DETECTION AND GENOTYPIC CHARACTERIZATION OF ROTAVIRUS FROM BOVINE CALVES OF ASSAM, A NORTH EASTERN STATE OF INDIA

Rotavirus (RV) has been considered as one of the most important cause of severe gastroenteritis among human infants and the neonates of most farm animal species worldwide. The present study was undertaken to detect rotavirus from faecal samples of bovine calves and to investigate genotypic distribution of rotavirus among bovine population during the period from June 2014 to May 2015. A total of 196 faecal samples were collected from both diarrhoeic and nondiarrhoeic calves with age group up to 4 months from different places of Assam, India. Screening of the 196 samples by RNA-PAGE revealed 26 (13.26%) to be positive for bovine RV with characteristic migration pattern of group A RV. The same number samples screened by RT-PCR revealed 71 (36.22%) to be positive for both VP7 and VP4 genes of group A bovine RV. RT-PCR was found to be more sensitive than RNA-PAGE. All non-diarrhoeic samples were negative for RV. Genotyping of RV was carried out by nested-multiplex PCR using type-specific primers of common genotypes. Study revealed that, the most common genotype circulating among bovine population of Assam is G10P[ 11]. Of 71 RV positive samples, 24 (33.80%) samples were found to be typeable for G10P[11] RV genotype while rest 47 samples were either non-typeable or mixed type.