Sample Of Farmers Research Articles

Locationally Varying Production Technology and Productivity: The Case of Norwegian Farming

In this study, we leverage geographical coordinates and firm-level panel data to uncover variations in production across different locations. Our approach involves using a semiparametric proxy variable regression estimator, which allows us to define and estimate a customized production function for each firm and its corresponding location. By employing kernel methods, we estimate the nonparametric functions that determine the model’s parameters based on latitude and longitude. Furthermore, our model incorporates productivity components that consider various factors that influence production. Unlike spatially autoregressive-type production functions that assume a uniform technology across all locations, our approach estimates technology and productivity at both the firm and location levels, taking into account their specific characteristics. To handle endogenous regressors, we incorporate a proxy variable identification technique, distinguishing our method from geographically weighted semiparametric regressions. To investigate the heterogeneity in production technology and productivity among Norwegian grain farmers, we apply our model to a sample of farms using panel data spanning from 2001 to 2020. Through this analysis, we provide empirical evidence of regional variations in both technology and productivity among Norwegian grain farmers. Finally, we discuss the suitability of our approach for addressing the heterogeneity in this industry.

Mixed Use of Chemical Pesticides and Biopesticides among Rice–Crayfish Integrated System Farmers in China: A Multivariate Probit Approach

Biopesticides are perceived as a feasible alternative to chemical pesticides, providing an effective approach to pest management while mitigating the undesirable effects of chemical pesticide overuse. Yet, due to the distinctive attributes of the two types of pesticides, farmers often adopt a combination of both. This study aimed to probe the interdependent relationship underlying the mixed use of chemical pesticides and biopesticides by farmers in the rice–crayfish integrated system (RCIS) in Hubei province, China. We also sought to identify influencing factors and associated consequences of this practice. Given that the adoption of chemical pesticides and biopesticides by farmers is not mutually exclusive, a multivariable probit model was utilized to estimate simultaneous pesticide applications. Survey data from 736 RCIS farmers revealed that 10.50% of the sample farmers employ a combination of chemical pesticides and biopesticides. A substitution relationship was observed between the adoption of chemical pesticides and biopesticides by farmers, whereas no significant complementary relationship was found in the application of the two types of pesticides. The primary motivation for the mixed use of pesticides by farmers is to achieve superior pest control efficacy. Notably, when integrating the use of pesticides, farmers pay less attention to factors such as resource endowments and multiple production objectives. Further analysis indicated that farmers display significant concern for pesticide attributes including insecticidal efficacy, toxicity, insecticidal spectrum, and validity period. The mixed use of pesticides has resulted in a decreased frequency of pesticide application but has escalated the cost. While the mixed use of pesticides elevated the selling price of rice, no significant improvement was observed in yield and output value. The insights garnered from this study offer strategic implications for policymakers on how to enhance the judicious adoption of pesticides by farmers.

Overcoming field variability: unsupervised domain adaptation for enhanced crop-weed recognition in diverse farmlands.

Recent developments in deep learning-based automatic weeding systems have shown promise for unmanned weed eradication. However, accurately distinguishing between crops and weeds in varying field conditions remains a challenge for these systems, as performance deteriorates when applied to new or different fields due to insignificant changes in low-level statistics and a significant gap between training and test data distributions. In this study, we propose an approach based on unsupervised domain adaptation to improve crop-weed recognition in new, unseen fields. Our system addresses this issue by learning to ignore insignificant changes in low-level statistics that cause a decline in performance when applied to new data. The proposed network includes a segmentation module that produces segmentation maps using labeled (training field) data while also minimizing entropy using unlabeled (test field) data simultaneously, and a discriminator module that maximizes the confusion between extracted features from the training and test farm samples. This module uses adversarial optimization to make the segmentation network invariant to changes in the field environment. We evaluated the proposed approach on four different unseen (test) fields and found consistent improvements in performance. These results suggest that the proposed approach can effectively handle changes in new field environments during real field inference.

