Aim:The present study was performed to utilize the shrimp shell waste for chitin and chitosan production, characterization by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) technique and to evaluate the antimicrobial effects of chitosan oligomers produced by depolymerization of chitosan by nitrous acid.Materials and Methods:Chitosan was extracted from the shrimp shell waste by the chemical method and characterized by FT-IR. Chitooligomers were produced by depolymerising chitosan using nitrous acid, and the chitooligomers were tested for antimicrobial effect against four gut pathogenic organisms, i.e., Enterobacter aerogen (National Collection of Dairy Culture [NCDC] 106), Enterococcus faecalis (NCDC 119), Escherichia coli (NCDC 134), and Staphylococcus aureus (NCDC 109) by well diffusion method using Muller-Hinton agar. A pure culture of pathogenic organisms was collected from NCDC, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal.Results:Extracted chitosan characterized by FT-IR and chitooligomers demonstrated antimicrobial effect against four gut pathogenic organisms used in this study. Zone of inhibitions (mm) were observed in E. faecalis (13±0.20), E. coli (11.5±0.4), S. aureus (10.7±0.2), and E. aerogen (10.7±0.3). E. faecalis showed larger inhibition zone as compared to all other organisms and inhibitions zones of E. aerogen and S. aureus were comparable to each other.Conclusion:Shrimp waste can be utilized for chitosan production, and the chitooligomers can be used as feed additive for gut health enhancement and have potential to replace antibiotics from the feed. Along with value addition pollutant load could be reduced by waste utilization.

Poultry is reared in open side houses in most of the tropical countries, which results in huge temperature variation in shed causing stress resulting in increased demand of antioxidant supplementation. Since cooling of poultry houses or environment control is very expensive, thus methods focused on nutritional modifications appears to be the much logical approach. Stress increases mineral and vitamin mobilization from tissues and their excretion. Effect of some minerals and vitamin supplements such as chromium (Cr) and ascorbic acid to elevate the negative effects of environmental stress is well documented. Cr functions as an antioxidant and its deficiency are said to disrupt carbohydrate and protein metabolism. Cr has been utilized for weight gain, to improve feed conversion ratio, increase relative organ weight, muscle development, decrease cholesterol, increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and improve nutrient digestion. Therefore, the present review discusses the beneficial aspects of Cr with its effect in different doses and antioxidant combinations to explore and promote its optimum utilization in poultry nutrition and production.

| The production of high-quality milk is a prerequisite for sustaining a profitable dairy industry. The number of somatic cells (macrophages, polymorphonuclear neutrophils, lymphocytes and epithelial cells) per mL of milk, usually called somatic cell count (SCC) is routinely used to identify subclinical mastitis and define quality standards. Elevated SCCs are associated with changes in milk composition, resulting in poor quality of milk and milk products. SCC in milk is influenced by many factors, such as animal species, milk production level, lactation stage and also the individual and environmental factors besides management practices. A threshold of <200,000 cells/mL is considered to be of the most practical value for determining the health of mammary quarter. This review aims to highlight the importance of somatic cells for improving udder health and quality of milk as well as milk products.

Proper development of the rumen is an imperative chore that can be controlled to benefit both the calf and producer. The process of rumen development can be enhanced with right nutrition and management that can reduce the cost of raising a calf. Important considerations in regard to nutrition at the time of rumen growth (birth to approximately three months) can lead to faster rumen development and better growth rate of neonatal calves. Additionally, calves with well developed rumen at weaning are less susceptible to diseases and gain more body weight with lower management and labor costs. Therefore present review discusses the different nutritional factors affecting earlier rumen development.

An experiment was carried out to utilize the crab shell waste for the production of chitin by chemical extraction method. The obtained chitin was processed to make the more useful compound chitosan by deacetylation of chitin using strong NaOH solution at high temperature. Yield of chitin and chitosan from crab shell waste was found to be 12.2 % and 10.54 %, respectively. Chitosan was further used to produce chito-oligosaccharides (COS) by acid hydrolysis using 0.5 N H 2 SO 4 , 1N H 2 SO 4 and 7N HCl at hourly intervals upto 6 hours and the average yield was 0.55, 0.84 and 1.93 mg/ml, respectively. Chitin and chitosan were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) technique which depicts different band representing various bonds present in the molecule and which were in agreement with the bands of standard chitin and chitosan. Further, COS were formed after acid hydrolysis of chitosan, which was characterized by Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) using glucosamine as a standard.