Fish are the source of high-quality protein and are preferable due to its exceptional richness in calcium, phosphorus and vitamins. Photobacterium damselae is a potential pathogen of marine fish and an opportunistic pathogen in humans which causes pasteurellosis. A study for the screening of Photobacterium sp. in the marine fish landings of Pulicat Lake, Tamil Nadu, India was undertaken between August 2018 and February 2019. About 113 samples of fishes belonging to various species viz., Ablenneshians, Rastrelliger kannagarta, Hemiramphus, Thunnus sp., Nemipterus bipunctatus, Leognathus sp., Scombroid sp., Saurida thumbil, Triacanthus biaculatus and Pomadasys sp. were used for the study. Photobacterium sp. has been isolated in 26 fish samples which include Rastrelliger kannagarta (13/16), Leognathus sp. (4/11) and Saurida thumbil (9/11). Pathogenic Photobacterium sp. could pose threat to the health of consumers through the ingestion of contaminated, improperly cooked seafood or may gain entry to the human body during handling of contaminated fish through the cuts or abrasions or by swimming and other recreational activities in the contaminated water bodies.

A two months old desi chicken carcass was received for necropsy. On necropsy the oesophagus was found directly entering into the gizzard and the proventriculus could not be located grossly. Further complete telescoping of proventriculus into the gizzard was observed. Based on the gross findings, the case was diagnosed as proventricular intussusception into gizzard. On histopathological examination, the proventricular mucosa revealed diffuse moderate diphtheritic proventriculitis. The incidence of intussusception of proventriculus is rare and this condition might be due to increased peristalsis associated with intestinal helminthiasis.

A rare case of combined oviductal adenocarcinoma and leiomyoma in a white leghorn chicken is reported. Necropsy of an adult female white leghorn chicken, showed distension of oviduct. The oviduct serosa revealed small nodules of about 3 mm diameter and the lumen contained brownish exudates. The oviductal mucosa showed irregular nodules of about 0.5 to 1.5 cm in diameter attached to the mucosa of the magnum. Grossly, the mucosal nodules were firm and pink to grey in colour and serosal nodules were grey white in colour. Histopathologically, oviduct mucosal nodule revealed acinar or tubular pattern of tumour cells separated by fibrous tissue. The oviduct serosal nodule revealed interlacing bundles of smooth muscles cells in various directions. Based on histopathological characteristics, the present case was diagnosed as a rare combined case of oviduct adenocarcinoma and leiomyoma in a white leghorn layer chicken.

Resistance-to-antibiotics (ABR) in bacteria is an ever increasing critical global public health concern, as is the prevalence of mycotoxins in human food and animal feed. Mycotoxins are toxins produced by fungi, and so are antibiotics, albeit some soil bacteria also produce antibiotics. While fungal compounds toxic to humans and animals were categorised as mycotoxins, compounds having bactericidal/bacteriostatic activity were pharmacologically used as antibiotics. Nevertheless, the line of demarcation between antibiotics and mycotoxins is not absolute, as many mycotoxins possess antibiotic properties. However, until now mycotoxins were usually not-suspected to induce cross-resistance to antibiotics. The current article demonstrates the plausible mechanistic link for the induction of cross-resistance by mycotoxins to antibiotics. Evidence presented shows that in addition to common origin both mycotoxins and antibiotics have similar chemical structures, genetic backbone, biosynthetic pathway as well as role in the life of producing organism and even induce similar resistance mechanisms in bacteria, scientifically substantiating that mycotoxin induced ABR is a plausible phenomenon. Further the unavoidable presence of mycotoxins in animal feed albeit at low levels, mimics long-term exposure of commensal bacteria in farm animals to antibiotic-growth-promoters at low levels. Additionally, chronic low-level antibiotic exposure in animals is argued to be a serious factor contributing to antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans. Finally the article provides experimental design to help evaluate the mycotoxin-induced-ABR. The given scientific evidence necessitates future investigations through appropriate studies to confirm the potential of mycotoxins as critical inducers of ABR, from possibility to plausibility.

