INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LIFE SCIENCES

262-270

Authors: Nur IT, Hossain MK and Acharjee M

Fisheries sectores have been playing significant role in our economy. Therefore, proper maintenances of fish hatcheries is so important however fish hatcheries are now in tremendous threat due to the undesired changes in the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water. The motive of the current study was to determine the physicochemical and microbiolo-gical quality of fish hatcheries water along with their antibacterial effect on different environmental bacteria through conventional culture methods as well as agar well diffusion method. The physical conditions of the water (temperature, pH, electric conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, alkalinity, total hardness, turbidity, biological oxygen demand, ammonia, chlorine,) were in marginal value. The total viable count was estimated within the range of 1.8x105 to 5.6x105cfu/ml. The presence of specific pathogens (E.coli, Klebsiella spp., Vibrio spp., Staphylococcus spp. and Pseudomonas spp.) were confirmed through series of biochemical tests. Among the nine antibiotics, six were very effective against the isolated bacteria while the other isolates were found to be highly resistant against three (vancomycin, polymyxin, nalidixic acid) antibiotics. Interestingly, hatcheries water unveiled their antibacterial activity by producing clear zone of inhibition against the bacteria, which might be one of the issue to think about the pre-treatment procedure of the hatchery water. Proper monitoring and hygienic practice is obligatory for maintaining the quality of fish.

277-284

Authors: Birla, Saurabh and Sinha, Kamal Kishor

Among the various communities of Munger district in particular the ‘Saundik Vaishya’ community claim our attention. The community has been preferred owing to the existence of various endogamous groups within it. These groups are basically business oriented and have played important role in the social uplift of the district. Genetic distance (G2) measure is based on the identity of gene or allele between populations. Traditional population genetic analyses deal with the distribution of allele frequencies between and within populations. From these frequencies several measures of population structure can be estimated. One of the most widely used being the genetic distance measures. Genetic distance is the degree of genomic difference between species or populations that is measured by some numerical method. Genetic distance has already been established as one of the major tools for analyzing data on gene differentiation between populations or species. In this study six distance measures were investigated. The value of Genetic Distance, G2 was calculated by taking both (somatoscopic and genetic) characters together. The values for somatoscopic and genetic characters were added together and finally biological distances were calculated cumulatively. It was observed that the minimum genetic/biological distance was between Dhaneshwar and Kalal (0.66) and the maximum distance was between Kalal and Jaiswal (2.19). The study reveals that these populations are at an early stage of genetic differentiation. From the genetic distance analysis there is some evidence of close genetic relationship among the population groups belonging to same region, irrespective of their caste, language, job or any other affinities. In future, it would be interesting to study whether or not the inheritance of these traits or characters is dependent on one another. Our findings suggest that these data would be useful in medical diagnosis and genetic counselling.

291-298

Authors: Zade SB, Shinkhede MM, Nagwanshi AM and Shahare1 SS

Aquatic system is more vulnerable to the pollution as most of the toxicants are released into it. These toxicants cause harmful effects on the life of organism and create a toxic stress. Because of these stress, the physiology of the organism changes and as results of this all the metabolic activity alters. The biochemical markers are a good indicator of changes in the metabolic activity caused by the aquatic toxicants. These markers provide one of the most reliable means for assessing the stress caused by the toxicants. Keeping in view, the present study was undertaken to investigate the effects of 4-nonylphenol (4-NP) on the biochemical parameters of African cat fish, Clarias gariepinus. The results of the present study showed that there was decrease in the level of protein and cholesterol in the fishes exposed to different concentrations 4-NP for 10 days as compared to the control. Based on the results it can be concluded that the 4-NP alters the metabolic activity of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) in response to stress caused by the 4-NP.

308-316

Authors: Tiwari Amit and Pradhan Swapnil*

Melanin is a complex, diverse, negatively charged, hydrophobic, amorphous and high molecular weight hetero-polymeric dark brown photosynthetic pigment synthesized by living organisms including animals, humans, and microorganisms in the course of oxidative polymerization of phenolic compounds. In this study, melanin production was carried out by Pseudomonas sp. which was isolated from soil. After production, Melanin was extracted by acid hydrolysis and characterized based on its solubility in different solvents where it was found to be water-soluble (a unique characteristic of melanin); by TLC and by NMR. After the characterization of melanin, melanin nanoparticles were formed by sonication and then characterized and evaluated for antimicrobial and antioxidative properties. The nanoparticle was found to be of discrete sizes. Melanin nanoparticles showed strong antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive organisms and also higher antioxidative properties than melanin. Melanin Nanoparticles were found to disrupt formed biofilm of Staphylococcus aureus by 67.39%. Thus, Melanin nanoparticles may find their utility as a coating material in medical implants and as packaging material in food products against oxidation and bacterial contamination.

