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A hernia is the protrusion of an organ through a defect in the wall of the abdominal cavity in which it lies.

Classification
1. On the Basis of Anatomical Site
    Abdominal (umbilical and ventral)
    Diaphragmatic

It is defined as the reaction of living tissue to injury which begins following a sub-lethal injury to tissues and ends with complete healing. The purpose of inflammation is to destroy and remove the irritant and to repair the damaged tissue. 

Causes
    1.    Pathogenic organisms: Bacteria, virus, fungi, protozan and parasites.
    2.    Chemical poisons: Acid and alkalies. 
    3.    Mechanical or thermal injuries. 
    4.    Immune reaction: Antigen antibody reaction.

Sprain : It is defined as a joint injury in which fibers of supporting ligaments of the joint are ruptured by direct or indirect trauma. Depending upon the degree of ligament rupture, sprain can be classified as follows: 

Inflammation of the joint is known as arthritis.
Coxitis : Inflammation of hip joint.
Gonitis : Inflammation of stifle joint.
Omarthritis : Inflammation of shoulder joint.
Carpitis : Inflammation of carpal joint.

Luxation/Dislocation : It refers to the displacement of opposing articular surfaces of bone. The direction of displacement is described with reference to the distal bone in relation to the proximal bone.

Subluxation : It refers to partial or incomplete dislocation.

Classification
    1.    Acute : Recent occurrence of luxation.
    2.    Chronic : Luxation existing for a long time.
    3.    Recurrent : Reluxation after correction.
    4.    Simple : No open wound is communicating with the joint.
    5.    Compound : Open wound is communicating with the joint.
    6.    Pathological : Dislocation due to any pathological lesion.

Arterial diseases are important because of their serious effect on vital organs like brain, heart and kidney. Thrombosis is the most common complication of arterial diseases but hemorrhage and aneurysm formation may occur.

  Term anesthesia by Dr Oliver Wendell Holmes (1886).
  Anasthesis (Greece Word) – absence of sensation.

History of Animal Anesthesia
  Paracelsus (1540) produced ether and reported it to have a soporific effect on fowl. 
  Sir Humphrey Davy (1800) suggested that N₂O might have anesthetic property. 
  Chloroform was discovered by Liebig in 1831.
  Dr. Horace Wells (1844) discovered the general anesthetic properties of nitrous oxide. 

Preanesthetic agents are so named because they are usually given to prepare the patient for administration of an anesthetic agent for one or more of the following reasons:

    1.    To reduce the amount of general anesthetic needed and increase the margin of safety.
    2.    To calm the patient so that anesthesia can be administrated without fright or struggling. 
    3.    To reduce secretions of salivary glands (antisialogogue) and mucous glands of the respiratory tract, thus maintaining a free airway. 
    4.    To reduce gastric and intestinal motility and prevent vomiting while the patient is under anesthesia. 
    5.    To block the vagal reflex, thus prevent cardiac slowing or arrest (bradycardia).

General anesthesia : reversible complete loss of consciousness along with analgesia. 
  Unconsciousness occurs due to depressant action or functional disruption by stimulation in brain by anesthetic agents.
  Analgesia is probably due to blockade of synaptic transmission in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord.

Injectable Anesthesia

Injectable anesthetics are the agents which are administered to the patient parentrally. They include drugs which are given intravenously to rapidly induce anesthesia in a patient. Single or combinations of drugs usually administered intramuscularly to patients which are difficult to handle. Injectable agents generally require less equipment and are easier to administer than inhalation anesthetics, but it must be remembered that once they are given to a patient they cannot be removed.

Advantages
    1.    These agents are primarily exhaled through the lungs and recovery is not dependent upon redistribution within the body and detoxification mechanisms. This is helpful in poor risk patient.
 
