International Journal of Applied Sciences and Biotechnology

403-409

Authors: Bikal Ghimire

Crop protection against pests and diseases is a major challenge in agriculture. Plant breeding is a key solution for the development of disease resistant cultivars. Gene editing is an indispensable part of plant breeding to obtain desirable traits in crops. CRISPR (Clustered Regular Interspaced Palindromic Repeats)/Cas9 (CRISPR- associated protein) is a recent breakthrough in gene editing technology. It can be utilized to exploit defensive mechanism in plants against pathogen attack with recognition and degradation of the invading pathogenic genes by bacterial immune system. Advances in plant breeding with integration of CRISPR/Cas9 have facilitated the production of cultivars with heritable resistance to viral and bacterial disease. CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genetically engineered resistance can be inherited to further generation of crops after segregation of Cas9/sgRNA transgene in F1 generation. The segregation of Cas9/sgRNA transgene prevents undesirable genome modification in successive generation and makes use of CRISPR/Cas9 safe in plant breeding. CRISPR/Cas9 proves itself as a fascinating tool to revolutionize plant breeding for the development of various disease resistant cultivars however, effects of CRISPR/Cas9 system on different physiological process of plants still needs to be studied.

415-422

Authors: Prakash Sarwa, Sanjay Kumar Verma

Two unicellular green microalgae, were isolated from Amani Shah Nallah (Jaipur, India) that receives discharge of dyeing industries. Preliminary morphological characterization using light microscopy showed ovoid, fusiform shape of cells with single to two celled coenobia in a culture suspension. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses depict abundant chloroplast located at the periphery of the cell, a pyrenoid as well as nucleus is visible in the centre. A well developed cell wall with many layers is also evident in TEM. Phylogenetic position and genetic variabilty among the isolated microalgal strains were investigated by 18S rDNA sequence analysis. The results suggest that the isolated microalgae belongs to family chlorophyceae and corresponds to genus Scenedesmus and genus Acutodesmus. Growth profile of both microalgal strains showed a typical sigmoid curve with specific growth rate of µmax, 0.839 day-1 and 0.654 day-1 for Scenedesmus sp. and Acutodesmus obliquus, respectively. The strains were allotted with MCC numbers by IARI, New Delhi as MCC26 for Scenedesmus sp. and MCC33 for Acutodesmus obliquus.

430-433

Authors: Ramchandra Pudasaini, Bigya Dhital

An experiment was conducted in IAAS, Livestock Farm, Rampur Chitwan, Nepal in order to assess the growth performance of kids feeding diets supplemented with probiotics. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications and five feeding supplemented diets with probiotics treatments. Parameters studied were live weight gain, body measurements and economic analysis. The result of this study showed the highest cumulative mean live weight (13.24 kg) in the treatment group feeding mixture of rice bran and wheat bran with probiotics. Fortnightly and daily body weight gains were also highest in the treatment group having mixture of rice bran and wheat bran with probiotics. The highest (11.74cm) overall mean monthly heart girth was observed in the treatment group feeding mixture of rice bran and wheat bran with probiotics. The mean monthly cumulative neck girth, body length and wither height of kids did not differ significant (p>0.05) among treatments. However, the highest overall mean monthly cumulative neck girth (6.71cm), wither height (10.14cm) and body length (14.62cm) was observed in probiotics supplemented treatment groups. Highest (1.61) benefit cost ratio was obtained from goats reared on feeding mixture of rice bran and wheat bran with Probiotics and lowest (1.008) in wheat bran without probiotics. The result of the study thus suggests that feeding of rice bran and wheat bran with probiotics is beneficial in terms of growth rate and cost of production.

442-448

Authors: Tulasi Prasad Paudel, Devi Prasad Adhikari, Ram Prasad Ghimire

Large numbers of species of tree fodder are being used as green roughage source for goats in several farming systems. A study was carried out at Goat Research Station, Bandipur, Nepal in order to compare the feeding value of commonly used tree fodder leaves in mid-hills of Nepal. Altogether five treatments; tree fodder leaves of Ficus semicordata, Shorea robusta, Ficus glaberrima and Ficus lacor and mixed fodder as the conventional practices of the farmers were evaluated in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Total of 30 male goats were used for the experiment in five groups, 6 for each treatment. The subsequent experiment was carried out to determine the nutrient digestibility of the tree fodder leaves by using fecal collection method. Nutrient composition, voluntary intake and nutrient digestibility of the fodder leaves and growth performance of goats were monitored. Crude protein (CP), total ash (TA), organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), hemicelluloses and cellulose proportion were better for F. glaberrima and F. lacor leaves, whereas the digestibility of those nutrients were better for F. semicordata leaves and moderate for F. glaberrima and S. robusta. Voluntary fodder dry matter intake was highest for F. glaberrima and least for mixed fodders. Growth performance of goats was higher for F. lacor and F. glaberrima than other tree fodder leaves and mixed fodders. The leaves of F. lacor and F. glaberrima had shown better feeding value than the conventional practices of farmers, mixed fodders. The leaves of S. robusta and F. semicordata were observed similar with the mixed fodders for their feeding value.

466-469

Authors: Shilu Sharma, Doj Raj Khanal, Yuvraj Panth

Brucellosis; a zoonotic disease which is caused by Brucella sp. viz; abortus, melitensis, ovis, canis, suis, in Nepal is regarded as one of the occupational and public health hazards for veterinarians, animal attendants, dairy man, slaughter-house workers, butchers and meat sellers. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of brucellosis in pigs of Bhaktapur, Kavre and Banke districts of Nepal. Serum samples of 231 pigs were collected purposively of which, 78 samples were from Bhaktapur, 85 from Kavre and 68 from Banke districts. Blood samples were collected from the jugular vein of the pigs and were centrifuged to separate the serum from the blood. The separated serum samples were stored at -20°C in the NARC lab till the test was done. Out of 231 samples, 3.90% (9/231) of samples were found to have sero-positivity towards brucellosis by using indirect ELISA test through ID Vet iELISA kit 2016. Fisher exact test was used to find association between variables. There was no significant differences (p>0.05) on sex-wise prevalence. This study shows a potential threat to the public health sector of the country along with the degradable impacts on animal health including the economy of farmers. Thus, timely implementation of appropriate preventive and control strategies should be adopted to eradicate the disease.

