Life Sciences & Biotechnology
Title : | Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things based Smart System for Genetic Improvement of Small Ruminants |
Area of research : | Life Sciences & Biotechnology |
Principal Investigator : | Dr. Ambreen Hamadani, National Institute Of Technology Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir |
Timeline Start Year : | 2022 |
Timeline End Year : | 2024 |
Contact info : | escritor005@gmail.com |
Details
Executive Summary : | With its rich animal genetic resource base, suitable agroclimatic conditions, and an incessant demand for animal protein, India possesses great potential for small ruminant husbandry. This potential is, however, largely unmet despite the country possessing large livestock herds. The productivity per animal is low which is subsequently reflected in the poor productivity on farms. A major reason for this is the improper data collection and lack of rigorous selection of animals on pure genetic merit leading to the selection of animals of poor genetic worth, loss of genetic variability, and in many cases, high inbreeding. The identification and breeding of animals for their genetic improvement would only have been possible through the capture, scrutiny, and broadcast of real-time and reliable data. Therefore, we propose the use of artificial intelligence and the internet of things to build a robust automation system for sheep farms for automatic animal identification, data capture, analysis, and scientific selection. This shall be ensured by building sensor-based weighing bridges as well as animal species identification and classification systems. Integration of such hardware with a cloud-based decision support system supporting a relational mega database of all sheep shall enable germplasm to flow through Open Nucleus Breeding (ONBS) for the genetic improvement of animals. This would help to achieve maximum efficiency, productivity, and profitability on sheep farms and subsequently allow sheep and goat breeders to form nucleus herds of elite germplasm that could be disseminated to the entire country. |
Organizations involved