NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
ABSTRACTS
147
The differential diagnosis of equine abortion with special reference to a
hitherto undescribed form of epizootic abortion of mares. W. W. DIMOCK
AND P. R. EDWARDS. (The Cornell Veterinarian 26, 231-240, 1936).
THE article deals principally with what the authors designate as virus or epizootic
abortion. Incidentally, the authors review the history of equine abortion in the U.S.A.,
and record brief notes on other forms of equine abortion such as salmonella abortion,
streptococcic abortion, and abortions due to other miscellaneous causes.
In occurrence and characteristics, the virus abortion is rather typical of an epi-
zootic disease. It often assumes serious proportions.
The diagnosis of this disease must often be approached indirectly through a process
of elimination. If the fetuses in an outbreak show the lesions described below, no
bacteria are found in the organs and tissues, and the blood of the mares that abort is
negative to the agglutination test for salmonella infection, then the disease is probably
epizootic or virus abortion.
The affected mares show no premonitary symptoms of approaching abortion.
With few exceptions, the afterbirths are passed immediately, and the mares, parti-
cularly those aborting between the seventh and ninth month of gestation, do not
suffer from any ill-effects. They return to normal as promptly as do mares following
normal parturition.
Some or all of the following changes are usually found in the aborted fetuses :
An accumulation of serous fluid in the thoracic cavity in over one-third of the cases,
particularly in those thrown between the eighth and tenth month of gestation ; liver
enlarged, engorged and of a dark-bluish colour ; numerous small white degenerated areas
placed just beneath the capsule of the liver ; congestion of the mesenteric and colic
lymph glands ; and haemorrhages in the heart in the form of petechial and lineal areas.
Occasionally, the first few fetuses from an epizootic may not show the above lesions.
Various attempts were made to implant the virus in small animals and to transmit
the disease to pregnant guinea-pigs and pregnant mares. A mixture of a wide variety
of material was used to overcome any possible localisation of the virus in one or more
of the fetal tissues. Mice inoculated intra-cerebrally with a view to demonstrate a
neurotropic virus remained healthy.
Non-pregnant rabbits injected intra-venously, intra-peritoneally and intra-cere-
brally and non-pregnant pigs injected intra-peritoneally also remained healthy. Of
seven pregnant guinea-pigs, one aborted three immature fetuses and five gave birth
to litters containing both live and dead ones. Nine pregnant mares were fed and
injected. Two of these aborted, the fetuses presenting the characteristic tissue changes
and remaining bacteriologically sterile.
To prove the filterable nature of the etiological agent, the authors infected three
pregnant guinea-pigs and ten pregnant mares with filtrates of fetal fluids and organs.
All the three guinea-pigs gave birth to dead or immature pigs. Three of the mares
aborted. the other seven foaling normally.
148 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [VII, II
Housing in stalls vacated by an aborted mare and feeding with water from the
same source as the infected mares did not lead to abortion in pregnant mares. But
a mare given the same feed and water as the infected mares and placed in a stall where
a mare had aborted and into which fetal membranes of aborted fetuses were thrown
and left for two or three hours on each of four occasions aborted.
Although all their experimental cases did not give positive results, the authors
consider that abortion was produced in a sufficient number to indicate that the disease
is infectious and that the infectious agent is a filterable virus.
The authors recommend the following measures for the control of epizootic abor-
tion :—isolation, maintenance of brood mares in small groups and the subcutaneous
or intravenous inoculation of 50 to 100 c.c. of convalescent serum into all incontact
pregnant mares. [V. R. R.]
NOTICE
APPLICATIONS are invited for the " Maynard Ganga Ram Prize " of the value
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ORIGINAL ARTICLES
STUDIES ON THE MINERAL REQUIREMENTS OF CATTLE
IN NORTH-EAST INDIA
(WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO RICE STRAW FEEDING)
BY
M. CARBERY, D.S.O., M.C., M.A., B.Sc.
Director of Agriculture, Bengal
INDUBHUSAN CHATTERJEE, L. AG.
Physiological Chemist*
AND
SUBODH KUMAR TALAPATRA, B.Sc.
Research Assistant*
(Received for publication on 3rd December, 1936)
INTRODUCTORY
THE importance of minerals in the economy of nutrition requires no special
emphasis. In ordinary feeding practices, the difference in the protein-content and
energy values of feeds may be insignificant, yet due to a difference in the mineral-
content some will exhibit definite superiority over others. Thus, Hall and Russell
[1912] when investigating the fattening and non-fattening pastures of Romney marsh
were unable by ordinary chemical analysis to discover sufficient chemical differ-
ence in the protein and starch-equivalent values of the two pastures to account
for the great difference in the feeding values obtained in practice [Linton, 1927].
