India’s first cattle genomic chip launched in Telangana

HYDERABAD: To conserve indigenous breeds of cattle like Gir, Kankrej, Sahiwal and Ongole, the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB) has developed India’s first cattle genomic chip, IndiGau. The chip was officially inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh, here on Monday. This chip technology will help in the selection of high yielding cattle and improvement of characteristics. With 11,496 markers, IndiGau is touted as the largest cattle chip in the world.

“IndiGau is purely indigenous and the largest cattle chip of the world. It has 11,496 markers (SNPs) more than that placed on 777K Illumina chips of US & UK breeds. This chip of our own indigenous cows is a great example of a self-reliant India,” said Dr Jitendra. “This chip will have practical utility in the implementation of government’s schemes to achieve the goal of conservation of our native breeds with better characteristics and help towards doubling of farmers’ income by 2022,” he added. These low density SNP chips will also play an important role in trait detection, like high milk yield or heat tolerance.