eChapters

Introduction
Animal sector is growing very fast particularly in India as people’s purchasing power is increasing day by day. With increase in income, people’s dietary habit is shifting towards more animal origin products. The use of antibiotics for animal food production is growing very fast and India is the 4th largest country in the world regarding consumption of antibiotics in veterinary and animal husbandry sector. There is urgent need of AMR mitigation strategies to reduce the effect on human and animal health. As per the World Bank AMR can affect the global GDP upto 3.8% by 2050. Most of the countries in the world are very cautious regarding antibiotic residues and rejecting the livestock products which lead to economic loss. Many world agencies/forum such as CodexAMR Guidelines, UN Political Declaration on AMR Guidelines, Global Leaders Group on AMR reiterated judicious use of antibiotics. All-India Network Project on AMR inLivestock and Fisherieswas started in India to reduce the effect of AMR by educational awareness, adoption at field level, surveillance system and diagnosis but it didn’t meet out the desired outcome. Capacity building programmes in the field of AMR by training, reform in curriculum, collaboration from different fields of professionals can mitigate the harmful effect of AMR. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), education and training play pivotal roles in translating knowledge into practical implementation, warranting the inclusion of Antimicrobial Use and AMR as integral components in professional education, postgraduate training, and continuing education within the food and agricultural sectors Training Strategies It involve Antimicrobial Stewardship training for healthcare professionals, public awareness campaigns, farmer education, and veterinary training on responsible antimicrobial use. Other critical elements include fostering collaboration through professional networks, building surveillance capacity, utilizing AI-driven tools for better decision-making, and promoting hygiene and infection prevention to reduce infection incidence and the need for antibiotics.
Training for Healthcare Professionals
There is substantial evidence that both healthcare workers and members of the public have knowledge gaps about appropriate use of antibiotics and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. Surveillance is a prerequisite to estimate the magnitude of the AMR burden and to establish any intervention strategies, such as antimicrobial stewardship. In order to launch successful intervention approaches through cooperative efforts from different stakeholders (e.g., international agencies, human and veterinary medicine sectors, agriculture and animal production industries, and consumers), the existing knowledge gap needs to be addressed first.

Livestock sector has emerged as one of the key components of agricultural growth in developing countries in last few decades. This sector plays a significant role in the economic progress of India as it contributes 26% to the agricultural GDP and provides employment to around 18 million people. Over 70% of the rural households in India depends on livestock farming for supplementary income and is considered as an important instrument in poverty alleviation. It provides the major extra contribution to agriculture through manure, fuel fertilizer, apart from meat and milk that grant a regular supplementary income and employment not only to producers but also to huge size of the population engaged in secondary and tertiary business related to livestock. The economy of Jammu and Kashmir is also agriculture dependent and is the main occupation of majority of the rural people who earn their livelihood from it. Census figures 2011 signify that about 73% of the population of J&K lives in rural areas and are associated with agriculture and allied sectors including livestock rearing as main occupation.

Small ruminant sector, after agriculture, is the second largest means for economic sustainability and livelihood in India. It contributed Rs. 32000 crore to the gross domestic product of India in 2012 -13 despite having a potential to contribute over Rs. 150,000 crore but there are certain lacunae in system which act as its growth inhibitor. Small ruminants are the main source for rural economies due to participation of women (70% of total) and weaker sections of the rural society. Thus there is urgent need for formulating policies to support the development of the small ruminant sector.
 
Sheep and goat husbandry is a tool for poverty alleviation of the rural masses because of wide adaptability with low investments, high fertility and fecundity, low feed and management costs, higher feed conversion efficiency, quick pay off and low risk in comparison to large ruminants. The above traits of small ruminants need to be exploited for economic upliftment of small farmers.

ALL LIVING ORGANISMS ARE MADE UP OF UNITS CALLED CELLS

All living creatures are made from 1 or more cells

All cells are produced from previously existing cells (no spontaneous generation)

All cells appear to be descended from the first cell which existed about 4 billion years ago

For a species to exist its reproductive cells must be potentially immortal (no aging)

Our bodies start from a single cell and contain about 100,000,000,000,000 (10^14) cells at maturity

I. WALL COMPONENTS – CHEMISTRY

The main ingredient in cell walls are polysaccharides (or complex carbohydrates or complex sugars) which are built from monosaccharides (or simple sugars). Eleven sugars are common in these polysaccharides including like glucose and galactose. Carbohydrates are good building blocks because they can produce a nearly infinite variety of structures. There are a variety of other components in the wall including protein, and lignin. Let’s look at these wall components in more detail:

A. Cellulose: β1,4-glucan (structure provided in class). Made of as many as 25,000 individual glucose molecules. Every other molecule (called residues) is “upside down”. Cellobiose (glucose-glucose disaccharide) is the basic building block. Cellulose readily forms hydrogen bonds with itself (intra-molecular H-bonds) and with other cellulose chains (inter-molecular H-bonds). A cellulose chain will form hydrogen bonds with about 36 other chains to yield a microfibril. This is somewhat analogous to the formation of a thick rope from thin fibers. Microfibrils are 5-12 nm wide and give the wall strength - they have a tensile strength equivalent to steel. Some regions of the microfibrils are highly crystalline while others are more “amorphous”.

