A one year old, non descript doe presented with the history of straining to deliver and hanging of ruptured water bag from the vulva was diagnosed as dystocia. The attempts for manual extraction of foetus were failed and a dead emphysematous male foetus was removed by caesarean section. Hydrocephalus and prognathism were observed in the dead foetus. The doe uneventfully recovered postoperatively.

A pluriparous full-term pregnant buffalo was presented with a history of unproductive straining with improper relaxation of the vulva. Detailed obstetrical examination revealed the presence of two fetuses that were conjoined twins with attachment present at the sternal region of the thorax of the fetuses. The conjoined twins (Ziphopagus monster) were delivered per-vaginal by episiotomy technique.

A Large White Yorkshire male pubertal pig was presented with the history of sustained protrusion of penis for about six hours. Edema of the protracted penis was reduced. Manual repositioning and retension of glans penis into preputial cavity was carried out successfully. There was no recurrence.

A primiparous Jersey cow was brought in lateral recumbency with the history of straining and past occurrence of antepartum prolapse a week before. Vaginal examination revealed incomplete two finger cervical dilatation with a very thin cervical rim. Cervicotomy was performed to remove the live male fetus and the animal recovered uneventfully.

This study is planned to assess the socio-economic profile, cost economics in feeding and impact of brewery waste utilization among dairy farmers in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu. For this purpose, a survey was conducted in six blocks with one village per block and 15 farmers per village constituting a total of 90 respondents. Data was collected through personal interview method with the help of pretested interview schedule. The survey results indicated that majority of the farmers are in the age of 33 - 47 years and the family size of the respondents is less than 5. More than 50% of the farmers had experience of 10 years in dairy farming practices and the annual income from dairy farming was higher than agriculture sector. All farmers were providing their milch animals with green and dry fodder and the total cost incurred varied from Rs.38.97/- to Rs.29.53/day/animal during milch period and from Rs. 31.66/- to Rs.25.38/day/animal during the dry period. In concentrate mixture, the main ingredients reported were bran, husk, rice gruel and oil cakes and total cost incurred varied from Rs.112.74 to Rs.43.04/day/animal during milch period and from Rs.73.25 to Rs.24.95/day/ animal during the dry period. The mean milk production varied between 5.37 lts to 9.51 lts/day/animal and the cost/ltr of milk varied between Rs.13.50 to Rs.15.95/ltr. It is imperative to note that 38.89% of the farmers were utilizing unconventional feeds such as tapioca powder, tamarind seed, brewery waste and dried distillers’ grain soluble (DDGS) to feed their dairy cattle. Also, from the survey it is inferred that dairy farmers should be sensitised more on the scientific ways of feeding lactating dairy cattle to augment milk production and thereby to increase their livelihood security.

An attempt was made to work out the factor shares and value shares of output in livestock sector over last 19 years and to examine in the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth of livestock production i.e. livestock production growth over and above the input growth in Tamil Nadu using secondary data for the period from 1999-2000 to 2017-18 from various reports on state-wise estimates of value of outputs from Central Statistics Office, Government of India and Department of Economics and Statistics, Government of Tamil Nadu. The share of milk to total value of output in Tamil Nadu decreased from 68 per cent to 27 per cent from the year 1999-2000 to 2017-18, whereas product shares of meat increased from 18.45 per cent to 64.77 per cent during the same period. During the same period, the factor shares of feed (47.65 per cent to 38.06 per cent) and dry fodder (36 per cent to 20 per cent) was decreased, in contrast to the share of green fodder (10 to 19 per cent). The value of TFP was found to be increasing gradually from the year 2000-01 to 2002-03 and drastically declined during the year 2003-04 (0.95), thereafter it increased gradually from the period 2003-04 to 2016-17, with drastic dip during 2011-12 and minor dip during 2007-08, 2013-14, 2015-16 and 2017-18. From the year 1999- 2000, the cumulative TFP index increased to 6.17 during 2004-05, 12.79 during 2010-11 and 20.38 during 2017-18 with increase of one unit per annum, which indicated good sign of livestock development in Tamil Nadu. It could be concluded that the technological interventions in livestock sector (output growth over and above the input growth) in Tamil Nadu shared about 72 per cent in the growth of livestock sector for the past 19 years.