479-485

Authors: Ioanna Varkitzi, Kalliopi Pagou, Christina Pyrgaki, Ioannis Hatzianestis

Biotechnological applications of toxic marine dinoflagellates include seafood safety and biomedical, pharmaceutical and research purposes of their toxins among other bioproducts and bioactive compounds that they produce. The supply of sufficient quantities of phycotoxins for investigational uses remains in demand. Some of these toxins, available in small amounts, are quite expensive while their chemical synthesis is complex and costly. However, some quantities of these toxins could be produced with mass cultures of the appropriate dinoflagellates, which are however difficult to handle. Prorocentrum lima is a cosmopolitan marine dinoflagellate, which synthesizes toxins that cause a diarrheic syndrome to humans through the consumption of contaminated shellfish and fish (Diarrheic Shellfish Poisoning, DSP). The aim of this study was to design and develop a biomass upscale system for the production of the lipophilic toxins okadaic acid (OA) and dinophysistoxin 1 (DTX1) from the produced biomass of Prorocentrum lima. In our study, P. lima was grown in large scale semi-continuous cultures under controlled laboratory conditions. The maximum biomass produced was 20690 cells/mL. Maximum toxin production was 63.66 ng/mL for OA and 8.07 ng/mL for DTX1. Toxin quota in P. lima cells was 88.7% OA and 11.3% DTX1. The produced culture volume was 300 L and the total volume capacity of the upscale system could reach 500 L.

498-504

Authors: Ritesh Kumar Yadav, Amarjit Singh, Ajmer Singh Dhatt, Sandeep Jain

A total of forty one genotypes of onion were evaluated for their relative response to purple blotch complex caused by Alternaria porri and Stemphylium vesicarium under artificial epiphytotic condition in field during Rabi 2014-2015 and 2015-2016. Significant variation in disease severity among the onion genotypes was found over two years but the pooled analysis revealed that most of the variations were due to genotype x year interaction. None of the genotypes exhibited resistance to the disease complex. Of the test genotypes, eighteen were found moderately susceptible while twenty one were found susceptible to the disease complex. Two genotypes viz., Punjab Naroya and OSR-1364 exhibited highly susceptible reaction. However, six genotypes viz., P-96, P-30, P-121, OSR-1359, P-98 and OSR-1370 showed superior yield performance. Purple blotch complex exhibited highly significant negative correlation of 0.71 and 0.67 with fresh bulb yield and bulb size, respectively. Cluster analysis of onion genotypes was performed based on disease and yield variables and the genotypes were furthered grouped into five clusters based on average values of disease and yield variables.

511-522

Authors: Keshab Babu Koirala, Yagya Prasad Giri, Tirtha Raj Rijal, Pervez Haider Zaidi, Ajanahalli Ramaiaha Sadananda, Jiban Shrestha

Midhills, foot hills and river basin areas of are generally under spring maize cultivation. These areas along with the areas from Terai and Inner Terai where spring and early summer maize are grown are the most affected from heat stress. Identification and selection of suitable varieties and traits for high temperature tolerance is vital to produce heat resilient genotypes.With a view to identify high yielding heat stress resilient maize hybrids, genotypes received from International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) were evaluated in alpha lattice design with two to three replications at Rampur, Nepalgunj and Surkhet in 2013/014, 2014/015 and 2015/016. Total 57 trials consisting of 7764 maize hyrbids were evaluated under heat stress conditions. At Nepalgunj and Surkhet, trials were planted in March/April. Out of the tested genotypes, 24 hybrids were found promising based on grain yield, plant and ear height. These 24 hybrids along with four National Maize Research Program (NMRP) developed and two multi-national companies’ hybrids as checks were tested in multilocation trials at Dumarwana, Nijgadh, Nawalparasi and Rampur in 2014/015. Out of these 24 hybrids, eight were selected and tested during 2015/016 in Dumarwana, Nijgadh, Nawalparasi, Anandapur and Rampur. Based on results combined over years and locations CAH-151 (8629 kg ha-1) and CAH-153 (8955 kg ha-1) were registered for general cultivation as Rampur Hybrid-8 and Rampur Hybrid-10, respectively. Other promising hybrids were CAH-1511 (8800 kg ha-1) followed by CAH-1515 (8678 kg ha-1), RML-95/RML-96 (8486 kg ha-1), CAH-1513 (8258 kg ha-1) and RML-86/RML-96 (7544 kg ha-1), respectively. Stability analysis revealed that CAH-151, CAH-153, CAH-1515, CAH-1511 and RML-95/RML-96 are stable hybrids having good performance.

532-536

Authors: Tirtha Raj Rijal, Keshab Babu Koirala, Mina Karki

Maize genotypes were screened at research field of National Maize Research Program, Rampur, Chitwan on 20 maize genotypes during 2015 and 2016 summer season with the objective of identification of resistant genotypes against southern leaf blight caused by Bipolaris maydis. Field experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. Disease scoring was done as percentage of leaf area infected using 1-5 rating scale. In both the years among the tested genotypes, disease severity and grain yield varies significantly. None of the genotypes reacted for resistant whereas four genotypes; 05SADVI, BGBYPOP, RAMS03F08 and RML-32/RML-17 were moderately resistant over the years. For grain yield most of the tested genotypes produced comparatively lower grain yield however RML-32/RML-17 was superior for grain yield (3.1 t/ha) over the years.

