International Journal of Applied Sciences and Biotechnology

367-372

Authors: Bishnu Prasad Neupane, Jiban Shrestha

This review paper highlights scenario of entomological research in grain legumes in Nepal into headings of the monitoring, survey and surveillance, insect pest management, existing problem and future strategies. A survey study on yield loss assessment of chickpea due to Helicoverpa pod borer under field condition has been recorded up to 75% in the year 1996-1998 at Banke and Bardiya district. While monitored Helicoverpa armigera through pheromone trap, during the 2nd week of March, peak catches of 91 male moths were recorded at Rampur, while it was the maximum (42 male moths) during the 3rd week of March. Synthetic pyrethroids, deltamethrin, fenvalerate and cypermethrin used at 0.01% concentration (a.i.), were effective in controlling the chickpea pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera Hubner. Genotypes NCH-18, NCH -31, NCH-138 and ICC 3075 WR were found resistant. Ripcord 10%@0.05% was found to be superior and effective chemical insecticides to control stem fly and soybean hairy caterpillar. The late sowing date December, 10 showed significantly higher percentage of chickpea pod borer damage with lower grain yield. Inter crops combinations of Chickpea +wheat (2:1) ratio was found effective against Helicoverpa armigera damage (1.2%) followed by chickpea+barley (2.36%) and Chickpea+linseed (2:1) ratio (3.7%). Bakaino (Melia azederach L.) was identified as the best indigenous pesticides to check the normal growth of hairy caterpillar (Spilarctia casigneta kollar) under laboratory condition. Metarhizium anisopliae was found effective for the management of Helicoverpa armigera that caused maximum mortality (94.67%), infection (45.33%) within 7.49 days (LT50). Similarly, Beauveria bassiana caused maximum mortality (98.67%), infection (80.00%) with the least LT50 value (5 days). Crop sprayed with HaNPV had the lowest pod damage (0.3%) and the highest in Racer (2.2%). This review work provided a lot of information to conduct entomological research activity conducted in grain legumes and opens the door for future research and strategy.

381-386

Authors: Jignasha G Patel, J.I. Nirmal Kumar, Shamiyan R Khan

The study was aimed to determine the chronic toxicity of Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon – Anthracene in response to pigments and metabolic study on three different cyanobacterial species such as Synechocystis sp., Anabaena fertilissima, and Nostoc muscorum. Test organisms were treated at different doses and encountered LC50/Mean Lethal Concentration (at which 50% lethality/ growth reduction occur) separately at 7.0 ppm for Synechocystis sp, 5.0 ppm for Anabaena fertilissima and 1.5 ppm for Nostoc muscorum. The influence of anthracene on pigments, metabolites and enzymes was carried out. The test doses caused concentration dependent and decreased pigments like carotenoids and phycobilliproteins. Depletion of carbohydrate by 65 to 80% and proteins by 58 to 78% was encountered with rise in Anthracene concentrations after 16th day exposure in case of Synechocystis sp however, phenols were found to raise by 26 to 37% with increased anthracene concentrations. Similar trend also observed in other two tested blue green algae. Thus the Synechocystis sp.is more tolerant to anthracene treatments as compare to Anabaena fertillissima but Nostoc muscorum showed highest sensitivity to anthracene.

392-397

Authors: Hriush Adhikari, Sangam Ghimire, Binod Khatri, Yuvraj K.C.

Background and Aim: In Nepal not much of study of Thermophilic area and Thermophiles have been done. Thermophilic bacteria are less studied but are important group of microorganisms due to their ability to produce industrially important enzymes. Methods: In this study, thermophilic bacteria were isolated from hot spring of Bhurung, Nepal. Wide range of bacteria that could grow at high temperatures and tolerate extreme temperature were characterized by morphology, biochemistry and sequencing of its 16S rRNA gene sequence. The isolates were screened for production of extracellular enzymes like protease, amylase, lipase, cellulase, caseinase, pectinase and xylanase activity. Phylogenetic tree construction and G+C content evaluation of the isolate was also studied. Results: 15 isolates with ability to tolerate high temperatures were identified as Bacillus sp. by morphology, biochemistry and sequencing of its 16S rRNA gene sequence. BLAST search analysis of the sequence was performed and result showed maximum identity (99% similarity) with Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus pumilus. Isolated strains exhibited considerable amount of extracellular exozymes activity. Phylogenetic analysis of the isolates revealed the relatedness among the species. The G+C content of each species was also evaluated and was found to be in range of 54.87 to 55.54%. Conclusion: The study of isolates confirmed that the isolated Bacillus sp. to be a true thermophile and could be a source of various thermostable exozymes which can be exploited for pharmaceutical and industrials applications. Much detailed study of the isolates can

402-407

Authors: Dipak Kathayat, Swoyam P. Shrestha, Santosh Dhakal, Laxman Ghimire, Mahesh K.C.

