The livestock and agriculture sectors con t r ibu te s ign i f i can t ly towards addressing the human food needs. As a matter of fact, these sectors are lifeline of our food security and are integral part of our traditional culture.Traditionally livestock and agriculture co-existed and contributed towards rural sustenance, healthy soil and clean environment. The current disconnect between the two has led to concerns for the food and energy security, decline in soil and human health. Needless to mention, it has also contributed towards global warming. The young budding vets will have key role in integrating the agriculture and livestock sectors.On the occasion of Ayurvet's 20 successful years in the industry, we took initiative to integrate the agriculture and livestock sectors by organizising the knowledge symposium. We thank all the vets, policy planners and media for their untiring support. We stand committed to use of traditional knowledge clubbed with modern research. We look forward for your support in our future endeavour.

Dr. Anup Kalra

Volume 05 Issue 06 MARCH-APRIL 2015

2 3 6 85

Metrological department reports that the rain fall in this year of March, has beaten all previous records of last 100 years. Rains and hailstorms have caused severe damage to the standing crops and shattered farmers dream of golden harvest. Farmer(s) hope to pay back debts are washed away with rains. Once again the farmer(s) agony and unending miseries have heated up debate on TV and making front page news. Agrarian crisis and farming distress is not new to the country. Since independence, almost three generations have lived with it and filled granaries to feed the billion and a quarter population. The cause and effect of agrarian crisis and farming distress is well known. All policy planner(s) and experts, agree on diagnosis, it is perhaps the line of treatment where there is difference of opinion and disagreement. The treatment is producing more side effects than relieving the distress? The fourth generation of Indian farmer (Jai–Kisan) is hard pressed and ready to leave farming and move to metro's to find jobs. Crop based agriculture in any form is high investment, high risk and low return activity? Right from land preparation, seed, fertilizer, weedicides, insecticides, pesticides, irrigation to crop harvest, everything cost money and at the end, returns are not always adequate to pay for every cost. Sometimes net is even negatives! The approach to find “Sustainable Means” to mitigate agrarian crisis and farming distress perhaps is embedded in our traditional wisdom and virtues of indian agriculture and farming system adopted by our forefathers. This fulfils the vital needs of 5F: food for human, feed & fodder for animals, fuel for cooking and energy needs and organic humus rich fertilizers to rejuvenate the soil. The traditional wisdom of managing 5 basic elements (Pancha-tatva) Prithvi, Jal, Vayu, Agni and Akaash in a manner that no toxic residues are left, is to be restored not just to alleviate the agrarian crisis but to address the brewing storm on account of soil deterioration and toxic residues(s) built up,

In Cattle

Curbing GHG Emissions

Dear Vets,

Animal husbandry is an integral part of the Indian

Agriculture. They jointly contribute towards

sustainable farm profits. The recent agrarian

crises and farming distress indicates that the

linkage of agriculture and animal husbandry needs to be further

strengthened towards sustainable development. On one hand the

farmers feel that the crop based agriculture is high investment,

high risk and low return activity, while animal husbandry

provides them daily income and supports fuel and fertilizers

needs.

I feed that as veterinarians, we should look at broadening our

roles and look beyond treatment of the animals. We should look at

improving sustainable farm profits, as part of our role.

We at Ayurvet are committed to support you and join hands with

you in this direction. We will look forward for your views in this

direction. We look forward for your contribution in form of articles

and suggestions for further improvement.

We hope you will enjoy reading the same.

Dr. Anup Kalra

Recent Rains & Hail Storms; Agrarian Crisis and Farmers Distress

Contd. on page 7...

RMAI Flame Awards 2014

Ayurvet winsRole of Indigenious Cattle

Climate ChangeExploring Successful Solutions

Infertility To Increase 140 Millon Doses by 2021-22

India's Semen Production

Agrarian crisis and farming distress is not new to the country. Since independence, almost three generations have lived with it and filled granaries to feed the billion and a quarter population. The cause and effect of agrarian crisis and farming distress is well known. Al l pol icy planner(s) and experts, agree on diagnosis, it is perhaps the line of treatment where there is difference of opinion and disagreement.

M. J. SaxenaManaging Director, Ayurvet Ltd

!Livestock and dairy farming provide means of sustenance for the farmer

family.

!Farmer with 5 milch animals on his/her backyard can always add to the daily

income, provide bio-gas for cooking need and precious fertilizers to enrich the soil.

!Crop residues burning and usage as fuel for industrial power generation

should be strictly enforced and totally stopped.

!Oil cakes are important source of protein for animals.

!The National Mission for Protein Security to fight Malnutrition can be

accomplished by reserving oil cakes for animal feeding to support for milk,

meat and egg production.

!Talab, Pokhra's and Bawlie(s) should be revived and fish culture

introduced in the villages on community model.

!Knowledge, science and technology, when used responsibly with

thoughtful wisdom has always helped in finding solutions to raise the

welfare and living standard of people.

!Investment in technology to make agriculture and livestock farming

climate change resistant should be supported under PPP model for the

benefit sharing with farmer.

!India is the largest producer of milk in the world, largest exporter of buffalo

meat, third largest in Egg production, second largest producer of Aqua.

degradation of water resources due to contaminants, air quality pollutants. All together, posing serious health risk and threat for environment.In the current scenario of agrarian crisis, and to alleviate farming distress following 7 measures can bring short as well long term relief.

Management of Summer Stress in Livestock for Improving Farm Profits

Page 2

ASK THE EXPERT

Q. What is organic livestock management?Yogesh, U.P.

A. Organic livestock management aims to utilize natural breeding methods, stress minimization methodologies to prevent disease and thus eliminating dependency on chemical allopathic drugs to maintain animal health and welfare.

Q. What is vermicompost? Ganesh, SirsaA. Vermicompost refers to organic manure produced by

earthworms. It is a mixture of worm castings (faecal excretions), organic material including humus, live earthworms, their cocoons and other organisms. Vermicomposting is an appropriate cost effective and efficient recycling technique for the disposal of non-toxic solid and liquid organic wastes.

Q. What is animal cloning? Ramesh, GurgaonA. Cloning is an assisted reproductive technology that

allows livestock breeders to create identical twins of their best animals. This breeding technique does not change the genetic makeup of the animal. The most common procedure used today is known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), which makes it possible to produce many animals from a single donor. SCNT involves transferring the genetic information from one animal into an empty oocyte, or egg. This process results in an embryo, which is implanted into a surrogate mother who carries the pregnancy to term.

Q. I am looking for the details about the benefits of Hydroponic fodder in animal feeding. Please suggest. Satish, Gonda

A. Hydroponic Green Feed is a special type of fodder which provides green seeds and roots. This is rich in protein and minerals as compared to conventional fodder. This technology does not require any soil and very little water. The experiments have proved that feeding of hydroponics green feed has been found to be useful in animal health and milk production.

