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.

An attempt was made to document the management practices of the backyard goat production in Cauvery Delta zone of Tamil Nadu. The primary data were collected by interviewing 180 backyard goat farmers selected by multi-stage random sampling using pre-tested interview schedule and analyzed through descriptive statistics. About 46.11 per cent of the respondents kept their animals under open system of housing and floor of the goat shed was mud type in 96.67 per cent of the sampled farmers. All the farmers stored manure in an open place. Majority of goat farmers raise their goats solely on browsing and grazing stubble of field crops, natural pasture and tree leaves. Majority of farmers did not possess their own breeding buck but they use community buck for breeding purpose. Middlemen (57.22 per cent) played a major role in marketing of goat in all categories of flocks, followed by butcher (36.11 per cent). Only one-fifth of flock owners dewormed their flocks yearly twice. None of the sample respondents vaccinated their goat against infectious diseases. Goats were marketed round the year (87.78 per cent) and about 12 per cent marketed their goats on special occasions. The major reasons for marketing was found to be the want of money to overcome financial problem (61.07 mean score) in case of bucks / male kids and culling due to old age (66.00 mean score) in case of breeding does. Majority of the sample backyard goat farmers did not follow scientific  management practices at their farm level, which warrants intensive extension programmes. Implementation of best management practices among backyard goat farmers in Cauvery Delta zone of Tamil Nadu would improve the profitability.

Mammary tumors are common in intact female animals. A nine year old intact, Labrador bitch was presented with a history of progressive swelling on the right inguinal mammary glands. Upon physical examination, it was tentatively diagnosed as a mammary tumor and confirmed with fine needle aspiration cytology as a mammary adenoma. A regional mastectomy was performed to remove the affected glands along with right inguinal lymph node. The bitch made an uneventful recovery with the resolution of clinical signs.

A three years old male pigeon weighing 400g (racing homer) was presented to Madras Veterinary College Teaching Hospital with the history of soft tissue growth on the keel region for the past six months and gradually increase in size was noticed. Physical examination revealed large tennis ball size soft tissue mass on the keel region. Cytological examination revealed the presence of inflammatory cells with serosanguineous background. Radiological examination revealed presence of soft tissue mass on the keel bone with no bony involvement. Surgical resection of tumour mass was performed under general anaesthesia. Histopathological examination confirmed liposarcoma in a pigeon. The bird recovered uneventfully on 10 th post-operative day without any complications.

A survey was conducted among the small holder dairy farmers in 80 Panchayaths of 14 districts in Kerala in order to evaluate the reproductive performance of crossbred cattle population in Kerala at field level. Analysis of the data showed that the herd size of cattle in Kerala was around 3 per house during the period of 2012 and 2013. Three fertility traits, age at first calving (AFC), calving interval (CI) and number of services per conception (NSC) were studied in detail and the averages of these traits were 1093 ± 10.52 days, 551 ± 48 days and 2.02 ± 0.01 services per conception, respectively. Fixed model analysis was carried out to see the effect of some of the major factors leading to variation in AFC, CI and NSC and found that there was significant difference in reproductive performances among different genetic groups. AFC and NSC of crossbred Holstein Friesian cows and CI of Sunandini cows were lower compared to other genetic groups. Other factors significantly influencing AFC were period of birth and season of birth. Apart from genetic groups, number of services per conception was influenced by type of semen used and also the level of peak milk production.

The present study was conducted to study the white blood corpuscles of Emu. The blood samples were collected from eight apparently healthy adult Emu birds and blood smears were stained with modified Wright stain for cyto-morphological studies of various white blood corpuscles. The Heterophils were round cells with lobed nucleus which was placed eccentrically. The Eosinophils often had a bi-lobed nucleus with abundant small, round, red - to - pink granules and light blue cytoplasm. The basophils cytoplasm had densely packed metachromatically stained granules. The small lymphocytes were irregularly round with round nucleus and a lacy chromatin pattern. The large lymphocytes had a homogeneous and an abundant cytoplasm which was more basophilic. The Monocytes were large cells with moderate amounts of blue - gray cytoplasm that occasionally had small discrete vacuoles. Their nuclei were pleomorphic with a lacy chromatin pattern. Deviation from the normal morphology of White Blood Corpuscles indicates disease and pathological conditions in Emu.

A study was carried out to check the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in ice cream marketed in Thrissur city, Kerala. Altogether 80 ice cream samples belonging to 10 different brands were randomly collected from different retail outlets of the city and were analysed for total viable count, coliform count and for the presence of Salmonella spp. The mean total viable count and coliform count in ice cream samples were 11.90±0.06 and 3.72±0.17 log cfu/g respectively. Thirty per cent of the ice cream samples exceeded the standards prescribed for coliform count by Food Safety and Standards Act (2006). Salmonella spp. was isolated from one of the ice cream samples. The presence of potential pathogen such as Salmonella in ice cream samples reveals the importance of strengthening the quality control measures to be followed during manufacture as well as storage and distribution of ice cream in order to reduce public health risk.

The identification and development of new and effective alternatives to antibiotics that do not hinder productivity assumes paramount importance in the context of antimicrobial resistance and food safety. In recent years, phytobiotics have been used as natural growth promoters in ruminants, poultry and swine, to improve growth and health. A wide variety of herbs, spices and essential oils have been used individually or as blends in poultry for their potential application as alternative growth promoters. In nursery and growing pigs supplemented with phytobiotics, intestinal pathogens were inhibited and beneficial microbial population that contributes to improving digestion and absorption of nutrients were increased resulting in increased weight gain and decrease in diarrheal syndrome. The inclusion of essential oils in the diet of finishing pigs, improved the productive yield and carcass characteristics. It also reduced the incidence of therapeutic treatment and mortality. Natural plant products have the potential to improve rumen fermentation, reduce loss of feed energy, improve animal health and productivity, increase animal lifetime performance, and reduce greenhouse gases production in ruminants. Phytobiotics with wide range of activities, is projected as a feed additive for higher market growth compared to other alternatives to antibiotics in the feed industry.