Context
- In a major breakthrough in creating immunity in cattle against infectious diseases including mastitis, researchers have successfully validated the immunomodulation ability of a natural phytochemical compound with curcumin as the active ingredient.
- Mastitis is an infectious disease condition resulting in an inflammatory reaction in the mammary gland of the cow.
What is Curcumin?
- It is a yellow pigment found primarily in turmeric. It is a polyphenol with anti-inflammatory properties and the ability to increase the amount of antioxidants that the body produces.
- Research revealed that Curcumin offers immunity in dairy cattle against infectious diseases including mastitis by increasing complementary protein, Interferon, Immunoglobulin (IgM), lymphocytes and monocytes.
- The compound will create appropriate immunity and facilitate increased milk production by 10 percent.
Significance
- The economic loss due to mastitis in India exceeds ?13,000 crore annually.
- No vaccination is available against mastitis.
- Antibiotics have been used to manage various infections in cattle. However, it has been noticed that the uncontrolled use of antibiotics results in increased antibiotic resistance.
- The irrational use of antibiotics for treating mastitis resulted in inter-species and inter-genus transfer of antibiotic resistance and creation of various multi-drug resistant microorganisms in the environment, which affects immunity of livestock and human health.
Source: TH
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