The work carried out at the Rowett Institute by Godden [1926] has shown that
the difference in the feeding values of various pastures is to be found not in the
content of protein but in the amount of CaO and P 2 O 5 . A somewhat similar work
in Bengal shows that aman (winter rice) straw and aus (autumn rice) straw have
practically the same energy value, but there is a great difference in their mineral-
content. It has been found that, even when fed with concentrates, aus-straw-fed
animals have always yielded better results. An intensive study has, therefore
been attempted of some of these aspects under the conditions prevailing in Bengal
which may be said to be typical of North-East India.
* Under the grant of the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research.
(155)
B
156
THE INDIAN JOURNAL OP VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [VII, III
It is necessary to give here a brief outline of the nature of the feeds used. In
North-East India paddy or rice straw is the chief staple fodder. Apart from the
variations arising from soil character, the straw can be broadly divided into three
kinds : (1) Aman or winter straw, (2) Aus or autumn straw and (3) Boro or spring
straw. The first grows in low-lying or submerged areas, the second in high lands
and the third near streams and rivers. The whole paddy area in Bengal is nearly
twenty-three million acres of which aman occupies of 16,442,400 acres or 71.81
per cent, aus 6,035,600 acres or 26.34 per cent and boro 415,100 acres or 1.71
per cent*. The present paper deals with the mineral aspects of the first two and
particularly of the type grown in the red, acid tracts as represented by the Dacca
Farm.
The analysis† of the Farm soil gives about 0.1 per cent total and 0.04 per cent
citric acid soluble CaO, 0.06 per cent total and 0.005 per cent citric acid soluble
P 2 O 5 and about 0.075 per cent total nitrogen. The organic matter as represented
by loss of ignition is about 3.5 to 4.25 per cent.
The data of materials relating to this paper are incorporated in the relevant
parts while the total analysis will be found in Appendices I & II. The more nota-
ble points are briefly stated as follows :—Aman straw (which is a crop of low water-
logged area) is a coarse dry fodder, varying in its nitrogen-content according to the
period of harvesting and nature of storage. It is somewhat low in lime, richer in
potash and poor in phosphate and nitrogen.
Aus straw is cultivated in high lands and appears to be better than aman
straw in lime, phosphate, magnesia and nitrogen. It has further the additional
advantage of being harvested at a time when it is still slightly green. As already
stated the feeding tests with this straw have been followed with better results than
in the case of aman straw, whether when fed alone or in combination with cake.
Linseed-cake is a well-known concentrate rich in protein and phosphate but
with a low lime-phosphate ratio.
Rice kura (local name) or rice polishing is available everywhere in the count-
try. It is rather unusually rich in phosphate (over 6 per cent in the samples
used), and fat (over 20 per cent). It is fairly rich in magnesia (about 2.6 per cent)
and has a protein-content of about half of that of linseed-cake. It is, however,
very poor in lime, in fact the poorest amongst the feeds tested (about 0.2 per cent).
On this account its CaO : P 2 O 5 ratio was about 1 : 30. In spite of its intrinsic
richness in some of its important minerals (P 2 O 5 and MgO) and possibly of its
better biological protein values as noticed by various workers [Boas Fixen, 1935]
its unbalanced mineral-content appears to be very large. Guinea grass (Panicum
maximum) is a departmentally recommended green fodder rich in lime, soda,
phosphate and nitrogen.
* Season and Crop Reports of Bengal, 1931-32.
† Unpublished data of Agricultural Chemist's Laboratory, Bengal, 1917.
MINERAL REQUIREMENTS OF CATTLE IN NORTH-EAST INDIA
157
Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) is another recommended departmental
fodder which is a prolific grower yielding about double the outturn of Guinea grass,
but is poor in CaO, rich in potash and also in P 2 O 5 .
Water-hyacinth can hardly be classed as a fodder but due to fodder scarcity,
it is often used and even purchased for feeding cattle in some of the eastern dis-
tricts. It is rich in lime, potash and chlorine but the poorest in P 2 O 5 among the
green feeds tested.
