An intact female non-descript dog was brought to University Veterinary Hospital, with a complaint of a mass in the ventral abdomen and in-appetence. Clinical examination revealed a round ulcerated hard tumour like mass on the right inguinal mammary gland and a nodular friable tumour like mass on the vulval lips. Examination of the impression smears of the masses revealed, plasmacytoid pattern of canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT). On thoracic radiography, pulmonary metastasis was observed and the tumour was staged as T4N0M1. The tumour mass on the right inguinal mammary gland was surgically excised under general anaesthesia. Chemotherapy was adopted with vincristine sulphate (0.025 mg/Kg) at weekly intervals. Complete regression of vulval tumour was observed after 21 days of chemotherapy. Immunocytochemical localisation of vimentin antibody was done to assess the response to chemotherapy.

Sound plays an important role in animal behaviour, welfare and production. It also helps the animal attendant in communicating with and controlling the animal. When sound becomes unpleasant and disturbing it is termed as noise and causes sound pollution. The threshold of bearing sound is different among animals and is affected by several factors such as age, shape of the ears, species and breed of the animal and health condition. Noise pollution affects behaviour, breeding, growth and well-being of birds. Noise was noted to cause sleep disturbances and affect the endocrine and cardiovascular systems, in laboratory animals. A review is presented on the effect of noise on animals based on the work of various researchers. Methods on how to keep animals safe from sound pollution has also been suggested.

Dairy farming plays an important role in social and economic livelihood of the farmers of Telangana state. An investigation was carried out to study the cost of milk production in buffaloes of dairy farmers in Karimnagar, Khammam and Rangareddy districts of Telangana. The data was collected from 240 farmers spread over 24 villages in 6 mandals in the selected districts. The 240 respondents were interviewed as per the questionnaire. The statistical data revealed that 51.66 per cent of the respondents belonged to middle age group and 28.75 per cent of the respondents were educated up to secondary level (up to 10th class). Majority (42.91%) of the respondents belonged to backward caste. Most of the respondents belonged to medium sized family. Majority (62.08%) of the respondents had nuclear family. Majority (39.16) of the respondents have medium herd size of animals and 40 per cent respondents were having annual income of medium level (Rs.75,000-150,000). Most (76.66%) of the respondents had membership in at least one organization, 35 per cent were marginal farmers, 67.91 per cent respondents followed agriculture + dairying as main source of income. Majority 48.75 per cent had extension contacts with gopalamitra, paravet, VAS/AD (AH). 

Selection of breeding bucks is one of the crucial decisions in both organised and field populations for genetic improvement. Using high genetic merit bucks in the breeding programme could improve the overall production of the stock, thereby augmenting the economic sustainability of the rural goat keepers with zero input system of management. Therefore, understanding the effect of non-genetic factors with respect to semen characteristics is of paramount importance among the breeding bucks within a breed for effective breeding management. In this study, a total of 164 ejaculates from six adult Salem Black bucks were analysed to determine the effect of season and order of the ejaculate on conventional semen attributes using linear mixed models with lme4 package in R software. The estimated marginal means for semen volume (ml), sperm concentration (million per ml), mass activity (0 to 5 scale), initial and pre-freeze sperm motility (per cent) were 0.69 ± 0.05, 3253.00 ± 167.00, 4.70 ± 0.09, 81.80 ± 0.002 and 79.43 ± 0.003 respectively. Season had a significant effect (p < 0.5) on all the traits under study except for post-thaw motility, whereas, the order of ejaculation did not influence the traits except mass activity.

Test day milk yield data of 81,653 Jersey crossbred cows reared under farmers’ production system in Tamil Nadu state, over a period of 24 years (1999-2022) were utilised to determine the effects of non-genetic factors viz. agroclimatic zone, period of calving, season of calving and parity on lactation traits.  The production traits considered were 305-day milk yield (305DMY), total lactation milk yield (TMY), 180-day milk yield (180DMY), peak yield (PY), days to attain PY and lactation length (LL), the least-squares means of which were 2458.82 ± 7.02 kg, 2470.77 ± 7.04 kg, 1657 ± 4.71 kg, 10.69 ± 0.03 kg, 73.22 ± 0.56 days and 298.09 ± 0.17 days respectively. The agroclimatic zone had significant (P<0.01) influence on all the lactation traits studied with Western zone having the highest mean (2763.08 kg) for 305DMY followed by North Western zone and Cauvery Delta zone while North Eastern zone had the least (2066.85 kg) milk yield. Both period and season of calving significantly (P<0.01) affected all the traits. The estimated means of 305 DMY, TMY and 180DMY of 2960.99 kg, 2987.38 kg and 1934.75 kg respectively in period P2 (2004-2007) were significantly higher compared to other periods while period P1 (1999-2003) had the least milk production. Cows that gave birth in Northeast monsoon and Summer seasons produced more milk comparatively. Parity also had highly significant (P<0.01) influence on all the traits studied with cows above third lactation producing higher milk yield. The influence of non-genetic factors found on milk production of cows, revealed in this study will be useful in planning future breeding and management interventions for improving the milk production of the Jersey crossbred cattle under farmers’ production system in Tamil Nadu. 