    2.    Anesthesiologist has good control over the anesthesia.
 
    3.    Early recovery of the patient.

    4.    Closed system available for thoracic surgery.

A sound understanding of general anesthetic emergencies and surgical techniques is vital for all practicing veterinarians. In most of the veterinary practices, after induction of anesthesia, no one is assigned the task of anesthetist to monitor anesthesia and occurrence of complications during surgery which may lead to the development of anesthetic emergencies. Onset of general anesthesia disturbs the physiological equilibrium of patient and increase the threshold of harmful events. The harmful events of anesthesia includes:

Endotracheal intubation is the placement of a tube in the trachea to provide a patent airway.

It is a valuable technique that enables to attach an animal to a breathing circuit or, just as importantly, to secure an airway during an emergency such as respiratory or cardiac arrest.

It is important that time be taken to learn the anatomy of the laryngeal area and the skill of intubation so that intubation may be performed quickly and with little chance of misplacement.

Historical Aspect
    Curare was the first known muscle relaxant which was used by South American Indians to immobilize wild animals. Hence the term curariform has been applied to the action of this group of drugs. 
    In year 1958, a plant alkaloid alcuronium was introduced but there were difficulties in reversing the action of this drug.
    Succinylcholine was first used in 1906. However, its paralyzing property was discovered in year 1949.
    Pancuronium was introduced in 1964.
 

These are the drugs that reversibly block the propagation of action potentials along nerve axons. General anesthesia may be advantageous where complete immobilization and relaxation of the patients required. However, local anesthetic techniques are advantageous for providing surgical anesthesia in animals that are considered at risk for inhalant or intravenous anesthesia. These drugs are injected directly at the target site.

Local Anesthetic Techniques of Head Region
The following nerves can be blocked in the head region for performing surgery.
    1.    Cornual nerve block 
    2.    Peterson’s orbital nerve block 
    3.    Auriculopalpebral nerve block 
    4.    Supra orbital nerve block 
    5.    Infra orbital nerve block 
    6.    Retro bulbar nerve block 
    7.    Mental nerve block 
    8.    Maxillary nerve block 
    9.    Mandibulo alveolar nerve block 

Acus means needle. It is an ancient Chinese system of therapy utilizing long fine needles at specific points and their stimulation by various means to induce analgesia and to cure certain diseases. The specific points are known as acupuncture points or acupoints.
 
The procedure is safe. There are no post anaesthetic complications and can be used in poor surgical risk patients. The major disadvantage is poor muscle relaxation. Acupuncture has been used to produce local anaesthesia.
 
Acupoints : Alphanumeric code system is used to recognize the acupoints universally e.g. BL, LI, SP, GB etc means meridians of the urinary bladder, large intestine, spleen, gall bladder etc. respectively.

Operation theatre (OT) is a place where surgical operations are performed under the principle of aseptic surgery. An ideal operation theatre :
    Should be located near the work and intensive care areas of the hospital.

    Should be independent of general traffic. One way traffic flow is maintained to ensure sterility. 

    If possible, air within the OT should be under mild positive pressure so that when the surgery room opened, air flows out of rather than into the room.
 
    Floors, walls and ceilings should be constructed of impervious material that can easily be cleaned and disinfected.
 
    The lighting of the OT should entirely be dependent on artificial light.
 
    Room temperature should be about 70^ºF with a relative humidity of about 50% provides a better environment for the surgeon and patient.

Surgical pack : It is sterilized bundle containing the conventional surgical instruments and drapes etc. required for routine surgical operation.
 
Common surgical instruments: These instruments are used in routine general surgery and made up of stainless steel. Stainless steel not only has excellent strength but also resistant to corrosion. The general instruments are:

    1.    Towel clamp : It is used to hold the drape in position. It has pointed ends so that drape does not slipped away from the area of operation. Small amount of skin is grasped to secure the drape. It is of two types :

    a.    Backhause towel clamp
 
    b.    Cross action towel clamp

    2.    Bard Parker knife / scalpel (B.P. handle with blade) : Bard Parker knife is available as disposable knife. BP handle is available with changeable blades.

