Having developed an indigenous technology that ensures birth of a higher percentage of female calves, NDDB Dairy Services (NDS) now plans to deploy 10 sex-sorting machines that work on this new technology at Alamadhi Semen Station in Tamil Nadu during the current year. These machines will have an annual capacity to produce 10 lakh sex-sorted doses that will be priced three times lower than those offered by multinational companies.

“We have got the first order from Rajasthan to supply two lakh doses. We are also in discussion with the Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat,” says Meenesh Shah, chairman of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), based at Anand in Gujarat. This indigenously developed commercial-grade sex-sorting machine ‘Gausort’ has been developed by NDS -- a wholly owned subsidiary of NDDB -- in collaboration with Bengaluru-based research and development company, Jiva Sciences. On October 25, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first such machine.

The new machines will be set up at the Alamadhi Semen Station -- in Chennai -- which was established in May 2015. This station with 300-odd bulls produces Bovine frozen semen doses under the brand “Superior Animal Genetics”. Apart from exotic and crossbred breeds, the station also has indigenous bulls like Gir, Kankrej, Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Kangayam, among others. “We are still discussing if we are selling the machines or the technology. That model is being discussed. Initially we plan not to sell the machines. We plan to set up these machines in various states, operate them and provide the sex sorted semen,” Shah added. Due to this innovation, the cost of sex-sorted semen doses is expected to drop approximately to ₹265 per dose, which is three times lower than the ₹800 per dose offered by multinational companies.

Currently only a couple of companies manufacture sex-sorted semen across the globe. This includes US-based Sexing Technologies (ST USA) which operates in India through its arm ST Genetics India. “NDDB initiated the work of developing our own sex-sorted semen technology. Last year we had a breakthrough. We had developed one prototype machine in support from the Government of India. Last year, we moved from the prototype to the commercial machine. We produced semen doses and did field trials and results were successful. We were able to produce female calves with 85 per cent success rate,” the NDDB chairman added.

Apart from Alamadhi, NDS has a mega semen station at Rahuri in Maharashtra. It also manages two large semen stations in Ahmedabad in Gujarat and Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh.

Published on January 22, 2025