Effect of age on the haematological and biochemical profile of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

The haemato-biochemical profile of the Japanese quail was estimated at different stages of growth. The parameters which were evaluated include serum glucose, cholesterol, total protein, albumin, globulin, uric acid, calcium, magnesium, chloride, potassium, Hb, TEC, PCV, MCV, MCH and MCHC. The biochemical profile showed changes in the level with age of the bird but does not seem to affect the haematological parameters. The glucose content of the birds decreased with age while the other parameters like cholesterol, total protein, albumin, globulin, uric acid calcium etc. increased with age

Pathology of Eupatorium adenophorum (Sticky snakeroot) toxicity in mice

The leaves of Eupatorium adenophorum Spreng were powdered and extracted with methanol.  An acute oral toxicity study was conducted in male Swiss albino mice and a LD50 of 3501 mg/kg was obtained during 14 days observation period. Twenty Swiss albino mice (male) randomly divided into four groups were administered orally with vehicle (5% tween 80), 1/20th (i.e. 175 mg/kg), 1/10th (i.e. 350 mg/kg) and 1/5th (i.e. 750 mg/kg) LD50 doses of methanolic leaf extract of E. adenophorum Spreng; respectively for a period of 30 days. The mice were sacrificed on day-31 and the liver dissected out freed from adherent tissue weighed to nearest milligram. The  liver histology, estimations of biochemical contents and enzyme activities were carried out. Treatment of the mice with methanolic extract of E. adenophorum at the dose level of 750 mg/kg (i.e. 1/5th LD50) elicited hepatotoxicity and the animals had yellow discoloration of liver, subcutaneous tissue and musculature indicating jaundice. Study on liver enzymes revealed marked increase in the activities of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), while significant increase in serum bilirubin level. Histopathological examination of the livers of the group IV animals had focal areas of necrosis and bile duct proliferation. Elevation in plasma bilirubin concomitant with alterations in enzyme profile and histopathological lesions are consistent with liver injury and cholestasi

Electrolyte (Na, K, Cl, Ca, Pi and Mg) profile of Zovawk pigs of Mizoram, India in different age groups

A study was carried out to find out the electrolyte profile of different age groups of an indigenous pig locally called Zovawk of Mizoram, India. The plasma Na and Cl were not influenced by age. The plasma concentration of Na was found to be in higher ranges while that of K was in lower range. Adult pigs had higher K (

Factor analysis of body measurements of local cows of Manipur, India

Eighteen different biometric traits in 250 local cows of Manipur from their breeding zone, i.e. Imphal valley of Manipur, India, were recorded and analyzed by principal component analysis to explain body conformation. The averages of height at withers (HW), body length, heart girth, paunch girth, forehead width, ear length, tail length, switch length, neck circumference, neck length, arm length,  elbow length, fore-shank length, thigh length, hind-shank length, pes length, head length and eye to eye space were 103.92±0.33, 111.34±0.92, 135.34±0.47, 140.31±0.53, 14.90±0.15, 15.24±0.13, 75.50±0.55, 31.04±0.24, 58.61±0.53, 29.95±0.21, 29.34±0.19, 29.88±0.17, 29.59±0.20, 30.32±0.20, 29.88±0.13, 31.65±0.25, 37.30±0.25 and 26.47±0.20 cm, respectively. The correlation coefficients ranged from -0.20 (hind shank length and eye to eye width) to 0.74 (heart girth and paunch girth).  Factor analysis with promax rotation revealed seven factors which explained about 64.31% of the total variation. Factor 1 described the general body conformation and explained 17.74% of total variation. It was represented by significant positive high loading of height at wither, heart girth, paunch girth and ear length. The remaining factors described 11.71%, 8.88%, 7.47%, 6.60%, 6.04% and 5.86% of total variability.  It was necessary to include some more variables for a reliable analysis of factors as there were less than three variables except the first factor in the present study. The communality ranged from 0.493 (elbow length) to 0.782 (neck circumference) and unique factors ranged from 0.507 to 0.218 for all these 18 different biometric traits. The lower communalities for some of the traits like ear length, tail length, arm length, elbow length and thigh length might indicate that these traits were less effective to account for total variation of body conformation as compared to the other traits in local cows of Manipur. The result suggests that principal component analysis (PCA) could be used in breeding programs with a drastic reduction in the number of biometric traits to be recorded to explain body conformation