Q. I want to prevent mastitis in my dairy farm. Please guide. Pradeep, Delhi

A. Mastitis is a dreaded production disease which causes huge economic losses to the diary farmers. It is a managemental disease caused mostly due to lack of barn hygiene and cleanliness. Keep you animals in cool, dry and clean place and avoid any kind of stress to animals. Balanced ration should be provided with adequate minerals supplementation. Milk the animal by using all the five fingers which is the correct method of milking. Regular screening of farm with Mastrip to detect subclinical mastitis is utmost important.

Ayurvet Wins RMAI Flame Awards 2014 Towards its Contribution in Rural Marketing Initiatives

The three-day Agri-Leadership Summit was organized at th th

Gurgaon during 13 -15 March 2015 by the Government

of Haryana. The Summit was inaugurated by the Hon'ble

Chief Minister of Haryana, Shri. Manohar Lal Khattar

and Hon'ble Union Minister, Shri. Nitin Gadkari. This

event was attended by lakhs of progressive farmers from

different states of the Country. There were participations

from representatives and agro-related companies of

various nations. Many companies from Farm machinery,

seeds, fertilizers, irrigation and other agriculture

technology segments were also showcased their

technology.An animal fair was organized in the event in which

animals like horse, goat, bull & different varieties of

milk producing cows & buffaloes were displayed. Apart

from the animal fair, other key features of the summit

were generating awareness & educating progressive

farmers about agriculture science and source available of

soil micronutrients, to balance the micro-nutrients in the

soil. Shri. Dhankar stressed on the promotion of desi cows

and benefits of A2 milk with abundance of high

nutritional value present in the milk of our desi cows. He

further stated, with the steps like this, prosperity would

Ayurvet was conferred with the prestigious RMAI Flame

Awards 2014 under the category of agriculture/dairy

Initiative of the year.

The award was presented at prestigious ceremony held at thTaj Vivanta, Dwarka in New Delhi on 20 March 2015.

It is worth mentioning that the Ayurvet was the only

company in the animal health sector, which received this

prestigious award amongst various Government and

renowned corporate houses.

This would help in strengthening brand Ayurvet and its

specialities in Indian market and will also help us to work

more proactively towards the conservation of natural

resources, welfare of the farmers and to improve their

farm profits sustainably.

AYURVET NEWS

MARCH-APRIL 2015

Dr. Anup Kalra receiving award from Mr. George Angelo, Executive Director (Sales)-Dabur India Ltd and Secretary, RMAI

Farmers at Ayurvet stall

Excerpts of MD Ayurvet's Interview with eFeedlink; VIV Asia 2015extension services to farming communities in the countries like Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Taiwan, and Thailand. Our science- based approach, our commitment to science, will help farmers cut down their production costs and increase their profits. We have for all livestock species- aquaculture, poultry, pigs, ruminant – knowledge-based solutions,” Mr. Saxena concluded.

Successful Agriculture Leadership Summit Ayurvet Initiatives Appreciated

come to the houses of farmers.Ayurvet has participated in this summit and displayed its

animal health care range products along with medicinal

plants and hydroponics green feed.Our hydroponically grown green feed was centre of

attraction. The farmers appreciated our 360° approach for

improving farm profits. The farmers were happy to see

the hydroponics green feed technology, which could help

them saving land, water and time.

Ayurvet has actively took part in VIV Asia 2015. During the event Mr. M. J. Saxena, Managing Director of Ayurvet spoke to eFeedLink, where he emphasized the company's commitment to sustainable animal production.With one of the themes of VIV Asia 2015 being sustainability in animal production systems, Ayurvet was there to showcase the company's strengths in herbal feed and livestock solutions which are safe and efficacious, according to Mr. Saxena.This came at a time when bacterial resistance to anitibiotic residues in animal feed is an increasingly pressing issue, and Ayurvet is well prepared to address this issue with its products which are backed by strong clinical research results and are able to replace the use of antibiotics, added Mr. Saxena.“We're a very strong science-based company, with more than 500 scientific publications for our products. Our plan would be to establish centres of knowledge and excellence in different parts of the world. To start with, our first centre would be established in Bangkok, where we would be providing educational, demonstrational and

Dr. Rahman Mallick had d i s t i ngu i shed academic qualifications like B.Sc. in A g r i c u l t u r e , M . S c . i n Horticulture & a Ph.D. in Horticultural Biotechnology. Dr. Mallick had 36 years r e s e a r c h , l e c t u r i n g a n d entrepreneurial experience in horticulture in Singapore, Malaysia , Brunei , India, Indonesia, Maldives, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Japan. His goal was to make every home and every community to have its own mini-farm to grow all plants or plant products they use every day. His mission was to see all families having their own home farms and enjoying a happy family life!

thDr. Rahman Mallick passed away on 17 April 2015 at Singapore due to massive heart attack. Ayurvet team pays deepest condolence to the family and pray God Almighty that the departed soul may rest in the peace. May God give the family courage to bear this irrevocable loss!

A Tribute

“The central fact of Hinduism is cow protection. Cow protection to me is one of the most wonderful phenomenons in human evolution. It takes the human being beyond his species. The cow to me means the entire subhuman world. Man through the cow is enjoined to realize his identity with all that lives...Cow protection is the gift of Hinduism to the world. And Hinduism will live as long as there are Hindus to protect the cow. Hindus will be judged not by their tilaks, not by the correct chanting of mantras, not by their pilgrimages, not by their most punctilious observance of caste rules but by their ability to protect the cow. -Mahatma Gandhi

Dr. Rahman MallickAdvisor,

Ayurvet AGES Pvt Ltd.

animal genetic resources (AnGR) are effectively deployed to meet these challenges (i.e. are well matched to the production environments in which they are kept) and that the genetic diversity needed to adapt production systems to future changes is maintained.

At the same time, many of the specific challenges associated with climate change (high temperatures, disruptions to feed supplies, disease outbreaks, etc,) as well as the general unpredictability it brings to the future of the livestock sector, highlight the importance of retaining

diverse genetic options for the future.Livestock sector is affected by climate change and also contribute in global warming to some extent. Climate change affects livestock both directly and indirectly. The direct effects are due variation in air temperature, humidity, wind speed and other climate factors that influence animal performance viz., growth, milk production, wool production and reproduction. The impact of climate change on animal production has been due to differential availability of feed grain, pasture and forage crop production and quality, health, growth and reproduction and, disease and their spread under abrupt climate change.

