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ThesisItem Unknown NUTRITIONAL EVALUATION OF APBN1 GRASS AND EFFECT OF PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTATION ON THE PERFORMANCE OF DECCANI SHEEP(SRI VENKATESWARA VETERINARY UNIVERSITY TIRUPATI - 517 502. (A.P.) INDIA, 2005-06) JAGADISH, Ch; RAMANA REDDY, Y(MAJOR); NAGALAKSHMI, D; MAHENDER, MABSTRACT : Evaluation of the potential feeding value of APBN1, an improved variety of hybrid napier as the sole feed and in supplemented rations was carried out to develop a forage based feeding system for intensive rearing of sheep. APBN1 forage samples harvested at 30, 40, 45, 50 and 60 days of growth were subjected to chemical, in vitro and in sacco evaluation to determine the optimum stage of harvesting for maximization of forage utilization in terms of fodder yield and nutritional quality. The yield of green fodder, dry matter and crude protein (MT/ha/yr) of APBN1 forage harvested at 30, 40, 45, 50 and 60 days of growth was found to be 274.68, 47.35, 7.44; 291.34, 61.09, 9.08; 344.74, 76.39, 11.45; 368.45, 85.26, 11.36 and 387.95, 98.81 and 11.21, respectively. The leaf to stem ratio of APBN1 forage at 30, 40, 45, 50 and 60 days of growth was found to be 0.36, 0.46, 0.65, 0.95 and 1.36, respectively. The dry matter content of forage increased from 17.24 per cent at 30 days to 25.47 per cent at 60 days of growth. The CP and CF values were 15.72, 23.81; 14.86, 24.67; 14.35, 25.32; 13.68, 26.64 and 11.34 and 29.88 per cent, respectively on DM basis for the forage samples harvested at 30, 40, 45, 50 and 60 days of growth. Progressive increase in crude fibre level and gradual decline in crude protein content was observed with the advancement in maturity of forage. The NFE content (46.12 %) was highest at 45 days of growth. The IVDMD value was highest (57.87 %) at 30 days and lowest (51.40 %) at 60 days of growth, when the forage samples were incubated with sheep rumen liquor. The effective degradable dry matter (EDDM) as determined by nylon bag technique in fistulated rams was 55.80, 54.70, 53.50, 52.40 and 43.78 per cent at 30, 40, 45, 50 and 60 days of growth, respectively. The effective protein degradability (EPD) decreased from 38.30 per cent at 30 days to 33.17 per cent at 60 days of growth. The insoluble but degradable protein fraction „b‟ was highest (77.07 %) at 45 days of growth. Based on the biomass yield, leaf to stem ratio, chemical, in vitro and in sacco evaluation, the optimum stage of harvesting for APBN1 forage was found to be at 45 days of growth. When the forage harvested at 45 days alone was fed ad libitum in chopped form, the rams on an average consumed 50.74, 4.40 and 28.34 g/kg W0.75 of DM, DCP and TDN respectively. The average digestibility coefficients of 66.63, 68.52, 69.10, 58.82, 56.34 and 62.21 per cent were observed for DM, OM, CP, EE, CF and NFE, respectively and the DCP and TDN values as 8.68 and 56.38 per cent were observed for APBN1 forage in Deccani rams. The Deccani rams on an average retained 5.28 g nitrogen per day. Effect of supplementation through protein and energy sources to the APBN1 forage was studied in adult Deccani rams. There was a significant increase in DM intake (g/kg W0.75) of rams supplemented with concentrate premix containing GNC + maize (71.10), SFC + maize (69.82) and CSC + maize (66.71) in comparison to that of the rams fed APBN1 forage (51.62) as the sole feed. Irrespective of the protein source, supplementation has enhanced the nutrient digestibility of rations in rams with the resultant improvement in DCP content of the ration by 72.78% (GNC), 35.64% (CSC) and 34.95% (SFC) and TDN value of ration by 26.80% (GNC), 21.59% (CSC) and 13.66% (SFC) in comparison to DCP (8.68%) and TDN (56.38%) of the ration containing APBN1 forage alone. There was a marked improvement (P<0.05) in nitrogen utilization with the net nitrogen retention (g/d) in rams supplemented with GNC + maize (15.13), SFC + maize (12.16) and CSC + maize (10.71) when