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ThesisItem Open Access Evaluation of Lactation Performance of Zebu x Taurus Cattle in Kerala(Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences,Mannuthy, 1983) Stephan, Mathew; KAU; Mukundhan, GAn investigation was undertaken to evaluate the lactation performance of the crossbred cattle (Zebu x Taurus) and to compare the performance of Brown Swiss and Jersey crosses under field conditions so that a breeding policy could be recommended. First lactation milk yield in 305 days, age at first calving and first lactation length were the characters studied. For this, data on the Brown Swiss crossbred maintained by the farmers at Mavelikkara and Kattappana and on Jersey crossbreds at Kanjirappally and Chalakudy under the milk recording – cum – progeny testing scheme of the Kerala Livestock Development and Milk Marketing Board were utilized. The observations spread over a period of four years from 1978 to 1981. The uncorrected average first lactation yields were 1508.8 + 14.3 kg in Brown Swiss half – breds, 1562.6 + 28.7 kg in unclassified Brown Swiss crosses, 1380.3 + 47.0 kg in Jersey half – breds and 1558.0 + 31.5 kg in unclassified Jersey crosses. The least squares means of first lactation yields in Brown Swiss half – breds, unclassified Brown Swiss crosses, Jersey half – breds and unclassified Jersey crosses were 1482.0 + 19.7 kg, 1544.7 + 32.4 kg, 1359.2 + 57.4 kg and 1559.8 + 37.3 kg respectively. The Duncan’s multiple range test showed that the Jersey half – breds had significantly lower production compared to all other genetic groups. The production of unclassified Jersey crosses had been significantly higher than the Brown Swiss half – breds as well as Jersey half – breds. Least squares analysis on pooled data and Brown Swiss half – breds showed the significant influence of age at first calving, year of calving and sex of the calf on first lactation milk yield. But, season of calving did not significantly influence the milk yield. The uncorrected average age at first calving in Brown Swiss half – breds, unclassified Brown Swiss crosses, Jersey half _ breds and unclassified Jersey crosses were 46.0 + 0.4 months, 38.4 + 0.6 months, 41.7 + 1.4 months and 39.5 + 1.2 months respectively. The least squares means of age at first calving in Brown Swiss half – breds, unclassified Brown Swiss crosses, Jersey half – breds and unclassified Jersey crosses were 46.0 + 0.5, 38.0 + 0.8, 41.1 + 2.1 and 38.9 + 1.5 months respectively. Brown Swiss half – breds had significantly higher age at first calving compared to the other three groups which were homogenous. The effect of year on age at first calving was not significant in Brown Swiss half – breds while pooled data analysis showed a significant effect of year on age at first calving. The uncorrected average lactation lengths in Brown Swiss half – breds, unclassified Brown Swiss crosses, Jersey half – breds and unclassified Jersey crosses were 300.5 + 0.5 days, 299.6 + 1.0 days, 295.6 + 2.4 days and 295.3 + 1.7 days, respectively. This shows that all the crossbreds had fairly good lactation length. Lactation milk yield and age at first calving are economically important to the farmer and in this context these two characters are to be considered together. The results obtained do not indicate the superiority of either Brown Swiss or Jersey crossbreds, over the other. The introduction of both Brown Swiss and Jersey improved the milk production of the cattle of Kerala. While aiming at a further improvement, emphasis should be given to the merit of the sires rather than the specificity of the exotic breed or the percentage of exotic inheritance.ThesisItem Open Access Chromosome profile of Indian elephants ( Elephas maximus indicus)(Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1988) Sakthi Kumar, A; KAU; Mukundan, GA karyological study in Indian elephants using peripheral venous blood collected from 7 tuskers, 7 cow elephants and one makhna belonging to some temples and private owners of Trichur District was undertaken with objectives of a) to evolve a technique for chromosome studies of elephants. b) to find out the chromosome number in Indian elephants, and c) to suggest sex chromosome mechanism in sex determination. Standardization of technique Comparison of efficacy of phytohaemagglutinin – M (Difco) and Poke – weed mitogen (GIBCO), in two different culture media namely TC 199 and RPMI – 1640, as mitogens showed that phyto – haemagglutinin – M yielded a mitotic index of 0.33 and 0.66 per cent in medium TC 199 and RPMI – 1640 respectively; poke – weed mitogen yielded a mitotic index of 5.33 and 5.66 per cent respectively in TC 199 and RPMI – 1640. Statistical analysis revealed that the efficacy of the two different media used was not significantly different, whereas the efficacy of two mitogens differed significantly at five per cent level. Poke – weed mitogen was found to be better than phytohaemagglutinin – M as far as indusing mitoses in elephant lymphocyte cultures over a 72 hour culture period was