The GenART project was born through Denmark’s Global Innovation Network Program, a strategic move by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science to forge scientific alliances across 12 priority countries. India, with its vast cattle population and innovation potential, emerged as a natural partner.

Together, researchers from Aarhus University, Danish firms VikingGenetics and TransEmbryo, and three collaboratoring institutions across Indian states are building a genetic and reproductive map of resilience. Their mission: identify, preserve, and amplify cattle breeds that can survive—and thrive—in harsh and changing conditions.

“We’re not just trying to make better cows,” says Professor Haja Kadarmideen, who heads the initiative.

“We’re rethinking the entire blueprint of sustainable breeding and artificial reproduction—combining productivity, genetic diversity, and climate tolerance.”

Professor and Head of Department at the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at Aarhus University, Charlotte Lauridsen is also thrilled:

“This scientific network on cattle reproduction, in partnership with institutions in India and Denmark, aligns closely with our Department’s core research and educational focus. I look forward to following GenART’s progress and exploring its use of novel technologies in cattle breeding—an area vital to our ongoing work on biodiversity and the green transition."

India’s living archive of biodiversity

In India, cattle are not just farm animals—they’re symbols of culture, labor, and endurance. With over 200 million cattle, ca. 75% of which are indigenous, the diversity is staggering. Across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Telangana, there are breeds like Bargur, Wayanad and Kangayam that plow fields, sprint in local contests, and produce milk—even under intense heat or sparse conditions.

Some are dual-purpose, others bred for strength. Many are hyper-local, adapted to specific terrains and temperatures that no foreign breed could withstand.

These animals hold evolutionary secrets to survival. GenART’s task is to unlock them.

Using advanced genomic sequencing and genotyping, scientists in GenART will be studying how to are map genetic traits that enable these breeds to resist disease, tolerate heat, and use resources more efficiently. In a warming world, these qualities are gold.

Denmark’s endangered genetic gems

Compared to India’s abundance, Denmark’s local breeds are rare—some bordering extinction. Red Danish dairy cattle, Danish Shorthorns, Jutland cattle with lineages like Westergaard and Oregaard—all exist in population pockets too small to sustain without intervention.

Yet these breeds carry something invaluable: strong immune systems, stable reproduction, and an ability to cope with low-input and subtle climate shifts. “We may not have tropical heat,” Kadarmideen notes, “but heat stress, water scarcity, and disease pressures are creeping into northern farms. We must prepare.”

Mapping these biodiversity and genetic traits is the first step. Preserving them is the next—and that’s where reproductive biotech steps in.

IVF and the revolution in reproduction

Traditional cattle breeding is slow. A cow matures over years; elite genetics spread through bull semen, passed farm to farm. But GenART’s approach accelerates this exponentially.

With in vitro fertilization (IVF) and a technique called Ovum Pick-Up (OPU), scientists can harvest eggs from elite female cows—even from juveniles—and fertilize them with semen from top bulls in a controlled environment. The invitro produced embryos are cultured, frozen, and later implanted into recipient cows, who carry genetically unrelated offspring.

“It’s a factory model,” Kadarmideen explains. “You can take one genetically superior cow and produce hundreds, even thousands, of high-performance animals.”

These recipient cows never produce their own calves. Instead, they serve as vessels—carriers of future livestock engineered for both productivity and resilience.

This isn’t theoretical. IVF has existed for decades, but GenART refines it: optimizing fertilization media, harvesting sequences, and genetic targeting to combine global strengths with local adaptations. The result? A new breed of super cows, tailored for climate adaptation.

Blending breeds without losing their performance

Cross-breeding is a powerful tool—but it’s fraught with risk. First-generation hybrids, or F1 cattle, often outperform their parents due to “hybrid vigor.” But without careful breeding strategeties to maintain superioty of pure breeds used, later generations may decline in health and productivity.

This is where GenART goes granular. Every breeding plan is designed to retain native advantages—heat tolerance, low-resource efficiency, disease resistance—while layering in improved milk yield and growth rates.

“The goal is not just to mix genes,” Kadarmideen says. “It’s to integrate them—respecting local ecology while building global performance.”

Knowledge exchange under the Green Transition

Backing this science is a political framework. Denmark and India have signed a Joint Action Plan under the Green Transition—a shared ambition to modernize agriculture with sustainability at its core.

The next few years will see:

- Cross-border workshops on cattle genetics and IVF technologies

- Joint scientific seminars on biodiversity, sequencing, and breeding

- Training programs and knowledge exchanges between farmers, scientists, and institutions

-Mutual Indo-Danish delegation visits, an international confernece and a suller school

For Denmark, it’s a chance to export innovation. For India, it’s an opportunity to enhance traditional cattle systems with tools that amplify resilience.

Farming’s genetic insurance policy

Climate change is reshaping agriculture in unpredictable ways. GenART offers a safeguard—a genetic insurance policy built on collaboration, science, and cultural respect.

Whether by preserving Denmark’s endangered dairy breeds or amplifying India’s heat-tolerant cattle, the project reimagines livestock not as static herds but as dynamic gene pools—adaptable, scalable, and built for survival.

“This is not just about cattle,” Kadarmideen says. “It’s about how we feed ourselves, how we coexist with nature, and how we prepare for what’s coming.”

In the age of ecological uncertainty, it may be the humble cow—bred from two continents and born of biotech—that carries the legacy of resilience into the future.