eChapters

Split-plot Design

In field experiments, sometimes a factor has to be applied to a large experimental unit. This is true when the different methods of ploughing or irrigation are to be compared. And in such cases it is possible to introduce a second factor, which does not require large plots, with a small number of levels into the same experiment, at a little extra cost. This is done by splitting the plots (called whole plots of the first factor into as many sub-plots as there are levels of the second factor.)

A split-plot design with an RBD for the first set of treatments (called “the whole-plot treatments”) is obtained by allotting the whole-plot treatments at random to the whole plots of a block and then randomizing the second set of treatments (called “the sub-plot treatments”) to the sub-plots within each whole plot.

This enables us to test for the main effects of the sub-plot treatments and the interaction of the whole-plot treatments and the sub-plot treatments more efficiently than the main effects of the whole-plot treatments in a split-plot design.

4.1 DNA: The word means
    
4.2 Double Helical Structure: The Watson and Crick Model
    
4.3 Family of DNA 
    
4.4 The Chromosomes

Livestock wealth is very precious for a developing country like India. In India, animal husbandry is no longer a subsidiary to agriculture or a backyard vocation. Animal husbandry has metamorphosed into an industry and the latest reports suggest that the contribution of animal husbandry sector to the GDP of the nation is substantially higher despite the meager input. Animal husbandry offers a better scope for marginal farmers whose income from agriculture is dwindling fast due to vagaries of monsoon, fragmentation of landholdings, pest problems, poor pricing etc. Though the growth of livestock industry is very promising, in order to make India a global leader in animal husbandry, it is imperative to integrate it with developments in other fields. The developments in Information Technology over the past few decades are tremendous and offer great potential in improving animal health through various measures like effective disease forecasting, rapid and accurate disease diagnosis, modern therapeutic measures etc.

Veterinary Informatics is the discipline concerned with the application of information science, engineering, and computer technology to support veterinary health care. Veterinary informatics and the larger field of medical informatics is often called health care informatics or biomedical informatics and forms part of the wider domain of e-health. Applications of Information Technology in different aspects of animal health are discussed below.

9.1 Methylases
    
9.2 Polymerases
    
9.3 Nucleases
    
9.4 Ligases
    
9.5 Phosphatase
    
9.6 Topoisomerase
    
9.7 Restriction enzymes

The central tendency measure is defined as the number used to represent the center or middle of a set of data values. The three commonly used measures of central tendency are the mean, median, and mode.

Measures of location (averages)

The term average refers to any one of several measures of the central tendency of a data set.

• The mean has the disadvantage that its value is influenced by outliers. An outlier is an observation whose value is highly inconsistent with the main body of the data. An outlier with an excessively large value will tend to increase the mean unduly, whilst a particularly small value will decrease it.

• The mean is an appropriate measure of central tendency if the distribution of the data is symmetrical.

The mean will be ‘pulled’ to the right (increased in value) if the distribution is skewed to the right, and ‘pulled’ to the left (decreased in value) if the distribution is skewed to the left.

1.1 Classification

The raw or ungrouped data are in unorganized form and need be organized in meaningful and readily comprehensible form in order to facilitate further statistical analysis. Classification of data is the first step in this direction. It is the process of arranging thing in groups according to their resemblance and affinities. There are two basic types of classification namely-qualitative and quantitative. In qualitative classification, the basis of classification is some attribute or quality like: sex, literacy, religion, etc. A qualitative classification may be simple or manifold. The classification done with respect to one attribute is termed as ‘Simple Classification’. The classification in which two or more attributes are considered and several classes are formed is called ‘Manifold Classification’. In quantitative classification, the collected data are grouped in respect of characteristics, which can be measured and numerically expressed such as height, weight, etc.

Early and accurate diagnosis of disease is of prime importance for both the successful treatment of the patient and in limiting the spread of disease in the community. It is in this context that immunodiagnostic methods are now being used extensively since they can be extremely sensitive and highly specific. Among the most successful methods are those utilizing labelled antibodies or antigens. Examples of these are immunofluorescence in which antibodies labelled with fluorescent dyes are utilized and radioimmunoassay in which antigens or antibodies are labeled with isotopes. Both of these procedures have proved to be of great value for particular purposes.

