Dr. Ghulam Bilal
Pakistan has rich and diverse livestock resources with total livestock population reaching approximately 225 million in 2023. Overall the contribution of livestock sector remained remarkable (62.68 percent of the agriculture value added and 14.36 percent of the national GDP) during FY 2022-23. Globally, Pakistan ranks 4th in overall milk production, 7th in overall beef production (cattle and buffalo meat), 12th in poultry egg production and 18th in poultry meat production (https://ourworldindata.org/). However, biggest challenge for everyone is low per animal productivity as global ranking of Pakistan goes down to 57th for milk yield per animal and 156th for meat yield per cattle. The competition between a large livestock population and human population for land and food availability can indeed lead to complex challenges. As both human and livestock populations increase, competition for available food resources, such as grains and forage crops, can drive up food prices and exacerbate issues of food security, particularly in vulnerable populations. Large ruminants produce methane during the digestion process which is a potent gas that contributes to global warming and climate change.
Once a farmer needs to breed/reproduce/mate his/her animal, a whole lot of confusion arises in his mind regarding the genetic potential of a suitable mate/breeding partner. The quality of available breeding animals and their germplasm (i.e. semen) of local livestock breeds has not been able to increase per animal productivity to a desired/satisfactory level in the past with fewer exceptions. In a nutshell, the current animal breeding in the country may be described as breeding for multiplication (horizontal increase/improvement) rather for improving per animal productivity (vertical increase/improvement). The issue is obvious and can be resolved in many different ways.
Genetic selection within a livestock breed has been a tried and tested way of improving per animal productivity. In simpler words, animals with superior genes need to be identified and used for breeding in order to give birth to high producing offspring. However, even before identification of quite a hidden gene, one needs to identify quite a visible animal. Animal identification and traceability acts are in place in most developed countries such as USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Efforts have been made in Pakistan on rather small scale at federal level where RFID based animal identification system was introduced all over Pakistan for more accurate identification and data recording on local livestock breeds under NCLBG&G project. In 2019, ZulMeat™ software was developed ensuring product traceability at meat processing abattoirs by allocating a unique identity code to each animal that enters the abattoir facility by the USAID-funded Agricultural Market Development (AMD) project, implemented by Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA).(https://agrilinks.org/post/using-digital-technologies-transform-livestock-industry-pakistan). More recently (October 2022), Pakistan Animal Identification and Traceability System (PAITS) have been developed by PITB through national level collaboration between FAO and Animal Husbandry Commissioner (https://www.pitb.gov.pk/node/8644). However, such initiatives needs to be strengthened by putting in place animal identification and traceability laws at federal and provincial levels followed by real time implementation. Moreover, livestock breed societies need to be encouraged and strengthened to substantiate on ground implementation of such acts. For the sake of making things simpler to understand, a motor vehicle worth PKR 500,000 has established ways of registration, identification and traceability all over the country whereas an animal of equal worth has no such system in place. For identification of genetically superior animal, traditionally an animal is tested based on the performance of its parents, its own performance, the performance of its progeny and other relatives subject to availability reliable data. Despite of being an efficient technique, the whole procedure is time taking, expensive and demands lots of dedication and commitment from all stakeholders. In 2001, Meuwissen and co-workers proposed genomic selection technique which uses information from the whole genome of animals for testing of animals with superior or otherwise genes. Genomics has been accepted as modern genetic improvement tool by many countries i.e. New Zealand, France, Australia, Canada and USA. More than 80% of all inseminations are from genomically selected sires in most of these countries.
The genomics can substantially improve the accuracy of traditional genetic testing of animals particularly at an earlier age. The use of gnomically selected sires significantly reduces the generational interval. The public and private breeding institutes may include genomic selection as a tool for selection of animal. For instance, selection may be made in two steps; firstly based on parents’ information (pedigree) and genomic profile during early phase of life and secondly based on performance data once information from other sources becomes available during later phases of life. A typical genotyping test costs around 60 USD and no facility or lab is available in Pakistan for this service. All relevant stakeholders need to adopt genomic selection technology for better selection to improve per animal productivity and local capacity should be developed in the form of labs/services to make it even more economical and farmer friendly.
Embryos transfer technology is a way of getting more offspring from a genetically superior female. It could help utilize low producing cows as surrogate mothers for embryo obtained from mating of high producing parents. Embryos transplant is very common (almost a compulsory part) in cattle breeding programs in USA, UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand and majority of the breeding bulls in the world are produced by this technique. However, this aspect is lacking in Pakistan as no such breeding bulls are available in the country. For a traditional genetic improvement program, more offspring can be obtained in the given time from an animal being tested for genetic merit. It would improve the genetic gain through female to female selection pathway and improve the accuracy of selection of breeding animals. A typical constraint is the technical capacity and cost which comes to around 100 USD per embryo transfer. A recent intervention of embryo transfer by private sector in buffalo at small scale seems appreciable and needs further support of relevant stakeholders to indigenize and utilize this technology in breeding and commercial operations.
Sexed semen technology can be used to get animals of desired sex particularly in cattle and buffalo farming. The technology of sex-sorting of semen was made possible in late 1980s through flow cytometric sorting. The first live calf was born in USA in 1993 as a result of sexed semen. The use of sex-sorted semen has gained significant popularity and adoption worldwide since the farmers consider it an investment in next generation rather than an expense. Sexed semen is a premium product and approximate cost per straw is around 20-25USD with a gender accuracy of around 90%. A lower pregnancy rate associated with sexed semen compared with conventional semen has been reported, however, the advancements in sexing technology over the years have contributed to improving conception rate significantly. More recently, the ability to produce sexed semen with more sperm cells (up to 4 million) per straw and a higher gender accuracy >95% has uplifted the standards of sexed semen. These improvements have boosted the confidence of cattle breeders and more breeders are willing to incorporate sexed semen into their breeding programs.To improve production efficiency per animal in the scenario of limited land and feed resource available due to division of land generation after generation, use of sexed semen with artificial insemination technique offers promising solution. Furthermore, in a typical livestock genetic improvement program, sexed semen can be used for targeted breeding as opposed to traditional way of assuming 50 male: 50 female sex ratio and waiting for the animals of desired sex to be born. Having female sexed semen in hand, dairy farmers can selectively produce female calves from their best dairy cows and buffalos that are more likely to become productive dairy animals. In situations where there is a preference for producing more male offspring, such as for beef production or certain breeding programs, male sexed semen provides a targeted approach. This will save time and resources in the process of genetic testing of breeding males.
Currently, not a single semen sorting facility/lab is available in the country for local cattle and buffalo. Public and private institutes and relevant authorities are encouraged to take immediate steps to establish bovine sexed semen labs all over Pakistan. This may in turn help improve efficiency of livestock operations and help improve the country ranking for per animal productivity.
In conclusion, livestock breeding industry can be transformed in the form of improved animal productivity with the help of technological interventions of RFID based animal identification, genomic selection, embryo transfer and sexed semen. Along with these animals centered breeding strategies described here, large scale improvement in the overall production system in the form of better feed and health cover besides other management is essential to reap the benefits of genetic improvement. Lastly, overall in our society, animals and associated humans (veterinarians, academicians, researchers, farmers, para-vet staff etc.) need to be loved and respected at national level for improving their contribution to society.
The writer is PhD Animal Science, McGill University, Canada, Associate Professor/Central Project Director, National Center for Livestock Breeding, Genetics and Genomics (NCLBG&G) at PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi. Email: ghulam.bilal@uaar.edu.pk
