Workshop on Livestock & Environmental Issues- Possible Research Collaboration between TERI - ICAR

TERI and The Indian Council of Agricultural Research organised a joint workshop on the subject of 'Livestock and Environmental Issues' on May 3, 2016 at the TERI office in New Delhi to discuss their respective focus areas for formulating a possible research agenda to take up collaborative research projects. The TERI team comprised of Mr Arvind Kaushal and Dr Vibha Dhawan, Distinguished Fellows, Dr Nutan Kaushik, Senior Fellow and Area Convenor, Dr Raj Kishor Kapardar, Associate Fellow and Mr Mihir Mathur, Associate Fellow. The ICAR was represented by Dr H Rahman, Deputy Director General (Animal Science), Dr R K Singh, Director & Vice Chancellor, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izzatnagar, Dr J M Kataria, Director, Central Avian Research Institute, Bareilly, Dr Raghavendra Bhatta, Director, National Institute of Animal Nutrition & Physiology, Bengaluru and Dr Sohanvir Singh, Principal Scientist, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal.

Each member of the visiting team from the ICAR made a presentation of the current focus of research, ongoing research activities and the suggested areas of possible collaboration with TERI. In their presentation, the TERI team apprised the ICAR team of the infrastructure and state-of-art equipment available with the organization as also its scientific achievements in the areas of energy access, protection of environment and conservation of natural resources. The visiting team was quite appreciative of the work done by TERI in formulating local and national level strategies and global solutions to critical energy and environmental issues.

On the basis of discussion held, the workshop took note of the following possible areas for collaborative research:

• Mitigation of greenhouse gases from animal & farm waste
• Micro-climatic modifications for Improving livestock performance
• Impact of climate change on important vector-borne diseases
• Use of plants containing secondary metabolites to reduce methane production so as to improve animal productivity
• Sustainable utilization of poultry waste
• Effect of different Temperatiure Humidity Index (THI) on milk productivity of cattle and buffaloes
• Excrement methane and nitrous oxide emissions from livestock production in the country (development of methodologies & preventive/ ameliorative measures)
• Unravelling the genetic makeup of high versus low methane emitting animals
• Screening of endophytic strain of TERI for lacase activity for utilisation of crop residues as animal feed
• Utilisation of metabolomics for development of biomarkers for animal disease, quality traits of milk, heat stress impact, impact of fodder quality on milk productivity
• TERI to organise a workshop on metabolomics for ICAR scientists
• Utilisation of natural products for development of alternative solution to antibiotics

The discussions held in the workshop noted that the impact of climate change on livestock and vice versa was a relatively neglected research area in developing countries. It should be possible to attract attention of multilateral and bilateral funding agencies, grant making bodies, corporate sector and international academic for any initiatives that the TERI and ICAR may jointly take up.