eChapters

Abattoir is a structure meant to recover the edible portions of slaughtered animals for human consumption. These structures are used to cater the need of domestic purposes as well as some of them are utilized for export purposes. The demand of Indian meat and meat products is increasing day by day not only in our country but also around the globe. Therefore, millions (about 15 million cattle and buffalo and 1 million sheep and goat) of food animals are slaughtered every year to meet the current demand. Such large scale slaughter of food animals generates huge amount of wastes but due to lack of proper sanitary measures in majority of slaughter houses of our country their wastes not only deteriorate the hygiene of meat and meat products but also pose a potential threat to the environment. Therefore, it is an urgent need for safe and proper disposal of slaughter house and meat processing waste for food safety and human health. It is also important to protect the environment and to improve the quality and hygiene of meat and meat products.

By-products or offal’s are basically every part or particle which is not included in dressed carcass. It can also be explained as everything produced from the animals except dressed meat is considered as by-products. Meat industry now demands the full utilization of by-products to make the industry profitable and economically sustainable. It is also important for environmental management and to enhance the social image of the meat industry. The yield of animal by-products ranges between 50-60% of the live weight.

• It is the posterior most and largest region of the insect-body. It is The abdomen is the metabolic and reproductive centre, where digestion, excretion, and the sexual functions take place.

• All the definitive number of segments differentiate in embryo (Epimorphic condition) except protura (Anamorphosis)

• In general more segments are visible in more generalised hemimetabolus insects than in more specialised holometabolus insects. For example in Acridids all 11 segments are visible whereas in muscidae only 2-5 segments are visible

• The basic number of abdominal segments in insect is eleven plus a telson/ tail (Protura) which bears anus. Abdominal segments are called uromeres.

• The undivided tergel plates overlap the sternal ones and the membranous pleura are enclosed in between them.

• The posterior part of each segment overlaps the anterior part of the segment behind it and the two segments are joined by the inter-segmental membrane.

• There are eight pairs of abdominal spiracles. The first pair lies just in front of each tympanum and the other lie dorso-laterally on each of the tergites of the segment to eighth abdominal segments.

• The terga and sterna bear antecostal ridges. The internal dorsal and ventral longitudinal muscles run one antecostal ridge to the other and act as retractors. The contraction of these muscles helps the segments to be retracted. The external muscles originate from the posterior part of the segment and attach to the anterior part of the acrotergite of the next segment. Thus, protraction of these muscles help in the extension of abdomen. Hence, musculature running longitudinally between helps in the contraction and extension of the abdomen.

• The abdominal segments are conveniently divided into three subregions i.e. pregenital, genital and postgenital segments.

LUMBAR VERTEBRAE

Ox: The lumbar vertebrae are characterized by elongated flattened transverse processes (projecting outwards) and large, strongly curved articular processes (Fig.5.1a). The body is constricted in the middle and expanded at the extremities. The anterior extermity is less convex and posterior is less concave. The posterior vertebral notches are much deeper. The intervertebral foramina are often double in the anterior part of the series and are very large further back.

The abdominal aorta is the continuation of thoracic part of the descending aorta which enters the abdominal cavity through hiatus aorticus of the diaphragm. After entering the abdominal cavity it passes caudally below the bodies of the lumbar vertebrae and psoas minor muscle in contact with the left crus of the diaphragm and the ventral common vertebral ligament. After reaching at the fifth or sixth lumbar vertebra, it terminates into iliac quadrification by dividing into two common iliac arteries. Each of the common iliac arteries further divides into internal and external iliac artery. The internal iliac artery supplies arterial branches to the wall and the viscera of the pelvic cavity while the external iliac artery supplies arterial branches to the pelvic limb of the corresponding side. The abdominal aorta is related dorsally to the bodies of lumbar vertebrae, ventral common ligament, tendon of left crus of diaphragm and psoas minor muscle, ventrally to the pancreas and rumen, on its right to the caudal vena cava and on its left to the left adrenal, left kidney and left ureter. The abdominal aorta gives out parietal and visceral branches that supply the walls and the viscera of abdominal cavity.

Parietal branches

The parietal branches of the abdominal aorta are the six pairs of the lumbar arteries. Out of these, four or five pairs arise from the dorsal surface of the aorta while the fifth or sixth pair depending on where the aorta terminates (fifth or sixth lumbar vertebral level) arises from the internal iliac arteries.

The lumbar arteries, after arising from the dorsal surface of the aorta, pass upward across the bodies of the lumbar vertebrae, reach the intertransverse spaces between the lumbar transverse processes and divide into dorsal and ventral branches. The dorsal branches are larger. They supply spinal branches to reinforce the ventral spinal artery and the muscular branches to supply the muscles and skin over the back (loin) region of the body trunk. The ventral branches run ventrally through the fascia and muscles of the abdominal walls and supply the muscles and skin of the walls of the abdomen.

