Prasenjit Pal

Prolificacy and Its Relationship with Age, Body Weight, Parity, Previous Litter Size and Body Linear Type Traits in Meat-type Goats.

Data on age and body weight at breeding, parity, previous litter size, days open and some descriptive body linear traits from 389 meat-type, prolific Black Bengal goats in Tripura State of India, were collected for 3 and 1/2 years (2007 to 2010) and analyzed using logistic regression model. The objectives of the study were i) to evaluate the effect of age and body weight at breeding, parity, previous litter size and days open on litter size of does; and ii) to investigate if body linear type traits influenced litter size in meat-type, prolific goats. The incidence of 68.39% multiple births with a prolificacy rate of 175.07% was recorded. Higher age (>2.69 year), higher parity order (>2.31), more body weight at breeding (>20.5 kg) and larger previous litter size (>1.65) showed an increase likelihood of multiple litter size when compared to single litter size. There was a strong, positive relationship between litter size and various body linear type traits like neck length (>22.78 cm), body length (>54.86 cm), withers height (>48.85 cm), croup height (>50.67 cm), distance between tuber coxae bones (>11.38 cm) and distance between tuber ischii bones (>4.56 cm) for discriminating the goats bearing multiple fetuses from those bearing a single fetus.

Biofloc technology application in indoor culture of Labeo rohita (Hamilton, 1822) fingerlings: The effects on inorganic nitrogen control, growth and immunity

The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of biofloc-based aquaculture system on inorganic nitrogen control, and growth and immunological responses of rohu (Labeo rohita). Fingerlings of rohu were cultured in indoor biofloc tanks in light-limited condition for 16 weeks with daily addition of molasses as carbon source to maintain the C/N ratio at 15. Different water quality parameters were measured at weekly interval. Growth, survival and welfare indices including stress and immunological status were measured after the end of the experimental period. Factor analysis using water quality variables indicated ammonia immobilization by heterotrophic bacteria, rather than nitrification, as the dominant mechanism influencing ammonia removal in the biofloc system. Ammonia immobilization was concomitant with microbial biomass production, as also revealed through factor analysis. The biofloc culture system enhanced the growth of rohu significantly than the control fish. As a measure of stress, the serum glucose content did not differ significantly between the fish cultured in biofloc and control system. Among the immunological parameters, respiratory burst and alkaline phosphatase activity showed significant enhancement in fish grown in biofloc system than the control. However, myeloperoxidase activity and total serum protein content did not show any statistically significant difference between biofloc and control system. The enhanced growth and welfare of the cultured fish may be attributed to in situ maintenance of water quality within the biofloc system and presence of microbial floc.

Application of radio frequency based digital thermometer for real-time monitoring of dairy cattle rectal temperature

Aim: Dairy cattle health monitoring program becomes vital for detecting the febrile conditions to prevent the outbreak of the animal diseases as well as ensuring the fitness of the animals that are directly affecting the health of the consumers. The aim of this study was to validate real-time rectal temperature (RT) data of radio frequency based digital (RFD) thermometer with RT data of mercury bulb (MB) thermometer in dairy cattle. Materials and Methods: Two experiments were conducted. In experiment I, six female Jersey crossbred cattle with a mean (±standard error of the mean) body weight of 534.83±13.90 kg at the age of 12±0.52 years were used to record RT for 2 h on empty stomach and 2 h after feeding at 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min using a RFD thermometer as well as a MB thermometer. In experiment II, six female Jersey crossbred cattle were further used to record RT for 2 h before exercise and 2 h after exercise at 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min. Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance with post hoc comparisons by Bonferroni test was done. Results: Real-time RT data recorded by RFD thermometer as well as MB thermometer did not differ (p>0.05) before and after feeding/exercise. An increase (p<0.05) in RT after feeding/exercise in experimental crossbred cattle was recorded by both RFD thermometer and MB thermometer. Conclusion: The results obtained in the present study suggest that the body temperature recordings from RFD thermometer would be acceptable and thus RFD thermometer could work well for monitoring real-time RT in cattle.

Smallholder Pig Farming for Rural Livelihoods and Food Security in North East India

Smallholder pig farming is an important livelihood resource for the poor and tribal people in India. However, the smallholder pig farms are faced with a number of problems. The present study thus aimed to build up the capacity of the smallholder pig farmers by some interventions on knowledge build up, pig variety replacement, shelter management and veterinary services in Tripura, a State of North East India. Two-stage stratified random sample survey on 178 smallholder tribal farmers using predesigned, semi-structured questionnaires was conducted to collect information before and after the interventions. The majority of the beneficiaries (83.71%) belonged to either low or medium income groups, of which 14.04% of the beneficiaries were the poorest group in the present study. After the shelter management and adoption of improved husbandry practices, a good and very good conditions in and around the pig shelters were recorded among 71.34% and 24.16% of the beneficiaries, respectively. Nondescriptive, local pigs (50%) were replaced by high yielding indigenous or exotic or crossbred pigs in the study area. Previously, 86.51% of the farmers reared pigs for fattening purpose, while 92.13% of the farmers practiced breeding of sows for piglet production after the intervention. The present interventions have brought significant impact (p<0.05) on rearing factors as well as socio-psychological factors. The implementation of ‘piglet production farming system’ augmented food security by 148 days.

Influence of Previous Washing Process and Storage Time on Chemical Composition and Sensory Quality of Thai Pangas (Pangasius sutchi) Minced Muscle During Frozen Storage

ABSTRACT This work focuses on the effect of a washing process followed by frozen storage (3 months; −18°C) on the quality of minced pangas muscle. A previous washing step has led to a positive effect on fish quality according to marked decreases in expressible moisture (28%), volatile amines (25.7%), free fatty acids (24.5%), and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (29%). However, such indexes showed quality loss throughout the frozen storage. Amongst quality indexes, special attention should be given to the expressible moisture value and the water holding capacity, as being closely related to the gel-forming ability in order to obtain surimi-type commercial products.