327-341

Authors: Jiya Verma and Chauhan RS*

COVID-19 is a public health emergency of international concern. The outbreak of the disease began as pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan, China. It is a virus induced respiratory illness caused by SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2). Close genetic similarity with the bat SARS- like coronavirus RaTG13 and the presence of high degree of similarity between ACE-2 receptors among various animals and humans indicate its likely origin from bats. Person to person contact was also identified. There is no clear evidence of vertical transmission of the virus yet, though its presence is detected in semen of affected individuals. Symptoms appear 2 to 14 days post- exposure and include dyspnoea, coughing, sore throat, fever, repeated shaking with chills, myalgia and anosmia. In some cases, diarrhoea, cutaneous manifestations such as chilblain-like foot lesions have also been reported. Coagulopathy is most probably a consequence of massive inflammatory response and may contribute to the occurrence of thrombosis. The severity of the disease ranges from very mild to severe depending upon the age, immune status and presence of comorbidities. In severe disease, elevated serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines like Interleukin-1, Interleukin-6, Interleukin-12, Interferon-gamma and TGF- beta along with increased level of chemokines are observed. Histopathological examination revealed pulmonary edema along with formation of hyaline membrane and monocytosis. Liver biopsy revealed moderate microvesicular steatosis. Blood examination showed decreased number of CD4 and CD8 cells. Animal trials have shown that ferrets and cats are susceptible to the disease while dogs, ducks, pigs and chickens are not. The results of Thin slice Computed Tomography showed multifocal ground glass opacities. Treatment is not specific. Hydroxychloroquine led to the reduction of viral load. On 1st May, 2020, FDA agreed for Emergency Usage Authorization for the use of Remdesivir as it showed promising results in cell culture, animal models as well as in human trials by decreasing the mortality. Maintenance of hand hygiene and proper cough hygiene is essential. Cowpathy is known to have multiple health restoring properties for boosting immunity and bioenhancer activity, which can also be utilized for prevention and control of coronavirus spread in population. AYUSH ministry of India has reported the beneficial effects of Sanshamani vati, ayurvedic concoction and homeopathic medicine Arsenicum album and initiated the clinical trial studies on Ashwagandha, Pipali,Yashtimadhu, Guduchi and Ayush-64 combination of herbs. Therefore, preventive and control measures are a must to minimize health losses and decrease the burden on health care system. Keywords:

355-371

Authors: Singh Tarun Kumar, Swain Saroj Kumar and Guru Bhikari Charan

The stretch of the Mahanadi River under the present study was divided into seven study regions for the purpose of sample collection to assess the fish diversity. The sampling sites on the stretch of the Mahanadi River were between upstream in Sambalpur and downstream in Jagatsinghpur in the State of Odisha. Site selections were based on the locality where the fishers’ community are residing and actively participating in the fishing activity. Standard procedure and methods were followed during sampling and data collection and data analysis. The study recorded 57 fish species belonging to 36 genera,19 families and 7 orders from the seven regions along the stretch of the Mahanadi River. The analysis of compilation of the samples in the study further revealed that Cyprinidae was the most abundant family contributing 35% of the total species belonging to different families recorded from study region. It is observed from the pattern of distribution of species that the higher species richness is found in the regions where water dams, barrages or reservoirs are formed. Fish species like Parambassis lala (Ham.), Parambassis ranga (Ham.), Chanda nama (Ham.), Amblypharyngodon mola (Ham.), Danio devario (Ham-Buch.), Osteobrama cotio (Ham.), Puntius sophore (Ham.), Puntius ticto (Ham.), Rasbora daniconius (Ham.), Glossogobius giuris (Ham.) and Notopterus notopterus (Pallas) etc. documented good abundance in the study regions. The threat status of these species suggested that at least 26 % of fish fauna is threatened either being by Vulnerable or Near Threatened. There is a need to adopt requisite biodiversity conservation measures to protect the fish diversity of the Mahanadi river in order to conserve the natures’ creation.

