The present study was undertaken to characterize the ultrastructural morphology of the blood cells of commonly reared chickens in the state of Mizoram, India under backyard poultry farming. For this study, 2 ml of whole blood was aseptically collected from the wings veins of 12 chickens of three different breeds namely the Zoar, Aseel and Rhode Island Red and processed for ultrastructural imaging under standard protocols. Under scanning electron microscopy (SEM) the matured erythrocytes of Zoar, Aseel and Rhode Island Red appeared elliptical in shape while the leukocytes and thrombocytes appeared round in shape with variable surface modifications. Under transmission electron microscopy (TEM) the granules of the heterophils of Zoar, Aseel and Rhode Island Red appeared predominantly fusiform in shape, the granules of the eosinophils appeared round in shape and that of the basophils appeared pleomorphic in shape. The cytoplasm of the monocytes, medium‐to‐large lymphocytes and thrombocytes of Zoar, Aseel and Rhode Island Red under TEM appeared to be vacuolated and granular while that of the small lymphocytes appeared to be granular but non‐vacuolated. The study concluded that the ultrastructural characteristics of the blood cells of the three breeds of chicken studied were almost similar to the blood cells of other birds reported earlier.

Background: Pig rearing is the main income source for many unemployed people in India, particularly for the people in the north-east part of the country. It was found that the morbidity as well as mortality of young pigs immediately after weaning is high due to weaning stresses, mainly due to diet changes causing them to suffer from severe diarrhoea. For these reasons, providing creep feed along with dairy products during the period of pre-weaning and post-weaning is recommended. The majority of the farmers used skimmed milk powder which is commonly available in the market places, but since it is expensive, it may diminish the return for small-scale farmers. Methods: Present study was conducted to compare the growth performance of Large White Yorkshire young pigs (LWY) fed with diet containing skimmed milk and milk replacer during the pre and post weaning periods i.e., from 0 to 56 days of age. Parameters recorded were body weight in kilogram (kg), average daily gain (ADG) in gram (g), average daily feed intake (ADFI) in gram (g), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and cost of feed/kg gain (₹/kg). Result: Statistical analysis of all the parameters revealed non-significant (P≥0.05) differences between the three groups during pre-weaning, post-weaning and overall periods. It may be concluded that skimmed milk powder (SMP) can be replaced by milk replacer powder (MRP) in the diet of weaned pigs without any clinical complications.