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The world’s greatest source of cow and buffalo diversity is India, and countries like Australia, South Africa, Latin America, and the USA employ Indian cattle breeds to grow their livestock industries. The number of cattle in the nation represents 17% of all cattle in the world. 22-25% of the Indian cow population is made up of the best native milk, draught, and dual-purpose animal genetics. The majority of local cattle breeds are excellent drafters. Native livestock breeds are clearly superior in their use of subpar feed, have better heat tolerance, and greater resistance to tropical diseases.

Letting the cow to release its milk so the dairy farmer can extract it for personal use or to sell is the procedure of milking. Consequently, it is not totally a natural process. The natural process must be manipulated by the dairy farmer to his advantage. Therefore, in order to control the natural process, one must first understand it. The process of producing milk from blood-derived basic materials by alveolar cells and storing it in the alveolar cavity is known as milk secretion. Only when the alveolar cavity is full and the pressure on the alveolar cells prevents further secretion does this continuous process come to an end.

The large and diverse livestock resources of India benefit millions of people in rural areas, enhancing their standard of living. The key elements of sustainable agriculture are livestock resources. India has a population of 535.78 million livestock. According to 20th livestock census 2019,India ranks first in the world for the number of buffalo (109.85 million), second in number of cattle (192.49 million), third for the number of sheep (74.26 million), fifth for the number of chickens and ducks (851.81 million), and tenth for the number of camels (2.5 lakhs). About 8.8% of India’s population is engaged by the livestock industry, which provides a living for two-thirds of the country’s rural communities.

Integrated farming places a strong emphasis on the fundamental functions of agro-ecosystems, balanced nutrient cycles that are adapted to the demands of the crops, the health and wellbeing of the farm’s livestock, and a holistic management strategy that sees the entire farm as one connected system (Kochewad et al. 2017). Family farming, often referred to as integrated farming, provides the opportunity to profitably utilize the farm family’s available labor to the fullest extent throughout the year, leading to an increase in income and family contentment.

Domestication is the most extensive biological experiment ever undertaken by man. It has involved millions of animals and has extended through many centuries. It still continues and animal domestication was one of the major contributory factors to the agricultural revolution during the Neolithic period, which resulted in a shift in human lifestyle from hunting to farming. There are two species of domestic duck, the common duck, domesticated from the wild mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), and the Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata). Both are members of the Anatinae. In both species, the same scientific binomial is used for the domestic and the wild forms. Inter-breeding between the two species occurs, but their offspring are infertile. Both species of domestic duck produce eggs and meat and both are valuable on farms and smallholdings for reducing pests.

The term “Poultry” indicates to all the domesticated species of birds like chicken, ducks, turkeys, Japanese quail, guinea fowls, geese, pigeons, ostrich, emu etc. Ducks account for 7% of poultry population and are mostly found in coastal states of the country and in states with more lakes and rivers like West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Tripura. Duck farming is still in primitive stage and indigenous ducks outnumbered the exotic ducks in spite of their inferior performance.

In India 90-95% of ducks are indigenous or nondescript types, which are hardly, with mediocre egg production and highly suitable for extensive system of rearing.

Duck farming in India is characterized by nomadic, extensive, seasonal, and is still held in the hands of small and marginal farmers. Traditionally Assam, West Bengal and Kerala are the major consumer states for duck egg and meat and one of the reasons is that duck egg and meat highly suits and impart taste for their fish based culinary preparations.

Different housing system for Duck rearing

In general, ducks do not require elaborate houses. The house should be well ventilated, dry, and rat proof. In semi-intensive system of rearing, the house should have easy access to outside run as the ducks prefer to come out during the day time, winter and rainy time. 

Duck production has an immense role in improving the socio-economical status of rural farmers. In India, duck farming occupies an important place next to chicken farming. Duck contributes about 7-10% of the total poultry population of the world. Ducks are water fowl, hence, they need a semi-aquatic lifestyle. They need a pond, lake, river, canal or any such type of water bodies for their survival. Thus, they are mainly concentrated in West Bengal, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir and Manipur. Ducks are reared for both eggs and meat purposes. Unfortunately, duck farming is not done in an organized way in our country.

Poultry in general and duck in particular are not free from diseases though they are far more cold-hardy and healthier than the chickens. Infectious agents are not the only cause of diseases in poultry. However, it can be affected by a wide range of diseases that is caused by the non-infectious agents and it can range from cases of cannibalism to various nutritional related diseases or disorders. Unlike the infectious diseases which tends to affect a whole litter, non-infectious diseases may however be sometime confined to a single bird.

Non infectious diseases can be basically categorized into subgroups like –

Ducks are members of the order Anseriformes and belong to the family Anatidae. Ducks, swans and geese are all members of the Anatidae family; however, ducks are smaller and have a shorter neck. Ducks are tough birds that require little care or management. People all over the world enjoyed and consume duck meat and eggs. Ducks produce more eggs than hens. The size is also larger than that of a chicken. Ducks require less attention and perform well in scavenger hunts. Ducks are second only to chickens in many countries for meat and eggs. Ducks can be raised commercially or on a small scale for meat or eggs, even in backyards with other birds or animals. 

