A study about the piggery sector sustainability, pig breed diversity and its ecological implications in urban districts of Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand is predominantly the mountainous state of India situated on the southern slope of the world's youngest (geo-dynamically sensitive) mountain system “the Himalayas”. Due to rapid deforestation in the planar districts because of the increase in infrastructural growth, and other commercial activities, the wildlife–livestock–human interfaces has blurred. This has increase the chances of contact exposure of wild boars to humans and domestic animals. The study firstly identify the location of pig rearers and their pig rearing practices with its ecological effects and secondly study the mtDNA diversity among the domestic pig. 28 households were interviewed and samples from 68 unrelatable pigs were taken for mtDNA studies. Analysis showed that 60.7%, 10.7% and 21.4% of the household raised pig near seasonal streams (slum settlements), the residential areas and near the forest, respectively. 28.6% maintained breeding boar of feral origin and 96.94% followed semi-intensive pig rearing practise; hence human settlement is staying near 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 become more prominent in the urban setting. We observed 21 mtDNA haplotypes with 38 segregating sites in 68 analysed sequence. The haplotype (gene) diversity for the analysed sequence were hd=0.766+/- 0.0023 and nucleotide diversity was Pi=0.0135+/-0.001. The high level of both could be attributed to high level of crossbreeding among the species. Before planning for a holistic piggery development program in Uttarakhand, these findings should be considered by the government.