1.    Milking tube : It is used for milking the animal after udder or teat surgery. It can also be used for infusing intramammary medication through teat canal.
 
 2.    Teat plug : It is used to plug the teat in cases of leaky teats or trodden teats or following operation at teat sphincter. It can also be used for retaining medication in the teat canal.
 
 3.    Udder infusion tube : It is used for infusion of medication in the udder/teat.

 4.    Teat slitter with concealed blade : For cutting any growth inside the teat canal without injury to the teat.
 
 5.    Teat tumor extractor : It is used for removal of teat tumour or polyps from the teat canal. 

These specialized instruments are used for operation of skeletal system. Common instruments are as follows :

    1.    Loman bone holding clamp : It is used for holding fractured bony ends with bone plates.
 
    2.    Bone plates : are used for rigid immobilization of fractured fragments. Bone plates are of difference shapes, sizes and with varying number of holes. These are of following types :
 
        a.    Dynamic compression plate.
        b.    Neutralization plate.
        c.    Shcrnab plate etc.
 
    3.    Bone screws : are either used to immobilize fractured fragments or to fix bone plates. They are of different sizes and classified in to cancellous and cortical types.

These instruments are used for surgery and need special care and attention for sterilization and storage.
 
    1.    Strabismus scissors : It is used for treating strabismus i.e. sectioning of affected muscle.
 
    2.    Me Guire corneal scissors : It is used for incising cornea
 
    3.    Graefe’s eye speculum : It is used for retraction of eyelids for examination of eye or for ophthalmic surgery.
 
    4.    Ziegler knife needle : It is used for separation of ocular tissues during ophthalmic surgery.
 
    5.    Iris hook : It is used for handling of Iris drug ophthalmic surgery.
 
    6.    Tenotomy scissors : It is used either for cutting the ocular ligament of eye or for removal of ocular sutures.
 
    7.    Dressing forceps : It is used for manipulation of eyelids, 3rd eye lid and other tissues of the eye.

These instruments are used for different surgical conditions of hoof.
 
    1.    Drawing knife: It is used to remove excess sole and trimming of horny tissue (Fig. 6.1). 
    2.    Hoof plane: it is used to plane the surface of the hoof. 

    1.    Molar tooth cutter :  It is used to cut the extra sharp molar tooth in large animals (Fig. 7.1).

Catheters are hollow tubes made up of rubber, gum elastic, polyethylene or teflon or metal and are indicated.
 
    1.    To evacuate fluid from the body cavity.
 
    2.    To collect fluid sample from the hollow organ.
 
    3.    To administer medication inside a hollow organ.

Restraining means use of strong force or chemical agents to prevent or suppress or to control the action of animal for clinical examination or for prevention of self-injury and for performing surgical interventions.
 
Restraining can be performed by:
    1.    Psychic persuasion 
    2.    Physical restraint 
    3.    Chemical restraint

General anaesthesia can be induced by parentral anaesthetics or by gaseous or inhalation anaesthetics. 

Apparatuses

    1.    Syringes : Disposable plastic syringes of different capacities e.g. 1ml, 2ml, 5 ml, 10 ml, 20 ml and 50 ml.
 
    2.    Hypodermic needles : They are of different sizes e.g. 16, 18, 20, 22, 24 gauze. They must be sharp with short bevel to reduce risk of transfixing the vein.
 
    3.    Catheters : They are used for constant infusion of drug or for administration of intermittent small doses of drug. 

Preparation of Patient for General Anesthesia
    1.    Check for feeding status of animal : Dogs should be kept off feed and off water 8-12 hours ruminants 24-48 hours, and horses 12-24 hours before surgery.

        Advantages
    a.    To avoid vomition and choking.
    b.    To avoid respiratory distress due to pressure of full stomach on diaphragm. 
    c.    To avoid gastric rupture.
    d.    While restraining, there may abdominal rupture.
    e.    Prevent increase in BMR.
    2.    Complete blood count like PCV, Hb, DLC and blood chemistry should be undertaken. 

