Background: Body measurements in cattle, are indicators of growth, health and productivity. These measurements help in selecting high-performing animals, prediction of milk yield and optimizing dairy farm management. Methods: A total of 89 Sahiwal cattle were selected from Instructional Dairy Farm, GBPUA and T, Pantnagar. The data of body measurements like body length (BL), heart girth (HG) and height at wither (HW) at birth, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24 months were recorded. Production and reproduction data like age at first service (AFS), age at first calving (AFC) and 305-day milk yield (305 DMY) were collected. The linear regression analysis for prediction of 305 DMY from body measurements at different ages was carried out using SPSS software version 21. Result: The R² values for predicting first lactation 305-DMY at 6 months, HG alone (12.2 per cent) and combinations with BL and HW achieved R² values of up to 13.7 per cent, with the best prediction from HG combined with BL and HW. At 9 months, the R² values ranged up to 14.6 per cent, again favoring HG with BL and HW. At 3, 12, 18 and 24 months and at age at first calving, R² values were non-significant, highlighting the best predictive accuracy of HG and its combinations at earlier ages.

The present study evaluated the effects of dietary supplementation with Mentha piperita essential oil (MPEO) and Cymbopogon citratus essential oil (CCEO) on the hematological profile, serum biochemical parameters, and blood antioxidant status in crossbred calves. 18 crossbred calves (Sahiwal × Holstein Friesian), aged between two weeks and three months, were allocated into three groups: T0 (control), T1 (MPEO at 0.2% of calf starter), and T2 (CCEO at 0.2% of calf starter). The study was conducted over 90 days, with blood samples collected at monthly intervals: 0, 30th, 60th and 90th day for study of haemato-biochemical parameters while at 45th and 90th day for antioxidant parameters . Hematological analysis showed a significant (P<0.05) increase in total erythrocyte count (TEC) and packed cell volume (PCV) in the T2 group, while eosinophil counts were significantly (P<0.05) reduced in both T1 and T2 groups of calves. No significant treatment effects were observed on total leukocyte count (TLC), differential leukocyte counts, or platelet counts. Biochemical analysis revealed significant reductions in serum urea (P<0.01) levels and alanine aminotransferase (P<0.05) in T1 and T2 group of calves. Lipid profile results revealed significant (P<0.05) reductions in triglycerides, total cholesterol (P<0.01), LDL, and VLDL in Cymbopogon citratus essential oil group and an increase in HDL cholesterol in both Mentha piperita essential oil (MPEO) and Cymbopogon citratus essential oil groups. As regards antioxidant parameters, lipid peroxidase (LPO) was significantly (P<0.05) reduced, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was significantly (P<0.01) increased in the Cymbopogon citratus essential oil group of calves. The results suggest that Cymbopogon citratus essential oil supplementation positively influences hematological parameters, lipid metabolism, and antioxidant status, with potential benefits for calf health and performance. Further studies are recommended to explore the long-term effects of these essential oils.

Focusing on the state of negative energy balance in cows during transition period the present research was designed. Sixteen advanced pregnant Sahiwal cows were selected and divided into two groups i.e., control (n=8) and treatment (n=8). The cows in control group were fed with available green fodder along with dry straw, concentrate @ 3 kg/day/animal, lactating cows were provided with 1 kg concentrate for maintenance along with 400 gm concentrate/litre milk/day and mineral mixture was given @ 2% of total feed/animal/day. The cows in treatment group were fed with additional experimental feed i.e., Bypass fat (100 g/animal/day) + Bypass protein (200 g/animal/day) + Beta-carotene (300 mg/animal/day), for a period of 70±10 days. The Body Condition Score (BCS), Body weight (BW) and first post-partum estrus were recorded. Results showed that BCS was 2.91±0.07, 2.87±0.08 and 2.81±0.09, 3.19±0.06 and BW (in kgs) was 337.93±3.82, 297.12±8.28 and 338.31±2.17, 322.68±5.25 in control and treatment group recorded at -10 and 60th day post-partum respectively. The first post-partum estrus in treated group differs significantly (p

