The prevalence of Babesia infection was studied in newly purchased Tellicherry goats from Thalasserry, Kerala State to a private goat farm at Chennai. A total number of 168 goats were examined for the presence of Babesia. The study revealed that 58 (34.5%) goats were infected with Babesia ovis. The prevalence of Babesia infection between males and females and different age groups of goats was non-significant. Infected goats showed varying clinical signs of inappetence, depression, increased respiratory rate, weakness, coughing, nasal discharge, ocular discharge, diarrhea,   body temperature ranging 39.5- 41.2oC and abortion. Blood parameters revealed decrease in total red blood cells (RBC) count, haemoglobin concentration (Hb), Volume of packed red cells (VPRC), platelets counts and increase in lymphocyte and neutrophil count.

A study was conducted to assess the cost economics of brewery waste in twenty four Jersey crossbred dairy cattle for one year with three treatments viz., control (T0), brewery waste (T1) and balanced ration (T2) in farmer’s field conditions with eight animals in each group. The control, brewery and balanced ration animals were fed as per traditional and standard feeding practices. Statistical analysis revealed a significant (P<0.01) increase in the cost of concentrates (Rs. 15401.59/-) and total feed cost (Rs. 33278.93/-) for brewery waste fed dairy cattle than control animals. Also significant (P<0.05) increase in average gain of milk yield (0.73 Kgs /animal/day) was noticed for brewery waste fed animals than control. It is imperative to note that the total returns (Rs. 54653.18/-) were significantly (P<0.05) higher for brewery waste treated than control (Rs. 45393.15/-) animals. No significant (P>0.05) difference was evident in lactation days, cost and net returns per Kg of milk production using brewery waste. It can be concluded that farmers can utilize brewery waste to increase milk yield and total returns for augmenting income generation.

The present communication deals with concurrent infestation of lice and tick in a peafowl from Cauvery delta region of Tamil Nadu. External examination of the bird revealed presence of six lice and seven tick specimens. The ectoprasites were processed and examined under microscope. The lice and tick specimens were identified as Goniodes pavonis and nymphal stages of Haemaphysalis sp respectively. This is the first study to establish the concurrent infection of Goniodes pavonis and Haemaphysalis sp in peafowl from Cauvery delta region of Tamil Nadu and also first report of Goniodes pavonis in peafowl from India. 

This study presents two clinical cases in Chinchilla and Himalayan rabbits, exhibiting symptoms such as alopecia, skin lesions, and ear lesions. Skin scrapings and fecal samples were collected and processed, revealing the presence of Sarcoptes scabiei mites, Psoroptes cuniculi mites, and Eimeria oocysts. Treatment involved subcutaneous administration of Ivermectin (0.2 mg/kg), accompanied by supportive and topical application of Benzyl benzoate. The rabbits displayed clinical improvement, with complete recovery observed within 30 days.

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. 

Anthelmintics are used traditionally as an integral part of helminthic control strategies for grazing livestock to prevent production losses from parasitic infections. The continuous and indiscriminate use of the same anthelmintics over years together as the sole means of control are now failing due to the emergence of resistance strains of helminths. Resistance to the commonly used anthelmintics in gastrointestinal nematodes of sheep has become an increasingly wide spread problem throughout the world. The present study was aimed to determine the resistance against albendazole, fenbendazole, levamisole and closantel in gastrointestinal nematodes of sheep. Fifty five naturally infected Madras Red lambs of 6 - 12 months of age were selected and distributed randomly into five treatment groups of eleven animals each. Four groups were treated orally with albendazole (5mg/kg), fenbendazole (7mg/kg), levamisole (7.5m/kg) and closantel (10 mg/kg) respectively, while the fifth group served as untreated control.  Faecal samples were collected per rectum of each lamb just prior to treatment (pre treatment) and then on days 7, 14, 21 and 28 after treatment. The anthelmintic resistance was evaluated by in vivo faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT), post treatment larval culture and in vitro egg hatch assay. In the faecal egg count reduction test, albendazole reduced the faecal egg count by 86.50 per cent, 84.81 per cent, 85.28 per cent and 84.47 per cent respectively for four weeks after treatment. Faecal egg count reduction using fenbendazole was 92.64, 93.04, 90.80 and 90.06 per cent respectively for four weeks after treatment.  The per cent efficacy for levamisole and closantel was more than 95 per cent. The post treatment larval culture contained only Haemonchus contortus. In the in vitro egg hatch assay, the ED 50 value for benzimidazole was 0.299 µg thiabenazole/ml and levamisole showed an ED 50 value of 0.283 µg /ml.