concerned. Colchicine treatment using 0.1 ml colchicine solution (0.0001%) for a period of one hour yielded satisfactory chromosome preparations. Karyotype The karyotype of the tusker, cow elephant and makhna revealed a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 56, comprising of 54 autosomes and 2 sex chromosomes. The autosomes were classified into 6 submetacentric and 21 acrocentric chromosomes. The X – chromosome was a submetacentric in all the three groups of elephants whereas the Y – chromosome was a small acrocentric in the tusker as well as the makhna. Analysis of relative length of chromosomes showed that the largest chromosome pair measured a relative length of 6.973 per cent and the smallest chromosome was the Y – chromosome measuring a relative length of 1.710 per cent. Position of centromere on the basis of centromeric index suggested that the centromere was farthest from the centre of the chromosome in the second autosome pair and nearest to the centre in the X – chromosome among the submetacentric chromosomes. Neither autosomes nor sex chromosomes possessed satellites on karyological examination. The elephants studied exhibited XX/XY sex chromosome mechanism. The cow elephant possessed XX sex chromosome complement while both tusker and makhna possessed XY sex chromosome complement. A comparison between the karyotypes of tusker and makhna did not show any variation in (a) basic number, (b) relative length (C) position of centromere, (d) absence of satellites on the chromosomes and (e) the sex chromosome complement. It may be concluded that tusklessness in makhna is not associated with either euploidy or aneuploidy.ThesisItem Open Access Prevalence of yeast and yeast like fungi in bovine mastitis and their in vitro drug sensitivity(Department of Microbiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1995) Sukumar, K; KAU; James, P CThe present investigation was undertaken to identify the the biochemical polymorphism at serum alkaline phospha tase (SAP) loci and to study the heterogenity of SAP variation in crossbred cattle It was also envisaged to analyse the association of SAP variation and traits of economic importance such as milk production and composition of milk One hundred and ten animals belonging to two different crosses of local nondescript cattle viz Crossbred Holstein Friesian (57) and Crossbred Brown Swiss (53) were typed for SAP variance by standardising Horizontal Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (PAGE) Two genotypes FS and SS were determined The highest frequency of FS genotype was in Holstein Friesian crossbred than in Brown Swiss crossbred The genotype FF was absent in both the crossbreds The highest frequency of SS genotype was in Brown Swiss crossbred than in Holstein Friesian crossbreds Two alleles namely pF and P$ with two phenotypes FS and SS were identified as SAP locus pT allele had the frequency of 0 20 and pS allele had the frequency of 0 80 in the pooled crossbreds Both the Holstein Friesian crossbreds and Brown Swiss crossbred are in genetic equilibrium at the SAP loci No association could be established between milk yield (305 days) and serum alkaline phosphatase level A non significant negative correlation existed between milk fat percentage and SAP level whereas a significant positive correlation existed between milk SNF percentage and SAP level The correlation between SAP level and milk total solids were found to be negative and non significant in Brown Swiss crossbreds whereas a non significant positive correlation existed between the SAP level and milk total solids in Holstein Friesian crossbreds Animals belonging to the FS genotype are better milk producers compared to the SS genotype For higher fat percentages the performance of SS genotype was compara tively better The performance of SS genotype is better for producing milk with more than 8 5 percentage of SNF FS genotype performed better for producing milk having higher percentage of total solidsThesisItem Open Access Parentage control in cattle using blood types(Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1992) Mary John, V; KAU; Nandakumaran, BImmunogenetic studies were carried out in four hundred and eleven cross-bred cattle maintained at the University Livestock Farm, Mannuthy and Cattle Breeding Farm , Thumburmuzhi The animals belonged to three genetic groups, viz Jersey cross breds, Brown-Swiss cross breds and Holstein Friesian cross breds The animals were typed for blood group factors and haemoglobin Blood group reagents were produced from iso immune sera, hetero immune rabbit sera and colostrum of an immunised cow Eleven reagents were produced by the above cited methods and seven of them were comparable to international reagents Serum from two animals (Animal Nos 248 and 743) were used as sources of anti J whose titres were being assessed periodically by haemolytic technique The titre varied from 0 to 1 32, but no association with seasons of the year, could be noticed Typing of cross bred animals was done with 28 blood group reagents (14 internationally comparable and 14 