The duck environment usually involves the presence of water bodies (man-made or natural) which may enhance the co-mingling of free-living waterfowl species with the domestic flock promote disease transmission. Besides, environmental conditions also influence disease manifestation in ducks. The most of the viral diseases in ducks are contagious and transmitted very easily among the healthy birds in contact. The infectious viral diseases most commonly seen in domestic waterfowl species includes duck plaque, duck viral hepatitis, avian influenza, musky duck parvo virus infections, duck pox etc. These viral diseases cause great economic loss to the poultry industry due to high mortality and morbidity rate.

Protozoa are single celled eukaryotes which are either parasitic or free living belonged to family apicomplexa. These protozoan affects the different birds like chickens, turkey, ducks, pigeons, game birds and also various pet birds. The infection caused by protozoan diseases may affect one system or more than one system of the body depending on the causative agents involved. The common protozoan diseases like leukocytozonosis, chochlosomiasis, cryptosporidiosis, coccidiosis, histoplasmosis causes infection in the ducks. The protozoan diseases cause severe economic loss to the poultry industry due to death of birds, expenditure on the treatment and prevention of disease and loss of egg and meat production.

Fungus is member of group of eukaryotic organisms that includes yeasts and molds. The fungi are heterotrophs and they acquire their food by absorbing dissolved molecules by secreting digestive enzyme in the environment. It is present in common place in the environment and some are normal inhabitants of the skin, gastrointestinal tract and other mucous membrane surfaces. Generally if birds immunity is intact and fully operational then it will overcome the fungal infection in most situations, In case of compromised immune system it will cause development of serious infections. Paramount to properly managing fungal infections in avian species is the ability to recognize infection early in the course of disease, to administer appropriate antifungal medications for the location and severity of infection, and to continually assess a patient’s response to therapy.

The domestic duck is an economically important domestic bird in rural areas. They are productive and are reared around the globe for their egg, meat, feather and fattened livers. The worldwide population of ducks (Anas spp.) is 1.15 billion in 2020 out of which 89 per cent were in Asia. China, Viet Nam, Bangladesh and Indonesia are the largest duck rearing countries in Asia (FAO 2020). Geographical location, subtropical climatic condition, water lodged and low areas of the country are suitable for duck habitat. The advantages of ducks over other poultry species are that they are hardy, have higher disease tolerance and are easy to herd.

Ducks are prone to several external parasites and are also affected by external parasites found in other poultry birds. Birds are plagued by an remarkable range of ectoparasites, ranging from feather-feeding lice, to feather degrading bacteria and many of these ectoparasites have severe harmful effects on host health. External parasites can make ducks very uncomfortable, transmits several diseases and can be fatal in untreated cases. Among the ectoparasites lice is most commonly found in ducks. Ectoparasites infested birds become restless and the feeding and sleeping is disturbed resulting in decreased growth rate and egg production.

Common ectoparasites present on ducks-

In this chapter we will discuss about economics of raising 100 Khaki Campbell duck for egg production. Popular breed of ducks for egg production includes Khaki Campbell and Indian Runner. Among the egg laying breeds, Khaki Campbell is the best producer. Individual egg production of almost an egg a day in this breed for well over twelve months has been recorded and flock averages in excess of 300 eggs per duck per year are not uncommon. Khaki Campbell ducks weigh about 2-2.2 kgs and drakes 2.2-2.4 kgs. Egg size varies from 65-70 gms.

Cost and estimates for establishment of a 100+15 Khaki Campbell duck unit (under semi-intensive system)

India is well known for its rich flora and fauna and is referred as one of the richest biodiversity nations of the world. The mammalian population of India is a combination of Palaearctic, Oriental and Afro-tropical fauna (Sahajpal et al. 2009). It is the home of 400 different mammalian species, 129 of these species are protected under Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 (India) and an arbitrator to Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) (Nameer, 2015). Illegal trade of the wildlife for preparation of various products is the common issue in the conservation and is also responsible for regional extinction of the species.

Hausman (1920a) worked on the microscopic structure of hair from the commercial fur. The hair samples of 27 different species of animals were used for the study. He described in detail the structural features of guard hair. He classified medulla of hair into 4 different types as discontinuous, continuous, fragmental and interrupted on the basis of composition of medullar cells. He also classified the cuticular scale pattern into two types as imbricate interrupted and imbricate coronal. He mentioned in detail the methods for the preparation of slides for the study of microscopic structures of hair. He also studied the cortex and pigment granules.

The present study on trichology of domestic and wild animals was conducted in the Postgraduate laboratory of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Histol ogy, Nagpur Veterinary College, Nagpur. The study was undertaken with an aim of species differentiation from the guard hair of domestic as well as wild animals. The hair samples were collected from a total of eight domestic animal species and six wild animal species. Six animals from each species were studied and only three animals studied from the Sambar species as only three animals from this species was reported for post-mortem to the Nagpur Veterinary College, Nagpur within the period of research.

4.1. Physical characteristics

4.1.1. Colour, number of bands and hair profile

The physical characteristics of hair like colour, number of bands and hair profile showed huge variations in the same individual from region to region particularly in the domestic animal species. So, these features of hair cannot be considered as an important tool for species identification from hair. These findings are in accor dance with the observations of Sarkar et al. (2011). Who mentioned that the coat of mammalian species varies with season, habitat and sex of the individuals.