With the development of agronomic protocols to cultivate rubber in the prevailing conditions in the Eastern province and identification of land availability, the

Background Canine vector-borne diseases (CVBDs) are a significant health problem among dogs globally. The veterinary records show that the military working dogs of Sri Lanka die early at an average age of six years and CVBDs have been listed as one of the speculated causes. This study examined CVBDs in the working dogs of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) together with free-roaming and privately-owned dogs living close to the SLAF establishments and country-wide. Methods Blood samples were collected from the cephalic vein for a three year period, from July 2016 to July 2019. Giemsa stained thin blood smears were observed under light microscopy. Results A total of 668 dogs were sampled, of which 169 were infected (25.3%) with hemoparasites. The prevalence of infections among the SLAF working dogs (22.5%), free-roaming (26.3%), or privately-owned (26.2%) dogs did not differ significantly (Chi-square test, p > 0.05). A large number of infected dogs were asymptomatic (57.4%), which was significantly higher in free-roaming dogs (96.3%) compared to the SLAF (41.1%) and privately-owned dogs (38.2%; p < 0.0001) but not between SLAF dogs and privately-owned dogs (χ2 = 0.005, p > 0.938). Seven hemoparasites were identified: Babesia gibsoni, B. canis, Ehrlichia canis, Anaplasma platys, Leishmania sp., Hepatozoon canis, and microfilariae. The most common infection was B. gibsoni (13.8%) followed by E. canis (9.9%) and A. platys (4.3%). There was no difference in the prevalence of B. gibsoni in the three categories of dogs (χ2 = 2.61, p = 0.10). Leishmania and H. canis were always presented as single infections, while microfilaria as mixed infections. Conclusions Even though the SLAF dogs are thoroughly quarantined before introducing them to the military units, the infection prevalence was similar compared to other dog categories. They have likely acquired the infections through ticks and other arthropod vectors. This is the first comprehensive and comparative island-wide study of dog CVBDs of Sri Lanka, especially the military dogs at the SLAF. It highlights that most infected dogs, especially the free-roaming ones, did not show clinical signs. Although it is speculated that they may act as reservoirs of infection, asymptomatic dogs' ability to spread these CVBDS should be investigated.

Rubber cultivation in Sri Lanka has recently been expanded to the Eastern Province.With an initial observation on the positive effects of this process on the rural community in this region, the present study was conducted to either characterize or quantify the impacts of rubber cultivation on the rural community assessing the livelihood capital assets, i.e. Human, Physical, Natural, Financial and Social aspects. Padiyathalawa Divisional Secretaries area of the Eastern Province with a reasonable number of rubber lands under harvesting was selected for the study. All farmers having mature rubber fields (33) were assessed together with similar number of non-rubber farmers of the same village for comparison. Both types of farmers were in the range of 40-60 years of age and educated up to secondary level in the local school. All had no other occupation than farming and having an average of four members in a family and all had sufficient family labour for on-farm activities. With the additional income generated from rubber, a higher level of Financial capital was observed among rubber farmers. As a result, expenditure of rubber farmers was 40% higher than the rest and its pattern showed that rubber farmers spend more on children's education, family health and charity gaining a higher level of Human capital. Rubber cultivation has not so far influenced the Natural capital since all farmers had equal opportunities in accessing water sources and lands with fertile soils. Further, rubber associated development in Physical capital has made farmers to have basic infrastructure facilities for their houses, some luxury appliances for convenience, facilities to strengthen social connectivity and improvement in farming. With more social interactions, Social capital was found to be higher among rubber farmers. All these findings confirmed the suitability of rubber cultivation as a livelihood improvement strategy in rural development programmes in the Eastern province of Sri Lanka.

In view of supporting the rubber product manufacturing sector in Sri Lanka and providing stable income for the peasant community, rubber cultivation is in the process of expanding to the drier regions of the country. Under this programme, rubber was introduced to the Northern region (Dry Zone) in 2010 with a tentative set of agronomic protocols. The present study showed that rubber cultivated in this region under smallholder conditions together with irrigated short term crops, has shown reasonable growth with an average annual girth expansion rate of 8.6cm. A growth curve for the immature phase of rubber was established for the first time for the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Despite some adverse effects of dry weather on photosynthesis and associated physiological parameters, no evidence of permanent damages to photosynthetic apparatus was recorded. Further actions to be taken in the expansion process of rubber cultivation in this region are also discussed.