new reagents) The internationally comparable reagents were B, Y25 E 3 , C23 R, , F, V, J, L, S, H and Z Anti J from two different sources (Animal Nos 248 and 743) were used and one (Animal No 743) seemed to be the sub type of other (Animal No 248) Standard haemolytic test was carried out for typing animals for their blood group factors The factors occurred in the three genetic groups with varying gene frequencies A good agreement was observed between the observed and expected numbers in each genotypes with respect to FV locus in all the population except in Holstein Friesian cross breds (P < 0 05 ) The mode inheritance of blood group factors showed that the cattle red blood cell antigenic factors were inherited as dominant over their absence The cross-bred population was also typed for haemoglobin Electrophoresis was carried out in poly acrylamide gel Only two haemoglobin variants viz HbA and HbB and three phenotypes viz Hb AA, Hb AB and Hb BB were A observed The gene frequencies of Hb allele was 0 67, 0 6 6 and 0 83 m Jersey cross breds, Brown Swiss cross breds and Holstein Friesian cross-breds, respectively The genotype frequencies at haemoglobin locus for the pooled cross breds were 0 5036 (Hb AA), 0 4307 (Hb AB) and 0 0657 (Hb BB), respectively Genetic variability of breeds was studied m terms of heterozygosity at Hb locus and Friesian cross breds were found to have least heterozygosity, ie 0 282ThesisItem Open Access Biochemical polymorphism in broiler rabbits(Department of Animal Breeding, Genetics and Biostatistics, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1990) Usha, A P; KAU; Mukundan, GBlood samples collected from rabbits maintained in the rabbit breeding farm of Kerala Agricultural University formed the materials for this study These blood samples were typed employing horizontal polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to study the polymorphism of transferrin post transferrin and haemoglobin A total of 152 rabbits comprising of 50 Soviet Chinchilla 52 Newzealand White and 50 local rabbits were involved m the study Genetic inter relationship among growth traits and survivability were studied In all the genetic groups two transferrin variants the faster Tf and slower Tf with two phenotypes TfAA and TfAC were observed The gene frequency of Tf and Tf were 0 7500 and 0 2500 in Soviet Chinchilla 0 8300 and 0 1700 m Newzealand White and 0 8100 and 0 1900 m local rabbits The frequency of TfA allele was higher in all the populations The phenotype TfCC was not observed in any of the genetic groups Three post transferrin phenotypes Ptf FF Ptf FS and Ptf SS were detected and found to be controlled by two F S co dominant alleles Ptf and Ptf The fast moving F variant was designated as Ptf and the slow moving migrant S F was designated as Ptf The gene frequency of Ptf was 0 7400 0 8500 and 0 7600 m the three genetic groups and e that of Ptf was 0 2600 0 1500 and 0 2400 in Soviet Chinchilla Newzealand White and local rabbits respectively Haemoglobin was found to be monomorphic in all the three genetic groups studied The allelic frequencies of transferrin and post transferrin were suggestive of Hardy Weinberg equilibrium in the populations of three breeds No significant diversity was found to exist between genetic groups analysis of segretation pattern observed in pedigrees revealed the autosomal codominant mode of inheritance for transferrin and post transferrin alleles The absence of TfCC phenotype in the whole population of rabbits may be due to its unfavourable influence on the viabilityThesisItem Open Access Studies on the peak yield and persistency of lactation in crossbred dairy cows(Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1980) Girija, C R; KAU; Krishnan, Nair B RWith the objective of studying the peak yield, persistency, their relation with other production traits and the shape of the lactation curves, the data on the production and reproduction records of 298 Jersey x Zebu and 69 Brown Swiss x Zebu crossbred cows maintained at Livestock farms of Kerala Agricultural University were utilized. Persistency was calculated as a ratio of the yield from the attainment of peak yield to the 305 days yield and the yield upto the peak yield.ThesisItem Open Access Genetics of body dimensions of Malabari goats and its cross in Kerala(Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1994) Raj, Menon; KAU; Stephen, MathewThe main objectives of this study were: (1) to study the bodyweight and body dimensions of Malabari goats and its Alpine half breds, (2) to estimate the genetic and phenotypic correlations between bodyweight and different body dimensions in various genetic groups and (3) to study any other major factors affecting bodyweights and body dimensions. The study was conducted in 92 goat kids reared at the All India Co-ordinated Research Project on goats farm at Mannuthy, Thrissur. A comparative study was made on the native Malabari with its third generation cross with the exotic Alpine breed. The mean body length, heart girth and height at withers at birth wera 25.68 ± 0.53, 27.37 ± 0.46 and 29.66 ± O. 60 cm and 26.01 ± O. 16, 28.23 ± 0.23 and 30.24 ± 0.45 in male kids of Malabari and Alpine x Malabari crossbreds respectively. In the females the corresponding values were 25.63 ± 0.073, 27.56 ± 0.68 and 25.53 ± 0.48 and 25.3 ± 0.17, 27.60 ± 0.32 and 29.14 ± 0.35 cm. The mean body length, heart girth and height at withers of male Malabari and Alpine x Malabari goats at 60.39 ± 0.81, 59.66 ± 0.82 and 58.18 ± 0.91 12 months were 61.42 ± 0.90, 61.12 ± 0.90 and 59.04 ± 1 . 