Dr. Vijay K. Bharti

Life sciences

Male fertility is now more vulnerable to endocrine disruptors, environmental stress, and imbalances in the physiological antioxidant defense system. High-altitude stress in the environment also plays an important role in male infertility. Numerous studies revealed oxidative stress could be an important etiology of male infertility; however there is...

The trans-Himalayan regions are remote cold desert stretches, characterised by the complex interplay of climate including prolonged sub-zero temperatures, low annual precipitation, low humidity (<30%), intense solar radiation, hypobaric-hypoxia, rugged terrain and limited natural resource availability. These are scarcely populated regions, where th...

The previous few decades have seen widespread environmental exposure to munitions and explosives systems in and around war and weapon testing ranges.

A gradual rise in the level of hazardous metal concentrations, viz., arsenic, lead, cadmium, nickel, etc., in soil, sediments, and water has become one of the most serious problems in India and across the world over the last few decades. Therefore, various conventional and modern strategies and technologies have been proposed and developed to contr...

Controlling food-borne pathogens is challenging due to the new emergence of antimicrobial resistance to conventional antimicrobials. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to develop new alternative antimicrobials that can control food-borne pathogenesis and avoid microbial resistance. Furthermore, the potential of trans-Himalayan high-altitude seab...

Since ancient times, meat and fish products have been an essential part of the human diet due to their unique nutritional quality, viz. high quality and quantity of proteins, essential amino acids, and minerals (e.g., iron, zinc, selenium) and vitamins. However, the role of meat and fish products as healthy food has diminished in recent years due t...

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is one of the significant physiological, endocrine, and metabolic disorders affecting nearly 20%–30% of females in the reproductive age group worldwide with typical hyperandrogenism. Interestingly, it is not limited to the human population; even rodents, domesticated large and pet animals are widely affected in va...

Ladakh, a high-altitude region is a cold arid desert characterized by extreme temperature (-40 o C in winter and +35 o C in summer) and hypobaric-hypoxia. In such a challenging terrain, native animal resources play a vital role in the livelihood of native people. Ladakh is a home track of several unique indigenous livestock e.g., Yak, Ladakhi Cattl...

As the altitude increases, the partial pressure of oxygen decreases, leading to hypoxic conditions and ultimately disturbing body homeostasis and affecting neuroendocrine function in cattle. These physiological changes causes low conception rate, early embryonic death, low fertility, etc. in cattle and other livestock species. So far, cattle's repr...

A study was initiated on camel physiology to evaluate the feasibility to use camels as pack animals for logistic suitability in Ladakh. For this, total four numbers of adult lowlander single-humped camels (Camelus dromedarius) were studied for acclimatization and load endurance in high-altitude, and these camels were also compared with double-humpe...

Various researchers have been focused on the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (SNPs) owing to their widespread benefits in various fields including material sciences, biotechnology, medical sciences, engineering, etc. Biological applications and toxicity of SNPs are greatly dependent on their method of synthesis, experimental model species, durati...

The water quality of various resources is changing everywhere, including the high-altitude region, which may have adverse health effects on animals and the human population. So far, not much study has been conducted on high-mountain region water resources. Therefore, this study was conducted at Leh-Ladakh, a high-altitude region, to know the water...

Anaerobic fungi have long been in the attention for their well-known potential in roughages degradation and ruminant nutrition. Although numerous studies have given new insights into anaerobic fungi in lignocellulosics digestion owing to their decisive fibrolytic activity, however, little is known about their role in carbohydrate fermentation. Furt...

Pandemic disease COVID-19 (Corona virus disease-2019) has ravaged millions of people globally. The COVID-19 infection causes worsening clinical status in diabetic patients. This review evaluates the possible interrelation between diabetes and COVID-19 pathophysiology, clinical management as well as how virus infection can intensify diabetic crises...

Leh-Ladakh, India is situated at 3000-3500 m above mean sea level, where harsh climatic environment is characterized by hypobaric-hypoxia, low humidity, high UV radiation and extreme variation in ambient temperature (-20 to +30ºC), which causes high-altitude stress to poultry. Hence, not much progress has been made in poultry rearing in this region...

