It is a challenging task to control internal parasites in grazing livestock even by applying multi label and multi directional approach. It is impossible to draw general recommendations to control parasitic diseases due to varied geo-climatic conditions and methods adopted for rearing the livestock in the country like India. In view of increasing incidence of anti-parasitic drug resistance in animals, there is an urgent need to design sustainable parasite control strategy which must include on the host as well as off the host control measures to harvest the maximum productivity from the animal for an indefinite period.

Proper heat detection to achieve appropriate timing of insemination is the biggest restriction in attaining high conception rate in dairy herd. The estrus detection is the key issue to be considered on priority basis. Inefficient heat detection reduces the fertility status of herd. Interventions in existing management practices manifest estrus nicely. Manifestation of estrus is due to effect of estrogen on Central Nervous System (CNS). The standing to be ridden is the best reliable sign of estrus. Ovulation time is well estimated by standing heat. Different factors are responsible which affect estrous behavior, out of which feeding and management interventions are one of the most important factor. For improving efficiency of heat detection in animal visual observation is best method, if it is done three times a day for at least 30 minutes every time, however heat detection aids, if used in combination give better results. The progesterone (P ) estimation in milk and ultrasound monitoring of ovary and 4 reproductive tracts for estimation of ovulation time are other important methods. Ovulation time is very important point in dairy reproduction management, as optimum time for Artificial Insemination (A.I.) is based on, when ovulation takes place. It is already established that, estrus detection alone contributes considerably to reproductive status of the herd, therefore the need of the our is critical observation of dairy herd to reduce incidence of unnoticed estrus.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of genetic and non-genetic factors on production of breeding bulls and semen quality parameters in Karan Fries crossbred male by fitting least squares analysis. Genetically, the animals were divided into three subclasses. The non-genetic factors were season of birth, period of birth, and age group with three subclasses each for season of birth and period of birth. Age group was classified into four subclasses. The traits generated in the study were number of males reaching semen donation stage (AFSC) and first freezing (AFSF), age at last semen collection (ALSC) and last freezing (ALSF), age at disposal (AD), and lifetime semen production traits (up to 1 year after first freezing). The effect of period of birth was significant for AFSC, AFSF, ALSC, and AD. It was also significant for total ejaculates produced in a year. The age group had significant effect on AFSF. Effect of genetic group was significant for freezable ejaculates produced in a year, for frozen semen doses produced in a year, and for number of ejaculates cryoprocessed in a year. Season had no statistically significant effect on any of the traits studied. The influence of period revealed that the most of the traits of breeding bulls improved after intermediate period, which could be due to better care, training, feeding, and other management practices in the latter years. However, no consistent trend could be established for the effects of genetic groups and other non-genetic causes on the traits considered.

Present study was aimed to improve poor quality crossbred bulls semen, as occurrence of poor quality ejaculates are one of the major problems in crossbred bulls. Antioxidants and its combination was tried to overcome such problems. Vitamin E, Vitamin C and Vitamin E+C were supplemented at dose rate of 1mg, 5 mM and 1mg + 5mM per ml respectively in split ejaculates to evaluate semen quality during preservation at refrigerated temperature and cryopreservation. The results showed that semen characteristics were better in antioxidant supplemented ejaculates. Total sperm abnormality were significantly lower (p<0.05) in antioxidant supplemented group. The seminal characteristics of crossbred bull semen showed significantly better (p<0.05) performance on preservation, when fortified with Vitamin E as compared to Vitamin C alone as well as Vitamin E and C in combination. The performance of semen additives, were supportive to semen characteristics especially for Vitamin E, moreover fortification with Vitamin E+C was slightly superior to Vitamin C. It can be concluded that fortification of Vitamin E has beneficial role in semen quality improvement followed by Vitamin E+C and Vitamin C.