A cross-sectional study was conducted on four major pig raising districts of eastern and mid-western region of Nepal from February to May 2014 to find out the seroprevalence of Trichinella spp. A total of 184 serum samples of pigs were collected and antibodies against trichinella were detected using ID screen trichinella indirect multi- species ELISA kit. The study revealed prevalence rate of 3.8% and difference in prevalence rate according to age, sex, breed, rearing system, ecozone, region & district were statistically insignificant (P>0.05) as analysed by Chi-square test using PHStat version 2.5 and Fisher’s exact test. This study confirms that antibodies of Trichinella spp. are circulating in pigs of Nepal. Further, the knowledge, attitude and practices survey of meat borne helminthic zoonoses was conducted among 50 pig raisers and pork consumers by face to face interview using a semi-structure questionnaire. This survey concludes that although there were significant portion of the respondents aware of meat borne helminthic zoonoses but there were still a noticeable proportion of respondents who didn’t have a proper knowledge that upsurge public health risks. Moreover, present-day situation of their pig raising practices & pork consumption system possess them to a menace of public health zoonoses. be done for enhancing the potential of isolates.

417-422

Authors: Hari Kumar Prasai, Jiban Shrestha

Coordinated Varietal Trial (CVT) and Advanced Varietal Trial (AVT) of wheat were conducted at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Doti during the year 2012 and 2013. Microplot Yield Trial (MPYT) were conducted during the year 2013. Total 20 genotypes were included in CVT experiment of both years. Although the difference in grain yield due to genotypes was not found significant during the year 2012, NL 1144 recorded the highest grain yield (4309 kg/ha) followed by NL 1140 (4295 kg/ha) and NL 1147 (4165 kg/ha) respectively. But in the year 2013, NL 1097 produced the highest grain yield (4641 kg/ha) followed by NL 1135 (4383 kg/ha) and NL 1164 (4283 kg/ha) respectively. Statistically, the difference in grain yield due to genotypes was not found significant in the year 2013. Combined analysis over years was also carried out. Out of 20, only 10 genotypes were included in the CVT experiment, which were found similar in both years. Genotypes NL 1097 (4079 kg/ha), NL 1140 (3814 kg/ha) and NL 1093 (3773 kg/ha) were found high yielding genotypes for river basin agro-environment of far western hills. Statistically, effect of year in tested characters was found significant whereas treatment effect was observed non-significant. Similarly, 20 genotypes of wheat were included in AVT of wheat during the year 2012 and 2013. Out of the genotypes included in AVT during the year 2012, KISKADEE No.1recorded the highest grain yield (3824 kg/ha) followed by CHEWINK No. 1 (3643 kg/ha) and WK 2120 (3583 kg/ha). Statistically all the tested characters except grain yield were found significantly different due to genotypes. But in the same experiment of the year 2013, WK 2412 genotype recorded the highest grain yield (4407 kg/ha) followed by WK 2411 (4329 kg/ha) and Munal-1 (4054 kg/ha). Statistically the difference in grain yield and other tested characters were found significantly different. Due to dissimilarity in the tested genotypes we could not carry-out the combined analysis over years. Total 30 genotypes were included in the MPYT experiment of the year 2013. Genotype WK 2272 recorded the highest grain yield (6080 kg/ha) followed by the genotypes WK 2274 (5152 kg/ha) and WK 2278 (4480 kg/ha) respectively. Statistically, the difference in grain yield and other tested characters were found significantly different due

427-430

Authors: Moti Lal, Shiv Kumar Verma, Vipin Mishra, Mira Debnath

An amylolytic strain was collected from rotten potato and its activity evaluated. The isolated strain was cultivated for amylase production in shake flasks at 35±2oC and the fermentation pattern was studied. Optimum temperature for maximum enzyme synthesis was observed at 35°C, when initial pH of fermentation medium was adjusted to 5.5. Maximum extracellular amylase activity of 7.9 U/mL and the maximum intracellular activity of 320 U/mL was recorded. Although maximum biomass was present at 12.6 g/L but highest growth rate was observed between 08 to 40h with maximum at 36h. The extracellular amylase present in the broth was partially purified with an overall yield of 44% through purification procedure of ammonium sulphate precipitation. After completed extraction and partial purification and stabilization, the stability of enzyme was observed in a range of temperature and pH between 60°C-90°C and 2-8 pH respectively. Maximum enzyme activity was demonstrated at 90°C, and pH of 5.5 and 6.5. The thermo stability of the amylases of this Bacillus species was comparable to that of amylases from other microbial sources.

