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Theileria annulata (T. annulata) is a tick-borne apicomplexan parasite that affects bovine. It is endemic in many tropical and subtropics areas, including Odisha, India. The objective of this study is to identify T. annulata infection in the peripheral blood of cattle as a biological sample by conventional PCR (cPCR) and quantitative PCR (qPCR). The phylogenetic analysis was done using the T. annulata merozoite surface antigen (Tams 1) gene. Out of 552 samples of examined blood smears by microscopy, 454 (82.24%) animals were positive for Theileria species. Out of 454 samples, 96 samples were further examined by both cPCR and qPCR, 52 samples (54.16%) were found positive for T. annulata in both PCR methodologies. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that T. annulata Odisha isolate was closely related to T. annulata Uttarakhand, India isolate (KM061799) and Hyderabad, India isolate (MK034702) with Nucleotide sequence identity 95.36%, 95.25%, respectively. This is the first study to detect T. annulata by qPCR in Odisha and supported that both PCR techniques were equally effective for the detection of Tams 1 gene of T. annulata in cattle's blood.

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Background: Aflatoxicosis in ducks is reckoned as a challenge for nutritionists worldwide, for its adverse impacts on growth. A study was conducted to ascertain the precise level of Aflatoxin-tolerance in White Pekin ducklings during juvenile ages. Methods: Day-old-ducklings (240) were randomly distributed into 3 experimental-groups viz., Control ( less than 0.5 ppb), T1 (200 ppb), T2 (400 ppb) and reared for measuring weekly growth, feed efficiency and blood biochemical changes, with treatments terminated at 6weeks age. Result: There was significant depression in live weights for both dietary-toxin groups from 2nd week onwards till completion. Mortality (0-6 weeks) was 85% in T2, while T1 was in between control and T2, both for mortality (45%) and morbidity. Feed-consumption and conversion for either toxin groups remained significantly (p≤0.05) poor, with T2 resulting in erratic FCRs, ranging from 1.23 to 4.95, across weeks. A typical AFB1-induced lameness in ducklings beyond 3 weeks of AFB1-exposure, emerged as a hallmarked morbidity, in varied proportions, in T1 and T2, but not in control. The study confirms that acute-depression of juvenile growth and high-morbidity are distinct outcomes from AFB1’s presence in Pekin diets @ 200 ppb level or higher, with such leg deformities emerging as hallmarked features of Pekins reared on AFB1-spiked diets. It can be concluded that, while the AFB1 content of juvenile White Pekin ducks should be kept limited to the recommended safe levels ( less than 10 ppb); exceeding a threshold of 200 ppb is sure to cause poor growth and FCR, with adverse blood biochemical changes, high mortality, morbidity and lameness.