Veterinary College and Research Institute, Namakkal

Title of the project / Scheme	Fund (Rs.)	Funding Agency
Establishment of a central tissue culture laboratory for isolation, identification and adaptation of avian viruses	10,00,000	Part II Scheme, T.N.Govt.
Monitoring surveillance and control of important diseases of poultry at Namakkal	10,93,656	DST & TNSCST
Animal Health Information System through disease monitoring and surveillance	23,98,000	NATP-ICAR
Establishment of Biotechnology Laboratory	14,80,283	Tamil Nadu Planning Commission
Establishment of Centralized Research Laboratory	19,81,936	TANUVAS, Chennai
Monitoring, surveillance and control of emerging and re-emerging diseases of poultry at field level in Tamilnadu	1,59,64,000	NADP
Evaluation of efficacy of poultry live vaccines in commercial chickens	2,00,000	Hester Biosciences Pvt Ltd. Gujarat

Title of the project / Scheme	Funding Agency	Budget Outlay (Rs)
Online Pest & Disease Management for Crops and Livestock-Development of Image Database for Artificial Intelligence (AI) based Mobile App	World Bank funded project under NAHEP-Component 2A	5,83,335.00
Screening the antiviral potency of repurposed drugs against enveloped animal viruses	TNSCST-Student Project Scheme	7500.00

• Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale was isolated for the first time in India and inactivated vaccines were developed.
• Inactivated vaccines were developed for the following poultry diseases namely Infectious Bursal Disease, Fowl cholera, Infectious Coryza, Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Necrotic enteritis.
• Indirect ELISA for assessing immune response for NDV, IB, IBD, Pasteurella multocida, Clostridium perfringens and Necrotic enteritis and Indirect IgA ELISA for assessing mucosal immunity for IB were developed.
• Seroprevalence of Bovine Brucellosis has been confirmed in 12 districts (Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Virudunagar, Madurai, Vellore, Erode, Pudukkottai, Salem, Cuddalore, Thanjavur, Trichy) of Tamil Nadu
• Seroprevalence of Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis has been confirmed in the above-mentioned 12 districts of Tamil Nadu.
• Seroprevalence of IB, REO and Chicken anaemia in poultry have been confirmed in Namakkal area.
• Alternate to barbitone buffer, Sodium acetate buffer in CIE is standardized for rapid diagnosis of IBD. This buffer is very cheap and easily available when compare to any other buffer in vogue.
• Seroepidemiological survey in the adopted farms in and around Namakkal revealed that there are no antibodies to the virus Egg Drop Syndrome – 1976 (EDS-'76) virus.
• An extensive study was conducted on "Wingrot" a devastating bacterial disease of poultry. The reports revealed that the disease occurrence is highly noticed during the winter months of October, November, December, and January. Staphylococcus aureus could be isolated and this was highly sensitive to Enrofloxacin followed by Ciprofloxacin, Chloramphenical and Gentamicin.
• Study on viruses associated with nephropathy in poultry with special reference to IBV
  Isolation, identification and molecular characterization of Mycoplasma gallisepticum in poultry are carried out and Inactivated vaccines with different adjuvants were developed and immune response was studied.
• Nephropathic IB viruses were isolated from broiler birds.
• Development of different vaccines against necrotic enteritis and assessment of their efficacy.
• Isolation, identification and molecular characterization of respiratory pathogens in layer is being carried out.
• Isolation, identification and molecular characterization of Salmonella enterica serovar Pullorum and preparation of coloured antigen were carried out in the department.
• Chicken infectious anaemia – Molecular diagnosis and Serosurveillance work carried out.

• Providing laboratory facilities and guidance for post- graduate and doctoral students.
• Education – 12 - Ph.D., and 42 - M.V.Sc., students have completed their post graduate research from this department.
• Forty five science college students completed their research project in this department.So far 16 TNSCST sponsored student research schemes have been completed
• Obtained Dr. B.V.Rao / WPC'96 Research Grants for four Ph.D. research projects and for five M.V.Sc. research projects.

• Various clinical samples are regularly tested for detection of livestock and poultry diseases and recommendations are made for control and prevention.
• Farmers are routinely advised on biosecurity, vaccination schedule, disease prevention and control measures to control and prevent poultry diseases.
• Helping the line departments- Dept. of Animal Husbandry and Aavin in disease investigation
• Providing diagnostic services to the Department of Clinics, VC&RI, Namakkal, Aavin, Dept. of Animal Husbandry and others
• Providing molecular diagnostic services to the poultry farmers and pharmaceutical companies across India on payment basis.
• 21 days training on “Molecular Diagnostic Techniques” was conducted.
• Offering Animal Tissue Culture and Molecular diagnostic techniques training to the Arts and Sciences Colleges of Tamil Nadu.
• Delivering guest lectures, Radio and TV talks for the benefit of farmers, students and academicians.
• Twenty veterinary assistant surgeons were trained in two batches through the Continuing Veterinary Education Program offered by the Veterinary Council of India on the diagnosis and control of Avian Influenza.
• Lecture on diagnosis of bacterial diseases of poultry to Ethiopian student.
• Participating in the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting of poultry farmers.

• Surveillance of antibiotic usage and antimicrobial resistance in bovine mastitis.
• Nano vaccine for Infectious Laryngotracheitis virus.
• Validation of antimycoplasmal drugs.
• Molecular diagnosis of poultry and livestock diseases.

• Dr. A. Thangavelu, Professor and Head
• Dr. A. Balasubramaniam, Professor
• Dr. K. Thangavel, Assistant Professor
• Dr. P. Ponnusamy, Assistant Professor

The Professor and Head,
Department of Veterinary Microbiology,
Veterinary College and Research Institute, Namakkal - 637 002.
Phone: +91-4286-266491/92/93
E-mail: vmc-vcri-nkl@tanuvas.org.in