A Study about the Piggery Sector Sustainability, Pig Breed Diversity and Its Ecological Implications in Urban Districts of Uttarakhand

Abstract

Uttarakhand is situated on the southern slope of the world’s youngest (geo-dynamically sensitive) mountain system, “the Himalayas”. Owing to rapid deforestation in the planar districts due to an increase in infrastructural growth, the wildlife–livestock–human interface has blurred. This has increased the chances of contact exposure of wild boars to humans and domestic animals. The study identifies the location of pig rearers and their pig rearing practices, with its ecological effects, and also studies the mitochondrial DNA diversity using a control region from the 68 samples collected from the surveyed household. Analysis showed that 60.7%, 10.7% and 21.4% of the households raised pig near seasonal streams (slum settlements), the residential areas and near the forest, respectively. Furthermore, 28.6% maintained breeding boar of feral origin and 96.94% followed semi-intensive pig rearing practices; hence human settlements have stayed in close association with pigs (domestic and wild) and other domestic animals. The possibility of the emergence of zoonotic and non-zoonotic disease and its easy transmission to humans has become more prominent in the urban setting. A total of 18 haplotypes were observed with 34 segregating sites in 68 analyzed sequences. The high level of haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity suggested an increase in crossbreeding among the species.

Keywords

• pig husbandry
• urbanization
• socio-economic
• mitochondrial DNA
• diversity