Key Points

• There are several causes of abdominal pain.

• It is difficult to diagnose in animals, but behavioral changes may indicate abdominal pain.

• Evaluate and treat abdominal pain promptly to avoid life-threatening situations.

Introduction

Abdominal discomfort is typically acute (onset occurs suddenly), although it can also be persistent. It could be caused by inflammation of the abdominal wall or organs in the abdominal and pelvic cavities. Diagnosis is difficult due to the variety of etiologies involved. Patients with stomach pain demonstrate changes in behavior and posture. Treatment should be based on etiology and the underlying cause.

Bread, cloth and house (Roti, Kapra and Makan) are the basic need of human life and linked directly with agriculture because agriculture provides livelihood for nearly two-thirds of the population in India and it currently accounts for 14.2% of the GDP and also employs 55% of country’s total workforce. The sharp fluctuations in agricultural growth are mainly attributed to the vagaries of monsoon. Rainfed agriculture is spread over 55% of net cultivated area, contributing over 40% to the national agricultural production.

The objective of present study was to evaluate the influence of pre-exposure of chromium @ 1 mg/kg body weight and arsenic @ 38 ppb in drinking water continuously for 30 days in experimentally streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetes in male Wistar rats and after 30 days of continuous exposure ameliorative potential of an ITK formulation @ 435 mg/kg body weight and its comparative efficacy with metformin @ 50 mg/kg body weight on diabetes induced testicular dysfunction.

Eighty four obese male Wistar rats were divided into fourteen groups viz. Normal Control, Obese, Non-diabetic + Chromium, Non-diabetic + Arsenic, Non-diabetic + Chromium-Arsenic combination, Obese Diabetic + chromium, Obese Diabetic + Arsenic, Obese Diabetic + Chromium-Arsenic combination, Obese Diabetic + Chromium + Metformin, Obese Diabetic + Arsenic + Metformin, Obese Diabetic + Chromium-Arsenic combination + Metformin, Obese Diabetic + Chromium + ITK, Obese Diabetic + Arsenic + ITK, Obese Diabetic + Chromium-Arsenic combination + ITK, consisting six animals in each group, were induced diabetes with streptozotocin @ 30 mg/kg body weight, intraperitoneally single dose after 30 days of pre-exposure to chromium and arsenic. After induction of diabetes ITK formulation and metformin were given by oral gavage continuously for 30 days.

The extreme temperatures those are consequences of present-day global climate changes are considered as major abiotic stresses for crop plants. Different studies clearly show that temperatures exceeding the limits of adaptation substantially influence the metabolism, viability, physiology, and yield of many plants. Plants exposed to extreme temperatures often show a common response in the form of oxidative stress. However, the extent of damage caused by extreme temperatures depends greatly on the duration of the adverse temperature, the genotypes of the exposed plants, and their stage of growth. There is ample need to develop temperature tolerance in crop plants by exploring suitable strategies. Numerous research findings support the notion that induction and regulation of antioxidant defenses are necessary for obtaining substantial tolerance against environmental stress. The development of genetically engineered plants, by the introduction and/or overexpression of selected genes, would to be one feasible strategy. However, plant adaptation to either high temperature or low temperature is a multigenic response which is very complex in nature. Thus the task of identifying the traits those correlate with stress tolerance is incredibly difficult for researchers. Plant response to continuous light depends on plant tolerance and can be modified by alteration in temperature, light intensity, CO2 level, and other environmental factors.

The stresses, drought, salinity, chemicals, cold and hot temperatures, have interconnected effects on plants, resulting in the disruption of protein homeostasis. Maintenance of proteins in their functional native conformations and preventing aggregation of non-native proteins are important for cell survival under stress. The heat shock proteins buffer this environmental variation and are therefore important factors for the maintenance of homeostasis across environmental regimes. Heat shock proteins are known to be expressed in plants experiencing high-temperature stress. Heat shock proteins are important in relation to stress resistance and adaptation to the environment. Their molecular function might be membrane or protein stabilization, but, for now, for most heat shock proteins the molecular function remains to be elucidated. The general observation of the response and induction of heat shock proteins following heat stress suggests that they play a fundamental role in cellular homeostasis. It is possible that heat shock proteins may be involved with the phenomenon of acquired thermotolerance. Heat stress disturbs cellular homeostasis and can lead to severe retardation in growth and development, and even death. Temperature stress can have also a devastating effect on both the plant anabolism and catabolism, initially acting on protein complexes, being the quaternary structure the first folding that is lost during heat stress or heating. Understanding the role of HSPs in relation to stress resistance in a more applied perspective as a potential indicator of stress is important. New technological developments make it possible to investigate the role of genes coding for heat shock proteins in greater detail. A combination of genomics and proteonomics will further elucidate the effects of stress on expression patterns at the DNA, RNA and protein level.