compared to that of rams fed APBN1 forage (5.28) as the sole feed. It is concluded that APBN1 forage at 45 days of growth with DCP (8.68%) and TDN (56.38%) can be utilized as a potential maintenance type (perennial) green fodder for feeding adult sheep. Supplementation, irrespective of protein source, improved the nutrient intake, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen utilization of the rations containing APBN1 forage as the basal roughage and fulfilled the maintenance as well as growth requirements (70 g/d) of sheep. Supplementation through concentrate premix containing 125 g each of maize and GNC was found superior (P<0.05) in enhancing nutrient digestibility and nitrogen utilization of rams in comparison to other sources. Supplementation of critical nutrients to the basal roughage is a viable means of sustaining the optimum animal performance.ThesisItem Open Access A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON CYTOGENETIC PROFILE OF CROSSBRED AND INDIGENOUS PIGS(SRI VENKATESWARA VETERINARY UNIVERSITY TIRUPATI - 517 502. (A.P.) INDIA, 2017-02) HARSHINI, V; SAKUNTHALA DEVI, K(MAJOR); PUNYA KUMARI, B; SURESH, JABSTRACT: The present analysis was carried out on 30 blood samples of LWY crossbred pigs (15 females and 15 males) maintained at All India Coordinated Research Project on pig (AICRP), College of Veterinary Science, Tirupati, Chittor District of Andhra Pradesh and on 30 blood samples of indigenous pigs (15 females and 15 males) maintained by the farmers in and around Tirupati to study the cytogenetic profile of both the breeds and their morphometric measurements using short term leukocyte culture technique. The diploid chromosome number (2n) in both the breeds was 38 with XX and XY complement in females and males respectively and a fundamental number of 64 as in exotic pigs. Among 18 pairs of autosomes, first 5 pairs were sub-metacentric followed by 6th and 7th pair as sub-telocentric, next 5 pairs (8th to 12th pairs) were metacentric and remaining six pairs (13th to 18th) were telocentric. Among these one pair of allosomes i.e. X-chromosome was large metacentric, while Y-chromosome was metacentric and smallest chromosome of the karyotype. The least squares mean relative length of autosomes in LWY crossbred pigs ranged from 2.79±0.02 to 10.83±0.05 in females and 2.81±0.05 to 10.87±0.07 in males. The least squares mean relative length values for non-descript pigs ranged from 2.84±0.03 to 11.01±0.07 in females and 2.86±0.03 to 11.04±0.05 in males. The relative contribution of X-chromosome in LWY crossbred female and male pig was 4.67±0.01 and 4.65±0.04, whereas the values were 4.82±0.03 and 4.80±0.04 in non-descript pigs respectively. The mean relative contribution of Y-chromosome were 2.05±0.10 and 2.19±0.13 in LWY crossbred and non-descript pigs respectively. Genetic group had significant effect on the relative length of all autosomes and allosomes except 17th and 18th chromosomes, whereas sex had no significant effect on relative length of all chromosomes in both the breeds. The overall mean arm ratio of 12 pairs of autosomes ranged from 1.01±0.03 to 2.45±0.03 and 1.02±0.01 to 2.43±0.02 in LWY crossbred females and males respectively, whereas these values varied from 1.03±0.02 to 2.51±0.06 in females and 1.04±0.06 to 2.52±0.03 in males of non-descript pigs. The mean arm ratio values of X-chromosome was 1.15±0.04 in females and 1.13±0.03 in males of LWY crossbred pigs, while the respective mean values in non-descript pigs were 1.14±0.03 and 1.12±0.03 respectively. The arm ratio values of Y-chromosome were 1.17±0.02 and 1.18±0.02 in LWY crossbred and non-descript pigs. The mean centromeric indices of autosomes (1 to 12 pairs) differed from 0.50±0.04 to 0.71±0.02 and 0.52±0.03 to 0.72±0.03 in LWY crossbred female and male pigs, whereas it ranged from 0.51±0.01 to 0.82±0.01 and 0.53±0.05 to 0.83±0.02 respectively in non-descript pigs. The X-chromosome had mean centromeric index values of 0.53±0.03 and 0.52±0.03 