Thus, an increase in air temperature, such as that expected in different scenarios of climate change, would affect directly animal performance by altering the animal heat balance. There are four modes of energy transfer: radiation, convection, evaporation, conduction, which is governed by several physical parameters control heat transfer by different modes. Air temperature affects energy exchanges through convection and evaporation. When temperature increases, evaporation becomes the most important way of heat loss, since it does not depend on a temperature

g r a d i e n t . T h e r e f o r e combination of temperature and humidity acquire more relevance, since humidity enhances temperature effects. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the environment, from the heat stress stand-point,

through the temperature humidity index (THI). Dairy cattle show signs of heat stress when THI is higher than 72. The comfort limit depends on level of production, type of germplasm and its longevity under given conditions. Animals presenting higher level of production are more sensitive to heat stress. It is not only intensity of stress, but also the length of the daily recovery period is important in determining animal responses to climatic stresses. They fail to dissipate the extra heat load accumulated during days when there are several hours with THI well above the comfort l i m i t , a n d l i t t l e opportunity to recover.Climate change is likely to lead to changes in disease epidemiology, severity of outbreaks and spread to other areas.Precise effects of climate change on disease profile are difficult to predict, but combined with problems in the sustainability of some conventional disease control programmes, climate change-related effects are likely to increase the importance of genetic resistance and tolerance to diseases. Changes in the distribution and incidence of diseases that kill large numbers of animal or induce culling measures for disease control may pose additional threats to animal genetic resources diversity.

The poor farmers can adapt to the local scale effects of climate change to some extent but feed supply by commercial producer is also affected due to dependence on world feed markets and that is again vulnerable to the effects of climate change, especially on prices. Sustainability of livestock especially, the exotic breeds or their crossbreds depends on better feed and fodder resources in adequate quantity is influenced more critically than the indigenous ones. The indigenous breeds have lesser feed/fodder requirements, able to utilize coarser feed/ fodder resources and can graze on meagre grazing resources that too when the ambient temperature is high. Therefore, the types of germplasm, their adaptability under different climate regimen are keys for sustainability especially under impending climate change.

Studies on impact of climate change in Indian livestockThe vulnerability of livestock to climate change has hardly

been documented in I n d i a . I s o l a t e d experimental studies have been conducted on effects of season a n d c l i m a t e o n p r o d u c t i o n , per formance and

other physiological parameters of dairy animals. From these studies it has been revealed that milk yield of crossbred cows in India (e.g., Karan Fries, Karan Swiss and other Holstein and Jersey crosses) are negatively correlated with temperature-humidity index. The influence of climatic conditions on milk production has been also observed for local cows which are more adapted to the tropical climate of India.

Heat stress has been found to have detrimental effects on the reproduction of buffaloes, although buffaloes are well adapted morphologically and anatomically to hot and humid climate. The thermal stress on Indian livestock

Page 3

The climate change includes sudden major changes in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns vis a vis the normal conditions during the same period over the years. Under the present paradigm of climate change, global warming is the major issue that has arisen because of ongoing rise in global average temperature near Earth's surface. Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases like Carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane in the atmosphere that ultimately is causing climate patterns to change abruptly, thus affecting human and animal life both directly causing disease and heat stress as well as indirectly by increased incidences of natural disasters. Earth's average temperature has risen by 1.4°F over the past century, and is projected to rise another 2 to 11.5°F over the next hundred years. These small changes in the average temperature of the planet can translate to much larger and potentially dangerous shifts in climate and weather. Rising global temperatures have often been accompanied by changes in weather and climate. Some places have experienced intense rainfall, resulting in more floods while at other places no rainfall causing droughts, or, as well as more frequent and severe heat waves. The planet's oceans and glaciers have also experienced some big changes - oceans are warming and becoming more acidic, ice caps are melting, and sea levels are rising. As these and other changes become more pronounced in the coming decades, they are likely to present challenges to our society and our environment.

Mega BiodiversityTraditionally, India has been a mega bio-diversity centre and rearing of domesticated animals was practiced since time immemorial. Almost all the major livestock species including cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats, pigs, camels, horses, donkeys, yak and mithuns are found in India. Apart from poultry, domesticated species of avian such as ducks, geese, quails, turkey, pheasants and partridges also exist in India. In domesticate species there are over 140 well documented and defined breeds, whereas per FAO watch list there are about 220 breeds. Tharparkar, Sahiwal and Rathi breeds of cattle and camels are indigenous to hot arid deserts where they experience excessive heat during day time in summer when ambient

otemperature may be as high as 48-50 C. While the same animal stay in open in night when the outside temperature

omay be as low as 15-18 C. Like-wise yak (Bos grunniens) is found in cold arid desert in upper Himalayas where day

otemperature may be 35-38 C and night temperature may be sub zero. These highly adapted germplasm have fixed genes and alleles that give them sustenance in world's most inhospitable climate and can serve as excellent experimental model for studies related to animal production under changing climate. It is imperative to identify such alleles and gene combinations in our indigenous livestock breeds and populations and the develop strategies for gene based introgression in other populations which are prone to susceptibility to impending climate change.

Impact of climate change on livestockClimate change comes as an additional factor affecting a livestock sector that is already highly dynamic and facing many challenges. Important objectives of livestock genetic resource management include ensuring that

Climate Change: Role of Indigenous Livestock for Sustainable Food Production

MARCH-APRIL 2015

CLIMATE CHANGE

Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases like Carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane in the atmosphere that ultimately is causing climate patterns to change abruptly, thus affecting human and animal life both directly causing disease and heat stress as w e l l a s i n d i r e c t l y b y increased incidences of natural disasters.

Climate change is likely to create a number of problems in

many areas of animal husbandry (housing, feeding, health

care, etc.) and threaten the sustainability of many

livestock production systems and their associated AnGR.

Animal health may be affected by climate change in four

ways: heat-related diseases and stress, extreme

weather events, adaptation of animal production

systems to new environments, and emergence and re-

emergence of vector borne and other infectious

diseases.

Climate change may affect the availability of feed

resources within land-based production systems. The

loss in biomass production due to drought in some

cases often threatens the sustainability of livestock.

The estimated annual loss at present due to heat stress

among cattle and buffaloes at the all-India level has

been estimated to 1.8 million tonnes, that is nearly two

per cent of the total milk production in the country.

particularly cattle and buffaloes have been found to decrease estrus expression and conception rate. The length of service period and dry period of all dairy animals was found to be increased from normal during drought. The outbreak of the disease has often been correlated with the mass movement of animals which in turn is dependent on the climatic factors. The higher incidence of clinical mastitis in dairy animals during hot and humid weather may be due to increased heat stress and greater fly population associated with hot–humid conditions.

Mitigation strategiesSince climate change could result in an increase of heat stress, all methods by which animals can cope with heat stress or alleviate the impacts of heat stress to mitigate the impacts of global change on animal responses and performance need to be assessed. Three basic management schemes for reducing the effect of thermal stress have been suggested: (a) physical modification of the environment; (b) genetic development of less sensitive breeds and (c) improved nutritional management schemes.

