Fodder quality and availability are major determinants in profitable ruminant production system. Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and Department of Animal Husbandry, Government of Tamil Nadu and other related institutions promote fodder production through several schemes and projects. Intensive fodder production through promotion of sustainable fodder production model under irrigated condition is one among them. The objective of the present study was to validate the fodder production potential of the ten-cent model for livestock feeding. In livestock farm complex Madhavaram, ten-cent model fodder plot was established with Hybrid Napier grass variety Co (BN) 5 in 4 cents area; fodder maize (African Tall) in 1 cent; fodder sorghum (CoFS 31) in 2 cents; fodder cowpea (Co 8) and Velimasal (Desmanthus virgatus) in 1.5 cents area each; Agathi (Sesbania grandiÀora) and Subabul (Leucaena leucocephala) were cultivated as boundary plantation. Standard agronomical management practices were adopted during the study period (15 months) and fodder was harvested at specified intervals. The total biomass yield realized was 9918 kg. The average yield/cut (kg) of Co5, sorghum, maize, cow pea, Desmanthus and Agathi/Subabul were 1340.0, 264.6, 160.0, 178.0, 71.0 and 98.0 kg respectively. Highest fodder yield was noticed during south west monsoon season (2492.0 kg) followed by north east monsoon season (1796.5 kg) and lowest yield noticed in summer season (1465.0 kg). The total CP and TDN yield (on dry matter basis) of ten-cent model fodder plot, estimated from available standards were 1121.71 kg and 5586.58 kg respectively during the study period. The results of this study revealed that quantity and quality of fodder harvested from the ten-cent model fodder plot can support one cattle or five goats for a year. It is possible to sustain one cow or five goats through fodder production in the ten-cent model fodder plot.

Ticks and tick-borne diseases affect animal and human health worldwide and are the cause of significant economic losses. During necropsy of a free ranging wild Asian elephant unusually large, engorged ticks attached to the ear and d ewlap was noticed. On the basis of morphological study, the ticks were identified as Amblyomma integrum. This is the first report on the occurrence of A. integrum ticks on Asian elephant of Tamil Nadu, India. The detailed morphology of the sexes and the medical and veterinary significance of the tick are discussed in the light of available literature.

Newcastle Disease (ND) is a highly infectious disease of poultry causing huge economic loss to the poultry farmers. Newcastle Disease is controlled by vaccination of commercial or backyard poultry using inactivated or live ND vaccines. In the present study, safety and humoral antibody response in birds vaccinated with Newcastle disease virus oral pellet vaccine (NDV OPV) was studied in field conditions. A total of 300 backyard poultry (n=100/ farm) from three different farms were vaccinated with NDV OPV. The vaccinated birds were monitored for any adverse reactions or mortality up to 28 days post vaccination (dpv). There were no untoward reactions or mortality in the vaccinated birds in all the three farms up to 28 dpv. Blood samples (n=8/farm) were collected randomly from vaccinated birds on 0 and 28 dpv in each farm and were subjected to heamagglutination inhibition (HI) test. The mean HI titre was 66, 56 and 25 in farm 1, farm 2 and farm 3 respectively at 28 dpv. All the vaccinated birds had protective HI titre of ≥16 at 28 days post vaccination. In conclusion, Newcastle disease virus oral pellet vaccine (NDV OPV) is safe and induces good protective humoral antibody response and can be used to control ND in backyard poultry.

Factors influencing the consumption of ready-to-eat snack foods were analysed through principal component analysis. The data for the study was collected through a well- designed pre-tested interview schedule from 90 respondents in south zone of Chennai. Ten variables were considered as emphasizing factors. The results indicated that the economic factors such as cost saving, quantity and taste are the major influential factors for the consumption of ready-to-eat snack foods in first dimension. In second dimension, habitual factors such as habit, lack of cooking skill and hectic life style are the major influential factors. Convenience factors such as convenience and affordability are the influential factors in third dimension. In fourth dimension, marketing factors such as advertisement and influence of children are the major influential factors among ten variables. The Transparent Market Research (TMR) and the high convenience quotient of ready-to-eat snacks fuels a strong growth for the Ready-to-eat snacks in the market.

Avian infectious bronchitis (IB) is a common, highly contagious, acute, and economically important viral disease of chickens caused by avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) of Coronaviridae. Nephropathogenic strains have emerged from mutation of widely used classical, live attenuated IB vaccines which mainly protects from respiratory form of the disease. The present work is directed to study the ultrastructure of the new strain of IBV, the IND/AHL/16/01, that was first isolated from an outbreak of nephritis and gout related mortality cases of coloured layer pureline birds at Indian Council of Agricultural Research - Directorate of Poultry Research (ICAR-DPR). Molecular characterisation and phylogenetic analysis was carried out and it was confirmed that the isolate is a novel nephropathogenic strain. Nine-day-old Embryonated Chicken Eggs (ECE) obtained from in-house hatchery of ICAR-DPR were inoculated by allantoic route and observed for embryonic lesions and mortality. The allantoic Àuid from these ECE were collected into 2.5% glutaraldehyde and stored at 4 degree Celsius until processing. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) imaging by negative staining technique, revealed electron dense, pleomorphic Virus Like Particles (VLP's) of 120 nm diameter.

