April 16, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1427

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RAWALPINDI, April 15: Facilities at the Poultry Research Institute (PRI), Rawalpindi, are being further upgraded with the establishment of tissue culture, mycoplasma advance disease diagnosis and biotechnology laboratory.

Mycoplasma advance disease diagnosis laboratory and biotechnology laboratory facilities like molecular diagnosis by using DNA probes, PCR, nucleic acid sequencing, chromosome analysis and gene mapping are so far not available for the poultry industry in Pakistan, according to the project document.

Director of the institute Dr Shamsul Hassan told Dawn that the project costing Rs30 million would be fully operational in 2008, and with the strengthening of existing research facilities the PRI would be able to precisely diagnose the existing as well as emerging disease problems.

“We will be hopefully able to tackle all the important poultry diseases including bird flu. There would be no need to send any sample outside the country for confirmation,” Dr Hassan said.

In line with upgrading research facilities, the Punjab government is expected to approve in the next financial year setting up of an avian flu epidemics surveillance centre at the PRI, according to a senior official of the Punjab government.

The threat of avian flu epidemics might be reduced if lost and degraded wetlands were restored to provide better habitat for disease-carrying migratory species and reduce their contact with domestic poultry, according to a UN study.

The PRI director said the monitoring and disease surveillance system would also be improved, which would go a long way in improving the disease reporting system, thereby benefiting the poultry farmers community.

With this development, he added, the PRI needed professional expertise to be trained and well-conversant with modern research techniques to cope with the emerging disease challenge in the country.

The PRI is offering poultry farmers to get their flock’s disease problems investigated and precisely diagnosed, leading to adopting therapeutic and control measures which help improve health and productivity of poultry flocks.

According to a report on the status of present poultry in Pakistan, the development efforts and provision of various facilities have resulted in investment to the tune of Rs60 billion so far and establishment of 280 hatcheries, 165 feed mills and 19,279 poultry farms with capacity to produce 430 million day-old chicks and 2,950 million tons of poultry feed.

It has further been estimated that Punjab’s share in total investment in poultry sector is Rs43 billion or 71.9 per cent. Similarly, Punjab’s share in layer birds and broiler population is 63 per cent and 66 per cent, respectively.