Embryo Transfer Technology: Country’s first Marwari horse was born through surrogacy

Surrogacy, i.e., Embryo transfer technology, has become a boon for conserving good breed animals. Now it is also being used on horses. The number of horses of indigenous breeds has been continuously decreasing for the last few years. In such a situation, scientists are using new techniques for their protection.

Scientists did a successful experiment to increase the number of very special Marwari breed horses. Like humans, he used Embryo transfer technology in the mare, which gave birth to the country’s first Marwari horse. The success of this technology has shown a new way to increase the number of horses in the future.

Birth of ‘Raj-Pratham’

You all know about surrogacy. When a woman cannot conceive, her eggs are implanted in another woman’s womb. That second woman is called a surrogate mother. Similar techniques are now being used to increase horse numbers. The embryo transfer technique was used for the first time in a Marwari breed mare at the Equine Production Campus of ICAR-National Equine Research Institute, Bikaner.

That is, the eggs of a mare were fertilized and transferred to a surrogate mother (mare). This gave birth to the country’s first Marwari stallion, Raj-Prathama.’ In this technique, a fertilized embryo at the blastocyst stage (7.5 days after conception) is transferred from a mare to a surrogate mother.

Decreasing number of Marwari breed horses

According to Livestock Census, DAHD 2023, the number of Marwari breed horses in the country is rapidly decreasing. According to the 20th Livestock Census conducted in the year 2019, the number of Marwari breed horses in the country is 33,267. The number of all breeds of horses and ponies is about 3 lacks 40 thousand, which was about 6 lakh 40 thousand in 2012. It is obvious that, along with other breeds, the number of Marwari horses is also decreasing.

In such a situation, the success of surrogacy i.e. embryo transfer technique has emerged as a ray of hope. With its help the number of horses can be increased. ICAR-NRCE is making a lot of efforts for the conservation and propagation of horses in the country. As part of this effort, a project worth Rs one crore was approved last year in the National Livestock Mission for embryo conservation of Marwari breed horses.

The number of horses of Marwari breed can also be increased by embryo transfer technique. The team of scientists has so far successfully vitrified the embryos of 10 Marwari horses and further embryos of these will also be preserved.

Marwari breed specialty

This breed of horse is named after the Marwar region of Rajasthan, because this breed is found only in the Marwar region. The Marwar region includes Udaipur, Jalore, Jodhpur and Rajsamand districts of Rajasthan as well as some adjacent areas of Gujarat. Marwari horses are specially bred for riding and sports. They are very attractive in appearance.

The body of Marwari horses is 130-140 cm. It is tall, while the height is 152-160 cm. Happens till then. Their disease resistance is also more than other horses, and they are taller than Kathiawadi horses. Due to being strong and attractive, horses of this breed are the first choice of horsemen.

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