A study was carried out to determine the effects of feed form i.e.crumble and mash feed on growth performance in Japanese quail. Totally 500 Nandanam quail III day-old chicks were weighed individually, then randomly assigned to two dietary treatment groups of 250 chicks each. They were 50 chicks per replicate and five replicate per dietary treatment group. These Japanese quails were fed with starter diet in the form of crumble and mash up to 5 weeks. The parameters such as weekly body weight, feed consumption, livability and carcass characteristics were recorded. There was a significant difference (P ≤ 0.01) in weekly body weight and body weight gain was observed between crumble and mash dietary treatment groups during entire study period of 5 weeks. Similarly, the feed consumption and FCR also showed significant (P ≤ 0.01) difference between the dietary treatment groups. The per cent livability showed no significant difference between dietary treatment groups. The pre- slaughter live weight showed significant (P ≤ 0.01) difference between the dietary treatments; however, the other carcass characteristics such as eviscerated weight, ready to cook yield, giblets yield, breast yield, and thigh yield showed no significant difference between dietary treatments. It can be concluded that crumble form of diet had improved the growth performance than mash form in Japanese quail.

A feeding trial was carried out with 216 day-old Vencobb-400 broiler chicks distributed to six experimental groups with six replicates, each replicate containing six chicks, in deep litter for 35 days. The experimental groups were fed with control ration (T1), ration with oxytetracycline (OTC) at 50 mg/kg (T2), ration with cinnamon oil (CO) at 250 mg per kg and coated sodium butyrate either at 0.09 (T3) or 0.18 (T4) per cent levels and ration with CO at 500 mg per kg and CSB either at 0.09 (T5) or 0.18 (T6) per cent levels. The coated sodium butyrate used in this experiment was encapsulated with a vegetable fatty acid containing 30% sodium butyrate. The economics of raising broilers up to 35 days with different levels of CO with CSB supplementation was calculated based on the actual cost of feed per kg live weight gain. The increase in the revenue was Rs. 2.79 per kg live weight in group supplemented with CO at 250 mg per kg and CSB at 0.09 per cent (T3) when compared to control. Returns were found to be better in group supplemented with CSB @ 0.09 per cent and CO @ 250 mg per kg than the dietary oxytetracycline group. A decrease (Rs.0.43) in the revenue of per kg live weight gain was recorded in T3 (CO @ 250 mg per kg and CSB @ 0.09%) when compared to antibiotic group (T2) but this decrease was marginal and not significant. This is an important observation in this study as to the industry’s attempts to avoid use of antibiotics in feed.

A study was conducted to determine the effect of extrusion of swine grower feed on the nutrient digestibility and production performance in twenty- four conventionally weaned LWY piglets 30 days of age and 7.60 kg average body weight. They were grouped in to two groups with twelve piglets in each group and fed individually with mash feed (MF) and extruded feed (EF) ad libitum.The experiment was conducted for 90 days. The feed was formulated with maize (62.5%), soybean meal (10%), fish meal (6%), wheat bran (8%), deoiled rice bran (11%), mineral mixture (2%) and salt (1%). The extrudate was air-dried overnight and analysed for its chemical composition.The results indicated that the moisture (MF- 9.54% and EF - 5.17%), total ash -TA (MF- 7.77% and EF - 6.35%), crude protein-CP (MF- 18.14% and EF - 17.36%), ether extract -EE (MF- 2.04% and EF - 1.74%), crude fibre– CF (MF- 6.13% and EF - 5.04%), nitrogen free extract – NFE (MF- 65.05% and EF - 69.51%), calcium (MF- 0.07% and EF - 0.06%), phosphorus (MF- 0.44% and EF - 0.45%) and gross energy– GE (MF- 3870.55 kcal/kg and EF - 4105.75 kcal/kg). The extrusion process decreased moisture, TA, EE and CF significantly (P<0.05) and also increased NFE and GE significantly (P< 0.01) in the extruded feed.The digestibility of dry matter (MF- 84.19% and EF -87.28%), CP (MF- 91.29% and EF -93.21%), EE (MF- 69.21% and EF - 1.74%), CF significantly (P<0.05) and also increased NFE and GE significantly (P< 0.01) in the extruded feed.The digestibility of dry matter (MF- 84.19% and EF -87.28%), CP (MF- 91.29% and EF -93.21%), EE (MF- 69.21% and EF - 1.74%), CF (MF- 81.44% and EF -87.54%) and energy (MF- 77.94% and EF -83.36%) were recorded.The digestible nutrients of EE and CF were increased significantly (P<0.05) and energy of (MF – 77.94%) extruded feed was increased significantly (P<0.01) by 7 per cent than the mash feed (EF- 83.36%).The average feed intake was significantly (P<0.05) different from MF (2417.43g/day) to EF (2106.97g/day) group. The average daily gain (MF- 446.02g and EF - 479.44g) and feed conversion ratio (MF- 5.42 and EF - 4.39) were highly significant (P<0.01) in EF group. The average feed cost for every kg body weight gain was Rs.108.40/- for mash feeding and Rs. 92.29/- for extruded feeding. Extrusion of mash feed increases the gelatinization and surface area of starch granules, which improves starch utilization present in the maize, energy utilization, palatability and nutrient digestibility. Extruded feed increases the feed conversion ratio and reduces the feed cost. Hence, it is concluded that extruded feed is recommended for feeding pigs to improve the production performance.

