DIRECTOR

About The Director

Born on July14, 1965 in a village, Aida in the Anugul district of Odisha, Dr Artabandhu Sahoo did his BVSc & AH in 1988 from OUAT, Bhubaneswar, MVSc (Animal Nutrition) in 1990 and PhD (Animal Nutrition) in 1994 from Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar. He joined Agricultural Research Services in 1993 and then selected as Senior Scientist (2001) and Principal Scientist (2006). He shouldered responsibility as Head (Acting), Division of Temperate Animal Husbandry, IVRI, Mukteswar (2006) and then joined as Head, Division of Animal Nutrition at Central Sheep & Wool Research Institute, Avikanagar (2009-2014; 2014-2020). Prior to his joining as Director at ICAR-NRC on Camel, Bikaner (January, 2021), he was also assigned responsibility of Director (Acting) in 2012 and 2019 at ICAR-CSWRI, Avikanagar. He received Endeavour Research Fellowship-2009 by DEEWR, Govt of Australia to undertake post-doctoral research at CERAR, UniSA, Adelaide. He has worked extensively in the field of Animal Nutrition and Feeding and his contribution in the field of neonatal calf/lamb nutrition, rumen ecology, plant bioactives, therapeutic nutrition, nutrition-parasitism and nutrition-environment interaction draws critical appreciation. To his repute, he is part of the team who delineated ICAR Standard on ‘Nutrient Requirements of Animals’ and member Bureau of Indian Standards. Dr Sahoo has more than 500 publications including 178 peer-reviewed research papers and 8 edited books and Google Scholar rated him as internationally acclaimed Animal Nutritionist with 24 H-Index, 64 i10-index (2500 Citations). He received Best Researcher Award (NESIN 2020) and International Research Leadership Award-2019 as “Distinguished Scientist in Small Ruminant Nutrition”. He is recognized as outstanding reviewer by Journals’ Editorial Bodies besides contributing to review process as Member, Editorial Board. He is life members of 10 professional Societies and is awarded NESA fellow (2021), Fellow of Animal Nutrition Association (2013), Indian Society for Sheep & Goat Production and Utilization (2017) & Animal Nutrition Society of India (2019) and also, ‘Life-Time Achievement Award’ for his outstanding contributions in research & development in the field of Nutrition and Welfare of animals and allied societal development.

Message

The camel production system in India remains traditional, e,g, nomadic, transhumance, sedentary that is mainly linked with the social life of the pastorals and camel herders. Despite its indispensability as a mode of transportation and draught power in the desert ecosystem, modern-day transportation and road-network has diminished its potentiality and it is now thus facing the threat of unsustainability. India’s camel population has decreased drastically from 10.0 lakhs in the early part of the century to only 2.5 lakhs in 2019 and the populated state of Rajasthan has the maximum decline compared to neighbouring Gujarat. In this scenario, promotion of ‘Camel Dairy’ emphasizing therapeutic benefits of camel milk would definitely widen the prospects of camel rearing and earn additional revenue to the farmers for their socio-economic stability and may possibly also block its declining trend. Tactical intervention in production and application of marketing strategies for higher return from produce and products would open up avenues for future investment and maximize profit from ‘Camel Dairy’ based livestock enterprises. Further, possibilities need to be explored for use of male camels in eco-tourism business for additional revenue and socio-economic upliftment of camel herders. The unique species of the desert ecosystem has also widened its scope in biomedical research due to its exceptional immune system and adaptive thermoregulation mechanism.
The unique animal of the planet needs concerted efforts from policy makers, research & development agencies, stakeholders and the farmers for its potential application as ‘Multi-utility’ animal. I am sure, in times to come, ‘Camel’ will serve the socio-economic livelihood of the traditional rearers and block its declining trend in safeguarding the community as well as the camel.

Dr Artabandhu Sahoo