Under its Fast Track Young Scientists programme, the Department of Science and Technology in New Delhi has provided Rs. 10.5 lakh to S. Achiraman, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Bharathidasan University, to carry out an elaborate assessment of pheromones and their carrier proteins in goat urine.
The research is titled ‘Assessment of Estrus specific urinary pheromone(s) and their binding proteins in goat (Capra indicus): A new insight in livestock production’.
According to Dr. Achiraman, artificial insemination system rapidly improves the selection differential of goat population. However, despite relying on high expertise in laparoscopic insemination, a producer may face economic loss due to failure in conception.
Reproduction in animals relies on pheromones, the chemical senses that are released by one organism and induces change in behaviour/social of another organism of the same species.
Some specific pheromones and their carrier proteins are released during ovulatory (estrus) phase of reproductive cycle.
Hence, the assessment of ovulatory specific pheromones and their carrier proteins in urine will help in easy identification of ovulatory stage, and through artificial insemination, live stock population could be increased, said Dr. Achiraman.