Cell mediated immune response (CMI) is the major defense mechanism against intracellular microbes and tumor cells. It is mediated mainly by T lymphocytes. T cells originate in bone marrow but the maturation of T cells occurs in thymus.

Cell mediated immune response performs different functions in protecting the immune system. When antigens are destroyed by cells, without producing antibodies, the immunity is called cell-mediated immunity (CMI) or cellular immunity. In this immunity T cells play a major role. The principal role of cell mediated immunity is to detect and eliminate the cells that have intracellular pathogens. When the antigen remains inside the cell the antibody cannot handle them. The intracellular pathogens are controlled by cell- mediated immunity. CMI is invited by the recognition of antigens by T cells. T cell lymphocytes recognize protein antigens of intracellular microbes that are displayed on the cell surface of infected cells. It is also important for elimination of cells which express foreign MHC molecules. Antigen specific and nonspecific cells can contribute to the cell-mediated immune response. The activities of both specific and non-specific components usually depend on effective local concentration of cytokines.

This chapter describes the cells, tissues and organs responsible for immune defence. It examines lymphocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, neutrophils, mast cells, natural killer cells and plasma cells, emphasizing their respective functions. Primary and secondary lymphoid organs—including bone marrow, thymus, bursa of Fabricius, spleen, lymph nodes and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue—are discussed. The chapter also covers lymphocyte maturation, antigen presentation, phagocytosis, immune-cell surface markers and the organization of lymph-node regions. Positive and negative selection of T lymphocytes and the formation of memory cells are included. Together, these topics explain how immune components develop, communicate and coordinate effective responses against infectious agents.

Food safety scientifically describes various methods of handling, preparation and storage of food to prevent any foodborne illnesses. However, it is important to check the safety between industry, market and the consumer. From the food industry to the market the practices relating to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues are important to be looked into and the policies on biotechnology. The governmental imports and exports needs to be given proper guidelines. Certification systems and Inspection for foods need to be installed which should be clean and corruption free. When all this is properly considered the food could be safe in the market. This may allow for safe delivery and safe preparation of the food for the consumers. Many diseases are transmitted by food which serves as a growth medium for bacteria and cause food poisoning. In the developed countries it has been observed that there are many intricate standards for food preparation. However, in the developing countries the availability of adequate safe water itself is a question. It is possible to prevent food poisoning to 100%. An ordinance and code regulation in US (1943)was given.

Chemotherapy in Parasitology deals with the treatment of disease caused by different parasites by specific drugs; meanwhile particular drug has got the particular action against the particular parasite. Recently chemotherapy is a extensively used and emerging branch for the control of different stages of parasites that is normally not killed by the conventional methods of treatment. Thus, chemotherapy plays an important role in the treatment and control of parasitic infections by avoiding the outcome of the danger of the disease by treatment of the affected animals. They should have the maximum parasitotrophic action and minimum organotrophic action. It is mainly divided into two types: 1) Rational therapy: It is a mode of treatment based on the pharmacological actions of drugs with relation to disease. 2) Supportive therapy: It is a method of treatment other than drugs, e.g. giving high protein diet in the oedematous condition such as bottle jaw in fascioliosis and amphistomiosis. The drugs used for the killing or complete removal of the parasites from the body of the host called antiparasitic drugs.

Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular bacteria with an unusual developmental cycle during which unique infectious forms are produced. They replicate within cytoplasmic vacuoles in host cells. On account of their apparent inability to generate ATP, with resultant dependence on host cell metabolism, they have been termed ‘energy parasites’.
The family Chlamydiaceae belongs to the order Chlamydiales. Currently two genera, Chlamydia and Chlamydophila, and nine species are described. Formerly a single genus and four species, Chlamydia trachomatis, C. psittaci, C. pneumoniae and C. pecorum, were recognised. This classification was based on phenotypic characteristics such as host preference, inclusion morphology, iodine staining for the presence of glycogen, and sulphonamide susceptibility. However, recent nucleic acid sequencing studies of the 16s and 23s rRNA genes confirm two distinct lineages.
In the developmental cycle of chlamydiae, infectious and reproductive forms are morphologically distinct. Infectious extracellular forms, called elementary bodies (EBs) are small (200 to 300 nm), metabolically inert and osmotically stable. Each EB is surrounded by a conventional bacterial cytoplasmic membrane, a periplasmic space and an outer envelope containing lipopolysaccharide.
The periplasmic space does not contain a detectable peptidoglycan layer and the EB relies on disulphide cross-linked envelope proteins for osmotic stability. Elementary bodies enter host cells by receptor-mediated endocytosis. Acidification of the endosome and fusion with lysosomes are prevented by mechanisms which are not fully understood. A process of structural reorganization within the pathogen, of several hours duration, results in the conversion of an EB into a reticulate body (RB). The RB, about 1 μm in diameter, is metabolically active, osmotically fragile and replicates by binary fission within the endosome. The endosome and its contents, when stained, is called an inclusion. When a number of inclusions containing RBs of C.trachomatis are formed in an infected cell, fusion of these structures may
occur.

