The present study was conducted in buffaloes to determine the occurrence of subclinical mastitis and its diagnosis in relation to milk SCC and biochemical composition. The results showed that taking quarter foremilk (QFM) somatic cell count (SCC) threshold limit of LT 200*10**(3) cell for defining healthy quarters, 16.48 percent of buffaloes and 5.79 percent of quarters were positive for specific subclinical mastitis. In total, 57/363 (15.70 percent)of quarters were bacteriological positive with 21 (5.79 percent) representing specific and 36 (9.92 percent) latent infections. The major pathogen isolated were 28 (49 percent) coagulase-negative staphylococci followed by 16 (28 percent) S. aureus, 09 (16 percent) Streptococcus and 4(7 percent) Corynebacterium spp. The average QFM SCC was found as 52.50*10**(3) cells /ml for the quarter with no bacteria, and 356.51*10**(3) cell /ml for the quarters infected with one or the other bacteria (p LT 0.05). The milk electrical conductivity (EC), Fat and Lactoseshowed significant alterations with the quarter infection, the EC and Fat increased while Lactose decreased in infected quarters (p LT 0.05). The California mastitis test CMT) at cut off score of GT 0.5 for diseased quarters showed 68.75 percent sensitivity with 99.09 percent specificity. The EC with 87.50 percent sensitivity and 74.02 percent specificity and Lactose with 84.37 percent sensitivity and 66.16 percent specificity also showed significant (p LT 0.01) discrimination ability to differentiate healthy and mastitis quarters in buffaloes. The milk pH was not found to be a good parameter to identify diseased quarters.

A one way anova experiment was conducted to evaluate the meat production and physicochemical properties (pH, Color, Drip loss, Cook loss, TC, TG, Cholesterol, LDL, HDL and Iron content) of cattle and buffalo meat and blood. Five buffaloes and five cattle of similar age were considered as two groups and kept under a single plane of nutrition. No significant difference was observed between the groups in case of BCS, pH, drip loss and cooking loss of fresh or chilled meat. Buffalo meat reflected (L *) low lights (P LT 0.05) and showed significant (P LT 0.01) deep red - greenness (a *) contrast than cattle meat. Iron content of meat was found (P LT 0.05) higher in buffalo meat. In chemical composition, only ash and OM content differed significantly (P LT 0.05) between the species. IM fat and TC of buffalo meat was found significantly low (P LT 0.001) than cattle. Significant difference of TG and HDL (P GT 0.05) indicated the better quality of buffalo meat. But, LDL of meat and lipid profile of blood found non - significant. Finally we observed that, buffalo meat is better than cattle meat in context of nutritive value or physiochemical properties.

The present study was designed to correlate the milk pH, somatic cell count (SCC), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities in buffalo milk with the udder health status. A total of 60 (Sixty) buffaloes were randomly selected irrespective of their age, breed, feeding practice, stage and season of lactation from the herd belonging to Purnadhadi buffalo unit, PGIVAS, Teaching Veterinary Clinical complex, PGIVAS, Veterinary Polyclinic, Akola and also buffaloes of farmers in and around Akola. After thorough clinical examination of each udder, about 30 ml of milk was collected in sterilized, clean, dry plastic bottles and after careful screening by CMT, categorized in normal, sub- clinical (1+), sub- clinical (2+), sub- clinical (3+) and clinical group containing 12 animals in each group. The pH was measured using a digital pH meter (E.I. Model 101E) and SCC was calculated in freshly collected milk. LDH and ALP activities were measured by spectrophotometric method. The milk pH, SCC, LDH and ALP activities were found proportional to the severity of the udder infection as detected by the CMT reactions.