Physical modification of the environmentThe different methods of environmental modification include: shades, ventilation, combination of wetting and ventilation. Providing shades to livestock is the simplest method to reduce the impact of high solar radiation. Shades can be either natural or artificial. Tree shades have proved to be more efficient. In traditional livestock rearing, animals are herded under the shade of trees in pasture or in forests during peak summer hours. When

enough natural shade is unavailable, artificial structures may be constructed. Different aspects concerning design and orientation of shades have been published. Shades are effective in reducing heat stress in the dairy cow. Animals presented lower afternoon rectal temperature and respiration rate, and yielded more milk and protein when provided adequate shade. The artificial shade structure using heat proof materials may not differ from tree shades, in terms of the effects on animal well-being.Increase in air movement is an important factor in the relief of heat stress, since it helps heat loss due to air convection especially under high ambient humidity leading to evaporative cooling. Wherever possible, natural ventilation should be maximized by constructing open-sided constructions. Forced ventilation, provided by fans, is a very effective method, if properly designed. An effective way of cooling cattle is spray evaporative cooling. There are several methods available: mist, fog and sprinkler systems. However, the single use of a sprinkler and fan system, for 30 minutes before milking, has proved to be useful to relieve dairy cow's heat stress.

In 2030, adoption could restrict losses to 1% of annual production. Finally, in 2070, milk losses would be reduced to 3 to 4% of annual milk production, by installing environmental modifications.

Genetic development of less sensitive breeds

The strategies should be to explore all the livestock breed populations keeping following points in to consideration.•Documentation of indigenous breeds for heat tolerance, disease resistance, adaptation to poor diet, etc. and their comprehensive evaluation of performance and use of animals in specific production environments; •Phenotypic characterization studies on Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR), the surveys should have data entry on all phenotypic traits specifically; •Improving knowledge and awareness of, and respect for, local and indigenous knowledge relevant to climate-change adaptation and mitigation; •Identifying potential climate change-related threats to specific AnGR, ensuring that long-term environmental threats are monitored and that urgent action is taken to address immediate threats from climatic disasters to save small populations at severe risk; •Modelling the future distribution and characteristics of production environments, to support the assessment of threats and the identification of areas that may be suitable for particular breeds in the future; •Improving knowledge of breeds for their current geographical distributions and to facilitate planning of climate-change adaptation measures and AnGR conservation strategies; Improving the availability of the above-described knowledge, including via DAD-IS and other AnGR information systems.

Improved nutritional management schemes

The effects of climate change on livestock production can be mediated through change in feed resources and feeding schedules. It is known that feed resources can have a significant impact on livestock productivity, the carrying capacity of rangelands, the buffering ability of ecosystems and their sustainability, prices of grains, trade in feeds, changes in feeding options, grazing management and ultimately the control on greenhouse gas emissions.

There are considerable opportunities to reduce the methane emissions per animal by individual and herd management changes that reduce the proportion of energy spent in maintenance. Maximised fecundity, health and maximising daily product output by provision of ad libitum high digestibility feed or specific supplementation for enhancing digestibility of coarse feeds and fodders. Reducing total emissions (kg/d) rather than simply emission intensity (methane/product) from the herd or flock will require reduction in animal numbers or implementing mitigation strategies such as the inclusion of fats or oils in the diet. Potential exists to reduce emission without restricting animal performance by grazing pastures of lesser tannin levels or by supplementing with o i l s or whi te co t tonseed and by some smal l supplementations of tannin and saponins.Pasture quality, supplementation and selection for NFI are potential means of reducing the emissions intensity and total methane emissions from livestock. Efficiency of the whole herd or flock can also be improved by further increasing productivity of stock and minimising the proportion of consumed energy utilised in maintenance.The climate change could affect animal production and well-being, especially because of increases in air temperature. However, the knowledge of animal responses to heat stress during the hot months in several areas of the world, as well as during extreme heat events, may be used to evaluate the impacts of global change. Some current practices and adoptions to reduce heat stress in dairy cows, such as shades, sprinklers and ventilations will be suitable for mitigating climatic change effects if the economics of heat stress management do not change radically. However, farmers are not quite aware about the impacts global warming can produce in their operation. Therefore, good research work is needed to help them take strategic and tactical decisions.

National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) launched by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) with the funding from Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India has three major ob jec t ives o f s t r a teg ic resea rch , t echno logy demonstrations and capacity building. Assessment of the impact of climate change simultaneous with formulation of adaptive strategies is the prime approach under strategic research across all sectors of agriculture, dairying and fisheries. Evolving climate resilient agricultural technologies that would increase farm production and productivity vis-à-vis continuous management of natural and manmade resources constitute an integral part of sustaining agriculture in the era of climate change.Source of Article: Book on Climate Change and Sustainable Food Security

Author: K.M.L. Pathak, Neelam Gupta, Vineet Bhasin, Rajan Gupta, S.C.Gupta and B.S. Prakash, ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research)

Page 4

Opportunity to Advertise in

Livestock Future

Contact: Ayurvet Limited, 6th Floor, Sagar Plaza, Vikas Marg, Laxmi Nagar Distt Centre, Delhi-92. (Tel.) 011-22455992-94, (Fax.) 011-22455991 e-mail swati@ayurvet.com/info@ayurvet.com

—Corporate advertisement —Event —News

Reaching your Veterinarians, is now easier!Approach 5000+ Veterinarians/ Animal Health Experts

MARCH-APRIL 2015

Impact of global warming on milk The preliminary assessment of impact of climate change and temperature rise on milk production of dairy animals indicate that temperature rise due to global warming will negatively impact milk production to about 1 .6 million tonnes in 2020 and more than 15 million tonnes in 2050. The Northern India will experience greater impact of global warming on milk production of both cattle and buffaloes during 2040-2069 and 2070-2099. The annual loss in milk production of cattle and buffaloes due to thermal stress in 2020 will be about 3.2 million tones milk.

Under current climate, average milk losses for cows

with no shade represent 3.3% of annual production. By

the year 2030, milk loss for those same cows could

increase to 4% of annual production. By 2070, the milk

loss would be 6% of annual production. Hence,

benefits of adopting shade and sprinklers; milk losses

under current climate can be reduced to 0.8% of

annual production and a further 2.5% improvement on

having shelter.

It is well documented that Indigenous livestock breeds

are resistant to many tropical diseases. The greater

heat and water scarcity tolerance make them ideal

germplasm for their wider use for production in hot

and resource poor agro climatic zones besides their

rich gene pool for introgression in high producing

breeds f rom developed count r ies . Genet ic

improvement of animals for feed use efficiency and

reducing methane yield may also enable emission

reduction without compromising productivity.

The research programmes needs to be developed to

prioritize the issues in agriculture and livestock

production that need to be tackled first, keeping their

impact on climate changes.