Factors Militating against Adoption of Solar Water Pump Sets in the Selected Area of Chhattisgarh, India

In the agricultural sector, the highest electricity use goes to irrigation pump sets. Solar pump sets are a renewable source of energy that can replace existing diesel- and electricity-based pump sets. The Sour Sujala Yojna was launched by the Prime Minister to provide solar-powered irrigation pumps to farmers at a subsidized price. 56362 solar water pump sets were installed from 2016 to 2019 in Chhattisgarh state. In the study area, sample farmers were facing two major problems: the solar pump was not working during cloudy days, and second "low farm income". Rank 3 was "small land holdings," and through the solar pump irrigation, less area was covered, ranking 4. There is a maintenance problem that is minor or negligible. To solve the problem, a battery charge system with a solar pump should be added. and the water tank was fixed and stored above 20 meters. A solar pump is a renewable source of energy. So it does not affect nature. It is the best source of irrigation for future energy savings.

Implications of different waterfowl farming on cephalosporin resistance: Investigating the role of blaCTX-M-55

We investigated the cephalosporin resistance of Escherichia coli from waterfowl among different breeding mode farms. In 2021, we isolated 200 strains of E. coli from waterfowl feces samples collected from Sichuan, Heilongjiang, and Anhui provinces. The key findings are: Out of the 200 strains, 80, 80, and 40 strains were isolated from waterfowl feces samples in intensive, courtyard, and outdoor breeding mode farms, respectively. The overall positive rate of the ESBL phenotype, detecting by the double disk diffusion method, was 68.00% (136/200). In particular, the rates for intensive, courtyard, and outdoor breeding modes were 98.75%, 36.25%, and 70.00%, respectively. Results of MIC test showed drug resistance rates in the intensive breeding mode: 100.00% for cephalothin, 38.75% for cefoxitin, 100.00% for cefotaxime, and 100.00% for cefepime. In courtyard breeding mode, the corresponding rates were 100.00%, 40.00%, 63.75%, and 45.00%, respectively. In outdoor breeding mode, the corresponding rates were 100.00%, 52.50%, 82.50%, and 77.50%, respectively. The PCR results for blaCTX-M, blaTEM, blaOXA, and blaSHV showed the detection rate of blaCTX-M was highest at 75.50%, with blaCTX-M-55 is the main subtype gene, followed by blaTEM at 73.50%. We screened 58 donor strains carrying blaCTX-M-55, including 52 strains from the intensive breeding mode. These donor bacteria can transfer different plasmids to recipient E. coli J53, resulting in recipient bacteria acquiring cephalosporin resistance, and the conjugational transfer frequency ranged from 1.01×10-5 to 6.56×10-2. The transferred plasmids remained stable in recipient bacteria for up to several days without significant adaptation costs observed. During molecular typing of E. coli with conjugational transfer ability, the blaCTX-M-55 was found to be widely present in different ST strains with several phylogenetic groups. In summary, cephalosporin resistance of E. coli carried by waterfowl birds in intensive breeding mode farm was significantly higher than in courtyard and outdoor mode farms. The blaCTX-M-55 subtype gene was the prevalent ARGs and can be horizontally transferred through plasmids, which plays a key role in the spread of cephalosporin drug resistance.

Short‐term wind power prediction based on stacked denoised auto‐encoder deep learning and multi‐level transfer learning

AbstractWind power prediction (WPP) has an important impact on the security and reliability operations of the power grid. The major difficulty in power prediction of new, expanded, or reconstructed wind farms is the lack of operational data, which leads to insufficient training of the model and makes the prediction error of wind power become enormous. A short‐term WPP model based on stacked denoised auto‐encoder (SDAE) deep learning and multilevel transfer learning is proposed in this paper. First, the correlation coefficient between the samples of source wind farms and the target wind farm is calculated by using a network trained with the samples from the target wind farm. Second, the samples with high correlation coefficients in source wind farms are graded and migrated to the target wind farm to assist multilevel transfer learning. Finally, the samples from different grades are each used to train a layer of SDAE, and their weights and thresholds are migrated to the final network. The case study shows that the 24‐h‐day‐ahead normalized root‐mean‐square error (NRMSE) and 96‐h‐short‐term NRMSE obtained by the proposed method are 4.48% and 5.11% lower, respectively, compared with the model without transfer learning, which proves the effectiveness of the proposed model.

