eChapters

The biotic component of earth is continuously and significantly affected by the abiotic components. Physical factors of the environment (temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind, solar radiation, light, atmospheric pressure, etc) surrounding the animal have influence on the production, reproduction and welfare of the animal. Livestock performance is best when environmental factors are optimum which is difficult to achieve due its variable nature. To this complex livestock-climate interaction, animal responds favorably by undergoing ‘adaptation’ or unfavorably by being under ‘stress’. Type and magnitude of stress due to physical environment depends on climatic factors of a particular area, animal adaptability, breed characteristics and managemental interventions by humans to minimize the losses. To understand the physical environment of livestock frequently used terms are mentioned below

Poultry sector in India has grown from a backyard activity into a major commercial activity in four and half decades. Poultry is one of the fastest growing subsectors of agricultural sector in India. Within the poultry sector, broiler production is growing faster than egg production and about 66.7% of the total output (in value term) comes from the poultry meat sector and only 33.3% from egg production (FAO, 2008). India ranks fifth in chicken and sixth in duck population. Presently, India is world’s third largest egg producer and the fifth major producer of chicken meat (FAO, 2010). Poultry is today the major source of meat in India. As per an estimate about 2 million people are employed, fully or partly, along the poultry value chain and that an increase in annual per caput availability of one egg or 50 gm or poultry meat generates about 20,000 to 25,000 full time jobs (Ciamarra & Otte, 2009). Distribution of chicken and duck population as well as poultry meat and egg production among different regions, countries of the world and among different Indian states has been already discussed in chapter one of this book.

Origin and Distribution of Camel

A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus of the family Camelidae bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as “humps” on its back. There are two species of camel, viz. Camelus dromedarius (single humped dromedary) having habitat in dry hot arid lands of Africa and Asia, and Camelus bacterianus (double humped or bactrian) habitat of cold arid lands of Central palaerctic (a zoogeographical region consisting of Europe, Africa north of the Sahara, and most of Asia north of the Himalayas) region. Family Camelidae also includes other species which are camel like mammals. Those are Lama (Lama glama), Alpaca (Lama pacos), Vicuna (Vicugna vicugna) and Guanaco (Lama guanicoe). These four species are termed as new-world Camelidae having habitat in South America. The Indian camel belongs to Camelus dromedarius. A very small numbers of double-humped camels are also available in Ladakh area of Jammu and Kashmir.

Camel is an important component of desert eco-system. It is capable of traveling long distance in hot, arid and sandy regions carrying men, material and providing energy to agricultural operations. They provide milk, meat, hair and used as work animals. It is believed that Camels were domesticated during the period from 3000 to 2500 BC. Average life expectancy of a camel is 40-50 years. The height at the shoulder and hump of a fully grown adult camel is 1.85 and 2.15 metres, respectively. Camel can run at a speed of up to 65km/h for a short distance and can sustain a speed of up to 40km/h for long distance.

Equines are herbivorous monogastric animals. Though, simple-stomached, they can digest considerable amount of fibrous feed in the caecum and are called as hindgut fermenters. Equine includes horse, donkey, zebra and mule which are used as work and pack animal. All three species of equine belongs to the family Equidae. The scientific name of Horse and Donkey is Equus caballus and Equus asinus, respectively. The horse was probably last farm animal domesticated by the man. Horses appear to have been domesticated first in central Asia or Persia, more than 3000 years ago.

The group of animals constantly used in laboratories for general research in all discipline of science is called as laboratory animals. Commonly, it includes rats, mice, rabbits and guinea pigs. However, under certain circumstances, additional animal species like hamsters, non-human primates, amphibians, fowl, sheep and pigs can also be included. This term incorporates traditional laboratory animals, farm animals, wildlife and aquatic animals. Nontraditional animals, inclusive of invertebrate species are also included where they are relevant to the unit’s mission. Generally, these animals come under vertebrate but broadly laboratory animals may be classified in two major groups i.e. laboratory mammals and non-mammalian laboratory animals. The laboratory mammals include mouse, rat, guinea pig, rabbit, cat, dog, ferret, gerbil, bats, hamster, mink and monkey (Rhesus). Beside these mammalians the large domestic animals/livestock are also used as laboratory animals (horse, cow, sheep, goat etc) for fulfilling the demands of various laboratories. Poultry is also used as non-mammalian laboratory animals and Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) chicks are at utmost demand for production and testing of biologicals. The other non-mammalian laboratory animals includes reptiles (tortoise, lizzards and snakes), insects (cockroach, drosophila, house fly, house cricket, locusts, tsetse fly, stablefly etc) pisces (fishes and snails) and amphibians (toad and frog). Laboratory animals have been used extensively for basic research in drug and bacteria screening, toxicology, antibiotic sensitivity testing, animal models of diseases and production/testing of biologicals. Laboratory mammals are also valuable for diagnosis of infectious diseases in man and domestic animals. In this chapter the most commonly used laboratory animals i.e. mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits will be discussed.