For the last few decades, multiple research groups have studied the various processes, mechanisms, and regulations that can be manipulated to slow down the aging process in both animals and humans. Melatonin, as well as epiphyseal proteins and peptides, have anti-aging properties. Chronobiologists have demonstrated that the biological rhythm of phy...

Leh-Ladakh falls in the category of a high-altitude region with low oxygen, low atmospheric pressure and lack of moisture in the air, thus rendering the climate harsh. Therefore, humans staying in this region need different diets, nutrient levels, and other health supplements compared to low-lander people to thrive under these stressful conditions....

Arsenic toxicity has become a major global health concern for humans and animals due to extensive environmental and occupational exposure to arsenic-contaminated water, air, soil, and plant and animal origin food. It has a wide range of detrimental effects on animals, humans, and the environment. As a result, various experimental and clinical studi...

The identification of appropriate references genes is an integral component of any gene expression-based study for getting accuracy and reliability in data interpretation. In this study, we evaluated the expression stability of 10 candidate reference genes (GAPDH, RPL4, EEF1A1, RPS9, HPRT1, UXT, RPS23, B2M, RPS15, ACTB) in peripheral blood mononucl...

Ladakh is the only typical cold arid zone of India with extreme climate and hostile conditions, and the area makes its flora and fauna unique and distinct from the rest of the country. Around 60% of the farmers of Ladakh............

This study has generated systematic physiological, haematological, biochemical and transcriptomic/proteomic data in response to endurance exercise stress in Zanskari horses and GS mules, for the first time. The animals of Zanskari horses were more disciplined, obedient and calm under given exercise regimen by running on the path provided by the ins...

Soil, water from the trans-Himalayan high-altitude region contains high concentrations of various heavy metals. Vegetables and cereals such as cabbage, spinach, and wheat are most prone to heavy metal accumulation from soil and water which can be toxic for human consumption. It has yet to be studied how consumption of vegetables and cereal with exc...

Corona virus is pandemic and responsible for more than 5.6 million deaths. It was observed that its severity was reported in varied ways in different countries and even in different states of India. This variation was critically evaluated in the area with high contamination of Arsenic (As) to understand the arsenic toxicity and Covid epidemiology a...

The present study was carried out for 7 days on four adult low-lander single-humped camels to know the effect of endurance load exercise on physiological, biochemical, hormonal, and inflammatory cytokines at high altitude. A significant 1.5 to 3 fold increase was observed in physiological responses, viz. the respiration and heart rate on the 1st an...

A total of seventy irrigation water samples were collected from Leh, Ladakh, India, to determine their hydrochemistry profile and water quality for irrigation purposes. Water quality indices such as Total Hardness (TH), Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC), Potential Salinity (PS), Permeability Index (PI), Kelly's ratio (KR), Sodium Absorption Ratio (SA...

The high mountain regions of north-western Himalayan part of India have scarce poultry bird’s population and animal origin food comprises the main source of livelihood and food security of inhabitants. However, poultry production in this region has the major constraints due to poor growth of birds, low egg hatchability, high mortality, unavailabili...

There is no native chicken breed available for backyard rearing at high altitude of Leh-Ladakh region, due to the prevalent extreme climate, hypobaric-hypoxia and cold stress. Hence, commercial as well as backyard poultry rearing of various poultry breeds are not profitable in high altitude of Leh-Ladakh region, as it is causing economic loss due t...

For accurate and reliable gene expression, the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction data requires normalization with a reference gene expressed constantly under all the experimental conditions being analyzed. Till date, no comparative data on suitable RGs are available for cattle populations reared at cold arid high-altitude hypoxia and...

In difficult terrain of Ladakh region, where land resources are meager, animal wealth plays an important role in the life of the local people. Common native livestock genetic resources in Ladakh include yak, cattle, dzomo, dzo, goat, sheep, donkeys, horses, double hump camel, etc. For adaptability at cold as well as hypobaric hypoxic condition of L...

A total of four adult dromedary camels (2 male and 2 female) inducted at DRDO-Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh were reported with anamnesis of reduced appetite, frequent itching and development of skin lesions. The animals were kept in open and stall fed under high altitude cold desert conditions. Physical examination reveal...