Optimal Crop Production Programme for Income and Employment Enhancement of Farmers in Andhra Pradesh

The study aimed to maximize net farm returns and employment in Punganur Mandal, Andhra Pradesh, by optimizing crop mix and resource allocation under different capital environments. Sample farmers were categorized into small, medium and large groups based on land holdings, with 120 participants. Two linear programming models were employed with restricted cash availability and relaxed borrowing. The optimal models demonstrated potential increases in net farm returns: 58.4, 35, and 24.8 per cent for small, medium and large farmers, respectively. Adequate borrowing played a significant role in facilitating higher returns. The study emphasized the importance of systematic farm planning. It highlighted the role of extension agencies and financial institutions in supporting farmers' credit needs, and also income and employment could be improved with existing resources.

Vitamin C injection improves antioxidant stress capacity through regulating blood metabolism in post-transit yak

Transportation stress is one of the most serious issues in the management of yak. Previous studies have demonstrated that transport stress is caused by a pro-oxidant state in the animal resulting from an imbalance between pro-oxidant and antioxidant status. In this context, vitamin C has the ability to regulate reactive oxygen species (ROS) synthesis and alleviate oxidative stress. Although this effect of vitamin C is useful in pigs, goats and cattle, the effect of vitamin C on the mitigation of transport stress in yaks is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to better assess the metabolic changes induced by the action of vitamin C in yaks under transportation stress, and whether these changes can influence antioxidant status. After the yaks arrived at the farm, control or baseline blood samples were collected immediately through the jugular vein (VC_CON). Then, 100 mg/kg VC was injected intramuscularly, and blood samples were collected on the 10th day before feeding in the morning (VC). Relative to the control group, the VC injection group had higher levels of VC. Compared with VC_CON, VC injection significantly (P < 0.05) decreased the blood concentrations of ALT, AST, T-Bil, D-Bil, IDBIL, UREA, CRP and LDH. However, VC injection led to greater (P < 0.05) AST/ALT and CREA-S relative to VC_CON. There was no difference (P > 0.05) in GGT, ALP, TBA, TP, ALBII, GLO, A/G, TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, GLU and l-lactate between VC_CON and VC. The injection of VC led to greater (P < 0.05) concentration of MDA, but did not alter (P > 0.05) the serum concentrations of LPO and ROS. The injection of VC led to greater (P < 0.05) serum concentrations of POD, CAT and GSH-PX. In contrast, lower (P < 0.05) serum concentrations of SOD, POD and TPX were observed in VC relative to VC_CON. No difference (P > 0.05) in GSH, GSH-ST and GR was observed between VC_CON and VC. Compared with the control group, metabolomics using liquid chromatography tandem–mass spectrometry identified 156 differential metabolites with P < 0.05 and a variable importance in projection (VIP) score > 1.5 in the VC injection group. The injection of VC resulted in significant changes to the intracellular amino acid metabolism of glutathione, glutamate, cysteine, methionine, glycine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, alanine and aspartate. Overall, our study indicated that VC injections were able to modulate antioxidant levels by affecting metabolism to resist oxidative stress generated during transport.

What kinds of subsidies affect technical efficiency? The case of Italian dairy farms

AbstractThe relationship between subsidies and the technical efficiency of farms has important policy implications. The impact on efficiency can depend on the type of grant. Here, three macrocategories of subsidy are distinguished. With reference to a large sample of Italian dairy farms, the macrocategory of rural development payments is further broken down according to the main types of subsidy received. A stochastic frontier analysis based on the Farm Accountancy Data Network reveals a heterogeneous influence of these categories. Subsidies coupled with production are associated with greater efficiency. Decoupled grants have a negative influence on efficiency when pursuing agri‐environmental policy objectives, and no impact on efficiency when supporting the income of farms or promoting the transfer of knowledge and competitiveness. [EconLit Citations: C13, Q12].

Data on Mapping 444 Dairy Small Ruminant Farms during a Countrywide Investigation Performed in Greece.

