eChapters

Stomach

The stomach of ruminants (Fig. 4-4 A) is compound stomach with four parts; the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. The first three compartments comprise the forestomach or proventriculus. These parts have a nonglandular mucous membrane lined by a stratified squamous epithelium and are concerned with maceration, fermentation and cellulose digestion while the last part, the abomasum has a glandular mucous membrane which is concerned with digestion of the food material with the help of gastric juices. The relative sizes of the four compartments change with the age of the animal. In new bourn calf the rumen and reticulum together have about half the capacity of abomasum. But, as the diet of the animal is restricted to milk during this period, these two compartments remain collapsed and functionless. At eight weeks of age, the total capacity of rumen and reticulum equals to that of the abomasum and at twelve weeks of age the combined capacity of rumen and reticulum doubles to that of the abomasum. During this period the growth of the omasum is slow and steady. At about one and half years of age the omasum and abomasum equals in their capacity. At this age the four parts reach to their definitive size, shape and capacity. The relative capacity of the four compartments at this stage is rumen eighty per cent, reticulum five per cent, omasum seven per cent and abomasum eight per cent. The total capacity of average sized cattle varies between hundred fifteen to hundred fifty litre.

The digestive system consists of organs concerned with prehension and digestion of food, absorption of digested food and expulsion of unabsorbed food. The digestive system extends from lips to the anus and consists of the primary and accessory organs of digestion. The primary organs include the mouth, pharynx and the alimentary canal (gastrointestinal tube) in that order of sequence. The accessory organs include the tongue, teeth, salivary glands, liver and pancreas. The alimentary canal extends from pharynx to anus and consists of the oesophagus, the stomach, the small intestine and the large intestine. The wall of the alimentary canal consists of, from within outward, the mucous membrane, the muscular layer and the serous layer forming the visceral peritoneum.

Mouth

The mouth is bounded dorsally (roof) by hard palate and behind that the soft palate, ventrally by the body of the mandible along with the mylohyoideus muscles and laterally by the cheeks. The entrance of the mouth cavity is bounded by the lips and it is called as rima oris, while its caudal opening into the pharynx is called as aditus pharyngis. The cavity of the mouth (cavum oris) is subdivided into two parts by the teeth and alveolar processes (the alveoli) of the mandible. The inner part i.e. the space within the teeth and alveoli is termed as mouth cavity proper, while the space between the cheeks and lips and the teeth and alveoli is called the vestibule of the mouth. The mucous membrane of the mouth cavity is continuous with the margin of the lips and the common integument and caudally it continues with the mucous membrane of the pharynx.

Alimentary canal : The endoderm is formed by delamination in mammals and birds. This endoderm surrounded by splanchnic mesoderm forms the gut. The endoderm underlying the embryonic disc and serving as a flat roof to the early yolk sac becomes gut endoderm. At 20^th day a rapidly expanding embryonic disc begins to fold into a cylindrical embryo. The gut endoderm also participates as a component layer. Folding first into the head end and then into the hind end of elongating embryo this endoderm necessarily takes the form of the two internal blind tubes. The open end of the each tube where it becomes continuous with the yolk sac is called an intestinal portal while the tubes are named the foregut and hindgut. The caudal end of the hindgut is cloaca. An intermediate region opening ventrally into the yolk sac through the narrower yolk stalk is midgut.

Digital dairy farming integrates IoT, artificial intelligence, machine learning, big-data analytics, cloud computing, sensors and automation to improve herd management. This chapter explains how wearable devices and monitoring systems support early disease detection, welfare assessment, milk-yield analysis and precision feeding. Automated milking, feeding and other operations reduce manual labour, improve consistency and lower operating costs. The architecture of smart dairy systems—including sensors, wireless communication and decision algorithms—is examined alongside environmental and economic benefits. Barriers include high initial investment, limited digital skills, poor rural connectivity and cybersecurity risks. Future developments may include AI-enabled autonomous dairy farms and interconnected, sustainable agricultural ecosystems.

