Raebareli, March 19 Agribusiness firm BL Agro said on Thursday that its subsidiary Leads Genetics has successfully transferred high-grade embryos of Gir cattle, imported from Brazil, into 255 domestic cows at its facility here, claiming a 60 per cent pregnancy success rate in the first batch – a record by industry standards.
The embryos, sourced from the Brazilian firm Fazenda Floresia, were produced through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and come from a Gir breed with the potential to yield up to 40 litres of milk per day.
"The success rate of pregnancy in the first batch of embryo transfers of 116 cattle has been 60 per cent, which is a record in itself as per industry standards," BL Agro Managing Director Ashish Khandelwal told reporters.
India's average milk production from indigenous cattle stands at around 4.5 litres per day. The country is the world's largest milk producer but has long struggled with low per-animal productivity.
The embryo transfers were carried out at B L Kamdhenu Farms in Raebareli, which houses the company's Centre of Excellence for Cattle Breeding and Dairying Technology, equipped with state-of-the-art IVF, pathology, and genomics laboratories.
The recipient cattle belong to Gir, Sahiwal, and Holstein Friesian varieties.
The Gir breed's journey to Brazil dates back over a century, when the Maharaja of Baroda gifted a Gir cow to a Brazilian family. Brazil subsequently undertook decades of selective breeding research, developing a lineage now considered genetically superior in milk output. That lineage has now returned to India through BL Agro's embryo transfer programme.
Amanda Fantucci, a veterinary specialist from Fazenda Floresia overseeing the embryo transfer process, said the success rate achieved in India was higher than that in Brazil, attributing it to rigorous monitoring and better post-transfer care of animals.
Leads Genetics Co-Founder and CBO Ashish K Dubey said the OPU-IVF embryo transfer technology offered significant advantages over conventional artificial insemination, which depends on the male parent alone for genetic improvement.
"It is faster genetic gain and breed improvement, taking genetic merits from both the parents," Dubey said.
In a natural reproductive cycle, a cow produces four to five female calves in its lifetime. Through IVF and embryo transfer, that number can rise to up to 50 calves per year, sharply accelerating breed improvement and milk production, the company said.
Calves born from the current batch of transfers will be used for further embryo production, Khandelwal added.
The company plans to commercially sell certified quality embryos to farmers across the country, with sales likely to commence by the end of 2026.
The B L Kamdhenu facility has a capacity to produce 15,000 embryos per month and is equipped with a high-throughput genomic facility for research and development on genomic selection.
BL Agro has invested Rs 120 crore in the initiative. The embryos were imported at Rs 1.35 lakh per unit for the nucleus farm. The retail price for farmers is yet to be decided, though Khandelwal said it would be "much more economical and affordable" once large-scale production begins.
Leads Genetics is currently in talks with the governments of Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Haryana to utilize the facility and set up breeding farms in collaboration with state governments for improving indigenous cattle varieties of different states.
India's embryo transfer programme remains at a nascent stage. Of approximately 2,000 embryos developed domestically last year using various breeding technologies, only 200 were transferred, with a pregnancy success rate of just 23 per cent, well below the 60 per cent Leads Genetics now claims for its first batch.
Renowned for its superior milk yield, adaptability, and disease resistance, the Gir breed is central to India's indigenous cattle genetic improvement programme.