Brazil and India Sign Landmark Agreement on Dairy Cattle Genomics

Embrapa signed, on Monday (08), a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for scientific and technological cooperation with a consortium comprising five private companies — three Indian and two Brazilian — to transfer and validate genomic technologies in India’s dairy cattle sector.

The ten-year agreement involves the Indian companies Leads Agri Genetics, LeadsConnect Services, and B.L. Kamdhenu Farms, as well as the Brazilian companies Fazenda Floresta and DNAMARK.

According to India’s ambassador to Brazil, Dinesh Bhatia, this is the first joint technical-scientific initiative between companies from the two countries focused on cutting-edge genetic improvement and is an outcome of the partnership between Embrapa and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

For Embrapa’s president, Silvia Massruhá, the agreement expands a historic collaboration in bovine genetic improvement and opens new opportunities for the use of genomics, biotechnology, and bioinformatics.

“Although the initial focus is livestock, the defined cooperation scope is quite broad,” she said.

Researcher Marcos Vinícius G. B. Silva, from Embrapa Dairy Cattle, highlights that the initiative will enable Embrapa’s portfolio of genomic technologies, initially applied to Zebu breeds, to be brought to India. In return, the institution will gain access to genomic and phenotypic databases of Indian breeds.

The cooperation includes actions in areas such as climate change, biotechnology, bioeconomy, automation, and digital agriculture. Among the practical initiatives are the creation of a genomics and bioinformatics laboratory in India, the goal of raising milk production to 330 million tonnes per year by 2034, the implementation of a production system with 10,000 cows, and genetic improvement programs for the Sindi and Sahiwal breeds.

For Brazil, the partnership creates opportunities for the export of semen and embryos and expands the genetic variability of the Gir Leiteiro, reducing the risk of inbreeding. The memorandum also symbolizes a return to the origins of Zebu genetics. According to the head of Embrapa Dairy Cattle, José Luiz Bellini, the agreement gives international recognition to the quality of Brazil’s work.

“From the importer, we now export genetic improvement knowledge to the country of origin of the breed,” researcher Silva emphasized.

The progress is a direct result of the National Gir Leiteiro Improvement Program (PNMGL), created in 1985 by Embrapa in partnership with ABCGIL and ABCZ, which transformed the breed through progeny testing and, more recently, through the incorporation of genomics.

Source: Agrofy

Sharing is caring!