542-547

Authors: Prakash Paneru, Birendra Kumar Bhattachan, Lal Prasad Amgain, Suman Dhakal, Bisheswar Prasad Yadav, Pankaj Gyawaly

Seed quality is the major concern for future crop production which largely depends on the nutrient we applied. To evaluate the effect of different doses of nitrogen and phosphorus on yield and seed quality of wheat an experiment was conducted during 2014/15 at agronomy research block of Agriculture and Forestry University. The experiment was designed on randomized complete block experiment with four levels of Nitrogen (0, 50, 100, and 150 kg N/ha) and Phosphorus (0, 25, 50, 75 kg P205/ha) Lab experiment was conducted to evaluate the germination and vigor test of the progeny seeds obtained from the mother plant. Highest grain yield (3.64t/ha) was associated with 100 kg N/ha which was statically similar with 150 kg N/ha, similarly highest grain yield (3.14t/ha) was associated with 75 kg P/ha which was at par with 50 kg P/ha and 25 kg P/ha. Highest germination percentage was associated with 150 kg N/ha (94.08) and 75 kg P/ha (93.66) Highest vigor was observed (36.5) at 100 kg N/ha which was at par with 150 kg N/ha whereas highest vigor was obtained at 50 kg P/ha (35.77) which was at par with 75 kg P/ha (35.71) Gross return, Net return and Benefit Cost ratio was highest at 100 kg N/ha which was at par with 150 kg N/ha. Similarly highest gross return (104.9 thousands) was observed at 75 kg P/ha, highest net income (54.81 thousands), and benefit cost ratio (2.105) was observed with 50 kg P/ha. Therefore for the better yield, good economic return and good seed quality application of nitrogenous fertilizers at 100 kg N/ha and phosphorus at 50 kg P/ha is useful under Chitwan condition.

554-565

Authors: Ritesh Kumar Yadav, Amarjit Singh, Sandeep Jain, Ajmer Singh Dhatt

Six systemic fungicides viz., Kitazin 48 EC (iprobenfos), Tilt 25 EC (propiconazole), Folicur 25 EC (tebuconazole), Score 25 EC (difenoconazole), Amistar Top 325 SC (azoxystrobin 18.2% + difenoconazole 11.4%) and Nativo 75 WG (trifloxystrobin 25% + tebuconazole 50%), and two non-systemic fungicides viz., Indofil M-45 75 WP (mancozeb) and Kocide 77 WP (copper hydroxide), were evaluated under in vitro and field conditions for their efficacy to manage purple blotch complex of onion caused by Alternaria porri and Stemphylium vesicarium. Field efficacy of the fungicides at different concentrations were determined in controlling the purple blotch complex of onion under artificial epiphytotic conditions on bulb and seed crop (cultivar PRO-6) during the Rabi season 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, respectively. The triazole fungicides, tebuconazole and difenoconazole proved superior in inhibiting growth of A. porri and S. vesicarium under in vitro conditions, respectively. Further, foliar sprays (3 for bulb crop and 4 for seed crop) of tebuconazole 25 EC (Folicur) @ 0.1 per cent at fortnightly interval most effectively managed purple blotch complex of onion under field conditions with highest Benefit: Cost ratio (8.75:1 and 88.7:1) in bulb and seed crop, respectively. Seed-to-seed method of onion seed production recorded significantly lower disease severity and higher seed yield than that of bulb-to-seed method under natural epiphytotic conditions. The present findings can be instrumental in devising strategy for the integrated management of A. porri, S. vesicarium singly as well as in complex, serious limiting biotic factors in onion production.

273-283

Authors: Shree Kumar Maharjan, Keshav Lall Maharjan

The lands, territories and resources of indigenous peoples (IPs) have been of significant historical importance to their livelihoods, cultures and spiritual identities. Over 370 million indigenous peoples are currently living in 70 countries in the world, mostly in remote, ecologically fragile and marginalized areas that are rich in traditional skills, knowledge and practices. Climate change is a global issue, impacting all livelihood sectors at the national and local levels. The poor and marginalized people, especially indigenous peoples, Dalits and women are in the forefront of its vulnerability and impacts. These people and communities have made the lowest contributions to the greenhouse gases emissions, however, they are the most at risks to its impacts. Furthermore, the policies and programs often marginalize and sideline the voices and issues of these people. This paper attempts to gather, review and analyze the information on indigenous knowledge, issues of indigenous peoples on climate change particularly in REDD+ in developing countries. The paper aims to highlight the REDD+ process in Nepal, its obligations at the national and international level (with cases from Asia, Africa and Latin America) and the indigenous perspectives towards the issues, gaps and challenges within the national and international negotiations.

293-301

Authors: Anil Kumar, Preeti Swarupa, Vikram Pal Gandhi, Snehal Kumari

Ethidium bromide (EtBr) is a carcinogenic and mutagenic agent which is widely used in research laboratories to probe nucleic acids by gel electrophoresis. It is generally buried underground (for solid waste) or disposed of pouring it down the sink (in case of liquid waste). Soil or drain microbial community may be able to take care of such substance else it will lead to contamination of our underground resources or others through defined and undefined routes. In view of the above assumption and literature reports the present study was undertaken to isolate and evaluate bacteria for removal, by bioaccumulation and /or biotransformation, of EtBr from contaminated sources and wastes, before their disposal to the environment. Two distinct bacteria both motile BR3 and BR4 could be identified from agarose-gel-waste containing 0.5-1.0 mg/ml ethidium bromide. Both bacteria were found to grow on EtBr-NA plate (Nutrient-Agar supplemented with EtBr at a concentration of 30 mg/ml) however only BR3 isolate showed large non-fluorescent-halo zone (characteristic to degradation of EtBr) when exposed to trans-UV light. Other isolate BR4 could accumulate EtBr within the colony biomass but did not showed clear (non-fluorescent) hallow zone around it. However the bacterium is not able to utilize the EtBr as a sole carbon source.