Environmental stress can disrupt cellular structures and impair key physiological functions. Drought, salinity, and low temperature stress impose an osmotic stress that can lead to turgor loss. Membranes may become disorganized, proteins may undergo loss of activity or be denatured, and often excess levels of reactive oxygen species are produced leading to oxidative damage. As a consequence, inhibition of photosynthesis, metabolic dysfunction, and damage of cellular structures contribute to growth perturbances, reduced fertility, and premature senescence. Responses to environmental stresses occur at all levels of organization. Cellular responses to stress include adjustments of the membrane system, modifications of the cell wall architecture, and changes in cell cycle and cell division. In addition, plants alter metabolism in various ways, including production of compatible solutes that are able to stabilize proteins and cellular structures and/or to maintain cell turgor by osmotic adjustment, and redox metabolism to remove excess levels of ROS and re-establish the cellular redox balance. At the molecular level, gene expression is modified upon stress and epigenetic regulation plays an important role in the regulation of gene expression in response to environmental stress.

Plants that are affected by various abiotic stresses react differently as a result such as the reduction in organ size or a change in the antioxidant enzyme system, and while drought and heat are often studied separately, in nature they often occur together, meaning it is essential to carry out joint studies. Furthermore, and related to the above when we consider high temperature stress, one must always consider the use of water and nutrients by the plant and other physiological functions. The effects of heat stress can also be analyzed by the technique that measures lipid peroxidation in polyunsaturated acids of the plasma membrane. The accumulation of metals in plants, affects the normal processes of plant metabolism. The study shows that there is a relationship between high metal contents in plants and their modified morphology: strong reduction of leaf thickness, modified parenchyma structure, and decreased mitochondria organization were ascertained, although toxic symptoms were apparently absent. Water-deficit stress has a significant effect on plants growth and development, with primary affects on plant structure, leaf morphology and cell ultrastructure. Physiological processes such as stomatal conductance, photosynthesis and respiration are consequently impaired with further implications on the metabolic functions such as carbohydrate and energy production as well as carbohydrate translocation and utilization.

Climate change drastically influence water availability, salinity and several adverse soil conditions which will have direct bearing on original yields. Abiotic stress factors influence growth and secondary metabolite production in higher plants. The influences are well marked. In fact, productivities depend on the changed ecosystem also. Secondary metabolites play a major role in the adaptation of plants to the changing environment and in overcoming stress constraints. This flows from the large complexity of chemical types and interactions underlying various functions: structure stabilizing, determined by polymerisation and condensation of phenols and quinones, or by electrostatic interactions of polyamines with negatively charged loci in cell components, photoprotective, related to absorbance of visible light and UV radiation due to the presence of conjugated double bonds, antioxidant and antiradical, governed by the availability of –OH, –NH2, and –SH groupings, as well as aromatic nuclei and unsaturated aliphatic chains, signal transducing. Several plant-abiotic stress stimuli systems evidenced the multiplicity of biochemical mechanisms involved in the protective role of secondary metabolites:

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus Moench), known in many English-speaking countries as lady’s finger or gumbo, belongs to family Malvaceae. The geographical origin of okra is disputed and supposed to be South Asian, Ethiopian and West African origins (Anonymous, 20013a). Its proposed parents are reported to be in South Asian; therefore, it is believed that perhaps it is of South Asian origin. However, because of greater diversity in okra in West African region, it is considered to be originated in West Africa. Masters (1875) proposed that it originated in India.
Okra is cultivated in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions, including the Middle East, Africa, Brazil, Turkey and southern states of USA (IBPGR, 1990; Jideani and Adetula, 1993; Acquistucci and Francisci, 2002). In tropics it is cultivated during summer and in the warmer parts of the temperate regions. It is an annual or perennial plant, growing up to 2 m height. The leaves are 10–20 cm long and broad, palmately lobed with 5-7 lobes. The flowers are 4–8 cm in diameter, with five petals which are generally yellow, but often white with a red or purple spot at the base of each petal. The fruit is a capsule which may attain length up to 18 cm containing numerous round seeds. Okra is an allopolyploid of uncertain parentage (proposed parents include Abelmoschus ficulneus, A. tuberculatus and a reported “diploid” form of okra).

Stress is usually defined as an external factor that exerts a disadvantageous influence on the plant. Under both natural and agricultural conditions, plants are exposed to unfavourable environments that result in some degree of stress. Water deficit, chilling and freezing, heat stress and heat shock, salinity, oxygen deficiency and air pollution are major stress factors restricting plant growth. Stress is measured in relation to plant survival, plant processes, growth and crop yield. An environment, which is stressful for one plant, may not be stressful for another, e.g., pea and soybean that grow best at 20 and 30°C, respectively. As the temperature increases, the pea shows sign of heat stress much sooner than soybean, thus, soybean has greater heat stress tolerance.

