The Manipuri duck, locally known as Meitei Nganu, has been registered as an indigenous breed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
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IMPHAL — The Manipuri duck, locally known as “Meitei Nganu” or “Eshing Nganu”, has been registered as a distinct indigenous duck breed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research–National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR), Karnal, Haryana.
The registration followed approval by the Breed Registration Committee at its 13th meeting held on November 12 last year in New Delhi. Officials of the Central Agricultural University (CAU), Imphal, said the Manipuri duck was among 13 indigenous livestock and poultry breeds approved during the meeting and has been assigned the accession number India_duck_1200_Manipuri_11008.
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Rural Development Shivraj Singh Chouhan formally handed over the breed registration certificate to CAU Imphal officials during the Animal Breed Registration Certificate and Breed Conservation Award Distribution Ceremony held in New Delhi on January 14.
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Assistant Professor M Norjit Singh of CAU Imphal said the certificate was received by TC Tolenkhomba, Haobijam Chaoba Singh and himself on behalf of the university.
With the registration of the Manipuri duck, four indigenous animal breeds from Manipur have now been registered with ICAR–NBAGR. The other three are the Manipur pony, Manipur chicken Kaunayen and Manipur black pig.
Singh also said that an application has been submitted for the registration of Haofa, an indigenous dog breed found mainly in Phungchan village in Ukhrul district.
According to official reports, a total of 13 indigenous and three synthetic breeds of livestock and poultry were approved during the November meeting. The indigenous breeds include Medini cattle of Jharkhand, Rohilkhandi cattle of Uttar Pradesh, Melghati buffalo of Maharashtra, Palamu goat of Jharkhand, Udaipuri goat of Uttarakhand, Nagami mithun of Nagaland, Mala chicken of Jharkhand, Kodo duck of Jharkhand, Kudu duck of Odisha, Kuttanad duck of Kerala, Manipuri duck of Manipur, Nagi duck of Assam and Rajdigheli geese of Assam.
The synthetic breeds approved include Karan Fries cattle of Haryana, Vrindavani cattle of Uttar Pradesh and Avishaan sheep of Rajasthan.
With these additions, a total of 242 indigenous animal breeds have been registered in the country so far, including cattle, buffalo, goat, sheep, horses and ponies, camel, pig, donkey, dog, yak, chicken, duck, geese and mithun, along with three synthetic cattle breeds and one synthetic sheep breed.