Biochemical Changes in Freshwater Prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii During Larval Development

Abstract.— Quantitative changes in the protein, lipid and carbohydrate were studied in the early larval stages of developing freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii reared under fed and starved conditions to understand the relative importance of these nutrients in energy metabolism of the growing larvae. Larvae obtained from several females were stocked into three 250-L tanks at a density of 30 larvae/L. The feeding regime consisted of newly hatched Artemia nauplii. Protein was always the major organic constituent followed by lipids and then carbohydrates of both fed and starved larvae. Protein levels of both fed and starved larvae increased during development, suggesting an important role in morphogenesis. The decline of lipid during the larval growth that was more rapid for starved larvae, suggests a probable utilization of lipid as the major metabolic source of energy. Carbohydrates formed less than 5 and 2.4% of the larval dry weight of fed and starved larvae, respectively, suggesting their limited role in larval metabolism.     

Implementation of herd health program to improve survival of Boer goats in Malaysia

A Boer goat breeding farm with 800 heads of breeder females, 50 breeder males, and 400 growing goats of various ages in Sabah, Malaysia was selected to study the effect of implementing herd health program. This included vaccination program against pneumonic mannheimiosis; fecal monitoring for helminthiasis, coccidiosis, and colibacillosis; and introduction of modified feeding regime comprised of day-time grazing and feeding of cut grass and supplemented feed. The herd health program was implemented in September 2007 and the impact was observed on body weight gains, body scoring, and annual mortality among adults and kids. It was found that implementation of herd health program significantly (p < 0.05) increased the average body weight gains in both adults and kids from 1.8 g per kid and 0.6 g per adult in 2006 to 3.7 g per kid and 2.2 g per adult in 2008. The percentage of adults with body scoring of <3 was significantly (p < 0.05) reduced from 82.3% in 2006 to 77.6% in 2007 and 4% in 2008. Similarly, the annual mortality rate was significantly (p < 0.05) reduced from 6.5% among kids and 58.2% among adults in 2006 to 12.1% among kids and 10.4% among adults in 2007, and to 9.1% among kids and 1.1% among adults in 2008. Therefore, it was concluded that implementation of herd health program significantly improved the survival and performance of goats.     

Clinical assessment and grading of back pain in horses

BackgroundThe clinical presentation of horses with back pain (BP) vary considerably with most horse''s willingness to take part in athletic or riding purpose becoming impossible. However, there are some clinical features that are directly responsible for the loss or failure of performance.ObjectivesTo investigate the clinical features of the thoracolumbar region associated with BP in horses and to use some of the clinical features to classify equine BP.MethodsTwenty-four horses comprised of 14 with BP and 10 apparently healthy horses were assessed for clinical abnormality that best differentiate BP from normal horses. The horses were then graded (0–5) using the degree of pain response, muscular hypertonicity, thoracolumbar joint stiffness and overall physical dysfunction of the horse.ResultsThe common clinical features that significantly differentiate horses with BP from non-BP were longissimus dorsi spasm at palpation (78.6%), paravertebral muscle stiffness (64.3%), resist lateral bending (64.3%), and poor hindlimb impulsion (85.7%). There were significantly (p < 0.05) higher scores for pain response to palpation, muscular hypertonicity, thoracolumbar joint stiffness and physical dysfunction among horses with BP in relation to non-BP. A significant relationship exists between all the graded abnormalities. Based on the cumulative score, horses with BP were categorized into mild, mild-moderate, moderate and severe cases.ConclusionsBP in horse can be differentiated by severity of pain response to back palpation, back muscle hypertonicity, thoracolumbar joint stiffness, physical dysfunctions and their cumulative grading score is useful in the assessment and categorization of BP in horses.     

Comparative evaluation of different therapeutic protocols for contagious caprine pleuropneumonia in Himalayan Pashmina goats

Tropical Animal Health and Production - Therapeutic management of contagious caprine pleuroneumonia (CCPP) involves mostly the use of oxytetracycline followed by enrofloxacin and rarely tylosin. In...     

