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Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat

Assam Agricultural University is the first institution of its kind in the whole of North-Eastern Region of India. The main goal of this institution is to produce globally competitive human resources in farm sectorand to carry out research in both conventional and frontier areas for production optimization as well as to disseminate the generated technologies as public good for benefitting the food growers/produces and traders involved in the sector while emphasizing on sustainability, equity and overall food security at household level. Genesis of AAU - The embryo of the agricultural research in the state of Assam was formed as early as 1897 with the establishment of the Upper Shillong Experimental Farm (now in Meghalaya) just after about a decade of creation of the agricultural department in 1882. However, the seeds of agricultural research in today’s Assam were sown in the dawn of the twentieth century with the establishment of two Rice Experimental Stations, one at Karimganj in Barak valley in 1913 and the other at Titabor in Brahmaputra valley in 1923. Subsequent to these research stations, a number of research stations were established to conduct research on important crops, more specifically, jute, pulses, oilseeds etc. The Assam Agricultural University was established on April 1, 1969 under The Assam Agricultural University Act, 1968’ with the mandate of imparting farm education, conduct research in agriculture and allied sciences and to effectively disseminate technologies so generated. Before establishment of the University, there were altogether 17 research schemes/projects in the state under the Department of Agriculture. By July 1973, all the research projects and 10 experimental farms were transferred by the Government of Assam to the AAU which already inherited the College of Agriculture and its farm at Barbheta, Jorhat and College of Veterinary Sciences at Khanapara, Guwahati. Subsequently, College of Community Science at Jorhat (1969), College of Fisheries at Raha (1988), Biswanath College of Agriculture at Biswanath Chariali (1988) and Lakhimpur College of Veterinary Science at Joyhing, North Lakhimpur (1988) were established. Presently, the University has three more colleges under its jurisdiction, viz., Sarat Chandra Singha College of Agriculture, Chapar, College of Horticulture, Nalbari & College of Sericulture, Titabar. Similarly, few more regional research stations at Shillongani, Diphu, Gossaigaon, Lakhimpur; and commodity research stations at Kahikuchi, Buralikson, Tinsukia, Kharua, Burnihat and Mandira were added to generate location and crop specific agricultural production packages.

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  • ThesisItemOpen Access
    Physicochemical properties of live attenuated duck plague vaccine and evaluation of stabilizer efficacy for lyophilization
    (College of Veterinary Science, Assam Agricultural University, Khanapara Campus, 2022) Barua, Jonmoni; Das, Sutopa
    Duck plague (DP) or Duck Viral Enteritis (DVE) is an acute contagious herpesvirus infection of ducks and waterfowl of the family Anatidae of the order Anseriformes. Anatid Herpesvirus-1 (AHV-1) or duck enteritis virus (DEV)of the family Herpesviridae is the responsible agent for DP or DVE which is a member. The disease is known to have a global distribution and is associated with significant economic losses worldwide. The only method for preventing and controlling the disease is vaccination. Also, an active decontamination process for an effective vaccination programme in field conditions is important. So, in the present study emphasis has been laid to understand the physicochemical properties of a DPV vaccine strain along with evaluation of thermostability of freeze-dried vaccine with different combinations of stabilizers. In the present study, a vaccine strain of DPV available in the DBT-ADMaCDepartment of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary Science, AAU, Khanapara was revived in CEF and selected for study on the basis of identity with DPV by observing CPE, PCR and molecular characterization. Characteristic CPE like vacuolation, rounding, syncytium formation and ultimately detachment of cells were observed, in case of PCR band was observed at 1510 bp which proves similar identity with DPV. Molecular characterization revealed homology with DPV isolates from India (Kerala and Assam) and China. Quantitation was done at each step to find out the titre by TCID50/ml after every evaluation right from initial titre, loss of titre during lyophilization, loss of titre during the evaluation of physicochemical treatment, stability evaluation of the freeze-dried vaccine vial, as well as reconstituted vials. The initial titre was found to be 6.9±0.17. The vaccine virus was found to be sensitive to temperatures exceeding 56ºC and above, pH 3 and below, and pH 11 and above. It was also found sensitive to ether and trypsin. On sterility test, no growth was found on the culture. Lyophilization was carried out with 3 combinations of stabilizers namely LS, PTI and LHT. On quality evaluation, PTI and LHT showed uniform cake formation along with minimal loss of titre due to lyophilization. To check the thermostability of freeze-dried vaccines and reconstituted vaccines, vials were exposed at different temperatures. Among the freeze-dried vaccine, LHT could keep the highest titre when exposed to different temperatures and sampled at different time intervals. Although, LS and PTI too could keep with the infectivity titre with minimal loss of titre. In case of the reconstituted vaccine, NSS showed better stability at different temperatures than PBS, though the differences were minimum between the two. Finally, it can be concluded that LHT is one of the better stabilizers for DPV freeze-dried vaccine production. Alternatively, LS and PTI can be used by utilizing a suitable freeze-drying protocol. PBS and NSS both can be used as a diluent for the lyophilized DPV vaccine although in this study NSS was found to be superior. Hence, stabilizer LHT with diluent NSS was found to be superior for the DPV vaccine strain under this study.