The study was aimed at induction/synchronization of estrus in postpartum anestrous Kankrej cows of zebu cattle maintained at an organized farm. The study included use of different hormone protocols, viz., Ovsynch, CIDR (controlled internal drug release), Ovsynch plus CIDR, and Heatsynch with estimation of plasma progesterone on days 0, 7, 9/11 (artificial insemination--AI) and on day 20 post-AI following fixed time insemination. Thirty selected anestrous animals were divided into five equal groups (four treatment and one control), and the findings were compared with the normal cyclic control group of six cows. All the protocols were initiated in cows with postpartum anestrous period of more than 4 months, considering the day of first GnRH injection or CIDR insertion as day 0. The animals were bred by fixed time artificial insemination. Pregnancy was confirmed per rectum on day 60 post-AI in non-return cases. The conception rates at induced/first heat in Ovsynch, CIDR, Ovsynch + CIDR, and Heatsynch protocols were 33.33, 66.66, 50.00 and 16.67%, respectively. The corresponding overall conception rates of three cycles post-treatment were 50.00% (3/6), 100.00% (6/6), 66.66% (4/6), and 50.00% (3/6). In normal cyclic and anestrous control groups, the pooled pregnancy rates were 83.33% (5/6) and 16.67% (1/6), respectively. The pooled mean plasma progesterone (nanograms per milliliter) concentrations were significantly (P < 0.05) higher on day 7 in Ovsynch (5.727 ± 1.26), CIDR (4.37 ± 0.66), Ovsynch plus CIDR (3.55 ± 0.34), and Heatsynch (5.92 ± 1.11) protocols as compared with their corresponding values obtained on days 0, 9/11 (AI), and on day 20 post-AI. In anestrous control group, the mean progesterone concentration at the beginning of experiment was 0.67 ± 0.33 ng/ml, which was at par with values of all other groups. The overall plasma progesterone levels on the day of initiating treatment were low in all groups, with smooth small inactive ovaries palpated per rectum twice at 10 days interval, suggesting that most of the animals used in the study were in anestrous phase. Mean (± SE) values of plasma progesterone (nanograms per milliliter) on day 20 post-AI were higher in conceived cows than the non-conceived cows of all the groups, but differed significantly (P < 0.05) only in normal cyclic group. These results suggest that use of different hormone protocols particularly Ovsynch, CIDR, and Ovsynch + CIDR may serve as an excellent tool for induction and synchronization of estrus and improvement of conception rate in postpartum anestrous Kankrej cows.

The present chapter covers the concept of water pollution, its cause and effects on plant diversity of an aquatic ecosystem. An alteration in the diversity of plants and the disappearance of aquatic plants has been noted in the majority of the world's water bodies as a result of water pollution. In polluted aquatic ecosystems, plant diversity was studied as a strong bioindicator of water quality. Numerous studies on phytoplankton and aquatic macrophytes have been incorporated in this chapter as an indicator of water pollution. Water pollution leads to changes in species composition, declines in overall plant species diversity and the loss of rare and uncommon species. A perturbation in aquatic ecosystems causes succession of macrophytes with complete loss of submerged vegetation and dominance of phytoplanktons and weeds. Monitoring, assessment and measurement of plant diversity through density, frequency, abundance and diversity indices are also integrated in this chapter.

Water samples, sediments and free floating macrophytic plant, Lemna minor specimens were collected from five designated sites in Anchar lake (Srinagar, J&K, India) to assess its heavy metal (Cu, Cr, Zn, Ni, Cd, Pb) load and changes on seasonal basis. The concentration of heavy metals was determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy. Most of the samples were found within limits of maximum permissible concentrations as recommended by WHO (Guidelines for drinking water quality, pp [491][492][493] 2006). During all the seasons, highest concentration of all heavy metals (Cu, Cr, Zn, Ni, Cd, Pb) was recorded at highly polluted sites of the lake viz. near agricultural fields (S 1 ), near settlements (S 3 ) and SKIMS (S 4 ). These sites received huge agrochemical run-off from the surrounding agricultural fields, solid and liquid wastes from the nearby catchment areas and effluents from Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) compared to control site lake centre (S 5 ). Furthermore, most of the metals in water and sediment were found with highest concentration during autumn (Viz., Cu-1.5 ppm; Zn-0.38 ppm; Ni-1.89 ppm; Pb-0.84 ppm in water and Cu-26.9 ppm; Zn-13.6 ppm; Pb-4.33 ppm in sediment) and summer (Viz., Cr-0.68 ppm in water and Ni-4.8 ppm; Cd-2.6 ppm; Cr-8.01 ppm in sediment) seasons. Also in Lemna minor plant highest concentration was observed during summer season (Cu-29.09 ppm; Zn-19.11 ppm; Ni-5.7 ppm; Cd-1.34 ppm; Cr-9.18 ppm and Pb-9.77 ppm). From these observations, it was found that the sources of heavy metals in Anchar lake were both natural and anthropogenic ones. This study recommended that continuous monitoring of heavy metals (Viz; Cu, Cr, Zn, Ni, Cd and Pb) in water, sediment and other aquatic biota of Anchar lake should be directed to protection of ecological status of the lake and its surrounding area.