Seasonal variation of hemato-biochemical parameters in indigenous pig: Zovawk of Mizoram

Aim: To investigate the influence of season on erythrocyte picture, plasma enzyme and electrolyte profile of local pig of Mizoram at a different age. Materials and Methods: A volume of 2 ml of blood samples were collected from 72 Zovawk pigs of three different age groups viz. pre-weaning, grower and adult pigs reared in College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry Selesih, Aizawl, Mizoram, India, livestock farm during summer and winter in order to find out influence of season on erythrocyte picture, enzyme and electrolyte profile. The hematological parameters were estimated by using an automatic blood analyzer. The biochemical parameters were estimated by using diagnostic kits. Results: The grower pigs had lower hemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular Hb (MCH) during summer, rainy and winter seasons (p<0.05) and lower MCH concentration (MCHC) during summer season (p<0.05). Adult pigs had lower Hb with higher total erythrocyte count in rainy season. PCV and MCV of adult pigs decreased in summer (p<0.05). Serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase activity of both the grower and adult groups increased during summer and rainy seasons (p<0.05). Zovawk pigs had higher sodium (Na) and lower potassium (K) in rainy season (p<0.05). Pre-weaning piglets had higher Na, K, calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) in summer than in winter. Grower pigs had higher Na, K and Ca in summer (p<0.05). Pi of pre-weaning and grower groups was higher in winter. Adult pigs had lower alkaline phosphatase activity and Ca in summer and higher Pi and Mg in winter (p<0.05). Conclusion: Seasonal variation in some hemato-biochemical parameters of Zovawk pig were investigated. Influence of season on the hemato-biochemical profile was most evident during the grower stage, followed by adults and pre-weaning piglets

Expression of heat-shock protein 72 mRNA in relation to heart rate variability of Sahiwal and Karan-Fries in different temperature-humidity indices

Aim: To investigate the effect of temperature-humidity index (THI) on the expression pattern of heat-shock protein 72 (HSP72) mRNA of Sahiwal and Karan-Fries (KF) cattle in different THIs. Materials and Methods: Five different periods of a year were selected based on combinations of Tmax/Tmin, viz., P1: 20°C/35°C/35°C/>20°C. The THI was calculated from the records of temperature and relative humidity in different periods. Heart rate variability (HRV) was calculated from electrocardiogram records in different periods. HSP72 mRNA expression was estimated by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results: The THI recorded during P1, P2, P3, P4, and P5 were 55.5, 60.3, 70.1, 74.5, and 79.0, respectively. THI in P4 and P5 were stressful to animals. HSP72 mRNA expression increased during cold stress in P1 in Sahiwal and heat stress in P4 and P5 in both Sahiwal and KF. Sahiwal maintained increased HSP72 mRNA expression longer than KF without causing a significant change in HRV. Conclusion: Both low THI in winter and high THI in summer increased HSP72 mRNA of Sahiwal and KF without significant change in HRV. Thermotolerance of Sahiwal could be due to the maintenance of higher HSP72 expression longer than KF in prolonged heat stress in summer

Validation of immunomodulatory effects of lipopolysaccharide through expression profiling of Th1 and Th2 biased genes in Newcastle disease virus vaccinated indigenous chicken

Background and Aim: Newcastle disease (ND) is considered one of the most important poultry diseases with chicken morbidity and mortality rates up to 100%. Current vaccination programs allow the use of live attenuated vaccines in the field to protect against the disease, which alone is inefficient and requires repeat booster doses. Toll-like receptor agonists (e.g., lipopolysaccharide [LPS]) as adjuvants are the ones, most extensively studied and have shown to be very promising in delivering a robust balanced immune response. In the present study, we have evaluated the potential of LPS to elicit a strong immune response with respect to the elicitation of both Th1 (cell-mediated) and Th2 (humoral) immune arms. Materials and Methods: A total of 72 apparently healthy 1-day-old indigenous unvaccinated chicks were randomly divided into six experimental Groups A to F (n=12). At 8-week of age chicks in Group A, C, and E were vaccinated with live attenuated La Sota strain ND vaccine along with LPS, bovine serum albumin, and normal saline solution, respectively, and those in Group B, D, and E were kept separately without vaccination. Sampling was done on days 0, 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, 35, and 60 after vaccination. After vaccination and respective adjuvant application, Th1 and Th2 cytokine expression were measured in mRNA of both blood and tissue samples. Results: The results were validated by, hemagglutination inhibition and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay tests, to check for the humoral as well as cell-mediated immune response in blood serum levels. The results showed an increase in mRNA expression of the Th1 biased cytokines in Group A (LPS+NDV) as compared to the control groups. Similar mRNA expression pattern was seen in blood as well as tissue samples. Validation of results also indicates an increase in Cell-mediated Immunity as well as a humoral immune response in Group A (LPS+NDV). Conclusion: The results of the study provided enough evidence to consider LPS as a potential vaccine adjuvants candidate against ND in chicken

