peer reviewed

Cryptosporidium spp. was detected in 3 cows from rectal pinch
samples. Direct smear stained with Acid Fast and Kinyoun stain was used to detect the organism. Subsequent samplings also indicated positive for Cryptosporidiosis, whereby one of the animals died due to dehydration and severe clinical signs of diarrhea. The farm had contaminated water supply where two out of the four ponds were
positive for Cryptosporidium spp. whereas the municipal water supply was negative. The management of the farm was poor in terms of nutrition and cleanliness which led to Cryptosporidium spp. infection in the cattle compounded by stress factors. The mortality of the adult dairy cattle and calves was also high reaching up to
40%. The most common cause of death was leg weakness, severe dehydration and pneumonia in calves as a result of severe infections. Cryptosporidiosis is zoonotic and thus needs to be controlled to prevent outbreaks in the human population.

Anthelmintic resistance which is escalating in Malaysia and other
countries is forcing farmers worldwide to look at alternative, green technologies to improve productivity and reduce diseases caused by helminths in livestock. One such method is the use of effective microbes or Useful Microbes (UM) for worm control. Therefore, a preliminary study was conducted to evaluate the anthelmintic effect of UM on nematode parasites of goat in a government farm. Fifteen Boer goats were randomly selected and fed with UM Bokashi mix (effective microbes in the form of granules) with commercial goat
pellets and UM fluid in drinking water. UM used in this study was produced by Department of Veterinary Services Penang by fermenting UM stock culture with a fruit base and molasses. Faecal egg counts
(FEC) using the modified McMaster technique was carried out weekly for 5 weeks. The results show that the UM used for animal feeding (5% Bokashi with commercial goat pellet) and ad lib UM fluid in drinking water, fed over a period of 1 month showed Faecal Egg Count
reduction from 3240 e.p.g. to 677 e.p.g. (79% reduction). The general packed cell volume also increased in a majority of the animals indicating better general health. Further studies are necessary to establish the systematic use of UM in smallholder farms as well as large commercial establishments and to determine its mode
of action in the pathophysiological aspects in the face of common limitations such as poor nutrition and other stress factors.

The therapeutic efficacy of two formulations, one containing garlic and other lead carbonate and acetate, camphor, neem and eucalyptus oils were assessed in 18 and 29 clinical cases of dermatological disorders in dogs, respectively. None of the preparation showed satisfactory results against mange infestation. Both the preparations were almost equally effective in cases of fungal and non-specific dermatitis.

Nine Salmonella isolates (11.25%) from 80 spleen samples of pigs collected from slaughter house detected by conventional culturing when subjected to Salmonella-specific gene (invA) yielded product a 284-bp DNA fragment.

Different selective culture media were evaluated for isolation of Aeromonas spp. from 120 poultry meat samples. The recovery ofAeromonas isolates was highest fromAmpicillin DextrinAgar (89.39%), followed by Aeromonas Starch DNAse agar (68.18 %) andAeromonas isolation media (18.18 %).

Afeeding trial was conducted in layers for a period of8 weeks (23-30 weeks old) to evaluate the effect of chromium picolinate supplementation on egg yolk cholesterol and egg chromium content in layers.Atotal of (n=120) layers were randomly distributed in completely randomized design into 4 treatmentgroupseachwith2 replicates of 5chicks.The layers of treatment group T1(control)were provided water without chromiumwhile those of T2,T3andT4were provided water containing 200, 400 and 600 ppb chromium / litre respectively.At the end of feeding trial, six eggs from each replicate, on last three days were used for egg yolk cholesterol and egg chromium studies. The results indicated that the total cholesterol andLDL cholesterol content of eggs were significantly (P0.05) reduced and HDL-cholesterol content significantly increased in 400 and 600 ppb chromium supplemented group of layers. Whereas chromium content of eggs increased with increasing levels of chromium supplementation. It was concluded that organic chromium supplementation up to 600 ppb level through water may be advisable to reduce egg yolk total cholesterol and LDL- cholesterol and improved HDL-cholesterol and egg chromium content.

The study evaluated in-vitro antibacterial activity of seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.)leaves using disc diffusion method against common skin and wound pathogens. Methanolic hot and cold extracts of green seabuckthorn leaves were tested against 160 microbial isolates obtained from clinical skin and wound infection cases of different animal species. Different concentrations of leaf extracts i.e. 0.5%, 2%, 3%, 4% and 5% were tested against 1×108 cfu/ml bacteria inoculated on Mueller-Hinton agar (MHA). The inhibitory effect of SBT leaf extract at 5% concentration was observed to be almost 50% as compared to the standard drugs used as positive control against isolate.

Tannin containing aqueous extract of Terminalia belerica leaves was tested in vitro for its effect on protein degradation using gas production technique. It was found that degradation of feed protein was decreased by the addition of extract. This confers that tannins at low levels has bypass effect on the feed protein.

A total of 281 serum samples collected randomly from goats showing the signs of fever, abortion,repeat breeding and still births as well as from apparently healthy ones were subjected to LAT and MAT based on rLipL32 and rLipL41 antigens. A total of 16 (5.69%) samples were found positive to MAT, whereas rLipL32-LAT and rLipL41-LAT detected 35 (12.45%) and 23 (8.18%) samples as positive, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of rLipL32-LAT was 87.50% and 92.83%, respectively,while rLipL41-LAT yielded 75.00% and 97.35% sensitivity and specificity, respectively. LAT based on rLipL32 and rLipL41antigens could further be evaluated on a larger number of samples to ensure its utility as a screening test for the sero-epidemiological studies.