An attempt was made to measure the comparative advantage of dairy farming among different occupational groups of rural Tamil Nadu (540 households and 2500 persons) for its poverty alleviation role. The most commonly used measures of poverty viz., head count index (P 0), poverty gap index (P1) and squared poverty gap (poverty severity) index (P2), the Watts index and average exit time from poverty were calculated. About 59 per cent of the total sample households and close to 65 per cent of sample population were found to stay below poverty line. P1 P2 and W index were observed to be the highest among agricultural labourers and the lowest among dairy farmers. At four per cent of hypothetical income growth rate, the time required to exit out of poverty was estimated to be the least for dairy farmers (4.66 years for buffalo and 4.91 years for cattle), followed by fishermen (5.09 years). Keeping in view of poverty reduction potential of dairy farming, it shall be included in poverty alleviation programmes. 

Examination of gastro intestinal tract of 20 carcasses of backyard poultry revealed mucoid material in the lumen of the proventriculus and gizzard. The mucosa of proventriculus and gizzard were thickened. Peeling of the horny gizzard cuticle layer revealed the presence of Cheilospirura hamulosa on the sub-mucosal and muscular surface. The lumen of different parts of the gastrointestinal tract contained tenacious muco-sanguineous content. Caeca was completely filled with tarry red coloured content mixed with Subulura brumpti.

An outbreak of chorioptic mange infestation was observed in a sheep and goat flock during 2021 in the Kandukur village of Anantapur district, with a history of skin itching, thick scabs and loss of hair. Skin lesions were characterized by alopecica, crusty scabs on hind limbs, face, ears and scrotal region. Microscopic examination of deep skin scrapings revealed the presence of Chorioptes spp mites. Affected sheep and goats were treated with Ivermectin injection (200 mg/kg. body wt) administered subcutaneously weekly once for 2 weeks along with dipping using Butox spray (Deltamethrin) and supportive therapy with brotone syrup (liver tonic). Examination of deep skin scraping two weeks post treatment found negative for the Chorioptes spp mites.

A postpartum graded Murrah buffalo that calved 25 days before was presented with a history of swelling of the perianal region immediately after parturition. On examination, ventral anal region was found to be enlarged with a pouch that contained around 1.5 kg of dung. The buffalo was given caudal epidural anaesthesia and the perianal mucous membrane was scarified and sutured. Postoperatively antibiotic, anti-inflammatory and anti-histamine were given for 5 days and animal exhibited normal defecation without straining. The correction of unusual case of peri-partum third degree perineal laceration associated with rectal-vaginal fistula and rectal pouch formation in a graded Murrah buffalo, its management and successful recovery is reported.

A biological trial was conducted at Department of Poultry Science, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai to evaluate the effect of inclusion of RDDGS in commercial broiler diet on hematological, serum biochemical parameters. A total of 144 commercial day-old broiler chickens were allotted to four treatments with three replicates and 12 birds per replicate. Experimental diets were prepared by including RDDGS at 0, 5, 10, 15% at the expense of soyabean meal was prepared to be nearly isocaloric and isonitrogenous as per BIS (2007) standards. At the end of the experiment blood was collected from one male and one female from each replicate and analyzed for serum biochemical and hematological parameters. Statistical analysis of data revealed that there was no significant (P>0.05) difference in the hematological, serum biochemical and intestinal histomorphology parameters. It can be concluded that the RDDGS can be included up to 15% in commercial broiler diets without effecting the hematological and serum biochemical parameters.

Samples of feed ingredients were collected from the truck loads that arrived at feed processing unit located in Veterinary College and Research Institute, Orathanadu, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India. Physical examination of collected samples was carried out prior to their chemical evaluation. Chemical evaluation of feed samples revealed that moisture content in maize grain ranged from 8.47% to 17.25% and high moisture was observed in samples received during the monsoon season (September to December). The crude protein content of protein supplements viz., soyabean meal, coconut oil cake, coconut deoiled cake (DOC), groundnut cake, groundnut deoiled cake, delinted decorticated cotton seed cake, sunflower deoiled cake and gingelly oil cake were 45.49, 25.11, 24.47, 36.92, 43.89, 35.36, 30.21 and 29.89 per cent on dry matter basis, respectively. The crude protein (% DMB) and crude fiber (% DMB) content of deoiled rice bran, rice bran and wheat bran were 15.47 and 16.13, 7.55 and 36.26, 14.26 and 9.47, respectively. Due to the high moisture content in maize grain 8.77% of the total truck loads of this ingredient received at the processing unit were rejected. Similarly, of the total truck loads of oil cakes received at the processing unit 20.93 % of soyabean meal, 12.5% of coconut oil cake, 20 % of coconut DOC, 22.22% of cotton seed cake and 33.33% of gingelly oil cake were rejected due to the lower crude protein and higher crude fiber contents. All truck loads of rice bran (100 %) were rejected due to their lower crude protein, higher crude fiber and Acid Insoluble Ash (AIA) content. The study thus revealed that quality control measures are essential to check the entry of poor quality raw materials before processing the feed.