The small ruminant industry is the most important branch of Greek agriculture. Nevertheless, despite the importance of small ruminant farming for Greece, no detailed mapping of the respective farms has been undertaken and published. The present work refers to mapping the dairy sheep and goat industry in Greece through an extensive, countrywide cross-sectional study, in which information was obtained from 325 sheep and 119 goat farms. The objectives were the collection, the classification and the presentation of data obtained from all these farms through interviews, using a questionnaire and through examination of samples collected during the visits. All the farms enrolled in the study were visited by the investigators. Initially, information was obtained by means of a detailed, structured questionnaire with 442 questions. Moreover, samples of milk were collected from the bulk-tank of each farm and faecal samples were collected from female animals in each farm. The milk samples were processed for cytological and microbiological examination. Staphylococcus spp. and Listeria spp. isolates were recovered and identified at a species level; furthermore, a full antibiotic sensitivity pattern assessment was conducted. Faecal samples were processed by standard parasitological tests for the identification of protozoan, trematode, cestode and gastrointestinal and respiratory nematode parasites. The paper presents the cumulative findings of the study, i.e., the answers to the questions during the interviews and the results of the laboratory examinations performed in the samples; the findings are presented separately for sheep and goat farms. The findings can be used as baseline measurements; individual farms and cohorts of farms can be compared against the current results to draw conclusions against the countrywide situation. Moreover, the current results can be used as reference points for the future, in order to assess changes that might have occurred in the meantime. The study also described the differences between farms with sheep or goats; in total, differences in 137 parameters were identified. Some of these can be attributed to the different management systems practiced; sheep flocks are managed mostly under the intensive or semi-intensive system, whilst goat herds are managed mostly under the semi-extensive or extensive system. These findings can be useful in the health management of small ruminants, in providing evidence-based support and within the scope of precise livestock medicine and health management.

Socio Economic Analysis and Marketing of Poovan and Nendran Banana in Thiruvananthapuram District of Kerala

The investigation was conducted in the year 2023 using a sample of one twenty respondent banana growers in the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. Research data were collected using Simple tabular analysis the average and percentage analysis were used to determine the socio- economic condition of banana growers. The study revealed that total area under banana of the sample farmers was 230.58 ha, of which 59.58 percent was under Nendran and 40.42 percent was under Poovan banana. 87.5% from the total respondents were men and mostly between age group of 35–49. The remaining of the total respondent women. Only 13.33% of the growers were found between the age 20-34 years, while 64.16% were found in the age group of 35-49 years and 22.5% present under the age of 50-70. The literacy percentage of marginal, small, semi medium, medium size farm group was 90.83% respectively and illiteracy percentage is 9.16 %. Only 9.16 % of producers were having Graduation, 17.5% were having Intermediate and 28.33% having Middle. Whereas most of the respondent 35.83% primary education. In case of marketing in banana highest quantity of Nendran banana was disposed off in channels- II and for Poovan Banana is also disposed in channels -II. The study also revealed that the channel- I (25.15) i.e., producer - consumer was most efficient channel among the two marketing channels of Nendran Banana when compare to channel -II (7.19). Similarly for Poovan Banana higher in channel-I (19.76) when compare to channel-II (6.55).

Constraints faced by farmers while availing products and services offered by Rythu Bharosa Kendra’s in Coastal Andhra Pradesh

The current study was to know the constraints faced by farmers while purchasing and availing the products and services offered by Rythu Bharosa Kendras in Coastal Andhra region, Andhra Pradesh. Sample farmers were cultivating majorly paddy and dairy is the subsidiary occupation. Three districts namely East Godavari, West Godavari and Krishna of RBKs in Coastal Andhra region, Andhra Pradesh State were purposively selected for the study as its major grown and highly irrigated areas in Andhra Pradesh. The analytical tools employed were likert scaling, descriptive statistics, Garrett’s ranking technique and other appropriate statistical tools were employed to achieve the objectives of the study. Results revealed that the major source of information was Grama secretariat (Staff/Volunteer). Hardware, software and infrastructure were causing interrupting of services, non-availability of need-based inputs and non availability of crop specific advisory services were the major constraints while purchasing products and services offered by RBK.

Analisis Pendapatan Usahatani Semangka (Citrullus Lanatus) Di Desa Tungkaran Kecamatan Martapura Kabupaten Banjar

This research aims are : (1). Knowing the technical desription of water melon carrier out by farmer; (2). knowing the cost, revenues and income of water melon farming in Tungkaran Village, Martapura District, Banjar Regency. This research uses survey method with observation technique. This sampling method use saturated simple, namely taking water melon farmers who cultivate seedless water melons is only one person and is taken as a sample farmer. The result of the research is that the area of land use by farmer is 0.75 he and the status of the land is leased. Production is 10,500 kg/farmer or 14,00 tons/ha. The amount of explicit costs is IDR 26,935,433,33/farmer, revenue is IDR 57,750,000.00/farmer, income is IDR 30,814,566.67/farmer

