First Badri Female Calf Born via OPU-IVF Technology Marks Milestone for Indigenous Breed Conservation

Key facts

• A healthy Badri female calf was born on 11 September 2026 through Ovum Pick-Up and In Vitro Fertilisation (OPU-IVF) technology at the Academic Dairy Farm, Pantnagar, following transfer of a Badri embryo into a Sahiwal recipient cow.
• The achievement was a collaborative effort between ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (ICAR-NDRI), Karnal, and GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, with financial support from the Uttarakhand Biotechnology Council, Haldi.
• Badri cattle are an important indigenous genetic resource of Uttarakhand and are recognised as the state animal of Uttarakhand.
• The research programme began in 2023 under then Vice-Chancellor Dr MS Chauhan to establish advanced reproductive technologies for Badri cattle germplasm conservation and multiplication.
• Under the programme, oocytes from selected Badri donor cows were collected via ultrasound-guided ovum pick-up, matured, fertilised in vitro with semen from a genetically superior Badri bull obtained through the Uttarakhand Livestock Development Board, cultured, and transferred into synchronised recipient cows.
• Another synchronised crossbred recipient cow is expected to deliver a Badri calf within the next 5-7 days.
• The programme is also exploring cloning of elite Badri cows and has successfully generated cloned Badri embryos, with OPU-IVF- and cloning-derived embryos planned for transfer into Sahiwal, crossbred and Badri recipient cows in the next phase.