The prevalence of gastrointestinal helminth infections and the gross pathological lesions produced by them were studied from February 2012 to January 2013 in the Department of Pharmacology of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh. In this study, a total of 320 indigenous chickens aged ranging from 2 to 4 months were examined to identify the different types of gastrointestinal helminth infections in indigenous chickens. During routine examination, six species of helminth parasites were recorded, of which five species of nematodes such as Ascaridia galli, Heterakis gallinarum, Capillaria spp, Acuaria hamulosa and Dispharynx spiralis; and one species was cestode called Raillietina tetragona. The highest prevalence was observed for Ascaridia galli (41.56%) followed in descending order by Raillietina tetragona (19.68%), Heterakis gallinarum (15.62%), Acuaria hamulosa (8.75%), Capillaria spp. (4.68% ) and Disopharinx spiralis (1.56%). The gross pathological lesions were observed in case of Acuaria hamulosa and Heterakis gallinarum infection. In case of Acuaria hamulosa infection keratinization of gizzard mucosa and cross section of adult Acuaria hamulosa were seen along with marked infiltration of neutrophils. The results of this study suggest that both nematodes and cestodes are highly prevalent in indigenous chickens in the studied area.

An experiment was conducted for a period of 28 days to observe the effect of plant extracts on recovery of fish diseases. The experiment was carried out in mini pond (1.75 decimal) behind the Fisheries Faculty in BAU, Mymensingh. Twelve hapas (3 ×2 ×1.5 sq.ft.) and five studies were conducted with control hapa with 3 treatments and two replicates each. Four medicinal plant products were collected and prepared. In study 1 fishes were treated with Neem Seed Oil, study 2 with Kalojira Seed Oil, study 3 with Neem Leaf Extract, study 4 with Mahogoni Seed Oil and the control hapa was provided with normal feed. The treatments were practiced as 2ml, 4ml and 6ml per kg feed. At the beginning of the experiment, fishes had red spots on dorsal and caudal region, scale missing, large abrasions and black to grayish spots. In Kalojira Seed Oil (study 2) treated fish, spots and lesions were totally recovered in T2 and T3 whereas in T1 there were traces spots at the end of the experiment. However, in Neem Seed Oil and Neem Leaf fine extract treated fish (study 1 and study 3), injury, abrasions and lesions were almost healed up in T3 (6ml/kg feed) and moderate recovery in T2 and T1. In Mahogoni Seed Oil (study 4) treated fish, ulcers and lesions were reduced in size but existed distinctly in all the treatments at the end of the experiment. In control study (study 5) injury and abrasions had no recovery but remained almost similar till the end of experiment. Thus it was found that Kalojira Seed Oil performed best recovery (90-95%) followed by Neem Seed Oil (78-84%), Neem Leaf fine extract (70-75%) and poor performance was observed with Mahogoni Seed Oil extract (35-40%). So, kalojira seed oil was the best performed herb and T3 (6ml/kg feed) was the best dose followed by T1 and T2.

Background: Meat industries in developing countries including Bangladesh are found to be challenged by severe hygienic and sanitation problems which are associated with heavy bacterial load on the different sites of carcasses and meat. Objectives: The major objectives of this study were to determine the bacterial load at the different risk sites of bovine carcasses and identification of pathogenic bacteria as well as to assess the associated hygienic and sanitation practices with public health significance of the isolated bacteria. Materials and Methods: The study on bacterial load of bovine carcasses was conducted on 200 swab samples of different risk sites of 20 bovine carcasses in the different slaughterhouses of Barishal City Corporation during the period from April to October 2017. The aseptically collected swab samples from different sites of bovine carcasses were processed and analyzed individually by standard bacteriological procedures for Total viable count (TVC), Total coliform count (TCC), Total Staphylococcus count (TSC) and Total Salmonella count (TSAC) and the bacterial species were identified by the conventional aerobic cultural, morphological and biochemical tests. The hygienic status and practices of slaughterhouses and workers were evaluated through a structured questionnaire survey and also a visual inspection. Results: Staphylococcus aureus (78.5%), Salmonella spp. (64.5%) and Escherichia coli (64.0%) were found widely prevalent bacteria on the surface of freshly slaughtered bovine carcasses. The mean TVC of bacteria at pre-and post-washing of the different risk sites of carcasses including neck, shoulder, rump and their used knife and workers’ hand was calculated and highest one was recorded for neck at both pre (8.17 ± 1.22) and post (8.41 ± 0.92) washings. These TVC were found higher compared to standards set by WHO. The TSC was found highest at shoulder site at both pre (7.26 ± 0.94) and post (7.43 ± 1.02) washing, whereas the neck site was found highest contaminated with E. coli (6.69 ± 1.06 and 6.87 ± 1.04) and Salmonella spp.(5.73 ± 1.05 and 6.07 ± 0.92), respectively. The questionnaire survey and visual inspection of slaughter houses revealed that none of the slaughterhouse workers received any training on slaughterhouses management and hygiene, not used any head and hair covering, protective clothes and hand gloves whereas only 25.33% workers washed their hands and 34.67% used clean water at slaughterhouses during processing of carcasses and meat. Conclusions: The slaughtering of the animals on the ground and then skinning and evisceration in the same place under poor hygienic conditions are the major risk factors for heavy bacterial contamination of carcasses which has been recognized as a threat to food safety and consumers health to foodborne illness. Therefore, it requires a serious attention from all relevant authorities to apply and maintain the basic hygienic slaughterhouse practices to prevent the bacterial contamination of carcasses to prevent food borne illness. However, these data should serve as a baseline for future comparisons in measuring the bacteriological status of beef carcasses in other districts and further research works.