383-390

Authors: Vigneshwari S and Gokula V

Blue swimmer crab Portunus pelagicus is an economically valuable species found along the southeast coast of India. The present study examines the proximate composition analysis (total protein, carbohydrate, lipid, moisture and ash content) of fresh meat found in body, claw, and leg and the exoskeleton (carapace) for male, female, berried crabs separately collected from Mimisal coast, Tamil Nadu, India. The meat yield was the highest in male body (12.13%) and lowest in berried leg (2.53%). The nutrients were generally found more in body meat followed by claw meat, and leg meat. Among the macronutrients, protein was found maximum in male body meat (47.05%) while lipid was in berried body meat (10.02%). Carbohydrates and ash were found maximum in female body meat (3.58% and 13.2% respectively). Moisture content was more in male body meat (80.5%). Similarly, in the exoskeleton carapace, protein was found more in male (10.41%) while lipids in berried crabs (7.20%). Ash and carbohydrate were more in female (3.1% and 2.06% respectively), while moisture was more in male (36.1%). There were significant differences among male, female and berried crabs in the proximate composition of fresh meat and exoskeleton. Hence, it may be concluded that in terms of nutritional value, male and female crabs may be considered more suitable than the berried for consumers.

404-410

Authors: Marathe Vishal R and *Deshmukh Muzammil M

Ethno-veterinary medicine is a system which is based on folk beliefs, traditional knowledge, skills, methods, and practices used for curing diseases and maintaining health of animals. The present study deals with the documentation of novel Ethno-veterinary practices from Hadgaon taluka belonging to Nanded district. The 29 ethno-veterinary medicinal plants belonging to 25 families have been recorded against 31 livestock diseases. These plant based medicines are readily available and found effective against various domestic animal diseases. The livestock plays an important role in the life of farmer and tribal people.

417-421

Authors: Sanjay Kotwal and K.K. Sharma

Considering ecological and economical values of the crabs and the scarcity of information with respect to Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the present study was undertaken to investigate crab habitations in the Jammu region of the Union territory. The study involved investigation of species diversity along with taxonomic position, morphometric characteristics and distribution. The present communication recorded 2 species of freshwater crabs belonging to 2 genera and 2 families.

427-432

Authors: Pranjali Rangari and Sneha Khadse

The present study deals with the antimicrobial effect of some leafy vegetables that is a comparative study of leafy vegetables. The plant samples were collected from local vegetables vendors. They were categorized as Seasonal (Monsoon) plants- Amaranth leaves (chawlai ), spinach, fenugreek leaves( methi), daikon leaves ( muli). The method of agar well diffusion method was used for checking the antimicrobial activities of test samples. Each test organism was grown by inoculating the bacterial culture into fresh sterile Nutrient media and incubating overnight at 37 degree centigrade. These cultured organisms were then used for the study. The effective and determinative anti-microbial activity against the selected bacterial strains (Escherichia coli,, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa,Klebsiella pneumonia) was extracted with aqueous and acetone.The acetone extract was found more active against all the test bacterial strains than hot water extract.

437-440

Authors: Kadam MS, Jaiswal NR and Bansode MU

Protein being an importance constituent of animal tissues, has a main role in cell metabolism. Many species of fish are consumed as food in virtually all regions around the world. Fish has been an important source of protein and other nutrient’s for humans throughout history. Intermediate technology publication published in 1992 states that “Fish provides a good source of high quality protein and contains many vitamins and minerals.” Animal proteins which include milk, fish, meat and egg are essentially required for nutritionally balanced diet’s which are available from diverse food commodities. More than two third of the protein supply in fish was contributed by freshwater fishes. Three different fish species are selected for the study of protein from local fish market for the present estimation. There is significant difference in total protein content of body muscles of Notopterus notopterus, Cyprinus carpio and Mystus seenghala.

