The study was structured to find out the seasonal influences on birth of piglets in tropical condition with the objective of probability in the birth of male and female piglets from 80 farrowing records for the period from 2017 to 2021. Depending on the season, male piglets are in more demand since they have to anticipate the demand for meat during festivals and other annual events. The parameters studied from farrowing records are litter size at birth and at weaning (42nd day). From this study, highest probability of male piglets were born during south west monsoon season where as the female piglets were born during winter season however, the pooled sex of piglets were born highest in winter season. It could be useful to the farmers who are in need of piglets for either meat production or breeding purpose.

Six cattle presented with history and clinical signs pertaining to intestinal disorders requiring surgical intervention were subjected to left flank laparotomy. The animals were clinically examined and stabilized with fluid therapy before performing exploratory laparotomy. Left flank laparotomy was performed under Farquharson’s paravertebral nerve block in standing position. The efficacy of surgery through left flank to intestinal affections was evaluated by ease of approach, accessibility and visceral pain. It was found that caudal left flank approach allowed more ease of exteriorization of intussuscepted masses that were in jejunum, jejuno-jejunum, ileum and ileo-caecal parts of the intestine and also allowed complete exploration of the abdominal cavity. Left flank laparotomy approach with or without rumenotomy resulted in more area of exploration, prevented the proximal distended intestines to spill out and specific exteriorisation of the affected segment, by which mesenteric pain was alleviated that otherwise leads to recumbency and kicking at abdomen by the animals which could result in multiple rupture of intestines.

The present study was conducted to assess the efficacy of two oestrus induction protocols on 30 postpartum anoestrus crossbred cows reared by rural farmers of Puducherry region. The cows were randomly divided into Treatment I (CIDR+PGF2α+GnRH; n=15) and Treatment group II (Ovsynch+ CIDR; n=15) with double fixed timed inseminations at 12 and 24 hours post-administration of last GnRH. Oestrus induction response was 100% in both the treatment groups with majority of the cows (80%) in both the treatment groups showed intermediate intensity of oestrus. The mean time to onset of oestrus from the time of removal of CIDR in Treatment I and Treatment II was 43.45 ± 9.21 and 45.81 ± 6.34 h respectively. There is no significant difference in the serum progesterone concentration at the time of AI between Treatment I (0.92±0.26 ng/mL) and Treatment II (0.92±0.18 ng/mL). Though the conception rate was higher in treatment II (40 %) compared to Treatment I (20 %), the difference is not statistically significant. From the present study, it was concluded that Ovsynch in combination with CIDR found to be effective in oestrus induction and conception following fixed timed AI in anoestrus cows under field conditions. 

One year old male Labrador Retriever dog, was presented with the history of inability to retract the penis back into preputial sheath since 24 hours after a mounting attempt. Massage therapy, application of magnesium sulfate and ice pack failed to reduce penile oedema. Topical application of oxytocin around bulbus gland is successfully reduced oedema, thereby aided in easy repositioning. Purse-string sutures were applied around the tip of the preputial sheath and post reduction therapy followed. Animal had an uneventful recovery. 

The present study was undertaken to detect residues of Tetracycline in marketed pork using a High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) System and a UV-Vis Spectrophotometer. 300 samples of marketed pork were collected for the study. The samples after collection were preserved at -20°C. Analyses of the samples using High Performance Liquid Chromatography with UV-Vis Detector were done as per the method of Oka et al., 1985 while analyses of the same samples using UV-Vis Spectrophotometer were done as per the method of Yongnianian et al, 2010. Recovery ranged from 85-93% (HPLC) and 68-83% (Spectrophotometer). Out of the tested samples, 4 samples were detected to be positive for trace residues of tetracycline using Spectrophotometer while 6 samples were detected for tetracycline residues using HPLC method which were well below the Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) value. The method of HPLC is more sensitive than the Spectrophotometric one. Thus, the HPLC method is useful for monitoring of tetracycline residues in pork. 

High performance thin layer chromatographic method was developed and validated according to the protocol on “Validation of Analytical Procedures: Methodology, Veterinary International Cooperation on Harmonization (VICH)” with respect to linearity, sensitivity, precision and accuracy for determination of aflatoxin B1 in feed ingredients and feed. Chromatography was performed on thin layer chromatography (TLC) silica gel 60F254, aluminum sheets by Camag Linomat-5 applicator, with mobile phase condition acetone : chloroform (1 : 9). Analysis of samples viz. feed ingredients and feed, for aflatoxin B1was carried by HPTLC method and compared with TLC method. Extraction of aflatoxin was done as per AOAC method with screening and quantification by TLC and further quantification by HPTLC using reference standards. Out of 38 samples of nine types of feed ingredients analysed, samples of Bengal gram and rice bran & wheat bran mixture were negative by both methods. The other ingredients like cumbu/bajra, de-oiled rice bran, groundnut oil cake, maize, soyabean meal and sunflower oil cake, by HPTLC method wherein the Aflatoxin B1was found to be ranging from 1.61 ppb to 630.73 ppb of 77.42% positive samples, whereas by TLC method it was from 05 ppb to 140 ppb in 70.97% positive samples. While 4 samples of wheat bran analysed were all negative for Aflatoxin B1 by TLC method, whereas 50% (2 samples) found to be positive with HPTLC method with concentration ranging from 2.73 to 17.88.Similarly out of 59 feed samples analysed, 47 and 46 samples were positive for Aflatoxin B1 representing 79.66% and 77.97% of the samples, with concentration ranging from 0.54 ppb to 204.72 ppb and from 05 ppb to 710 ppb by HPTLC and TLC respectively. In the present study, the Limit of detection by HPTLC was 0.5 ppb whereas it was 5 ppb with TLC method.