Consumption of heavy metals contaminated dairy milk may affect human health. No such studies have been carried out at the high-altitude region to assess the human health risk after consuming dairy milk. To this end, this study reveals the evaluation of selected heavy metals in dairy milk in the summer and winter seasons, followed by the assessment...

Purpose: Soil, water from the trans-Himalayan high-altitude region contains high concentrations of various heavy metals. Vegetables and cereals such as cabbage, spinach, and wheat are most prone to heavy metal accumulation from soil and water which can be toxic for human consumption. It has yet to be studied how consumption of vegetables and cereal...

The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of physico-chemical parameters and soil macro-nutrients to know the nutrient uptake status during sowing time (ST) and after the harvesting (AH) of crops of Leh-Ladakh. In this context, total 55 no. of soil samples were collected from the eleven villages. Thereafter, soil texture, pH, electrical...

The identification of appropriate references genes is an integral component of any gene expression-based study for getting accuracy and reliability in data interpretation. In this study, we evaluated the expression stability of 10 candidate reference genes ( GAPDH, RPL4, EEF1A1, RPS9, HPRT1, UXT, RPS23, B2M, RPS15, ACTB ) in peripheral blood mononu...

The identification of appropriate references genes is an integral component of any gene expression-based study for getting accuracy and reliability in data interpretation. In this study, we evaluated the expression stability of 10 candidate reference genes ( GAPDH, RPL4, EEF1A1, RPS9, HPRT1, UXT, RPS23, B2M, RPS15, ACTB ) in peripheral blood mononu...

Extremes of climate and hypobaric hypoxia cause poor growth performance in broiler chickens at high altitude and the present study investigates the effect of aqueous extract of Salix alba leaves on growth performance, antioxidant level and immune status of broiler chickens reared at high altitude cold desert (3500 m). High performance liquid chroma...

Selenium (Se), even though it is an important nutrient that animals require for better growth of the skeletal and cardiac muscle, reproductive, immunological response, etc., has now become toxic due to poisoning, selenium injection, fodders grown on selenium‐toxic land, and indiscriminate minerals supplementation feeding. As early as the 13th centu...

Indigenous cattle breeds (Bos indicus) inhabited under diverse agroclimatic conditions may serve as a broad reservoir of genetic pool for identifying genes selected for local adaptation. The present study aimed at deciphering genomic diversity and identifying adaptation signatures of cattle breeds belonging to contrasting agro-climatic conditions:...

The high altitude region of India is characterized by harsh climatic conditions that may have an adverse impact on growth and metabolic functions of camels. Thus, the main aim of this study was to evaluate different adaptation parameters related to morphological, physio-biochemical and haematological indices in low lander Dromedarian and high lande...

Withania somnifera, commonly known as Ashwagandha (winter cherry), is an important medicinal plant that has been used in Ayurvedic and indigenous medicine for more than 3000 years. Some herbalists refer to Ashwagandha as Indian ginseng. The plant extract has many bioactive compounds that exert antioxidant, antiinflammatory, and immunomodulatory act...

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was widely regarded due to an unpredictable, imminent pandemic posing a significant threat to humanity. This new virus has high infectivity, mortality, and variable latency. The recurrent modification in the virus' genetic (antigenic) structures poses a challenge in successful vaccine development. While...

Ladakhi, the native cattle from Ladakh region of India have developed over the years under natural selection and can survive well at extreme climatic conditions, viz. high altitude, huge barren lands, low temperature (≤-20°C) and hypoxic conditions. Even at extreme survival conditions, this cattle provides around 2-5 kg of milk. This highly evolved...

Colostrum of goat is a well-known nutritional source of animal product, which is attributed to innumerable nutritional properties. To enrich nutritional resources for understanding various nutritional values of animal product at high altitude, chemometric analysis of antioxidant and mineral element study was carried out by comparing antioxidants ca...

Sleep is an essential physiological process that profoundly affects a wide range of biological activities. It is now known that sleep supports myriad vital functions in the central nervous system. This includes neural plasticity, learning, memory, cognition, and emotional regulation. Additionally, it affects basic processes such as cardiovascular,...