4.1 Diagrammatic Representation of Data

Diagrams are meant only to give a pictorial representation of the data with a view to make them readily intelligible. Several types of diagrams are used for the presentation of data in biological and agriculture sciences. The following are the important types of diagrams in common use :

1. One-dimensional diagrams
2. Two-dimensional diagrams
3. Three-dimensional diagrams

The F-test for the equality of two variances

Rationale

The two-sample t-test and the analysis of variance make the assumption of homoscedasticity, i.e. of equal variances in groups of data. The F-test, often called the variance ratio test, may be used to investigate the homoscedasticity of two data sets.

We have to make a decision whether or not the population variances are likely to be different. This means that we need a cut-off for the variance ratio; if the variance ratio exceeds this cut-off value, we will conclude that the variances are unequal.

We determine this cut-off value formally, under the null hypothesis that the two population variances are equal, by referring the ratio to the table of the F-distribution. The degrees of freedom are (n1 – 1) in the numerator (the larger variance) and (n2 – 1) in the denominator (the smaller variance), where n1 and n2 represent the two sample sizes.

For the required significance level in a two-tailed test, therefore, we must halve this tail area. So, for a two-tailed test at the 5% level of significance, we have to relate the test statistic to P = 0.025. For convenience, we give the upper percentage points corresponding to P = 0.025 and P = 0.005 (relating to two tailed P-values of 0.05 and 0.01, respectively) in separate tables.

13.1 Introduction

In 1935 Prof. Ronald A. Fisher laid the foundation for the subject in his monumental work entitled “The Designs of Experiments”. Experimental designs concern the arranging of treatments or variables in such a manner that the inferences and conclusions regarding the effects of these treatments can be easily done and their reliability measured. Experiments are made with a view to find the validity of a particular hypothesis and to have an idea about the extent of the reliability that can be placed on a particular conclusion arrived. The selection of the design will have a very great bearing on the accuracy of the ultimate results. By a random selection of experimental units it is possible to remove the ambiguity about the casual interpretation of the observed associations. Random sampling is the most essential ingredient of all experimental designs. Besides, there are many devices for increasing the precision of the inference and the calculations.

Abstract

Performance records of 1085 crossbred cattle daughters of 57 sires maintained during 1974-2004 at Instructional Dairy Farm of G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar were used to evaluate sires for first lactation and life time performance traits. First lactation traits included were age at first calving (AFC), first lactation period (FLP),first dry period (FDP) and first calving interval (FCI) and life time traits were herd life (HL), total lactation length and life time milk yield. The data were analyzed to estimate the breeding values of sires using least squares methods (LSM), best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) and derivative free restricted maximum likelihood (DFREML) method. The average breeding values of sires estimated by all three methods were similar and estimated for AFC, FLP, FDP and FCI as 1359.95 days, 356.56 days, 177.58 days and 534.15 days respectively and for HL, TLL and LTMY as 1641.30 days, 1320.20 days and 9110.30 kg respectively. The estimated breeding values (EBV’S) showed large genetic variation between sires for both first lactation and life time traits. The estimated breeding values (EBV’S) of sires had very high and significant product moment correlations and rank correlations among all first lactation and lifetime traits estimated by all three methods.

Animal Husbandry is making a significant contribution to the national economy and socio-economic development in the country. In rural India where over 15-20% families are landless and about 80% of the land holders belong to the category of small and marginal farmers, livestock is the main source of livelihood with the policy of the state Animal Husbandry Department to extend free breeding, vaccination and veterinary services, and permit free grazing on community lands, the farmers were encouraged to expand their herd size without any major financial burden. This has probably been the reason for the presence of the worlds largest livestock population in India. India rank first in buffalo population, second in cattle and goat, third in sheep and seventh in poultry (Table-1). Although the population of livestock during last 10 years has been stable around 485 million, the buffalo population during 1997-2003 has increased by 8.91%, while the cattle population has reduced by 6.89%. There has been a significant increase in population of goats during the last five decades, which is attributed to the decrease in the size of land holdings and persistent drought caused by erratic monsoon, forcing many small farmers to shift from large animals to small ruminants.

