October 9, 2003
Philippines' Breed of "Supercows" Brings About Huge Savings
It is now possible to breed this superior animal, which can produce more than 18,000 litres of milk per lactation, thanks to the biotechnology techniques such as embryo transfer (ET) and vitrification.
Embryo transfer in tandem with super-ovulation is a reproductive biotechnique that involves the use of hormone that stimulates follicle (early stage of egg) enabling a cow to produce more than one egg at a time. Other components are insemination, collection of fertilized eggs from the donor cow's reproductive tract through surgical or nonsurgical means, and transfer of the embryos to surrogate cows.
A project along this line is now being implemented by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) headed by Executive Director Patricio S. Faylon, himself a noted animal scientist, and UP Los Banos-Dairy Training and Research Institute (UPLB-DTRI).
DTRI researchers Dr. Antonio Rayos, Dr. Jose Arceo Bautista, Dr. Demetrio Marcial Jr., and Conrado Oreiro averred that the female calves of superior cows at the DTRI farm could form the foundation herd of quality milking animals in the future. Moreover, their male calves can be further tested to produce an elite herd of bulls for semen production.
From this PCARRD-funded project alone, the country can produce 120 embryos from the top 10% of the herd. An embryo costs about $600 (P35,000), thus savings of about $72,000 on an import substitution basis can be realized, the DTRI researchers projected.
Through the project, an all year round production of "supercows" is possible.
