Vaccines for Livestock and Poultry

Livestock sector is a key subsector of the Indian agriculture. It is an important
livelihood source for farmers, supporting agriculture and contributing to
the health and nutritional security of the household as well as supplementing
incomes with employment opportunities. It is emerging as an important growth
engine of the Indian economy and has registered a growth of 6.1% per annum.
The most effective way to increase livestock productivity and minimize
losses from disease morbidity and mortality is by monitoring health, and
diagnosis and control of diseases by using effective vaccines. The R & D work
on veterinary biologicals in the country has led to successful eradication of three
important diseases viz, rinderpest, African horse sickness and contagious bovine
pleuropneumonia from the country.
Control of several bacterial and viral diseases of cattle and buffaloes (FMD,
HS, BQ, anthrax), sheep and goats (PPR, sheeppox, goatpox, enterotoxaemia),
pigs (classical swine fever) and poultry (Newcastle disease, infectious bursal
disease, avian influenza, infectious bronchitis) is being done through the use of
prophylactic vaccines developed by Animal Science Institutes of ICAR. Biologicals
developed have been transferred to various commercial manufacturers and state
biological production units to ensure adequate supply in the country.
The Animal Science Institutes of the Council are continuously toiling to
develop better, apt and effective vaccines for livestock and poultry diseases and
to improve and refine the current ones in the light of epidemiological findings
and contemporary advancement in technology. This is evident from the list of
vaccines compiled in this document that includes a sub-viral particle-based
recombinant vaccine. Efforts are also going on for the development of DIVAcapable marker vaccines, combined vaccines and thermo-stable vaccines.
I am confident that this informative compilation of vaccine technologies
developed by the ICAR will help all those engaged in animal health management
and disease control in the country.