A study was conducted on 240 scavenging chickens randomly obtained from various districts from the state of Penang, Peninsular Malaysia. The chickens were closely examined for visible ectoparasites in the laboratory. The ectoparasites were collected using a blunt forceps and stored in universal bottles containing 70% ethanol. Ten species of ectoparasites were noted which consisted of five species of lice, two species of mites, two species of ticks and one species of chigger. The lice identifi ed were Menopon gallinae, Menacanthus pallidulus, Lipeurus caponis, Goniocotes gallinae and Goniodes dissimilis. These lice occurred in the fl uff of the feathers of the body especially the neck, back, abdomen and wings. The mites were Megninia sp. and Pterolichus sp. Examinations of the ears and combs revealed Haemaphysalis sp., the hard tick. Meanwhile, Ornithonyssus sp., the soft tick was found on feathers, whereas chigger, Leptotrombidium sp. was found attached to the skins. The study also revealed that M. gallinae was the most common ectoparasite with 76.7% occurrence, followed by Pterolichus sp. (69.6%), L. caponis (63.3%), M. pallidulus (41.7%), Leptotrombidium sp. (17.5%), G. gallinae (9.5%), Haemaphysalis sp. (6.7%), Megninia sp. (3.8%) and Ornithonyssus sp. (3.8%). The least common ectoparasite was G. dissimilis occurring in 2.1% of the chickens.

The development and availability of follicles is an indicator to predict which of the follicle sizes are suitable to recover the oocytes assisted by means of ultrasonography of transvaginal oocyte retrieval (OPU). Thus, the study was done in order to characterize the follicular recruitment and distribution in response to the repeated removal of follicles, and thus to determine the availability of follicles and immature oocytes harvested repeatedlyfor two consecutive days of OPU in beef cows. Results indicated that 24-h OPU showed significantly greater numbers of medium and large follicles than small categories (P<0.05). However the 48-hr of OPU does not showed any differences of follicles categories (P>0.05). The mean total number of follicles and immature oocytes recovered were higher (P<0.05) in 24-hr OPU (13.76±1.2 and 7.38 ± 1.7) compared to 48-hr OPU (9.08 ± 1.5 and 3.54 ± 1.00) with the oocyte retrieval rate of 51.22% and 38.17%, respectively. The morphological classification indicated the 24-hr oocyte retrieval produced 62% of suitable immature oocytes that can be used for in vitro embryo production. In conclusion, the repeated removal of two consecutive days of OPU has averted the development of dominant follicle, and thus, gave an atmosphere to the subordinate follicles to continue growth relatively to an equal proportion of small, medium and large categories of follicles. Due to the reduction of follicle and recovery rate at 48-hr it is suggested that OPU be carried out later than 48 hour so that the follicle has more time to increase the diameter size.

Seminomas are one of the common testicular tumours that occur mostly in dogs above five years of age. A case of nine-year-old male German Shepherd dog, presented to University Veterinary Hospital, Kokkalai with a history of swelling on the scrotum for the past two months and its successful surgical management is discussed. The right testicle was found to be highly enlarged and hard while the other atrophied. Histopathological examination following its surgical removal, confirmed it as seminoma.

Traceability system for livestock is an important infrastructurenecessary to monitor animal health, animal disease emergencies and quality assurance. The aim of this study was to evaluate farmer and trader willingness to use and pay for an animal identification and traceability system in Peninsular Malaysia. Data was obtained from aquestionnaire that was completed by 543 farmers and traders from the 10 states in the peninsula. Our results show that up to 54% respondents were willing to use and pay for an animal identification and traceability system. Gender and the length of experience of farmers and traders were factors significantly associated with theoutcome of this study. Female farmers and traders were less willing to use and pay for an animal identification and traceability system while farmers and traders with more experience in the cattle industrywere significantly more likely to provide a favourable response.

The Kedah-Kelantan cattle (KK) is an indigenous cattle breed and is mainly kept for meat production in Malaysia. Due to lack of information about polymorphism of growth traits in these cattle, Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1) was chosen to be the candidate gene in this preliminary study. The aim of this study is to investigate the polymorphism of IGF-1 gene in KK and to show that the PCR-RFLP technique can be used as a basis for use as molecular markers in cattle. A total of 46 KK blood samples were collected for DNA extraction performed using a commercial kit. The exon 1 of IGF-1 gene was amplified to produce a 249 bp fragment. The amplified fragments were digested with Eco105I restriction endonuclease and then subjected to electrophoretic separation in Fluorosafe stained 2.5 % agarose gel. The result revealed two alleles, A and B. Threegenotypes were observed: AA, AB and BB. Frequencies were 0.07, 0.13 and 0.80 for AA, AB and BB, respectively. This gives frequencies of 0.13 and 0.87 for A and B alleles. It is concluded that the population is in Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium (p<0.05). It is possible that this gene has been exposed to selection.

Natural herbal remedies have been long used to control common parasitic infections in livestock. The effectiveness of two plant products was tested on goats with helminthiasis. A study was carried out in a commercial goat farm near Sg. Siput, whereby Azadirachta indica (neem) decoction and leaf extract as well as Jacaranda filicifolia (Jacaranda) leaf extract were fed orally to 3 groups of goats that previously with strongyle egg counts range from 587 to 1650 egg per gram (EPG) for a period of 5 weeks. In this study, theJacaranda Leaves Water Extract (JLWE) showed the highest number of fecal egg count with 2585 EPG at the end of study. All treatments showed reduced percentage of packed cell volume from 23% to 21%,which was not significant. However, there was no difference in the composition of strongyle larvae in the goats. The results show that neem decoction was effective in reducing faecal egg count but the Jacaranda leaf extract and neem leaf extract were not effective in reducing faecal egg counts in goats. Further work is required to assess the efficacy of these herbal products for worm control in goats.

A study was conducted on 16 commercial free range chickens (8 malesand 8 females) sourced from Alor Setar, Kedah in order to determine the prevalence of ecto and endoparasites. Results showed that there were 12 different species of ectoand endoparasites from these chickens. Four (4) species of ectoparasites which consist of three lice and a tick have been discovered. The highest prevalence of ectoparasite was Menopon gallinae (93.8%). The other ectoparasites were Menacanthus pallidulus (81.3%), Haemaphysalis sp. (37.5%) and Lipeurus caponis (18.8%). On the other hand, eight species of endoparasites which consist of four nematodes and four cestodes were discovered. Rallietina echinobothrida showed the highest prevalence of endoparasite (100%) followed by Heterakis gallinarum (93.8%), Acuaria spiralis (87.5%), Ascaria galli (81.3%), Rallietina tetragona(43.8%), Gongylonema ingluvicola (37.5%), Hymenolepis carioca (12.5%)and Hymenolepis cantiana (12.5%). Endoparasites infestation was recorded highest on male chicken (52.6%) compared to female (47.4%). However, there was no statistically significant difference betweenthe number of endoparasites and both sexes; t (14) = 0.817, p>0.05.

The first pilot study of Nonsurgical castration of male long tailedmacaque was carried out in the middle of 2010 in Taman Tasik Perdana (National Lake Garden) in Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur. Intraepididymal injections method such as chemical castration wasused as one of the fertility control in adult male long tailed macaques. This method does not require removal of the testis, easy to do and inexpensive and mixture of Ethanol-Formalin was used inthis technique. Outcome from the male macaque castration programme shows this sterilization technique using a mixture of ethanol and formalin to be very effective in controlling new birth. Castrated male macaque doesn’t have any changes in behaviour or physical attributes. These results prove that the breeding of macaques can be reduced.