NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTRE ON EQUINES
(Indian
Council of Agricultural Research)
The Centre has identified following
major programmes for research:
1. Surveillance and monitoring of important
equine diseases including emerging and existing diseases with special emphasis
on foal mortality and production losses.
2. Development of effective, affordable and preferably field based diagnostics
against major equine diseases threatening equine health and production in
India.
3. Development of effective, affordable and potent immunoprophylactics against
important equine infectious diseases threatening equines in India.
4. Development of effective plant based products for management of some economically
important equine diseases and to enhance performance in equines.
5. To provide diagnostic and consultancy services for beneficiaries particularly
equine farmers and breeders.
6. Development of sustainable and economically viable AI technology for mule
production in India using cryopreserved jack semen for use at farmers’
door.
7. Development and perfection of artificial insemination techniques in horse
production using frozen semen of true to breed indigenous stallions for the
consortium of threatening species in India.
8. Breed characterization and in situ conservation of various indigenous breed
of horses.
9. Exploiting importance of equine draught power for economically weaker section
of the society.
10. Extension activities and Institute Development Programmes for the upgradation
of the indigenous breeds of equids in the different parts of the country in
collaboration with the State Departments.
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Ongoing projects
| Scheme
Code |
Title
of the scheme |
Team |
| Programme-1 |
||
| 2000443002/ 0420200 |
Development of improved vaccine against equine diseases | |
| Sub Project | ||
| 2000443002.2/ 0420200 |
Development of vaccine(s) against Equine Herpes Virus-1 infection | B.K. Singh, B.R. Gulati and Nitin Virmani |
| 2000443003/ 0420200 |
Development of improved diagnostics against important viral and bacterial diseases of equines | |
| 2000443003.1/ 0420200 |
Studies on the improvement of the Diagnostics for differentiation between EHV-1 & 4 infections employing molecular techniques. | Nitin Virmani, B.K. Singh and B.R. Gulati |
| 2000443003.2/ 0420200 |
Development of sensitive & specific methods for diagnosis of equine rotavirus from diarrhoeic foals | B.R. Gulati and B.K. Singh |
| 2000443003.3/ 0420200 |
Development of diagnostic(s) for pathogenic Streptococcus equi in equines. (in abeyance) | Praveen Malik, S. K. Khurana and Mamta Chauhan |
| 2000443003.4/ 0420200 |
Development of diagnostics for Rhodocococcus equi infection in foals. | S. K. Khurana, Praveen Malik and Nitin Virmani |
| New | Development of sensitive and specific diagnostics for Japanese Encephalitis in Equines. | B.R. Gulati , B.K. Singh and Nitin Virmani |
| 2000448001/ 0420200 |
Epidemiological studies on emerging and existing diseases of equines. | S.K. Dwivedi, S. K. Khurana, B. K. Singh, S. C. Yadav, B.R. Gulati, Rajender Kumar, Praveen Malik, Nitin Virmani, Sanjay Kumar, A. Arangasamy and Ramesh Kumar Dedar |
| 2000446002/ 0420200 |
Chemotherapeutic and diagnostic studies on Trypanosomiasis and Babesiosis in equines. | |
| Sub Projects | ||
| 2000446002.2/ 0420200 | Development of diagnostic tests for equine Trypanosomosis (Surra). | Rajender Kumar, Sanjay Kumar, S. C. Yadav and S.K. Dwivedi |
| 2000446002.3/ 0420200 | Development of sensitive and specific diagnostic tests for detection of equine piroplasmosis. | Sanjay Kumar, Rajender Kumar, A.K. Gupta, S. C. Yadav and S.K. Dwivedi |
| Programme-2 |
||
| 2000414003/ 0420211 |
Cryopreservation of stallion semen and perfection of AI in Marwari horses. | Yash Pal, R. A. Legha, A. Arangasamy and S. N. Tandon |
| 2000414004/ 0420211 |
Development of equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) based ELISA based test for pregnancy diagnosis in equines. | A. K. Gupta, Yash Pal and Sanjay Kumar |
| 2000414005/ 0420211 |
Genetic Studies in Marwari Horses | |
| Sub Projects | ||
| 2000414005.1/ 0420211 |
RFLP- Based genotyping of major histocompatibility complex class II genes in Marwari horses | R.
