ROLE OF VETERINARIANS & LIVESTOCK SECTOR FOR “VIKSIT BHARAT@2047”

December 2, 2024

ROLE OF VETERINARIANS & LIVESTOCK SECTOR FOR “VIKSIT BHARAT@2047”

Bagavathi Muthappan¹ , Sudhanya Nath²*, Chidambaranathan Arumugasami³

¹MVSc Scholar, Department of Animal Physiology, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132001, Haryana, India

²Additional Veterinary Assistant Surgeon (PhD in Animal Nutrition), F&ARD Department, BlockVeterinary Dispensary, Hemgir, Sundargarh – 770013, Odisha, India

³Veterinary Officer, Mobile Veterinary Unit, TN – 1962, Tiruvallur – 602001, Tamil Nadu, India

*Corresponding author Email – sudhanyanath@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

As India aims for “Viksit Bharat” (Developed India) by 2047, the role of veterinarians and the livestock sector is critical to achieving sustainable development, food security, economic growth, and rural prosperity. Veterinarian professionals possess a diverse skill set that goes beyond conventional pet care, encompassing a wide spectrum of responsibilities. Veterinarians and the livestock sector are vital for creating a resilient and sustainable agricultural economy. With the world of veterinary medicine constantly evolving, and technological advancements, from telemedicine to genetic research, transforming the way we diagnose and treat animal diseases, the role of veterinarians has never been more crucial as we face global issues such as zoonotic diseases, climate change, and antimicrobial resistance.

KEYWORDS: Viksit Bharat, Veterinarian, Livestock sector, animal health and welfare.

INTRODUCTION

Livestock is an integral part of the Indian society making multifaceted contributions towards socio-economic, nutritional and religious needs of people particularly the rural population. Farm animals contribute directly through milk, meat, egg, wool and fibre production as well as provide employment to 20.5 million people and livelihood to millions of marginal and landless farmers/labourers. Veterinarians are set to play a critical role in tapping new opportunities and tackling emerging challenges as the livestock sector expands to absorb the anticipated demand for animal-sourced foods, both domestically and globally.

Ensuring Food Security and Nutritional intervention:

Safe Food Production: Veterinarians play a crucial role in safeguarding food safety by ensuring that animals are disease-free and that the products they provide (milk, meat, eggs) meet health standards. This directly impacts the nutritional security of the population. Veterinarians can educate farmers on sustainable livestock farming practices that protect both animal and human health, contributing to long-term food security.

Nutritional interventions: In livestock production system, feeds being the major input cost (70%), needs special attention and necessitates to manage the feed resources efficiently to sustain the present growth rate, which led to increase in animal production. The veterinarians and the feed technologies have helped in reducing the cost of animal and poultry feed along with augmenting nutrient availability and improving the feed efficiency. A number of alternate feed resources, supplements and additives were identified and standardized for formulation of low-cost rations as well as for substitution of antibiotic growth promoters in feed. For efficient use of feed resources, technologies like fodder block, pellet making, extrusion, complete feed block (total mixed ration) have been developed and adopted by feed industry.

Enhancing Livestock Productivity

Livestock as an Integral Part of Farming: Livestock is an essential component of India’s agricultural economy, contributing significantly to rural livelihoods. Veterinarians can ensure the health and productivity of livestock, which is vital for farmers relying on animals for milk, meat, eggs, and wool. Healthy livestock increases production and contributes to national food security.

Genetic Improvement & Breeding Programs: Through improved breeding programs, veterinarians help enhance the productivity of animals, including cows, buffaloes, sheep, and goats. The result is higher yields, improved disease resistance, and better-quality products. ICAR has initiated genetic improvement and conservation programme on cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, pig and poultry. The conservation and genetic improvement of cattle, initiated in 2010, were carried out in indigenous cattle such as Gir, Kankrej and Sahiwal breeds in their home tracts. Network Project on “Buffalo Improvement” was initiated by ICAR in the year 1993, which included important breeds of buffaloes viz. Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Bhadawari, Jaffarabadi, Surti, Pandharpuri and Godavari for their genetic improvement. Similarly, All India Coordinated Research Projects (AICRP) on genetic improvement of goat, sheep and poultry started in 1971 to improve their performance for milk, meat, fibre and egg production.

