Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Sidiri Appala Raju has said that the government is committed to taking steps to increase the population of the famous Punganur breed of cows in India through the ‘Mission Punganur’ project.
The Minister was addressing the farmers after inaugurating the new complex of the Animal Research Center and IVF & ET laboratory of Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University (SVVU) on Wednesday. The facility building was constructed at a cost of ₹1.84 crore at Palamaner.
The Minister said that ‘Mission Punganur’ was taken up as a prestigious project of the Animal Husbandry Department, and that officials were working hard to increase the population of the Punganur cows.
“The main purpose of the mission is to restore the Punganur cow breed by using embryo transfer technology through IVF. Efforts are under way to prevent the cows from becoming extinct and to popularise the breed on a large scale,” Mr. Appala Raju said.
At the SVVU laboratory in Tirupati, some animal species had already been bred and research was in full swing, the Minister said.
Embryo collection of indigenous cows was going on and sample collection of Punganur cows would start, he said.
Embryo transfer
“There is a lab for embryo transfer for the Sahiwal and Punganur cows, and the project will be coordinated by the TTD’s Goshala in Tirupati,” he said.
Earlier, Mr. Appala Raju, along with Palamaner MLA Venkate Gowda and ZP Chairman Govindappa Vasu, and senior officials of the Veterinary Department inspected the Cattle Farm at Palamaner.
SVVU Vice-Chancellor Padmanabha Reddy and Deputy Director (Animal Husbandry) Venkata Rao were present.