Campylobacter spp. are the most common cause of foodborne illnesses and bacterial enteritis across the globe. Poultry harbours this pathogen the most and transmit them to human beings. Being the fastidious organism, isolation and detection of Campylobacter is time consuming and difficult. In this study, the most common species - Campylobacter coli was detected using Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification assay (LAMP). A total of 191 broiler chicken caecal samples, after presumptive identification of Campylobacter, were subjected to LAMP assay with colorimetric detection. Out of 191 samples collected, 14 were found positive for C. coli. LAMP assay takes only around 45 min after extraction of DNA to detect C. coli.  LAMP assay aids in rapid detection of C. coli isolates and does not require any sophisticated instruments. Thus, LAMP assay is a simple and rapid detection method for Campylobacter coli can be performed in any basic clinical laboratory.

An in vitro experiment was conducted to study the in vitro cellulose disappearance of the following seven experimental feeds such as 1) Control feed; 2) Experimental feed (75%) + Fresh brewery waste (25%) (EFFBW); 3) Experimental feed (75%) + Dried brewery waste (25%) (EFDBW); 4) Fresh brewery waste (FBW); 5) Dried brewery waste (DBW); 6) Paddy straw (PS) and 7) Brewery waste incorporated paddy straw (BWIPS) incubated for 2, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours in Rumen Simulation Technique (RUSITEC). During initial incubation periods (2, 6, 12 and 24 hours), control feed, EFFBW, EFDBW and FBW showed higher in vitro cellulose disappearance than other experimental feeds, whereas, during later incubation periods (48 and 72 hours), the DBW, paddy straw and BWIPS showed higher in vitro cellulose disappearance than other experimental feeds incubated in RUSITEC. Among the feeds experimented in RUSITEC, disappearance of cellulose was more in the control feed, EFFBW and EFDBW when compared to other experimental feeds. Similarly, the cellulose disappearance was more in BWIPS compared to paddy straw. The in vitro cellulose disappearance rates at all incubation periods were higher for FBW than those for DBW.

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of turmeric powder on production performance and egg quality characteristics of Rhodo White (RW) layers. Seventy two RW layers were weighed individually and distributed randomly into four turmeric powder supplemented reated experimental diets with three replicates of six layers each and the experimental diet was given for a period of 20 weeks from 26 to 45 weeks age of the birds. There was no significant difference in total egg production, hen day egg production (HDEP) and hen housed egg production (HHEP) among the treatment groups. The feed intake in all treatment groups was almost similar during 26 to 45 weeks of birds. Turmeric powder did not inÀuence the feed intake and feed efficiency in all treatment groups. A non-significant difference was observed in egg quality characteristics. The egg yolk cholesterol was significantly (P<0.01) reduced by 18.59 %, 24.91 % and 33.24 % in 0.05, 0.10 and 0.15 % turmeric powder supplemented groups respectively than control. It was concluded that the inclusion of turmeric powder did not inÀuence the production performance & egg quality characteristics and however the egg cholesterol level was significantly reduced at 0.15 % in RW layers

Tissue engineering is one of the most promising alternative therapy for repair of cartilage defects. The large number of cells required for developing cartilage constructs and low cell yield from the cartilage tissue remains the major constraint in cartilage tissue engineering. Hence, an optimised isolation protocol that yields maximum number of viable cells is the first vital step for successful development of cartilage tissue construct. In this study three different isolation protocols using 0.25 % Trypsin-EDTA, 1 % Pronase + 0.4 % Collagenase I and 0.2 % Collagenase II were examined for enzymatic digestion of ovine articular cartilage tissue. Trypan blue staining was used to assess cell yield and viability. Chondrocyte yield per gram was significantly higher (P < 0.05) using collagenase II and exhibited better propagation potential when compared to 0.25 % Trypsin-EDTA and 1% Pronase + 0.4 % Collagenase I. Hence, digestion of ovine cartilage using 0.2% collagenase II yielded highest number of viable cells. Further, the isolated cells expressed chondrocyte phenotype and can be used to produce large number of viable ovine chondrocytes.

Employability refers to a person’s capability to gain employment, maintaining employment and obtain new employment if required in simple words, employability refers to one's capacity to obtain and maintain fulfilling work. The present study was undertaken with the main objective of ascertaining the employability of postgraduates of SVVU. Ex-post-facto research design was followed in the present investigation. Out of the total 479 postgraduate students a sample of 120 respondents were selected from each academic year through proportionate random sampling. In this research, to study and measure the employability of postgraduates, seven indicators based on the opinion of experts and review of literature was collected. The collected data were classified, tabulated, analysed and interpreted in order to make the findings meaningful. The statistical measures such as frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean and co-efficient of correlation were used in the study. It can be concluded that three-fourth (75%) of the postgraduates of SVVU had high to medium level of overall employability.