February 19, 2007

Philippines to breed "super buffaloes"

Super buffaloes will soon become a part of Philippine livestock sector as the first buffalo cloning will soon be implemented by Philippine Carabao Centre (PCC).

The Philippine Star daily reports the cloning will undergo through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffaloes.

The project, which is touted to be the first initiative of its kind in Southeast Asia, is also supported by the Department of Agriculture and the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD).

The project, which was approved recently by the PCARRD governing council and launched in last month, is part of President Gloria Arroyos' programme of producing "super buffalo calves" for its buffalo genetic improvement agenda.

Protocols on cloning techniques and freezing buffalo oocytes (female egg cells) are to be established, with 1,000 buffalo clone embryos (fertilised eggs) produced in vitro (in the laboratory) and transferred to recipient animals.

According to PCARRD Livestock Research Division Director Dr Elaine Lanting, the "somatic cell nuclear transfer," is a technique that involves the production of mature buffalo oocytes in vitro. These oocytes will be enucleated or the removal of the nucleus to become recipient cytoplasts. In turn, the recipient cytoplasts will receive nuclear materials derived from somatic cells, such as from the ear skin of the super buffalo, and will be cultured for six to seven days in vitro. The resulting embryos will be transferred to surrogate dams to produce clones of the super buffalo.

PCC executive director and project leader Dr Libertado Cruz stressed that there will be no modification or alteration of the genetic materials but will just merely allow the multiplication of the existing superior germplasms of the super buffalo.