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A study was undertaken to find out the morbidity and mortality pattern in the goat population of Kerala. Factors such as cause, age, sex, breed, season and year were included in the study. Data were collected from 3925 goats maintained at The Goat and Sheep Farm, KVASU, Mannuthy for six years from 2011 to 2017 to assess the effect of different factors. Data pertaining to 2649 goats from 2013 to 2017 were analysed to find out the morbidity pattern among goats. The overall mortality rate was 11.76 per cent. Among the various causes of mortality, the results of this study indicated that mortality due to enteritis was the highest (40.60 %) followed by that due to pneumonia (22.88%) and acidosis (10.40%). The effect of age, season, sex and year on goat mortality were significant (p

The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of various factors on the host resistance of cattle against tick infestation in Kerala State, South India. The number of naturally infested semi-engorged female ticks present on the cattle was counted on a sample cattle population across the four regions of Kerala. Then, the animals were grouped based on the tick count. The chi-square test and Fisher exact test were used to identify the effects of genetic and non-genetic factors on tick burden in cattle. It was found that the Holstein Friesian crossbred and Jersey crossbred cattle had a significantly higher level of tick infestation than the indigenous Vechur breed (Bos indicus). No tick infestation was observed in indigenous Kasaragod Dwarf cattle (B. indicus). Tick infestation was more in heifers and dry animals than lactating animals. However, the sex of the animal and the stage of lactation did not influence the tick load. Tick infestation was also influenced by parity, grazing, and region.

Pasteurella multocida is a Gram negative bacterium causing severe disease in a multitude of hosts; the A: 1 strain of this bacterium is extremely virulent to hosts. In this study, the virulence of P. multocida A: 1 strain was assessed in one month old ducklings, six months old ducks and eight weeks old albino mice. The groups of experimental animals were inoculated with the different dilutions of the bacteria through subcutaneous route. The control groups were sham inoculated with sterile phosphate buffered saline via respective routes. Mortality was recorded for two weeks post inoculation. All the dead animals and birds were examined for specific gross lesions of pasteurellosis and attempted re-isolation of the organism on blood agar from their internal organs. The median lethal dose was calculated using Reed and Muench method. For ducklings, the median lethal dose was 13 colony forming units and the dilution giving 50 % end point with 0.1 ml subcutaneous dose was 10-7.4. The median lethal dose could not be arrived at for mice and adult ducks as the strain killed all the inoculated mice even in the lowest dilution tested, while most of the adult ducks were resistant to infection.

Geographical isolation and human interventions resulted in formation of subpopulations among native breeds, which showed differences in morphological or biometric traits. Crossbreeding of indigenous goats with exotic breeds resulted in combining desirable characteristics of many breeds in a composite population. Malabari crossbreds (CB), which had the inheritance of Malabari, Saanen, Alpine and Boer goat breeds were available at University Goat Farm, Mannuthy, Kerala, India. The native goats of Kerala namely, Attappady Black (AB) and populations of Malabari goats from Kannur, Calicut, Thrissur and Malappuram districts (MK, MC, MT and MM) were analysed along with Malabari crossbreds (CB) for genetic diversity. Morphological data were collected from 1776 animals and biometric data from 572 animals representing six goat populations. Qualitative morphological traits analysed were coat colour, presence or absence of horns, tassels, beard, pattern of ear and hair at forequarters and hindquarters. Quantitative biometric traits assessed were chest girth, height at withers, body length and body weight collected from female animals of one to three years of age. Least squares means calculated from SPSS, canonical discriminant analysis by CANDISC, Mahalanobis distance and dendrogram constructed by PROC CLUSTER were used to analyse biometric variables. Canonical discriminant analysis conducted for biometric data identified three statistically significant canonical variables (P less than 0.0001), with CAN1 explaining 57.2 per cent of total variance. Multivariate analytical techniques thus confirmed the existence of six different populations. The discriminatory capacity of biometric variables chosen for the study was also justified.