Genetic diversity among Indian Gir, Deoni and Kankrej cattle breeds based on microsatellite markers

126-130The present study was conducted to examine genetic diversity, genetic differentiation and genetic relationship among Gir, Deoni and Kankrej cattle breeds using microsatellite markers. The number of alleles observed at different loci ranged from 5 (HEL5) to 8 (CSRM60) with a total of 46 alleles across three breeds. The overall heterozygosity and polymorphic information content (PIC) values were 0.730 and 0.749, respectively. Nei’s standard genetic distance was least between Gir and Kankrej and highest between Deoni and Kankrej. In the analyzed loci, an overall significant deficit of heterozygotes across these breeds was found and it could be due to inbreeding within breeds. The overall genetic differentiation (FST) among breeds was moderate, but significantly different. All loci, except INRA035, contributed significantly to the overall differentiation. The highest FST values were found in HEL5 and lowest in INRA035. The overall Nem value indicated a high rate of genetic flow between the breeds, which is in agreement with their origin of close proximity in the geographical area

Growth hormone gene polymorphism in Kadaknath breed of poultry

189-194The chicken growth hormone gene of intron I region from three varieties of Kadaknath breed of poultry was amplified by PCR and a 770 bp product was obtained. The products from each variety (Jet black, Golden and Pencilled) were digested with Msp I (5 U), which recognizes the 5'-C↓C G G-3' sequence. The RFLP pattern revealed restriction fragments of 529, 373, 241 and 156 bp sizes, which indicated the presence of two restriction sites. In total, three RFLP patterns was observed at two restriction sites. The genotypic frequencies obtained for different varieties were tested for equilibrium using chi-square test. The differences among genotypes for all the three varieties were found to be non-significant, which indicated that population was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The alleles A and A2 were not observed in all the three varieties of Kadaknath breed of poultry. The overall allelic frequencies for A1 and A3 alleles were 0.375±0.016 and 0.625±0.020, respectively for all the three varieties. The highest allelic frequency (0.700±0.011) was obtained for A3 allele in Pencilled variety and lowest (0.300±0.022) for A1 allele was also observed in Pencilled variety. The phylogenetic consensus tree grouped all the three varieties into one cluster. The highest genetic distance (0.0748) was observed between Jet black and Pencilled and smallest (0.0051) between Jet black and Golden varieties. The genetic differences among all the three varieties based on phylogenetic tree were negligible; which indicates non-significant differences among each other. Thus it can be concluded that all the three varieties belonging to the Kadaknath breed of poultry have almost similar genetic base

Analysis of genetic relationship among three varieties of indigenous Kadaknath breed using 25 chicken microsatellite markers

205-209The genetic variability of three varieties of indigenous Kadaknath breed of poultry was evaluated using 25 microsatellite markers. All the 25 microsatellite markers were found to be polymorphic in all the three varieties. Number of alleles observed for all the markers varied from 3 to 10. Allele size of polymorphic loci ranged from 98-356 bp and showed very large variation across loci. Average heterozygosity values were found to be 0.721, 0.694 and 0.689 in Jet black, Golden and Pencilled varieties, respectively. Overall heterozygosity value for all the microsatellite loci among all the three varieties was found to be 0.701. Average polymorphic information content (PIC) values were found to be 0.671, 0.699, and 0.617 in Jet black, Golden and Pencilled varieties, respectively. Overall PIC values for all the microsatellite loci among all the three varieties were found to be 0.662. The Nei’s standard genetic distance (Ds) values between Jet black and Golden, Jet black and Pencilled, and Golden and Pencilled varieties were found to be 0.1678, 0.0951 and 0.1943 respectively. Phylogenetic consensus tree constructed using the boostrapped data and neighbour-joining method grouped all the three varieties into one cluster. Therefore, it is concluded that all the three varieties of Kadaknath breed had negligible genetic distance between each other