in LWY crossbred female and male pigs, while the value for Y-chromosome was 0.56±0.02. The mean centromeric index values of X-chromosome in non-descript pigs were 0.52±0.02 and 0.54±0.02 in females and males, whereas for Y-chromosome, it was recorded as 0.55±0.01 respectively. The average morphological index value of autosomes ranged from 2.43±0.06 to 7.29±0.11 in females and 2.41±0.05 to 7.31±0.12 in males of LWY crossbred pigs, while X-chromosome had 5.85±0.05 and 5.84±0.05 respectively. The mean values for autosomes ranged in non-descript pigs were 2.42±0.02 to 7.96±0.14 and 2.44±0.04 to 7.98±0.13 in females and males, whereas X-chromosome had an index value 6.01±0.02 and 5.99±0.03 respectively. The values for Y-chromosome were 2.01±0.02 and 2.09±0.01 in LWY crossbred and non-descript pigs. In the present investigation with 128 metaphase spreads, a total of 311 NORs were detected in LWY crossbred and non-descript pigs. The mean number of NORs per metaphase was 2.67 and 2.20 in both breeds respectively. The highest frequency of metaphases (47.61% and 81.54%) had 2 number of NORs, whereas lowest frequency of metaphases (7.94% and 3.07%) had 4 number of NORs. The percentage share of silver deposits on 10th pair of chromosome accounts for 96.67 and 68.33 in LWY crossbred and non-descript pigs, whereas on 8th chromosome pair the percentage share of deposits were 44.16 and 51.67 respectively. The outcome of present study have revealed that the morphology, number and various morphometric measurements of the chromosomes in both the breeds were analogous to those reported in literature for various pig breeds like Canadian Lacombe, Landrace, Duroc, Thai wild boar, Nigerian indigenous pig, Niang Megha pig, Korean native pig, Polish Landrace, Hampshire, Large White Yorkshire, Turkish sus scrofa. Therefore, the efforts should be undertaken to recognize the non-descript pigs as a distinct breed of Andhra Pradesh.ThesisItem Open Access A STUDY ON MORPHOLOGICAL AND GENETIC VARIATION IN NELLORE PALLA SHEEP(SRI VENKATESWARA VETERINARY UNIVERSITY TIRUPATI - 517 502. (A.P.) INDIA, 2017-01) SAI HARINI, K; Punya kumara, B(MAJOR); Vinoo, R; Suresh Babu, DABSTRACT: The southern peninsular region of India is home to fourteen descriptive mutton breeds, of which Nellore is the country's tallest sheep, predominantly distributed in areas of Nellore and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh. Based on coat colour three varieties were seen: Jodipi, Brown (Dora) and Palla. Nellore Jodipi is predominant in its population followed by Brown and Palla. Nellore palla sheep are confined to only certain areas of Nellore district and very scanty information is available on the performance of the breed. The population of Nellore Palla is under threat (<1500). Hence, genetic and phenotypic evaluation of the breed is important not only from conservation point of view, but also to assess the level of inbreeding in the population. The present study was carried out to figure out productive and reproductive performance in Nellore Palla sheep under field conditions and also to assess the genetic structure of Nellore Palla sheep at molecular level using twenty four microsatellite markers recommended by ISAG/FAO for genetic diversity studies in sheep. A total of 347 sheep of different age groups were used to study the morphometric measurements of Nellore palla sheep and 50 blood samples from unrelated sheep flocks were used for molecular studies. The overall least squares means of body weights (kg), height at withers, chest girth, paunch girth and body length were 35.18 ± 0.27, 78.47 ± 1.55, 80.82 ± 0.66, 80.93 ± 1.37 and 69.90 ± 0.83 at 2- teeth age, 39.65 ± 0.33, 82.45 ± 0.98, 84.57 ± 0.72, 84.11 ± 1.34 and 72.23 ± 1.02 at 4- teeth age, 41.18 ± 0.56, 83.63 ± 0.64, 86.32 ± 0.74, 85.88 ± 1.23 and 74.55 ± 0.81 at 6- teeth age, 45.00 ± 0.46, 85.22 ± 1.97, 87.17 ± 0.58, 86.14 ± 0.52 and 76.17 ± 0.33 at 8- teeth of age respectively. Villages and sex showed a significant (p<0.01) effect at all ages and the parameters studied. The overall least squares means of age at first mating in males, age at first mating in females, age at first lambing, tupping and lambing percentages were 598.03 ± 3.02 days, 361.54 ± 1.09 days, 509.32 ± 1.00 days, 81.06 ± 1.61 and 73.37 ± 1.53 percent, respectively. The coefficient of correlations between body weights with the height at withers, chest girth, paunch girth and body length varied from 0.58(PG) to 1.00(CG) in males and 0.16(PG) to 0.69(HW) in females. A perfect phonotypic correlation (1.00) was observed for body weights and height at withers at in 8- teeth age males and for body weights and chest girth for males at 6- teeth age. All the correlations were positive and highly significant (p<0.01) in majority of the age groups studied. The standard Phenol-Chloroform method was used for isolation of DNA from 50 blood samples. The quality and quantity of DNA was checked by agarose gel electrophoresis and Nanodrop spectrophotometer, respectively. The allele frequencies, observed number of alleles (Na), effective number of alleles (Ne), observed (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosity, within population inbreeding estimates (FIS) were computed using POPGENE32 software. A total of 189 alleles were found across the 24 microsatellite loci studied. The number of alleles at each locus ranged from five (BM6506, CSSM31 and HUJ616) to a maximum of thirteen (BM827 and OARHH64) with a mean of 7.8 alleles across all loci. The allele sizes ranged from a minimum of 81 bp (OarJMP8) to a maximum of 258 bp in MAF214, while, the allele frequencies ranged from a minimum of 0.010 (BM827, INRA63, OarFCB48 and OarHH64) to a maximum of 0.40 (OarFCB128). The mean effective number of alleles was 6.6452 ± 0.3933 which was less than the observed number of alleles and ranged from 3.4916 (CSSM31) to 11.574 (BM827). The observed heterozygosity (Ho) and expected heterozygosity (He) ranged from 0.00 (BM1314, BM6506, BM8125, HUJ616, OARCP20, OARFCB128, OARJMP8) to 0.16 (OARHH64) and from 0.7208 (CSSM31) to 0.9228 (BM827) with an overall value of 0.0626 ± 0.010 and 0.8361 ± 0.009, respectively. All the twenty four microsatellite loci were found to be highly polymorphic and the PIC values ranged from 0.6616 (CSSM31) to 0.9136 (BM827) with a mean of 0.8171. The FIS values were found positive and ranged from 0.8201 (OARHH64) to 1.000 (BM1314, BM6506, BM8125, HUJ616, OARCP20, OARFCB128, OARJMP8). The mean FIS value across the twenty four loci observed was 0.9257. The χ2 test revealed that all the twenty four loci deviated significantly from Hardy- Weinberg Equilibrium.ThesisItem Open Access ASSESSMENT OF GENETIC DIVERSITY IN ONGOLE AND PUNGANUR CATTLE BREEDS THROUGH MICROSATELLITE TYPING(SRI VENKATESWARA VETERINARY UNIVERSITY TIRUPATI - 517 502. (A.P.) INDIA, 2013-04) ASHA, UPPUTURI; Sakunthala Devi, K(MAJOR); Rajkumar, U; Harikrishna, ChABSTRACT: Twenty dinucleotide microsatellite markers viz ETHOLO, ILSTSOOS, TGLA122, INRA035, INRA063, HEL001, TGLA 126, INRAOOS, ILSTS006, INRA032, ETH225, CSRM060, BMI 824, TGLA053, INRAO37, ETHO03, TGLA227, MM012, HAUT024 and HAUT027 were used for Assessment of genetic diversity in Ongole and Punganur cattle breeds through Microsatellite typing. The mean quantity of DNA was 2.96 pdml in Ongole and 3.16 pg/ml in Punganur cattle. Mean optical absorbance ratio (2601280nm) was 1.78 in both Ongole and Punganur cattle indicating good quality of genomic DNA. Out of the total 216 alleles detected, 98 alleles were specific to Ongole and 75 alleles were specific to Punganur. Mean number of alleles obtained at each locus varied from 1 to 12 in Ongole and 1 to 13 in Punganur cattle. The overall mean effective number of alleles was found to be 4.09 in Ongole and 3.41 in Punganur cattle. The overall mean expected heterozygosity and observed heterozygosity were 0.65 and 0.33 in Ongole and 0.55 and 0.3 1 in Punganur breed, respectively. The overall mean PIC values observed were 0.62 