Animal Health
Mithun (Bos frontalis) is a member of the Bovidae family and is a distant relative of cattle and buffaloes. It is postulated that they have been originated from their wild relatives, Gaurs. This is a unique animal in the Bovidae family and since it is geographically restricted in a very small area in the world and that too in difficult hilly terrains, various aspects of health and diseases occurring in this species is not very well known. Due to the similarity in the anatomy physiology and behavioural pattern of the Mithun with those of cattle and buffalo, it may be presumed that Mithun may be more or less equally susceptible to the common diseases of the cattle and buffaloes.
In the past two decades, periodic studies conducted at the institute and the field level survey have indicated that Mithun like other domestic members of the family (cattle and buffalo) are also susceptible to a wide variety of diseases including viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic diseases. Many diseases have been recorded in clinical form while others have been recorded in seroprevalence studies conducted in the institute farm as well as in field-level surveys in Mithun inhabiting states.
Research highlight from Animal Health:
- Studies on the prevalence of gastrointestinal helminth of mithun in both semi- intensive as well as free-range conditions from remote areas of Nagaland:
- Serological screening of Fasciola gigantica in both free-range as well as semi-intensive conditions from the northeastern hilly region of India.
- Efficacy of chemical and herbal drugs against GI helminths
- Serological prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in mithun:
- Molecular identification of Mecistocirrus digitatus in mithun based on marker genes.
- Molecular identification and genetic characterization of Fasciola gigantica in mithun
- Morphological identification of some important ticks based on gross morphology followed by molecular identification.
- Molecular identification of Amphistome species.
- Molecular identification of Hydatid cyst in mithun based on mitochondrial enzyme
- Molecular characterization of Setaria digitata
- Evaluation of therapeutic efficacy of chemical and herbal drugs against Rhipicephalus microplus
- Cell-mediated immune status of mithun
- Chemical fingerprinting of medicinal herbs against bacterial and parasitic diarrhoeal agents
- Prevalence and Molecular Epidemiology of Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) in Ruminants with Reference to Mithun (Bos frontalis)
- Humoral immune status of mithun
Future target:
- Studies on the epidemiology of diseases in mithun.
- Development of herbal-based products against pathogens.
