Seroprevalence and Molecular Detection of Bovine Brucellosis

Background: Brucellosis is one of the major zoonotic problems that exist worldwide. Brucellosis is clinically characterized by metritis, mastitis, repeat breeding, abortion in the last trimester of pregnancy, retention of placenta and reduced milk production in the female whereas epididymitis, orchitis and sterility in male. In humans can be highly variable, ranging from nonspecific, flu-like symptoms to undulant fever, arthritis, orchitis and epididymitis. Methods: A total of 567 bovine serum samples was taken from four districts of Brij region of UP. All the samples were processed to detection of prevalence of brucellosis by RBPT, STAT ELISA and confirmation of genes bcsp31, 16SrRNA, omp2 and IS711 by PCR. Result: The prevalence of brucellosis was found to be 07.93% (31/391), 08.69% (34/391) and 10.74% (42/391) shows positive by RBPT, STAT and I- ELISA respectively. In buffalo Out of 176 tested serum sample the seroprevalence was found to be 09.66% (17/176), 10.79% (19/176) and 12.5% (22/176) positive by RBPT, STAT and I- ELISA respectively. Out of 567 samples 18 were positive for Brucella genus specific gene. The higher prevalence of the disease in this region increases the risk of zoonotic transmission and it implies a serious threat to the human population as well as the huge impact on economy due to loss of productivity as well as loss of livestock population.

A qualitative study of small-scale layer farms on a tropical island Malang Indonesia

The research was conducted at Malang Regency, East Java, Indonesia, with the research purpose of understanding the amount of small-scale income and characteristics generated by layer farmers. Data collection from February to March 2020 used the survey method. The total sample was 109 respondents determined by the purposive sampling method with the consideration of laying farmers with 2.000 – 7.666 birds for at least three years. The data collection consisted of primary and secondary data. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis. The result showed that the success rate of the livestock business is inseparable from the characteristics of the farmers. Characteristics of respondents observed in the research included age, education, occupation, breeding experience, and the number of family members. The conclusion of this research is the livestock population was 7,667-15,333 birds, the age around 40–49 years, educational level was elementary school, occupation as farmers, the farming experience was 11-15 years and family member of farmers was 5 people.

Quantification and comparison of ecosystem services of grasslands versus another fodder crop (maize) based on mineral nitrogen content in the 60–90 cm soil layer

Grasslands provide many ecosystem services. Apart from being a source of fodder for animals, grasslands regulate water and soil quality by reducing nitrogen emissions to the environment. The aim of the study was to determine the biophysical and monetary value of ecosystem services of grassland based on the “mineral nitrogen content in the soil layer 60–90 cm” indicator depending on the method of use and the type of soil, against the cultivation of maize for green fodder. The study area encompassed three provinces, different in terms of soil use, livestock population and intensity of grassland use. The investigation indicated that the value of ecosystem services provided by grasslands varied spatially and depended on the type of use and type of soil. In mineral soils, the lowest levels of this index were recorded from sites used for pasturing, while the highest levels were found under maize crops. In organic soils (without maize crops), the smallest losses of Nmin were observed in meadows while the highest losses were in pastures. Nmin losses in organic soils were higher than in mineral soils. The losses observed were highest in Opolskie Province, followed by Podlaskie Province, with the lowest losses in Lubelskie Province.

Climate Change and Livestock Management Drove Extensive Vegetation Recovery in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The vegetation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), China, is diverse and sensitive to climate change. Because of extensive grassland degradation in the QTP, several ecological restoration projects, which affect the livestock population, have been implemented in the QTP. Although many studies have reported the impacts of climate change on vegetation in the QTP, our knowledge on the impacts of both climate change and livestock on vegetation remains very limited. Here, we investigated the impacts of climate change and livestock population on vegetation growth by using the annual maximum normalized difference vegetation index (NDVImax) and growing-season climate data from 1981 to 2019. We analyzed the relationship between NDVImax and climate and livestock population using the modified Mann-Kendall trend Test and Pearson correlation analysis. For the entire QTP, NDVImax had a two-phase trend, with a slow rise during 1981–2000 and a rapid rise during 2000–2019. Overall, NDVImax in the QTP increased and decreased in 63.7% and 6.7% of the area in 2000–2019. In areas with significant changes in NDVImax, it was strongly correlated with relative humidity and vapor pressure. The small positive trend in NDVImax during 1981–2000 was influenced by warmer and wetter climate, and the overgrazing by a large population of livestock slowed down the rate of increase in NDVImax. Livestock population for Qinghai and Tibet in recent years has been lower than in the 1980s.The warmer and wetter climate and substantial drops in the livestock population contributed to large recovery in vegetation during 2001–2019. Vegetation degradation in Qinghai during 1981–2000 and central-northern Tibet during 2000–2019 was driven mainly by drier and hotter climatic. Although 63.7% of the area in the QTP became greener, the vegetation degradation in central-northern Tibet should not be ignored and more measures should be taken to alleviate the impact of warming and drying climate. Our findings provide a better understanding of the factors that drove changes in vegetation in the QTP.

