Abstract

Optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices are fundamental for the survival, health, growth, and development of children. It is important to study the factors that determine these practices in a community. The present study is designed to assess the prevalence of optimal IYCF practices and its determinants in rural areas of Tamil Nadu. A health center based, cross-sectional study was conducted in a rural setting of Kanchipuram. The study population included mothers of children 0-23 months attending Maternal and Child health Clinic (MCH) under the field practice area of the rural training center of Tagore Medical College, Kanchipuram. They were interviewed using a structured and semi open-ended questionnaire to record information on IYCF practices. A total of 200 children were included in the study. Breastfeeding (BF) was initiated within 1 h of birth in 49.5% of children. Prelacteal feeds were given by only 20% of mothers, significant association was found between birth order of baby and initiation of prelacteal feeds, Colostrum was given by 92% of the mothers. The prevalence of exclusive BF (EBF) for 6 months or more was 80.5%. It was higher in children in joint family with mother being literate and unemployed (P<0.05). Complementary feeding was started at 6 months in 90.5% of these children. In this study, 135(67%) children had breast feeding continued up to two years. Uncomplicated deliveries (p=0.03), grandmother living with family (p=0.001), unemployed mothers (p=0.01) were found to have significant association with continuation of breast feeding. Overall compliance to IYCF practices is found to be good among mothers attending primary health centers of rural Tamil Nadu. The study highlights that still inappropriate IYCF practices are still very much prevalent in the community.

Keywords: IYCF practices, MCH clinic, primary health center, cross-sectional study, Prelacteal feeds.

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the quality characteristics of beef sausage incorporated with chickpea flour. Four levels of chickpea flour were incorporated in beef sausage, stuffed in natural casings, linked and then frozen at –18°C. Physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory properties were determined in sausage. Protein content of sausages incorporated with chickpea flour significantly (P≤0.05) increased as chickpea levels increased. On the contrary, moisture content and cooking loss significantly (P≤0.05) decreased. Control sample had the highest score of appearance, taste, texture and overall acceptability. Total viable bacterial count (TVBC) significantly (P≤0.05) affected as chickpea level increased. The highest total viable bacterial count for untreated sample was 6.16 log10.cfu/g, while, the lowest total viable bacterial count was 4.75 log10.cfu/g for 30% chickpea incorporated sausage. The findings showed that all the sausage samples were Salmonella free.

Keywords: Quality characteristics, beef sausage, chickpea flour, microbiological, sensory properties.

Abstract

Microbial diseases are one of the major problems in fresh water aquaculture. There is an urgent need to develop microbial control strategies since disease epidemics are recognized as important constraints to aquaculture production. This study reports the effect of the gram positive probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus sp. on the freshwater fish Rohu (Labeo rohita)fingerlings against a pathogenic bacteria Vibrio cholerae of first feeding. Probiotic was administered through the diet at four different concentrations such as 312 x 10-4 (Group I), 126 x 10-5 (Group II), 75 x 10-6 (Group III) and 22 x 10-7 (Group IV) cfu/g of feed and fed at the rate of 3% body weight for a period of 30 d. Control group was fed without probiotic incorporated diet. The growth was estimated by morphometric measurements for healthy and disease free fingerlings, average body weight of 22.5±1.5 g were selected for biochemical parameters. The results indicated that protein, lipid, carbohydrate contents were high in Group III fed fish than the control group. The findings also clearly indicated the importance of probiotic feed to control Vibrio cholerae in freshwater aquaculture farms.

Keywords: Labeo rohita, Vibrio cholerae, probiotics, fingerlings, biochemical parameters.