An Economic Analysis of Soybean Production in Rajnandgaon District of Chhattisgarh, India

The Present study is to examine An Economic Analysis of soybean Production in Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh, India. The study was undertaken by taking 80 sample farmers during the year 2020-21. To collect information from the sample area, an interview schedule and survey approach were utilized. The objective was achieved by using cost concepts and income measures. The cost of cultivation of soybean was observed highest in case of large farm and lowest in case of marginal farms. The overall cost of production was Rs. 1785.71 per quintal. Gross return from soybean was found to be Rs. 68670.84 per hectare. The net return of overall farmers was observed Rs. 32135.15. The Input-output ratio was highest in case of large farmer 1:2.16 and lowest in case of marginal farmer 1:1.98. None of the soybean farmer was applying potash fertilizer to soybean crops, but it plays an important role in nodule formation. Therefore it is required that farmers should apply potash fertilizer to the soybean crop.

Characterization of piggery farm waste-borne bacterial transposable elements associated with antimicrobial resistance phenotypes

Even though there is a link between antibiotic resistance and the presence of transposable elements few research has looked at the prevalence and distribution of transposable elements/ integrons in piggery farm samples. Present study identified the presence of six transposable elements namely Tn6763 (Accession number: OQ565300), Tn6764, (Accession number: OQ565299), Tn6765 (Accession number: OQ409902), Tn2003 (Accession number: OQ503494), Tn6072 (Accession number: OQ565298) and Tn6020 (Accession number: OQ503493) in piggery farm waste from India which are belongs to Enterobacteriaceae family. In a conjugative experiment, Klebsiella isolates carrying Tn6020 having the resistant phenotypes for nalidixic acid was used as donor cells while Escherichia coli DH5α Cells carrying chloramphenicol resistant plasmid was employed as recipient cells. Transconjugant bacterial colonies were shown to carry the Tn6020 transposable elements with both nalidixic acid (donor cell origin) and chloramphenicol (recipient cell origin) resistant antibiotic phenotypes. Given the presence of transposable elements in 21.4% of resistant Enterobacteriaceae strains, preventative measures are vital for avoiding the spread of mobile genetic resistance determinants in the piggery sector and to monitor their emergence.

ANALYSIS OF BEEF CATTLE MARKETING CHANNEL EFFICIENCY IN LAMPOKO VILLAGE, BARRU REGENCY

The purpose of this study was to analyze marketing channels, marketing margins, marketing farmer's share rate, and marketing efficiency of beef cattle in Lampoko Village, Barru Regency. The sample of this study was 12 breeders, 5 traders and 3 consumers. The data collection method is carried out by interviews (questionnaires) and literature studies. The method of sampling farmers is by purposive sampling method while the sample of traders and consumers uses snowball sampling method. The strategy that must be done to deal with competitors is to increase promotion and maintain product quality. This aims to increase consumer attractiveness, expand market share and reduce the risk of similar competing products. The results showed that there were 3 channels of beef cattle marketing channels in Lampoko Village, namely; Farmers Collecting Traders Consumer Wholesalers, Farmers Collecting Traders Consumers / RPH, and Farmers Wholesalers Consumers. The highest marketing margin is channel I and III of Rp. 3,000,000 while channel II is Rp. 1,000,000. The highest Farmer's Share rate on channel II is 89%, channel I and III is 77%. The most efficient levels of marketing efficiency are channel II with 25%, channel III with 50% and channel I with 70%

Comparative Study on Production and Marketing of Poovan and Nendran Banana in Thiruvananthapuram District of Kerala, India

The present research study was conducted in the year 2022 using a sample of one twenty respondent banana growers in the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala. Research data were collected using questionnaire schedule. The study revealed that total area under banana of the sample farmers was 230.58 ha, of which 59.58 percent was under Nendran and 40.42 percent was under Poovan banana. Cost of cultivation of Poovan banana per ha is much higher than the cost of cultivation of Nendran banana. The cost of cultivation per ha of Poovan banana for marginal, small, semi medium and medium farm size groups was found to be varied from Rs. 434117.24, Rs.431181.45, Rs.427948.25 and Rs 418435.14 respectively. The cost of cultivation per ha of Nendran banana for marginal, small, semi medium and medium farm size groups was found to be varied from Rs.414155.91, Rs.412809.04, Rs.409212.27 and Rs. 403082.07 respectively. Average Cost benefit ratio for Poovan banana related to Cost C was 1:1.6 which is lesser than average cost benefit ratio of Nendran banana related to Cost C was 1:1.8. Among the nine constraints related to production of Banana, High incidence of disease was ranked first by sample farmers and was reported by 70.33% while high cost of input ranked second and in marketing of banana price fluctuation was ranked first and was reported by 73.63%.