Origin and Domestication of Pigs

Pigs are nonruminant, even-toed ungulates and belong to suborder Suina which includes hippopotamuses, peccaries and pigs. All true pigs are members of the family Suidae which includes five living genera namely Sus, Babirousa (babyrusa), Hylochoerus (giant forest hog), Phacochoerus (warthog), and Potamochoerus (bushpig and red river hog) that can be called as pigs. European breeds are believed to be descendants of the European wild pig Sus scrofa and Asiatic or oriental breeds originated from the Eastern Asiatic banded pig, Sus vittatus a successor of Sus crystatus.

Origin and Domestication of Sheep

The domesticated sheep belongs to phylum-Chordata, class-Mammalia, order- Artiodactyla, family - Bovidae, sub-family - Caprinae, genus - Ovis and species- aries. They are hollow horned, cloven-hoofed ruminants of relatively smaller size. Sheep plays an important role in Indian agrarian economy as it is having multi facet utilities like meat, wool, skin, manure and to some extent milk and transport also. Marginal and sub-marginal lands of arid and semi-arid tropics are well adapted by sheep. Among the different wild species, Asiatic (Ovis orientalis) species of mouflon is considered to be the ancestor of present day sheep. Sheep were domesticated by man at around 9000 BC. The reference of role of sheep in the economy of mankind is found in the history of civilization of Mesopotamia, Mohen-jo-Daro and Harappa in Northern India.

Origin and Domestication of Goat

Goat is a cloven-hoofed, hollow-horned ruminant which is comparatively smaller in size and belongs to class Mammalia, order Artiodactyla, family Bovidae and genus either Capra (2N=60) or Hemitragus/tahrs (2N=48). The distinction between these two genera was previously based on horn structure but the distinction has been confirmed genetically. The domestic goat (Capra hircus/Capra aegagrus hircus) belongs to the genus Capra and has possibly developed from five wild ancestors. On the basis of available information, it is most likely that bezoar is the main ancestor of most domestic goats. However, there is slight likelihood that Markhor has been involved in the parentage of some of the Indian goat breeds.

Evolutionary biology indicates that domestication of goats started during Neolithic age and it was perhaps the first ruminant and first animal after dog to be domesticated by the man around 9000-7000 BC. Domestication was associated with three of the oldest civilizations namely- (i) the Nile in northeast Africa, (ii) the Tigris-Euphrates in west Asia, and (iii) the Indus in the Indian subcontinent. Archaeologists indicate that the goat was first domesticated in the “Fertile Crescent” (landmass which extends between the Black and Caspian seas along the coast of Palestine and forms arc like a quarter moon towards the Persian Gulf) of the eastern Mediterranean. Since their domestication, goats remained associated with variety of functions in various aspects of human life including food, employment, economics, folklore and religion.

Origin & Distribution of Cattle

All types of domestic cattle belongs to class Mammalia, subclass Ungulata, order Artiodactyla, suborder Ruminantia, family Bovidae, subfamily Bovinae, tribe Bovini, which includes genus Bos. The aurochs or urus (Bos primigenius) is the probable ancestor of most of the present day Bos taurus and Bos indicus cattle. The humped Bos primigenius namadicus were the forerunner of today’s zebu cattle while humpless Bos primigenius primigenius gave rise to modern European cattle. Both category of cattle possess the same number of chromosomes (2N=60). Other related animals in the Bovini tribe include the gaur cattle (Bos gaurus), banteng (Bos banteng), kouprey (Bos sauveli) of South and East Asia, bison (Bison bison) of North America, European bison (Bison bonasus) and the yak (Poephagus mutus) of central Asia. According to Payne & Hodges (1997), domestication of aurochs (Bos primigenius ) took place first probably on the lower mountain slopes in the region of western Asia known as the ‘fertile crescent’. They suggested that the first domestic cattle were humpless (Bos taurus) Hamitic Longhorn type and were domesticated around possibly 9000 BP (years before the present i.e. 1950). About 2000 years later the humpless (Bos taurus) shorthorn type evolved or was developed in the region and these two types of humpless cattle are believed to the ancestor of Bos taurus. Humped (Bos indicus) zebu cattle were domesticated in the northwest arid areas of the Fertile Crescent around c. 5000 BP.