Introduction

In the last decade, digitalization has transformed every aspect of life and society, changing almost every area of our day-to day lives. Not just that; the rate of change that is happening is astonishing and only going to accelerate further. From the way, we work and communicate to how we organize our lives, digital tools and technologies are everywhere including the veterinary sector. Veterinarians are recognizing the need to depart “the analog island” and increasingly willing to embrace digital solutions. Undoubtedly, digitalization is crucial when it comes to boosting efficiency and quality in veterinary medicine and delivery of animal healthcare to masses across various geographies and resource poor setups. Uniquely these digital tools helps vets also to focus on the needs of patients and animal owners.

Efforts to Mitigate Natural Disaster at National and Global Level

What is A ‘Disaster’?

It as ‘an event that has occurred unexpectedly with destructive consequences’ - (UNOCHA 2005). 
It as ‘a calamitous event resulting in loss of life, great human suffering and distress, and large scale material damage’ - (IFRC2005).
None of the international agencies take animals into account in their definitions

Human life on the earth has been intertwined with the fabric of crops and livestock for its sustenance, since time immemorial, for food and protection against the vagaries of nature. When agricultural and livestock production systems began to change in the 1950s, from traditional extensive systems to semi-intensive and intensive production systems, diseases of rural farm enterprises became challenging. Especially, the emerging diseases in livestock continued to demand more and more investments for ensuring food safety and security. Despite significant progress made in the recent past in reducing the prevalence of animal diseases, there is still an increasing concern over the losses associated with diseases of economic importance that result in production inefficiency. The scientific foundation for the discipline of animal health economics was laid by Morris (1969) and further steps were taken by Ellis (1972) to economically evaluate the Swine Fever eradication programme in Great Britain using cost-benefit analysis, Martin Hugh-Jones (1975) to specialize in GIS to model diseases and assessed the economic impact on production by infectious diseases, James and Ellis (1978) to use the same tool for FMD control programme, Renkema and Stelwagen (1979) to evaluate the replacement rates in dairy herds, Renkema (1980) to analyze the economic aspects of diseases in animals, Ellis and Putt (1981) to suggest the epidemiological and economic implications of FMD vaccination programme in Kenya, and McInerney (1983) to analyze the economics of animal diseases in dairy cattle, the multidisciplinary field of animal health economics was not amply exploited especially in developing countries to assess the extent of livestock disease losses (Ngategize and Kaneene, 1985).

A disease is any process which disrupts an animals’s normal function. Occurrence of diseases causes heavy economic loss in terms of livestock health and production. Presence and accumulation of infectious agents in the environment lead to reduction in quality and quantity of animal products. Strategic control and eradication of economically important diseases will result in enhancing goat production in the country. Goat suffer from many diseases although the susceptibility of goats to diseases is less as compared to sheep or cattle. Goat diseases can be bacterial, viral or parasitic. Viral diseases are more common in herds and are responsible for large scale mortality at one time. With a good hygiene in the barn and if the goats are kept in a way appropriate to their species, most of the diseases can be avoided.

Much attention has not been paid for prevention and control of goat diseases since most of the goats are reared by poor people and prevention and control is generally considered uneconomical. However, this is not true, as small investment in disease prevention and control can bring enormous gains in goat productivity. Simple preventive measures like deworming and vaccination alone can save the herds from heavy mortality and can increase production considerably. Serious and early efforts on diagnosis and prevention of goat diseases are essential in order to improve the health and production. A wide range of bacterial, viral, parasitic infections, causing heavy mortality and morbidity result in huge economic loss to different goat farming systems. Metabolic and nutritional disorders in goats also affect their production performance. Metabolic disorders are of great importance in pregnant goats, especially those carrying multiple foetuses. Deficiencies of essential minerals, metabolites and amino acids below the critical level also adversely affect the production. Therefore, it is necessary to avert these imbalances (calcium, magnesium, Co, Cu, Zinc, Iodine) in the ration. Provision for extra energy and protein in late pregnancy are necessary to avoid parturient paresis due to low blood sugar and high ketones and hepatic insufficiency of glycogen. Soil- plant- animal interactions in relation to the incidence of chronic deficiency diseases of goats are often being observed.

