RABBIT PRODUCTION VIS-À-VIS POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND FOOD SECURITY IN ASIA

This paper aims to create awareness among the public about the importance of rabbit farming to meet food crisis in the future. Rabbits can be easily reared by small-scale farmers in their  backyard  with  minimal  investments  for  more  income  generation.  Rabbits  make  use  of forages of low nutritive value to produces highly nutritious meat and the faeces of the rabbits can  be  used  as  an  alternative  to  inorganic  fertilizer,  this  interaction  between  rabbits  and  soil makes rabbit farming suitable for integrated farming system. Waste of  rabbits make excellent compost which in turn makes high quality organic fertilizer. The rabbit faeces were used in the manufacture  of  bio-digesters  and  the  fertilizer  value  of  the  faeces  aids  to  improve  the environment  by  reducing  methane  emissions.  Feeding  and  housing  management  of  rabbits were not much complicated. Rabbit house can be made from locally available materials and the rabbits can be fed with household wastes and the forages and legumes that can be cultivated within the farmers own farm, that should meet the animals daily needs. Thus the construction and off farm feed costs will be reduced. This makes sure that the rabbit farming will be well accepted by small scale farmers to meet both their nutritious and financial requirements. The farmers can also expand their farm to a commercial level, if guidance, knowledge and technical supports were provided and this makes the market to flood with rabbit in the future which is the only way for food security and employment generation

Effect of non-genetic factors on replacement rate and its components in Murrah buffaloes of Tamil Nadu

The average value (in %) for abnormal birth, male birth, female birth, death of female calves, culling of female calves, replacement rate on basis of total pregnancies and total female calves born were 2.82, 51.4, 48.6, 38.8, 21.2, 19.4 and 40.0 respectively. On an average 4 to 5 pregnancies were required for one female calf to reach milking herd. Among the non-genetic factors, period of birth contributed for major variation in replacement rate and its components. The effects of different non-genetic factors (viz. season, periods and parity) affecting replacement rate and its components revealed that period of birth affected the replacement rate and its components highly significantly (P<0.01). Beyond fifth lactation the efficacy of cows to replace a heifer decreased gradually

MILK PRODUCTION AND REPRODUCTION PERFORMANCE OF MURRAH BUFFALOES OF TAMIL NADU, INDIA

ABSTRACT The data pertaining to variable production and reproduction traits of Murrah buffaloes (1980 lactation records of 698 Murrah buffaloes) were collected from the Central Cattle Breeding Farm, Alamadhi, Tamil Nadu, India. The overall leastsquares means (± SE) for peak yield, days to attain peak yield, 305-day milk yield, lactation length, lactation milk yield, service period, calving interval and dry period were 8.87 ± 0.05 kg, 53.4 ± 0.8 days, 1804.9 ± 14.7 kg, 297.8 ± 1.9 days, 1855.6 ± 16.1 kg, 225.0 ± 5.5, 532.8 ± 5.5 and 230.2 ± 4.9 days, respectively. Period of calving had a highly signifi cant (P&lt;0.01) effect on all the traits studied except days to attain peak yield, where it had only a signifi cant (P&lt;0.05) effect. Season of calving had a signifi cant (P&lt;0.05) effect on peak yield and lactation milk yield and a highly signifi cant (P&lt;0.01) effect on days to attain peak yield, 305-day milk yield, milk yield per day of lactation and all the reproduction traits studied. The lowest calving interval was observed in south-west monsoon calvers, and they differed signifi cantly (P&lt;0.05) from winter and summer calvers. Parity had a highly signifi cant effect (P&lt;0.01) on all the traits studied. Pairwise comparison revealed that the lactation milk yield was lowest in fi rst parity and differed signifi cantly (P&lt;0.05) from other parities. In general, the reproduction traits such as service period, calving interval and dry period were slightly higher than those observed in the home tract of the Murrah buffalo and hence better breeding management and introduction of genetic evaluation programmes are needed for genetic improvement of these traits

Genetic and non-genetic factors affecting body weight in Tellicherry goats

Data on 566 Tellicherry goats, recorded between 1988 and 2007 were used to study the effect of non-genetic factors on body weight and daily gain from birth to 12 months of age. The least-squares means for body weight at birth and at 12 months of age were 2.17 ± 0.03 and 18.78 ± 0.44 kg, respectively. The pre- and post-weaning average daily weight gains were 72.41 ± 1.68 and 37.46 ± 1.49 g, respectively, and the associated growth efficiencies were 3.11 ± 0.08 and 1.34 ± 0.05, respectively. Significant differences associated with the year of kidding were observed in body weight, weight gain and efficiency in weight gain at different stages of growth. Growth rate of kids born between December and February was relatively slower than those born in other months and this can result from seasonal changes and suggests that it is necessary to plan the kidding season rationally by controlling the oestrus and mating time. The kids born as twin had lower birth weight and slower early growth rate than those born as single but had a higher post-weaning growth rate. The heritabilities of different traits were moderate to high, except for birth weight, which was of low heritability. The phenotypic and genetic correlations among the different body weights were positive and low to high in magnitude