The study objective was to evaluate the efficacy of Ceftiofur hydrochloride intramammary (IMM) formulation (Spectramast LC, Zoetis India) with or without parenteral Cefoperazone/Sulbactum antibiotic on bacteriological cure, clinical cure and pathogen cure in lactation clinical mastitis (CM) when compared with control group treated with Amoxicillin-Sulbactum. The study was conducted from September 2015 through December 2017 on lactating buffaloes suffering from clinical mastitis (n=307) (Treatment group, T1 = 156 and Control group, T2 = 151) mostly at farmer's doorstep and also the participation of organized buffalo herds located at Hisar (n=2), Sirsa (n=1) from Haryana and at Nabha (n=1) from Punjab after follow up 1 and 2 at day 10 and 21 respectively. Infected quarters in Grade I and II lactation CM Treatment group (T1) were treated from day 0 to day 4 i.e. for 5 consecutive days with Ceftiofur hydrochloride IMM formulation or in Grade III lactation CM, IMM Ceftiofur hydrochloride along with parenteral Cefoperazone/Sulbactum. Control group (T2) received treatment from day 0 to day 2 i.e. for 3 consecutive days with Amoxicillin-Sulbactum antibiotic. Of 307 buffaloes infected with CM at day 0 pre-treatment, 93.49 percent of milk samples came culture positive whereas 52.12 percent (n=160/307) and 29.64 percent (91/307) of culture positive milk samples were there at day 10 and day 21 post-treatment respectively. Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus was the most prevalent causative agent followed by other gram positive, mixed infection, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus spp., other coliform, Pseudomonas, other gram negative and Enterococcus spp. While apparent bacteriological cure rate of IMI was 50.37 percent (at animal level) at day 10 post-treatment in the Treatment group receiving Spectramast LC, it was 77.78 percent at day 21 post-treatment in the same group. The bacteriological cure rate of 45.45 percent and 57.58 percent were observed at day 10 and day 21 post-treatment in Control group respectively. Buffaloes receiving Spectramast LC (Treatment group) were 1.12 times (at day 10) and 1.35 times (at day 21) more likely to cure than Control group. Treatment group showed numerically higher clinical and pathogen cure than control group.

Paratuberculosis (PTB) in buffaloes is a chronic enteric disease triggering health implications and huge economic losses in livestock. This study was designed to explore a simple, cost-effective diagnostic approach for PTB in water buffaloes. Blood (5 ml/animal) and intestinal tissue samples accompanied by lymph nodes associated with mesentery were collected from weak and diarrhoeac animals slaughtered at local abattoirs. Out of total n=771 clinically suspected animals, only n=53 carcasses were sampled based on gross observation. Tissue smears of the gut mucosae were obtained and were made adopting special staining protocol. Tissue samples were processed by paraffin sectioning and stained with Ziehl-Neelsen and Hematoxylin-Eosin staining methods. Acid-fast bacilli were observed only in 11/53 cases on mucosal tissue smears. Pressure atrophy of small intestine villi were evident, and the mucosae were found sloughed off. The submucosae were heavily infiltrated with mononuclear cells and multifocal cellular nodules dominated by epithelioid macrophages. The foamy cytoplasm of the macrophages appeared to be engorged with acid fast bacilli and depicted the positive cases. All tissue sections of the suspected samples showed 100 percent +ve results while only 20.8 percent samples were found +ve with smear method. All histo-pathologically positive cases were further confirmed by ELISA based serological analysis. Therefore, it was concluded that histopathology is an economical and yet the most trusted tool for diagnosing bubalian PTB in countries like Pakistan.

Rumen microorganism community population and diversity in the swamp buffloes (Bubalus bulalis) were assessed by 4 types of treated rice straw. Four, yearling swamp buffalo were randomly assigned to a 4*4 Latin square design. The animals were fed with concentrate at 0.5 percent BW and were offered ad libitum with roughages, rice straw (RS), urea treated rice straw (UTS), yeast treated rice straw (YTS) and urea-lime treated rice straw (ULTS). It was found that intake and ruminal NH3-N were significantly different among dietary treatments and were found higher in swamp buffalo fed with YTS (P LT 0.05). Total VFAs were significantly different with roughage in swamp buffalo. Molar proportions of individual VFA in swamp buffalo were not affected by roughage sources. Feeding with YTS or ULTS increased cellulolytic bacteria population, particularly, the distribution of predominant bacteria, F. succinogenes, R. flavefaciens, and R. albus, respectively. The results from this study suggest that swamp buffaloes fed on yeast treated rice straw could improve rumen fermentation efficiency, rumen fibrolytic microbes' quantity and rumen ecology for the host buffaloes.

Mastitis is common in buffaloes with significant impact on the rural economy. The present work was undertaken to find out the prevalence of sub clinical mastitis in buffaloes in and around Gannavaram, Andhra Pradesh, India by using different diagnostic methods. The prevalence of sub clinical mastitis based on California Mastitis Test, somatic cell count, electrical resistance and milk pH was 20.34, 21.62, 6.20 and 8.27 percent, respectively on screening of 629 quarters of 158 Graded Murrah buffaloes. Bacterial culture was considered to be a gold standard and revealed the prevalence as 28.30 percent with 178 quarter milk samples positive for bacterial growth. Further the study was also focussed on the comparison of the diagnostic tests CMT, SCC, ER and pH by using culture results as gold standard. The percent accuracy of California Mastitis Test, Somatic cell count, electrical resistance and pH were 89.83, 92.69, 77.27 and 79.65, respectively.