288          Goat Virus Vaccination in the Central Provinces & Berar

immunity observed so far in this Province was three and a half years. This
test was carried out at Garhi farm, where a batch of four vaccinated animals
proved immune to bull virus and showed neither any clinical nor thermal
reaction.

As regards the question of immunity established in the case of tissue
virus it has not been tested beyond one year's duration. Further tests will be
carried out in the near future in order to determine the duration of immunity.

                VACCINATION OF NOMADIC HERDS

During the period the scheme remained in operation in Saugor district,
opportunities were taken to popularise goat virus vaccination among nomadic
cattle dealers who import cattle into the province from Gwalior and Bhopal
states. By our systematic propaganda and repeated persuasion it was possible
to make those dealers realise the great value of the method of vaccination with
the result that now they themselves press for inoculation of their herds.

                    TATTOOING AND BRANDING

An important problem which unfortunately could not be tackled under
the scheme is that of marking of animals vaccinated with goat virus for the
purpose of identification. In some animals tattooing was tried without any
material success due to the complexity of the process, and moreover, it was
objected to by the villagers. Branding was also given a trial on the face and
neck regions in a number of animals but it had to be abandoned due to the same
reasons stated above.

                                CONCLUSIONS

The investigation has led to the following conclusions :—

(i) A fixed goat virus (blood and tissue) " Muktesar strain " is virulent
for goats but possesses a low virulence for cattle of indigenous
breeds.

(ii) Blood virus Muktesar strain has been found to be equally safe for
local bred buffaloes in this province.

(iii) A local strain of virus has been found to be quite safe, for cattle
after the 40th " passage " through goats, and for buffaloes of
local breed after 80th " passage ".

(iv) Tissue virus prepared from both the strains " Muktesar " and
"Local" have been given extensive trials.

(v) Both types of vaccine (blood and tissue) have proved efficacious in
dealing with rinderpest outbreaks.

(vi) In imported breed of cattle, and in milking buffaloes (Murrha and
Surti breed) virus- cum-serum method of inoculation is recom-
mended. This obviates the risk of severe reaction as well as
loss of milk yield.

(vii) The lowest period of immunity tested so far was 3½ years in the
case of blood virus, and it is anticipated that it would prove to
be potent for longer periods.