and 0.53 in Ongole and Punganur breeds respectively. The mean inbreeding coefficient (Fls) obtained in the present study was 0.456 for Ongole and 0.434 in Punganur breed. F-statistics revealed moderate inbreeding within the breeds and existence of moderate relationship between the Ongole and Punganur cattle. In Ongole population, loci ETHO10, TGLA122, INRA035, INRA063, HEL001, ILSTS006, TGLA126, ETH225, CSRM60, TGLA053, INRA037, ETH003, MM012, HAUT027 and HAUT024 were deviated significantly from the equilibrium frequency (I'c0.01). In Punganur breed, except the locus TGLA126, ETH225 and CSRMO60, all other loci deviated significantly (Ps0.01) from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.ThesisItem Unknown GENETIC ANALYSIS ON PRE WEANING TRAITS OF DESl PIGS AND THEIR CROSSES WITH LWY(SRI VENKATESWARA VETERINARY UNIVERSITY TIRUPATI - 517 502. (A.P.) INDIA, 1997-10) VENKATA LAKSHMAIAH, P; VIROJI RAO, S.T(MAJOR); CHENDRA REDDY, V.R; KRISHNA REDDY, KThesisItem Unknown GENETIC ANALYSIS OF EXOTIC AND NATIVE CHICKEN(SRI VENKATESWARA VETERINARY UNIVERSITY TIRUPATI - 517 502. (A.P.) INDIA, 2010-12) SREENIVAS, DASARI; GNANA PRAKASH, M(MAJOR); SHARMA, R.P; RUDRANATH CHATTERJEE; RAVINDER REDDY, V; MAHENDER, MABSTRACT: The present investigation was carried out for estimation of genetic parameters on certain production, immunocompetence and egg quality traits in IWH, IWI and IWK strains and control population of White Leghorns and microsatellite marker based analysis on IWH and IWK strains and native breeds of Aseel and Kadaknath maintained at the Project Directorate on Poultry, Hyderabad. Significant genetic group differences were observed for all the production traits studied. The age at first egg (AFE) and body weights at 40, 52 and 64 weeks of age ranged from 143.49 * 0.56 to 155.63 * 0.57 days, 1290.74 * 7.21 to 1428.36 8.36, 1377.72 8.43 to 148 1.82 * 9.77 and 1455.73 * 9.49 to 1547.15 * 1 1.18 g, respectively. Egg production up to 40, 64 and 72 weeks of age ranged from 94.08 * 0.50 to 106.15 * 0.49, 178.24 * 1.20 to 202.32 k 1.18 and 190.90 + 1.22 to 215.17 1.20 eggs. respectively while egg weight at 28, 40, 52 and 64 weeks of age ranged from 43.81 * 0.15 to 46.77 * 0.15, 49.89 * 0.18 to 53.13 * 0.17, 53.1.3 k 0.16 to 54.65 * 0.15 and 55.47 * 0.15 to 57.59 * 0.14 g, respectively. The AFE was low to moderately heritable while the body weights were moderate to highly heritable. In general, egg production traits were lowly heritable while the egg weights were low to highly heritable. The genetic and phenotypic correlations of AFE were positive with body weights and egg weights but negative with egg production. The genetic and phenotypic correlations of body weight at 52 and 64 weeks of age were negative with egg production and positive with egg weight. The correlations among egg production traits and among egg weights were positive and high while the association between egg production and egg weight traits was moderate to high but negative. Significant differences among genetic groups were observed for antibody titre against SRBC and NDV only. Mean anti SRBC titre, anti NDV titre and response to PHA-P (mrn) ranged from 4.729 * 0.142 to 5.803 * 0.11 8, 10.033 .t 0.056 to 1 1.045 * 0.049 and 0.133 * 0.075 to 0.527 * 0.164, respectively. Heritability estimates of antibody titre against SRBC, NDV and response to PHA-P were low to medium. The anti SRBC titre had positive genetic correlation and negative phenotypic and environmental correlations with AFE. Genetic and phenotypic correlations with body weights and egg production traits were mostly positive. The genetic and phenotypic correlations of antibody titre against NDV with AFE and annual egg production were mostly positive. The correlations of response to PHA-P with other traits varied both in magnitude and direction. Significant genetic group differences were observed for various egg quality traits studied. The egg weight, haugh unit, yolk index, albumen index, yolk weight, albumen weight, shell