Aim/Agenda

About us:

ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) at Karnal, Haryana, is one of the premier Institutes in the dairy sector, which has contributed a lot to the growth of the dairy industry and played a crucial role in the development of milk production in India with its continuous research. Over a hundred year old lineage of NDRI goes back to the Imperial Institute for Animal Husbandry and Dairying, which was set up in Bangalore in 1923 as a center for dairy education. In its erstwhile form of Imperial Institute in Bangalore, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi and ‘Bharat Ratna’ Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya were imparted training at the Institute in 1927. Gandhiji highly appreciated the most productive crossbred cow ‘Jill’ of the Institute. Mahatma Gandhi evinced great interest in the work of the Institute and wrote several articles in `Young India’ and `Harijan’ on the importance of dairying and scientific cattle management. In 1936, it was renamed as Imperial Dairy Institute, and it was shifted to its present site in Karnal in 1955 and renamed National Dairy Research Institute. The infrastructure of Imperial Institute was retained as the Southern Regional Station of NDRI; later, in 1964, the Eastern Regional Station was set up at Kalyani in West Bengal. The Institute has the distinction of being a Deemed University for implementing its academic programmes since 1989. The Institute provides high quality education in dairying, which has no parallel in Asia. It is noteworthy that NDRI is not only an important contributor of human resources in dairying required in State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) but also plays an essential role in enhancing the teaching capabilities of the faculty from SAUs.

NDRI has several “first” feathers to its cap and its contributions and role in the overall development of the dairy sector and dairy-related research and education is well recognized. The Institute was also conferred ‘Sardar Patel Outstanding ICAR Institute award’ for its outstanding achievements in dairying. The Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, presented the award in July 2014. It was awarded the Agriculture Leadership Award 2013 for setting up a benchmark in dairy research by contributing to research efforts to augment milk productivity, value addition, quality and safety, and economic and marketing aspects related to dairying. Before this, the Institute also received the Education Leadership Award in recognition of the talent and leadership among educational institutes across India.

What we do:

ICAR-NDRI has developed considerable expertise in Dairy Production, Processing, Management and Human Resource Development as a pioneering Institute during the last ten decades. The continuous effort of the Institute in the generation and dissemination of technologies on milk production enhancement and value addition has resulted in social, economic and environmental benefits to the nation. The contribution of the Institute in human resources development for dairy research, education and farming is immense and recognized as the backbone for Indian dairying. In recent years, the Institute has achieved landmark success in cloning by producing the world’s first buffalo-cloned calves using ‘hand-guided cloning’ through somatic cells derived from newborn calves, seminal plasma, embryonic stem cells, and adult animal cells.

In Dairy Processing research, the Institute has developed technologies for preparing various indigenous dairy products and formulated health foods. New functional dairy products such as probiotic cheese and dahi, sports drinks, low cholesterol ghee, herbal ghee, ice cream and burfi for diabetics, and a formulation for cardiovascular health have also been developed. Inclusion of ingredients from other food groups such as cereals, fruits, and vegetables to formulate breakfast smoothies, iron-fortified biscuits based on pearl millet, probiotic beverages based on barley as well as pearl millet, millet-based weaning and extruded foods is an example of the Institute’s foray into the realm of composite foods.

Equipments have been designed for both small-scale dairy operations and mechanized production. NDRI has developed research methodologies for the economic evaluation of dairy production and processing systems, which researchers and development specialists have recognized as empirical tools. As a result of proactive steps taken by the Institute towards the transfer of the technologies, the industry has picked up some of the prominent innovations and technologies of the Institute, such as low cholesterol Ghee, a new test for the detection of detergent in milk, a kit for antibiotic residues, area specific mineral mixture for animals, technology for iron-fortified biscuits, recombinant chymosin, and bacterial rennet. The information generated at the Institute and the services offered have contributed to the growth of the Dairy Industry and the well-being of millions of milk producers and consumers of milk and milk products. Realizing the challenging need for globalized dairy trade, the Institute has continuously developed its R&D and HRD programmes to better serve the nation regarding food security, employment generation, and poverty alleviation.

Expertise available with the investigating group/Institute:

• • • Two strains of cattle, namely Karan Swiss and Karan Fries, were developed by crossbreeding, followed by selection.
    • Continuing traditional breeding approaches to select the proven Murrah and Sahiwal bulls with more than 3700 kg lactation yield of daughters.
    • Further, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were conducted to identify the genetic markers associated with buffaloes’ production and reproduction traits.
    • Early pregnancy-associated biomarkers in the urine of Sahiwal cows are being developed.
    • Higher plasma glucose, NEFA, and cortisol levels were higher in Sahiwal cows with truncated lactation, while growth hormone, alpha-lactalbumin, and lactoferrin were higher in Sahiwal cows with persistent lactation.
    • Different noninvasive IRT methods were developed to identify dairy animals with subclinical mastitis for early detection.
    • Protocol for induction of lactation in indigenous cows and buffaloes development.
    • Procedures development and standardization for estrus synchronization and superovulation of different hormone combinations in cattle and buffaloes.
    • High fertile male and female selection methodology was developed through laboratory evaluation test and their combination.
    • Urea molasses block lick development for use as a good source of nitrogen and minerals for cattle during scarcity periods.
    • An area-specific mineral mixture for animals was developed and commercialised.
    • Protocol for embryo transfer technology standardized for cattle and buffalo
    • The world first in vitro fertilized buffalo calf born at NDRI. Since then, more buffalo calves using this technology have been produced.
    • Sperm transcriptome and seminal plasma metabolomic analyses of crossbred bulls were carried out.

Objectives of the sub-project:

• 1. Sensor-based biosignal capture for monitoring dairy animal health (lameness, mastitis), calving time prediction, and heat detection.
  2. Developing herd management database and DSS for monitoring production and health of dairy animals.
  3. Image-based animal phenotyping for breed and individual animal identification.
  4. Precision feed management system for varying dairy types, growth, and production.
  5. ICT-based digital dairy advisories for last-mile connectivity