Carabao center to use DNA tech for breeding program

The Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) will adopt DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) marker technology for its breeding program to improve its efficiency and lower breeding cost. The technology is expected to cut the time by which bulls producing superior milk-producing offspring can be identified from six to eight years of age to two to three years of age. It is also expected to cut the cost of breeding by at least 50 percent. The Agricultural Research Council-Animal Production Institute places the current cost of the test to determine offspring’s milking ability alone at P664,257 per bull. “We will improve our selection scheme for dairy buffaloes by integrating DNA markers. This is our future direction,” said PCC supervising science research specialist Jesus Rommel V. Herrera The PCC, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, recently completed the upgrading of its National Bull Farm and Semen Laboratory in Carrangalan, Nueva Ecija, which was funded by a $3-million grant from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The facility now includes a semen processing center and cryobanking facility for artificial insemination services. PCC staff were also given advanced training in livestock breeding technology. The improvements to the facility are expected to double the PCC's semen production for artificial insemination services. The breeding facility's services also do not need to be limited to carabao but can be extended to other dairy animals in the livestock industry. The DA will also launch a herd build-up and breeding program to increase local dairy output. Local milk production has been growing by an average of seven percent in the last five years and increased by 12 percent year-on-year from 16.45 million liters to 18.45 million liters in 2012, according to the National Dairy Authority (NDA). The increase exceeded the NDA's 10-percent growth target, but despite these gains, the Philippines produces only one percent of the country's dairy requirement of 1.8 billion kilograms. The bulk of milk products in the country is still imported from New Zealand, USA, Australia and France and, as a result, foreign milk brands are less expensive than local brands. At present, the country's milk sufficiency level is at 40 percent. The NDA hopes to increase this to 43 percent by 2016 and reach self-sufficiency by 2021. In order to do this, the country's number of dairy animals should go from the present 40,696 to one million. — BM, GMA News