weight and shell thickness ranged from 53.89 0.43 to 50.01 0.48 g, 65.38 * 0.92 to 80.98 * 1.01, 0.341 * 0.003 to 0.353 * 0.003, 0.056 * 0.002 to 0.087 * 0.002, 14.16 i 0.13 to 15.58k 0.12 g, 30.92 * 0.39 to 33.18k 0.39 g, 4.32 * 0.05 to 5.12 * 0.05 g and 0.336 k 0.003 to 0.376 * 0.003 mrn, respectively. The heritability estimates based on sire, dam and sire + dam components of variance for egg weight, yolk index, albumen index and albumen weight ranged from low to medium while those of haugh unit, yolk weight, shell weight and shell thickness ranged from low to high. The genetic and phenotypic correlations of egg weight with other egg quality traits except shell quality traits were mostly positive and moderate to high. High positive genetic and phenotypic correlations between haugh unit and other traits were observed. Genetic correlation of yolk weight with albumen weight was positive while that with shell quality traits was mostly negative. Shell weight was positively correlated with shell thickness. All the 15 microsatellite loci were polymorphic. The mean number of alleles (Na) varied from 2.0 to 5.0 among the loci and 3.13 * 0.13 to 3.80 k 0.13 among the populations. The effective number of alleles varied from 1.041 to 4.755 across the loci and between 2.33 0.09 and 3.21 k 0.1 1 among the populations. The allele frequency ranged from 0.012 to 0.980 across the loci. The overall mean PIC values ranged from 0.038 to 0.756 across the loci and 0.434 to 0.579 among the populations. The expected and observed heterozygosity estimates (0.634 * 0.020 and 0.723 * 0.031) were highest in Aseel, while lowest in IWH strain (0.500 i 0.022 and 0.471 * 0.034). Overall mean inbreeding coefficients for IWH, IWK, Kadaknath and Aseel were 0.205, 0.1 16, -0.052 and -0.130, respectively. The mean values of Fls, FST and FIT values over all the loci were -0.050 & 0.065,0.05 1 & 0.308 and 0.003 k 0.064, respectively. The genetic distance was least between Kadaknath and Aseel (0.023) and highest between IWH and Aseel (0.160). Kadaknath and Aseel were closer with maximum genetic identity index (0.977) while IWH and Aseel were more wide apart with least identity index (0.852). Phylogenetic analysis grouped IWH and IWK strains in to one cluster and Kadaknath and Aseel breeds in to another cluster. All the loci except MCW 048 deviated significantly from equilibrium frequency in at least one of the populations, while all the loci except MCW 007 and MCW 048 departed from the equilibrium frequency on overall basis.ThesisItem Open Access GENETIC ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE IN CROSSBRED PIGS(SRI VENKATESWARA VETERINARY UNIVERSITY TIRUPATI - 517 502. (A.P.) INDIA, 2010-07) PANDU RANGA REDDY, P; PUNYA KUMARI, B(MAJOR); GNANA PRAKASH, M; SURESH, JABSTRACT: Data on 1662 pigs belonging to 50 and 75% Large White Yorkshire (LWY)-desi crossbreds maintained at All India Coordinated Research Project on Pigs, Tirupati born during 2005 to 2010 were utilizd to study the influenct of genetic and non-gcnctic factors on reproductive traits, litter traits, body weights, body measurements and avcrage daily gains. Prediction equations were developed to cstirnatc body weights based on body meanmments. Genetic parameters were estimated for various traits. The overall least squares means for AFS, AFF, FL GP and SP were 329.05 * 2.90, 440.42 * 2.80, 171.15 ~t 2.97, 111.28 zt 0.26 and 283.87 * 3.00 days respectively. The effects of pcriod and stason only were significant on reproductive baits. The overall kast quarts mean LSB, LSW and LWB and LWW were 7.59 * 0.17, 6.94 0.16 piglets and 8.40 + 0.18 and 66.92 * 1.42 kg, respectively. The effects of pcriod and parity were significant (Pg.O1) on majority of the litter traits. The overall least squares mcan body weights were 1.13 * 0.02, 2.13 It 0.01, 3.19 * 0.02, 4.29 * 0.02, 5.41 It 0.03, 6.48 0.03, 7.55 * 0.04, 8.72 * 0.05 and 9.97 * 0.06 kg at birth, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 wks of