Kashmir clones pashmina goat
The faculty of veterinary sciences and animal husbandry at Sher-i-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology here has made a breakthrough by successfully cloning the world’s first pashmina goat, prized for its fine wool.
According to the university, the faculty used advanced reproductive techniques under the leadership of Centre of Animal Biotechnology’s Dr Riaz Ahmad Shah. Success was achieved under the World Bank-funded National Agricultural Innovation Project of ICAR. “The healthy female kid was born on March 9, 2012 using the foster mother,” said director (research) Dr Shafiq A. Wani. He added that Dr Shah was the one who in 2009 gave the world Garima, the first cloned buffalo calf, using the same cloning technique.
Dr Nazir Ahmad Ganai said the success opens up new vistas in strategic and applied research, including multiplication of rare animals, stem cell technology for regenerative medicine, transgenics for production of biopharmaceuticals for human medicine, cloned animals as disease models, and conservation of wild and domestic animal species. The V-C, Dr Tej Partap, hoped the technology would help improve the lot of Pashmina goats, particularly in Ladakh, “to harness better income opportunities for the people of the region”.
The others in the scientists’ team were Dr Nazir A. Ganai, Dr Hilal Musadiq, Dr Mujeeb Fazili, Dr F.D. Sheikh, Dr T.A.S. Ganai, Dr Syed Hilal, Mr Maajid Hassan and Mr Firdous Khan.
Post new comment