The IAEA is launching a 5-year Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on applying nuclear and related genomic technologies for enhancing the efficiency of national dairy cattle breeding programs to improve productivity and adaptability of local genetic stock. Three major dairy animal species, namely cattle, buffalo and camel, will be targeted. The CRP will help to develop nuclear and related genomic tools/resources (e.g. cost effective DNA chips for genotyping, reference population for locally available breeds, radiolabelled biomarker assay for early pregnancy diagnosis, etc.) and establish strategies to incorporate genomic information for the selection and breeding of dairy animals.
The CRP will comprise of 10 Research Contract (RC) holders from developing countries, three Technical Contract (TC) holders and four Research Agreement (RA) holders from laboratories engaged in advanced animal genetics and breeding research. Nuclear techniques involving isotopes such as Cobalt-60 (radiation hybrid mapping), Carbon-13 and Nitrogen-15 (biomarker discovery) and Iodine-125 (early pregnancy radioimmunoassay) will be utilized to address the objectives.
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Source: IAEA