Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Banni Buffalo, IVF

Mains level: Not Much

With the birth of first IVF calf of a Buffalo breed namely Banni in the country, India’s Ovum Pick-Up (OPU) – IVF work has reached to next level.

Banni buffaloes are also known as “Kutchi” or “Kundi”.
The breeding tract includes the Banni area of Kutchchh district of Gujarat.
The breed is maintained mostly by Maldharis under locally adapted typical extensive production system in its breeding tract.

Banni buffaloes are trained to graze on Banni grassland during night and brought to the villages in the morning for milking.
This traditional system of buffalo rearing has been adapted to avoid the heat stress and high temperature of the day.
It has unique qualities of adaptation such as the ability to survive water scarcity conditions, to cover long distances during periods of drought and disease resistance.

S. No.	Breed	Breeding state
1	Banni	Gujarat
2	Bargur	Tamil Nadu
3	Bhadawari	Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
4	Chhattisgarhi	Chhattisgarh
5	Chilika	Odisha
6	Gojri	Himachal Pradesh and Punjab
7	Jaffarabadi	Gujarat
8	Kalahandi	Odisha
9	Luit (Swamp)	Assam
10	Marathwadi	Maharashtra
11	Mehsana	Gujarat
12	Murrah	Haryana and Delhi
13	Nagpuri	Maharashtra
14	Nili Ravi	Punjab
15	Pandharpuri	Maharashtra
16	Surti	Gujarat
17	Toda	Tamil Nadu

IVF is a type of assisted reproductive technology used for infertility treatment and gestational surrogacy.
A fertilised egg may be implanted into a surrogate’s uterus, and the resulting child is genetically unrelated to the surrogate.
Some countries have banned or otherwise regulate the availability of IVF treatment, giving rise to fertility tourism.
Restrictions on the availability of IVF include costs and age, in order for a woman to carry a healthy pregnancy to term.
IVF is generally not used until less invasive or expensive options have failed or been determined unlikely to work.

IVF process

IVF is a process of fertilization where an egg is combined with sperm outside the body, in vitro (“in glass”).
The process involves monitoring and stimulating a female ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) from the female ovaries and letting sperm fertilise them in a liquid in a laboratory.
After the fertilised egg (zygote) undergoes embryo culture for 2–6 days, it is implanted in the same or another female uterus, with the intention of establishing a successful pregnancy.