Abstract

Bhadawari is one of the recognized buffalo breeds of India and is famous for high milk fat content. The main breeding tract is Agra and Etawah in Uttar Pradesh and Bhind and Morena districts in Madhya   Pradesh. The tract was a part of the erstwhile Bhadawar estate from where the name of these animals originated. Bhadawari, the brown beauty of ravines and predominantly the only breed adapted to the harsh conditions of the ravines with undulating topography, thorny and scanty bushes, climatic stress and draught conditions. Breed is said to be resistant to many tropical bovine diseases and also known for eating less and producing more. Calf mortality is significantly lower than the other breeds of buffaloes. Male animals are good for agriculture work especially for ploughing in rice fields.

Open nucleus breeding system is considered to be a best approach to bring genetic improvement in livestock. This system was first introduced New Zealand for faster genetic improvement of sheep. The milk recording under field condition is quite expensive. Moreover, farmers are not under any obligation to retain the animal till the lactation is completed. The generation interval is also very large as it takes about 6-7 year by the time complete record on progeny testing programmes in developing countries is available, so that the effective genetic improvement is small. Use of best proven bull on the elite cow, which are best 5-10% of the cow for genetic improvement of the population. The net genetic gain in the herd considering the actual genetic improvement from various parents off spring path is around 0.7% per annum. Considering these situation in develop countries it has been proposed that ‘nucleus’ herd be created where males from the best cows are obtained. The nucleus herd would be open in the sense that the lowest yielding cows are culled every year and are replaced by procurement of that many high yielding cow from farmers herd. The nucleus herds are utilized entirely for production of males for breeding purposes in the population.

Introduction

Coordinated and innovative efforts of government agencies and milk producers’ has immensely increased milk production and ushered in White revolution in India leapfrogging the country to the leading position in milk production (102 million tonnes) in the world. With an annual rate of 4-5% and with a share of 18% in the agricultural gross domestic product; milk is largest agricultural commodity in India (Economic Survey, 2007-08). However, the improvement in milk production in past few decades has not necessarily resulted in proportionate increase in profits to dairy farmers as animals with high milk production have increased frequency of health disorders.

Bulls are considered as the half of the herd as the genetic contribution of a male almost commensurate with that of a female. The male gamete, following deposition in the female reproductive tract, traverses a long path before it could effect a successful fertilization process. It is the beauty of the nature’s creation that in spite of encountering much of this physical and chemical stress, the male chromatin remains stable until it forms the male pronucleus following fertilization. This amazing feature is endowed by the high level of compaction of the sperm nuclear DNA which in turn is due to the replacement of the sperm nuclear histones by protamines.

Cowpathy

Panchgavya chikitsa is an age old system of medicine described in ancient Indian literature ‘Ayurveda’ and now it is known as ‘cowpathy’ means the therapy of human ailments through cow products. However, Cowpathy is different from Panchgavya as it also include cow cuddling, Backrub, Gau grass, Gauseva, and living with cow besides, Panchgavya products milk, curd, ghee, urine and dung. Since the cowpathy practice is to increase the aura of an individual, it prevents from many ailments and infections. In Ayurvedic system, the medicines are prepared either from plants or from animals besides the use of certain metals. The Ayurvedic medicines of animal origin are mainly prepared from indigenous cow products such as urine, dung, milk, curd and ghee. Medicinal use of cow urine has been in practice since time immemorial in India.

Introduction

Wheat, a vital cereal crop cultivated globally, serves as a fundamental source of sustenance and livelihood for millions (FAOSTAT, 2021). However, wheat production faces hindrances from various biotic and abiotic stresses, with heat stress being a notable challenge (Prasad et al., 2019). The term “terminal heat stress” refers to the elevated temperatures occurring during the crucial reproductive phase of wheat, encompassing the grain-filling period and flowering stages (Lobell et al., 2012). Terminal heat stress emerges as a significant impediment to wheat cultivation, particularly in arid and semi arid regions, manifesting during the reproductive stage of the crop (Wassmann et al., 2009). This predicament is exacerbated by the escalating frequency and intensity of heat waves attributable to climate change (IPCC, 2021).