UNTIL THE 1940S BIOLOGISTS ARGUED ABOUT WHETHER DNA OR PROTEIN WAS THE MOLECULE OF HEREDITY

Nuclei observed to divide when cells reproduced themselves

Large amounts of both DNA & protein in the nucleus

Many though protein was most likely molecule of heredity

Proteins made of 20 different amino acids- could have more variety than DNA (made of only 4 different bases)

DNA replication. The double helix is unwound and each strand acts as a template. Bases are matched to synthesize the new partner strands.

DNA replication, the basis for biological inheritance, is a fundamental process occurring in all living organisms to copy their DNA. This process is “replication” in that each strand of the original double-stranded DNA molecule serves as template for the reproduction of the complementary strand. Therefore, following DNA replication, two identical DNA molecules have been produced from a single double-stranded DNA molecule. Cellular proofreading and error toe-checking mechanisms ensure near perfect fidelity for DNA replication.

In a cell, DNA replication begins at specific locations in the genome, called “origins”.

Unwinding of DNA at the origin, and synthesis of new strands, forms a replication fork. In addition to DNA polymerase, the enzyme that synthesizes the new DNA by adding nucleotides matched to the template strand, a number of other proteins are associated with the fork and assist in the initiation and continuation of DNA synthesis.

A laboratory is essential for research work in science and development. Most of the research institutes have dedicated laboratories for researchers and students to conduct experiments, perform research work, as well as to provide hands-on learning/training to students. There are certain rules and regulations laid down by the laboratory in-charge which need to be followed strictly for safety purposes. Some of the laboratories keep ‘safety manual’ for researchers to read before entering into the laboratory to conduct experiments. Whenever safety is compromised in a laboratory, there is increase in risk of unwanted incidents in the laboratory. Storing food/beverages in the same refrigerator where laboratory chemicals are kept may lead to disastrous effects on health. This chapter aims to provide instructions in brief on the things to be performed (Do’s) before and after entering onto a laboratory as well as the things never to be done (Don’ts) in a laboratory for the safety reasons.

Good Laboratory Practices (Do’s)

• P Wear apron/labcoat while working in the laboratory.
• P Use gloves/respiratory mask/fumehood while handling toxic/volatile/inflammable chemicals/reagents.
• P Use pippet or pippetor for safety in transfer of solutions.
• P Protect eyes, face and naked parts of the body from UV radiations. Use safety goggles or face mask/apron.
• P Keep your eyes away from Liquid Nitrogen and use cryogloves while handling it.
• P Arrange all the necessary materials/solutions before starting the experiment.
• P Periodically fumigate/ozonize culture and inoculation rooms.
• P Autoclave all contaminated materials before discarding.
• P Pre-treat gel or solution containing Ethidium Bromide (EtBr) before discarding into laboratory waste-disposal bin, and use gloves while handling them.
• P Burn all the transgenic plant materials in an incinerator after taking necessary observations.
• P Make entry in the designated log-book and clean the instrument after using it properly.
• P Switch-off the instrument after use or when not in use.
• P Wash hands with soap and remove the labcoat before leaving/going out of the laboratory7.
• P Ensure that switches for fans/lights, and water taps are off while leaving the laboratory.
• P Follow the biosafety guidelines suggested for handling and disposal of the hazardous chemical.