Large volume of information has been generated on molecular genetic studies such as estimation of population structure using DNA marker such as RAPD, microsatellite, AFLP. Expression analysis of various genes and transcriptome analysis using microarray/RNA-sequence in different tissues/ organs under different treatments and/or pathogenic challenges have been carried out to decipher the pathways and genetic milieu under different biological processes and/or disease disposition.

Methane mitigation strategies:

Livestock are considered one of the sources for methane emission due to enteric fermentation. Researches on ameliorative measures through dietary approaches have shown that it is possible to reduce the methane production by 10-15% by feeding of more digestible feeds like legumes, concentrate, grains and feed formulations. By feeding balanced ration to the dairy animals under field condition, the reduction in methane emission by 10-15% was achieved. Seaweed products have also been used to reduce methane emission by 15%.

Animal health management:

Veterinarians are involved in animal health protection through development of vaccine, diagnostics and therapeutics and continue to serve the nation through protection of its animal wealth. They are also involved in surveillance, monitoring and analysis of livestock diseases in India. Working on exotic and emerging animal diseases and also playing very important role in the era of rising global trade with stringent sanitary requirements and biological safety measures and growing threat of novel pathogens by contributing towards animal health management in the country.

Promoting animal health and welfare

The One Health approach has also highlighted the vital role played by veterinarians in safeguarding public health and promoting animal health and welfare. This is because vets are uniquely positioned as the only doctors who can recognize and address zoonotic diseases that can impact both animals and humans. Especially in India, where agriculture and animal husbandry are major contributors to the economy, veterinarians are essential in safeguarding public health by promoting animal health and welfare.

Disaster Management:

Veterinarians are involved in responding to natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, and cyclones, and providing emergency care to animals affected by these disasters. They work with local authorities and animal welfare organizations to provide veterinary care, shelter, and food to animals in need, and to reunite lost animals with their owners.

Livelihood Support and Rural Development

Support for Small-Scale Farmers: A significant portion of India’s rural population relies on livestock for their livelihood. Veterinarians assist small-scale farmers by improving animal health, providing guidance on management practices, and helping secure better market access for animal products.

Empowering Rural Communities: Veterinarians can provide training to local communities on animal care and management, thereby increasing their income potential and improving overall rural development.

Value Addition:

Veterinarians also played a major role in the value addition and product diversification. It is one of the key requirements for farmers profit and long-term sustainability of livestock production system. Flavoured milk or drink in combination with natural fruits juices or pulps, high milk protein drinks, fermented dairy beverages with unique microbial starter and herbmilk beverage have been developed. Health foods using judicious blends of milk/milk constituents and cereals/plant commodities, into convenient, long-life forms with proven health benefits to consumers have been developed.

Precision Livestock Farming

Precision livestock farming uses information technology to assess the individual animal with respect to physical resource and bring improvement accordingly to optimize economical farming. This helps us to identify poor performance animals in the flock and cull those individuals from flock. The electronic identification has made it possible to identify individuals in accurate manner at faster pace. Feed is one of the major inputs and varies from 58% to 70% for livestock farming input cost. However, high input cost can be reduced by implementing precision grazing and feeding management. Similarly, the labour cost constitutes 18-25% of farming input cost and can be reduced by effective management and use of technology.

Sustainable Livestock Management Practices

Veterinarians have developed several modern shelter designs to improve comfort and reduce stress for animals. Several mobile Apps have been developed to provide information to farmers on best practices, and informed decisions about breeding, feeding, and health management. Similarly, the different methods have been developed to recycle animal waste into bioenergy or fertilizers. Adopting these technologies can significantly enhance livestock productivity in India, leading to better economic returns for farmers and contributing to the overall development of the agricultural sector.

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