<p>In another first, National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) scientists have succeeded in the delivery of a female buffalo calf by using semen from a cloned bull .<br /><br /></p>.<p>This cloning technology would help multiply quality germplasm to meet the increasing demand for quality semen dosages, institute director A.K. Srivastava told IANS.<br /><br />Semen of buffalo bull 'Shresth' - cloned from somatic cells of another bull and born in the institute in August 2010 - was used for the delivery of this calf on March 29. The calf's birth was kept under the wraps by NDRI ever since. <br /><br />"Since its birth, we have been constantly monitoring its health and growth parameters. It is completely healthy," livestock research station incharge S.S. Lathwal.<br /><br />Four more buffaloes have conceived through the cloned bull's semen. Three of them will deliver calves in the next three months, while the fourth's delivery is due in November.<br /><br />Scientists said there was a countrywide shortage of around 90 million dosages of semen, and this technique will help fill the demand-supply gap.<br /><br />The quality of semen from the cloned bull is excellent in terms of post-thaw motility, percentage of live and dead spermatozoa and semen abnormality, a scientist said.<br /><br />'Shresth' was born through the 'hand-guided cloning technique', an advancement on the conventional cloning technique, developed by the Karnal scientists.<br /><br />Earlier, the NDRI had announced delivery of the world's first cloned buffalo calf on February 6, 2009. <br /></p>
<p>In another first, National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) scientists have succeeded in the delivery of a female buffalo calf by using semen from a cloned bull .<br /><br /></p>.<p>This cloning technology would help multiply quality germplasm to meet the increasing demand for quality semen dosages, institute director A.K. Srivastava told IANS.<br /><br />Semen of buffalo bull 'Shresth' - cloned from somatic cells of another bull and born in the institute in August 2010 - was used for the delivery of this calf on March 29. The calf's birth was kept under the wraps by NDRI ever since. <br /><br />"Since its birth, we have been constantly monitoring its health and growth parameters. It is completely healthy," livestock research station incharge S.S. Lathwal.<br /><br />Four more buffaloes have conceived through the cloned bull's semen. Three of them will deliver calves in the next three months, while the fourth's delivery is due in November.<br /><br />Scientists said there was a countrywide shortage of around 90 million dosages of semen, and this technique will help fill the demand-supply gap.<br /><br />The quality of semen from the cloned bull is excellent in terms of post-thaw motility, percentage of live and dead spermatozoa and semen abnormality, a scientist said.<br /><br />'Shresth' was born through the 'hand-guided cloning technique', an advancement on the conventional cloning technique, developed by the Karnal scientists.<br /><br />Earlier, the NDRI had announced delivery of the world's first cloned buffalo calf on February 6, 2009. <br /></p>