The diseases in poultry cause huge losses in the form of mortality in acute infections or as substandard performance due to chronic illness. Biosecurity and vaccination are considered as two important primary strategies for disease prevention in poultry. On the other hand, breeding for disease resistance is an alternate strategy to combat the damages of diseases. Although, attempts were initiated to develop disease resistant poultry by breeding almost a century before, this branch of science renewed the interest among scientists because of catastrophic emerging and reemerging diseases like Avian influenza. It has proven over a period of time that poultry  exhibits genetic resistance to viral diseases like avian leukosis complex, Marek’s disease, avian influenza and Newcastle disease, bacterial disease like salmonellosis and may parasitic infestations. The key genes responsible for resistance to specific diseases have also been demonstrated. The breeding attempts for developing disease resistant poultry has yielded positive results with varying degree of success. The advent of sophisticated molecular methods like genomic selection using highdensity SNP chips, RNA-seq technique and identification of key marker genes and transgenesis could complement the conventional breeding methods to a larger extent in developing disease resistant poultry.

Food wastes of vegetable origin fed to pigs contained significantly (P<0.05) higher metabolizable energy, comparable crude protein and lower dry matter, crude fibre, total ash, calcium, phosphorus, copper and iron compared to pregnant gilt feed (NRC, 1998). To optimize the food wastes for nutrients to be comparable with pregnant gilt feed, de-oiled rice bran at 33% and mineral mixture at 2% were added as supplement for food wastes on DM basis. A feeding trial was conducted in 18 large white Yorkshire crossbred bred gilts. The treatment groups were pregnant gilt feed (T 1 ), food wastes as sole feed (T 2 ) and food wastes + evolved supplement (T 3 ) with 6 animals in each treatment. The gestation body weight gain and gestation length did not differ (P<0.05) significantly among the treatment groups. No significant difference in litter size, litter weight at birth and weaning weight were observed among the treatment groups. Higher per cent stillborns and per cent piglet mortality was observed in T 2 compared to T 1 and T 3 . The average birth weight and weaning weight of piglets were significantly (P<0.05) lower in T 2 . Supplementation to food wastes (T 3 ) increased the piglet birth weight and weaning weight comparable to T 1 . Sows body weight after farrowing and at the time of weaning and lactation body weight loss did not differ significantly (P<0.05) among the treatment groups.

The possibility of production of hormone-free all male Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in F2  generation, through the production of YY super males in F1 generation, was investigated in the present study. Feminization of Nile tilapia was carried out using the hormone, 17 beta estradiol at 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg concentrations, orally through feed. The hormone enhanced the growth significantly (p<0.05) both in terms of length (55.39±0.67 cm) and weight (55.39±0.67 g) at 300 mg/kg feed when compared to other treatments and control. With the increasing concentrations (300 mg/kg) of the hormone, the survival rate decreased significantly (p<0.05) to 62±1.53%. The feminization rates increased significantly (p<0.05) with increasing concentrations of the hormone, with the highest feminization percentage of 98.27±0.87% observed at 300 mg/kg concentration of the hormone. Two fish from F generation with the PIT tag numbers 81 and 88 produced all male progeny which was confirmed through morphological examination. The genotype of these two YY supermales was re-confirmed through molecular genotyping with the help of primers amhX1+36 and amhdY+5 DNA markers, specific to X and Y chromosomes, respectively using RAPD-PCR.

The sheep lungworm Dictyocaulus filaria is of world-wide distribution and causes verminous pneumonia which may result in weight loss and death of the infected sheep. The current investigation was carried out in an organized farm in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu, India during the period from 2012 to 2014. Infected sheep showed clinical illness varying from dullness, depression, moderate coughing, dyspnoea and labored breathing with little mortality. On necropsy, both larval and adult stages of lungworm were recovered from trachea, bronchi and bronchioles. The identity of the nematodes was confirmed as D. filaria based on the socks shaped spicules in males and anterior knob in the larva. Of the 55 animals, including 17 lambs examined during the study period, eight animals were confirmed to have died due to verminous pneumonia. Apart from that, in a few lambs, lung abscess was noticed. Though the infection was present throughout the year, the clinical illness was pronounced in dry summer (n=23) and rainy season of south west monsoon (n=19). The disease was managed by minimizing the exposure of lambs to the contaminated pasture and by deworming with two doses of levamisole hydrochloride @ 7.5 mg/ kg body weight at 21 day interval to control the lungworm infection in sheep.