309-312

Authors: C. Aishwarya Laxmi, S. Munaliga, N.G. Ramesh Babu, R. Ragunathan

In the present study, two histamine producing bacteria were used to detect the presence of hdc gene using PCR. The histamine production was confirmed by using Soyabean Casein Digest Agar (Tryptone Soya Agar). The DNA was isolated using Phenol: chloroform method. PCR was carried out using hdc gene and the amplified product was confirmed (657bps and 668 bps respectively). Further, the DNA and the PCR product were transformed into E.coli and the gene transformation was confirmed.

321-325

Authors: Kashyap Adhikari, Hari Bahadur Rana, Krishna Kaphle, Tanka Khanal, Rabin Raut

The research was done in cross sectional design to study about the prevalence of Haemonchus contortus in goats of Western Chitwan of Nepal. A total of 252 fecal samples were collected through purposive sampling. Fecal samples were examined through sedimentation and floatation method. Egg per gram (EPG) was calculated through Mac Master Counting Technique of positive samples. Total prevalence was found to be 13.89%. Infection of parasite was more prevalent in males (15.18%) than in female (12.86%) but was statistically non-significant (P>0.05). In non-dewormed goats (40.32%), the prevalence was significantly (P<0.05) higher than in dewormed goats (5.26%). The results regarding the relationship between different age groups of goats and H. contortus showed that highest prevalence (14.54%) of parasite was observed in age group of below 1 year and the lowest (12.96%) in age group of above 2 year, statistically non-significant (P>0.05). Maximum goats were found with medium level of infestation through EPG. This study shows higher prevalence of Haemonchus in non-dewormed than in dewormed goats which is statistically significant at (P<0.05). Thus, effective deworming programme and management must be maintained in order to upgrade the health status and maximize the benefits from the animal.

336-344

Authors: Piyusha Kalwad, Ranjitha Guttapadu, Pradeep Shasi

The genes showing aberrant alternative splicing in Parkinson’s disease namely SNCA, SNCAIP, LRRK2, SRRM2, MAPT and PARK2 were analysed. Two of the genes, namely SNCAIP and SRRM2 that showed high effect were taken and splice site analysis was carried out. Random mutations were carried out on these two genes using Human Splicing Finder tool and the mutations showing the most promising results (i.e., mutations that can restore natural gene expression) were appropriately chosen to tackle Parkinson’s disease

356-360

Authors: M.M. Khatun, M.K. Hasan, M.K. Jamil, D. Khanam

The cultivation of genetically engineered crops has been expanded rapidly in worldwide in a very short span of time. Bt eggplant is a transgenic eggplant created by inserting a crystal protein gene Cry1Ac from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. Four Bt eggplant varieties - BARI Bt Eggplant-1, BARI Bt Eggplant-2, BARI Bt Eggplant-3 and BARI Bt Eggplant-4 are started to cultivate in Bangladesh in 2014 as first genetically engineered crop in the country. In the present study, ELISA technique was adopted to quantify the Cry1Ac proteins in the fruits of newly released four Bt eggplant varieties. The expression of Cry1Ac was found among the fruits of the varieties varied from 29.53 to 33.99 µg g-1.

366-374

Authors: Abu Bakr El-Bediwi, Eman Kashita, Salah M.M. Salman

Heat treatment is a process in which alloy is heated to get different microstructures and desired properties associated with it which may affect the corrosion rate, nature form and size. Effect of annealing on microstructure, creep indentation, hardness and electrochemical corrosion behavior of Ni63Cr24.6Mo10.8Si1.5Mn0.06C0.04 alloy were investigated. Microstructure of Ni63Cr24.6Mo10.8Si1.5Mn0.06C0.04 alloy changed after annealing at different temperature for two hours. Crystal size of nickel in matrix alloy increased after annealing for two hours at different temperature. Stress exponent, n, Vickers hardness and calculated maximum shear stress of Ni63Cr24.6Mo10.8Si1.5Mn0.06C0.04 alloy decreased after annealing. Corrosion rate of Ni63Cr24.6Mo10.8Si1.5Mn0.06C0.04 alloy increased after annealing for two hours at different temperature.

382-385

Authors: Chandan Bhattarai, Dinesh Marasini, Prabin Dawadi, Sadkishya Aryal

Seed to seed production experiments for cowpea (Vigna ungiculata) was conducted at Agronomy farm at IAAS Lamjung, and to compare production potentialities of given cowpea genotypes under the given sets of conditions. The treatment consists of two cowpea varieties viz. Prakash (Standard Check) and Malepatan (Local check) and four genotypes; IT 99K-573-2-1, IT 86F-2062-5, IT 93K-452-1, IT 98K-205-8. The experiment was conducted on RCBD design. .All other activities were carried out according to prepared working calendar almost from August 2016 to December 2016. Data collection were done for pre-determined growth and other yield parameters and was analyzed using MSTAT. Major parameters were Grain yield, Seeds/plant, Pods/plant, plant height, pod length, harvest index and test weight. Result shows maximum grain yield and harvest index was found for Prakash (Standard Check).Plant height and Pods /Plant was found highest for IT 99K-573-2-1. Similarly highest seed weight was found for Prakash (Standard Check) and Seeds/Plant and Pod length was maximum for IT 86F-2062-5.

390-396

Authors: Siraj Osman Omer, Mohammed Salah Abdalla, Ibrahim Nuraldin Alzain, Abdelmoniea Dafaalla

Improved of maintenance crop varieties developed at agricultural research corporation, Wad median, Sudan is intended for seed foundation which is recently established. This study was undertaken to establish statistical investigation using Bayesian estimation for credible interval or posterior interval as a Bayesian strategy for a maintenance variety. Data on grain yield (kg/ha) on a maize crop variety were used. Bayesian posterior information can be annoying to investigate but are important in maintenance varieties that foundational claims are used to make general recommendations for practice. Half normal informative priors set of were used. The heritability of yield (varieties)) was (h = 0.75). Predicted posterior means of varieties were shown with a Bayesian interval for scientific inference in the maintenance maize grain yield. Bayesian approach is useful for reducing uncertainty on decisions based on economic evaluation of new maize varieties in Sudan, the use of credible intervals for grain yield allow for early decisions.

