds with respect to feed conversion ratio, slaughter parameters, weight gain, and Heterophils/Lymphocytes (H/L) ratio are present in Table 1. And Effect of crossbreeding using indigenous birds with respect to body weight at 8 and 20 weeks of ageis presented in Table 2.
Indigenous breeds of livestock and poultry have several advantages over exotic breeds
- Disease resistance: Indigenous breeds are better able to withstand tropical diseases
- Low input management: Indigenous breeds are more suitable for low input management
systems, such as low quality feeds and fodder
- Local environment: Indigenous breeds survive better in local environments
- Draught work: Indigenous breeds are suitable for draught work
- Brooding: Indigenous chickens are better brooders than exotic breeds
- Quality of the Product :The meat from native fowl has significantly higher amino acid contents (arginine and lysine) than meat from exotic birds and is widely preferred especially because of their pigmentation, taste, leanness and suitability for special dishes and often fetches higher prices. Similarly, the milk of Native cattle is more sweet than the exotic breeds.
Breed conservation is important for a number of reasons, including:
- Genetic diversity
Breed conservation can help maintain genetic diversity for future needs. Genetic diversity is important for increasing farming resilience and profit.
- Cultural connections
Breeds can have cultural value. Native chicken breeds are exclusively used in local rituals and festivals, hence highly valued locally.
- Scientific investigation
Breed conservation can provide material for scientific investigation. For example, it can make research into the reproductive physiology, lifestyle, and ecology of endangered species easier.
- Endangered species
Breed conservation is especially important for species whose wild ancestors are extinct. It can also help conserve endangered species already used in agriculture or with potential for domestication.
Some breeds have undergone genetic adaptations that make them uniquely suited to specific challenging environments. For example, indigenous cattle breeds in India are adapted to different agro-climatic conditions
Conservation Strategies for Indigenous Breeds of Poultry:
(A) Modifying local breeds using major gene types:-The incorporation of such genes could be significant in the development of appropriate breeds and strains for smallholder poultry production in the tropics. There are now seven potentially useful major genes:
- Na – naked neck (autosomal -A);
- Dw – dwarf (sex-linked -S);
- K – slow feathering (S);
- Fa – Fayoumi (A);
- F – frizzle (A);
- H – silky (A); and
- Fm – fibro-melanosis (A).
The use of major genes to improve productivity in smallholder poultry breeding programmes has been researched in various tropical countries (including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Bolivia, India, Cameroon and Nigeria). Other morphological traits that allow better heat dissipation include large combs, large wattles and long legs. Gene coding for these traits, which are not major genes but the result of multiple genes and their interactions, could also be considered for incorporation into the development of high performance local birds for the tropics.
(B) Management: – The strategies for scavenger free-range systems are to reduce the high mortality in both growing and adult age groups, but especially the 60 to 70 percent mortality in the growers. This high mortality means that many eggs laid by the hen need to be used for reproduction to maintain flock size, instead of for sale or consumption. It also means that many birds that die could instead be sold or consumed as meat.
(C) Mortality: – Mortality can be significantly reduced through increasing farmer awareness of health needs, through the provision of vaccine (especially for Newcastle Disease) and through improving the nutrition of growing stock (for example, by providing creep feeding systems). These are the most important improvements to management activities that will enable to the farmer to best exploit the existing potential of local breeds under scavenging free-range conditions.
Conservation Strategies for Indigenous Breeds of Livestock
(A) To monitor the population of breeds over a time interval: Nation and state livestock census needs to be conducted on breeds and information on ecologies in which they perform.
(B) Identify breeds at risk: Identification of the factors threatening the extinction of breeds should be studied carefully.This may involve financial expenses if conservation is done
(C ) Prioritize the breeds for conservation preferably for in situ strategy. There are three major strategies normally followed for conservation of farm animal breeds. The first two i.e. in situ conservation as well as ex situ in vivo involves conservation of living population. The third ex situ in vitro (cryopreservation) encompasses conservation of living embryo, ova, semen, somatic cell or other animal tissue, DNA etc. stored cryogenically.
The maintenance of a breed in its tract also satisfies the requirements of article 8 of the Convention of Biological Diversity, which gives first priority to in situ conservation (Niranjan et al., 2018). Village-based breed improvement programs must be complementary to in situ livestock conservation objectives with the concept conservation through sustainable utilization (Alemayehu, 2013). Ex situ in vitro should complement in situ conservation.
Conclusion:
The States may review their respective breeding policy so as to prioritize conservation of Indigenous breeds in their breeding tract and allowing no cross breeding of recognized indigenous breeds. The State may also consider region specific and breed specific breeding strategies, programmes and plans to implement the conservation programme.
Technologies such as artificial insemination, Frozen semen production, progeny testing, embryo transfer technology should be used, after proper evaluation where ever required. National gene bank should maintain the germplasm in the form of semen & embryo.Regional gene banks should meet the requirements of National gene bank.
