The effect of two thawing temperatures (37°Cfor30 sec. and 60°Cfor 7 sec.)on sperm survivability and conception rate in buffaloes with frozen semen of Murrah bulls was compared. Thawing at 60°C resulted in statistically significant increase (P0.05) in sperm survivability (motility,live spermatozoa and intact acrosomes) compared with thawing at 37°c. In all, 161 buffaloes were inseminated with frozen semen thawed at 37°Cand 159buffaloeswith semen thawed at 60°Cbetween 2006-07 and 2009-10. Conception rate of 64.15% and 50.31% was obtained with semen thawed at 60°C and 37°C, respectively, and the difference was significant (P0.05). Artificial insemination of buffaloes with frozen semen thawed at 60°C for 7 sec. could be safely used to improve both sperm survivability and conception rate in buffaloes.

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 %).

Outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of Pasteurella multocida strain P52 were purified by immunoaffinity chromatography (IAC) using pre-challenge serum from HS vaccinated cattle-calves. IgG antibody titers of pre-challenge sera from HS vaccinated calves surviving and succumbing to direct challenge with virulent culture were determined against formalized P52 cells, P52 crude cell lysate, and OMPs of P52 purified by IAC. It was observed that OMP antigens were involved with protective response in calves and indirect ELISA test using lAC purified antigens can be developed for in vitro potency determination of Haemorrhagic septicemia (HS) vaccines.

Anthelmintic resistance against commonly used anthelmintics (ivermectin, levamisole, morantel and fenbendazole) was studied in naturally occurring gastrointestinal (GI) nematodes in adult sheep of unorganized sheep farms of district Ludhiana (Punjab). After qualitative and quantitative screening of faeces of 100 sheep, fifty sheep having eggs per gram of faeces (EPG) 500 were randomly selected and divided into five equal groups. Ivermectin @ 200 ìg/kg body weight and levamisole @ 7.5 mg/kg body weight, injected subcutaneously, in two different groups, were 99.08 and 98.17 per cent effective,respectively. Whereas, fenbendazole @ 7.5 mg/kg body weight and morantel citrate @ 6.0 mg/kg body weight, orally was 66.28 and 95.41 per cent effective and the fifth group was kept as untreated control with natural exposure to gastrointestinal nematodes. Hence, it was concluded that the naturally occurring GI nematodes of sheep were susceptible for ivermectin and levamisole, suspected for resistance against morantel citrate and were resistant to fenbendazole.

The present study was conducted on six crossbred calves below one year of age. The lead acetate was given @ 25 mg/ kg body weight orally for 7 days. After the completion of the experimental period, the lung tissues were collected in liquid nitrogen and cryostat sections of 10 ìm thickness were incubated for the demonstration of phosphatases and dehyrogenases. The positive and negative controls were carried out wherever possible. The lungs showed moderate AKPase, ATPase and G-6-Pase activity whereas the SDH and LDH activity varied from weak to moderate in alveolar septae.ACPase activity was increased in histiocytes of alveolar septae. The alveolar ducts showed negligible activity of all the enzymes studied. The results may be correlated with cellular damage and lysis of macrophages of the alveoli.

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.

The objective of this experiment was to study wheather the administration of GnRH plus PGF2 alpha synchronizes the estrus in anestrus crossbred cows exposed to bull urine (BU) during the winter season (Nov to Feb). The results indicated that a greater proportion of BU-exposed cows (n=20) showed estrus as compared to control (n=8) (90 vs 37.5 % P0.05). The mean plasma progesterone concentration remained below 1ng/ml in all animals of each group during the treatment period. The overall conception rate was double in BU-exposed cows (66.7 vs 33.3 % P0.05). From this experiment it can be concluded that oro-nasal application of BU synchronizes the estrus in a greater proportion of anestrus cows treated with GnRH plus PGF2 alpha during winter season.

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.

The molluscicidal effect of ether extract of different components of neem plant (leaf, seed, bark and whole plant) was evaluated against snails Lymnaea auricularia and Indoplanorbis exustus. The extracts were prepared by cold extraction method. The concentrations of extracts used were 1:10, 1:15,1:20, 1:25, 1:30 and 1:35 and the results were recorded at different period of exposure time (6, 12, 24, 48,72 and 96 h). The different concentrations of ether extract of neem showed variable effect on adult stages of L. auricularia and I. exustus. It showed positive correlation between exposure time and mortality and negative correlation between dilution and mortality. Among the different extracts, the whole plant extract was most effective followed by seed, leaf and bark against snails. I. exustus was found to be more susceptible to methanolic extract of neem as compared to L. auricular.

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.