Unified Genomic Chip

About Unified Genomic Chip: 

• It aimed at helping farmers identify high-quality cattle early and enhance dairy farming efficiency in India.
• The chip comes in two versions
  • The ‘Gau Chip’ for cattle and the ‘Mahish Chip’ for buffalo. 
• It is developed by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD), under the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
• Purpose: The purpose of this chip is to help the farmers to make informed decisions on animal selection by identifying young, high-quality bulls at an early age.
• Benefit: The chip is tailored for Indian cattle breeds and will help improve the quality of cattle and enhance the dairy farming sector.

Key points about the Sex Sorted Semen Technology

• Sex Sorted Semen is the ‘gender selected’ semen used in Artificial Insemination (AI) for cattle and buffaloes to produce more than 90% selected gender (females). 
• It is very effective in breed improvement and till now it was manufactured by multinational companies.
• The National Dairy Development Board under the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, has developed the indigenous technology of sex sorted semen worth Rs. 250.
• Technology used: The IVF technology (commonly known as test tube baby technology) is also being used for this purpose.
• DAHD target: It has now planned to produce a minimum of 10 lakh sexed semen doses annually for the ongoing artificial insemination (AI) programme.

Q1: What is the Rashtriya Gokul Mission?

The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying is implementing RGM for development and conservation of indigenous bovine breeds since December 2014.The scheme is important for enhancing milk production and productivity of bovines to meet the growing demand of milk and making dairying more remunerative for the rural farmers of the country.

Source: PM Modi launches Unified Genomic Chip for cattle: How will it help farmers?

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