434-438

Authors: Mrinalini Damle, Nilam Dalavi

Ellagic and Gallic acid are main phytoconstituents of S.cumini seeds. These are the phenolic compounds. An approach for the stress degradation was successfully applied for the development of stability indicating HPLC method for the determination of Ellagic and Gallic acid. Sample was resolved on a Hypersil C18 (250*4.6 mm particle size 5?) column. The mobile phase consisted of 1% OPA and ACN and in the ratio of 70:30 v/v which was sonicated to degas and delivered at a flow rate of 1ml/min at ambient temperature. The retention time of Ellagic acid and Gallic acid was 3.1±0.05 & 4.1±0.05 minutes. Studies were performed using an HPLC system equipped with a UV detector; the response was monitored at 271nm. The method is specific to Ellagic and Gallic acid; it is able to resolve the peak from ethanolic extract of s.cumini seeds and formulation. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range of 8-24 ?g/ml (r2=0.997, 0.998 resp). The limit of detection for Ellagic acid and Gallic acid was found to be 0.25?g/ml, 0.15?g/ml resp. and the quantification limit was about 0.75?g/m, 0.49?g/ml. The accuracy of the method was established based on the recovery studies. The markers were subjected to acid, base, neutral hydrolysis, oxidation, thermal degradation and photolysis. The method was successfully validated according to ICH guidelines Q2 (R1).

443-445

Authors: M. Poudel, H.K. Paudel, B.P. Yadav

The research was conducted under RCBD with three replication to study the inter relationships among traits affecting yield and its affecting character at National Maize Research Programme (NMRP), Rampur, Nepal in 2013. The eleven inbreeds line of maize variety at winter season in 2013 were evaluated for estimation yield and its affecting character. For efficient selection of grain yield, it is necessary to know relation of yield of maize and its morphological traits which are influencing on the grain yield. One of the objectives of this paper was to determine interrelationship between traits and the yields. Correlation coefficients among traits showed that yield was positively and highly significantly related with number of kernel rows per ear (0.788), number of kernels per row(0.571), ear girth(0.516), plant height(0.498), hundreds kernels weights(0.444) and significantly related with other character. .Number of Kernels rows per ear, number of kernels per row, plant height could be the important selection criteria in improving open pollinated maize varieties for high grain yield.

452-458

Authors: Attiya Mohamedin, Magdy Michel, Marwa Tolba

Ninety ?Koshari? meals samples were collected from some restaurants and street vendors located in six public quarters in central Cairo, to determine the microbiological quality of them directly after cooking and preparing and after 4 & 8 hrs of storage at room temperature. These samples examined for aerobic bacteria, Esherichia coli and coagulase positive Staphylococci to conduct a preliminary microbial risk assessment for them in” koshari “meals. According to the CDPH (2009) only 53 samples (59%) were of satisfactory microbiological quality for Aerobic plate count (APC) and 81 samples (90%) were positive for E. coli cells and 58% of them (47 samples) are acceptable quality. About coagulase positive S. aureus, 28 samples (31.1 %) were positive and only 60.7% of them (17 samples) of satisfactory microbiological quality.Moreover, the percentage of unacceptable microbiological quality samples tested (potentially hazardous) reached to 36 samples (40%), 29 samples (32.2%), and 17 samples (18.9%) for APC, E. coli and S. aureus respectively, after 8 hrs of storage at room temperature. This study reveals that “Koshari” meals sold on the public areas are unwholesome and could be a potential source of food-borne bacteria pathogens if not properly handled. Option might be to suggest that the product should be consumed within short time of purchase in these places. Improvements in processing and handling are required and the need of food-borne bacteria disease surveillance indicated. In addition, it was evident that the Egyptian Food Code needed new legal revisions.

464-473

Authors: Suresh Kumar Wagle, Neeta Pradhan, Madhav Kumar Shrestha

Asala or snow trout (Schizothorax richardsonii, Cyprinidae), one of highly valued freshwater fish of Transhimalayan regions, is distributed in upper reaches of all major river systems of Nepal. Morphometric diversification between six river populations of S. richardsonii was examined to identify intraspecific unit for enabling better management of the resources. Significant differences were observed in 17 measured morphometric characters of 207 specimens among the six river populations. Multivariate analysis of variance (Wilks' test) indicated a significant difference for mean vectors of mophometric measurements (? =0.012, F85, 731 = 19.999, P<0.0001) among populations. Principal component and discriminant functions (DFs) analysis of morphometric measurements revealed high seperation of the stocks. The analysis showed that most of the shape and size variation among these populations occurs in the head region, body depth and fin length. Apparent morphometric divergence among S. richardsonii samples showed the existence of three differentiated groups viz., the Indrawati and Khudi populations, the Melamchi and Phalaku Rivers, and the Sabha and Tadi River populations of Nepal. The results of this study may be useful in fisheries management and potential exploitation of this species in coldwater aquaculture.

479-482

Authors: Aruna C. Shanmugavadivu, T. Deepika, R. Hemamalini, G. Madhusudhanan, K. Indhu, N.C. Ramesh Babu

The p53 expression on Gliomas are used for subtyping of tumours. The samples were extracted from the paraffin embedded tissue blocks. The Grade IV and Grade II were tested by IHC (ImmunoHistoChemistry) staining procedures. The primary antibody used was p53. It was found that there is a high expression of p53 in Grade IV (82%) was Score 3 and low expression p53 in Grade II (18%) in which the score was 1. This is in contrast to previous studies of subtyping of Gliomas where, classical types have low expression of p53 and proneural type have high expression of p53. This subtyping was based on score 0 - 3. Score 0 has no positive nuclei, Score 1 has 10% positive nuclei, Score 2 has 10 -30% positive nuclei while score 3 has >30% of positive nucleus.

490-503

Authors: Ravi Gedela, Naga Sai Babu Makke, Dinesh Karra

We have studied insilico on evolutionary uniqueness of phytoene synthase, which is one of the regulatory enzymes of ?-carotene synthesis in Neurospora crassa. This study reveals multiple sequence alignments showed high sequences with similarity within a species of bacteria, fungi and higher plants. This results designate interestingly between species of bacteria-fungi, fungi-plant, and among the species of bacteria-fungi-plant, showed tremendously less sequence with similarity, except bacteria-plant (high sequence with similarity) respectively. In Phylogenetics tree analysis showed within species of bacteria, fungi and plant 91%, 92% and 99% homology. Whereas in between species of bacteria-fungi, bacteria-plant, fungi-plant, and among the species bacteria-fungi-plant showed 99%, 96%, 100%, and 91%-99% homology respectively. N. crassa phytoene synthase enzyme encode (Isoprenoid Biosynthesis enzymes, Class 1) protein size 610aa, Cyanobacteria phytoene encode (Isoprenoid Biosynthesis enzymes, Class 1) protein size 310aa, and Oryza sativa Indica phytoene synthase 1 (chloroplast), (Isoprenoid Biosynthesis enzymes, Class 1) encode protein size 421aa (e- value 0.0, 0.0 and 0.0; identity 100%, 100% and 100%; Max.score:1238, 644 and 870) respectively. We studied insilico on basis of an evolutionary Endosymbiotic theory; a bacterium is the ancestors to eukaryotes.

513-519

Authors: Binod Prasad Luitel, Bhim Bahadur Khatri, Duryodhan Choudhary, Bishnu Prasad Paudel, Sung Jung-Sook, On- Sook Hur, Hyung Jin Baek, Ko Ho Cheol, Ryu Kyoung Yul

This experiment was conducted to assess the genotypic variation for the growth, yield and yield components of potato grown under drought and irrigated conditions at Hattiban Research Farm, Khumaltar during the summer cropping season (Feb.-May) of the two consecutive years (2013 and 2014). The results revealed that canopy cover, stem height and number of leavers were more sensitive to drought and the effect was more pronounced in early cultivar Desiree. Stem height and leaf number of plant were more (36% and 45%, respectively) reduced in Desiree than other genotypes. Mean tuber number decreased by 55% under drought condition. Drought stress reduced marketable tuber number by 79% as compared to irrigated treatment. Drought stress reduced the marketable tuber yield from 70% to 87%. The clones CIP 392242.25 and LBr-40 had relatively lower yield loss, and less drought susceptibility index under drought indicating their tolerance to drought in field condition. Further experiment is recommended to study the physiological parameters of these genotypes under different water and soil conditions.

