IICAR initiated RKVY Bypass Fat Project with Training and Demonstration Programme  

 

ICAR initiated RKVY Bypass Fat Project with Training and Demonstration Programme

 

    A training and demonstration programme for dairy farmers of Goa was held at ICAR Research Complex for Goa, Old Goa on 23-05-2014 under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) funded project ‘Production and supplementation of bypass fat to dairy animals for enhancement of milk production and livelihood security of dairy farmers of Goa’. About 50 delegates including dairy farmers from different Talukas, officials from Directorate of Agriculture, Directorate of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services and Goa State Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Limited (Goa Dairy) of the state participated in the above training and demonstration programme. Shri P. Tufani, Director of Agriculture and Nodal Officer, RKVY, Govt. of Goa was the chief guest; while Shri Vithoba D. Dessai, Chairman, Goa Dairy and Dr. S. K. Singh, Director, NBSS & LUP, Nagpur were the Guests of Honour. The training programme was presided by Dr. Narendra Pratap Singh, Director, ICAR Goa and Dr. P. K. Naik, Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator was the organizing secretary.       

    At the outset, Dr. N. P. Singh, Director, ICAR Goa welcomed all the delegates and highlighted the importance of dairy farming in socio-economic improvement of the farmers and objectives of the training programme. Dr. Singh added that the above project was submitted for RKVY funding based on the bypass fat technology developed by the Institute and keeping in view of the interest of the dairy farmers of Goa for keeping high producing dairy animals. Dr. P. K. Naik, Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator of the project mentioned that this Institute has developed a simple, pro-small farmer technology for the production of bypass fat (rumen protected fat), which is a best choice ‘energy rich feed supplement’ for sustainable milk production. The technology involves production of bypass fat indigenously from vegetable (palm, rice bran) fatty acids and its daily supplementation to dairy animals boosts the milk production by approximately 10-20% along with improvement in the reproductive performances and health of the animals; added Dr. Naik. He requested Chairman, Goa Dairy for commercialization of the above technology for the benefit of the dairy farmers of the state. Shri Vithoba D. Desai, Chairman, Goa Dairy stressed upon the economical qualitative milk production and collaboration of ICAR and Goa Dairy for transfer of technology. He pointed out that the milk union will have definite planned programme with the help of ICAR for sustainable milk production in the state. The bypass fat was released by Shri P. Tufani, Director of Agriculture and Nodal Officer, RKVY, Govt. of Goa. He highlighted the different programmes of RKVY including hydroponics fodder production, bypass fat feeding technology and mentioned that in the present scenario, the dairy farmers of the state should opt for integrated farming system for more profitability. 

    In the technical session, Dr. P. K. Naik, Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator of the project delivered a presentation on ‘production and supplementation of bypass fat to dairy animals for enhancement of milk production and livelihood security of dairy farmers of Goa’ and demonstrated the production of bypass fat indigenously to the farmers. Another presentation was delivered by Dr. R. B. Dhuri, Manager, Goa Dairy on management and record keeping for impact assessment of the bypass fat feeding technology. A Mandrem based dairy famer Ladu Paresekar, revealed his experience of feeding bypass fat provided by ICAR that it enhanced milk production and supported fertility and good skin coat of the animals along with increase in profitability. The dairy farmers were provided bypass fat on a fixed rate for feeding their dairy animals and were requested to give their feedback.