108-126

Authors: Pradeep Kumar Singh, Ram Lakhan Singh

Synthetic dyes are widely used in textile, paper, food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries with the textile industry as the largest consumer. Among all the available synthetic dyes, azo dyes are the largest group of dyes used in textile industry. Textile dyeing and finishing processes generate a large amount of dye containing wastewater which is one of the main sources of water pollution problems worldwide. Several physico-chemical methods have been applied to the treatment of textile wastewater but these methods have many limitations due to high cost, low efficiency and secondary pollution problems. As an alternative to physico-chemical methods, biological methods comprise bacteria, fungi, yeast, algae and plants and their enzymes which received increasing interest due to their cost effectiveness and eco-friendly nature. Decolorization of azo dyes by biological processes may take place either by biosorption or biodegradation. A variety of reductive and oxidative enzymes may also be involved in the degradation of dyes. This review provides an overview of decolorization and degradation of azo dyes by biological processes and establishes the fact that these microbial and plant cells are significantly effective biological weapon against the toxic azo dyes.

133-140

Authors: Gowri Rajkumar, Jagathpriya Weerasena, Kumudu Fernando

Oryza rhizomatis is an endemic wild rice species in Sri Lanka with some unique characteristics of biotic and abiotic stress resistance. Hence characterization of desirable novel genes found in Oryza rhizomatis will be useful for transferring traits to commercial varieties. Therefore, in this study, a species-specific cDNA library was constructed from the wild rice species O. rhizomatis to isolate and characterize novel genes which are specifically present in this species but absent in cultivated rice (Oryza sativa). Forty recombinant clones were randomly selected from the cDNA SSH library and the inserts were sequenced. Sequence analysis of all forty clones indicated that the suppression and hybridization procedures in the library construction were successful as most of the clones have significant alignment with other wild rice species than O. sativa used as a reference cDNA for construction of subtraction library in this study. Therefore the genes which were specifically expressed in the wild rice species O. rhizomatis enriched in the SSH library. From this study it was possible to characterize O. rhizomatis nsLTP1 proteins (non specific Lipid Transfer Protein 1) super family AAI_LTSS which are found to be involved in control of pathogen attack related responses in plants.

150-158

Authors: Ghuzala Anwar, Ghalib Nawaz, Muhammad Afzal, Iram Majeed, Ali Waqas

Nursing is an art science and an essential health care profession in which the skilled knowledgeable persons are committed to provide care to sick peoples and strive for the, protection and promotion of health and prevention against diseases and helps to minimize the risk and risk related injuries. Urinary tract infections are very common infection in the hospital settings almost responsible for 40% nosocomial infections. All the urinray tract infection is expected that approximately more than 70% infection reported because of indewelling cathters. Objectives: To assess the perceptions of nurses regarding indwelling urinary catheter and its care. To assess the practices of nurses to prevent the indwelling catheter related urinary tract infection. Methodology: Descriptive cross sectional design and data was collected through a five point Likert scale questioner. Study population was the nursing staff from the Jinnah hospital Lahore. Sample size was 184 nurses from all indoor departments of the Jinnah Hospital Lahore. Results: The findings show that the practice and perceptions scores of the registered nurses’ in the study group are insignificant with age, qualification and experience (i.e., p-value > 0.05) with the evidence-based guidelines for prevention of catheter associated urinary tract infection. Results of study indicated insignificant relationship between registered nurses’ practice and perceptions regarding the indwelling urinary catheter associated infection.

168-171

Authors: Janetha D Prakash, David Samuel P

The aim of this study was to synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles in the ethanol extract of Boucerosia procumbens. Nanoparticles are being used in many commercial applications. The synthesized Silver Nanoparticles were characterized by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy). It was found that ethanol silver iron can be reduced by ethanol plant extracts of plant to generate to extremely stable Silver Nanoparticles.

180-187

Authors: B.P. Yadav, D.N. Yadav, K.B. Koirala, K.R. Pandey, R.B. Thapa

A field experiment was conducted at Agronomy research farm of IAAS, Rampur, chitwan, Nepal during summer and winter season 2010 and 2011 to study the effect of crop sequence and nitrogen rates on hybrid maize. The research finding revealed that maximum gross return (Rs 53660 /ha in 2010 and Rs 60450/ha in 2011) was obtained from maize grown after greengraml while maximum net return (Rs 30170/ha in 2010 and Rs 33440/ha in 2011) was obtained from maize under greengram-maize sequences. Benefit & cost ratio was maximum (1.22 in 2010 and 1.18 in 2011) from maize under greengram-maize sequences while it was minimum (0.50 in 2010 and 0.47 in 2011) under maize–maize sequences. Maximum maize equivalent yield 11516 kg /ha in 2010 and 12710 kg /ha in 2011) was obtained under maize-maize sequences while it was minimum (4310 kg /ha in 2010 and 4624 kg /ha in 2011) under clusterbean-maize sequences. Maize equivalent yield was maximum (10824 kg /ha in 2010 and 11923 kg /ha in 2011) with 200 kg N/ha while it was minimum (7384 kg /ha in 2010 and 8206 kg /ha in 2011) without nitrogen. Grain production efficiency was maximum (32.0 kg /ha/day under greengram– maize sequences in 2010. but in 2011, maximum grain production efficiency (34.8 kg /ha /day) was recorded under maize–maize sequences which was comparable to grain production efficiency under greengram-maize sequence. Maximum grain production efficiency (29.2 kg/ha/day in 2010 and 32.8 kg /ha/day in 2011) was obtained with 200 kg N/ha.