EXPERIMENTAL SCHEME
This has been drawn up so as to conform as far as possible to the nature and
type of feeding as often used in the countryside. Thus rice straw is fed in some
cases as an exclusive feed, in others in combination. In the experiments, combi-
nations were made with rice polishings and also with linseed-cake, while some with
green fodders have also been included.
In these calculations, the mineral requirements have been assumed to bear
a direct relation to body-weight instead of its power function as adopted for energy
and nutrients of organic origin. The published records so far available to the
authors appear to be in favour of this procedure. If, however, subsequent investi-
gators show that power function is more appropriate, necessary alterations can
easily be made on these data.
In order to make an easier comparison all the results have been calculated
on a fixed live-weight of 500 lb., which is the average on this side of India. Thus,
on one side the data may be available for more direct practical application, while
on the other, by simply doubling the values, they can be made comparable with
the conventional procedure of 1000-lb. live-weight.
The chemical analyses have been mainly conducted by the A.O.A.C. method
with slight modifications here and there.
The stall arrangements and procedure of metabolic tests were broadly similar
to what are ordinarily followed elsewhere.
The following is a brief outline of the experimental scheme.
Experiment A.—(aman straw as a single feed) :—
Low CaO, low P 2 O 5 and low protein.
Two animals were used. They were fed straw ad lib and the feeding lasted
for a period of about eighteen weeks. On the basis of 500-lb. live-weights, the
animals received per day about 14 grms. CaO, 5 grms. P 2 O 5 , 50 to 70 grms. K 2 O
and 16 to 17 grms. nitrogen, equivalent to about 100 grms. or 3½ ounce of protein.
Experiment B.—Aman straw and rice kura (bran), low CaO, very high
P 2 O 5 , fairly high MgO, and moderate protein.
158 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [VII, III
Nine animals were used in this experiment which lasted for eighteen weeks.
In the mixed feed with straw the ratio CaO : P2O5 varied between 0.24 to 0.47
or from one-fourth to one-half, i.e., P2O5 was about two to four times more than
CaO. The straw contributed the largest share of CaO, the share of kura being
about one-seventh only of that of straw. The ingestion of P 2 O 5 was from 40 to
60 grms., the kura contributing as much as 13 to 20 times that of straw. The
protein may be said to be fairly adequate for maintenance. The nutritive ratio
varied from 1 : 24 to 1 : 34.
Experiment C—Aman straw and linseed cake; CaO still low, though higher
than experiments A and B ; MgO also low, though higher than in experiment
A ; but P2O5, protein and energy supply adequate.
In this experiment four animals D 1 , D 3 , D 4 and D 7 were used and it lasted for
twelve weeks. The nutritive ratio was about 1 : 17 to 1 : 19 except in D 4 at
1 : 22. The nitrogen and energy supply being adequate, the behaviour of mine-
rals and their deficiencies were expected to be related to the amounts present.
Experiment D—Aus straw as a single feed : CaO higher than in experiments :
A, B and C, but still slightly deficient, low P2O5 and bare protein.
This straw as already stated is richer than aman straw in minerals and protein.
The CaO ingestions varied from 21 to 23 grms. per 500-lb. live-weight, while
P2O5 was slightly above that of experiment A, being still a low figure (about
6 grms.) The CaO : P2O5 ratio was 3.64 and K 2 O : Na 2 O ratio about 5.
The protein supply as indicated from the nitrogen balance was just on the border
line. The nutritive ratio was 1 : 23 and the experiment lasted for forty-two days.
Three animals D 1 D 3 and D 7 were used for the test.
Experiment E—Aus straw with half and three-fourth lb. linseed cake : ade-
quate in mineral, protein and energy supply—in short apparently adequate in
all the required nutrients.
Like experiment D which was carried out at the same time, it lasted for
forty-two days and has the same source of roughage (aus straw), but while in the
former the straw was an exclusive feed, here it was supplemented with linseed cake.
Altogether six animals were used, three under ½ lb. cake and three under ¾ lb. cake
but since the computations on the basis of 500-lb. live-weight exhibit only a negli-
gible difference they have been grouped together. The nutritive ratio varied from
1 : 11 to 1 : 14, the CaO : P2O5 ratio varied from 2 to 2.46 while K 2 O : Na 2 O
ratio was much the same as in experiment B. Its general adequacy in all nu-
trients provides suitable lines of comparison towards indicating the possible nature
of requirements.
Experiment F—Aman straw in combination with green feeds, This ex-
periment is really divided into three parts viz.,
(1) Hyacinth group,
(2) Napier group, and
(3) Guinea grass group.