Chromosomes are giant molecules of DNA

Found in nucleus: never leave except in cell division

Carry hereditary units, genes

Two homologous copies in diplod cells

Unwind when replicating or making RNA

Wind up (condense) in cell division

Attach to spindle and separate in meiosis & mitosis

Crossing over in prophase of 1st meiotic division

Chromosomes are equally distributed in mitosis, meiosis

Gametes have half the number of chromosomes as body cells

Sister chromatids are observed to split apart longitudinally in anaphase

Classification of Organisms
Over the years, scientists have developed several systems for the classification of organisms. Greek phlosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) grouped life forms as either plants or animals. Microscopic organisms were unknown at that time. Fungi were included in plants. Aristotle’s system distinguished only between plants and animals on the basis of movement, feeding mechanism, and growth patterns. In 1735, Carolus Linnaeus formalized the use of two Latin names to identify each organism, a system called Binomial nomenclature. He grouped closely related organisms and introduced the modern classification groups: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. At that time singlecelled organisms were observed but not classified. This classification had two kingdoms.
Plantae: containing Plants and Fungi
Animalia: containing Animals
In 1866, Ernst Haeckel proposed a third kingdom- Protista, to include all single-celled organisms like amoebas and diatoms. Some taxonomists also placed simple multicellular organisms, such as seaweeds, in Kingdom Protista.
In 1938, Herbert Copeland proposed a fourth kingdom, Monera, to include only bacteria. This was the first classification proposal to separate prokaryotes from eukaryotes, at the kingdom level.
In 1957, Robert H. Whittaker proposed a fifth kingdom –Fungi.Fungi do not ingest food as animals do, nor do they make their own food, as plants do. They secrete digestive enzymes around their food, breaking it down before absorbing it into their cells.

Taxonomy (biological systematics) is the branch of science which deals with classification of units or individuals on the basis of similarities and differences. The classification, nomenclature, and identification are three interrelated components of bacterial taxonomy (Cowan, 1965).

Classification: Classification is the arrangement of bacteria into groups (taxa) based on the similarities of certain characteristics. Presently 11,000 bacterial species is classified. At the current rate of 600 bacterial species / year it is estimated to take 1000 years to classify all the bacteria!

Nomenclature: It is the assignment of specific names to the taxonomic groups following the regulations mentioned in ‘International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria’ (Euzeby, 1997). International committee on systematic bacteriology (International committee on systematics of prokaryotes, ICSP) standardizes the code. The committee is helped by a number of taxonomic subcommittees on different groups of bacteria. The Code can be amended by the Judicial Commission. The Code contains general considerations, principles, rules and recommendations on the naming of prokaryotes (bacteria) up to the rank of ‘Class’.

The genus Clostridium consists of gram positive, spore forming anaerobic bacilli. The spores are wider than the bacillary bodies, giving the bacillus a swollen appearance, resembling a spindle. Hence, the name clostridium (Kloster- meaning spindle) was given.
Systematics
Domain : Bacteria
Phylum : Firmicutes
Class : Clostridia
Order : Clostridiales
Family : Clostridiaceae
Genus : Clostridium
The clostridia can be divided into four major groups according to the kind of
disease they produce. They are as follows.

Cloud computing and Edge AI provide complementary infrastructure for intelligent livestock management. Cloud platforms offer scalable storage, centralized analytics, model training and integration of data from sensors, cameras, automated feeders and farm-information systems. Edge AI processes information close to the farm, reducing latency, bandwidth consumption and response time. This chapter explains their architectures, workflows and applications in dairy, poultry, swine and small-ruminant production. Uses include disease detection, estrus prediction, behavioural monitoring, feeding and environmental control. Hybrid cloud-edge systems balance centralized intelligence with local autonomy. Challenges involving connectivity, interoperability, cybersecurity, cost, model reliability and ethical animal surveillance are also critically examined.