A retrospective study was carried out to assess the udder affections of cows that were presented to the Large Animal Medicine Referral Clinic of Veterinary College and Research Institute, Thanjavur, Orathanadu, Tamil Nadu during June 2017 to April 2018. In this study involving 161 cows, 4 cows were found to have udder swelling / abscess diagnosed by ultrasound and percutaneous aspiration done under sonagraphic guidance. Udder ultrasound revealed hyperechoic alveolar tissue with anechoic/ heterogenous content in the affected quarters. Aspirated samples were culturally positive for the isolate Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli. In vitro antibiotic sensitivity test showed highest susceptibility to streptomycin followed by enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin, gentamicin and amoxycillin with good recovery on treatment.

Trazodone is a commonly used medication in the United States for the treatment of anxiety in dogs.This article is intended to bring awareness among small animal veterinary practitioners of India about trazodone and its potential uses in the treatment of post-operative hyperactivity, noise phobia, separation anxiety and aggressive behavior.

Nasal washings and faecal samples were collected from 110 cows during the period between July 2019 and June 2020 in and around the Orathandu, Cauvery delta zone of Tamil Nadu to document the seasonal prevalence of Schistosoma nasale and Schistosoma spindale. These samples were processed and screened by using the standard parasitological techniques. Out of 110 nasal washings, 23 samples (20.9%) confirmed the Schistosoma nasale infection by the presence of eggs. No faecal samples could be detected positive for Schistosoma spindale infection during the study period

The present study was conducted with the aim of establishing the basic data about gross morphometric measurements in lactating and non-lactating (n=15 each) adult Tellicherry she-goats. These goats had two mammary glands (right and left halves) divided by an inter mammary groove and each had a single teat. Udder circumference and inter teat distance differed between lactating and non-lactating animals. Udder length (UL) width of right (R­UW) and left (L-UW) quarter, right and left teat length, teat diameter at base (TDB), teat diameter at tip (TDT), Teatto floor distance (TFD) and teat end floor distance (TEFD), right and left teat diameter at base (TDB), right and left teat diameter at tip (TDT) did not differ between lactating and non-lactating Tellicherry she-goats.

Indigenous duck breed of Assam are popular with considerable production potential with minimal input and mostly reared under semi intensive system of management. These ducks are maintained in all agro climatic zones of Assam and different from other indigenous duck genetic resources available in the country. But the genetic structure of these duck varieties was not fully studied; hence the genetic characterization of Assam ducks was assessed with 23 FAO recommended duck specific microsatellite markers using advanced automated genotyping technique. The analysis revealed that totally 91alleles were observed with the number ranging from 1 (CAUD025) to 7 (CAUD004 and APH009) and an overall mean of 3.957 ± 0.32 across the loci. The mean observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.4444 and 0.5113. All the microsatellite loci were found to be highly polymorphic except CAUD025. In Assam ducks, PIC value ranged from 0.14 (APH001) to 0.71 (CAUD004) with a mean value of 0. 4813. Nearly 14 out of 23 loci had PIC values of more than 0.5 indicating that these markers can be effectively used for genetic diversity analysis. The Chi-square test revealed that among the 23 microsatellite studied, only 12 were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium proportions and the rest departed from equilibrium. Selection and non-random mating could be the main reasons for this disequilibrium. The markers used in the study were found to be highly informative, explores high genetic variation in the population which could be exploited for their improvement.

An exploratory study was carried out to ascertain the socio economic and nutritional contribution of Nattukuttai cattle to the farmers in Villupuram, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts of Tamil Nadu. Forty respondents were selected from each of the three selected districts and thus the total respondents accounted to 120 Nattukuttai cattle rearers. Majority of the farmers rearing Nattukuttai breed of cattle were middle aged, Hindus, belonging to Scheduled caste category and were employed as agricultural labourers. Majority of the Nattukuttai rearers had an annual income ranging from Rs. 80,500 -1,61,000/-. The mean annual income obtained from rearing Nattukuttai cattle alone was Rs. 27,945/-. Majority of the respondents were rearing Nattukuttai cattle for meat, milk and manure purpose under zero input system. The male calves were reared till 2-3 years of age and sold to the local vendors for meat purpose. Most of the farmers in the study area had the practice of consuming beef. Nattukuttai breed of cattle had a direct socio economical, ecological and nutritional impact on the sustainable livelihood of the farmers in the study area. A targeted livestock service is suggested towards Nattukuttai cattle rearers to safeguard this cattle genome as well as its ecosystem.

