Year: 2022 | Month: December | Volume 12 | Issue 6

Population Dynamics of Culicoides spp. (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) Midges Influences Dairy Animals’ Production

Parmeshwar S. Parihar1 Babasaheb W. Narladkar1 Jagdish G. Gudewar Milind S. Vaidya Gajanan M. Chigure Gajendra N. Bhangale
DOI:10.30954/2277-940X.06.2022.14

Abstract:

The substantial number of body movements by the host as a response to bites by an insect pest Culicoides spp. is thought to exert considerable stress to the animals. Also such preventive body movements by the animals consume certain amount of additional energy to be spent on it, resulting in reduced milk yield in dairy animals. Investigations were undertaken during the year 2017-2018, covering almost all three seasons of the year and correlation and regressions was worked out between body movements undertaken in response to Culicoides spp bites, annoyance and worries and its impact on milk yield in cows and she buffaloes. Annoyance and worries observed from the bite of Culicoides spp. resulted in increase in body movements and decrease in milk production. Data of the present investigation showed in case of cows, reduction in average body movements from 25.40 to 14.10 resulted in 3.60% increase and from 14.10 to 9.67 reduction in average body movements resulted in 9.12% increase in milk yield. Likewise in case of buffaloes reduction in the body movements from 33.40 to 25.88, 14.68 and 9.89 resulted in 6.77, 10.67 and 15.15 % hike in milk yield, respectively. Thus Culicoides spp. population found was positively correlated with body movements indicating rise in pest population results in rise in body movements and negatively correlated with average milk yield exhibiting inversely proportionate relationship.

• PDF Download

© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited