Indigenous livestock breeds are uniquely adapted to local conditions and provide important benefits. They are vital for livelihoods and sustainable use of marginal lands. While exotic breeds may produce more, indigenous breeds are hardier and require fewer inputs. It is important to conserve indigenous genetic resources for future breeding needs as some traits may have economic potential, like disease resistance. Climate change will negatively impact livestock through reduced and lower quality feed, heat stress, and changing disease patterns. Indigenous breeds will be important for adapting animal agriculture to future climate conditions.

1. INDIGENOUS BREEDS AND
THEIRUTILITY
Division of Animal Biotechnology
Prof. NazirAhmad Ganai
Professor& Head
SKUAST-K

2. Livestockutility

3. Availability of animal products in 2001 and requirements
in 2030 AD
Product Present Status (2001 AD)
(Human population = 10 million)
Requirement in
2030 AD
(Population = 20
million, at a growth of
2.9% / annum)
Production
(Per capita
availability)
Requirement
(Per capita
requirement)
Deficien
cy
Loss to
state
Exchequer
Requireme
nts in 2030
%
Increase
demand
Milk 13 lac T
(360 ml) (280 ml)
26 lac T
52 lac T
200%
400%
Meat
(Mutton,
Chevon,
poultry)
344 lac kg
(11g/person/day)
1100 lac kg
(34g/person/d
ay)
750 lac
kg
Rs 5250
million 2200 lac kg 600%
Egg 600 million
(60
eggs/person/year
3600 million
365
eggs/person/y
ear
3000
million
Rs 6000
million
7200
million
1200%
Wool 67.1 lac kg

4. US Dairy Industry
 Cattle population:
 1950 21 million
 2010 9 million
 Increase in milk
production: 45 % (70-100 MT
 Per cow milk yield :
increase by 400%
 2500 lts /year in 1951 to
 10,000 lts / year in 2010
 Farming: Intensive, high input
 Herd Strength: 150-200
cows per farm
 Cattle + Buffalo population:
 1950 200 million
 2010 300 million
 Increase in milk
production: 500% (17 to 102 MT)
 Per cow milk yield :
increase by 100%
 500 kg /year in 1951 to
 1000 kg / year in 2010
 Farming: Extensive, low input
 Herd Strength: 1-3 cows
per house hold
.
Indian Dairy Sector

5. LivestockWealth (india)
 Total Value of Output from livestock
 Rs 4,61,434 crore : ( 4614.34 billion) 2010-11
 Equivalent to 28.4% of the value of output of Rs16,23,968 crore
from total agricultural and allied sector.
 Out put from milkalone (Rs 2, 62, 214.51 crore)
 higherthan paddy + wheat + sugarcane during 2010-11
 Milkproduction: 102.6 million tonnes highest in world
 Egg production: 63.0 billion
 Wool Production: 45.1 million kgs
 Meat Production: 4.8 million tonnes

6. LivestockWealth – Indigenous Breeds

9. What is an indigenous breed
 uniquely adapted to the conditions where they
developed.
 thrive in conditions where modern “high-performance”
breeds quickly succumb to drought, hunger and disease.
 vital for the livelihoods of millions of farmers and
livestock keepers throughout the developing world.
 They are also an undervalued resource for the outside
world, since they represent a wide range of genetic
diversity on which animal breeders can draw.

10. What is indigenous knowledge?
 Definition:
 “the body of knowledge
acquired by a community in
any given area
 and relating to
agriculture, livestock
rearing, food preparation,
education, institutional
management, natural
resource management,
health care and other
pertinent subjects.
 It is regarded as a

11. Adaptability of indigenous breeds

12. Important characteristics of indigenous breeds
 Ease of parturition
 Draught ability which includes stamina, strength,
food conservation ability
 Heat tolerance
 Drought resistance (Ability to survive on diets with
a very low nutritional value)
 Feeding and milking ability
 Disease resistance
 Easy to manage
 Adaptation to local conditions

13. Problems with the exotic breeds

14. High Performance(Exotic) Breeds V/S Local Breeds

16. N’Dama cattle
 Native of West Africa
 Highly tolerant to
diseases like
 Trypanosomiasis
 Brucellosis
 Dermatophylosis
 G I nematodes
 Ticks
 Babasisosis

17. Vechoor(World’s smallest cattle)
 Characteristics:
 Smallest breed of cow- 90 cm
height
 Low feed requirement
 Good adaptation
 High disease resistance
 Recovered – was almost extinct
 Milk of Vechur cows : high medicinal value and was extensively used in the Ayurvedic
system of medicine.
 Lactoferrin, present in the milk of all mammals, is found to have antimicrobial, antiviral,
antitumor, immunodefence and anti-inflammatory properties.
 Normally it has 3 arginine residues , while as the lF gene of vechur cow has 11
substitutions.
 Nutritional therapies suggest Arginine' supplementation for wound healing and for
cardiovascular diseases,

18. Garole Sheep of Bengal
 Highly prolific
 Basic source of Fec B gene – for twining and
triplets in sheep
 resistant to haemonchosis

19. Double humped camel
 Highly adapted to:
 high altitude,
 low oxygen tension,
 extreme cold and heat
 Meager vegetation
 Special features:
 Tolerate high salt in
blood, very high levels
of sugar.
 A disease model for BP
and diabetes

20. Pashmina goat
Produces fine wool fibre - Pashmina

21. Kadaknath

22. Aseel

23. KashmirFaverolla

24. Naked Neck

25. Threats to indigenous animal
genetic resources
 Lack of appreciation of the value of indigenous breeds and
their importance.
 More stress given to introduce exotic and cross breeds by A.I.
 Changes in agriculture mixed farming systems, introduction of
modern techniques and limited knowledge about traditional
livestock husbandry practices.
 Replacement of animal draught and transport by machinery.
 Decline in economic viability of traditional livestock production
systems and dual local breeds replaced by higher yielder.
 Natural disasters such as, drought or famine, floods can
result in loss of valuable local breed.

