Journal of Innovative Biology

5

Authors: Ranju Maharjan*, Resham Bahadur Thapa, Arvinda Srivastava, Sundar Tiwari, Rajendra Regmi

An experiment on the efficacy of different compounds-local, commercial and botanical pesticides, along with chemical pesticide were conducted by using RCBD design against cucurbit fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett), on cucumber with three replications and seven treatments under field conditions. Seven different treatments were used- i) Nimbecidine 0.03% @ 4 ml/litre of water; ii) Banana pulp bait (over ripe banana 500 g + 10 ml molasses + 10 g borax and 2.5 ml Malathion, replaced at 4 days interval); iii) Botanical pesticides 'Jholmol'-leaf extract with cow urine, fresh cow urine and spices (materials used-1 kg leaves of each: neem, tomato, titepati, sayapatri, chrysanthemum, gandhe jhar, bakaino and 200 gm of each garlic, chilli, ginger, salt and turmeric); iv) Neem extract (homemade-grinding of neem leaves and seed and extraction diluted with water in the ratio of 1:5); v) cow urine diluted with water in the ratio of 1:5 and sprayed; vi) Malathion @ 2ml/litre of water; and vii) control, only water sprayed. The highest marketable yield (17.35 mt/ha) was recorded in Jholmol treated plots, followed by Malathion and cow urine, respectively. Jholmol treated plots was found superior in terms of size, quality and self life of cucumber. Maximum Gross yield, better benefit cost ratio, the highest number of marketable fruit and the lowest damage yield were recorded in Jholmol treated plots as compared to all other treatments.

5

Authors: Mradula Gupta*, Somesh Sharma

For centuries, Probiotic and prebiotic foods have been taken, in the form of natural components of food, or as fermented foods. Today probiotics are gaining importance because of the numerous benefits, e.g. treating lactose intolerance, asymptomatic bacterial vaginosis, hypercholesterolemia, irritable bowel disease, cardiac diseases, atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis. The ability of probiotics to prevent diseases and improve health at all ages is increasing the market potential at a high rate. However, the development of successful probiotic products depends on proof of a probiotic effect as well as on the foods where high numbers of viable organisms survive at the time of consumption as well as at the time it reach to the colon. Probiotics are defined as “live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host’’. Most probiotics lie into the group of organisms’ known as lactic acid-producing bacteria. These are normally consumed in the form of fermented milks, yogurt, cereal or other fermented foods. Probiotics beneficially affect the host animal by creating those gut conditions that suppress harmful microorganisms and thus favoring the beneficial ones by improving its intestinal balance. Probiotics have been shown to maintain health by reducing risk diseases, possibly through a reduction in proliferation of pathogenic species. They also help in maintaining microbiota balance in the gut enhancing immune system and increasing resistance to infection.