A field survey was undertaken in Narmada valley region, four taluka of Narmada district of south Gujarat to collect first hand information on management practices of dairy animals followed by tribal peoples. The breeding, health care and milking management practices were studied using pre tested questionnaire through three stage sampling. Two villages, from four taluka were selected. From each village, 10 tribal farmers were selected randomly with a total of 80 respondents. Study revealed that maximum farmers (41.30 %) of this area were less educated belongs to middle age (53.80% 30-50 years) category having medium size family (5-8 members). The estrus detection in cattle was based on sign and symptoms (100.0%) rather than using teaser, moreover main symptoms for identification of animal in heat were bellowing and thin mucus discharge (58.80%). The farmers (86.30%) were observed to inseminate their animals within 12-18 hrs of heat. Method of breeding adopted in area was mostly (46.30%) by combination i.e., Natural and artificial insemination (A.I.). Mostly the pregnancy diagnosis (P.D.) was practiced by 18.80% of the farmers. Dry period was more than three months in both indigenous cows (92.40%) and buffaloes (91.20%). Castration was performed in 72.70% of male animals of age more than 2 years. Vaccination was adopted by 53.80% of farmers. Regular de-worming was also practiced by 3.80 and 7.50% farmers for milch cow and calf respectively. Clean milk production was well adopted by farmers of the area. Knuckling (95.0%) was common method of hand milking followed by full hand type (3.80%) and stripping (1.30%). The management practices followed by tribal farmers of area were exceptional for few facets however most of the practices required to be improved a lot.

Study was undertaken to investigate the effect of single and twin kidding on blood bio-chemical, hormonal profiles and production performance of 14 goats. The animals were divided into group1 (single kid, n=7) and group 2 (twin kids, n= 7). The blood samples were collected on 0, 7, 15, 30, 45 and 60 day of parturition for analysis of blood profiles. Milk yield and fat% were also recorded on different test days. Serum glucose, albumin, BUN and cholesterol was higher in twin bearing dam; however, it was not significantly (P<0.05) different. Overall total protein and NEFA was higher in singlet bearing goats on 0 and 45 days of parturition. Cortisol was significantly (P<0.05) higher in singlet bearing goats initially (7d) during kidding, however overall cortisol level was higher in twin bearing dams, indicating fast recovery of stress in singlet bearing goats. Level of estrogen was also higher in twin bearing goats. Milk yield was significantly higher in twin bearing goats. It was therefore inferred that kidding pattern had a marked influence on blood profiles and production performance in Surti goats.

A total of 360 faecal samples of goat belonging to Ahir community were collected randomly from eight villages on monthly basis. On same day, collected samples were subjected to qualitative faecal examination and positive samples were categorized into mild, moderate and heavy infected groups. The risk factors considered for study were age, pregnancy, lactation, seasons, wet land grazing and hygiene in housing. Overall 41.11 % animals were found positive for helminth eggs and among them 24.17, 10.56 and 6.39 % of goats were mildly, moderately and heavily infected, respectively. The helminths recorded were strongyles (26.9 %), amphistomes (18.1 %), spp. (8.1 %) and spp. (3.9 %). Similarly, 72 (20 %) animals were found positive for presence of coccidia oocysts in which 13.06, 4.17 and 2.78 % were having mild, moderate and heavy infection. The Chi square test revealed that the housing quality, seasons and body condition scores (BCS) were having significant effects on helminths prevalence. The Chi square values indicated that age, hygiene of houses, seasons and BCS have significantly associated with prevalence of coccidiosis. The helminths prevalence was having significant positive correlation with lactation status and housing quality whereas it was significantly negatively correlated with prevalence of coccidia. Kendall's Correlation coefficients among various risk factors reveals that age and housing quality has significant negative correlations with coccidia infection. The gastro-intestinal (GI) parasites incidence was significantly high during the monsoon than the summer/winter season. The correlation of GI- parasitic prevalence with pregnancy status and age was not found.

The low grade ejaculates are very common in bulls. Low grade ejaculates might be due to age or non specific factors like thermal stress, transport and vaccination stress during the dynamic life of bulls. Lipid peroxidation of membrane induced sperm damage further aggravates the situation. Researches reveal that selection of sperm and antioxidant fortification play crucial role in improving the quality of semen. Different methods used for semen up-gradation like washing, sedimentation, swim up procedure and filtration like percoll gradient, glass wool, sephadex and sephadex ion exchanger with significant improvement in motility, Hypo osmotic swelling test reactivity, viability and acrosomal integrity. Antioxidants are added directly to extender at standard dose rate with positive result. Among different filtration column used sephadex ion exchanger (FS+IE) was superior over other in improving the semen quality especially when fortified with Vitamin E. Moreover a complete protocol is required, which contain both antioxidant fortification and sperm selection simultaneously to handle the low grade semen from sub-fertile bulls.