age, respectively. Genetic group, period, parity and litter size pup affected all pre weaning body weights highly significantly except for the non-significant effect of stason on body weight at birth. Scxual dimorphism in favour of males was evident from 1 to 6 weeks of age. Body weights of piglets born in rainy and winter seasons and those from smaller litters recorded significantly higher body weights. The overall least squares means for BL, HW. HG and PG varied from 22.68 to 50.58, 16.91 to 36.65, 23.27 to 47.43, 19.03 to 42.19 cm from bid to 8 weeks of age. The effect of litter size group was significant on all the biomctrical measurements at various ages. Season also influenced body measurements at birth, 2 and 8 weeks of age significantly where as at other ages it influmced one (or) more traits but not all. Parity e f f i was significant on all the body measurements at 4 and 6 weeks of age. Sexual dimorphism was evident on all the body measurements at birth only. Significant effect of genetic group was observed only on heart girth and paunch girth at birth and 2 woeks of age, respectively. The overall least squares mean ADG during 0 to 2, 2 to 4, 4 to 6, 6 to 8 and birth to 8 weeks wm 0.150 + 0.001, 0.160 f 0.001, 0.150 * 0.002, 0.170 * 0.002 and 0.160 * 0.001 kg, respectively. Pigs from smaller litters recorded significantly higher ADGs. Heritability of gestation period in 75% LWY group was 0.08 * 0.38 while that of litter traits ranged hm 0.14 + 0.35 to 0.32 + 0.48 among the genetic groups. Heritability estimates varied from 0.19 + 0.09 to 0.97 * 0.22 for body weights and from 0.13 * 0.08 to 0.80 f 0.17 for ADGs. Heritability estimates among body measurements were medium to high. The genetic, phenotypic and environmental correlations among gestation period and litter traits ranged hm -0.76 to 029, -0.24 to 0.01 and -0.22 to 0.35, while those among litter baits wm all positive and high. Genetic, phenotypic and environmental correlations among body weights were positive and medium to high. Phenotypic comlations among body weights were all positive. Comlations among ADGs were very low without any consistent trend. Phenotypic correlations among body measurements ranged from - 0.0 1 to 0.9 1 and among body weights and measurements, it ranged from -0.03 to 0.86. Prediction equations were developed to predict body weight at birth 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks of age based on cOrnSponding measurements on each genetic group. The R~ values varied from 69.1 to 81.7 percent among the genetic groups. Multiple regression equations developed at 2 and 8 weeks of age were found to be most efficient of all.ThesisItem Open Access CYTOGENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF MAHABUBNAGAR GOATS(SRI VENKATESWARA VETERINARY UNIVERSITY TIRUPATI - 517 502. (A.P.) INDIA, 2010-07) UMA DEVI, P; Ramesh Gupta, P(MAJOR); Sakunthala Devi, K; Dhana Lakshmi, KABSTRACT : The research was carried out on Mahabubnagar (34) and non-descript goats (13) for cytogenetic characterization by the short term lymphocyte culture technique. A total of 1050 metaphase spreads were examined for the chromosome count and morphology and for Mahabubnagar goats 170 karyotypes and for non-descript animals 75 karyotypes of were prepared. The diploid chromosome number in all the goats was found to be 2n = 60, XY in males and 2n = 60, XX in females. All the autosomes were acrocentric in morphology. The X-chromosome was the longest acrocentric, while the Y-chromosome was smallest and dot-like in appearance in majority of the karyotypes examined. In few metaphase spreads, it was submetacentric in appearance. The data on relative length were converted into angles using arcsin transformation for conducting the least squares analysis. The variation in relative length of the chromosomes was not significant between animals in Mahabubnagar goats, while it was significant for the autosomes 1 to 11 and 19 to 29 in non-descript goats. The effect of genetic group, sex of the