Our country has a very large number of cattle, buffaloes and other milk producing animals but in comparison to other countries, the milk production is far less. Low production of milk in our country is due to the poor quality of animals, improper nutrition and inadequate diet and negligence in management.
Principles of animal breeding
(a) Inbreeding : To get pure breed, breeding of very similar animals of same species is essential e.g. marino sheep.
(b) Hybridization : Hybridization is breeding of an inferior species with better species which gives better results e.g. mule.
(c) Artificial insemination : Artificial deposition of semen in the vagina of a female is known as artificial insemination. Indian Veterinary Research Institure, lzzatnagar was the first in India which conducted the artificial insemination experiments in 1942.
Major Animal Diseases
Bacterial Disease
1. Anthrux—Bacillus anthracis
2. Tuberculosis—Mycobacterium tuberculosis
3. Mastitis—Streptococcus and Staphylococcus species
4. Brucellosis—Brucella
5. Salmonellosis—Salmonella dublin and Salmonella tymphimurium
Viral Diseases
1. Foot and mouth disease—Aphtho virus
2. Blue tongue
3. Rinder pest/Cattle plague
4. Rabbies—Lyssa virus
5. Contagius ecthyma—Parapox virus
6. Encephalomyelitis
7. Dermatitis
Protozoan Diseases
1. Trypanosomiasis—Trypanosoma
2. Coccidysis—Coccidium
3. Babesiosis—Babesia
Fungal Diseases
Ringworm—Fungal spores
Poultry Diseases
1. Fowl pox
2. Ranikhet
3. Coryza
4. Fowl cholera
5. Aspergillosis
Sericulture or Silk Industry
Sericulture is an ancient industry in India which started in the second century B.C. According to certain written proofs raw silk was exported to Rome by Indians during the reign of Kanishka in 58 B.C. It flourished in Bengal, Mysore and Kashmir during British empire in 18th, 19th and early 20th century.
Indian silks are known for their fine quality, lustrous shining and traditional colours.
India is the only country in the world in which all four varieties of silk namely :
1. Mulberry silk—Bombyx mori
2. Tusser silk—Antheraea mylitra
3. Oak silk—Antheraea mylitra
4. Munga silk—Antheraea assamensis are available.
Life history of silk worm (Bombyx mori) : This is a 5 cm long moth which is white creamy in colour and has a flat and hairy body.
Egg : Female lays about 300-500 eggs on mulberry leaves. Hatching in summer takes about 10 days.
Larva : It is known as caterpillar. After 5 instars and 4 moultings, it spins its own silken cocoon.
Larva of this moth has a pair of silk glands. Common ducts of both the glands open on the labium through the spinneret. These glands secrete clear viscous fluid. This secretion forms the two cases of fibres. These two cases are cemented together by a substance sericin and carotenoid pigments.
Diameter is about 0.0018—0.0033 inch
Tensile strength : 64,000 pound/sq.inch
Elasticity : Upto 25%
Fully fed 5th instar larva spins its silken cocoon which surrounds its body. Entire cocoon is formed within a period of 3 days.
Pupa : Pupa is surrounded by a silk fibre of about 800 to 1200 yards long.
Cocoon weight : 0.4 to 2 gm.
During metamorphosis of pupa, histolysis and histogenesis occur. It is elongated tubular structure and is called chrysalis. Fully developed pupa is called imago.
Adult : Imago secretes the alkaline secretion which dissolves one end of cocoon and then it comes out by forcing the body through it.
Life span of adult silk worm is : 3-4 days only.
The males and females are reproductively fully developed when they emerge from the cocoons.
Silk industry
Mulberry sector : Area—313109 hectares
Production of silk worm eggs/laying—31.70 crores
Raw silk production—11487 tonnes
Non-mulberry sector : Spun silk production—1185 tonnes
Production of silk fabrics—1883 lakh sq. metres
Mulberry—1723 lakh sq. metres.
