14 Production and transfer of bovine embryos through the hub-and-spoke model: an innovative model to promote embryo transfer technology

Ovum pickup (OPU), in vitro embryo production (IVEP), and embryo transfer (ET) technology is still in its infancy in India, mainly due to higher cost, poor efficiency, and limited availability of trained manpower. Further establishing an IVEP laboratory is cost intensive, taking the technology beyond reach. Notwithstanding, the technology is trendy among the policymakers and progressive farmers of India due to its advantages for faster multiplication of a limited number of genetically superior female animals of indigenous breeds and enhancing genetic gain. Therefore, the technology offers enormous untapped potential to drastically change the face of Indian dairying, where small and marginal farmers practice dairying. The present abstract describes the efforts of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the cooperative milk unions (MUs) of Gujarat, India, to take the technology from laboratory to land by adopting an innovative hub-and-spoke model. In this, the OPU-IVEP-ET facility of NDDB acts as “Hub,” and the MUs act as “Spoke.” The hub is responsible for the production of embryos from genetically superior animals. Spokes are responsible for selecting elite donors, selecting and synchronizing recipients, and finally, carrying out ET at the farmers’ doorsteps. In the initial phase, NDDB provides technical know-how through intensive training and handholding during field implementation. Later, trained veterinarians of MUs to perform OPU and ET on their own, bring oocytes to NDDB and take back embryos for ET at the farmers’ doorstep. The NDDB has collaborated with the five biggest dairy MUs of Gujarat—Amul, Banas, Surat, Sabar, and Mehsana—and together transferred 1024 embryos of Gir and HF crossbred in 6 months (October to March) and established 162 pregnancies. It is noteworthy that there was very limited ET happened in these MUs before this intervention. Now there is an increased level of confidence among the veterinarians of MUs to implement ET in field conditions. Furthermore, after gaining confidence, Amul, Banas, and Mehsana MUs have initiated the process of establishing their own OPU-IVEP-ET facility to scale up the production of IVF embryos and provide ET service to a large number of their member producers. The model saves the initial laboratory establishment cost for each participating MUs, helping MUs to train their manpower and assess the technology’s demand. This model has enabled both NDDB and MUs to reduce the cost of production of superior progeny at the farmers’ doorsteps. In the long run, creating more hubs for embryo production and even more spokes to carry out field ETs would give a solid foothold to the technology. Further, focusing on providing balanced nutrition to the calves born out of OPU-IVEP-ET may help the propagation of the technology among farmers, as they would be able to appreciate higher milk production from the IVF-born next generation of animals. The model is suitable to be adopted in countries where dairying is fragmented, like India, and requires technological intervention for genetic improvement with lower investment.