KLDB to establish Rs.11-crore genomic lab.

The Kerala Livestock Development Board (KLDB) is gearing up to establish a genomic laboratory for DNA analysis, under an ambitious programme aimed at genetic improvement of livestock for enhanced milk productivity.

Estimated to cost Rs.11 crore, the laboratory is a flagship project taken up by the Department of Animal Husbandry to improve the genetic quality of breeding bulls used for artificial insemination.

It will be set up at Kudappanakkunnu with the technical collaboration of scientists from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology and the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute.

'Construction of the building and purchase of equipment will commence this year and the laboratory is expected to start functioning by the second half of 2014,' Minister for Animal Husbandry K.P. Mohanan told The Hindu.

The Hindu