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A Badri female calf, produced through Ovum Pick-Up and In Vitro Fertilization (OPU-IVF), was born on 11 September 2026 after a Badri embryo was transferred into a Sahiwal recipient cow.
The work is a collaboration of ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (Karnal) and G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (Pantnagar), funded by the Uttarakhand Biotechnology Council, Haldi.
Oocytes came from genetically valuable Badri donor cows; semen came from a superior Badri bull supplied by the Uttarakhand Livestock Development Board.
The programme, begun in 2023, has also produced cloned Badri embryos; OPU-IVF and cloned embryos are next to be transferred into Sahiwal, crossbred and Badri recipients.
Badri, a small hill breed registered by ICAR-NBAGR in 2016, is Uttarakhand's first registered cattle breed.
Immature eggs (oocytes) are aspirated from a live donor cow's ovaries with an ultrasound-guided needle, matured and fertilised in the lab, cultured to the blastocyst stage (about 7 days) and transferred into a synchronised surrogate cow.
Simple Analogy: One elite mother supplies many embryos; ordinary cows carry the pregnancies.
| Aspect | Badri | Sahiwal |
|---|---|---|
| Home tract | Hill districts of Uttarakhand (Almora, Nainital, Pithoragarh, Champawat, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Pauri, Tehri, Rudraprayag, Bageshwar) | Named after Sahiwal area, Montgomery district, Punjab (Pakistan); Indian tract Ferozepur and Amritsar (Punjab), Sri Ganganagar (Rajasthan) |
| Local name / type | 'Pahadi'; dual-purpose (milk and draught) | Dairy (milch) breed |
| Build | Small, long-legged; black, brown, red, white or grey coat; small tucked-up udder | Heavier, heat-tolerant lowland breed |
| Milk | 547-657 kg per lactation, about 4% fat | About 2,150 kg per 300-day lactation in villages; far higher on organised farms |
| Strength | Adapted to steep terrain; relatively disease-resistant | Among India's best indigenous dairy breeds; exported to Asia, Africa and the Caribbean |
| Role in this work | Oocyte donor and bull - the calf is pure Badri | Surrogate (recipient) only - contributes no genes |
Began in 1923 at Bangalore as the Imperial Institute of Animal Husbandry and Dairying; moved to Karnal and renamed NDRI in 1955 (Bangalore kept as regional station); Deemed University since 1989. Produced India's first OPU-IVF cattle calf 'Holi' (Sahiwal donor, 7 March 2012) and the cloned buffalo calf 'Garima' (June 2009) by hand-guided cloning.
First agricultural university of independent India, modelled on US Land-Grant universities; inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru on 17 November 1960 as Uttar Pradesh Agricultural University; renamed in 1972 after Govind Ballabh Pant, first Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Called the 'harbinger of the Green Revolution'.
Established 1984; one of ICAR's six bureaus; registers India's livestock and poultry breeds. Registered Badri on 21 June 2016 as Uttarakhand's first certified cattle breed. After its 12 November 2025 registrations, India had 242 registered indigenous breeds, including 55 cattle and 22 buffalo.
Funder of this programme; began in February 2003 as the State Biotechnology Programme and was renamed UCB in 2014, under the state's Department of Science.
Launched December 2014 by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying to conserve and develop indigenous bovine breeds and raise milk productivity.
Key: Revised RGM (Cabinet, March 2025): outlay Rs 3,400 crore for 2021-22 to 2025-26 after an extra Rs 1,000 crore; 22 IVF labs set up under State Livestock Boards and universities; 3% interest subvention for farmers buying high genetic merit IVF heifers.
Integrated indigenous cattle development centres under RGM.
Key: Supply high genetic merit breeding stock; meant to self-sustain through milk, manure, vermicompost and biogas.
National centre for scientific conservation of indigenous breeds.
Key: Acts as the national repository of indigenous bovine germplasm.
Indigenous sex-sorted semen technology developed by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
Key: Raises the chance of female calves - complements IVF in the RGM toolkit.
Uttarakhand's Badri conservation farm, Champawat district, set up 2012 by ULDB.
Key: Began with 50 animals; used to standardise Badri's traits before its 2016 NBAGR registration.
ICAR-NDRI cloned buffalo calf 'Garima' born using hand-guided cloning
'Holi' - India's first OPU-IVF cattle calf (Sahiwal donor), ICAR-NDRI
Rashtriya Gokul Mission launched
ICAR-NBAGR registers Badri, Uttarakhand's first registered cattle breed
GBPUAT-NDRI OPU-IVF programme for Badri begins
ICAR-IVRI, Izatnagar (Bareilly) begins a run of five Sahiwal calves born via OPU-IVF-ET within five days
First Badri calf produced through OPU-IVF born
GS Paper 3 > Science and Technology > Biotechnology; Agriculture > Animal Husbandry
General Awareness > Static GK > Indian Cattle Breeds and Institutes
Consider the following statements about the Rashtriya Gokul Mission: I. It is important for the upliftment of rural poor... II. It was initiated to promote indigenous cattle and buffalo rearing... Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: Both I and II
What is the application of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Technology?
Answer: Reproductive cloning of animals
An immature egg cell; in OPU it is aspirated from a live cow's ovary.
A hormonally synchronised cow that carries a transferred embryo but passes on none of its genes.
Living genetic material - animals, semen, oocytes, embryos - kept to conserve and breed a variety.
The roughly 7-day-old embryo stage at which bovine embryos are transferred.