Ultrasonographic characterization of ovarian follicular dynamics was carried out in two subsequent oestrous cycles in Umblachery cows (n =10) from the day of observed oestrum (Day 0) to next oestrum. Two subsequent oestrous cycles were studied in all the animals. Out of 20 cycles studied, seven (35.00%), twelve (60.00%) and one (5.00%) cycle(s) had two, three and four waves respectively. The day at which the Wave-1 dominant follicle (DF) attained the maximum diameter varied widely from Day 5 to Day 11. It was also found that the day of Wave-2 emergence varied widely from Day 7 to Day 13 among the individual animals. The average diameters of anovulatory wave DFs ranged from 9.07 to 9.86 and that of ovulatory wave DFs averaged from 9.20 to 9.67 mm. The mean inter-oestrus intervals were significantly (P < 0.01) longer in cycles with three-follicular waves (22.17 ± 0.27 days) than two-follicular waves (19.43 ± 0.28 days). Even though follicular wave patterns were comparable with other crossbred and B.indicus cattle, smaller size of the DF and wide variation in the days to attaining maximum diameter and emergence of Wave-2 were found to be characteristic features of Umblachery cows. 

The present study was aimed to assess the seroprevalence of brucellosis in sheep of Cauvery Delta region by collecting serum samples from apparently healthy sheep and sheep with the history of abortion. Serum samples from a total of about 123 animals including 64 from apparently healthy animals, 54 from animals with previous history of abortion and 5 from aborted animals were subjected to serological tests like Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT), Standard Plate Agglutination Test (SPAT) and indirect Enzyme Linked Immuno-sorbent Assay (i-ELISA). Molecular identification was carried out with the aborted materials from 5 animals with Bcsp31 gene. The prevalence rate of Brucellosis was 26.01 %, 22.76 % and 41.46 % by RBPT, SPAT and i-ELISA respectively. Among the 5 aborted animals, two were found to be positive for brucellosis with all the four diagnostic tests. Among the three serological tests, the highest seroprevalence of 41.46 % was observed when i-ELISA was used. However, RBPT was considered to be cost effective and easy to test. Hence, from this study it can be concluded that periodical screening of animals with cost effective serological tests for diseases like brucellosis, which is of economic and public health significance is mandatory to prevent the disease outbreak and economic loss to thefarmers.

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic species of Leptospira interrogans. Dogs can act as maintenance host for some serovars and transmit to other animals and humans through direct and/or indirect contact with urine or contaminated water and soil. A study was conducted to identify the presence of Leptospira and assessment of seroprevalence in apparently healthy dogs in Cauvery delta region (Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts) of Tamil Nadu. Serum (n=50) and urine (n=50) samples were collected randomly from 50 dogs with history of non vaccination to leptospirosis. Dark field microscopic (DFM) examination revealed the presence of Leptospira in 12.0 per cent of serum and 24.0 per cent of urine samples. Serological screening was done by microscopic agglutination test (MAT) using a battery of 12 Leptospira serovars (representing the serogroups of Australis, Autumnalis, Ballum, Canicola, Grippotyphosa, Hardjo, Hebdomadis, Icterohaemorrhagiae, Javanica, Pomona, Pyrogenes and Tarassovi), which revealed 56.0 per cent seropositivity to either one or several serovars, which was Icterohaemorrhagiae (46.4 per cent), Grippotyphosa (32.1 per cent), Australis (32.1 per cent), Canicola (25.0 per cent) and Autumnalis (17.9 per cent) with highly significant difference (p<0.05) in seropositivity between serovars. The predominant serovar detected in dogs in this study was Icterohaemorrhagiae followed by Grippotyphosa. It is concluded that presence of leptospirosis in dogs in Cauvery delta regions of Tamil Nadu poses the risk of transmission to animals and humans and dogs can be used as sentinel animals for identification of leptospirosis.

Resveratrol and silibinin are natural phytochemicals with considerable anticancer properties. They induce apoptosis of cancer cells by binding to various protein targets. Hence in this study, in silico molecular interaction studies were made between ligand resveratrol and ligand silibinin with NF-kB p50 subunit and p65 subunit, MMP9, caspase 3 and Bax proteins. The in silico molecular interaction revealed that silibinin and resveratrol interacted with five receptors with a high binding affinity and docking score making them novel inhibitors against various types of diseases.