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of supplementing lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) and sweet orange peel (Citrus sinensis) powder on the growth performance of Uttara chicken. A total of 160-day-old Uttara chicks were randomly divided into four treatment groups, each consisting of 40 chicks with four replicates per treatment. The chickens were fed different diets: a control diet in treatment T0, 0.5% lemongrass powder in treatment T1, 0.5% sweet orange peel powder in treatment T2, and a combination of 0.5% lemongrass powder and 0.5% sweet orange peel powder in treatment T3. The feeding trial lasted for 12 weeks. The results indicated that the overall body weight gain of birds in the 1004.08 g (T2) group was significantly higher compared to 907.57 g (T0), 927.12 g (T1), and 882.08 g (T3). The feed intake was not affected by either supplementing lemongrass or sweet orange peel powder in feed. Furthermore, the results indicated that the overall feed conversion ratio of birds in the 2.86 (T2) group was significantly better compared to 3.16 (T0), 3.10 (T1), and 3.26 (T3). The study concluded that supplementing with sweet orange peel (T2) had beneficial effects on body weight gain and FCR in Uttara chickens, suggesting its use as a feed supplement for improved profitability.

This study evaluated the impact of dietary supplementation with peppermint and lemongrass essential oils (EOs) on various biochemical parameters in lactating dairy cattle over 90 days. The experiment was conducted at the Instructional Dairy Farm, GBPUA&T, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India, and involved 18 animals divided into three groups. The control group (T0) animals received a basal diet, while in T1 group animals, concentrate was supplemented with 0.1% peppermint EO and T2 groups with 0.1% lemongrass EO. Blood samples were collected on day 0, and after 30, 60, and 90 days for the study of hematological and antioxidant parameters. Hematological parameters viz. Hb, TEC, PCV, eosinophil, monocyte, platelets, MCV, MCH, and MCHC, remained within normal ranges across all groups, with no significant differences observed. However, TLC and neutrophil concentrations were significantly (P<0.05) lower, and lymphocytes were significantly (P<0.05) higher in the lemongrass EO group (T2) compared to the control group (T0). Antioxidant analysis revealed that SOD levels were significantly (P ≤ 0.01) higher in lemongrass EO group (T2), while LPO levels were significantly (P ≤ 0.01) lower in T2 compared to T0. Overall, the results suggested that lemongrass oil supplementation improves immunity and antioxidant status in dairy cattle without significantly affecting hematological parameters.

The Sahiwal cattle breed is the best indigenous dairy cattle breed, and it plays a pivotal role in the Indian dairy industry. This is due to its exceptional milk-producing potential, adaptability to local tropical conditions, and its resilience to ticks and diseases. The study aimed to identify selective sweeps and estimate intrapopulation genetic diversity parameters in Sahiwal cattle using ddRAD sequencing-based genotyping data from 82 individuals. After applying filtering criteria, 78,193 high-quality SNPs remained for further analysis. The population exhibited an average minor allele frequency of 0.221 +/- 0.119. Genetic diversity metrics, including observed (0.597 +/- 0.196) and expected heterozygosity (0.433 +/- 0.096), nucleotide diversity (0.327 +/- 0.114), the proportion of polymorphic SNPs (0.726), and allelic richness (1.323 +/- 0.134), indicated ample genomic diversity within the breed. Furthermore, an effective population size of 74 was observed in the most recent generation. The overall mean linkage disequilibrium (r2) for pairwise SNPs was 0.269 +/- 0.057. Moreover, a greater proportion of short Runs of Homozygosity (ROH) segments were observed suggesting that there may be low levels of recent inbreeding in this population. The genomic inbreeding coefficients, computed using different inbreeding estimates (FHOM, FUNI, FROH, and FGROM), ranged from -0.0289 to 0.0725. Subsequently, we found 146 regions undergoing selective sweeps using five distinct statistical tests: Tajima's D, CLR, |iHS|, |iHH12|, and ROH. These regions, located in non-overlapping 500 kb windows, were mapped and revealed various protein-coding genes associated with enhanced immune systems and disease resistance (IFNL3, IRF8, BLK), as well as production traits (NRXN1, PLCE1, GHR). Notably, we identified interleukin 2 (IL2) on Chr17: 35217075-35223276 as a gene linked to tick resistance and uncovered a cluster of genes (HSPA8, UBASH3B, ADAMTS18, CRTAM) associated with heat stress. These findings indicate the evolutionary impact of natural and artificial selection on the environmental adaptation of the Sahiwal cattle population.

This study investigated the effects of dietary supplementation with peppermint oil, lemon grass oil and mannan oligosaccharides (MOS) on various biochemical parameters in lactating dairy cattle over a period of 90 days. Total 30 animals were randomly distributed into five treatment groups, i.e ., control (T0) fed with basal diet, T1 group supplemented concentrate with 0.1% peppermint oil, T2 group with 0.1% lemongrass oil, T3 group with mannanoligosaccharide (MOS) @12 g /day /cattle and T4 group was provided a combination of 0.05% of each oil and 6 g MOS . Serum biochemical parameters were studied at 0, 30, 60 and 90 days of trial. Key findings indicate that EO supplementation significantly ( p <0.05) lowered serum urea levels in T4 group at 30 days, in T2 and T4 groups at 60 days, and in all treatment groups at 90 days. Moreover, significant ( p <0.05) reductions in aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) were noted in treatment groups, especially pronounced at 90 days, highlighting a hepatoprotective effect attributed to the bioactive components in EOs and MOS . The other parameters like glucose, protein profile and triglycerides did not vary significantly among treatment groups. Overall, the results revealed the beneficial role of EO and MOS supplementation in improving liver function and protein utilization in ruminants, suggesting a viable dietary strategy to enhance animal health and efficiency of nutrient use without negative side effects.

The present study aimed to estimate juvenile body measurements in indigenous Uttara (U) chicken and comparisons of their estimates with Rhode Island Red (RIR), Kadaknath (K) and Australorp (A) breed of chickens using 400 day-old chicks. The parameters were estimated for juvenile body weight was recorded on an electronic balance in the morning before feeding on 0 to 20 week at 2 weeks intervals. The growth rate of Uttara is higher than that of Kadaknath and Australorp but at certain stages similar to that of RIR. Further, an investigation aimed to evaluate body conformation characteristics at 12 and 20 weeks of age. Conformation traits are higher in RIR in comparison to other chicken breeds, but at certain stages, Uttara shows a similar trend as that of RIR. Furthermore, data on adult body weight and egg production measurements were estimated. Egg production of Uttara is better than other breeds. Thus, early body measurements of the Uttara chickens can be used for prediction of the size of the adult Uttara. These research-outcomes may serve as base information to the breeders and academicians for chalking outbreeding strategy in the concerned aspect.

This experiment aimed to study the effect of dietary thyme and turmeric essential oils supplementation on growth performance, nutrient utilization and economics of Japanese quails. For this purpose, a total of 180 six-day-old Japanese quail chicks were randomly assigned into five different treatment groups, each with three replicates (12 birds per replicate). The experiment was conducted for 35 days. Different treatment groups of Japanese quails were designated as T0 (Basal diet without essential oils), T1 (Basal diet with 0.2% thyme essential oil), T2 (Basal diet with 0.3% turmeric essential oil, T3 (Basal diet with 0.125% thyme + 0.075% turmeric essential oils), and T4 (Basal diet with 0.075% thyme + 0.125 % turmeric essential oils). At the end of experiment, it was found that dietary supplementation of thyme and turmeric essential oils reduced feed consumption, improved body weight gain, feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio, with Japanese quails of T4 group showing best performance during overall experimental period. The feed cost per kg weight gain was minimum in treatment T4 over other treatment groups. Addition of thyme and turmeric essential oils in diet significantly enhanced nutrient utilization in Japanese quails. In conclusion, supplementing thyme and turmeric essential oils in combination at 0.075% and 0.125% of feed improved growth performance, utilization of nutrients and reduced feed cost per kg weight gain in Japanese quails.