Analysis of reproductive traits of broiler rabbits reared in sub-temperate climate of Kodai hills, Tamil Nadu, India

Aim: The present study was carried out at Institute Rabbit Farm of Southern Regional Research Centre, Mannavanur, Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, India having sub-temperate climate with winter temperature during night hours going below 0°C with an objective of finding the influence of different factors such as breed, year, season and parity on different reproductive traits of broiler rabbits in order to come out with the best strategies for improving the productivity. Materials and Methods: A total of 1793 records (946 White Giant and 847 Soviet Chinchilla) for weight at mating (WM), weight at kindling (WK), gestation length (GL), litter size at birth (LSB) and litter size at weaning (LSW), litter weight at birth (LWB), and litter weight at weaning (LWW) were collected in the period between 2000 and 2009 and the data was analyzed using general linear model option of SAS 9.2. Results: The overall mean GL, WM, WK, LSB, LSW, LWB, and LWW were 31.68±0.04 days, 3.65±0.01 kg, 3.84±0.01 kg, 6.91±0.08, 5.49±0.09, 387.62±4.07 g, and 4.66±0.07 kg, respectively. The breed has significantly influenced GL, WK, LSW, LWB, and LWW. The LSB, LSW, LWB, and LWW were 7.05±0.11, 5.76±0.13, 399.55±5.88 g, and 4.87±0.10 kg, respectively in White Giant and corresponding values for Soviet Chinchilla were 6.78±0.11, 5.22±0.12, 375.91±5.64 g, and 4.46±0.09 kg, respectively. The year of kindling had significantly affected all the reproductive traits under study and is varying over different years. The parity significantly influenced the WM, WK, and LWW. The LWW increased from first (4.16±0.21 kg) to second parity (4.86±0.19 kg) and remained in the same range from third parity onward. WM was significantly higher in spring season (3.72±0.02) than the animals in rainy (3.59±0.02) and winter season (3.65±0.02). Better reproductive performance in terms of higher LSB, LSW, LWB, and LWW as observed in the present study might be due to conducive environmental conditions prevailing in the region. Conclusion: The significant effects of the non-genetic factors like year of kindling on all reproductive traits, season, and parity on some of the traits in rabbit breeds are indications that any future production enhancement strategy must take into consideration the environment by providing additional care, feed supplementation and better shelter management to the rabbits, so that the full genetic potential can be realized

Candidate Gene Approach for Parasite Resistance in Sheep – Variation in Immune Pathway Genes and Association with Fecal Egg Count

<div><p>Sheep chromosome 3 (Oar3) has the largest number of QTLs reported to be significantly associated with resistance to gastro-intestinal nematodes. This study aimed to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within candidate genes located in sheep chromosome 3 as well as genes involved in major immune pathways. A total of 41 SNPs were identified across 38 candidate genes in a panel of unrelated sheep and genotyped in 713 animals belonging to 22 breeds across Asia, Europe and South America. The variations and evolution of immune pathway genes were assessed in sheep populations across these macro-environmental regions that significantly differ in the diversity and load of pathogens. The mean minor allele frequency (MAF) did not vary between Asian and European sheep reflecting the absence of ascertainment bias. Phylogenetic analysis revealed two major clusters with most of South Asian, South East Asian and South West Asian breeds clustering together while European and South American sheep breeds clustered together distinctly. Analysis of molecular variance revealed strong phylogeographic structure at loci located in immune pathway genes, unlike microsatellite and genome wide SNP markers. To understand the influence of natural selection processes, SNP loci located in chromosome 3 were utilized to reconstruct haplotypes, the diversity of which showed significant deviations from selective neutrality. Reduced Median network of reconstructed haplotypes showed balancing selection in force at these loci. Preliminary association of SNP genotypes with phenotypes recorded 42 days post challenge revealed significant differences (P<0.05) in fecal egg count, body weight change and packed cell volume at two, four and six SNP loci respectively. In conclusion, the present study reports strong phylogeographic structure and balancing selection operating at SNP loci located within immune pathway genes. Further, SNP loci identified in the study were found to have potential for future large scale association studies in naturally exposed sheep populations.</p></div

Bayesian clustering of 713 sheep under assumption of 2 to 6 clusters without a priori population information.

<p>The breed names are given below the box plot and the geographical origin indicated above the box plot with the individuals of different breeds separated by vertical black lines.</p