The clinical course of toxic envenomation of a cow after snakebite is described. The cow was bitten during grazing on a hilly area east from Ljubljana. When the cow returned from pasture in the evening, there was significant facial swelling and systemic clinical signs. The cow was severely depressed and in appetent and developed skin lesions after several days. Clinicopathological examination shoved haemolysis, hyperbilirubinemia and increased activity of liver enzymes. Clinical status of the cow has gradually normalized within one month, however liver enzyme elevations (GGT, GLDH), remained even two months after the bite. Based on clinical signs and history a venomous snakebite was suspected.

Livestock production is an important source of income for the rural poor in India. About 70 per cent of the livestock production is in the hands of small and marginal farmers and landless laborers who own less than 30 per cent of the land area. Livestock rearing is particularly engaged with milk production and lends itself to small scale enterprises more effectively than other agricultural enterprises. Animal husbandry sector has a huge potential for providing gainful employment to rural women in their own households as 70 per cent of the workforce in dairying consists of women.

Objective: An investigation was carried out in the Afigya-Sekyere South District to determine the rate of early chick mortality in the first four weeks and the factors that may have caused this.

Methods: Structured questionnaires and personal observations were used to obtain information from twenty-eight (28) farm managers.

Results: The study revealed that mortality was higher in the first and second week with an average mean mortality of 11.39 and 6.43 respectively. According to the farm managers, all the mortality reported was a result of disease infection. Statistical analysis also depicted that the source of the day-old chicks (local or imported), experience and educational level of the managers and the type of breed were the factors that affected disease occurrence on the farm which consequently caused early chick mortality.

Conclusion: Diseases such as Gumboro and Coccidiosis were reported with a percentage of 35.7% and 39.3% respectively and these caused a mortality percentage of 33.86% and 36.99%. The studies further revealed that mortality increased with a decrease in the inefficiency of the managers. Statistical analysis also showed that local chicks were associated with higher mortality recording 0.80% as compared to 0.31% of the imported chicks in the first week. Mortality was also associated with the type of breed, with the Bovane black recording the highest percentage in all the four weeks recording 2.34% and 0.92% in the first and second week respectively

In order to compare the reproduction and pre-weaning growth performance of guinea pigs fed on Panicum maximum or Pennisetum purpureum, 28 adult guinea pigs, divided into 2 lots of 14 animals (2 males and 12 females) each, were used. Comparative evaluation of the effect of these grasses on reproductive performance was done on 24 females previously mate with 4 males for a period of 31 days according to a completely randomized design. The animals in each lot received grass (Ad libitum) associated with 20g / day / animal of a compound food containing 15.76% crude protein. The results show that litter size was significantly higher (1.50 ± 0.53%) with P. maximum than with P. purpureum (1.30 ± 0.48%). From birth to the third week age, the viability of pups was comparable (100 and 92.85% respectively for P. maximum and 91.67 and 92.31 % for, P. purpureum at birth and at weaning) for both grasses. The mean birth weight and mean weaning weight were significantly higher with P. maximum (83, 34 and 59.28g at birth and 175, 20 and 145.10g respectively for P. maximum and P. purpureum). Total gains and average daily gains (GMQ) although comparable were higher with P. maximum during pre-weaning growth, (91.86 and 81.57; 4.37 and 3.21g for total gains and average daily gains respectively for P.maximum and P. purpureum).

In the Coastal Lowlands of Kenya, small-scale mixed crop-livestock system is the dominant form of agricultural production. Feed quantity and quality are inadequate and rarely meets the nutrient demands of growing heifers and lactating cows especially in the dry seasons. The objective of the study was to determine the chemical composition and In Vitro Dry Matter Digestibility (IVDMD) of some native species forage species of the coastal lowlands of Kenya. A cross-sectional survey was conducted for 3 months on a random sample of 415 small-scale dairy cattle producers’ to determine the main basal feed resources. Thereafter, feed samples were collected during a longitudinal survey on a purposive sample of 32 farms from the main cross-sectional sample for 12 months. Chemical composition of the forages varied considerably. The mean CP and NDF of grasses ranged from 84.1±10.9 - 97.1±13.5 and 603.8±57.0 - 724.8±45.1 g/kg DM respectively. Leucaena leucocephala had the highest CP of 270.8±74.0 g/kg DM while natural pastures mixture had the lowest of 84.1±10.9 g/kg DM. Asystacia gangetica and Commelina benghalensis had a CP content of 131.8±26.7 and 162.7±22.6 g/kg DM respectively. Napier grass had a CP of 86.4±11.3 g/kg DM while dry maize stover and green maize stover had CP of 72.2±10.4 and 112.8±13.6 g/kg DM respectively. A. gangetica, C. benghalensis, L. leucocephala and green maize stover had higher in vitro dry matter digestibility (> 50%) compared to dry maize stover, pastures grasses and napier grass. Pastures grasses in vitro dry matter digestibility ranged from 40.3±7.31 – 44.7±5.48%. Therefore, the available forages were of moderate quality with average to high nutrient content and in vitro dry matter digestibility. Farmers’ should be encouraged to harvest pasture grasses at bloom-milk stage in order to take advantage of their rich nutrient supply.

The intensive use of animal manure is a significant environmental risk to soil water. Manure composition emissions can be effected by soil water with the application of animal manure.

The vectors to represent the relationship between soil water characteristics and antibiotic were generated. A Semi-empirical Richards equation is employed to the dynamic models of soil moisture while precise solutions of Richards equation obtained by using the G´ / G - expansion method and the homogeneous balance method. Then the dynamic models which involve several variables including soil moisture content, soil depth and timescales were assumed according to the exact solutions of Semi-empirical Richards equation. At least one antibiotic was detected in all the soil water and animal manure samples.

Results confirmed that the contamination of vegetables by fecal bacteria is mainly due to the use of animal manure.