The effects of anesthesia need to be monitored to prevent excessive insult to the cardiovascular, respiratory and central nervous system. 

1. Evaluation of Central Nervous System (CNS)
       Observe reflex activity to monitor degree of CNS depression. 

    Eye reflexes
        i.    Palpebral reflex 
        ii.    Corneal reflex 
        iii.    Position of eye ball 
        iv.    Nystagmus
        v.    Lacrimation 
        vi.    Pupillary reflex

Hemorrhage is a discharge of blood from the vascular system. Control of bleeding is of great importance because besides anesthetic problems the only disaster befalling the surgeon in the operating room is the result of hemorrhage.

Hemorrhage is Classified as
1. According to Source
Arterial : Blood is bright red and flows in spurts.
 
Venous : Blood is bluish red and flows freely. Capillary: Blood oozes under low pressure. 

Bandages
       Bandages are used to protect the wound and incisions, as well as support body parts.

       Bandages are also used to immobilize the limbs.

       Bandages are used to promote the wound healing process by :

        i.    Removal of dead and necrosed tissue from the wound (debridement).
        ii.    Application of topical antiseptics.
        iii.    Pressure to reduce the dead space, hemorrhage and edema.
        iv.    Preserving the hemostasis at the wound site.

General Description of An Animal
    1.    Age      
    2.    Sex                          
    3.    Body weight

Many anesthetic drugs are available to immobilize the lab and wild animals. In wild animals, immobilizing agents are usually administered by intramuscular injection.

Common Anesthetic Agents used for Immobilizing Wild Animals

    1.    Ketamine
    2.    Telazol
    3.    Xylazine
    4.    Medetomidine
    5.    Carfentanil
    6.    Etorphine

Application of various methods of restraints is essential to carry out certain surgical procedures on animals. A particular method of restraint suitable for one animal may proves ineffective for another. Consider the temperament, Age, breed and individual characteristic of the animal as well as purpose of the restraint.

    1.    Trocar and canula : It is used to remove the gas from the rumen during bloat. It should be inserted by sliding the skin through the left paralumbar fossa. (Fig. 18.1). Sliding of skin decreases the chances the formation of ruminal fistula after its removal.

    2.    Probang gag : It is made of a wooden piece with a hole in the middle and straps on either ends. Wooden block having the hole is fixed in the mouth and straps are fastened behind the horn at the poll. The probing is passed through the hole in to the stomach (Fig. 18.2).

India is very rich in biodiversity especially in animal genetic resources and animals have been part and parcel of agricultural heritage. There are about 30 well defined breeds of cattle found in different parts of the country. To name a few are Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Gir, Kankrej, Deoni, Tharparkar, Hariana, Ongle, Nagori, Amritmahal and Hallikar. The cattle breeds are classified into three types i.e. dairy, dual purpose and draft/drought animals. The number of the animals of majority of indigenous breeds has declined over the years. Further, their number is very low and majority of cattle population (80%) in India is non-descript. The introduction of systematic crossbreeding program of our native cattle with exotic breeds in seventies have further led to the depletion of prized germplasm of all the indigenous breeds under farm and field conditions. However, considering the importance of indigenous cattle, some of the breed improvement programs have been initiated to conserve and multiply these breeds. The associated herd progeny testing program has been going on at NDRI Karnal for the genetic improvement of Sahiwal cattle. All India Coordinated Research Project on Hariana and Ongole cattle has been undertaken at different centres by Project Directorate on Cattle, Meerut. Lately, three more breeds namely Sahiwal, Gir and Kankarej have been included in the indigenous breed improvement program (IBP) and different centres have been identified as germplasm units and data recording units for different breeds under the program.