C. Sharma, R. S. Bansal and S. C. Mehta ( NRC on Camel, Bikaner) |
| 2000414005.2/ 0420211 |
Molecular markers based parentage testing in horses of Indian origin. | Mamta Chauhan and A. K. Gupta |
| 2000414006/ 0420211 |
Isolation of stallion seminal plasma proteins and their effect on in vitro fertilizing ability of spermatozoa | A. Arangasamy and S.K.Bhure ( NRC on Camel, Bikaner) |
| New | Superior mule production in the field through frozen semen of exotic Jacks | |
| New | Performance evaluation of Marwari horses under different type of shelters | R. A. Legha and R.C. Sharma |
Programme-3 |
||
| New | To Study the existing Donkey and Mule Production System in three state Haryana, Rajasthan and U.P. | Niranjan Lal |
Programme-4 |
||
| New | Molecular Characterization of indigenous breeds of horse for genetic diversity within and between different breeds. | A. K. Gupta, S. C.Gupta(NBAGR), S. N. Tandon, Mamta Chauhan, Neelam Gupta(NBAGR) |
| New | Usefulness of recombinant protein for serodiagnosis of Glanders. | Praveen Malik |
Short training courses, seminars, workshops and symposia are conducted from time to time for human resource development and to fill up the gap of communication between researchers and technology adopters. The end user including landless, small and marginal farmers and equine industry has also been provided services in the field of disease diagnosis, therapy and control, artificial insemination and pregnancy diagnosis. The Centre also offers contractual services on these activities particularly on the diagnosis of various diseases viz. Equine Infectious Anaemia, Equine Viral Arteritis, Equine Herpes Virus, Equine Influenza, Mycoplasmosis, Leptospirosis, Glanders, Salmonella Abortusequi infection, Brucellosis, CEM, Babesiosis and Trypanosomiasis etc.. Moreover, a provision of contractual research for the beneficiaries in equine industry and other end users is also available at the Centre.
The Centre is providing not only consultancy and advisory services to its end users but also takes care about equine health, reproduction, conservation, evaluation and improvement of the equine germ plasm. The technologies developed by the Centre in the areas of equine health, reproduction and production are assessed and refined by testing in the field before these are transferred to the equine owners directly or through the established institutions of State Animal husbandry Departments and other Government agencies, practising veterinarians and equine industry by providing appropriate literature, organization of training courses, publication of information bulletins and organization of seminar, symposia, exhibits and horse show etc.
Consultancy
The Centre provides consultancy and advisory services efficiently and
effectively to the beneficiaries in the areas of equine health and production,
by providing (i) schedules for vaccination, deworming and other preventive
sprays to control arthropod vectors of infectious agents, (ii) package of
practices for the production of superior quality mules and donkeys by employing
artificial insemination and superior donkey germplasm, and (iii) early pregnancy
diagnosis through ultrasonography. The diagnosis, treatment and prevention
of infectious and non-infectious disease conditions are being done for the
benefit of the poorest of the poors, who cannot afford the cost of equine
health care. The Centre has adopted one village near Bikaner in Rajasthan
and another village in Hisar district in Haryana to provide the services free
of cost to the equine owners by making frequent visits. Adoption of more villages
and poor equine owners is underway.
Patents
The Centre has applied for two patents in the field of disease diagnosis.
Patent has been granted by the Patent Office, Government of India on application
(2199/DEL/96) entitled “A method for preparation of a diagnostic kit
useful for forecasting Equine Herpes Virus-1 disease” authored by Rattan
et al. This has been notified on October 25, 2003 in the Gazette
of India, classified as 55E4 1891278. The patent has been granted both for
the process and product.
Another application for complement fixation test (CFT) based diagnostic COFEB-Kit
developed by NRCE for the detection of Babesia equi antibodies was
filed to the patent office Delhi. Patent application no 36/Del/2001 entitled
“Complement fixation test based COFEB-Kit for diagnosis of Babesia equi
infection in equines” has been finally submitted after first examination
report. A divisional application for patenting of product has also been submitted
through ICAR to Patent Office, New Delhi.
Commercialisation of Technology
The services for diagnosis of equine infectious anaemia are being provided
to equine industry on payment basis to generate resources. Similarly equine
influenza vaccine is also being supplied to equine industry and equine owners
on payment basis. The Centre is earning revenue to the tune of Rs.16 lakhs
through Contract Service during one year.
In order to achieve the targeted goals on given time scale, the infrastructure and capabilities would be updated and linkages will be established for sharing of expertise and technologies and to improve facilities for national and International trainings. Involvement of multi-institutional Faculty will be sought with appropriate collaborations.
