Fascioliasis causes huge economic losses in livestock industry by reducing the growth, fertility rate, meat and milk yield. In the present study, somatic antigens isolated from Fasciola gigantica were assessed for the early detection of infection by developing antibody detection enzyme immunoassay. The somatic antigens extracted from adult F. gigantica worms was separated on SDS-PAGE and immunogenicity was determined by Western blot (WB). The results showed polypeptides bands between 15 to 95 kDa, and most prominent bands were 15, 28, 36, 38, 55, 72 and 95 kDa polypeptides. The WB revealed a single polypeptide of size between 36 to 55 kDa as antigenic. The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA test established for 36 to 55 kDa somatic antigens was 95.45 percent (95 percent CI: 77.16 percent to 99.88 percent) and 87.1 percent (95 percent CI: 70.17 percent to 96.37 percent), respectively. Kappa value revealed that the strength of agreement is considered to be very 'good'. In house established ELISA was implemented in the field and 12.1 percent (31/256) large ruminants were found positive, while 4.68 percent (12/256) with postmortem examination. The fasciolosis did not show significant (P GT 0.05) association with host type, breed and age groups, while significant (P LT 0.01) association with host sexes. The result confirmed that in-house established ELISA test had good value for serodiagnosis of fasciolosis in cattle and buffaloes for large scale epidemiological studies.

The study aimed to analyze the adoption of 22 technologies on dairy buffalo production in selected sites in the Philippines. A total of 666 farmer-informants who were previously exposed to training and other extension support services on dairy buffalo production were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaire. Dichotomous (yes or no) frequency and percentage responses along five stages, i.e., 'awareness', 'interest', 'evaluation', 'trial', and 'adoption' were transformed to sigma (Z) scores for adoption. Frequency responses for 'number of years of adoption' were likewise transformed to sigma scores. The two sigma scores were added to get the total adoption scores for each technology. The total or combined adoption scores (dependent variable) for all technologies were then tested for linear correlation and multiple regression with selected socio-economic traits, farm characteristics, and other independent variables. Most of the farmer-informants had at least 75 percent adoption rate in animal health care, improved forage feeding, estrus detection, and feeding of calves with colostrum. Multiple regression analysis indicates that attribution scores, years of experience in dairying, technical assistance, animal inventory, distance of the farm from a buffalo R and D institution, access to information materials and income from dairying positively and significantly influenced adoption scores. To increase adoption, improving the attribution by farmers to technologies as regards their relative advantage, compatibility with existing farm operations, trialability, and simplicity should be given priority consideration in designing and implementing extension delivery systems since it is the most powerful predictor variable to adoption.