I t is now wel l documented that increased

temperatures cause more lignifications of plant

tissues and therefore reduce the digestibility. This

would lead to reduced nutrient availability for animals

and ultimately to a reduction in livestock production

and also have impacts on methane emission from

livestock. Micro-level adaptation options, including

farm production adjustments such as diversification

and intensification of crop and livestock production;

changing land use and irrigation; and altering the

timing of operations can have significant impact on

ramification of release of greenhouse gases from

livestock excreta.

Page 5

Role of Reproductive Technologies Good reproductive performance is essential for efficient

livestock production, so improvement programs should

increase reproductive efficiency to the extent that this can

be justified economically. The females must grow rapidly

to attain sexual maturity, initiate estrous cycles, ovulate

and be mated by fertile males or inseminated with viable

semen at the proper time for any chance of conception.

At a micro level, each missed heat is a missed opportunity.

For each heat missed the farmer incurs a loss of milk

production of 21 days, in addition to bearing the feeding

cost for animal maintenance. This tantamounts to about

Rs.5500. Artificial insemination (AI), which is a normal

practice in cattle, is not as successful in buffalo especially

in hot summer months, because of the weakness of oestrus

symptoms and the variability of oestrus length, which

make oestrus detection very difficult. Scientists the world

over a re work ing on deve lop ing new es t rus

synchronization protocols which can reduce the ovulation

time window post synchronization so as to practice

insemination at a fixed time thereby obviating the need for

heat detection which is a serious problem especially in

buffaloes. The application of two protocols-ovsynch and

heatsynch-for estrous synchronization and fixed time AI

were successfully attempted in buffaloes (Fig.1 and 2) both

in the farm as well as in farmers herds with a success rate for

conceptions ranging from 40-50% also in animals suffering

from anestrus or repeat breeding.

New Studies on Pregnancy Rates

Research studies on dairy cows have demonstrated that the

success rate of the Ovsynch and Heatsynch protocol is

dependent on the estrous cycle stage at the onset of the

protocol. For example, the initiation of the Ovsynch

protocol between days 13 and 17 or early in the estrous

cycle (days 2–4) led to a reduced pregnancy rate. Other

studies have established that GnRH induced follicular

turnover or induction of a new follicular wave is the most

efficient if ovulation is induced in response to the first

GnRH treatment and that resetting the follicular

development can produce a new dominant follicle

containing an oocyte with greater potential fertility.

Hence, a new estrous synchronization method that includes

the administration of an additional PGF2 injection 48 h

before beginning the Ovsynch protocol was developed

which was named the Doublesynch (the abbreviation of

double synchronization) protocol, as it resulted in

synchronized ovulation after both the first and second

GnRH treatments. In a limited study conducted on

buffaloes the pregnancy rates were 60% using TAI

doublesynch application on cycling buffaloes, and, 55% for

anestrus buffaloes, in comparison to 27.3% for cycling

buffaloes inseminated following spontaneous estrus.

The overall pregnancy success rates after the Doublesynch

protocol in both cycling and anestrus buffaloes increased by

30.8% compared to spontaneous estrus (58.1% vs. 27.3%).

The study demonstrated that the Doublesynch protocol

followed by TAI significantly enhanced the pregnancy rate

in cycling and anestrus buffaloes in comparison to

untreated controls even during the low breeding season

(summer). By substituting the second GnRH injection of

the Doublesynch protocol with estradiol benzoate another

n o v e l e s t r o u s s y n c h r o n i z a t i o n p r o t o c o l –

estradoublesynch- has recently been developed (Fig.3).

Estradiol benzoate has some advantages compared with

GnRH (i.e., cheaper hormone price, easier scheduling and

implementation for injection and insemination, greater

uterine tone, ease of insemination, and occurrence of

estrus as has been recorded using the Heatsynch protocol.

The success rates in terms of percentage of buffaloes

conceived were very similar to that obtained using the

doublesynch protocol in buffaloes.

The techniques of doublesynch and estradoublesynch hold

promise and need to be validated in farmers' herds.B.S. Prakash, Assistant Director General (AN&P), Animal Science

Division, ICAR, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi-110001

Infertility: A Challenge Exploring Successful Solution

Good reproductive performance is essential for efficient livestock production, so improvement p rograms shou ld increase reproductive efficiency to the extent that this can be justified economically.

90 Days post calving and animal still not in pregnancy ?

May be it is heading towards ... Infertility

Uterine Cleanser and Restorative

EXAPAR JANOVAFor Inducing Ovulatory Oestrus

MINTRUSTrace Mineral Caplets

TM

E J MEnsure Timely

Conception With

*

From to in INFERTILITY FERTILITYPerfect trio to revive the animal

*

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

MARCH-APRIL 2015

The basic goal of all production oriented animal

reproduction techniques is to increase the proportion

of females that have oestrous cycles and get pregnant

in a reasonable time. Anestrous and repeat breeding in

buffaloes and bovines are two of the most serious

reproductive problems affecting 30-50% of the total

cattle and buffalo population. On a conservative

estimate the country is losing 30-40 million tonnes of

milk annually on account of anestrus and repeat

breeding in cattle and buffaloes which translates to a

loss of nearly Rs. 60000 crores annually.

At a micro level, each missed heat is a missed opportunity. For each heat missed the farmer incurs a loss of milk production of 21 days, in addition to bearing the feeding cost for animal maintenance.

Ayurvet Hydroponics Green Feed

Scientific Validation

of Ayurvet EJM Therapy“Anestrum in Buffaloes: A New Approach to

Resolve It”

Submitted by Dr. Derar Refaat Ibrahim Mohammad,

Assistant Professor, Dept of Theriogenology, Faculty of

Veterinary Medicine, Assuit, Egypt. June 2013

Trial Design:

The study was conducted on 329 adult female buffaloes

having prolonged post-parturient anoestrous condition

of over 90 days duration. They were divided in 3 groups.

Group I: 114 buffaloes were administered dosage of

Exapar + Janova + Mintrus

Group II: 93 buffaloes were administered GnRH

analogue.

Group III: 122 buffaloes received no treatment after

examination & diagnosis and served as control

EJM GroupGnRH Analogue GroupControl Group%

Exhibited Oestrous71%77%24%% Buffaloes

C o n c e i v e d 6 2 % 6 2 % 2 2 % N o o f s e r v i c e s p e r

conception1.41.72

ResultThe trio (Exapar + Janova + Mintrus) is very effective

and reliable treatment for anoestrous in buffaloes. The

efficacy of trio is comparable even with the hormonal

therapy, with EJM having upper hand as it is completely

safe. Both EJM & GnRH analogue induced equal

n u m b e r o f

conceptions in

b u f f a l o e s .

A n i m a l s i n

E J M g r o u p

required less

n u m b e r o f

s e r v i c e p e r

conception tan

both groups.

