From petri dish to pasture: The story of Assam’s first IVF-born Lakhimi calf

A week-old Lakhimi calf, named Lakhimi, is being raised at Assam Veterinary and Fishery University, Guwahati (AVFU), in Assam. She is the world's first IVF-born calf of the Lakhimi indigenous breed. Dr Manna Baruti, in-charge of the IVF laboratory at AVFU, explains that Lakhimi is a native breed of Assam, known for its disease resistance and heat tolerance.

The Lakhimi breed is relatively shorter and is relied upon by local farmers for milk production. Dr Baruti notes that IVF helps maintain the genetic makeup of the Lakhimi breed, preventing the loss of valuable traits through natural breeding. The IVF process involves collecting an egg from a Lakhimi female and semen from a pure Lakhimi bull in a laboratory, fertilizing them, and transferring the embryo to a surrogate cow for pregnancy.

With IVF, scientists can create multiple embryos from selected animals and transfer them to different surrogate cows, potentially benefiting multiple farmers with the genetics of one valuable animal. So far, the team at AVFU has produced nearly 182 embryos, with around 81 transferred resulting in 37 pregnancies. The project, funded by the Centre’s Rashtriya Gokul Mission, aims to conserve indigenous breeds, transfer elite embryos, and provide good bulls for artificial insemination.