The National Dairy Research Institute in Karnal in Haryana on Friday claimed to have produced a test-tube goat for the first time in the country.

Director, NDRI, Nagendra Sharma said the work was carried out to develop in-house capabilities in establishing pregnancies in goats using invitro fertilisation through laparoscopy technique.

He said a team of scientists comprising Dr Dhruba Malakar, Dr S K Das and Dr S I Gowami of the Animal Biotechnology Centre, NDRI, Karnal, had been working on the project for the last three years and their efforts bore fruits early this year when the first test-tube goat was born.

Outlining the technique, the team of scientists said the ovaries were collected from slaughter house and oocytes were isolated from them.

These oocytes were cultured in the laboratory for 24 hours in suitable media and fertilised using sperma from selected bucks.

The embryos were allowed to grow for a few days in the laboratory and transferred to surrogate goats using laparoscopy technique.

The scientists said the results have been confirmed through the process of DNA finger printing of the surrogate goats.

The technology developed could also be applicable in advanced areas of transgenic animal production and animal cloning, they added.