194-202

Authors: Ramji Prasad Bhattarai, Bishnu Raj Ojha, Dhruba Bahadur Thapa, Raju Kharel, Ankit Ojha, Manoj Sapkota

Thirty International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) elite lines and Nepalese commercial wheat varieties were grown at Agriculture and Forestry University, Chitwan in Alpha-lattice design to identify high yielding genotypes, yield attributing parameters and correlations between them. Observations were taken for different morpho-physiological and yield attributing traits i.e., days to booting, heading, anthesis, maturity, flag leaf senescence, flag leaf duration, grain filling duration, plant height, spike length, number of grains per spike, thousand kernel weight, hectoliter weight, grain yield and biomass yield. Significant genotypic differences were observed for all the traits studied indicating considerable amount of variation among genotypes for each character. The mean grain yield was 2148 kg/ha and it ranged from 1000 to 3425 kg/ha. BLOUK#1/4/WHEAR/KUKUNA/3/C80.1/3*BATAVIA//2*WBLL1/5/MUNAL #1 (35th ESWYT138) was the highest grain yielding genotype among all followed by CHIBIA//PRLII/CM65531/3/FISCAL/4/DANPHE#1/5/CHIBIA//PRLII/CM65531/3/SKAUZ/BAV92 (ESWYT 141), Gautam, Vijay and CHYAK1*2/3/HUW234+LR34/PRINIA//PFAU/WEAVER (ESWYT129). Grain yield had significant strong positive correlation with grain filling duration (0.685**), plant height (0.606**), thousand kernel weight (0.675**), biomass yield (0.892**) and hectoliter weight (0.586**). Four clusters were formed by cluster analysis and genotypes were grouped in a particular cluster on the basis of similarity of morpho-physiological traits. So, these genotypes may be exploited for their direct release or as parents in hybridization programmes to develop high yielding wheat varieties.

208-215

Authors: Shumaila Aslam, Muhammad Afzal, Robina Kousar, Ali Waqas, Syed Amir Gilani

Background: In order to maintain the health, the homeostasis dynamics and balance process is most important. Among the critically ill cardiac surgery patients the homeostasis is imbalance and results in insufficient tissues perfusion and many organs of the body lead to the failure condition. It is necessary to monitor actively the intake and output during electrolytes administration in the cardiac surgery patients. Objectives: To assess the knowledge and practice of the registered nurses about fluid and electrolytes monitoring and administration in the cardiac surgery patients. Methodology: This study is of descriptive and cross sectional study design. The questioner of knowledge and practices regarding fluid and electrolytes administration was adopted from the article of Vijayan (Vijayan, 2011) which is based on 5-point Likert scale. The data was collected from 208 nurses of Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, Pakistan. Conclusion: The findings of the current study show that the nurses have poor knowledge and practices of nurses, so, public hospital’s administration should focus on the strategies and activities which become helpful to increase the knowledge and practices of nurses regarding fluid and electrolytes administration.

222-226

Authors: Rajani Osti, Dinesh Bhattarai, Harshika Chaudhary, Virendra Singh

Poultry farming is integral part of agriculture in Nepal. The objective of this research was to analyze the prevailing production constraints, characterization of poultry farming and its economic analysis using questionnaire-based survey and on-site investigation. 180 farms were selected from 3 major districts. Garrett’s ranking technique was used to analyze the constraints. Highly significant difference (P<0.01) in size of poultry farm was found. We found significant difference in feeding, housing and drinking system for the chicken. Un-organized chicken marketing channel was observed in the study area. High chicks’ mortality, wastage of feed, insecure vaccination and frequent drop in egg production were characteristic of laying hens. Newcastle disease and Chronic Respiratory Disease were acknowledged as the biggest constraint of chicken production. Government and concerned agencies need to take active part for the extension service to strengthen the health of chicken and organized marketing channel is essential for selling of poultry products which can improve the profit to the farmers.

237-242

Authors: Chandra Bahadur Thapa

In the present study, documentation of farmer’s knowledge on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) was carried out in Rupandehi district during the year 2016. The objective of this paper is to assess the knowledge of farmers about IPM and its effectiveness in this district. It was carried out by conducting semi-structured interview with the participants of IPM FFS, vegetable growing farmers, stakeholders and local people with the help of standard questionnaire, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and key informant interview. The IPM program is found to be conducted by an international non-government organization viz. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and government organizations viz. Plant Protection Directorate (PPD), Agronomy Development Directorate (ADD) and District Agriculture Development Organization (DADO) through Farmer’s Field School (FFS) in this district. In total forty IPM FFS was conducted from 1998 to 2015 which provided training about IPM in rice and vegetable crops to 1057 farmers in which 393 were male and 664 female. Although a significant difference has been found in the knowledge about the amount of pesticide used, biological method of pest control for IPM by FFS participant and nonparticipant farmers, it is not observed in their behavior during the cultivation of crops in the farm. The result showed that only 5% of participants of Farmer’s Field School (FFS) are following IPM practices in their own farm after taking training.

250-255

Authors: Ramesh Acharya, Santosh Marahatta, Lal P Amgain

A field experiment with three wheat varieties at different sowing dates on two crop establishment methods was accomplished to identify the optimum sowing date at AFU Rampur during winter season of 2014/2015. Three wheat varieties namely: Tillotama, Danfe and Vijay sown on three dates: 14th November, 29th November, and 14th December under two crop establishment practices: Conservational and conventional agriculture were evaluated with strip –split plot design in three replications. The field data onyield attributes and yields were collected. Earlier sowing on 14th November gave the highest yield (3427.15 kg ha-1), total dry matter (8154.44 kg ha-1), with longest days to crop maturation (133.11 days). In case of varieties, Vijay gave the highest grain yield (3458.61 kg ha-1) and total dry weight (4456.11 and 8832.42 kg ha-1 respectively) with earliest days to heading and maturity. The straw yield was the highest for 29th November sowing (5821 kg ha-1) and for Danfe variety (5756 kg ha-1). Vijay variety recorded the highest test weight (43.60 g) and highest harvest index (35.89%) even though with the lowest effective tillers per square meter (320.83), it proved to be the most promising variety.