3

Page 6

National Affairs

'APURVA' Cloned Buffalo Calf from Somatic Cell of Urine

Small-holder Dairying has Increased Rural Prosperity: NDDB

Climate Change Spurs Postitive for India

Climate change is spurring something positive for India: growing overseas demand for indigenous cattle, which the government is keen to support. Markets from Australia to Brazil are seeking India's cattle for their resilient qualities such as tick resistance, heat tolerance and the ability to flourish even with inadequate feeds. "There is demand for Indian cattle in the international market. Brazil and Australian want Indian breeds," Hon'ble Agriculture Minister, Shri. Radha Mohan Singh said. he further said that, "Climate change will reduce productivity in all cattle. Drop in milk yield be maximum in exotic breeds, not so in local Indian cattle."

Prof (Dr.) A. K. Srivastava, Director & Vice Chancellor, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal informed that another female cloned calf named ' A p u r v a '

produced through the 'Hand-guided cloning technique'. The calf was b o r n b y n o r m a l pa r tu r i t ion and i t s weight at the time of birth was around 37 kg. The newborn calf is in good health.

(Source: ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal)

Small-holder dairying has proved to be an effective tool for increasing rural prosperity in parts of Asia, NDDB Chairman, Mr. T. Nanda Kumar said. "We are witnessing a high degree of urbanisation and have unacceptable levels of hunger and under-nutrition. we have a large number of small farmers depending on agriculture for their livelihoods."In many Asian countries, while the contribution of agriculture to GDP is coming down, the number of people employed in agriculture is still high." Given these conditions, small-holder dairying has proved to be an effective instrument of intervention for increasing rural prosperity in many parts of Asia. "Therefore, the Asian model for growth has to be different from some of the other countries in the world," Mr. Kumar said during conference. "Therefore, the Asian model for growth has to be different from some of the other countries in the world," Mr. Kumar said during conference.

Dairy Sector Jumps 12.6% in FY 14-15

Organic Dairy Farming for Better Yield India Needs to Scale up Semen Production to 140 Million Doses by 2021-22

In the wake of economic slowdown, most sectors have reported subdued growth except the dairy sector, which has witnessed double digit growth. The demands for milk and milk products have been steadily rising in the country. The dairy sector shot up 12.6 percent from a year ago this financial year and is expected to grow at 15.6 percent in 2015-16 driven by strong sector growth both in demand and prices, continued policy and monetary support from the centre and an expected improvement in the economy. Domestic prices of milk have remained firm in 2014-15 despite the collapse of global milk and dairy products prices in 2014. The demand for milk and milk based products remained high due to changing dietary habits and

NEWS & VIEWS

The frozen semen production in the country needs to be increased to 140 million doses by 2021-22. This was stressed at the two days workshop on 'Revisiting minimum standards for bovine frozen semen production' held recently at the Anand–headquartered National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). The workshop was sequel to two international workshops conducted under the first phase of National Dairy Plan (NDP-I). NDDB had organized the first workshop on 'Genetic Improvement of Cattle and Buffaloes' while the second workshop was on 'Production and processing of bovine frozen semen.”“At present, there are 50 semen stations in the country which together produce about 88 million doses of frozen semen. To breed the targeted number of breedable animals, the country would need to increase semen production from the current level to 100 million doses by 2016-17 and 140 million doses by 2021-22, “ NDDB's Managing Director, Mr. Dilip Rathi said. “Special emphasis is being given in NDP-I to strengthen/ expand 'A' and 'B' graded semen stations owned and operated by state livestock development boards, cooperatives and NGOs. As of now, 22 sub project plans covering 14 states have been approved for strengthening/ expansion at a total cost of Rs.256 crore, “ he s a i d . “ N D D B i s committed to provide the farmers: good genetics through production of h i g h g e n e t i c m e r i t (HGM) bu l l s , good semen for ar t i f ic ia l insemination through p r o d u c t i o n o f h i g h qual i ty disease free semen from the HGM bulls, facility to provide balanced ration and to create infrastructure to procure and market milk,” NDDB's Chairman, Mr. T. Nanda Kumar said while addressing the participants.

Cultivating organic fodder and nurturing cows with care would yield plenty of “truly” organic milk and make their owners wealthy in a short period, says Veterinary Doctor – turned-Entrepreneur Dr. G.N.S. Reddy.

His dairy is located in Tumakuru District, 150 km from Bengaluru. “With organic milk becoming popular, especially among health conscious citizens of Bengaluru, our member farmers are able to sell their entire produce through our firm Akshayakalpa for Rs.50 per litre, earning Rs.15 net income per litre,” Dr. Reddy said.

rising buying power. As a result, dairy products witnessed a steep rise in prices during 2014, according to rating agency, India Ratings.

Maize Cobs Meal Suitable as Livestock Feed

The Punjab Livestock and Dairy Development Board have developed a new, low-cost cattle feeding material, Wanda, made from maize cobs. They will also offer training to any farmer who would be interested in producing it. The maize cobs meal, PLDDB officials claim, is suitable for all kinds of domestic animals and is far cheaper than other meals currently in use. Wanda carries all required nutritional values including protein and one kg of it can give animals 4,000 calories. Availability of maize cobs to produce the mealEnough availability of maize cobs, by an official estimate 6 MT, offers huge potential for production of maize cobs meal. Initially, only Punjab-based farmers will be encouraged to feed their animals on this meal but, later on, it could be made available across the country.Maize cobs, some varieties of corn and dry and green stalks of maize are used as animal feeding materials along with wheat straw, wheat and rice bran, oilseeds cakes, alfalfa, forages and grasses, hay of food crops, s h r u b s , t r e e l e a v e s , molasses and the pulp of fruits and vegetables etc.

The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra M o d i m a d e t w o v e r y e s s e n t i a l announcements with respect to the farmers which are suffering from huge crop losses due to the untimely rains. Firstly he relieved the

gloomy farmers by informing them that the input subsidy will be increased by 50%. Secondly, he highlighted that farmers will be authorized to this input subsidy even if one third of their produce is spoiled. The announcements were made by the Hon'ble PM in his address during the launch of the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana.

A Pro-Farmer Announcement by Hon'ble PM, Sh. Narendra Modi

MARCH-APRIL 2015

We are happy to share with you that, Ayurvet Limited has published an important tool depicting t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f Livestock and Agriculture in Union Budget 2015-16. It contains the article in Hindi and English language, which are based on the survey done by team Ayurvet in the rain affected areas, where t h e t e a m h a d t h e opportunity to interact with the farmers, experts, subject matter specialists on the budget and the current situation. The objective of this special booklet is to create awareness amongst the stakeholders towards the importance of sustainable integration of livestock with agriculture. To receive the copy of booklet contact: Ms. Swati Srivastava, Ayurvet Limited, 011-22455992 (T), 09953150352(M).