A total of 30 maize samples, 30 deoiled rice bran (DORB), 20 groundnut oil cake (expeller) and 20 dried distillers’ grain soluble (DDGs) feeds samples were collected from different parts of Namakkal district. Aflatoxin B1 was estimated in all the samples by extracting the aflatoxin and spotted in an activated thin layer chromatography (TLC) plate with standards and ascertained the concentration by visual comparison method in a UV viewing cabinet. Among 30 samples of maize, analyzed for aflatoxin, 20 samples (60%) contained traces of aflatoxin and 8 samples contained between 10-30 ppb. Two samples contained between 50-100 ppb. Similarly, among 30 samples of DORB analyzed for aflatoxin, 24 samples contained traces of aflatoxin and five samples contained between 10-30 ppb. One sample contained between 50-100 ppb of aflatoxin. Three samples of GNC and Four samples of DDGS had 50-100 ppb of aflatoxin. It reveals that, very few samples of maize and DORB contained high level of aflatoxin. Hence the regular screening of toxins in every lot of feed prior to feeding the animals or poultry needs to be regularized.

Follicle like structures with a minimum of 17 mm diameter and persisting for more than 6 days in the absence of corpus luteum is called as follicular cyst. It is the hypothalamo-hypophyseo gonadal axis that governs the reproductive events primarily. Plasma is a medium that reflects the changes in any organ apart from providing nutrients and draining the metabolic wastes. Cows brought for infertility treatment were screened and cows which were diagnosed as follicular cyst randomly allotted in to four groups of eight cows each. Different groups were subjected to different treatment protocols viz, Regular co-synch protocol, modified co-synch protocol, Trans-gluteal follicular cyst evacuation technique and trans-gluteal follicular cyst evacuation technique cum modified co-synch protocol for Group I, II, III and IV, respectively. Blood samples were collected from all the cows of different groups on day 0 (initiation of treatment), 7 and 9 of treatment and were analyzed for biochemical parameters. Cholesterol, triglyceride, total protein, calcium and phosphorus concentration was quantified using an automatic analyser UV-VIS spectrophotometer. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) noticed between the mean concentration of biochemical parameters of different treatment groups, on days 0 and 7 in serum. The mean concentrations of cholesterol were 116.13±20.28, 59.67±10.50, 70.88±6.57 and 64.00±8.36 mg/dl in Group I, II, III and IV cows, respectively and were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in Group I. The mean concentration of all other biochemical parameters were non-significant (P > 0.05) between all treatment groups, on day 9 in serum. This might be due to steroid bio transformation of cholesterol. 

The quantum of inclusion of concentrates in cattle feeding depends solely on availability and its price. An attempt was made to model and forecast the feed prices of dairy cattle feed in Tamil Nadu using time series data collected from Central Feed Technology Unit, Kattupakkam for the period from January 2012 to December 2022. Various time series models viz., Mean, Naïve, Random drift, Seasonal naive, Simple Exponential Smoothing, Holt linear, Holt-winter, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average - ARIMA and Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average models were fitted. The error measures, parameter estimates, forecast estimates and plots were assessed to ascertain the best fit model. Random drift model and ARIMA (0,1,0) model were found to be the best fit models for dairy cattle feed. Further, Holt-winter multiplicative model and SARIMA (1,1,0)(1,0,1) model were identified as the best fit models for the dry cattle feed price forecasting. Thus, these models could be utilized by the various stakeholders to predict the short term price forecasts of cattle feed for efficient planning and making right decisions. 

A commercially procured flow cytometrically sorted semen was reanalyzed to validate the effect of flow cytometry on structural and functional viability of spermatozoa. Flow cytometric analysis of commercially procured sex sorted frozen thawed bull semen showed the percentage of X sperms to be 95.31± 0.21 and Y sperms to be 4.69 ± 0.27, respectively. As expected sexed sperm had lower post thaw motility than the non-sexed sperm. However, no significant differences in the percentage of sperms with intact acrosome and expression of ROS were observed. Interestingly, DNA fragmentation index was statistically lower for the commercially procured sorted than for unsorted frozen thawed bull semen.