261-266

Authors: M. Sanjay, B. Kalpana

Nucleic acid based diagnostics are the standard means for diagnosis of infected plant material. However, these methods are expensive and time-consuming, but they are accurate. On the contrary, disease prediction methods based on Volatile organic compound (VOC) emission from plants are less accurate but, allow for screening of large volumes of samples. This work reports the methodology for development of an inexpensive electronic nose for implementation as early warning systems intended to prevent plant disease outbreaks using VOC pattern analysis. It is proven that plants emit VOCs in response to pathogenic attacks. In this project, efforts were made to register the pattern of VOCs released by the diseased plants. The disease taken for this purpose was Fusarium wilt disease of banana. The E-Nose was successfully fabricated using five MOS sensors connected to a microcontroller, which along with a microSD card module was able to store the acquired VOC data. The VOC data analysis was done in MS-Excel, using NeuroXL Predictor, a neural networking add-in. A small scale banana field containing 35 plants, divided into disease, test and control groups, was established. The disease and test sets were subjected to similar disease induction protocols and VOC data was collected over a period of 40 days. NeuroXL Predictor was trained to recognize odours corresponding to diseases by feeding the neural network with the disease set VOC data. Finally, the training model was validated by providing the test set VOC data to the neural network and the results were found to be accurate. Efforts were made to automate the VOC data acquisition from the plants, as it will be impractical to carry around, a device, through several hectares of plantation. Therefore, a simple autonomous rover was fabricated using DC motors connected to a microcontroller. A DC motor placed on top was used to move the E-nose towards the plants in left and right of the rover. The microcontroller was programmed to stop, move forward and turn the E-nose towards left or right as per the measurements of the field.

1-11

Authors: Meysam Madadi, Yuanyuan Tu, Aqleem Abbas

Lignocellulosic materials among the alternative energy resources are the most desirable resources that can be employed to produce cellulosic ethanol, but this materials due to physical and chemical structure arranges strong native recalcitrance and results in low yield of ethanol. Then, a proper pre-treatment method is required to overcome this challenge. Until now, different pre-treatment technologies have been established to enhance lignocellulosic digestibility. This paper widely describes the structure of lignocellulosic biomass and effective parameters in pre-treatment of lignocelluloses, such as cellulose crystallinity, accessible surface area, and protection by lignin and hemicellulose. In addition, an overview about the most important pre-treatment processes include physical, chemical, and biological are provided. Finally, we described about the inhibitors enzymes which produced from sugar degradation during pre-treatment process and the ways to control this inhibitors.

22-29

Authors: Gamal M. Abdel-Fattah, Elsayed E. Hafez, Mysaa E. Zaki, Nada M. Darwesh

Recombinant technology has crucial impact in therapy development. In microbial environment, Pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus produces alpha hemolysin protein. This protein is used as anticancer protein. In our study, alpha hemolysin toxin (hia) gene was isolated from S. aureus isolate. The isolate of S. aureus was isolated from blood samples of patients at Microbiology laboratory of Chlidren Mansoura Unversity Hospital. The purified PCR of hia gene of S. aureus strain was subjected to sequencing and cloning. Recombinant alpha hemolysin toxin cloning was detected by PCR, and α- hemolysin protein was purified by Sphadex. The purified α-protein was used as anticancer against HepG-2 cells (human Hepatocellular carcinoma), HCT-116 cells (human colon carcinoma), MCF-7 cells (human breast cancer cell line) and A-549 cells (human Lung cancer cell line).

37-41

Authors: Lok Bahadur Rana, Ram Prasad Mainali, Homan Regmi, Binayak Prasad RajBhandari

Green lacewing, Chrysoperla carnea Stephens (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) is the most effective polyphagous predator of different species of aphids and is commonly known as “aphid lion” . The experiment on feeding efficiency of green lacewing was studied in the laboratory of Entomology Division, NARC, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal from 21st , December 2015 to 26th, March 2016. The known number of predatory larva of green lacewings were fed with known number of seven different species of live aphid and frozen Corcyra eggs representing each treatment. The treatments were replicated four times. The predatory efficiency was calculated by counting the number of consumed host per day. The result revealed that the predatory efficiency of C. carnea larvae were increased from first to third instar and third instar were more voracious as compare to first two instars. It consumed significantly the highest rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica followed by Aphis craccivora and others aphid species, respectively. From this experiment, it is evident that the green lacewing is potent bio-agent against different aphid species and hence further research is required simultaneously in the farmer’s field conditions.

51-58

Authors: P. Roy, M.A.R. Sarkar, S.K. Paul

An experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during December 2014 to May 2015 to study the effect of integrated fertilizer and weed management on the yield and gain protein content of aromatic Boro rice (cv. BRRI dhan50). The experiment comprised six sets of fertilizer managements. 1. Negative control having no fertilizers and no manures, 2. Recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers (i.e. Urea, TSP, MoP, Gypsum, ZnSO4 @ 250, 120, 120, 100, 10 kg ha-1, respectively), 3. 50% of recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers + cowdung @ 5 t ha-1, 4. 75% of recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers + cowdung @ 5 t ha-1, 5. 50% of recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers + poultry manure @ 2.5 t ha-1, 6. 75% of recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers + poultry manure @ 2.5 t ha-1. Four weed managements 1. Control (no weeding), pre-emergence herbicide, 2. Panida 33 EC + one hand weeding at 35 DAT, 3. Post-emergence herbicide, Granite 240 SC + one hand weeding at 35 DAT and 4. Pre-emergence herbicide, Panida 33 EC + post-emergence herbicide, Granite 240 SC. The highest grain yield (6.40 t ha-1), grain protein content (7.79%) and benefit cost ratio (2.20) were obtained from 75% of recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers + poultry manure @ 2.5 t ha-1 with pre-emergence herbicide, Panida 33 EC @ 2.5 l ha-1 + post-emergence herbicide, Granite 240 SC @ 93.70 ml ha-1 while their corresponding lowest values were found inweedy check without fertilization. Weed infestation reduced 58.28% grain yield in control plots due to crop-weed competition compared to plot receiving pre-emergence herbicide + post-emergence herbicide. It can be concluded that 75% of recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers + poultry manure @ 2.5 t ha-1 combined with pre-emergence herbicide, Panida 33 EC @ 2.5 l ha-1 + post-emergence herbicide, Granite 240 SC @ 93.70 ml ha-1 may be used to obtain the highest grain yield and grain protein content of aromatic Boro rice (cv. BRRI dhan50).

