Genetic analysis of skin measurements and its relation with milk production in Murrah buffaloes reared under tropical conditions of Chhattisgarh plains.

The experiment was conducted at ABIS Buffalo Dairy Farm, Rajnandgaon, on 300 milking Murrah buffaloes. In buffaloes, the information on body measurements, skin thickness, and their associations with milk yield and interrelationship among them is scanty. Hence, the present study was designed to establish the relationship of skin thickness with milk production in Murrah buffaloes. The data was statistically analyzed using R statistical software. The average skin thickness of the neck, chest, abdomen, rump, hind quarter, udder, and flank regions were 6.27 ± 0.11, 6.13 ± 0.13, 7.28 ± 0.14, 9.78 ± 0.15, 8.00 ± 0.12, 4.14 ± 0.09, and 8.53 ± 0.12 mm, respectively. In this study, the skinfold thickness of the neck and chest regions had a highly significant effect (P < 0.01) on the total lactation milk yield of Murrah buffaloes whereas skin thickness of other regions under study had no significant effect on total lactation milk yield. The results of the study revealed that parity and stage of lactation had a significant effect (P < 0.05) on the skinfold thickness of all the seven regions of Murrah buffalo under investigation. The study indicated that except for the udder region the correlation of all skin thickness with TMY was found to be negative and significant. The genetic correlations between milk yield and skin thickness of the neck, abdomen, and udder were low to medium. The heritability estimate for different skinfold thicknesses and milk yield in this study was low to medium. These results could facilitate further exploration in the use of skinfold thickness for management precision and can be useful in the selection of better animals under field conditions.

Fungus-benzimidazole interactions: a prerequisite to deploying egg-parasitic fungi Paecilomyces lilacinus and Verticillium chlamydosporium as biocontrol agents against fascioliasis and amphistomiasis in ruminant livestock.

In vitro trials investigating the effects of albendazole and triclabendazole anthelmintics on the growth profiles of the egg-parasitic fungi Paecilomyces lilacinus and Verticillium chlamydosporium were undertaken. In addition, in vivo trials were conducted in goats fed on millet grain cultures of each fungus and administered albendazole and triclabendazole anthelmintics. In vitro growth revealed V. chlamydosporium to be more sensitive to albendazole compared to P. lilacinus. In contrast, triclabendazole had the least inhibitory effect on in vitro growth of both P. lilacinus and V. chlamydosporium. Similar to albendazole, growth of P. lilacinus was more vigorous at 0.5 ppm concentration of triclabendazole. Efforts to re-isolate these egg-parasitic fungi from faeces of goats fed on fungal millet grain cultures before and following single intraruminal administration of albendazole and triclabendazole showed that P. lilacinus was not able to be re-isolated from the faeces at any sampling period. In contrast, V. chlamydosporium was able to be re-isolated from the faeces at all of the sampling periods except for the samples taken at 8-18 h and 18-24 h after administration of albendazole and triclabendazole, respectively. Lack of fungal activity at these times coincided with peak plasma availability of anthelmintics and suggests faecal levels of drugs were also high at these times and impacted negatively on fungal viability.