528-536

Authors: Yehia A. Osman, Waled M. El-Senousy, Adel A. El-Morsi, Mohammed K. Rashed

The fecal bacteria have been taken as the gold standard for water industry. However, the spread of viral gastroenteritis due to drinking water have given a momentum to a recent push by microbiologists to consider viruses as important pollution indicator as fecal bacteria. Therefore, we designed a study to evaluate the efficiency of two types of water purification systems: the traditional water treatment plant and two types compact units. Both systems produced drinking waters free of bacteria, chemical contaminants and mostly viruses free. However, recent advances in molecular biology techniques, such as RT-PCR have detected Rotaviruses in chlorinated drinking waters resulted from all systems. The frequency of Rotaviruses since October 2010 till September 2012 in Shark El-Mansoura WTP in drinking water samples was 12.5% similar to raw water. While the compact unit at Depo Awam (American design) the frequency of Rotavirus was 16.6% in both raw and drinking water samples. On the other hand the virus frequency in the raw and drinking water sample in El-Danabik unit (Egyptian design) were 12.5% and 4.16% respectively. Signifying failure of the chlorination process in removing viruses completely. However, detection of Rotavirus genome in the drinking water samples does not means the presence of its infectivity. The infectious ability of the rotaviruses was confirmed by CC-RT-PCR in all positive samples, where viral RNA was not detected in the collected drinking water samples. In conclusion RT-PCR and CC-RT-PCR techniques high lightened the need to include viruses as mandatory pollution indicator in water treatment plants.

541-544

Authors: A. Khanal

Plant nutrient is one of the limiting factors affecting crop production. Nitrogen and boron are major nutrients in case of broccoli. So, an experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of nitrogen and boron in seed yield and yield attributing characters of broccoli in Rampur, Chitwan during winter season. The experiment was laid out in factorial RCBD design with four levels of nitrogen and two levels of boron. Each plot consists of 25 plants which were separated by 60 * 60 cm spacing. There are altogether eight treatments replicates thrice. Local variety Calabrese was used. Significant effect of different dose of nitrogen and boron on yield attributing characters was found. Also interactive effect of nitrogen and boron in number of pods, pod length, seed yield and number of seeds per pod was found significantly different.

552-560

Authors: Mohamed A.M. El-Awady, Mohamed M. Hassan, Yassin M. Al-Sodany

This study was designed to isolate and characterize endophytic and rhizospheric bacteria associated with the halophyte plant Sesuvium verrucosum, grown under extreme salinity soil in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The plant growth promotion activities of isolated bacterial were evaluated in vitro. A total of 19 salt tolerant endophytic and rhizospheric bacterial isolates were obtained and grouped into six according to genetic similarity based on RAPD data. These six isolates were identified by amplification and partial sequences of 16S rDNA as Enterobacter cancerogenus,Vibrio cholerae, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli and two Enterobacter sp. Isolates were then grown until exponential growth phase to evaluate the atmospheric nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, and production of phytohormones such as indole-3-acetic acid, as well as 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase activity. While, All of the six strains were negative for ACC deaminaseactivity, two isolates showed Nitrogen fixation activity, three isolates produce the plant hormone (Indole acetic acid) and two isolates have the activity of solubiliztion of organic phosphate. Among the six isolates, the isolate (R3) from the soil around the roots is able to perform the three previous growth promoting possibilities together and it is ideal for use in promoting the growth of plants under the high salinity conditions. This isolate is candidate to prepare a friendly biofertelizer that can be used for the improvement of the crops performance under salinity conditions.

139-142

Authors: Chandani T. Desai, Gaurav S. Shah

Inter individual genetic variation contributes to both disease susceptibility and response to drugs. The genetic makeup of every individual isdistinctive, henceforth there are variations in the gene products. It is also responsible for the phenotypic diversity, which results in the differentcapacity of each individual to respond to exogenous substances, such as drugs and xenobiotics, and in the different propensity to induceundesirable health effects. So, the aim of personalised medicine is to increase the possibility of therapeutic efficiency and to decrease the drugtoxicity risk for an individual patient.