All the stakeholders in this breed conservation movement are of paramount importance as far as this cumbersome and stupendous task is concerned, but we have achieved a lot in this regard and lot more is required to be done.
Last but not the least Breeds shows should be arranged for local breeds and owners should be rewarded for maintaining pure local breeds. Publish success stories on local breed conservation and innovative utilization.Some farmers are the proud owner of the popular breeds of their area. Such farmers, if encouraged through financial & veterinary help will help in preservation of breeds. Available information on different breeds should be published in the form of pamphlets, books, calendar etc. This will create awareness and motivate farmers to conserve the important breeds.
Table 1: Effect of crossbreeding using indigenous birds with respect to feed conversion ratio, slaughter parameters, weight gain, and Heterophils/Lymphocytes (H/L) ratio.
| Traits
FCR |
Cross | Cross performance | Indigenous performance | Country |
| TI × (R × PR) | Better than indigenous | — | Thailand | |
| SB × BN
SB × WN |
2.61
3.52 |
2.98
3.12 |
India | |
| Slaughter wt. | TI × PR | 1.48 kg | 1.28 kg | Thailand |
| Dressing% | -do- | 62.4 | 65.8 | -do- |
| Lean : bone ratio | -do- | 1.09 | 1.23 | -do- |
| n6 : n3 fatty acid thigh | -do- | 14.33 | 9.77 | -do- |
| Daily wt. gain of 4 wk | Thai indigenous cross | M = 25.24, F = 19.53 | M = 19.52, F = 10.24 | Thailand |
H:Lratio TI × (R × PR) M = 0.37, F = 0.33 M = 0.32, F = 0.33 Thailand
F: female, M: male, R: Rhode Island Red, BN: Black Nicobari, PR: Plymouth rock, SB: synthetic broiler, TI: Thai indigenous, WN: White Nicobari, H : L: Heterophils : Lymphocytes, -do-: same as above, and n6 : n3: omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acid ratio.
Table 2: Effect of crossbreeding using indigenous birds with respect to body weight at 8 and 20 weeks of age.
| Traits Cross | Cross performance | Indigenous performance | Country | |
| DR × FU | M = 508, F = 468 | |||
| FU × DR | M = 390, F = 372 | M = 283, F = 252 | Nigeria | |
| DR × Y | M = 429,F= 389 | |||
| Body weight at 8 weeks (g) SB × BN
SB × WN |
463
444 |
237
252 |
India | |
| BRN × WLH | M = 264,F= 229 | M= 212, F= 195 | India | |
| DR × FU
FU × FR |
M = 1360, F = 1275
M = 1333, F = 1333 |
M= 1191,F= 970 |
Nigeria |
|
| DR × Y | M = 1336, F = 1143 | |||
| SB × BN | 1545 | 879 | India | |
| SB × WN | 1532 | 805 | -do- | |
| BRN × WLH
WLH × BRN |
M = 868,F= 691
M = 871,F= 692 |
M= 709, F= 601 | -do-
-do- |
|
| K × J | M = 1587, F = 103 | 1079 | -do- | |
| (K × J) × J | M = 2240, F = 1780 | -do- | ||
| Body weight at 20 weeks | PB2 × A
NP × DR |
998
1414 |
896
1357 |
-do-
-do- |
| R × NU | 1299 | 1382 | -do- | |
| NU × R | 1304 | -do- | ||
| PB2 × NU | 2083 | -do- | ||
| NU × R × R | 1653 | -do- | ||
| PB2 × NU × R | 1878 | -do- | ||
| DR × NJ | 1058 | 878 | -do- | |
| PB2 × NJ | 1632 | -do- | ||
| DR × (PB2 × NJ) | 1525 | -do- | ||
colour, NP: Palampur native, NJ: Ranchi native, NU: Udaipur native, PB2: meat-type synthetic breed, R: Rhode Island Red, SB: Synthetic broiler, WN: White
Nicobari, WLH: White Leghorn, Y: Yoruba, and -do-: same as above.
References:
Padhi M. K (2016) Importance of Indigenous Breeds of Chicken for Rural Economy
and Their Improvements for Higher Production Performance. Scientifica
Volume 2016, Article ID 2604685, 9 pages
A.K. Srivastav,J.B. Patel, K.J. Ankuya,H.D. Chauhan,M.M. Pawa and J.P. Gupta (2019) Conservation of Indigenous Cattle Breeds. Journal of Animal Research: v.9 n.1, p. 01-12. February 2019
A.K. Srivastava (2019)Conservation of Indigenous Cattle Breeds, J.B. Patel, K.J. Ankuya,H.D. Chauhan,M.M. Pawar and J.P. Gupta (2019) Journal of Animal Research: v.9 n.1, p. 01-12. February 2019