animal, coat color and presence or absence of horns, beard and wattles on relative length of the chromosomes was found to be non-significant. The overall least squares mean relative length of autosomes, X- and Y-chromosomes varied from 2.029 to 4.825 percent, 5.164 and 1.961 percent respectively. Among the genetic groups, sexes, coat colours and presence or absence of horns, beard and wattles the least squares means for relative length ranged from 1.975 to 4.937, 1.922 to 4.828, 2.041 to 5.065, 1.982 to 4.856, 1.985 to 4.915 and 1.950 to 5.042 percent, respectively for autosomes and for the X-chromosome ranged from 5.010 to 5.320, 5.147 to 5.181, 4.984 to 5.405, 5.105 to 5.224, 5.104 to 5.224 and 4.944 to 5.388 percent, respectively. The contribution of Y-chromosome to the total genome was 0.457 and 0.509 percent in Mahabubnagar and non-descript goats, respectively. The Y-chromosome overall mean arm ratio, centromeric index and morphological indices were 1.68, 39.22 percent and 214.00, respectively, confirming its submetacentric morphology. In the present investigation with 42 metaphase spreads, a total of 213 NORs were detected in Mahabubnagar goats. The mean number of NORs per metaphase was 5.071, which ranged from 4.72 to 6.17, where as the number of NORs per metaphase ranged from 1 to 13. The highest frequency (P<0.05) of metaphases (21.43%) examined had one NOR, while the lowest frequency (2.38%) had 9 or 11 NORs. The outcome of the present study have revealed that the morphology, number and various morphometric measurements of the chromosomes of the Mahabubnagar goats were analogous to those reported in literature for descript breeds of goats in India like Bengal, Pashmina, Gaddi and local goats like Kanni Adu of Tamil Nadu and local goats of Rohilkhand region. Therefore, the Mahabubnagar goats may be recognized as a distinct breed of Andhra Pradesh State.ThesisItem Open Access CYTOGENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF PUNGANUR CATTLE(SRI VENKATESWARA VETERINARY UNIVERSITY TIRUPATI - 517 502. (A.P.) INDIA, 2010-07) BHARATHI, GUTTI; SAKARAM, D(MAJOR); RAMESH GUPTA, B; RAGHUNANDAN, TABSTRACT : The blood samples of total 30 animals consisting each sex of 15 animals of Punganur and 5 ND animals(2M+3F) were cultured through short term lymphocyte method and 1000 metaphases of these animals were analyzed for morphology and different morphometric aspects for characterization. The diploid chromosome number consisting of 60 (2n=60, XY) was found in both the cattle. All the autosomes were acrocentric. X-chromosome was sub-metacentric while the Y- was found smallest acrocentric. The morphometry revealed that mean relative lengths of autosomes varied from 5.34 to 1.87 percent in Punganur and 5.10 to 1.97 percent in ND. The X-chromosome contributed 4.81 and 4.57 percent in Punganur and ND, while the Y-chromosome accounted 1.69 and 1.93 percent in Punganur and ND to Genome. The means for arm ratio, centromeric index and morphological index of the X- chromosome were 1.55± 0.17, 0.40±0.05 and 5.12±0.46 in Punganur and 1.55±0.05, 0.40±0.01 and 5.30±0.29 in ND respectively. Analysis of variance based on the transformed relative lengths revealed significant differences among the genetic groups with respect to the relative lengths of chromosomes 10, 26, 27, 28, 29, and Y-chromosome. The relative lengths of all chromosome except 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 28, 29 and X-chromosome showed differences among sexes in Punganur cattle. The sex wise analysis of variance in ND cattle revealed no significant difference among the sexes for all chromosomes except 29 pair of autosome. The NOR-banding revealed that on average 5 chromosomes in the complement showed the NOR regions most of them present on telomeres and some of them are in ends of the long arms. Even though the location and distribution of these regions varies among breeds of cattle, the NOR pertaining to this breed were located on chromosomes 2, 3, 4, 5 and 28.