Functions of Livestock Housing

The most important purpose of livestock production is to increase the conversion efficiency of feed energy into the livestock products like milk, eggs, meat, wool, hair, hides and skins, draught power and manure (fertilizer). Scientific housing of livestock is necessary in order to get higher productivity from them. A proper housing design/structure should alter/modify the micro-climate inside the house so that animals are least exposed to the extremes of climatic conditions. Moreover, it should also provide better control of diseases & parasites, desirable working conditions for farm staff & better living conditions for the animals, better integration of various routine farm practices, opportunity for higher labour efficiency at farm, protection from predators & thieves, opportunity to express species specific natural behavior patterns and it must not compromise the welfare of the animals. Some of these functions are discussed in subsequent sub-headings.

Livestock farming is an integral part of Indian agriculture system and vital source of livelihood particularly in the rural areas of the country. This sector has been the primary source of energy for agricultural operations (for land preparation, sowing, pulling bullock carts etc.) and major source of animal protein (mutton, chevon, chicken, pork, beef, eggs etc.) for majority of population. India has been habitate of major draught, milch and dual-purpose breeds of cattle as well as buffaloes. Besides their potential our indigenous as well as crossbred animals are unable to produce maximum output due to unavailability of adequate and nutritious feed and fodder throughout the year. The quantity and quality of forage production is directly proportional to the livestock health, production and productivity. There is colossal gap between demand and supply of good quality nutritious fodder. Besides, the availability of lesser area under cultivated fodder crops, the grazing lands also becoming smaller due to the degradation of the land, urbanization, industrial development and increased area under food production to fulfil the demand of increasing human population. To meet the nutritional requirement of such a huge population of indigenous, crossbreds as well as genetically upgraded animals, proper management and conservation of fodder and grasslands is necessary.

Animal Genetic Resources

Agricultural biodiversity is the product of thousand years of activity during which humans have sought to meet their needs in a wide range of climatic and ecological conditions. Well adapted livestock have been an essential element of agricultural production systems. For livestock keepers, animal genetic diversity is a resource to be drawn upon to select stocks and develop new breeds. More broadly, genetically diverse livestock populations provide society with a greater range of options to meet future demands, so the wise management of the world’s agricultural biodiversity is becoming an ever greater challenge for the international community. The livestock sector in particular is undergoing dramatic changes as large-scale production expands in response to surging demand for meat, milk and eggs (FAO, 2008).

Animal genetic resources (AnGR) include all animal species, breeds and strains that are of economic, scientific and cultural interest to humankind in terms of food and agricultural production for the present or the future. Domesticated animals are considered to be those species that are bred in captivity and modified from their wild ancestors to make them more useful to humans, who control their reproduction (breeding), care (shelter, protection against predators) and food supply (Diamond, 2002; Mignon-Grasteau, 2005). Only about 40 animal species have been domesticated since the Pleistocene. Common species include cattle, sheep, goat, chicken, duck, pig, horse, buffalo, rabbit, camel, donkey, elephants, various poultry species, reindeer, etc. All these AnGR are vital to the economic development of the majority of countries in the world playing an important role in the subsistence of many communities. Although only a subset of the diversity present in the ancestral species survived in the domestic counterparts, domestic livestock diversity has been continuously evolving.

Body Parts of Farm Animals

It is important to know about the various terms used to indicate different body parts of the animals so that whenever a description of the animal/body part is presented, one could specifically understand it. Some of the terms used to point out different body points of common livestock species have been shown in Figure 2.1.1-2.1.5. Terms which are more frequently used for different livestock species have been depicted in Table 2.1.1.

Taxonomic Classification of Common Livestock Species

A series of terms (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species etc) is used to denote the member of a kingdom and each division of the hierarchy contains one or more groups from the next lower division like subphyla, subclasses, suborders, subfamilies, or subgenera etc if required. Further, species may be subdivided into varieties, breeds, or strains. Domestic farm animals belong to either class Mammalia or Aves. The scientific name of an animal comprise of its genus and species names. The first letter of genus name is written in capital letter but not the species name. While writing the scientific name of an animal the genus and species names are underlined when handwritten and always italicized when printed. General characteristics and taxonomic arrangements of common domestic animals have been given below.

Kingdom : Animalia

Members of kingdom Animalia are multicellular, eukaryotic heterotrophs. Adult animals develop from embryos. Most animals ingest and digest their food in some kind of internal cavity.

Introduction

The Himalayan Moutains that is relatively a younger formation and geologically a very complex occupies most of the Arunachal Pradesh. The mountain terrain covers an area of about 86000 sq. km with elevation ranging from 400 to 6000 m above mean sea level (Satapathy and Dutta 1999). The wet tropical and sub-tropical climate which prevails in most part of the Arunachal Pradesh, there is usual phenomenon of erosion and land degradation by the action of water. It is estimated by the application of USLE for Arunachal Pradesh that the total amount of about 669.35 million tones of soil is eroded annually with an average rate of 90.7 tonnes /ha/year (Singh, 1999).