The effect of rumen protected omega–3 fatty acids prepared from polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) rich rapeseed oil on milk fatty acid profile of lactating crossbred cows have been studied in this experiment. Eighteen lactating crossbred cows were selected and divided randomly into three groups (GI, GII and GIII) with six animals in each group. All the animals in GI were fed with basal diet (concentrates and green roughage ad libitum). In GII and III group cows, rumen protected fatty acids were mixed with basal diet before feeding. The calcium fatty acids of rapeseed oil (CaRSO) and encapsulated rape seed oil were fed to GII and GIII group cows respectively, for 90 days of experimental period. The fatty acid profile of milk, rapeseed oil and bypass fat was analysed by gas chromatography. The supplementation of CaRSO and encapsulated rapeseed oil significantly (P<0.05) increased milk yield compared to control. Better production efficiency (P<0.01) and increased 4 per cent FCM (kg/day) was recorded in encapsulated fatty acid supplemented group compared to CaRSO. The total concentration of omega-3 fatty acids (alpha linoleic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid) were detected in milk of treatment group cows compared to control group.

The study was conducted to evaluate the oxidative stress in the dogs affected with parenchymal, biliary and neoplastic hepatic disorders compared with apparently healthy dogs. Twenty apparently healthy dogs framed the control group. The experimental group consist of twenty dogs in which 9 dogs formed the parenchymal disorder, six dogs with biliary disorder and five dogs with neoplastic disorder based on the serum biochemical and ultrasonographic investigation. The biochemical parameters such as Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total bilirubin and direct bilirubin were significantly elevated in experimental group whereas glucose concentration was decreased. In the present study Oxidative biomarkers such as Catalase (CAT), Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Glutathione peroxidase (GPX) were significantly reduced and Thiobarbituric Acid Reacting Substance (TBARS) was significantly increased in parenchymal, biliary and neoplastic disorders of experimental group when compared with control group. Results of this study showed that the significant increase in oxidative stress in all three disorders of hepatic dysfunction in dogs could be the cause for the progress of hepatic pathology.

The physiology of maternal recognition of pregnancy (MRP) in cattle is well explored and a better understanding of phenomenon of MRP is needed in order to improve reproductive efficiency in buffaloes. The present work was conducted to study the effect of non-surgical removal of conceptus and expression profile of interferon tau (IFNT) in the conceptus after post insemination in buffaloes. In the experiment I, 15 female buffaloes in estrus were inseminated using frozen semen of Murrah buffalo and the uterine flushing by non-surgical method was carried out on days 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 of post insemination for collection of conceptus. Under experiment II, conceptus tissue collected on different days in the experiment I and conceptus tissue collected from slaughter house pregnant reproductive tracts were used for RNA isolation to study real time expression pattern of IFNT on day 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 30, 40 and 50 of pregnancy by using specific primers (F5’-GCCCTGGTGCTGGTCAGCTA -3’ and R5’-CATCTTAGTCAGCGAGAGTC -3’). The estrous cycle length following non- surgical removal of conceptus on day 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 post-insemination was 23.50±0.96, 36.60±3.35, 41.25±2.67, 42.73 ±2.61 and 45.20±7.03 days, respectively. The mean cycle length increased significantly by 8-47 days following removal of conceptus on day 14, 16, 18 and 20 post-insemination when compared to day 12. The expression of IFNT was found low but at detectable levels as early as on day 12 of gestation. The level of expression increased significantly (P<0.01) on day 14 of pregnancy and remains elevated up to day 16 and  It, thereafter, started reducing significantly (P<0.01) on day 20, 30, 40 and reached undetectable level on day 50 of pregnancy. It may, therefore, be concluded that non- surgical removal of conceptus on day 14, 16, 18 and 20 of pregnancy extended the cycle length up to 8-47 days and strong expression of IFNT during day 14-16 of pregnancy indicating embryonic signal to dam and establishment of Maternal Recognition Pregnancy (MRP) in buffalo.