COW AND BIODIVERSITY

 

Biodiversity is a valuable asset for every country.  It is widely recognized that preservation of biodiversity is a matter of insurance and investment necessary to sustain and improve agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, fisheries and honey production and to keep open future options as a buffer against harmful environmental change and as a raw material for scientific and industrial innovation and a matter of moral principle (Anonymous, 1981). 

According to the Annual Report (1997) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, India’s immense biological diversity is estimated to be over 45,000 plant species and 81,000 animal species, representing about 7% of world’s flora and 6.5% of world fauna, respectively. 

Biodiversity is providing the basis for life on earth, which includes the variability of animals, plants, microbes, soil, water, air, climate, etc.  It includes inter alia, lower plants (including bacteria, viruses and mycoplasma like organisms), higher plants (herbs, shrubs and trees), animal breeds including fish, birds and invertebrates.  Based on natural resource categories, it is further classified into forests, crop-lands, rangelands and aquatic environment.  All these flora and fauna are used directly or indirectly for food and agriculture, feed for domestic animals and also for the provision of essential raw materials and services for life support such as fibre, fuel, fertilizer and pharmaceuticals.  Hence biodiversity makes ecosystem stable, functional and environmentally sustainable. 

The very biodiversity that nurtured human cultural diversity since times immemorial now stands threatened.  In fact, the present era is often described as an era of species extinction.  The rate of species loss is as fast today as it was at the time of extinction of dinosaurs some 6.5 crore years ago.  Nearly 15 per cent of Earth’s species will be threatened over the next 25 years, if we neglect them.

Life on Earth began in some very simple form more than 300 crore years ago.  In the course of adapting to the varied environment on Earth, these first unicellular organisms have become complex, resulting in the rich variety of life as we presently know it. 

Every animal on Earth belong to a place where it is born, where it finds its food, where it joins with its mate, gives birth to its young, and where it dies and becomes food for other living things.  The place where an organism is able to do all this, defined by the prevailing climate, availability of water, nature of  soil and rock, is its habitat.  Theory of evolution thus tells us that organisms evolve to fit into their natural environment. 

Cattle Diversity

 There is already less genetic variation in farm animals as compared to the plant species.  Further erosion of animal diversity may invite disaster for long term productivity and loss of sustainability.  Therefore, genetic improvement in farm animals adapted to different stress conditions like, food, fodder and climate must be based on the utilization of locally adapted genetic resources. 

Proximate process affecting domesticated biodiversity:

 Causes:

•  Lack of awareness

• Economic benefits

• Overall policy of breed improvement

• Shrinkage of grazing land

• Over population of livestock-high density

• To improve yield and economic benefits

• Replacement of local non-descript breeds to productive cattle

• Over mechanization of agriculture & transport 

Process

•  Inadequate attention on identification of germplasm and performance recording

• Indiscriminate cross breeding with exotics for other purposes

• Commercialization  

Effects:

•  Stagnation and even deterioration of production performance of indigenous breeds

• Loss of indigenous genetic resources

• Forest denudati

• Disappearance of native varieties and breeds

• Threat to native draught breeds

• Loss of indigenous biodiversity

• Shrinkage and even disappearance of grass-lands lead to loss of biodiversity

• Grassland ecosystem is disturbed

• Degradation of forest land and erosion of soil and water

  

Cattle Conservation Activities 

The conservation of domestic cattle biodiversity is a complex and multi-dimensional activity in which number of agencies can play significant role.  Different measures of conservation should be implemented through national and state-level strategies, plans and programme developed, keeping in view the social and cultural diversity, ecology, farming practices, present level use, sustainability and economic use.  Thus all ;these issues should be carefully harmonized.  The cow-biodiversity sector of the country is to be conserved and a national and state-level implementation of breeding policy of the country as well as the State may be drawn as early as possible.  Selective breeding in their home tract of pure indigenous draught breeds must be undertaken and preserved very carefully and sincerely.  Upgradation of local non-descript cattle by known indigenous breeds like, Hariana, Gir, Tharparkar, Sahiwal, etc. in selected pockets be started. 

Indian Council of Agricultural Research Institutes and State Agricultural Universities should be asked to start immediately selection of local breeds and keep minimum 1000 adult cows and males of each breed available in their jurisdiction for breeding and draught purposes in each farm.  The existing good Goshalas, Panjrapoles, Private and Institutional Cattle Farms should be registered and promoted with incentives to build up best selected cows of different pure breeds of the region as National Demonstrative Cattle Breeding Farms.  Ex-situ conservation of Cattle Genetic Resources should be set up through establishing cow or cattle germ plasm repository or gene banks at different locations by the National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resource s of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. 

All life, plant or animal, must be consecrated and bestowed with protection by human-being and that is our goal, meaning thereby that none should be victims of slaughter or cut.  Reverence for life, love and respect ought to be ingrained  in our very existence.  Cow protection signifies reverence and protection for all mute life, i.e. in the present day parlance, “total preservation of the Biosphere and Ecology”.

                                                           

Padmashree T.G.K. Menon

46, Samvad Nagar, Navlakha,

 Indore- 452001 (Madhya Pradesh)