Drivers
• Unique aspects of the local climate and soil.
• Availability of resources and land labor.
• The current level of resource use.
• Economics of the proposed integrated farming.
• Farmer’s management skills

Introduction
Haemoprotozoan diseases are highly prevalent in tropical and sub-tropical countries owing to the ubiquitous distribution of ticks and blood-sucking flies which are natural vectors for the pathogens. In India, theileriosis, babesiosis and trypanosomosis are major haemoprotozoan diseases and cause substantial economic losses to the livestock industry. Though vaccination of the susceptible stock by attenuated schizont vaccine is available for the control of tropical theileriosis in cattle, chemotherapy is the mainstay for the control of haemoprotozoan diseases. However, the limited available antihaemoprotozoan drugs is being depleted by a combination of two factors viz. emergence of drug resistance and the failure to replace old drugs (de Koning, 2017). Drug resistance against parasites is one of the emerging problems affecting veterinary health sector. Since last few decades, development of drug resistance in haemoprotozoan parasites to several drugs has been reported (Tuvshintulga et al., 2019; Ali et al., 2022). Though, understanding of drug resistance in parasitic protozoa is progressing steadily but possibly not as rapidly as parasites are becoming resistant to drugs. The genetic changes in the target sites, the reduced uptake and increased efflux of drugs, and metabolic regulations are the possible mechanism for the cause of drug resistance (Fairlamb et al., 2016). Anti-protozoan drug resistance has been reported in many economically important protozoa to isometamedium, diminazene aceturate, quinapyramine, suramin, melarsomine dihydrochloride, buparvaquone. The resistance initially evolves at genetic level of parasite with genetic traits that allow them to survive exposure to a drug, which is transferred to the subsequent generation thereby potentially increasing the percentage of resistant parasite that can survive subsequent exposure to the chemical. The emergence of drugresistant parasites has serious implications for treating clinical cases, leading to increased morbidity and mortality among the animals and control of the diseases.

Therapeutic Aspects of Drug-nutrient Interactions
Drug-nutrient interactions are expressed as physical, chemical, and pathophysiological relationships between a drug and a nutrient. This reaction is multifactorial. The drug has the potential ability to interact with nutrients which may lead to a reduction or enhancement of therapeutic efficacy, nutritional risk, and drug toxicity. Even such interactions lead to the discontinuation of drug therapy. But these kinds of interactions vary from person to person. Infants and children are the most vulnerable group in this concern as they are in the developmental phase where there is a lack of proper drug-metabolizing enzymes and inefficient renal function. Generally, DNIs signify negative impacts on human health but sometimes these interactions work in a positive way by reducing irritation in the GI tract or by increasing the absorption of drugs. Proper updated knowledge about DNIs is important for the appliance of diet therapy simultaneously with drug therapy as both of these are important strategies to manage or treat public health issues (Table 10.1., Table 10.2.).

Introduction

While experimenting with chemicals, sometimes we need to dry the chemical/ solution (solid, liquid or gas) using a process like evaporation or distillation, mainly to remove water or different solvents. Drying is the process of evaporation or distillation to remove water/solvent from a solution, solid or even from gas. Generally, a drying agent (usually an anhydrous inorganic salt) is used for this process, which reacts with the water (present in the chemical/ solvent to be dried) to form a hydrate. For example, anhydrous MgSO4 is one of the drying agents. The drying agents are recognized by their capacity (the rate at which they absorb water) and their intensity (the amount of water left behind in the solvent at equilibrium). No chemical reaction or change in phase occurs during the drying process.

Type of Solvents

Apart from water (a universal solvent), there are three families of organic solvents used in laboratories.

1) Oxygenated solvents: Alcohols, Ketones, Glycol ethers, Glycol esters, etc.

2) Hydrocarbon solvents: Aliphatic and Aromatic hydrocarbons.

3) Halogenated solvents: Chlorinated hydrocarbons.

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.

Economy consideration: Economy consideration suggests that some tradeoff which is needed between the ideal research project and that which the budget can afford. The length of measuring tool is an important area where economic pressures are quickly felt. Even though more items give superior reliability, but in the interest of limiting the interview or observation time, the research worker is to take only a few items for his study purpose.