Periodic vicissitudes of different concentrations of a developed prototype killed S. aureus mastitis vaccine on immune modulators,mediators and immunoglobulins in cows

Tropical Animal Health and Production - Mastitis is the inflammation of the mammary gland due to microbial infiltration causing a reduced mammary function. This study aims at developing a vaccine...     

Pantoea: a newly identified causative agent for leaf blight disease in rice

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - Leaf blight is one of the most serious threats to rice agroecosystems worldwide, and the yield reduction due to this disease can be as high as 70%. For...     

Assessment of gut microbiota in different developmental stages of Malaysian Mahseer (Tor tambroides)

Malaysian Mahseer (Tor tambroides) has a good prospect for aquaculture because of its high market demand. However, there is a scarce information on gut microbiota associated with Malaysian Mahseer unlike other fish species. Therefore, we constructed and compared gut microbiota in different developmental stages (larval, juvenile, fingerling, yearling, and adult) using culture dependent and PCR‐DGGE fingerprinting technique for better understanding of gut microbiota composition associated with T. tambroides. Culturable gut microbiota composition in all developmental stages were composed of β‐ and γ‐Proteobacteria, and Bacilli. Biodiversity analysis of culturable gut microbiota showed that larval, juvenile, and adult stages have higher diversity than fingerling and yearling stages. Ward's linkage cluster analysis showed that culturable gut microbiota composition in larval and juvenile stages were close to adult stages, whereas fingerling and yearling stage composed same cluster. PCR‐DGGE fingerprinting technique showed that unculturable gut microbiota were constituted by α‐and γ‐Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria. Ward's linkage cluster analysis showed that unculturable gut microbiota composition in both larval and juvenile stages were distinct from other developmental stages. Our results revealed that gut microbiota composition were varied in different developmental stages of Malaysian Mahseer and continuous shifts of gut microbiota from larval to adult stages.     

Unravelling the diversity and assemblage of phytoplankton in homestead ponds of central coastal belt,Bangladesh

Homestead ponds may offer an ideal opportunity in contribution to household income, fish consumption through fish culture. Phytoplankton plays a key indicator in pond productivity. However, the phytoplankton communities in the homestead ponds are nearly undetermined in Bangladesh. This study summarizes the phytoplankton diversity, assemblage and ecological parameters of the homestead ponds in central coastal belt, Bangladesh, based on two seasons. The results revealed that significant differences (p < .05) were found in pH, DO, conductivity, TDS, nitrates, phosphates and sulphates except temperature in monsoon, and transparency in both seasons. A total of 34 phytoplankton genera representatives of five major groups were recorded such as Euglenophyceae (41.5%), Chlorophyceae (30.5%), Cyanophyceae (13%), Dinophyceae (10%) and Bacillariophyceae (5%). A significant difference (p < .05) in phytoplankton abundance was found in both seasons with the highest mean of 186.13 ± 129.34 × 10⁴ cells L^?1 in monsoon and the lowest mean of 144.40 ± 107.26 × 10⁴ cells L^?1 during winter. The diversity (H'), evenness (J'), richness (d) and dominance (D) ranged from 1.62 to 2.47, 0.52 to 0.97, 0.37 to 1.15 and 0.10 to 0.28 respectively. Based on SIMPER, the most dominant (>10%) genera for dissimilation within stations and seasons were Euglena spp., Phacus spp., Chlorella spp., Strombomonas spp. and Peridinium spp. ANOSIM results stated that 12 genera of phytoplankton were significant contributors based on average dissimilarity. Pearson's correlation coefficient and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) revealed that phytoplankton abundance, diversity and community were mainly governed by transparency, dissolved oxygen and nitrates.     

Effectiveness of single and combined use of selected dietary probiotic and prebiotics on growth and intestinal conditions of striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus,Sauvage, 1978) juvenile

Aquaculture International - Single or combined effect of yeast, galactooligosaccharide (GOS), mannanoligosaccharide (MOS), and β-glucan was evaluated on the growth performance, nutrient...