Scientists Eye More Milk Through Cloned Buffaloes
THE PHILLIPINES - After its success in cloning the first water buffalo in southeast Asia, Filipino scientists are trying to improve the genetic make up of this animal and even seeing it as an alternative to increase the supply of milk to eventually decrease or eliminate the country's dependency on dairy imports.
11 October 2007
1 minute read
The country is not producing enough milk supply despite the big number of population of buffaloes in the country, Edwin Atabay, supervising science research specialist at the Philippine Carabao Center in Munoz, Nueva Ecija said.
We are spending around US$ 475 million or P26.1 billion in importing milk and dairy products, when we have a population of 3 million carabaos here, he said.
The joint project of the CC and the Philippine Council on Agriculture and Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) called "cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffaloes" was born to develop a cloning system that uses somatic cell nuclear transfer technology in water buffalo to produce "super buffalo calves"
Atabay said that the process starts with selection of a buffalo, from a superior breed that came from India, that has the most desirable physical attribute, and the capacity to produce 15 to 18 liters of milk.
