LUDHIANA: Parasites of dairy animals cause economic losses to the tune of hundreds of crores every year. Directorate of Extension Education, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana organised a workshop to create awareness on control and mitigation strategies for parasitic diseases in collaboration with the Department of Veterinary Parasitology.
Dr. Inderjeet Singh, Vice-Chancellor, GADVASU stressed upon the need to sensitize various stakeholders involved in the dairy sector about the importance of subdued parasitic infections that lead to enormous economic losses. The vice-chancellor emphasized about the importance of scientific knowledge regarding diagnosis, control and specific treatment of the parasitic diseases. He further apprised that the farmers should adopt diversified integrated animal husbandry practices to increase the profits from dairy sector.
Dr. J.P.S. Gill, Director of Research, mentioned the menace of parasites in the light of public health. He said that parasitic problems can be transmitted from animals to humans and vice-versa. He also stressed on the requirement to create awareness among the people to control the spread of these economically important diseases. Dr. P.S. Brar, Director of Extension Education, GADVASU shared his views on the economic losses in terms of lower productivity, feed efficiency as well as frequent reproductive failures and issues of drug resistance, especially in the gastrointestinal parasites and tick infestations. He further elaborated that chemical resistance can be combated by use of ethno-veterinary medication.
Dr. S.P.S. Ghuman, Dean, College of Veterinary Science, emphasized on the management of the diseases to enhance the livestock productivity. Dr L.D. Singla, Professor-cum-Head, Department of Veterinary Parasitology, urged the farmers to adopt a combination of surveillance, good management and control measures to reduce the menace of parasites in dairy animals for more profit. Eminent speakers, Dr. Anish Yadav from Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Jammu, Dr Sukhdeep Vohra and Dr Aman Dev Moudgil from Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences of Hisar, Dr. L.D. Singla and Dr N.K. Singh from GADVASU delivered their expert talks on different aspects of parasitic infections of dairy animals and strategies that can be adopted to prevent and control these diseases.