26. Biodiversity
 What is biodiversity?
 Biodiversity (or biological diversity) is a collective term
meaning the totality and variety of life on Earth.
Biodiversity includes genetic diversity within species,
the variety among species, and the range of
ecosystems within which life exists and interacts.
 How many species?
 Estimates of the number of species on Earth vary
from 3 million to 100 million. The UN Convention on
Biological Diversity says there are some 13 million
species, of which 1.75 million have been described .

27. Biodeiversity
Numberof described species on Earth
Species Number
Bacteria 4,000
Protoctists (algae, protozoa) 80,000
Animals – vertebrates 52,000
Animals – invertebrates 1,272,000
Fungi 72,000
Plants 270,000
Total described species 1,750,000
Possible total of all species (including
unknown species)
14,000,000
So urce : UNEP/Glo balEnviro nm e nt O utlo o k (Re f 3)

28. What is a 'biodiversity hotspot'?
 A biodiversity hotspot is an area of rich biodiversity that
faces serious threats to its existence. The concept was
developed by environmental scientist Norman Myers of
Oxford University.
 Hotspots are described on the basis of their plant
diversity and the impacts upon them. In addition to
harbouring at least 1,500 endemic plant species,
hotspots must also have lost more than 70 per cent of
their original natural vegetation.

29. 1. Livelihood significance
2. Sustainable use of marginal areas for
food production
3. Conservation of diversity for future
breeding need
4. Genetic traits with future economic
potential
Utility of Indigenous Breeds
Therefore : Conserve the indigenous
gene pool for

30. Livelihood significance
 Indigenous breeds may produce less meat & milk than
improved breeds but they usually fulfill a wider range
of functions for their owners, and are much easier to
manage.
 A crossbred or exotic breed may be a high producer,
but their offsprings are poorly adapted to local
conditions.
 In India, many owners of crossbred cows cannot see
a use for male calves, so let them die.
 A local cow, on the other hand, may produce bullocks
that are well-suited for work under harsh conditions,
as well as enough milk to cover family needs.
 The local cow needs fewer inputs and it is less
susceptible to disease, drought or heat, making it
lower-risk for its owners.

31. Sustainable use of marginal areas
forfood production
 Many marginal areas, such as deserts, scrubland and
mountainous zones, can be exploited only by locally adapted
breeds or minority species.
Example:
 Camels are the only livestock that can exist in areas with than 50
mm of rainfall.
 Only yaks can survive at really high altitudes.
 Even if conditions are not quite as extreme, extensive animal
husbandry with specifically adapted breeds is more
ecologically sustainable than irrigated agriculture.
 If these breeds die out, it will no longer be possible to use
large areas to produce food.

32. Conservation of diversity for
future breeding needs
 Local breeds can be regarded as the building
blocks for livestock development.
 The genetic diversity they embody enables
breeders to respond to changes in production,
marketing and the natural environment.
 United States recognized in the 1980s that it would
depend on access to foreign genetic resources in
order to prepare for the future.

33. Genetic traits with future
economic potential
 With the advance of functional genomics, scientists
have begun to systematically screen indigenous
livestock breeds for genetic traits that
 Confer disease resistance
 Provide special production characteristics
 Influence the processing of animal products.
 “Breeding for disease resistance” is an emerging trend
in disease control.
 Indigenous breeds typically have not been subjected
to strong selection for productivity, but exhibit disease-
resistance traits.
 That makes them of interest to the livestock industries
and scientists

34. Impacts of Climate Change on livestock
 Climate change will affect livestock production by altering the quantity and quality of
feed available for animals. Climate change is expected to change the species
composition (and hence biodiversity and genetic resources) of grasslands as well as
affect the digestibility and nutritional quality of forage (Thornton et al. 2009).
 Climate change will directly impact animals through heat stress, changes in water
availability (with droughts affecting livestock in particular) and a greater range of
livestock diseases and disease carriers (Thornton et al. 2009).
 Livestock are likely to need more water as temperatures increase. Together with
potential reductions in water availability, this could pose a serious constraint on
livestock development in certain places. Droughts and extreme rainfall variability can
trigger periods of severe feed scarcity, especially in dryland areas, with devastating
effects on livestock populations. (CCAFS 2012).
 There are important differences in how different livestock breeds respond to
increased temperatures. However, reductions in the quantity and quality of feed
(leading to less feed intake and higher mortality) could make the impacts of climate
change on livestock systems severe in certain places.

35.  High temperatures impact animals’ food intake and can also impair their reproductive
success. Most livestock species thrive at “comfort zones” between 10 and 30
degrees Celsius. At temperatures higher than this, animals reduce their feed intake
by 3 to 5 percent for each degree of temperature rise (CCAFS 2012).
 Climate change could also affect the distribution of vector-borne livestock diseases.
These changes occur as a result of shifts in the geographical ranges of ticks,
mosquitos, flies and other vectors. Diseases affected by these changes include East
Coast fever, babesiosis, anaplasmosis and trypanosomiasis (CCAFS 2012).
 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change consensus is that elevated carbon
dioxide levels, combined with increases in temperature, precipitation and nitrogen
deposition, result in increased primary productivity in pastures, with changes in
species distribution and litter composition (Easterling et al. 2007).
 Relatively few studies look at climate change impacts in tropical regions compared to
temperate regions. Knowledge of future impacts of climate change in the tropics is
therefore less certain (Easterling et al. 2007).

36. Thank You!