Bougainvillea plants are native of South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina (Chubut Province). A native to coastal Brazil, the bougainvillea was discovered in 1768 in Rio de Janeiro by French naturalist Dr. Philibert Commerçon (also sometimes spelled Commerson). The plant is named after his close friend and ship’s admiral Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, who commanded the ship La Boudeuse that sailed around the world between 1766-1769, and in which Commerçon was a passenger. Twenty years after Commerçon’s discovery, it was first published as ‘Buginvillea’ in Genera Plantarum by A.L. de Jusseau in 1789. The genus was subsequently spelt in several ways until it was finally corrected to ‘Bougainvillea’ in the Index Kewensis in the 1930s. Originally, B. spectabilis and B. glabra were hardly differentiated until the mid 1980s when botanists recognized them to be totally distinct species. Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd., a native of Brazil reported to be found wild in all provinces of that large country (Taillemite 1977, Forzza 2010). The oldest herbarium specimens of Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd. were collected during the brief stop of the Étoile in Rio de Janeiro. Two are kept in the General Herbarium of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris (P 00169376, images in Monnier et al. 1993 : 176 and Jolinon 2004 : 79; P 00307018), and two in the Jussieu Herbarium conserved in the same institution (PJuss.; IDC 6206, No. 

Introduction
Ecological behavioral responses encompass a diverse array of adaptive behaviors exhibited by organisms in response to their dynamic environments. This interdisciplinary field integrates concepts from ecology and behavioral science to unravel the intricate ways in which organisms interact with and respond to their surroundings. This abstract provides a concise overview of key aspects within this burgeoning field.Firstly, behavioral
responses to environmental stimuli are essential for the survival and reproduction of organisms. From foraging strategies and predator avoidance to mating rituals and territorial defense, the behaviors exhibited by individuals are often finely tuned to the ecological challenges they face. Understanding the mechanisms underlying these responses sheds light on the evolutionary processes shaping behavioral adaptations.Furthermore, the role of
communication in ecological behavior cannot be overstated. Species communicate through a variety of means, including visual displays, vocalizations, chemical signals, and tactile interactions. These communication strategies facilitate intra and inter-species interactions, influencing mating choices, warning of potential threats, and establishing social hierarchies. Another critical aspect of ecological behavioral responses is the ability of organisms to adjust their behaviors in the face of environmental changes. Whether prompted by alterations in climate, resource availability, or human-induced disturbances, organisms exhibit plasticity in their behaviors. Such adaptability is crucial for species survival and underscores the importance of considering behavioral responses in conservation efforts and environmental management.Moreover, the study of behavioral responses provides valuable insights into ecosystem dynamics.

Econometrics : Mathematics and sophisticated computing applied to economics. Econometricians crunch data in search of economic relationships that have statistical significance. Sometimes this is done to test a theory; at other times the computers churn the numbers until they come up with an interesting result. Some economists are fierce critics of theory-free econometrics.

Economic Appraisal : See Economic evaluation.

Economic Burden of Disease : See Cost of Illness.

Economic Competition : The effort of two or more parties to secure the business of a third party by offering, usually under fair or equitable rules of business practice, the most favorable terms.

Economic evaluation (Economic appraisal) : The comparison of alternative courses of action in terms of their costs and consequences, with a view to making a choice.

Economic Evaluation : The systematic appraisal of costs and benefits of projects, normally undertaken to determine the relative economic efficiency of programs. See also Cost-benefit analysis, Cost-effectiveness analysis, Cost-minimization analysis, Cost-utility analysis.

Economic indicator : A statistic used for judging the health of an economy, such as GDP per head, the rate of unemployment or the rate of inflation. Such statistics are often subject to huge revisions in the months and years after they are first published, thus causing difficulties and embarrassment for the economic policymakers who rely on them.