Several genera of cyanobacteria are capable of producing toxins that may be accessible for use as chemical warfare agents. The manner in which cyanotoxins produce their toxic effects can vary among different groups. The principal toxins include those that primarily affect the liver, such as microcystins, nodularins, and cylindrospermopsin. The othe...

Ladakhi cattle is a native breed of cattle which is well adapted to hypobaric-hypoxia and cold-stress conditions prevalent at high altitude. These cattle are the main source of A2 quality milk. However, their utility, health and dairy production managements were not standardised for optimum dairy farm economics. Moreover, the haematological and bio...

Water is the wonder of nature which is an essential source of nutrient for all forms of life. It helps in proper digestion, energy metabolism, transport of nutrients and metabolites, cellular functions, and excretion of waste materials from our body and animals. Furthermore, water plays a vital role in body thermoregulatory and electrolyte health,...

Temperature Humidity Index (THI) throughout the globe is now going to be changed due to the rapid global warming. In the present scenario, heat stress is shifting from the tropical region to the arctic region. Livestock animal in both the region thatin is hot and cold desert region is affecting due to high THI. This is the current challenge in the...

In era of antibiotic resistance, antibacterial silver nanoparticles are considered as potential alternative therapeutic agent to combat drug resistant pathogens. The aim of present study was to evaluate the antibacterial, antibiofilm and biocompatible potential of green synthesized Seabuckthorn silver nanoparticles (SBT@AgNPs). In the study, antiba...

Seasonal variation in temperature, precipitation, humidity affects various water quality parameters. Hence, the assessment of seasonal changes of river water quality is an important aspect which helps in the Evaluation of different annual contaminants in the water. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate various parameters of water q...

Zanskar pony (Horse) is a sure footed native breed of Zanskar valley in Ladakh, India. It has a medium size and compact body famous for endurance under high altitude stress and can withstand extreme cold and hypobaric-hypoxic conditions. Home track of Zanskar pony is distributed across the different blocks of Kargil and Leh district of Ladakh UT, I...

There are alternating daily extreme of climate, strong winds, low humidity, low air pressure, and hypobaric-hypoxia at Leh-Ladakh, a high altitude region that contribute high altitude (HA) stress and leads to several high altitude maladies and low poultry productivity and egg hatchability. Therefore, present study was investigated to evaluate diffe...

This review describes the characteristics of a number of pathol-ogies, which are considered from the point of view of chronobiology, that is, the way in which biological processes are expressed throughout the 24-hour day. This perspective is a relatively new way of thinking about disease and additionally about how to treat diseases. It has called a...

A high-altitude environment is characterized by hypobaric hypoxia, extreme temperature variation, low humidity, intense ultraviolet radiation, low rainfall, and high wind velocity. These types of extreme climatic conditions can result in oxidative stress in animals. This stress leads to a marked increase in cellular dysfunction and a decline in the...

The high-altitude region represents the extreme climatic condition that may have an adverse effect on body weight and alteration in stress markers of livestock animals. Thus, the aim of our study was to evaluate different morphological traits and biochemical stress markers in different breeds of the goat at Leh-Ladakh, India. In this study, 27 adul...

High-altitude the region represents the extreme climatic condition that may have an adverse effect on body weight and alteration in stress markers of livestock animals. Thus, the aim of our study was to evaluate different morphological traits and biochemical stress markers in different breeds of the goat at Leh-Ladakh, India. In this study, 27 adul...

The donkeys of Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, are well adapted to the cold, arid and hypoxic conditions of this region. The genomic DNA, isolated from 25 blood samples collected from these donkeys, were amplified by PCR using FAM and HEX labeled primers and resolved for alleles on automatic DNA sequencer. Total 20 loci of the horse origin were...

Monitoring water quality of surface water resources is the key concern in determining the potable water quality in high altitude region. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate different parameters affecting water quality of river and identify the most important variables and factors significantly affecting water quality. In the present study, multi...

There are alternating daily extreme of climate, strong winds, low humidity, low air pressure, and hypobaric-hypoxia at Leh-Ladakh, a high altitude region that contribute high altitude (HA) stress and leads to several high altitude maladies and low poultry productivity and egg hatchability. Therefore, present study was investigated to evaluate diffe...