Silk producing states of India
Karnataka—6214 tonnes
Andhra Pradesh—3194 tonnes
Tamil Nadu—1072 tonnes
West Bengal—856 tonnes
On the world map China and Japan are ahead of our country in silk production.
Poultry
With the increasing level of economic prosperity, the demand for poultry products have increased manifold. Poultry provides much needed items of human food of animal origin like poultry meat through broiler production and eggs which are high protein diet, essential for growth and maintenance of human beings.
Today in the world India is among 6 top egg producing countries.
In India per capita consumption annually is only 19 eggs and 20 gms of meat.
While the nutritional advisory committe of I.C. M. R. has recommended an egg per day i.e. 300 eggs per annum per person and 180 gms of meat per person per day.
Fowls of Indian breeds : Aseel, Ghagus, Karaknath, Busra, Brahma, Donki, Black Bengal, Tellicherry etc.
Fowls of Indian breeds : White leg Horned (Leg Horned), Minorca, Plymouth Rock, Red Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Susses, Cornish, Australorp etc.
Fisheries
As far as fish eating goes, India stand 7th in the world. This is an easily available food. The edible fishes are available from sea, lakes, ponds, rivers etc.
Important edible fish of India
Fresh water fish:
1. Catla (Catla catla)—All parts of country.
2. Rohu (Labeo rohita)—North-east and South
3. Calbasu (Labeo calbasu)—North and South
4. Magur (Clarius batrachus)—All parts of country
5. Singhara (Mystus singhala)—All parts of country
6. Malli (Wallago attu)—North-east and South
Marine fish :
1. Eel (Anguilla species)—Coastal parts of country.
2. Hilsa (Hilsa)—Coastal parts of country
3. Bombay Duck (Harpodon sp)—Coastal parts of Maharashtra
4. Salmon (Aluitheronema)—Eastern and Western coastal parts
5. Pomphret (Stromateus)—Indo-Pacific coastal parts
6. Sardina (Sardinella)—Western and Southern coastal parts
Apiculture or Honey
A colony of bees consists of a queen or fully developed female, workers which are partly developed females and for a part of the year, drones or males.
Queen lays the eggs. Young worker bees care for the developing youngs. They gather food for themselves, keep the nest in good condition, build the honey comb and do all the work necessary for the colony. The drones exist solely to fertilize new queens not taking part in the work of the colony but feeding upon the food brought in.
Life of the queen goes for several years. The workers live only a month or two. The drones are fewer and are driven out and killed by the workers when their usefulness has ended.
Life history of honey bee (Apis)
Pollen basket : On the outer surface of the hind tibia in the workers in a pollen basket.
Eggs : Queen lays about 2,000 eggs per day in the bottom of each empty brood cell. The eggs hatch in about 3 days.
Larva : After hatching, the stout with maggot like larvae emerge and these are fed by young worker bees which secrete a whitepaste like larval food usually with pollen grains added.
Workers larvae are nearly fully grown after about five days of hatching.
Eggs destined to become drones are unfertilized and are laid in cells of slightly greater diameter than those of workers.
When the egg in a queen cell hatches, the larva is fed more abundantly than other larvae.
The time required to produce a queen from egg to adult is about 15½ days, for a worker 21 days and for a drone 24 days.
Honey : For the production of one pound of honey, the honey bee makes 40,000 to 80,000 trips to a flower. The nectar of flower is mixed with saliva and stored in honey sac. The honey sac is a muscular cavity. On this sac, the enzymes invertase and amylase convert the nectar into fructose and glucose respectively.
Composition of honey :
Water—10 to 20%
Fructose—40 to 45%
Glucose—32 to 37%
Sucrose—12%
Dextrin, vitamin, protein and mineral—1 to 12%
Specific gravity : 1.45 to 1.48
The greatest value of the honey bee to man is in the pollination of flowers. Another financial return is from the production of bee wax which is used in several industries.
Shopping Cart