Can the System of Rice Intensification Save Water and Increase Yield of Paddy?: A Study of Tank Irrigated Area

Owing to looming water scarcity, paddy cultivation (a water-intensive crop) under the conventional inundation method is going to be a very difficult venture for farmers. The new method of paddy cultivation (MCD) known as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) appears to be very useful to paddy cultivating farmers to overcome the issue of water scarcity. SRI has been in practice over the last few years in India, but not many studies have attempted to find out whether the SRI MCD is useful to farmers in terms of saving water and increasing the yield of paddy using data collected from water-stressed tank irrigated area. In this study, an attempt has been made to fill this gap using data collected from a total of 100 sample farmers from a district in Tamil Nadu State. The study shows that SRI farmers can save 41% of water and harvest about 40% of higher productivity than non-SRI farmers. Through saving of water, fertiliser and other inputs, about 22% of the reduction in the cost of cultivation was also realised by SRI farmers. The increased productivity and reduced cost of cultivation, helped the SRI farmers to harvest an additional profit of ₹15,158/acre over the profit earned by the farmers cultivating paddy under the conventional inundation method.

Measuring technical efficiency of Spanish pig farming: Quantile stochastic frontier approach

AbstractThe pig meat production plays a significant role in the Spanish agrofood system. The assessment of the efficiency performance with which farmers are operating is necessary to define adequate policy and management strategies. In this context, this study aimed to determine the technical efficiency (TE) performance of pig farms and to examine the key factors that may affect the production system in Spain. To do so, the analysis relies on the quantile stochastic frontier model using a sample of Spanish pig farms. Results show a significant difference between production frontier parameters across the selected quantiles, which support the relevance of using the quantile regression approach. The optimal quantile for the stochastic frontier indicates an average TE level of 75%. In addition, empirical findings suggest that pig farmers in Spain give more importance to the adoption of high technology to improve their economic and technical performance as well as their competitiveness at the European pig market.

Detection of Antimicrobial Resistance Genes from Shiga Toxin Producing Escherichia coli by Multiplex PCR

Background: Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains are considered to be most common food-borne enteric zoonotic pathogen, causing various disease conditions in both animals and humans and are highly pathogenic to human in low infectious doses. Resistance against antibiotics by STEC is also a big concern now a days. Hence in view of the public health significance of STEC, present work was planned to know the combination of phenotypic and genotypic resistance patterns against certain most commonly used antibiotics by using disk diffusion method and multiplex PCR respectively. Methods: A total of 426 PCR confirmed STEC isolates isolated from pooled samples (animal faecal(179), farm water(122) and human faecal samples (125) of different livestock farms in and around Proddatur andhra Pradesh, were subjected to antibiotic sensitivity test by using disc diffusion method. The isolates that showed resistance for tetracycline, streptomycin, sulphonamides and ampicillin were selected and subjected to multiplex PCR for the detection of resistance genes. Result: Disk diffusion assay revealed highest phenotypic resistance for STEC isolates against Cepahlothin (100%), followed by Ampicillin (99.06%), Tetracycline (97.2%), Streptomycin (94.3%), Sulphonamides (90.8%) and Trimethoprim (84.5%). Pooled samples also revealed the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes like tetA(59.2%), tetB(43.5%), tetC (9.2%), strA (39.3%), strB(54.1%), sul1 (40.8%), sul2 (58.7%), sul3 (3.8%) and blaTEM(83.4%). These findings indicate the highest prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among the STEC isolates, which alarms indiscriminate use of antibiotics both for therapeutic purpose and as growth promoters. Strict hygienic, sanitation and HACCP programmes should be applied to counter STEC prevalence.