Applying livestock thresholds to examine poverty in Karamoja

In pastoralist and agro-pastoralist areas, wealth and poverty are closely aligned to levels of livestock ownership and social inclusion. Whereas cash income per capita is a useful measure of poverty in non-pastoralist areas, measures of livestock ownership per capita are needed to understand poverty in pastoralist systems. This study estimated a livestock threshold for agro-pastoralist households in Karamoja, being the minimum per capita ownership of livestock needed to sustain a predominantly agro-pastoral livelihood. The study then applied the livestock threshold to pre-existing livestock population data to estimate the proportions of households above and below the threshold. Using an estimated livestock threshold of 3.3 Tropical Livestock Units (TLU)/capita for agro-pastoralism, 56.5% of households in Karamoja’s main livestock-keeping districts were below the threshold and could be categorized as livestock-poor. The ownership of livestock was skewed in two main ways. First, there was a high-end skew with the wealthiest 30% of households owning 69.3% of all livestock in terms of TLU. Second, there was a low-end skew. Among poorer households, below the 3.3 TLU/capita livestock threshold, livestock ownership was skewed away from the threshold. Forty-seven per cent of these households owned only 1.2 TLU/capita or less; 13% of households owned no livestock at all. These findings are discussed, with programming and policy recommendations.

Beyond livestock carrying capacity in the Sahelian and Sudanian zones of West Africa

We applied the process-based model, LandscapeDNDC, to estimate feed availability in the Sahelian and Sudanian agro-ecological zones of West Africa as a basis for calculating the regional Livestock Carrying Capacity (LCC). Comparison of the energy supply (S) from feed resources, including natural pasture, browse, and crop residues, with energy demand (D) of the livestock population for the period 1981–2020 allowed us to assess regional surpluses (S > D) or deficits (S < D) in feed availability. We show that in the last 40 years a large-scale shift from surplus to deficit has occurred. While during 1981–1990 only 27% of the area exceeded the LCC, it was 72% for the period 2011–2020. This was caused by a reduction in the total feed supply of ~ 8% and an increase in feed demand of ~ 37% per-decade, driven by climate change and increased livestock population, respectively. Overall, the S/D decreased from ~ 2.6 (surplus) in 1981 to ~ 0.5 (deficit) in 2019, with a north–south gradient of increasing S/D. As climate change continues and feed availability may likely further shrink, pastoralists either need to source external feed or significantly reduce livestock numbers to avoid overgrazing, land degradation, and any further conflicts for resources.

Working Equids: Their Conditions, Invisible Earning and Challenges- A Review

Working equids play vital role in pastoral economy nationally as well as globally and their role is very significant in providing livelihood to households of their owners through direct and indirect financial contribution. This review aims to analyze their conditions, constrains and their invisible income. Working equids contribute for both direct and indirect income to large number of households and provide draught energy to a large human population nationally and internationally. They are important components of livestock and as per the livestock census done by Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fishery, Government of India, equine contribution in livestock population was 0.39% in 1997 , 0.32% in 2003, 0.22% in 2007, 0.22% in 2012 and it came down to 0.10% in 2019. Though being comparatively less number in total livestock population, their roles are important in particular section of landless and marginalized human population engaged in rearing of these animals. Working equids are facing negligence, poor health and malnutrition. Excessive use of automobile, their declining contribution in agricultural GDP and some social issues are major constrains for declining trends in their population.