The study was undertaken to assess the adoption level and constraints perceived by goat farmers about improved scientific goat rearing practices. The data was collected through personal interview method with the help of well-structured interview schedule from 60 goat farmers randomly selected in Irumbulikurichi village, Ariyalur district of Tamilnadu. The recommended practices were categorized in to three areas i.e., breeding, feeding and health care management. Overall adoption index of improved goat husbandry practices by the farmers revealed that, feeding practices obtained highest adoption index (52.33%) followed by health care practices (48.83%), breeding practices (42.83%) and also the overall adoption index of goat rearing practices among the farmers is 48 per cent. Likewise, the major constraints perceived by goat farmers were lack of grazing land (88.33%), lack of knowledge on scientific farming practices (80%) followed by lack of credit facility (75%). Hence, the study recommends that innovations in technological interventions on scientific goat farming shall be imparted through vocational training, demonstration of efficient technologies, optimizing the flock size and motivating the goat farmers with extension support and services might help them to adopt recommended improved technologies for sustainable goat production thereby enhancing the farmers’ livelihood.

The present study was aimed at studying the effect of Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) on vital characteristics of canine spermatozoa when compared to semen extended with egg yolk (EY). Sixteen dogs aged between 2-6 years with body condition score of 4-5 on a scale of 0-9 were selected. Semen was collected by digital manipulation and was subjected to pre freeze evaluation. After pre freeze evaluation semen was diluted and cryopreserved by conventional method. Post-thaw evaluation at 24 h revealed highly significant differences in mean percentages of progressive motility, viability, plasma membrane integrity, acrosomal integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential between the semen extended with 20 per cent EY and 8 per cent LDL. However, no significant difference was observed in the mean percentage of sperms showing DNA integrity between the semen extended with 20 per cent EY and 8 per cent LDL at 24 hours post-thaw. This might be due to the detrimental effects of EY on spermatozoa during the process of cryopreservation. It was concluded that LDL has beneficial effects and minimizes the damages caused to spermatozoa during cryopreservation.

Coligranuloma is an economically important bacterial disease caused by Escherichia coli and is characterized by nodular granulomas in liver, mesentery and walls of intestine. Three adult white leghorn layer birds of 24-week-old were brought for necropsy examination from Jeelakarragudem village of West Godavari district. Upon necropsy, the birds revealed typically hard, yellow, nodular granulomas in the mesentery and on the wall of the intestines with few tiny nodular lesions on the liver. Impression smears of the nodules showed large number of gram-negative rod-shaped organisms. The inoculums from the nodular lesions when streaked on to MacConkey agar and EMB agar resulted in characteristic rose-pink and metallic sheen colonies respectively. PCR targeting the E. coli 16S ribosomal DNA resulted in an amplicon of 585 bp. Based on the necropsy lesions, staining and cultural characteristics and PCR, the disease was confirmed as Coligranuloma.

A study was undertaken with an objective to evaluate the effect of sugarcane bagasse as analternate roughage source on the feed intake, nutrient digestibility and growth performance in crossbred calves. Eighteen crossbred calves aged one year with an average body weight of154.28 kg were utilised in the study for 6 months. The animals were divided into 3 groups and fed with two different inclusion levels of sugarcane bagasse (25% and 50%) replacing conventional fodder and a control diet based on roughage and concentrates, commonly adopted in the region. There was no significant (p>0.05) difference between control and treatment groups in the digestibility of DM, OM, CF, NFE, however the digestibility of EE differed significantly (p<0.05).Even though DCP showed highly significant difference among the groups, the TDN contents were similar to the control diets for both treatment groups. The dry matter intake did not differ significantly for the 1st and 2nd months. There was no significant (p>0.05) difference in the bodyweight of the animals in the entire study period.Therefore sugarcane bagasse can be safely included up to the level of 50% in the diet and can potentially replace the conventional green fodder without affecting the growth and daily dry matter intake in crossbred growing calves.