66-71

Authors: Pushpa Karna

Karyotype, meiosis and pollen stainability of the taxa Bidens pilosa L. var. minor (Blume) Sherff and Xanthium strumarium L. collected from central part of Nepal was cytologically carried out. Results obtained from this investigation showed that chromosome number in somatic cells were recorded to be 2n=36 in Bidens pilosa and 2n=32 in Xanthium strumarium using aceto-orceine squash technique. Likewise haploid chromosome number in reproductive cells were recorded to be n=18 in Bidens pilosa and n=16 in Xanthium strumarium using aceto-carmine squash technique. The range of chromosome length found to be 0.4 to 2.1 µm in Bidens pilosa and 0.4 to 1.6 µm in Xanthium strumarium. Karyotype formula was M16+m2+sm14+st4 for Bidens pilosa and M18+ sm12+st2 for Xanthium strumarium. Based on the position of the centromeres, the chromosomes were categorized into four types with centromere at median point, median region, sub median region and terminal region in Bidens pilosa whereas three types, namely chromosomes with centromere at median point, sub median region and sub terminal region in Xanthium strumarium . In Bidens pilosa karyotype is asymmetrical and slightly asymmetrical karyotype is found in Xanthium strumarium. Absolute length recorded in Bidens pilosa were 19.2µm and 15.8. µm in Xanthium strumarium . Pollen stainability is found to be 94.0 percent in Bidens pilosa and 92.7 percent in Xanthium strumarium.

81-85

Authors: Hemanta Kumari Chaudhary, Mitesh Shrestha, Prakash Chaudhary, Bal Hari Poudel

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has become a serious worldwide threat including in Nepal. MDR-TB refers to the pathological condition whereby Mycobacterium tuberculosis becomes resistant to the first line of drug treatment i.e. rifampin and isoniazid. Resistance to rifampin (RIF) is mainly caused by the mutations in the rpoB gene which codes for the β-subunit of RNA polymerase. In this study, Amplification Refractory Mutation System – Polymerase Chain Reaction (ARMS – PCR) technique has been used to detect mutations in the rpoB gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Total DNA samples of 34 phenotypic MDR-TB were subjected to ARMS – PCR using three different codon specific primers (516, 526 and 531). These three codons occupy large portion of total mutation responsible for rifampin resistance. Out of the total DNA samples, all were bearing mutation in at least one of the three codons mentioned. Of those bearing mutation, the highest number had mutation in codon 531 (97.05 %) followed by codon 516 (17.64 %) and finally in codon 526 (11.76%) respectively. Hence, ARMS – PCR may be used as an alternative diagnostic technique for detection of rifampin resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains, especially for a developing country like Nepal.

91-97

Authors: Pramod Kumar Yadav

From the selected area of Dharan, Sunsari, Nepal, conventional and organic tomatoes were grown and tested with different parameters. Conventional tomatoes contained less value of Mg, Ca, K, Cu and Mn, but more value of Fe than organic tomatoes, where as Pb and Ni were not detected.The Zn was found to be same in both tomatoes sample. The sizes of conventional tomatoes were reportedly bigger than organic tomatoes. The viscosity and surface tension of organic tomatoes juice were reported to be higher than in conventional tomatoes juice. The refractive index value was found to be lower in conventional tomatoes juice than in organic tomatoes juice. The vitamin C value was found to be higher in conventional tomatoes juice than in organic tomatoes juice. The comparative study of color, juice containing capacity, storage capacity and firmness of organic and conventional tomatoes of Dharan,Sunsari,Nepal has also been included.

102-107

Authors: N.K. Yadav, S.K. Ghimire, S.M. Shrestha, B.P. Sah, A. Sarker, S.K. Sah

The crop yield of lentil is below attainable levels which are mainly attributed to pathological factors especially lentil wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lentis and Stemphylium blight caused by Stemphylium botryosum .Fusarium wilt is a potential threat to letil production not only in Nepal but worldwide that can cause complete crop failure. While stemphylium blight is recently being serious problem to Bangladesh, Nepal and India. In Nepal, multiple disease resistance work was not reported in lentil before the present study. Two trials separately using 185 genotypes were conducted to study the wilt and stem phylium blight were conducted. For wilt screening one hundred eighty five lentil lines including resistant check ILL7164 and susceptible check sindur, were sown in a previously developed wilt sick bed, while for stem phylium blight serarate trial was conducted in the research area of Regional Agricultural Research Station Nepalgunj using augmented design. Natural inoculums were also relied upon. Disease severity data were recorded. Results revealed that incase of Fusarium wilt sixteen genotypes were found resistant and twenty-three moderately resistant while in case of Stemphylium blight 87 resistant and 36 moderately resistant in field condition. It also indicated that 9 genotypes i.e RL-13,RL-21,ILL6468,ILL9996,\ILL6024,ILL6811,ILL7164,Arun,Maheswar bharti showed combined resistant to both the diseases.