Union Budget Booklet 2015-16Budget Smiles, Rain Spoils

Page 7

AYURVET SOLUTIONS FOR OPTIMUM GROWTH & BOOSTING MILK PRODUCTION

®

1. Livestock and Dairy Farming provide means of sustenance for the farmer family. Dairy farming is the one and only vocation where by selling milk, farmer makes daily income. Not a single livestock/dairy farmer ever committed suicides? Animals being part of farmer family have survived together and supported agriculture.Farmer with 5 milch animals on his/her backyard can always add to the daily income, provide dio-gas for cooking need and precious fertilizers to enrich the soil. Livestock and agriculture are the two sides of the same coin and interdependent for sustainability. Farming distress would be reduced if crop agriculture and livestock are practiced together. 2. Crop residues burning and usage as fuel for industrial power generation should be strictly enforced and totally stopped. Crop residues are food for animals and rising cost is a big deterrent and setback for livestock. Environment pollution and air quality contamination due to burning of crop residues is a major problem which would get addressed with this ban. 3. Oil cakes are important source of protein for animals. Their export in raw farm fetch low price and deprives the animals of protein sources. The National Mission for Protein Security to fight malnutrition can be accomplished by reserving oil cakes for animal feeding to support for milk, meat and egg production. 4. Water Resource Management at village level is need of the hour due to declining water table. The so called Talab, Pokhra's and Bawlie(s) should be revived and fish culture introduced in the villages on community model. This would help in resource generation for infrastructure development.

5. Knowledge, Science and Technology, when used responsibly with thoughtful wisdom has always helped in finding solutions to raise the welfare and living standard of people. These “Gyan Kendras” established at village level under PPP model can bring real transformation driven by integrated approach of “All under one roof” from skill enhancement to entrepreneurial development. Village youth would find avenues of growth and income generation. This would stop migration of youth from village to cities to metros.6. Investment in Technology to make agriculture and livestock farming climate change resistant should be supported under PPP model for the benefit sharing with farmer. Water conservation technology in agriculture (Hydroponics), farm mechanization, crop harvest preservation and protection, seed buffer stock bank to built seed security in the event of drought or floods, require greater capital investment.7. Livestock and Dairy farmers have brought pride to the nation. India being the largest producer of milk in the world, largest exporter of buffalo meat, third largest in Egg production, second largest producer of aqua (next only to china) deserves to get more support from Central and State Government. The export can be increased many fold and farmer would be benefited if standards of quality compliance are achieved as per global norms. This requires investment in education and awareness creation for Extra Quality Mark (EQM) produce. Special incentives(s) for up-grading infrastructure for EQM should be announced and farmer engaged in this endeavour. The agrarian crisis and farmer distress can be reduced significantly with a long 5 year term policy announcement covering above 7 points. Our efforts to find “sustainable solution” to this crisis must continue with conviction. Feeding close to 17% of world population with 2% of world land area and same % of water resource is not a small achievement but reflects our commitment to find solution on our own.

.

The Trad i t iona l w isdom of managing 5 basic elements (Pancha-tatva) Prithvi, Jal, Vayu, Agni and Akaash in a manner that no toxic residues are left, is to be restored not just to alleviate the agrarian crisis but to address the brewing storm on account of Soil d e t e r i o r a t i o n a n d t o x i c residues(s) built up, degradation o f water resources due to c o n t a m i n a n t s , a i r q u a l i t y pollutants. All together, posing serious health risk and threat for environment.

Contd. from page 1 Recent Rains & Hail Storms...

MARCH-APRIL 2015

Zoonoses are diseases and infections that are naturally transmitted between vertebrate animals and humans. A zoonotic agent may be a bacterium, a virus, a fungus or other communicable disease agent. Zoonoses constitute 61% of all known infectious diseases. It may also be noted that out of the 175 diseases considered to be emerging, 75% are zoonotic. Zoonoses in India are of great public health importance which is compounded by various environmental, social and economic factors. As a result of these factors playing out, India has been identified as one of the 20 hotspots for highest incidence of zoonotic diseases in the world.

Around 200 zoonoses have been described (WHO 2012), of which 45 of them are purported to be transmitted from cattle. Information regarding most of the zoonoses in India transmitted from cattle is scanty due to obvious reasons mentioned above. Some of the important and emerging zoonoses are Brucellosis, bovine TB, Leptospirosis, Gastro-intestinal infections, Listeriosis, Q-Fever, Tick-borne diseases, Skin infections etc. While some may require medication for complete recovery, some are fatal if prompt and appropriate treatment is not provided.

BrucellosisHuman brucellosis is a significant public health problem in India, the magnitude of which is not known. Persistence of animal reservoir, low physician awareness, poor availability of diagnostic facilities, and the nonexistence of regional data bases contribute towards the perpetuation of human brucellosis in India. Fewer than 10% of the human cases of brucellosis may be clinically recognized and treated or reported. The disease exists in the general population in India and high clinical suspicion must be made in patients especially when there is history of animal contact or consumption of unpasteurized milk.

Tuberculosis due to bTBBovine Tuberculosis (bTB) infects many domestic and wild animals though cattle are the primary hosts. The main routes of transmission to humans are by consumption of raw milk and inhalation of infectious aerosols in dried bovine sputum. Moreover, the disease in humans caused by bTB and human TB bacteria are identical with respect to clinical symptoms and lesions and would require complex tests to distinguish them. It is interesting to note that though bTB is a zoonosis, the importance of human TB bacterium as a reverse zoonosis is also gaining prominence with reports of around 9 % and 36% of the humans and bovines respectively having mixed infections with both bTB and human TB organisms (Prasad HK. 2005). Immuno-suppressed and malnourished people are more likely to develop active TB infection following infection with bTB bacterium.

LeptospirosisCattle are one of the principal hosts for Leptospirosis. Infection in humans is most likely to occur by contamination with infected urine or uterine contents. Farmers who milk infected cows and those who are engaged in agriculture, especially in rice and cane fields contaminated with urine are exposed to infection. Infection rate is also higher in monsoon months (Shivakumar n.d.).

