MADRAS VETERINARY COLLEGE

• To impart education in Animal Genetics and Breeding at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
• To carry out characterization and conservation of native germplasm.
• To formulate breeding policy.
• To develop human resources in the areas of Animal Breeding, Cytogenetics, Molecular Genetics and Artificial Breeding.
• To cater to the needs of stakeholders through training and advisory services.

• Evolved “Meyer strain” of chicken for egg production
• Evolved “Sandyno”, a synthetic sheep for fine wool
• Designed a progeny testing model for a herd size of 300 cattle
• Standardised the economic traits in all farm animals for selection programmes
• Evolved selection programmes against genetic antagonism of egg production traits in layers, and body weight and reproductive traits in broilers
• Formulated selection indices for rapid improvement of body weight in Large White Yorkshire pigs
• Characterized Umblachery, Bargur, Pulikulam and Alambadi breeds of cattle and Katchaikatty sheep
• Genetic analyses of performance traits of Ostrich (Struthio camelus australis) under farm conditions
• Genetic evaluation of growth in field flocks of Madras Red sheep using random regression models
• Performance analysis of Large White Yorkshire x Desi crossbred pigs under farm conditions
• Phenotypic and morphological characterisation of indigenous pigs in Northern districts of Tamil Nadu
• Genetic study on performance traits of Madras Red sheep under farm conditions
• Genetic studies on semen production in Murrah buffalo bulls in Tamil Nadu
• Genetic analysis of reproduction and fitness traits in Nilagiri and Nilagiri Synthetic breeds of sheep
• Genetic evaluation of growth performance of farmbred Nilagiri and Sandyno sheep
• Genetic evaluation of semen production and fertility traits in exotic, crossbred and indigenous cattle and buffaloes
• Studied the sporting performance traits in indigenous bulls of Tamil Nadu

• Introduced of frozen semen for the first time in Tamil Nadu State by establishing Semen Bank in 1973
• Cryopreservation techniques for bull, buffalo, ram, buck and dog semen developed
• Quality improvement of bull semen by filtration techniques
• Developed zona-free hamster egg penetration bioassay to assess the fertility of bovine spermatozoa
• Introduced Artificial Insemination in goats at Madras Veterinary College
• Genetic studies on semen production in Jersey crossbred and Holstein-Friesian crossbred bulls

• Chromosomal studies in cattle, buffalo, horse, sheep, goat, dog, pig, rabbit, chicken, quail and wild animals
• Deduced Robertsonian translocation by chromosomal analysis in Jersey cattle
• Cytogenetic characterization of Ongole, Umblachery and Kangayam cattle, and Toda buffalo
• Class I and Class II major histo-compatibility complex (MHC) genes assigned to a small acrocentric chromosome 23 in cattle and to submetacentric chromosome 2 of buffaloes
• Ascertained paternal lineage in crossbred calves using Y-chromosome morphology
• Developed a reliable and inexpensive tool using SYBR green real-time PCR assay of PLP and SRY genes to evaluate the X-sorted semen on routine basis
• Confirmatory analysis of hermaphroditism and pseudohermaphroditism in livestock and pet animals using cytogenetic and molecular assays for effective clinical interventions

• Genetics of blood potassium, haeamoglobin, albumin and transferrin polymorphisms in various breeds / species of livestock
• Alkaline phosphatase, esterases and glutathione polymorphisms in sheep, poultry and rabbits and their association with production traits

• Developed somatic cell hybridization technique for gene mapping in buffaloes
• Developed a hybridization protocol for fusion of buffalo fibroblast and leucocytes of mouse for gene mapping in buffaloes
• Skin and embryo kidney fibroblast culture techniques for chromosomal analysis of farm animals

• Gene synteny between G6PD, PGK and X-GAL was identified and assigned to X-chromosome and the gene synteny of LDH, PEP and TPI was identified and assigned to the chromosome 4 of buffaloes
• Established Core Laboratory for south India for molecular characterization of indigenous breeds of livestock in 1996
• Molecular characterization of eight cattle breeds (Kangayam, Umblachery, Bargur, Pulikulam, Ongole, Amritmahal, Hallikar and Krishna Valley), nine sheep breeds (Madras Red, Mecheri, Nilagiri, Vembur, Kilakarsal, Ramnad White, Coimbatore Tiruchy Black and Katchaikatty) and four goat breeds (Kanni Adu, Salem Black, Tellicherry and Barbari) have been carried out.
• Lesser known cattle populations such as Alambadi, Nattukutai and Malai madu were characterised through microsatellite markers
• Bone morphogenic protein 15 (BMP15) gene as a candidate marker for prolificacy in Nilagiri sheep
• Association of FecB gene mutation with prolificacy in Nilagiri sheep
• Sexing of ostrich and emu using molecular techniques
• DNA repository of south Indian breeds of cattle, sheep and goats established
• Toll-like receptor (TLR) gene polymorphism and its relationship with somatic cell count in cattle to assess the status of udder health studied
• Genetic variability of growth hormone (GH) and leptin (LEP) genes and their association with growth traits in sheep breeds of Tamil Nadu
• Molecular studies carried out on candidate genes associated with draught power viz., Insulin like growth factor (IGF-1), Beta-2 adrenergic receptor (ADRB2), Glutathione peroxidase (GPX-1), Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A), Bradykinin beta-2 receptor (BDKRB2), Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE-1) and Actin binding protein (ACTN-3) in indigenous cattle breeds of Tamil Nadu