Buffaloes have high productive potential but poor manifestations of oestrus signs and silent oestrus act as a major constraint in buffaloes affecting their reproduction. There are several detection tools used for detection and confirmation of oestrus in cattle but none of the methods have succeeded to overcome the problem of silent estrus in buffaloes. In recent years proteomics approach has gained much attention to identify proteins associated with various physiological and disease conditions in saliva and cervico vaginal fluid mostly in humans and up to certain extent in cattle and buffaloes. In this study twelve pluriparous Murrah buffaloes aged 4 to 7 years with good body condition were selected and divided into group I (regular oestrus), group II (silent oestrus). Each group carries six animals and saliva was collected at proestrus (day -3), oestrus (day 0) and diestrus stage (day 7). Cervico vaginal fluid (CVF) was collected only at oestrum stage. Protein profiling of saliva were studied by SDS - PAGE analysis. The SDS-PAGE analysis showed proteins of molecular weight 150, 110, 80, 40 kDa during proestrus; 150, 120, 70 and 50 kDa during oestrus; 250, 150, 90, 50 and 37 kDa during diestrus in group I buffaloes. Similarly, proteins of molecular weight 250, 150, 100, 80 and 25 kDa during proestrus; 150, 100, 75 and 50 kDa during oestrus and 250, 100,75 and 25 kDa during diestrus were observed  in group II buffaloes. The SDS-PAGE analysis of CVF showed proteins of molecular weight of 100 and 75 kDa in group I buffaloes and 250 and 150 kDa in group II buffaloes. Oestrus specific proteins with different molecular weights were identified in terms of different bands size. However further study is warranted to find out their role during oestrus in regular and silent oestrus buffaloes for the development of specific diagnostic assay.

The identification and development of new and effective alternatives to antibiotics that do not hinder productivity assumes paramount importance in the context of antimicrobial resistance and food safety. In recent years, phytobiotics have been used as natural growth promoters in ruminants, poultry and swine, to improve growth and health. A wide variety of herbs, spices and essential oils have been used individually or as blends in poultry for their potential application as alternative growth promoters. In nursery and growing pigs supplemented with phytobiotics, intestinal pathogens were inhibited and beneficial microbial population that contributes to improving digestion and absorption of nutrients were increased resulting in increased weight gain and decrease in diarrheal syndrome. The inclusion of essential oils in the diet of finishing pigs, improved the productive yield and carcass characteristics. It also reduced the incidence of therapeutic treatment and mortality. Natural plant products have the potential to improve rumen fermentation, reduce loss of feed energy, improve animal health and productivity, increase animal lifetime performance, and reduce greenhouse gases production in ruminants. Phytobiotics with wide range of activities, is projected as a feed additive for higher market growth compared to other alternatives to antibiotics in the feed industry.

Nano silver particles are valuable alternative for antibiotics and disinfectants as it is relatively free of adverse effects. Nano silver particles (AgNPs) have new physical and chemical characteristics enabling it to have a strong antibacterial activity and used today more as a high disinfectant in poultry farms. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of different concentrations of 10, 20 and 50 ppm of Ag-NPs as egg shell sanitizer and assess the microbial count on the egg shell surface during different storage conditions. The total bacterial count on the egg shell and egg quality characteristics were carried out on 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of storage after sanitation. Presence of nano silver and distribution on egg shell surface were determined using transmission electron microscopy. Results showed that bacterial loads on the egg shell were declined with the increased concentration of Ag-NPs used and the 50 ppm concentration of Ag-NPs had 1-3 log reduction in the total bacterial count on one day after disinfection in the egg shell surface which were comparable with the positive control (1% Kohrsolin) used in the trial. However, the external and internal qualities of eggs did not show any significance difference among different treatments during different storage days. However, nano silver 50 ppm had comparatively better zone of inhibition than 10 and 20 ppm levels in disc diffusion method. This study concluded that using Ag-NPs at 50 ppm concentration in disinfecting chicken egg can effectively reduce bacterial load on egg shell.

A study was conducted to evaluate the biomass yield and proximate composition of biomass from the natural pastures of Madras Red sheep. Eight villages were selected from the habitat of Madras Red sheep and 40 samples each during  rainy and summer season were collected to assess the biomass yield and proximate composition. The study showed that biomass yield and proximate composition were higher during the rainy season during which these sheep completed their breeding, reproduction and lactation. The total dry matter content was higher during the summer season which was able to meet maintenance requirement of sheep during these months. Farmers managed these animals without any supplementary feeding, but during summer the animals were let in the harvested fields where they had access to crop residues for grazing.

A pluriparous non-descript doe was presented with the history of dystocia. Clinical investigation revealed the presence of closed cervix and lodged multiple foetuses in the tract. Laparo-hysterotomy was performed and four foetuses were relieved, of which one was alive, one was still born and the other two were mummified. Thus the present report describes the incidence of quadruplets in a doe comprising of dual mummies along with a stillborn and a live kid.