01 cm and 64. 19 ± O. 81, 64. 60 ± O. 73 and 61. 98 ± O. 9 cm respectively. The corresponding values for females were 58.36 ± 0.81,59.0 ± 0.7 and 58.36 ± 0.72 and respectively. There was no significant difference between the birth weights of- male and female Malabari kids and between the birth weights of the two genetic groups. But the difference was significant in the Alpine x Malabari crossbreds. There was significant difference in the bodyweight at 12 months of age between male and female Alpine x Malabari crossbred kids. No significant difference was observed in the bodyweight at 12 months between the two genetic groups. During the experiment period mean maximum and minimum temperature were 34.55 ± 1.2 and 22.03 ± 1.4 °c respectively. Season had a significant effect on the body weight at six, none and 12 months of age in Alpine x Malabari crossbreds. The effect of type of birth was not significant on the birth weights in Alpine x Malabari crossbreds and Malabari kids. Type of birth had no significant effect on the 12 months body weight in both the genetic groups. analysis showed non-significant Least squares effects of season and sex on the body weights in Malabari kids while in the Alpine x Malabari the effect of sex on body weights was significant at all the ages studied. Season at six, nine and 12 months of age had significant effects on bodyweight in Alpine x Malabari crossbreds Breed had no significant effect on body weights. The heritabilities of bodyweights at various ages were higher in Malabari when compared to Malabari x Alpine crossbreds. The highest phenotypic correlations were observed between the bodyweight and heart girth in both genetic Genotypic correlations between different groups. traits were found to be low at different ages in both the genetic groups. The highest coefficients of determination were observed at the age of six months for both the prediction equations.ThesisItem Open Access Serum immunoglobulin level in kids and its association with growth and mortality(Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1981) Nandakumar, P; KAU; Rajagopala Raja, C AVarious aspects of transfer of passive immunity from the dam to the kid and its probable associations with various parameters as genetic group type of birth, birth weight, survivability and growth were studied. The sera of neonatal male kids were subjected to Zinc Sulphate turbidity test and the optical density values were converted into Ig concentration (mg/ml) using the prediction equation prepared from known strengths of commercial bovine gammaglobulins. Pre – colostral Ig levels were estimated in five kids. They were then bled at bihourly intervals to locate the post colostral peak. The trend in post colostral serum Ig level and the effect of periods and individuals on it were analysed. Magnitude of peak Ig level was estimated in 51 kids. The trend in serum Ig levels was estimated in ten kids on alternate days during the first week and weekly once thereafter upto eight weeks. The variation due to individuals and periods were analysed. The effect of genetic group on the post colostral peak of serum Ig level were analysed in 20 Saanen x Malabari (SM) 13 Saanen x Saanen – Malabari (SSM) and 12 Sannen x Alpine – Malabari (SAM) kids. The effect of type of birth on post colostral peak level of serum Ig in 12 single kids, 31 twins and 8 triplets were studied. The correlation between birth weight and post colostral peak of serum Ig in 51 kids was estimated. The mean post colostral peak level of serum Ig in kids died within two months was compared to that of population. The percentages of mortality in kids with above and below 70 mg/ml of serum Ig were calculated separately. The correlation between post colostral peak level of serum Ig and weight gain at 56 days was also calculated. The correlation between weekly trend in serum Ig level and the corresponding body weights was calculated. The pre – colostral Ig level ranged between zero and 0.94 mg/ml with a mean of 0.4156 mg/ml. The Ig level rose rapidly in sera and reached a peak level in a mean duration of 17.36 hours, where after that began to decline gradually. The variation between individuals and periods was found significant. The Ig level at the peak ranged between 42.975 and 107.64 mg/ml with a mean of 73.588 mg/ml. The mean Ig level was the highest on the third day. The Ig level declined gradually by 6 – 7 weeks of age reaching a mean level of 25.3279 mg/ml whereafter it began to rise again. There were significant variations in the above trend between individuals and periods. The