S. No.	Title	Funding agency	Year
1.	Development of tissue culture technique for the production of hybrid cell line by cloning	Part II Scheme, Govt. of TN	1991 - 2002
2.	Zona-free hamster egg penetration bioassay for in-vitro fertility assessment of spermatozoa	Plan scheme Govt. of TN	1994 - 2002
3.	Identification of gene synteny by using somatic cell hybrids in buffaloes	ICAR	1996 - 2000
4.	Somatic cell hybridization to identify the gene markers	ICAR	1996 - 2000
5.	Survey and characterization of Umblachery breed of cattle	ICAR	1996 - 1998
6.	Core Laboratory	ICAR	1996 - 2013
7.	Ex-situ conservation of Kangayam cattle	ICAR	2002 - 2005
8.	Fund for Improvement in S & T (FIST) Infrastructure	DST	2005 - 2006
9.	Establishment of andrological laboratory for certified semen services	TNLDA	2006  - 2011
10.	Characterization and conservation of native cattle breeds of Tamil Nadu	TNLDA	2007 - 2011
11.	Genetic upgradation of goats by artificial insemination	Govt. of TN	2009 - 2010
12.	Strengthening of frozen semen bank at Madras Veterinary College	NADP	2011 - 2013
13	Central Sector Scheme on Biotech Centre for Fecundity Genes	GoI	2012 - 2016

S. No.	Title	Budget (in Lakhs)	Funding agency	Year
1.	Establishment of National Facility for Molecular Screening of Cattle for Inherited Disorders and Parentage Verification	200.0	GoI-NPBB through TNLDA	2015 to till date
2.	Genetic improvement of Kanni Adu, Kodi Adu and Salem Black indigenous goat breeds through production of goat semen straws for artificial insemination in 1000 goats for doubling farmer’s income	149.0	Govt. of TN	2019 to till date
3.	Tribal community participatory breeding approach of the endangered Toda buffalo in the Nilgiris hills for its sustainability	221.98	GoI-NPBB-RGM through TNLDA	2022 to till date

• Liquid Nitrogen Plant
• Karyological screening of breeding bulls and bull mothers for gross chromosomal abnormalities

• Characterisation of animal genetic resources
• Genetic analysis of performance traits
• Characterisation of trait-specific genes: Draughtability in south Indian cattle, Fecundity and growth genes in sheep of Tamil Nadu
• Innate resistance to mastitis
• Ex-situ conservation of native germplasm
• Quality control in frozen semen production
• Whole genome sequencing and identification of breed signature in native breeds

• Advice on artificial insemination, breeding and conservation of indigenous livestock genetic resources are rendered through mass contact programmes and mass media

• Cryopreservation of semen and analysis of frozen semen for quality assurance
• Cytogenetic techniques for the diagnosis of genetic disorders
• Artificial insemination in goats
• Parentage verification and molecular screening for inherited disorders in cattle

• Quality assurance of frozen semen
• Supply of liquid nitrogen for preservation of cells / cell lines, biological etc.
• Cytogenetic screening for gross chromosomal abnormalities
• Parentage verification in cattle
• Screening for FecB mutation in sheep
• Molecular screening of cattle for inherited disorders such as Bovine Citrullinemia (BC), Bovine Leucocyte Adhesion Deficiency (BLAD), Deficiency of Uridine Monophosphate Synthetase (DUMPS) and Factor XI deficiency (FXI)

Name of the Faculty	Designation	E-mail	Mobile#
Dr. R. Rajendran	Professor and Head	rajendran.r@tanuvas.ac.in	+91-9884159547
Dr. S.M.K. Karthickeyan	Professor	karthickeyan.s.m.k@ tanuvas.ac.in	+91-9791103976
Dr. R. Thiagarajan	Professor	thiagarajan.r@tanuvas.ac.in	+91-9865379907
Dr. A. Gopinathan	Professor	gopinathan.a@tanuvas.ac.in	+91-9444723316

The Professor and Head,
Department Of Animal Genetics and Breeding,
Madras Veterinary College, Chennai – 600 007.
Phone: +91-44-25304000
E-mail: hodagbmvc@tanuvas.org.in