444-448

Authors: Manju Jain and Divya Saxena

Biodiversity refers to the variety of flora and fauna in a given region on earth as a whole. The greater the variety of flora and fauna, the better it is for the survival of different species. This is because it helps in the process of food chain. It is the degree of variations of life forms and considered at three main levels including species diversity, genetic diversity and ecosystem diversity. The advancement in technology and various other activities such as industrialization, deforestation, growing pollution, global warming and the ever growing population of human beings are some of the reasons for lowered biodiversity. We are losing numerous species of plants, animals, marine creatures, insects and other organisms each year. Biodiversity conservation is of global concern which requires a holistic approach. One of the tools used to enhance biodiversity is biotechnology. Biotechnological tools are proving valuable for effective and efficient conservation efforts of agricultural plant genetic resources and presently used for the conservation, evaluation, and utilization of biodiversity particularly for important crops. It covers a variety of techniques and applications that allow changes and improvements in living organisms to provide desirable products for man’s use. It provides new options for collection, multiplication and short- to long-term conservation of biodiversity, using in vitro culture techniques. Biotechnology including tissue culture, establishment of DNA banks, cryopreservation, micropropagation, somatic embryogenesis, conventional breeding, transgenic crops, and genomics, are all quite useful for conserving and propagating biodiversity in many unique ways.

453-456

Authors: Walhe Rajan, Deshmukh Kshitij, Salunke Bipinchandra

Bacteria show different behavior in diverse environments. Within these environments the organisms follow specific physiology. The change in bacterial behavior can occur by interacting with the host. They are able to survive under harsh conditions. They show enormous metabolic versatility specific to the environment, which is reflected in different genomics and proteomics studies. It is important to understand the multi-drug resistance (MDR) pattern in bacteria which pose a global threat today, to know the behavioral patterns of the organisms under varied conditions that can decipher the exact mechanism of eliciting change in behavior. In this review, we are trying to discuss bacterial behavior under different environmental conditions.

465-473

Authors: Rakhi Uchchariya and Dushyant Kumar Sharma

Pagara dam is situated on Asan river at about 15 Km from Jaura town of Morena District of Madhya Pradesh. The dam was constructed for irrigation of the nearby villages. But, at present, the water of the dam is also used for drinking purpose. The water of the dam is also used for fish culture by fishery department and local fishermen. Fish diversity of water bodies depends on various factors such as geographical position, varied aquatic ecological conditions and health of aquatic bodies. The present work was undertaken to study of fish diversity of Pagara reservoir. Total twenty one (21) fish species were recorded during the study. The identified fishes belonged to major carp, minor carp, cat fish and local fishes. All fish were fresh water fish. The order Cypriniformes was the most dominant one.

15-27

Authors: Lamenew Fenta, Habtamu Mekonnen, Tsegaye Gashaw

Crop protection is vital to maintain high productivity and high quality of crops. Over the past years, people used different fungicides, herbicides and good agronomical practices to control fungal diseases and pests to increase productivity. However, extensive use of chemicals in controlling pests and diseases resulted in negative impacts on the environment, producing inferior quality and harming consumer health. In recent times, diverse approaches are being used to manage a variety of pathogens for control of plant diseases. Biological control is the alternative approach for disease management that is eco-friendly and reduces the amount of human contact with harmful chemicals and their residues. A variety of biocontrol agents including fungi and bacteria have been identified; In this regard, yeast and trichoderma species are the most researched microbes in biocontrol research area. But, despite the presence of many reports on biocontrol, practicability of the biocontrols requires effective adoption and a better understanding of the intricate interactions among the pathogen, plants and environment towards sustainable agriculture. To this end, this review attempts to find and compile previous works done on the role of trichoderma and yeast as a biocontrol agent against postharvest fungal pathogens. Moreover, this review analyzes the mechanisms of biocontrol activity, their means of application and future prospects on the use biogents and the challenges that encounter during the commercialization process.

40-50

Authors: Kibrom Fisseha, Firew Mekbib and Gezahegn Bogale

Low-moisture availability is one of the major causes for grain yield reduction in dry land areas. Twenty-four open pollinated maize genotypes were evaluated in a randomized complete block design at the main research station of Jigjiga Pastoral and Agricultural Research Centre to assess performance, variability and heritabilities of important traits. The recorded range and mean performances as well as significant genotypic and phenotypic variances for most of the tested traits indicated the existence of considerable amount of variability among the genotypes. Grain yield had higher genetic and phenotypic coefficient of variation coupled with the highest genetic advance as percent of mean (56.5%). Genotypes (VP05147, ZM523 and VP0713) gave the highest grain yield with promising expression in other desirable traits. Estimates of the broad-sense heritability were higher for grain yield (72.58) and other yield component traits. However, days to tasseling, anthesis, silking, maturity, anthesis-silking interval, leaf area index, plant and ear height demonstrated below 40%. In general, the observed differences in performances, variability and heritabilities in the tested traits of the populations confirmed possibility to increase maize productivity in target area through direct use and/or the best one improvement or utilizing their diversity as germplasm source for development of superior inbred-lines.