RESEARCH ROUNDUP

Effect of Zoonoses on Dairying

Contd. on page 8

Letter to Editor:We solicit your articles and would appreciate if you could send in your suggestions, queries and advice through post to Post Bag No. Ayurvet Limited -9292, Delhi or E-mail addressed to:swati@ayurvet.com, abehl@ayurvet.com, info@ayurvet.com

Page 8

Publisher: M.J. Saxena Editor: Dr. Anup Kalra Conceptualization: Dr. Kuldeep SharmaEditorial Board: Mr. K. Ravikanth, Mr. Hitesh Singla, Dr. Praful Verma , Dr.Ashish Sachdeva and Dr. Shivi Maini Asstt. Editor: Swati Srivastava Zonal Associates : Anand Mehrotra and C.V. Reddy Layout, Design: Amit Behl

thEditorial Office: Ayurvet Limited, 6 Floor, Sagar Plaza Bldg. Laxmi Nagar Distt. Centre, Vikas Marg, Delhi-92lTel: 011-22455992-94, Fax: 011-22455991 E-mail: info@ayurvet.com, web: www.ayurvet.com

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LIVESTOCK FUTUREBi-monthly magazine related to Livestock news for Veterinary Industry

The sustainable use of animal genetics to improve quality and quantity of livestock was propagated at a conference held by the Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study in Agriculture (SEARCA) in the Phillippines. The conference, titled Strengthening resilience, equity and integration in ASEAN food and agriculture systems discussed a host of issues such as productivity improvement, inclusive value chains, sustainability and poverty reduction, food security and safety, institutions, governance and regional cooperation and integration. There were more than 450 representatives from international development agencies, research centres, academic institutions and governments. Steve Staal, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) regional representatives for East and Southeast Asia, delivered a presentation on 'The sustainable use of animal genetics in developing countries' in the session on 'productivity improvement'. He spoke about the demand for livestock products growing strongly in Southeast Asia, which is driving increased use of higher

productivity and mostly exotic livestock breeds among small-scale producers and larger commercial producers. However, governments are increasingly recognizing the value of conserving genetic diversity of animals in Southeast Asia, particularly in poultry and pigs. Staal questioned whether if it's fair to ask farmers to maintain and conserve animal genetic resources at the expense of productivity gains and income?

Source- Times of India News.

US based Company Ocean Crest Seafoods, along with researchers from the University of Massachussetts' Marine Science Research Centre, developed a process which could convert fish remains (gurry) into fertiliser. Gurry makes up nearly 70 percent of the fish after it has been filleted. After being processed, the outcome is organic and environment-friendly. In addition, Ocean Crest uses up all the remains, ensuring no waste is thrown back into the ocean but instead is used to grow plants. Mr. Ann Molliy, Sales Director for Neptune's Harvest (parent company of Ocean Crest Seafoods), said, “the whole world used to be under water. They found fish fossils on the top of Mount Everest. Ever since then it's been demineralising. By adding products from the ocean back to the soil, it replenishes it.”

ILRI Propagates the Use of Animal Genetics to Improve Quality of Livestock

Organic farming from Marine Fish Remains

In an effort to further strengthen the ongoing initiatives towards providing education and services, we take this opportunity to request the fellow veterinarians and research institutes to kindly nominate themselves towards the editorial board of Livestock Future. We would also request you to send in your article and practical experiences towards treating the clinical cases and improving farm profits.

Global warming is one of the biggest challenge towards the agriculture and livestock productivity. We have started a new column to sensitize the stakeholders and fellow veterinarians towards the same. To regularize this, we will look forward for your experiences and articles towards addressing the issue.

Curbing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Cattle

Partnering the New Initiatives with Vets

Climate Change and Mitigation Strategy

Introduction of New Initiatives

According to a research, data atmospheric concentration of methane have more than doubled in the last two decades. Taking into account for 18 percent global warming contribution from livestock worldwide, an approach, which is sustainable to environment and business is required. Livestock contribution of carbon dioxide emissions is only nine percent where as in terms of nitrous oxide and methane it is 65 percent and 37 percent. Studies conducted worldwide shows while there is no single process to cut methane rather different, ways to curb it like improve fodder quality or feed additives that boost efficiency of these animals and reduce pollutants in manure.

Reducing methane emissionDuring digestion cow uses cellulosic material from the feed and ferment it with the help of microbes in its stomach (rumen). Cow converts feed stuff into volatile fatty acids for its energy requirement, like humans convert food into glucose for energy. In that process of fermentation large amount of gases (carbon dioxide and methane) form, which come out through process of belching. Formation and belching of carbon dioxide is essential to prevent bloating but formation of methane is actually a production loss. Study says that methane loss from the cow could be up to 15 percent of the gross feed energy intake. Improve efficiency in animals Many studies state that natural way to suppress methane production is to manipulate the diet to give high rates of fermentation affecting volatile fatty acid (VFAs). These desired changes in VFAs proportions have been associated with increased digestion of fibre content in diet. Study also insights for reduction methane best way is to boost efficiency of cow by increasing milk yield per unit of feed consumed.

Ruchamax in livestock is used to enhance digestion process, to enhance fibre digestion, manipulating desirous changes in VFAs which in turn improves the efficiency of animal for better milk production at the same time reduces methane emission by as much as 32 percent. Scientific studies have proved that Ruchamax acts as natural methane inhibitor which causes reduction in methane production and results into the efficient utilisation of nutrients in the ruminants. This is due to the presence of certain active principles like saponine, tannin or essential oils, which either suppresses the growth of protozoal population in the rumen responsible for the production of methane or by directly inhibiting t h e g r o w t h o f m e t h a n o g e n i c bacteria.

International Affairs

MARCH-APRIL 2015

NEWS & VIEWS

Gastro-intestinal infectionsThere are a variety of zoonotic agents that cause gastrointestinal disturbances due to contamination of food or water with faecal matter of cattle harbouring the infective agents. The common zoonoses affecting the g.i. tract are Salmonella, E.Coli, Campylobacter, Rota virus, Cryptosporidia and Giardia. The faecal-oral route of contamination is always a possibility in the rural e n v i r o n s w h e r e c l o s e c o n t a c t w i t h c a t t l e i s commonplace. The young, malnourished, immuno-compromised and pregnant women are usually more susceptible.

Tick-borne infectionsTick-borne infections have been reported from various regions of our country and are a group of zoonoses that requires attention. They may be difficult to diagnose due to their non-specific signs and symptoms. Again, with people living in close proximity with cattle, usually with moderate to high loads of ticks on them, the possibility of these infect ions being prevalent cannot be discounted. Babesiosis, Rickettsial infections and Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever are some of the examples.

Q-feverQ-fever is also caused by a rickettsial agent that can be acquired by humans when they come in contact with reproductive fluids of infected cattle which have aborted. Infection can also occur by consuming raw milk of infected animal. Pregnant women and immuno-compromised people are more prone to infection.

ListeriosisHumans can get the infection when they come in close contact with cattle that have aborted due to the infection. Infection can also occur by drinking raw milk of infected cattle. Listeria is especially hazardous to pregnant women and immuno-compromised people.

Skin infectionsVarious infectious agents can cause skin infections in people who are in close contact with infected animals. Dermatophilosis, Dermatophytosis, Cow pox, Buffalo pox etc are some of the examples. The conditions usually resolve uneventfully after providing appropriate treatment.

Animal Health Group, NDDB, Anand

Contd. from page 7 Effect of Zoonoses on Dairying