Sunandini is a minor miracle of sorts wrought by the Kerala Livestock Development Board and the dairy farmers of Kerala over the last four decades: a new breed of dairy cattle custom made for the God’s own country: Kerala. There are of course many examples of new breeds of cattle created in the developed world during the 19th and some in the 20th century, but nothing comparable in size (over 2 million individuals in the population) and economic importance: the mainstay of the dairy industry in Kerala, major livelihood support for over a million small holder households and a whopping Rs.2700 crore contribution to the state GDP annually!

Sunandini is a combination basically of the Kerala non-descript cow and the Brown Swiss and Jersey breeds, developed initially under the Indo-Swiss Project Kerala and later with contributions of Holstein Friesian in small measure and with some inputs of Sahiwal, Gir, Rati and Kankrej breeds. For over forty years the male and female of this mixed breed had been mating among themselves (genetic isolation) under a well-planned breeding programme with moderate to intense selection pressure. In the development programme of Sunandini, there is no further input of Brown Swiss while there are increasing inputs from HF and Jersey according to changing preferences of the dairy farmers. Under this careful breeding programme the production parameters of this breed / population had steadily improved in terms of milk yield and sustainability.

Through the implementation of a scientific and structured breeding programme, the genetic architecture of the cattle population of Kerala changed - 78 per cent of the cattle were converted into the new breed, Sunandini by the year 2000 – increasing the total milk production to 26 lakh tonnes.

2. What is the Breeding policy of Kerala?

Intensive and structured breeding programmes taken up in the State during the last 3 & 1/2 decades have considerably increased the milk production. The accepted breeding policy of the State envisages crossbreeding, limiting the exotic inheritance to around 50% followed by selection and inter se mating The new 'composite breed' of cattle evolved by crossing nondescript cattle with exotic donor breeds (Brown Swiss Jersey and HF) limiting the exotic inheritance to 50% was formally named Sunandini.

3. What is Progeny Testing Programme and what are its activities in Kerala?

In order to assess the breeding value of the Sunandini bulls for milk production, the Board started a progeny testing programme during the year 1977 based on a field milk recording system. This is a joint project of the State and the Central Government. The ICDP regions of Mavelikara, Kanjirappally, Vaikom and Kattappana were selected for carrying out the inseminations using semen from the young Sunandini bulls (test bulls .

The factors influencing the selection of those areas were :

i) density of cattle population
ii) diversity in the geography among the locations
1500 test inseminations are being carried out using semen from each bull tested with the intention of obtaining at least 50 completed first lactation records from the progeny.

4. What is the production performance of Sunandini cows in the field?

The production performance of daughters of test bulls is shown below:

5. What is the age at first calving of Sunandini cows under field conditions?

Age at first calving (months) of Sunandini Cows – PT unitwise

6. What is National Project on Cattle and Buffalo Breeding?

With a view to cover the entire breedable cattle of the State through AI programme using frozen semen, the Government of India is sponsoring the National Project for Cattle & Buffalo Breeding (NPCBB). The KLD Board has been nominated as the State Implementing Agency (SIA) of this 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Through the implementation of NPCBB in Kerala, the State expects to achieve a better AI coverage through which the genetic potential of the animals are expected to increase. Milk production being the major requirement from cattle, the basic goal of genetic improvement would be for milk production traits.A national seminar on “Frozen Semen Technology” was organized under NPCBB at Dhoni farm from 4th to 6th December 2003. About 200 delegates from various institutions/Livestock Development Boards/Departments/ Universities from all over the country participated in the seminar.

7. What is the production performance of Sunandini cows in KLDB farms?

Overall standard lactation milk yield (kg) of Sunandini cows farmwise

8. What is the reproduction performance of Sunandini cows in the KLDB farms?

The reproductive performance of Sunandini Cows at the two farms of the Board during the calving year 2002 and 2003 are condensed below. It is seen that the cows at Mattupatti had a better reproductive performance.

9. What are the training courses offered by KLDB?

KLDB offers training courses in Frozen Semen Technology, Frozen Semen Production and Handling ,Cross Breeding and Sire Evaluation Under Tropical Conditions, Fertility Problems in Female Bovines, Field Embryo Transfer Programme, Basic Course in Artificial insemination, Refresher Course in AI and Reproductive Management, Management of Large Scale AI Operations, Tropical Pasture Seed Production and Quality Control,Fodder Production and its Utilization and Management of Breeding Operations in Pig.

10. How well is the growth of AI network in Kerala ?

The number of AI centres in the State has been steadily increasing through the yearsresulting in an efficient coverage of the breedable population. There has been an increase of more than 50% in the number of AI Centres in the state over the last decade.

Growth of Al centres over the years

Growth of Al centres and doses of semen supplied over years

11. What is the intake of frozen semen by various agencies involved with the AI activities?

Agencywise sale of semen over the years

Cattle population and semen offtake – districtwise

12. What is Bull Rotation Programme?

The RSBs collect the semen doses from the bull stations as per requirements from time to time. The bulls used for the AI programme in the state are grouped into 3 families. Related bulls are kept under the same group and when new bulls are added, they are enrolled under the concerned bull families. (predetermined by their parentage) The state is divided into 3 breeding zones for the purpose of bull rotation and one group of bulls is employed under a zone for a period of 3 years and then allotted to next. The procedure helps in the distribution of the genetic materials more or less in an uniform pattern throughout the state, thereby minimising the chances of inbreeding.

13. What are the functional units of the Three-tier A.I. Network?

The State has a three-tier Artificial Insemination (A.I.) management system to provide the inputs for cattle breeding namely:

Bull Stations
Regional Semen Banks (RSB)
Artificial Insemination Centres

14. What are the sources of bulls for semen production in the State?

The bulls for semen production in the state come from 4 sources:
i. F1 generation of bulls born out of zebu cows and proven exotic bulls.
ii. Nominated mating of Sunandini cows in the bull mother farms of the Board with the proven crossbred bulls.
iii. Mating of the elite cows selected under the Progeny Testing areas (based on the first lactation performance) with proven Sunandini bulls.
iv. Superovulation and embryo collection from the top elite cows located at the farms and transfer of such embryos to the recepients in the farms.

15. When was the Indo Swiss Project Kerala (ISPK) formed? What were its aims?

The Indo Swiss Project Kerala (ISPK) was constituted under a bilateral agreement between the Government of India and the Swiss Confederation in 1963. The initial objective of the Project was to evolve a new breed adapted to the local environment for effective utilization of the natural resources/grassland in the High ranges of Kerala. In course of time the Project grew into a State level organization viz., the Kerala Livestock Development Board, to promote the livestock and dairy sector throughout the state. MORE

16. What are the functions of KLDB?

The activities of the Board are  carried out by the two technical  wings  viz:  Animal  Husbandry and Fodder Development.

The  major responsibilities of the Animal Husbandry wing are:

The Fodder Development Wing of the  Board  is  responsible for :

17. What are the R&D activities undertaken by KLDB?

Applied research on all aspects of cattle breeding, frozen semen and fodder production is being carried out. The following are the major fields in which trials are undertaken.