To the farmers, the plants those survive in an adverse environment are called hardy plants and those, which do not survive under a particular adverse environment, are called susceptible or tender plants. So based on reactions of several plants to the environment, particular plants are selected for a region and also the farmers to suit the nature of a crop adopt different seasons of planting. Biologists have adopted the term stress for any environmental factor potentially unfavourable to a living organism. The ability of the plant to survive the unfavourable factor is due to its stress resistance. There is an equal and opposite reactions for every action. Stress is the action, whereas, strain is the reaction. A body of a plant subjected to stress is in a state of strain. External force of a particular stress causes disturbances in the body of the plant leading to a change in either shape or size and also may lead to internal disturbances, which affect physiological processes. Up to a point, a strain may be completely reversible. When the stress is released at this stage, the plant becomes normal without exhibiting any strain, which is known as elastic strain. Beyond this point, the strain will be partially elastic and irreversible partially, and then we say, it reaches permanent set and it is known as plastic strain.

Basic concepts of plant stress, acclimation and adaptation
Energy is the absolute requirement for the maintenance of structural organization over the lifetime of the organism. Maintenance of such complex structural organization over time requires a constant flow of energy through all biological organisms, which provides the dynamic driving force for the performance of important maintenance processes (the processes which are essential for an organism to remain alive and continue as the species) such as respiration, assimilation, nutrition, cellular biosyntheses and transport to maintain its characteristic structure and organization as well as the capacity to replicate and grow. Maintenance of such steady-state results in a meta-stable condition called homeostasis. Thus, “Homeostasis” is defined as a selfregulating process by which a living organism can maintain internal stability while adjusting to changing external conditions. It is the state of balance among all the living systems needed for the organism to survive and function properly.
Plant stress
Any change in the surrounding environment may disrupt homeostasis. Environmental modulation of homeostasis may be defined as biological stress. Thus, plant stress implies some adverse effect on the physiology of a plant induced upon a sudden transition from some optimal environmental condition where homeostasis is maintained to some suboptimal condition which disrupts this initial homeostatic state.

Abiotic stresses include salinity, drought, flood, extremes in temperature, heavy metals, radiation etc. They are the foremost factors that causes the loss of major crop plants worldwide. This situation is going to be more rigorous due to increasing desertification of world’s terrestrial area, increasing salinization of soil and water, shortage of water resources and environmental pollution.

The inadequacy of water availability, including precipitation and soil moisture storage capacity, in quantity and distribution during the life cycle of a crop to restrict the expression of its full genetic yield potential”. Generally drought stress occurs when the available water in the soil is reduced and atmospheric conditions cause continuous loss of water by transpiration or evaporation. Drought stress tolerance is seen in almost all plants but its extent varies from species to species and even within species.

SUMMARY

Abiotic stress can be reduced by choosing the most appropriate pulse species and adjusting agronomy (sowing time, plant density, soil management) to ensure sensitive crop stages occur at the most favourable time in the season. For example choosing the optimum sowing time, species and cultivars with appropriate phenology can reduce the effect of frost and drought in pulse crops in dry land environments, which termed stress.

             Most appropriate approach of dealing with stresses caused by extremes in the abiotic environment is to develop cultivars resistant to specific stresses. However, breeding and selection for resistance to these stresses is often considerable difficult because of the unpredictability of climatic conditions. Drought and heat escape through earliness in flowering and maturity is probably the characteristic most widely used by breeders for pulses and other crops to escape drought especially in low rainfall, terminal drought environment. Lack of simple and accurate screening procedures to screen parental genotypes and breeding population for various abiotic stresses is the major bottlenecks in the development of stress tolerant cool season pulse crops.

Tremendous genetic diversity occur within different crops of this family with respect to their adaptability. Some cucurbits are grown in tropical, subtropical or arid deserts whereas other prefer to grow in temperate conditions. Harvested fruits and vegetables can be potentially exposed to numerous abiotic stresses during production, handling, storage and distribution (Hodges, 2003). However, when the abiotic stress is moderate or severe, quality losses almost always are incurred at market (Toivonen, 2003). Annually about 42% of the crop productivity is lost owing to various abiotic stress factors (Oerke et al., 1994). One of the key factors for abiotic stress in crop plants is the ill effect of global warming which may cause reduced precipitation, less snow pack, and earlier snow melt, leading to drought conditions. In addition about 20% of the world’s irrigated lands are affected by salinity (Zhu, 2001), a situation worsened by climate changes.