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Abstract Background No clinical trials have been conducted in India on the efficacy of parenteral antibacterials to treat footrot in sheep. In addition, there are no studies worldwide on the efficacy of parenteral antibacterials to treat chronic footrot. Sixty two sheep with acute footrot and 30 sheep with chronic footrot from 7 villages in Kashmir, India were recruited into two separate trials. Sheep with acute footrot were allocated to one of three treatments using stratified random sampling: long acting parenteral oxytetracycline, long acting parenteral enrofloxacin and topical application of potassium permanganate solution (a traditional treatment used by sheep farmers in India). In a quasi pre-post intervention design, sheep with chronic footrot that had not responded to treatment with potassium permanaganate were randomly allocated to treatment with one of the two parenteral antibacterials mentioned above. Sheep with acute footrot were treated on day 0 and those with chronic footrot on days 0, 3, 6 and 9. Sheep were monitored for up to 28 days after treatment. Time to recovery from lameness and initial healing of lesions was assessed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves, nonparametric log-rank and Wilcoxon sign-rank tests. Results There was significant correlation in recovery from lameness and presence of healing lesions in sheep with acute (r = 0.94) or chronic (r = 0.98) footrot. Sheep with acute footrot which were treated with parenteral antibacterials had a significantly more rapid recovery from lameness and had healing lesions (median = 7 days) compared with those treated with topical potassium permanganate solution (less than 50% recovered in 28 days). The median time to recovery in sheep with chronic footrot treated with either antibacterial was 17 days; this was significantly lower than the median of 75 days lame before treatment with antibacterials. The median time to recovery for both acute and chronic footrot increased as the severity of lesions increased. There was no difference in time to recovery by age, body condition score, duration lame, or presence of pus in the foot within acute and chronically affected sheep. Conclusions We conclude that use of parenteral antibacterials to treat sheep lame with either acute or chronic footrot in India is highly effective. This is likely to improve welfare and give economic benefits to the farmers.

Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a serious, usually fatal disease affecting many species of ungulates of the subfamily Bovinae and family Cervidae including pigs and caused by a herpesvirus under the genus Macavirus in the subfamily Gammaherpesvirinae. Ten Macaviruses have been identified to date and 6 were found to be associated with clinical MCF. Alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 (AlHV-1), which causes inapparent infection in wildebeest and ovine herpesvirus 2 (OvHV-2), which is associated with subclinical infections in sheep are the two most important herpes viruses that cause clinical wildebeest associated MCF (WA-MCF) and sheep-associated MCF (SA-MCF), respectively. The disease is characterized by accumulation of lymphocytes (predominantly CD8+ T cells) in a variety of organs, often associated with tissue necrosis. AIHV-1 can be recovered from animals, while OvHV-2 has never been recovered from affected animals, only OvHV-2 specific DNA is detected in cultured lymphoblastoid cells from infected animals. Diagnosis is normally achieved by observing the clinical signs, characteristic histopathological changes, ELISA and detection of viral DNA in the infected animals. Detection of viral DNA by PCR is becoming the method of choice for diagnosing the SA-MCF. Currently, there is no effective disease control measure. Attenuated AlHV-1 virus vaccine has been developed with varying degree of success for control of WAMCF in Africa. Separation of reservoir host from susceptible host or raising of OvHV-2 free sheep is the only solution for control of SA-MCF. In India, our group first confirmed SA-MCF in Kashmir. The present article updates current epidemiology, diagnosis, prevention and control of MCF with special reference to India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing environmental and energy concerns, Jatropha plantations are promoted in degraded/waste lands for the biodiesel production. Nutrient rich nonedible deoiled seed cake, a by-product of Jatropha left out after oil extraction was evaluated at the ICRISAT centre at Patancheru, India as an environment friendly source of nutrients for rainy season maize and soybean followed by postrainy chickpea in rainfed systems. Deoiled cake as partial (50%) or full replacement of recommended basal nitrogen (N) was found superior in terms of increased crop yield over the equivalent chemical fertilizers treatments. Highest yield and net returns under full replacement of basal N for maize, while under 50% basal N replacement in case of soybean and chickpea crops were recorded by 8 to 27% in grain yield and 10 to 28% in straw yield. Deoiled Jatropha cake as a full replacement of N dose in maize also recorded higher N uptake and use efficiency in maize than chemical N source treatment along with increased organic C and nutrient contents in post-harvest soil samples. This study revealed the benefits of Jatropha deoiled seed cake as a good source of plant nutrients and soil organic C in the semi-arid tropics in addition to enhanced C sequestration under Jatropha plantation on degraded waste lands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the study which determined footroot prevalence and its economic impact, and Dichelobacter (D.) nodosus serological diversity and its strain differentiation in the districts of Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara in north Kashmir, India. The findings discussed include 14.77 percent overall footroot prevalence and annual 41 million rupees estimated economic impact on north Kashmir sheep production, and 150 out of 300 samples shown to be positive for D. nodosus.

The article presents research on fodder for livestock industry in Jammu and Kashmir, India. It makes reference to the study "Prospectus of livestock enterprise for livelihood security on Jammu and Kashmir" conducted from 2008-11 sponsored by the University Grants Commission. Topics discussed include forage yield from dry matter source, forage usage of the livestock sector and available lands for animal feed. It also examines policy implications of fodder situation in the state.