Interface Meeting 2026 on “Advances in Animal Health and Production” For the Veterinary Officers of Directorate of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Services, Odisha

7 January 2026, Odisha

An interface meeting was organized by ICAR–Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar with Veterinary Officers of the Directorate of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, Odisha on the theme “Advances in Animal Health and Production.” The programme was conducted in hybrid mode with enthusiastic participation from across the state.

The Chief Guest, Shri Suresh Kumar Vashishth, IAS, Principal Secretary, Fisheries & ARD Department, Government of Odisha, emphasized the need for strengthened partnership in vaccine development, quality assessment, and entrepreneurship promotion in livestock sector to achieve the vision of Viksit and Atmanirbhar Odisha. He also added that Odisha is a sunrise state and livestock is the sunrise sector and IVRI should work as a knowledge partner in developing the livestock sector of Odisha.

The Guest of Honor, Shri Vijay Amruta Kulange, IAS, Director, AH&VS, Odisha, appreciated the institute’s initiative and emphasized Odisha’s vision of “Viksit Odisha by 2036,” highlighting the government's focus on dairy, poultry, piggery, goatery, and allied sectors and the importance of sustained linkage with IVRI through VOTI trainings and technology delivery for continued progress in the state’s livestock development and farmer’s empowerment.

Dr. Triveni Dutt, Director-cum-Vice-Chancellor, ICAR-IVRI presided over the function who highlighted major achievements of ICAR-IVRI in research, extension and teaching and spoke about IVRI technologies, facilities, biologicals and educational initiatives under continuing veterinary education. He also informed attendees that IVRI has developed strategic documents based on earlier stakeholder feedback and previous interfaces, aiming to enhance its contributions to the sector.

Dr. Rupasi Tiwari, Joint Director (Extension Education) at ICAR-IVRI, earlier in the meeting presented key challenges faced by veterinary officers in diagnosing and treating animal diseases during the meeting.

She highlighted the need for specific area focused capacity-building programs for veterinary professionals. Several researchable field issues were identified such as strain analysis and outbreak mapping for FMD, LSD, pox viruses, zoonotic surveillance under One Health, development of multivalent, AMR database creation, drug quality assessment etc. Other issues in animal production includes genomic selection, conservation of indigenous breeds, mineral-deficiency mapping, early pregnancy diagnosis etc.

Technical Session-I featured four lectures delivered by ICAR-IVRI faculty members covering advances in Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs), emerging and re-emerging livestock diseases, AMR from a One Health perspective, and ICAR-IVRI technologies.

Technical Session II was conducted as an interactive discussion in which participants highlighted field requirements such as rapid diagnostic kits, AMR testing facilities, resistance detection methods, vaccine commercialization, tick management, and indigenous alternatives to conventional control measures.

Experts addressed queries related to LSD, PPR, repeat breeding, udder fibrosis, rabies oral vaccine, anti-snake venom, and pooled-sampling based surveillance, while rapporteurs recorded actionable recommendations.

A total of 502 participants, including officers from the Odisha Directorate, ICAR-IVRI faculty members, staff, and students participated in the meet.

(Source: ICAR–Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar)