India Produces Badri Calf Through OPU-IVF, Opening New Route for Conserving Uttarakhand’s Indigenous Cattle

A healthy female Badri calf has been born through Ovum Pick-Up and In Vitro Fertilisation (OPU-IVF) technology, marking an important step in the use of advanced reproductive biotechnology for conserving and multiplying Uttarakhand’s indigenous Badri cattle.

The calf was born on September 11, 2026, at the Academic Dairy Farm after a laboratory-produced Badri embryo was transferred into a Sahiwal recipient cow. The achievement was announced by the government on September 12.

The programme is being carried out jointly by the ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, and G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, with financial support from the Uttarakhand Biotechnology Council.

How the Badri Calf Was Produced

Scientists first selected genetically valuable Badri donor cows and collected immature egg cells, or oocytes, through ultrasound-guided ovum pick-up.

These oocytes were then matured in laboratory conditions and fertilised using semen from a genetically superior Badri bull supplied through the Uttarakhand Livestock Development Board.

The resulting embryos were cultured under controlled conditions before being transferred into synchronised recipient cows.

One of these embryos was implanted into a Sahiwal cow, which successfully carried the pregnancy and delivered the healthy female Badri calf.

Another synchronised crossbred recipient cow carrying a Badri embryo is expected to calve within days.

Why OPU-IVF Matters for Badri Cattle

Badri cattle are a valuable indigenous genetic resource adapted to the mountainous environment of Uttarakhand.

Unlike conventional breeding, where a superior female animal can produce only a limited number of calves during its lifetime, OPU-IVF allows scientists to repeatedly collect oocytes from genetically valuable females and produce several embryos.

This makes it possible to multiply desirable genetic traits much faster.

For indigenous cattle populations with relatively small numbers, such technologies can help preserve important genetic characteristics while supporting structured breed-improvement programmes.

The technology can also allow embryos from valuable Badri females to be carried by other suitable recipient cows, increasing the number of offspring produced without repeatedly subjecting the elite donor animal to pregnancy.

Three Years of Collaborative Research

The Badri reproductive biotechnology programme began in 2023 through collaboration between G. B. Pant University and ICAR-NDRI.

Research teams have spent the past three years establishing techniques for ovum pick-up, laboratory fertilisation, embryo culture and embryo transfer specifically for Badri cattle.

Successful birth of the calf demonstrates that the entire reproductive chain — from recovering oocytes from a donor animal to producing an embryo and completing pregnancy in a recipient cow — can now be achieved using Badri germplasm.

This provides researchers with a practical platform for expanding the programme.

Cloning Research Also Underway

The project is moving beyond OPU-IVF.

Scientists are also exploring the cloning of elite and high-producing Badri cows and have already generated cloned Badri embryos during different stages of the research programme.

The next phase is expected to involve transferring embryos produced through both OPU-IVF and cloning into suitable Sahiwal, crossbred and Badri recipient cows.

If these programmes succeed at larger scale, scientists could preserve and multiply genetic material from particularly valuable Badri animals much more rapidly than through conventional breeding alone.

Combining Indigenous Genetics With Modern Biotechnology

The successful birth illustrates how modern reproductive biotechnology can be used not merely to increase livestock productivity but also to safeguard indigenous animal genetic resources.

Native breeds often possess traits developed over generations of adaptation to local climate, terrain, disease pressures and feeding conditions. Once such genetic diversity is lost, rebuilding it can be extremely difficult.

Technologies such as OPU-IVF, embryo transfer and cryopreservation provide researchers with tools to conserve valuable genetic lines while selectively multiplying animals with desirable characteristics.

For Himalayan livestock systems, where indigenous breeds are closely adapted to difficult terrain and local farming practices, this approach could be particularly significant.

The birth of the female Badri calf therefore represents more than a single successful laboratory procedure. It establishes a technological pathway through which elite Badri germplasm can potentially be conserved, multiplied and progressively improved while retaining the genetic identity of one of Uttarakhand’s important indigenous cattle breeds.

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