CENTRE FOR ANIMAL HEALTH STUDIES

AVIAN DISEASE LABORATORY, THALAIVASAL

Thalaivasal area of Attur Taluk, Salem District of Tamil Nadu is one of the major egg production hubs of Tamil Nadu. Along with agricultural activity, few farmers started commercial layer farm with a capacity of 500 to 1000 layers in 1990’s. During the last five years, the commercial layer chicken population has increased from 15,00,000 to 24,00,000 layers. Totally, there are 33 commercial layer farms existing within 20 km radius in this area with a daily egg production of more than 19,00,000 eggs. All the layers are reared either in cage house or elevated cage house. On the request of layer chicken farmers of this region, Tamil Nadu Veterinary Animal Sciences University established the Laboratory from 12.07.2002 at Thalaivasal. Since then, the Laboratory caters to the technical needs of farmers of the region.

OBJECTIVES

Investigation and diagnosis of poultry and cattle diseases.
Monitoring common diseases of poultry and cattle.
Laboratory diagnosis and suggesting measures to prevent and control poultry and cattle diseases.
Educating farmers on modern poultry and dairy production, management and disease control.
Analysis of feed / feed ingredients for nutrient composition of poultry and cattle feed.
Conducting research on field oriented problems and disseminating research findings to the Livestock and Poultry farmers.

Services Offered

Post mortem examination for poultry
Disease investigation through poultry farm visits
Assessment of immune status against Newcastle disease
Advices related to control and prevention of livestock and poultry diseases
Technical guidance for ideal livestock and poultry production
Performing ABST to ascertain the choice of antibiotic
Assessing the potency for ND and IB vaccines
Revealing microbial load in animal feed and shed environment
Assessing water for microbiological quality
Forecasting of poultry diseases
Offering training on health management of poultry
Offering poultry farming insight to the undergraduate students

Laboratory facilities

The laboratory is mainly concerned with the diagnosis and control of poultry diseases. Following diagnostic facilities are available to the poultry farmers on cost basis.

S. No.	Name of the test	Cost per sample (Rs.)
1.	Post mortem examination per flock	10.00
2.	Serology for Newcastle (Ranikhet) disease (ND) - (HI) (Filter paper blood sample)	5.00
3.	Serology for Infectious bronchitis (IB) - (HI) (Filter paper blood sample)	5.00
4.	Serology for ND (Serum)	10.00
5.	Serology for IB - (HI) (Serum)	10.00
6.	Detection of ND virus - (HA)	10.00
7.	Detection of IB virus - (HA)	10.00
8.	Detection of infectious bursal disease virus(IBD) virus - (AGPT)	10.00
9.	Antibiotic Sensitivity Test for milk and poultry sample	100.00
10.	Water analysis (microbial analysis)	50.00
11.	Culture test
	a) E. coli	100.00
	b) Staphylococcus	100.00
	c) Clostridium	100.00
	d) Salmonella	200.00
	e) Coliform count (water)	50.00
12.	Shed environment microbial load - Plate exposure test per plate	50.00
13.	Total microbial count	250.00
14.	Total coliform count	250.00
15.	Vaccine potency test	50.00
16.	Farm visit for disease investigation	100.00

Research

A self-financing scheme on, “Augmenting production performance of layer chickens reared in Thalaivasal region through health management” is on going with a mandate of egg production normalization through technical guidance.

Outreach

Off campus training programme for the beneficiaries of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Priceless goat scheme in collaboration with Department of Animal husbandry, Attur.
Whenever need arises, Poultry Farmers technical meeting will be conducted.

FACULTY

Dr. R. Ravikumar, Assistant Professor and Head

Assistant Professor and Head,
Avian Disease Laboratory,
345-D, Pattuthurai Road, Thalaivasal – 636 112. Thalaivasal Taluk, Salem District.
Phone: 04282-231 645.
E-mail: adl-thalaivasal@tanuvas.org.in