A native chicken population has many desirable characteristics such as hardiness, adaptability to the particular agro-climatic condition, better disease tolerance and a specific flavour of meat and eggs. They have better conversion efficiency in converting agricultural by-products and wastes into high-quality animal protein. Efforts are being made to preserve and genetically improve native fowl for growth performance, to develop improved chicken varieties for backyard poultry farming and to make them more productive in the present scenario. Therefore, the present study was carried out to evaluate registered Indian indigenous chicken breeds to discuss variations in body weight (BW) and growth rate in experimental or field conditions. The BWs of male birds of different Indian indigenous chicken breeds at 12th, 16th, 20th, 40th and 72nd week ranged from 528.80 & PLUSMN; 16.70 g to 842.78 & PLUSMN; 19.30 g, 957.57 & PLUSMN; 5.66 to 1181.83 & PLUSMN; 18.18 g, 1465.93 & PLUSMN; 21.35 g to 1841 & PLUSMN; 20.7 g, 1478.68 & PLUSMN; 8.63 g to 2737 & PLUSMN; 50.8 g and 1620 & PLUSMN; 16 g to 3794 & PLUSMN; 20.8 g, respectively. Their BW variation may be due to their evolution under different agro-climatic conditions. Despite their slow growth rate, they are well known for their suitability in the local environment as well as their usefulness for social and economic purposes. Their productivity can be maximised by utilising these data in the breeding programme along with improving environmental factors to enhance their merit under the niche market.

The breed improvement programme of Sahiwal cattle is implemented under AICRP on Cattle through associated herd progeny testing aiming for their conservation and propagation, and improvement in milk production. The production of frozen semen doses of genetically superior young bulls are being done at germplasm (GP) unit located at NDRI, Karnal and frozen semen doses of the bulls are supplied to all Sahiwal data recording (DR) units for test mating. During the last 11 years, 35 bulls in four sets have been inducted under the programme for test mating. First set of eight Sahiwal bulls were evaluated on the basis of 123 first lactation 305-days records of their daughters born during the period between 2011 and 2013 using Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP) method. The BLUP model included the Herd-year-season effect as fixed factor and sires as random factor. The overall average estimated breeding value (EBV) was 1957.76 kg and the values of bulls ranged between –16.84 (–0.86) to +31.98 (+1.63) kg. It was also recommended to use the frozen semen doses of two top ranked Sahiwal bulls for nominated mating for producing young male calves for increasing the milk production in subsequent generations. The results also revealed that the performance of Sahiwal cattle has improved over the years due to the implementation of the project, and continuous and sincere efforts are essential to propagate this valuable germplasm.

This experiment was undertaken to assess the influence of thyme (Thymus vulgaris) and turmeric (Curcuma longa) essential oils on hematobiochemical parameters of Japanese quails. One hundred eighty, 6-day old Japanese quail chicks were subjected to five weeks trial. Quail chicks were distributed at random into five dietary treatment groups each with three replicates of 12 quails per treatment. Quails of T0 group fed diet without essential oils (Basal diet), T1 group fed basal diet with 0.2 % thyme essential oil, T2 group fed basal diet with 0.3% turmeric essential oil, T3 group fed basal diet with combination of 0.125 % thyme essential oil and 0.075 % turmeric essential oils, T4 group fed basal diet with combination of 0.075% thyme essential oil and 0.125 % turmeric essential oils. The results revealed that Japanese quails of essential oils supplemented groups had significantly higher (p<0.05) red blood cell count, packed cell volume, haemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin, serum protein, albumin globulin and high-density lipoprotein concentrations with best results found in T4 group. Supplementing Japanese quails with thyme and turmeric essential oils significantly lowered serum uric acid, creatinine, total bilirubin, glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, SGOT and SGPT activity. It can be concluded that nutritional supplementation of thyme and turmeric essential oils at 0.075 % and 0.125 % in combination improved haematological indices and most of the serum biochemical parameters in Japanese quails.