The state of Uttaranchal was carved out of Uttar Pradesh on 9^th November 2000 as the 27th state of the union of India and renamed as Uttarakhand. The state is located in western Himalayan region and is one of the geographically smallest states of the country. However, the state is enriched with livestock biodiversity represented by cattle, buffaloes, goats, pigs, horses, mules and poultry.  The climate of the state varies from subtropical in the valleys to temperate on higher slopes with a summer monsoon. The temperature ranges from -5.4ºC (Muketshwar, higher hills) to 40.2ºC (Pantnagar, plains) but it drops below freezing point in many parts of high mountainous areas of the region during winter. Preponderance of hilly terrains and forestland restricts the size of the agricultural land/ holding. The average rainfall recorded in the year 2008 was 1605 mm.  Higher rainfall, abundance of natural pastureland and suitable climatic conditions makes the state favorable for livestock development. The human population was 84.89 lacs with a density of 159 people per sq km during the year, 2001.

Abstract

The data for the present investigation were obtained from the performance records of 1081 crossbred cattle progeny of 65 sires maintained at Instructional Dairy Farm Nagla of G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Pantnagar, distributed over a period of 40 years from 1966-2005. A total of 65 sires were evaluated on the basis of single and multi traits of their progeny. For single trait sire evaluation, FLMY was considered as principal trait under univariate models viz- simple daughter’s average () method, least squares method (LSM), DFREML-I method and BLUP-I method. However, for evaluation of sires by multi traits FLMY+AFC, FLMY+FLP and FLMY+AFC+FLP, the multivariate models viz. DFREML-II, DFREML-III, DFREML-IV, BLUP-II, BLUP-III and BLUP-IV method were used. The lowest average breeding value (2616.25) for the trait was obtained by () method and the highest average breeding value (2660.42 kg) was obtained by the rest nine methods. The accuracy, efficiency and stability of different sire indices were compared to judge their effectiveness. The evaluation method that gave the lowest error variance was considered to be most efficient.

Abstract

Performance records of 1085 crossbred cattle daughters of 57 sires maintained during 1974-2004 at Instructional Dairy Farm of G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar were used to evaluate sires for first lactation and life time performance traits. First lactation traits included were age at first calving (AFC), first lactation period (FLP),first dry period (FDP) and first calving interval (FCI) and life time traits were herd life (HL), total lactation length and life time milk yield. The data were analyzed to estimate the breeding values of sires using least squares methods (LSM), best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) and derivative free restricted maximum likelihood (DFREML) method. The average breeding values of sires estimated by all three methods were similar and estimated for AFC, FLP, FDP and FCI as 1359.95 days, 356.56 days, 177.58 days and 534.15 days respectively and for HL, TLL and LTMY as 1641.30 days, 1320.20 days and 9110.30 kg respectively. The estimated breeding values (EBV’S) showed large genetic variation between sires for both first lactation and life time traits. The estimated breeding values (EBV’S) of sires had very high and significant product moment correlations and rank correlations among all first lactation and lifetime traits estimated by all three methods.

Dairy buffalo production has been a tradition in parts of the world like the Caucasian countries. Asia and Egypt, where fresh buffalo milk, dahi (cultured sour milk), ghee (butter oil) and yoghurt are popular. In Italy the dairy buffalo industry is flourishing thanks to the popularity of buffalo mozzarella cheese. Because of the market for Mozzarella, buffalo farming is a profitable enterprise and is carried out in an organized manner with modern equipment. In South American countries like Brazil and Argentina, buffalo reared for both milk and meat. In recent years buffalo milk and milk products, especially Mozzarella cheese, have become immensely popular and dairy buffalo production has founds its way into non traditional areas with the number of buffalo farms mushrooming.

