Economic Significance of Tropical Theileriosis on a Holstein Friesian Dairy Farm in Pakistan.

The dairy industry in Pakistan is booming, and investors are anxious to fund dairy farms that are using high-milk-producing (exotic) cattle breeds such as Holstein Friesians that are not native to the country. Unfortunately, the benefits of increased milk production do not provide resistance to pathogens present in regions where the exotic breeds are introduced. Therefore, the current study was conducted to evaluate the economic impact of Theileria annulata on a commercial Holstein Friesian dairy farm in the District of Ranjanpur, in the Province of Punjab, Pakistan. The economic impact of T. annulata infection was calculated for cattle with subclinical and clinical theileriosis. Losses were estimated based on milk production, morbidity, mortality, and tick control costs (organophosphate sprays). Animals were classified into groups after screening for mastitis, teat abnormality, abnormal parturition, intestinal parasites, and hemoparasites ( T. annulata, Babesia spp., and Anaplasma spp.). Microscopy was done for hemoparasites and intestinal parasites. PCR was used to confirm microscopic identification of T. annulata. Animals were classified into 3 groups: group A (normal), group B (subclinical theileriosis), and group C (acute theileriosis). Hemoparasites were observed microscopically in 28.7% of cows. Theileria annulata was found in 8%, and the herd incidence (new cases) of T. annulata was 2.8%. Milk production, animal rectal temperature, and body condition scores between group A and groups B and C were significantly different ( P < 0.05). But the enlargement of sub-scapular lymph node and interval of body condition score of the 3 groups were not significant ( P > 0.05). The total expenditure incurred due to theileriosis was US $74.98 per animal and 13.83% of total farm costs. Hence theileriosis caused significant economic loss of US $18,743.76 (0.02 million) on this Holstein Friesian dairy.

Assessment of the food habits of the Moroccan dorcas gazelle in M'Sabih Talaa, west central Morocco, using the trnL approach.

Food habits of the Moroccan dorcas gazelle, Gazella dorcas massaesyla, previously investigated in the 1980s using microhistological fecal analysis, in the M'Sabih Talaa Reserve, west central Morocco, were re-evaluated over three seasons (spring, summer and autumn 2009) using the trnL approach to determine the diet composition and its seasonal variation from fecal samples. Taxonomic identification was carried out using the identification originating from the database built from EMBL and the list of plant species within the reserve. The total taxonomic richness in the reserve was 130 instead of 171 species in the 1980s. The diet composition revealed to be much more diversified (71 plant taxa belonging to 57 genus and 29 families) than it was 22 years ago (29 identified taxa). Thirty-four taxa were newly identified in the diet while 13 reported in 1986-87 were not found. Moroccan dorcas gazelle showed a high preference to Acacia gummifera, Anagallis arvensis, Glebionis coronaria, Cladanthus arabicus, Diplotaxis tenuisiliqua, Erodium salzmannii, Limonium thouini, Lotus arenarius and Zizyphus lotus. Seasonal variations occurred in both number (40-41 taxa in spring-summer and 49 taxa in autumn vs. respectively 23-22 and 26 in 1986-1987) and taxonomic type of eaten plant taxa. This dietary diversification could be attributed either to the difference in methods of analysis, trnL approach having a higher taxonomic resolution, or a potential change in nutritional quality of plants over time.