Cow can produce 12 calves per annum via surrogacy, says Andhra Pradesh varsity research

The ongoing research at Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University in Tirupati claims that a cow can give birth to at least 12 calves per year through OPU-IVF (Ovum Pick-Up and In Vitro Fertilization) system.

Tirupati: Research done at Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University (SVVU) in Tirupati says that a cow can produce up to 10-12 calves in a year through surrogacy from one cow. The process of surrogacy is carried out using OPU-IVF (Ovum Pick-Up and In Vitro Fertilization) system to reproduce healthy quality domestic cattle.

The process

This experiment began in November last year. First a healthy cow is chosen and it will be given an injection that helps in ovulation. After the ovulation, eggs are collected from the uterine cavity of the cattle using an ultrasound technology. After 24 hours, these eggs are fertilized in the laboratory using healthy semen.

It would be stored in an incubator for six to eight days. After they turn into embryos, the embryos are introduced into pre-prepared surrogate cattle. In this project, 39 eggs were collected from a single cow and 21 embryos were produced from them. Eggs collected from a single cow were introduced into 33 cows of which five had became pregnant. Eight more are to be tested.

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Perfect choice for surrogacy is Sahiwal cattle and they are chosen from TTD goshala here. So far, 90 embryos have been developed from seven cows and introduced into 33 surrogate cows. The remaining eggs have been stored. Out of 25 surrogate cows tested, five cattle tested positive for pregnancy.

Further checkups established the gestational age to be between 60-80 days. Vice-Chancellor of SVVU Dr. Veerabrahmaiah Reddy who is leading the project had studied and trained on this subject from several countries including Brazil. His research had yielded good results primarily in the fertility system.

If everything goes according to the plan of the research team, the results will yield the IVF calves in the next seven months. "We have prepared plans to provide more than 50 to 60 calves to TTD every year," said Dr. Reddy, who hopes that the reproduction project will help meet the requirements of the TTD goshala.