The study was designed at evaluating early postpartum ovarian activity through plasma progesterone profile at 10 days interval up to 90 days, followed by induction of estrus in postpartum anestrous suckled Kankrej cows (n=18) using Ovsynch, CIDR and Ovsynch + CIDR treatment protocols with FTAI (6 cows in each protocol), keeping six normal cyclic cows as control. The plasma P 4 profile (ng/ml) varied in the range of 0.15±0.03 to 1.70±0.80 in treatment groups and 0.62 ±0.19 to 4.09±1.60 in control group up to 90 days postpartum. The mean P 4 concentration on the day of calving was low (<1 ng/ml) in all the groups, which gradually increased to reach peak levels by day 40 in cyclic control (4.09±1.60 ng/ml), Ovsynch (1.70±0.80 ng/ml) and CIDR (1.68±0.47 ng/ml) and by day 20 in Ovsynch + CIDR (1.09±0.23 ng/ml) groups. Most of the cows turned into subestrous or anestrous condition between days 40 and 90 postpartum. The estrus induction response in Ovsynch, CIDR and Ovsynch + CIDR groups initiated at day 90-92 postpartum was 66.66, 83.33 and 50.00 per cent, respectively. The conception rates at induced estrus were 16.66, 33.33 and 16.66 per cent, and overall of 3 cycles 33.33 (2/ 6), 50.00 (3/3) and 33.33 (2/6) per cent, respectively. In normal cyclic control group, the conception rates at first cycle and overall of 3 cycles were 33.33 and 50.00 per cent. The mean plasma P 4 (ng/ml) concentrations were significantly (P<0.05) higher on day 7 in Ovsynch (1.41 ±0.10), CIDR (4.92±0.83) and Ovsynch + CIDR (3.87±0.84) protocols as compared to their corresponding values on day 0 and day 9/10 (AI). The mean values of plasma P 4 from days 20 to 40 post-AI were higher in conceived cows than in non-conceived cows of CIDR and Ovsynch + CIDR groups, compared to the animals in Ovsynch and normal cyclic groups. It is opined that the use of different protocols, mainly CIDR, may serve as an effective tool for induction and synchronization of estrus and improvement of conception rate in postpartum anestrous suckled Kankrej cows.

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The study was designed to compare the effect of length of progesterone treatment (6 d vs 10 d vs 14 d) on synchronization efficiency and fertility response in multiparous ewes. The crossbred ewes (30) were equally allotted to three groups designated as short (6 days), medium (10 days) and long-term (14 days) treatment. All the ewes were injected PGF2α 250 μg, intramuscularly 24 h before sponge removal. After the sponge removal ewes were kept with breeding rams for tupping upto 72 h. Although the onset of estrus was more precise in short and long term groups, however overall estrus response rate was highest in short treatment group (90%) followed by long treatment group (70%) and medium treatment group (60%). The pregnancy rates were non-significantly higher for short and medium treatment groups than long treatment group. The progesterone values in pregnant ewes, decreased significantly from day pre-treatment to day 0 followed by significant increase from day 0 to day 10, 17 and 35. In conclusion, short term (6 d) intravaginal progesterone treatment may replace the traditional long term treatment (14 d) for induction of estrous during breeding season. However, the results should be validated in larger number of animals before recommending the protocol.

The present study was carried out to reveal haplotype and phylogenetic analysis of OLR1 gene in Jaffarabadi and Surti breeds of buffalo. Twenty nucleotide sequences generated from our previous study (Shabir, 2009) were used to reveal the haplotypes in OLR1 (Intron I) gene in the population of Jaffarabadi and Surti buffalo. Four haplotypes viz. H1 (CTA), H2 (TCT), H3 (CTT) and H4 (TTT) were observed with frequencies of 0.05, 0.1, 0.15 and 0.7 respectively in the population studied. Phylogenetic analysis of these twenty sequences with the same region of Bos taurus distributed the sequences into four clusters based on the homology between them. Cluster I contained two sequences ( jb3 and jb8) bearing a common SNP at nucleotide position 843. Cluster III contained s3, s4 and s7 since they possessed a common SNP at nucleotide position 423, however s3 remained as an out group in this cluster since it contained an additional SNP at position 866. The remaining sequences had highest homology and fell in cluster II while as the sequence of Bos taurus remained as an out group on account of the difference in bases at many loci.

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