Genetic characterisation of indigenous duck of Tripura state in India using microsatellite markers.

Exploring genetic variability by microsatellite markers is essential for genetic improvement, preservation of indigenous germplasm and production of high-quality offspring. Lack of information on microsatellite profiling of Indian indigenous ducks (Tripura state) has stoked curiosity in this work. Genomic DNA samples from randomly selected 36 native ducks were analysed at 25 duck-specific microsatellite loci. Alleles were separated through 3.4% MetaPhore™ agarose gel electrophoresis. Allele sizes were determined using Image Lab 6 software of GelDoc™ EZ System. Allelic data were analysed by POPGENE version 1.31. Total 112 alleles were resolved and all the loci were found polymorphic with 2 to 15 alleles across the loci. Average number of allele (Na) was 4.480 ± 0.659. Allele sizes and frequencies ranged from 96 to 357 bp and 0.014 to 0.819, respectively. Average heterozygosity of Nei, effective number (Ne) of alleles and Shannon's information index (I) were 0.617 ± 0.036, 3.538 ± 0.527 and 1.184 ± 0.112, respectively. The estimates of Ne were less than the Na at all the loci, indicating prevalence of heterozygosity. Polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.252 (CAUD020) to 0.911 (CAUD019) with an average of 0.562 ± 0.040. Sixteen loci were moderate to highly polymorphic and informative (PIC ˃ 0.5). Chi-square and G-square statistics revealed Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium at all the loci. Moderate to high level of polymorphism of the studied microsatellites indicated that these markers might be helpful for genetic characterisation and adoption of appropriate conservation strategies to exploit optimum genetic potentiality of indigenous ducks of Tripura.

Molecular prevalence of tick-borne haemoprotozoan diseases in cattle of North Eastern state of Tripura, India.

The tick-borne haemoprotozoan diseases are major constraint in the health and production of cattle and causes substantial losses to the livestock industry throughout the world. Tripura is a northeastern state of India characterized by a warm humid tropical climate and high rainfall which is conducive to the multiplication of vector-ticks of haemoprotozoan diseases. A total of 320 tick-infested cattle (22 male and 298 female) of either sex was selected randomly from different district of Tripura for the detection of carrier cattle infected with tick-borne haemoparasites from July, 2017 to June, 2019. Out of 320 tick-infected cattle, 4.69% prevalence of B. bigemina infection in cattle was found while Theleria spp. was not prevalent in the collected blood sample by using polymerase chain reaction. The prevalence of B. bigemina was significantly (< 0.05) higher in cattle more than 3 years of age (6.72%) compared to the 1-3 years age group (3.97%) and < 1 year age groups (1.66%). Sex-wise B. bigemina infection was significantly (< 0.05) seen only in female (5.03%) cattle infested with ticks. The district-wise B. bigemina prevalence (%) in Tripura was as in cattle; Dhalai (0.63), Sipahijala (0.31), Khowai (0.31), Gomati (0.31), South Tripura (0.63), North Tripura (0.31), Unakoti (0.31) and West Tripura (1.87) respectively. The use of PCR assays for the detection of B. bigemina and Theileria spp. in the North Eastern state of Tripura of India showed prevalence of 4.69% and 0%, respectively in tick-infested cattle. This study is the first report about the prevalence of tick-borne haemoprotozoan diseases from cattle of Tripura and suggest that babesiosis is more common disease as compared to theileriosis and is more prevalent in adult female tick-infested cattle in Tripura.