Arunachal Pradesh falls under upper Brahamaputra river system constituted by 10 major river basins. They are Tawang, Kameng, Dikrong, Subansiri, Siang, Sesseri, Dibang-Tellu, and Tirap-Tiso. In Arunachal Pradesh, Dikrong river is named after joining of two main rivers Pachin and Para . In the catchments of Dikrong river light textured unstable soils with the prevalent practice of Jhum Cultivation makes the entire catchments susceptible to erosion. In every monsoon the river Dilrong carries tremendous amount of silt, gravel, small boulder and causes flood in some parts of the catchments susceptible to erosion. Singh (1999) observed that loss rate through Dikrong River was 100.98 tones/ha/year. This indicates serious threat to soil resources and there is need for urgent treatment for sediment control in Dikrong river bash.

Introduction

The Rispana river is a order of stream forming a tributary of Ganga. Its watershed covers an area of approximately 53.6 Km in the northern part of Dehradun city lies between 78^º30’ to 78^º15⁰’ longitude and 30^º15’ to 30^º 30’ latitude in top sheet No is 1/3. The area is covered in IRS - IC Pan of 13 Jan 1998 and LISS-III of 7 March 1997.

The Doon Valley is enriched with numerous seasonal and perennial streams. Which forms the lifetime or the inhabitants . The Rispana river is the part of the Ganga system of Drainage of the valley. The river originates from the Mussoorie hills, which are full of natural springs. The droplets from the springs collect and form numerous streamlets and these streamlets are joined to be these and they form the famous Shekhar Falls (north of Shahanshai Ashram about 5 Km away). Then the Rispana flows along Rajpur road over the Doon Gravels and then river passes through the tiny hamlets Nalapani, Raipur, Chanderroad, Defence colony, Amwala, Tapowan, Dandadhoran Adohiwala, Dalanwala, Gujram, Ajabpur and finally its contribute the water to the suswa River which intern joins the Ganga.

Introduction

On 26^th December 2004, the Indian coastline experienced the most devastating tsunami in recorded history. The tsunami was triggered by an earthquake of magnitude Mw 9.3 at 3.316ºN, 95.854°E off the coast of Sumatra in the Indonesian Archipelago at 06:29 hrs making it the most powerful in the world in the last 40 years. In recent years increasing the vulnerability to natural disasters of developing countries is a major reason for concern. The potential loss of human lives and property due to natural hazards is very high in the urban areas of these countries. The Information obtained from conventional tsunami hazard maps does not always provide sufficient data for users .needs. The difficulty in presenting more significant information on tsunami hazard maps in conventional paper format is due to the limited available physical space of that format. Printing more information on such paper maps tends to confuse rather than provide more needed information to users. Furthermore, these kinds of maps provide little opportunity for users to ask for additional information, to determine the relationships between different kinds of information and important quantitative analyses. Furthermore, Tsunami hazards have important temporal attributes. Presenting these attributes on the map; e.g. the sequence of volcanic eruptions in a region or the frequency of tsumani in a particular area during a particular period of time is very difficult.

Introduction

The state of Maharashtra now again reels under the scarcity of water. Geologically, major part of the state is covered by Deccan basaltic flows. This basaltic terrain, as such, has been labelled notorious as far as the availability of groundwater is concerned. Uncertain availability of groundwater in the terrain is due to heterogeneity in the nature of piles of basaltic flows which adversely affects the geohydrological characters of the rocks.

The area understudy is unfortunately, a part of basaltic terrain in which no storage structures like major dams or medium projects have been constructed across the existing rivers. Consequently, the irrigation in the area and domestic needs of the people solely depend on whatever water is available in the existing dug wells. The wells do not suffice the need of the people because the percolation of water in the wells is not adequate in major part.

Introduction

Earthquakes are the most destructive among all the natural hazards. Most of the time, they occur without any warning, which makes them most feared and unpredictable natural phenomena. Globally, on an average two earthquakes of magnitude 8 are known to occur every year. Some of the countries like Japan, China and United States have suffered several damaging earthquakes in the past. India has also experienced a number of high intensity earthquakes in the recent past and more than 650 earthquakes of magnitude >5.0 have been reported in India since 1890. Sixty-nine earthquakes in Delaware (U.S.A.) have been documented or suspected since 1871. Refer to Baxter (2000) for more details about the DGS Seismic Network and for documentation of earthquakes. In the 1930s Charles Richter developed a magnitude scale (Richter scale) which was an objective way of discriminating between large and small shocks using the seismic wave amplitude recorded by seismographs (Richter, 1958).

Introduction

A disaster is the result of an immediate situation or the result of a long, set process, which disrupts normal human life in its established social, traditional and economic system. This is due to the destruction of environment which is caused by extraordinary natural destructive phenomena or human-induced hazards resulting in human hardship and suffering beyond recovery unless external aid is brought in.