Comparative efficacy of few disinfectants against bacterial load in pig facilities at livestock farm complex, Chennai

Disinfection of animal shed means making them free from disease producing organisms. An attempt has been made to assess the efficacy of disinfectants. The study was carried out in three different seasons of the year during 2017-18 in pig fattener facilities and farrowing pen at Livestock Farm Complex, Madhavaram, Chennai. Four disinfectants namely, chlorine dioxide, sodium hypochlorite, calcium hypochlorite and cow urine based disinfectant were used. The efficacy of the disinfectants was found out by dilution method. In pig fattener sty the efficacy of disinfectants in descending order were chlorine dioxide (1.77x108 ±1.10), sodium hypochlorite (2.57x1011±1.15), cow urine based disinfectant (1.68x1011±1.12) and calcium hypochlorite (7.73x1011±1.06) in all the seasons of the year. In farrowing pen the order of efficacy of disinfectants were chlorine dioxide (1.82x108±1.17), sodium hypochlorite (2.71x1011±1.15), calcium hypochlorite (2.66x1011±1.17) and cow urine based disinfectant (3.15x1011 ±1.07) in all the seasons of the year. Hence, spraying with chlorine dioxide in pig facilities was found to be effective in all seasons of the year

Comparison of floor bacterial load in different types of rabbit cages

Rabbits are housed on various types of cages including single tier, multi- tier cages etc. The effect of housing system on the floor bacterial load is variable, and its effect on animal production is limited. An attempt has been made to evaluate and compare the floor bacterial load between single-tier and multi-tier caging system in rabbitary. The study was carried out in rabbitary which housed broiler rabbits. The samples were taken in sterile cotton tipped swabs. The floor bacterial load was determined by dilution method where serial dilutions were done with sterile normal saline. An aliquot of 1 ml was taken from dilution and poured in sterile petri plates in triplicate and mixed with liquefied sterilized plate count agar. Following incubation, the bacterial colonies were counted. The bacterial load in the single-tier was comparatively lower than the multi-tier cage even before washing of cages. There was significant difference (P<0.01) in the floor bacterial load before (1.73x1012±0.30) and after water wash (1.35x1011±0.29) and between single (1.50x109±0.30) and multi-tier cages (1.35x1011±0.29). The bacteria up to genes level found using Hi-Media bacterial kit were Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Flavobacterium sp, Micrococcus sp, Proteus sp, Mannheimia sp, Klebsiella sp, Bordetella sp, Bacillus sp, Actinomyces sp, Cornybacterium sp and Pseudomonas sp. This study concluded that reduced bacterial load found in single tier may be due to good aeration and better handling facilities.  In single tier cage the dung and urine gets settled at the floor which facilities easy washing which slows down the bacterial growth

Effect of feeding swill feed supplemeted with chocolate cream waste on backfat thickness and body measurements in fattener weaner pigs

Pig rearing on concentrate feed may not be economical because of higher market price of raw materials. The alternative source could be the use of swill feeding. Consequently, the impact of the swill feed on the backfat thickness and body measurements calls for investigation against any other alternative feed.  Hence in the present study, an attempt has been made to compare the body measurements and backfat thickness in fattener piglets which were fed with swill feed (T1) vs. Those fed with chocolate cream waste supplemented with swill feed (T2). The statistical analysis of the data obtained in the present study revealed that there was highly significant (P?0.01) difference between body weight gain and backfat thickness (layer I and II) of both the group of piglets which were taken for trial starting from three months of age till five months of age. However, not significant difference (P?0.05) was noticed for body length and chest girth except in the pigs of 150 days age group. This study indicates that swill feed supplemented with chocolate cream waste could be used to reduce the feed cost since higher weight gain is achieved in a shorter time interval, increasing body measurements and backfat thickness compared to swill feed (T1) group of piglets

Genetic association study of selected candidate genes (ApoB, LPL, Leptin) and telomere length in obese and hypertensive individuals

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A genetic study was carried out among obese and hypertensive individuals from India to assess allelic association, if any, at three candidate loci: Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) minisatellite and two tetranucleotide repeat loci; LPL (Lipoprotein lipase) and Leptin. Attempt has also been made to find out whether telomere length attrition is associated with hypertension and obese individuals.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Venous blood samples were collected from 37 normal, 35 obese and 47 hypertensive individuals. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and PCR amplifications were achieved using locus specific primers. Genotyping of ApoB minisatellite was performed using 4% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) followed by silver staining, whereas LPL and Leptin loci were genotyped using ALF Express™ DNA sequencer. Telomere length was determined using a recently developed real time based quantitative PCR, where the relative telomere length was determined by calculating the relative ratio of telomere (T) and single copy gene (S) PCR products which is expressed as T/S ratio.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All the three loci are highly polymorphic, display high heterozygosity and conform to Hardy-Weinberg's equilibrium expectations. ApoB minisatellite displayed 14 alleles, whereas LPL and Leptin tetranucleotide loci were having 9 and 17 alleles, respectively. Interestingly two new alleles (9 and 11 repeats) were detected at ApoB locus for the first time. The alleles at Leptin locus were classified as Class I (lower alleles: 149-200 bp) and Class II alleles (higher alleles: >217 bp). Higher alleles at ApoB (>39 repeats), predominant allele 9 at LPL and alleles 164 bp and 224 bp at Leptin loci have shown allelic association with hypertensive individuals. After adjusting the influence of age and gender, the analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) revealed the relative telomere length (T/S ratio) in hypertensive individuals to be (1.01 ± 0.021), which was significantly different (P < 0.001) from obese (1.20 ± 0.023) and normal (1.22 ± 0.014) individuals. However, no significant difference in the relative telomere length was observed among male and female individuals, although age related decrease in telomere length was observed in these limited sample size.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present study revealed that allelic association at ApoB, LPL, Leptin loci and loss of telomere length may have strong genetic association with hypertensive individuals. However, further study on larger sample size is needed to draw firm conclusions.</p

The Effect of feeding swill feed supplemeted with chocolate cream waste on backfat thickness and body measurements in fattener weaner pigs

Pig rearing on concentrate feed may not be economical because of higher market price of raw materials. The alternative source could be the use of swill feeding. Consequently, the impact of the swill feed on the backfat thickness and body measurements calls for investigation against any other alternative feed.  Hence in the present study, an attempt has been made to compare the body measurements and backfat thickness in fattener piglets which were fed with swill feed (T1) vs. Those fed with chocolate cream waste supplemented with swill feed (T2). The statistical analysis of the data obtained in the present study revealed that there was highly significant (P?0.01) difference between body weight gain and backfat thickness (layer I and II) of both the group of piglets which were taken for trial starting from three months of age till five months of age. However, not significant difference (P?0.05) was noticed for body length and chest girth except in the pigs of 150 days age group. This study indicates that swill feed supplemented with chocolate cream waste could be used to reduce the feed cost since higher weight gain is achieved in a shorter time interval, increasing body measurements and backfat thickness compared to swill feed (T1) group of piglets.</jats:p