The Livestock Farmers and Breeders Association (LFBA), Punjab and the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore have agreed on collaboration in research work in the livestock sector. An LFBA delegation comprising the association President Safdar Salim Sial, Directors Hamid Malhi and Muhammad Amin Chatta visited the UVAS.
The team and the university experts including Professor Talat Naseer Pasha, Professor Masroor Ellahi Babar and Professor Makhdom Abdul Jabbar discussed the matters pertaining to breed identification, registration and issues of local animal genetic resources. Both the sides agreed to collaborate in all avenues of mutual interest to work for quality production and provision of food of animal origin for the nation.
The LFBA delegates said that the association was determined to work for the DNA mapping and patenting of livestock breeds, assigning zoological names to the local breeds and setting standards for livestock management which would be named as Punjab Good Livestock Management Practices (PGLP), and passing on the latest research findings to the farmers for solving their problems on their doorsteps.
The delegates also visited the Molecular Cytogenetics and Genomics Lab of the university, where they were briefed about the ongoing research activities, including DNA fingerprinting test in cattle for disputed ownership.
About the work on breed identification, they were briefed that mitochondrial D-loop analysis for genetic diversity in Pakistani buffalo was under process. Breed identification and parentage detection of horses by means of using STR markers, cytochrome B and mitochondrial D loop and genotyping of short tandem repeats (STR) in five breeds of buffalo can also be used for forensic purposes. The LFBA delegates assured their co-operation and financial support for the research activities carried out by the UVAS.