357 Global Journal of Animal Scientific Research. 2(4):357-364. 2014 Global Journal of Animal Scientific Research Journal homepage: www.gjasr.com Print ISSN: 2345-4377 Online ISSN: 2345-4385 Review Article Application of Biotechnology for Augmentation of Productivity in Mithun (Bos frontalis) Mohan Mondal 1,* , K.K. Baruah 2 and C. Rajkhowa 2 1 National Dairy Research Institute, Kalyani, West Bengal-741 235, India 2 National Research Centre on Mithun, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Jharnapani, Medziphema, Nagaland-797 106, India ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Corresponding Author: Mohan Mondal drmmondal@gmail.com Mithun, also known as ‘Cattle of Mountain” is an important bovine species of north-eastern hill region of India and also of China, Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh. This magnificent massive bovine is presently reared under free- range condition in the hill forests at an altitude of 1000 to 3000 m above mean sea level. Mithun plays an important role in the socio-economic and cultural life of the local tribal population. Due to dwindling population of mithun over the years and gradual denudation of free range forest areas for mithun grazing along with the biotic and abiotic stress, there is urgent need of scientific intervention for proper management as well as conservation of this species. Application of various biotechnological tools like artificial insemination, estrus synchronization for timed-AI, multiple ovulation and embryo transfer, rumen microbial manipulation and modern breeding techniques may be of great use for faster multiplication and propagation of this species in near future. Keywords: mithun productivity, biotechnology, conservation, meat, milk, rare species How to cite this article: Mondal, M., K.K. Baruah and C.Rajkhowa.2014.Applicatin of Biotechnology for Augmentation of Productivity in Mithun (Bos frontalis). Global Journal of Animal Scientific Research. 2(4): 357-364. Article History: Received: 16 August 2014 Revised: 30 August 2014 Accepted: 1 September 2014 Copyright © 2014, World Science and Research Publishing. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION Livestock improvement is a continuous process. This can be achieved through application of various scientific methods of breeding, feeding and management. In the recent times, due to tremendous development in the field of biotechnology, especially in the areas such as functional genomics, pharmacogenomics, proteomics, nutrigenomics, stem cell etc., we are being able to cope up ourselves with the modern techniques in those fields for improvement of our livestock species. These technologies are of great use for augmenting the productivity of our livestock. Mithun (Bos frontalis), a pride animal of Northeastern hills of India, is a rare species of semi-domesticated bovine (Simoons, 1984; Mondal and Pal, 1999; Mondal et al., 2004; 2005a-e; 2006a-f; 2008; 2010; 2014). This animal is mainly confined in the North Eastern Hill region of India and also found in lesser numbers of few selected tracts of Myanmar, Bhutan, and Bangladesh as well as Yunan province of China (Mondal et al., 2014). Mithun is well adapted in steep jungles at an elevation ranged from 1000 to 3000 meter above mean sea