Growth dynamics of buffalo population and milk production and productivity in Tamil Nadu was analysed. Point to point annual compound growth rate (ACGR) was calculated to assess the trend in buffalo population and continuous annual compound growth rate (ACGR) for milk production and productivity. The share of Tamil Nadu to National buffalo population decreased from 5.29 to 0.72 % (1951 to 2012) and the buffalo milk production reduced from 4.01 to 0.46% (2001-02 to 2015-16). The ACGR of buffalo population in Tamil Nadu was -17.23% during the last inter-census period (2007-12). North Eastern and Cauvery Delta agro-climatic zones of Tamil Nadu registered high negative growth. The annual compound growth rate of buffalo milk production during 2011-12 to 2015-16 in  Southern zone was -27.37% and it was - 21.72% in North Eastern and -20.93 % in Cauvery Delta zone with overall ACGR of -16.85%. The ACGR of buffalo milk productivity was 0.61% (2001-02 to 2015-16) in Tamil Nadu, while the rate was 1.58% in India. Hence, rigorous implementation of buffalo development programmes is a prime requisite and need of the hour for improving buffalo population and milk production in Tamil Nadu.

In recent times drug repurposing has gained interest over the traditional drug discovery due to reduction in time and cost of development of new drug. Drug repurposing approach has given promising drug candidates for various viral diseases like COVID 19, Ebola, Zika, Dengue, Influenza, HIV, Herpes, etc. Ontarget and off-target are the two basic strategies of drug repurposing. Macrolide, Artemisinin, Quinoline antiparasitic drugs are some of the drugs repurposed against cancer and drugs like thalidomide are repurposed against COVID-19 infection. Repurposing of veterinary drugs like ivermectin, levamisole and benzemidazole group of antiparasitic drugs are also under consideration. This review elaborates repurposing of antihypertensive drugs like angiotensin- converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI), angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs), β-blockers as anti- neoplastic drugs, anti-diabetic drugs against Alzheimer’s disease, fluorophenyl benzimidazole (FPD) as antihypertensive drug, thalidomide against COVID-19 infection, levamisole as antineoplastic drug, benzimidazole as anti-cryptococcal drug and some other new drugs. Usage of in silico techniques and pharmacophore modeling strategies can further accelerate the process of drug repurposing. The drug repurposing strategies significantly minimize research and development costs, provide greater chances of success, shorter research time and lower investment risk.

The possibility of production of hormone-free all male Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in F2  generation, through the production of YY super males in F1 generation, was investigated in the present study. Feminization of Nile tilapia was carried out using the hormone, 17 beta estradiol at 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg concentrations, orally through feed. The hormone enhanced the growth significantly (p<0.05) both in terms of length (55.39±0.67 cm) and weight (55.39±0.67 g) at 300 mg/kg feed when compared to other treatments and control. With the increasing concentrations (300 mg/kg) of the hormone, the survival rate decreased significantly (p<0.05) to 62±1.53%. The feminization rates increased significantly (p<0.05) with increasing concentrations of the hormone, with the highest feminization percentage of 98.27±0.87% observed at 300 mg/kg concentration of the hormone. Two fish from F generation with the PIT tag numbers 81 and 88 produced all male progeny which was confirmed through morphological examination. The genotype of these two YY supermales was re-confirmed through molecular genotyping with the help of primers amhX1+36 and amhdY+5 DNA markers, specific to X and Y chromosomes, respectively using RAPD-PCR.

The sheep lungworm Dictyocaulus filaria is of world-wide distribution and causes verminous pneumonia which may result in weight loss and death of the infected sheep. The current investigation was carried out in an organized farm in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu, India during the period from 2012 to 2014. Infected sheep showed clinical illness varying from dullness, depression, moderate coughing, dyspnoea and labored breathing with little mortality. On necropsy, both larval and adult stages of lungworm were recovered from trachea, bronchi and bronchioles. The identity of the nematodes was confirmed as D. filaria based on the socks shaped spicules in males and anterior knob in the larva. Of the 55 animals, including 17 lambs examined during the study period, eight animals were confirmed to have died due to verminous pneumonia. Apart from that, in a few lambs, lung abscess was noticed. Though the infection was present throughout the year, the clinical illness was pronounced in dry summer (n=23) and rainy season of south west monsoon (n=19). The disease was managed by minimizing the exposure of lambs to the contaminated pasture and by deworming with two doses of levamisole hydrochloride @ 7.5 mg/ kg body weight at 21 day interval to control the lungworm infection in sheep.