Animal Husbandry is making a significant contribution to the national economy and socio-economic development in the country. In rural India where over 15-20% families are landless and about 80% of the land holders belong to the category of small and marginal farmers, livestock is the main source of livelihood with the policy of the state Animal Husbandry Department to extend free breeding, vaccination and veterinary services, and permit free grazing on community lands, the farmers were encouraged to expand their herd size without any major financial burden. This has probably been the reason for the presence of the worlds largest livestock population in India. India rank first in buffalo population, second in cattle and goat, third in sheep and seventh in poultry (Table-1). Although the population of livestock during last 10 years has been stable around 485 million, the buffalo population during 1997-2003 has increased by 8.91%, while the cattle population has reduced by 6.89%. There has been a significant increase in population of goats during the last five decades, which is attributed to the decrease in the size of land holdings and persistent drought caused by erratic monsoon, forcing many small farmers to shift from large animals to small ruminants.

Buffaloes have been classified in two main categories namely riverine and swamp buffaloes depending upon variation in their habitat and genome structure. River buffaloes are generally large in size mostly with curled horns and are mainly found in India, Pakistan and some of the west Asian countries, prefer to enter clear water and have 50 (2n) numbers of chromosomes and are primarily used for milk production and also used for meat production and draught power. Swamp buffaloes are stocky animals with marshy land habitats and have 48 (2n) numbers of chromosomes. They were primarily developed for draught power in paddy fields and haulage and are also used for meat and milk production. Swamp buffaloes are mostly found in south East Asian countries and few animals are also available in north eastern states of India.

Introduction
 
Livestock sector plays an important role in Indian economy and is an important sub sector of India agriculture the contribution of livestock to gross domestic product was 4.7% in 2004-05 with 27% share in agriculture and allied sector. Milk production in India reaching a level of 91 million tones in 2004-05. It is estimated that in milk production 58% of milk was contributed by buffaloes with average lactation milk about 1300 kg. Some of the buffaloes produce as high as 4000 kg but their number is limited. India with 185 million cattle and approximately 98 million buffaloes possesses 20% of the world bovine and 14% of the cattle population. Buffalo population in the country has been increasing at a steady wait with slight increase in productivity. Highest increase in the past five years was observed in Haryana (25.1% ), followed by Uttar Pradesh (20.6%), Madhaya Pradesh (13.9%), Gujrat (13.6%), Uttaranchal (12.2%), Andhra Pradesh (10%) and Rajasthan (6.6%). Productivity per animal is very low mainly due to low genetic potential for milk production, near absence of the genetic improvement programmes, poor plan of nutrition and health measures. 

Abstract

Bhadawari is one of the recognized buffalo breeds of India and is famous for high milk fat content. The main breeding tract is Agra and Etawah in Uttar Pradesh and Bhind and Morena districts in Madhya   Pradesh. The tract was a part of the erstwhile Bhadawar estate from where the name of these animals originated. Bhadawari, the brown beauty of ravines and predominantly the only breed adapted to the harsh conditions of the ravines with undulating topography, thorny and scanty bushes, climatic stress and draught conditions. Breed is said to be resistant to many tropical bovine diseases and also known for eating less and producing more. Calf mortality is significantly lower than the other breeds of buffaloes. Male animals are good for agriculture work especially for ploughing in rice fields.

Abstract

Buffaloes are considered to be the principle milk producing livestock species in India and Surti is one of the well-defined buffalo breeds of India. The study on lactation curve and persistency is very much helpful to know the sustainability of the lactation. The present study is based on daily milk production records for 298 lactations from 130 buffaloes belonging to 15 sires. Lactation curve was prepared through Statistical Packages for Social Sciences programme. Two functions, i.e. gamma function and inverse polynomial functions were fitted to the daily milk yield records. Persistency was calculated through simple analysis in Microsoft Excel 2000 on the weekly records of the milk yield. Gamma function was found to be more effective as compared to inverse polynomial function with higher R2 value for all the four lactations, which indicated that gamma function can be effectively used to establish lactation curve and predict milk yield of animals on any day of lactation. The value of persistency ranged from 97.94% in fourth lactation to 98.56 % in first lactation, indicating Surti buffaloes as fairly persistent in milk production throughout the lactation.