genetic group had significant effect on the post colostral peak level of serum Ig. The means of Ig level in SM, SAM and SSM kids were, 76.9399 mg/ml, 69.7828 mg/ml and 60.0569 mg/ml respectively. The means of Ig level at the peak was 78.014 mg/ml in single kids, 75.0091 mg/ml in twins and 61.4406 mg/ml in triplets, though the difference were statistically not significant. The positive correlation of 0.2620 noticed between birth weight and post colostral peak level of serum Ig was also not significant. Kids died within two months had significantly lower mean Ig level at the post colostral peak (56.771 mg/ml) than the population mean (73.5881 mg/ml). The mortality rate was 44 per cent in kids with below 70 mg/ml serum Ig and the same was only 3.84 per cent in kids with and above 70 mg/ml of serum Ig. The negative correlation of (- 0.1554) between post colostral peak level of serum Ig and weight gain at 56 days was not significant. The positive correlation of 0.6932 between weekly trend in serum Ig level and body weight during corresponding periods was significant.ThesisItem Open Access Milk protein genetic variants in crossbred dairy cattle(Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, 1995) Madhavan, K; KAU; Nandakumaran, BThe present investigation was undertaken to identify the biochemical polymorphism at different milk protein loci and to establish their inheritance pattern in crossbred cattle. It was also envisaged to analyse the association of different milk protein variants with lactation milk yield and incidence of mastitis. One hundred and thirty five animals belonging to three different crosses of local nondescript cattle viz. crossbred Jersey (50), crossbred Brown Swiss (45) and crossbred Holstein Friesian (40) were typed for milk protein variants by standardising horizontal polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The milk protein loci studied were α S1 – casein, β – casein, k- casein and β – lactoglobulin. Two alleles namely B and C with three phenotypes BB, BC and CC were identified at α S1 – casein locus. B allele had the frequency ranging from 0.61 to 0.63. β – casein locus exhibited three phenotypes contributed by two allels A and B. A allele had the highest frequency of 0.81 in crossbred Brown Swiss and it ranged from 0.71 to 0.81 among different crossbreds. Highest frequency of AA phenotype was in crossbred Brown Swiss (0.67) and that of AB phenotype was highest in crossbred Jersey (0.29). Two alleles namely A and B contributed three phenotypes viz., AA, AB and BB at k - casein locus among different crossbreds studied. Crossbred Jersey showed the highest frequency of A allele while crossbred Brown Swiss (0.69) had the highest frequency of B allele (0.44). K – casein AA phenotype had the highest frequency in crossbred Jersey (0.52) and AB phenotypes had the highest frequency in crossbred Brown Swiss (0.51). β – lactoglobulin locus showed two alleles A and B contributing three phenotypes viz., AA, AB and BB. The frequency of A allele was highest in crossbred Holstein Friesian (0.46) and that of B allele in crossbred Brown Swiss (0.60). AA phenotype had the highest frequency in crossbred Holstein Friesian ( 0.25) while crossbred Jersey had the highest frequency of BB phenotype (0.38) and AB phenotype was highest in crossbred Brown Swiss (0.44). The observed and expected phenotypes among different genetic groups at all the four milk protein loci viz. αS1 – casein, β – casein k – casein and β – lactoglobulin were tested by Chi – square test. All the populations studied were in genetic equilibrium with respect to these four loci. This trend is suggestive of neutral role of the three milk protein loci in the population. The genetic variability in the crossbred population was calculated by estimating the heterozygosity was at β – lactoglobulin locus. In the crossbred Brown – Swiss maximum heterozygosity was seen at the k - casein locus. The overall heterozygosity in different crossbred population indicated that the crossbred Holstein Friesian had comparatively highest degree of heterozygosity (0.4603) followed by Crossbred Jersey (0.4346). In crossbred Jersey αS1 – casein types showed significant association with β – casein types. k – casein phenotypes were significantly associated with β – lactoglobulin types. In crossbred Brown Swiss also αS1 – types were found to be linked with β – casein types. β – casein BB phenotype and k – casein variants were found to be linked. β – lactoglobulin phenotypes and β – casein types were also found associated in crossbred Brown Swiss. In the case of crossbred Holstein Friesian all the milk protein variants except β – casein and k – casein were found to be associated. Milk protein variants were not found to be associated with first lactation milk yield or the incidence of mastitis in all the crossbred population studied. The present study could establish the existence of biochemical polymorphism at αS1 – casein, β – casein k – casein and β – lactoglobulin loci crossbred Jersey, crossbred Brown Swiss and crossbred Holstein Friesian cattle studied.