This study was conducted to evaluate the protective effects of melatonin against fluoride-induced oxidative stress-mediated haematological and biochemical changes in rat at high altitude. Adult male Wistar rats (6) were given the basal diet and drinking water ad lib. for first 7-days which was considered as the control period. Thereafter, they were...

Antibiotics have been widely used for prophylactic purposes and to modify the gut microbiota and to promote productivity and growth of poultry. It is now apparent that long-term and indiscriminate utilization of antimicrobial agents has led to the development of drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria, posing a threat to the health of consumers. In addi...

Ladakh is the cold-desert high-altitude region located in the Trans-Himalayan region of India. This region is characterized by very harsh environmental conditions with hypobaric hypoxia-induced oxidative stress in domestic animals. In these circumstances this study has been carried out to analyze the effects of different seasons and high altitude s...

In difficult terrain of Ladakh region, a high altitude, cold and arid zone of India, where the land resources are meager, animal wealth plays an important role in the life of the local people. Common livestock genetic resources in Ladakh region include Ladakhi cattle, Changthangi sheep, Changthangi goat, Zanskari breed of horse, Ladakhi donkey, Dou...

Ladakhi cattle is native population of Leh and Ladakh region and constantly exposed to hypobaric hypoxia over many generations. In present study, transcriptome signatures of cattle from Ladakh region (~5500 m) and Sahiwal cattle from tropical regions were evaluated using Agilent 44 K microarray chip. The top up-regulated genes in Ladakhi cows were...

The ponies have immense relevance for logistic support for civil population and troops in hilly and high altitude areas. There is no information on specific biomarkers of endurance performance under high altitude stress condition, which could be supportive in the identification of elite ponies for deployment at high altitude. Therefore, the present...

Ladakh is an important part of the Trans‐Himalayan region located between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south in the state of Jammu and Kashmir of India. The local cattle from Leh and Ladakh region, known as "Ladakhi cattle" is a unique germplasm having excellent adaptation potential to high altitude hyp...

Zanskar pony is a native breed of high altitude region of Ladakh namely Zanskar valley and Nubra valley. These ponies are commonly used for load carrying by locals and defence personnel due to their adaptability in rugged terrain and rocky track. Therefore, high enduring ponies are in great demand for ride and load carrying at low maintenance cost....

Most vaccines for human and veterinary use are complex biological preparations having one or more antigens along with an adjuvant product to improve the immune response against the specific disease. Conventional vaccines have used numerous animals for production and quality compliance before the release of the final product. Animal based potency te...

Extremes of climate and hypobaric hypoxia cause poor growth performance in broiler chickens at high altitude. The present study examined the potential of Hippophae rhamnoides extract as phytogenic feed additive for broilers reared at 3500 m above mean sea level (MSL). Higher content of phytomolecules were recorded during characterization of the ext...

Most vaccines for human and veterinary use are complex biological preparations having one or more antigens along with an adjuvant product to improve the immune response against the specific disease. Conventional vaccines have used numerous animals for production and quality compliance before the release of the final product. Animal based potency te...

Bovine milk is regarded as nature’s perfect food due to presence of vital nutrients. However some peptides are generated after proteolytic digestion of β-casein that have opioid properties and may increase the risk of chronic diseases. There are 13 genetic variants of bovine beta-casein; out of these A1 and A2 are the most common in dairy cattle br...

Goat meat (chevon) comprises an important source of protein to provide essential amino acids in addition to other meat and plant sources of proteins. Therefore, demands for chevon are huge from civil and defence sector in this region. However, there is limited availability of fresh tender chevon in Ladakh region round the year. Hence, there was a n...

Bovine milk is regarded as nature’s perfect food due to presence of vital nutrients. However some peptides are generated after proteolytic digestion of β-casein that have opioid properties and may increase the risk of chronic diseases. There are 13 genetic variants of bovine beta-casein; out of these A1 and A2 are the most common in dairy cattle br...

Zanskar pony, a native horse breed of Ladakh mainly used for transportation in Trans-Himalayan region of India, is well adapted to high altitude hypobaric hypoxia environment. Due to extreme conditions of the Ladakh region, better endurance of these ponies under hypoxic and extreme cold conditions is of utmost concern for their recruitment in India...

High altitude people required high endurance pack animals for load