Superovulation response of Peranakan Ongole (PO) and Simmental cows after FSH stimulation in multiple ovulation and embryo transfer program

Multiple ovulation and embryo transfer (MOET) is a reproductive technology to increase the livestock population in a short period. The success of ovary stimulation programs is influenced by an individual’s response to follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) stimulation. In this study embryo production was carried out on local cows represented by Peranakan Ongole (PO) cows and exotic cows represented by Simmental cows. FSH stimulation was performed on 10 PO cows and 10 Simmental cows. On Day-1 Cue Mate® (progesterone) was inserted intravaginally. FSH injection (400 mg) was carried out intramuscularly from D-10 at reduced dose with 12 hours intervals (Day-10: 100 mg; Day-11: 60 mg; Day-12: 40 mg per injection). On Day-12, prostaglandin (PGF2α) was injected and Cue Mate® was removed. Artificial insemination (AI) was performed 48 hours after PGF2α injection for 3 times at 12 hours intervals. The embryo was collected 6 days after the last AI (Day-21). Superovulation response was detected on 70% of PO cows and 90% of Simmental cows. The average number of transferable embryos in Simmental cows (9.11±7.27) was higher than PO cows (7.86±7.78). This research shows that Simmental cows are more responsive to FSH stimulation, and can produce more transferable embryos than PO cows.

Benchmarking phasing software with a whole-genome sequenced cattle pedigree

Background: Accurate haplotype reconstruction is required in many applications in quantitative and population genomics. Different phasing methods are available but their accuracy must be evaluated for samples with different properties (population structure, marker density, etc.). We herein took advantage of whole-genome sequence data available for a Holstein cattle pedigree containing 264 individuals, including 98 trios, to evaluate several population-based phasing methods. This data represents a typical example of a livestock population, with low effective population size, high levels of relatedness and long-range linkage disequilibrium. Results: After stringent filtering of our sequence data, we evaluated several population-based phasing programs including one or more versions of AlphaPhase, ShapeIT, Beagle, Eagle and FImpute. To that end we used 98 individuals having both parents sequenced for validation. Their haplotypes reconstructed based on Mendelian segregation rules were considered the gold standard to assess the performance of population-based methods in two scenarios. In the first one, only these 98 individuals were phased, while in the second one, all the 264 sequenced individuals were phased simultaneously, ignoring the pedigree relationships. We assessed phasing accuracy based on switch error counts (SEC) and rates (SER), lengths of correctly phased haplotypes and pairwise SNP phasing accuracies (the probability that a pair of SNPs is correctly phased as a function of their distance). For most evaluated metrics or scenarios, the best software was either ShapeIT4.1 or Beagle5.2, both methods resulting in particularly high phasing accuracies. For instance, ShapeIT4.1 achieved a median SEC of 50 per individual and a mean haplotype block length of 24.1 Mb in the second scenario. These statistics are remarkable since the methods were evaluated with a map of 8,400,000 SNPs, and this corresponds to only one switch error every 40,000 phased informative markers. When more relatives were included in the data, FImpute3.0 reconstructed extremely long segments without errors. Conclusions: We report extremely high phasing accuracies in a typical livestock sample of 100 sequenced individuals. ShapeIT4.1 and Beagle5.2 proved to be the most accurate, particularly for phasing long segments. Nevertheless, most tools achieved high accuracy at short distances and would be suitable for applications requiring only local haplotypes.

Prevalence and Molecular Characterization of Cystic Echinococcosis in Livestock Population of the Malakand Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a neglected zoonotic disease prevalent in Pakistan, but the genetic diversity of the cestode is largely unexplored in the country. This study investigated the molecular epidemiology of CE infecting the livestock population of the Malakand division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A total of 1,200 livestock, including buffaloes, cattle, goats, and sheep, were examined for echinococcosis from November 2017–2018 at different slaughterhouses in the Malakand division. Hydatid cysts were collected from different organs, and hydatid cyst fluid (HCF) was examined microscopically and used for DNA extraction. The LSU (rrnl) and NAD1 genes were amplified and sequenced. The overall prevalence of CE was 17% (204/1,200), including cows (21.7%), buffaloes (17.4%), goats (10%), and sheep (9.6%). The infection was relatively more prevalent among males (17%) than females (16.9%) and animals of older age (&gt;5 years) (p = 0.710). Liver (63.2%) and lungs (25%) were more affected as compared to kidneys (6.8%) and heart (4.9%). HCF analysis indicated that 52.0% of the cysts were sterile and (48.0%) were fertile. Sequencing and phylogenetic analyses confirmed 80.0% of the isolates as Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto (G1-G3) in all animal species, while Echinococcus equinus (G4) and Echinococcus ortleppi (G5) were present in buffaloes. The present study concluded that CE is prevalent in the livestock population of Malakand. Besides E. granulosus s. s. (G1-G3), E. ortleppi genotype (G5) and E. equinus (G4) in livestock were also reported.