Abstract

The data on production performance of Banni buffaloes during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 were collected from the animals selected under project “In-Situ Conservation of Banni buffalo”. The data on 208 animals were analyzed and overall means ± SE for total lactation milk yield, lactation length, peak yield, days to attain peak yield, milk yield per day of lactation length, service period and calving interval were observed as: 2917.76 ±  54.77 lit., 292.19 ± 2.88 days, 14.86 ± 0.18 lit., 47.50 ± 2.92 days, 9.99 ± 0.14 lit., 87.13 ± 4.39 days and 380.87 ± 2.36 days, respectively. Present findings on production performance indicate Banni buffalo an valuable germplasm maintained under extensive production system and arid climatic conditions of Kachchh and holds the promise of raising milk production of non-descript and low producing buffaloes through up-grading and crossbreeding. Therefore, Banni buffalo can be use as improver breed for genetic improvement of non-descript buffalo population in semi-arid and arid regions of the state / country.

Abstract

Data pertaining to 1761 records on daily milk yield and 1416 milk samples for estimation of fat and SNF percent in Banni buffalo during the year 2008-10 were collected from the breeding tract under In-situ conservation project on Banni buffalo and utilized for present study. The overall means ± SE for daily milk yield was 09.86 ± 0.07 lit. The month-wise daily milk yield was observed highest in second month, followed by 1st (12.96 ± 0.19 lit), 3rd (12.73 ± 0.19 lit), 4th (11.66 ± 0.20 lit), 5th (10.81 ± 0.25 lit), 6th (09.77 ± 0.23 lit), 7th (08.58 ± 0.18 lit), 8th (07.26 ± 0.17 lit), 9th (06.15 ± 0.11 lit), 11th  (05.70 ± 0.10 lit), 10th (05.41 ± 0.09 lit), 12th (05.78 ± 0.08 lit) and 13th  (05.48 ± 0.63 lit) months of lactation. The data on milk constituents’ viz. fat and SNF percent was grouped according to the seasons of the year and morning – evening milking.

Abstract

Estimates of genetic parameters are needed for the prediction of breeding values and planning of selection strategies for desired genetic advancement. Even animal breeders feel lost when confronted with the huge set of different methods. This paper describes an overview of latest methods for the estimation of genetic parameters in a simplest possible way avoiding complex mathematical expressions.

Open nucleus breeding system is considered to be a best approach to bring genetic improvement in livestock. This system was first introduced New Zealand for faster genetic improvement of sheep. The milk recording under field condition is quite expensive. Moreover, farmers are not under any obligation to retain the animal till the lactation is completed. The generation interval is also very large as it takes about 6-7 year by the time complete record on progeny testing programmes in developing countries is available, so that the effective genetic improvement is small. Use of best proven bull on the elite cow, which are best 5-10% of the cow for genetic improvement of the population. The net genetic gain in the herd considering the actual genetic improvement from various parents off spring path is around 0.7% per annum. Considering these situation in develop countries it has been proposed that ‘nucleus’ herd be created where males from the best cows are obtained. The nucleus herd would be open in the sense that the lowest yielding cows are culled every year and are replaced by procurement of that many high yielding cow from farmers herd. The nucleus herds are utilized entirely for production of males for breeding purposes in the population.

Introduction

Uttarakhand has a mix of almost all domesticated species of livestock, very large in number and very low in productivity across the board. In economic terms they are a wealth indeed, low productivity not with standing, as the sector supports livelihoods of nearly 80 percent of the rural households in the state, at least in part in the majority of cases and in full in some (tribal and nomads exclusively living off livestock).

Livestock production in Uttarakhand is the endeavor of the small holder (marginal, small and landless) and takes place in millions of small and tiny holdings scattered across the state. The predominant farming system is mixed crop livestock farming, both in the plains as well as the hills, irrigated in the plains and rainfed in the hills.