59-69

Authors: Hintsa Meresa and Yemane Tsehaye

Groundnut is an important oil and protein crop in Ethiopia. Abergelle is one of the dryland part of Ethiopia that is agro ecological potential to groundnut production. Management practice and Lake of improved varieties are a major limitation for low yield and seed quality. Due to this intervention, field experiment was implementing at Sheka Tekli, dry land area of Abergelle, in 2017/2018 cropping season to investigate the interaction effect of phosphorus with foliar zinc application on groundnut genotypes to seed yield and quality traits. The design is arranged in split plot assign with three replications. The treatments are consisted of three groundnut genotypes (ICGV00308, ICGV 91114 and sedi) including the standard check (Sedi) as main plot and four interaction (P with Zn) fertilizer level at 0kg (control), (10kgP/ha +0.50 gZn/L), (20kgP/ha + 1gZn/L,)( 30kg P/ha + 1.5 gZn/L) as sub plot was used. Nutritional quality of the crop: crude protein content (%) and fat (%) and seed yield significantly affected by interaction effect of the combine fertilizer PZn and genotypes. Hence, the highest seed yield (2529kg/ha), crude protein content (37.79%) and net return (43,519.34) from (30 kgP/ha+1.5gZn/L) with standard check (sedi) variety could be conclude to high seed yield, protein quality and profitability advantage (11.1%) of groundnut production compare to the varieties without fertilization. Whereas the highest percentage of fat (43.95) was extracted from the genotype ICGV00308 with (30 kgP/ha+1.5gZn/L).The main effect of genotypes revealed significance influence on the aspergillus infection (35%) from the standard check sedi variety than the new genotypes. Using this study as a tool, further research will be conduct to increase yield of the crop.

77-82

Authors: Nongrum Raffealla and Bhuyan Rabindra Nath

The scale morphology has been studied using Scanning Electron Microscope in two species of genus Neolissochilus viz. N. hexastichus and N. hexagonolepis to find out differences in scale structure and species specificity between the species. The Scanning Electron Micrograph of both the species showed the general morphological structure of a cycloid scale. Differences is more prominent in the presence of a pore in the anterior origin of the lateral line canal, the shape and distribution of tubercles, posterior filed at the base of the lateral line canal and the pattern of central regeneration pattern. Shapes of circuli, structure of lepidonts are additional distinctive tools in this comparative study. All these characteristics can be used as distinctive species specificity tool in these particular species of fishes.

93-101

Authors: Kishore Dhara, Shubhajit Saha, Asish Kumar Panigrahi, Nimai Chandra Saha

Although the freshwater oligochaete, Branchiura sowerbyi Beddard, 1892 (Oligochaeta: Naididae: Rhyacodrilinae) has been used as an indicator organism to monitor aquatic pollution, the data on the toxic effects of the grey list metal, zinc on this worm is remained scanty. The present study was undertaken to determine the sensitivity of the worm, B. sowerbyi to zinc on the basis of 24, 48, 72 and 96h lethal concentrations (LC1, 5, 10, 15, 50, 85, 90, 95, 99) and their behavioural responses. The 96h LC50 value of zinc with 95% confidence limit to the worm was recorded as 45.48 (41.32-49.33) mg/l. The rate of mortality of the worm was significantly increased (p<0.05) with increasing concentrations and time of exposure (24, 48, 72 and 96h). The study further focussed on estimation of the toxicity factor at different time scale and possible safe level of zinc to the worm to strengthen the base line data that could be used to set up local water quality criteria (WQC) for the toxicant. The worms showed behavioural changes like clumping tendency, movement and mucous secretion with increasing concentration of the toxicant and the progress of time. The findings can be used in determination of ecological risk assessment for the worm to zinc toxicity as well as to understand its mode of action in the light of their ethological changes.