151-161

Authors: A.N.Z. Alshehri

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are increasingly attracting attention as a sustainable technology as they convert chemical energy in organic pollutants to renewable electricity. Anthracene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) that presents a high pollution and health risk. In this study, anthracene degradation with electricity production in Single – chamber air cathode MFC was investigated with respect to values of its biodegradation and MFC performance using different inocula combinations (Anaerobic sludge (AS), Pseudomonas putida (PP), Geobacter sulfurreducens (GS), Shewanella putrefaciens(SP), mixed cultures, and combinations thereof). All the inocula showed high potentials for anthracene degradation efficiency and power density, ranged 41 – 98 % within 120 – 216h and 110.08 – 156.06 mW/m2, respectively. The best overall performing inoculum was anaerobic sludge supplemented with P. putida (AS+PP), having a degradation rate, degradation efficiency, COD removal, maximum power density and coulombic efficiency of 38 μM/d, 98 %, 83 %, 156.06 mW/m2 and 21, respectively. Effect of initial anthracene concentration was also investigated. Results indicated that increasing of initial anthracene concentration to 40 mg/L has a positive effect on both the anthracene degradation rate and the power density by 79 and 83.93 %, respectively, which attained by the best inoculum AS+PP (degradation rate of 41 μM/d and a maximum power density of 287.04 mW/m2).This study highlights the possibility of using MFCs technology to generate renewable electricity and achieve high degradation rates of anthracene simultaneously, through co-metabolism.

167-169

Authors: Solomon A. Mamuru, Abubakar S. Bello, Saminu B. Hamman

Biosynthesis is one of the rapid, reliable, and eco-friendly routes for the synthesis of metal nanoparticles in areas of nanotechnology research. The synthesis of chromium and nickel nanoparticles using Annona squamosa leaf extracts at neutral pH was studied. The formed metal nanoparticles were confirmed by colour changes from colourless to dark brown and it was characterized using UV-visible and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. UV-visible spectrums of the aqueous medium containing the metal nanoparticles show a surface Plasmon resonance at 285 nm. FT-IR analysis reveals that phytochemical groups of aromatic amine character might be responsible for the reduction to metal nanoparticles.

179-187

Authors: Prakash Parajuli, Jagat Prasad Panday, Rajendra Prasad Koirala, Buddha Ram Shah

With the increase in the use of the mobile phone, widely used wireless technology, people are highly conscious regarding the deleterious effects of the RF signals. To account this consciousness, this research work deals with the assessment of the radiation level near mobile Base Station Towers (BSTs) of Kathmandu valley with the analysis of the observed values in reference to the National and International guidelines and radiation norms adopted in different countries. “Tenmars, TM-196” and GPS map60Csx were employed for the measurement. It is found that the maximum value of the Power density in Kathmandu valley is 0.003602 W/m2 at Maximum Peak Point (MPP) near BST of New Baneshwor area, characterized by high traffic (Vicinity population) and all services across the BSTs and the minimum average radiation level far away from the BSTs (Off tower region) with access of the cellular network has 0.00000206 W/m2 Power density near Lele area, Lalitpur, which is far less than the Power density near the BSTs. It is found that all observed sites are within the standards of the Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) in terms of the amount of EMFs that the base station is radiating. Power density highly depends on vicinity population and moderately depends on services across the BSTs. Also the BSTs are constructed haphazardly near School and Colleges, Hospitals etc.

193-196

Authors: Jayanta Mistry, Ambika Prasad Mukhopadhyay, Gopi Nath Baur

Vermicomposting is a bio-technique and vermicompost are good superlatives for organic farming. During vermicomposting the nutrients are released and converted into soluble and available forms that’s providing nutrients such as available N (nitrogen), soluble K (potassium), exchangeable Ca (calcium), Mg (magnesium), P (phosphorus) and microelements such as Fe (iron), Mo (molybdenum), Zn (zinc), and Cu (cupper) which can easily taken up by plants. Vermicompost contains plant growth regulators, soil treated with vermicompost showed better plant growth than treated with inorganic and other organic fertilizers. Adding of vermicompost to soil improves the soil structure, increasing the water holding capacity and porosity. Vermicomposts have also been shown to suppress attacks by soil and foliar transmitted plant diseases.This article reviews various attribute as NPK values of Parthenium hysterophorus, Azadirachta indica, Argemone mexicana, and Vitex negundo vermicompost. pH of each compost are in range of 7.5 – 8.1. Nitrogen (N) content (%) is low in cow dung compost (1.7%) and higher in other plant compost except Azadirachta indica and Vitex negundo, maximum in Parthenium vermicompost (1.8%). Phosphorus (P %) ranges 1.3% to 1.6% and maximum in Azadirachta indica vermicompost. Potassium (K %) ranges 0.8% to 15.8% and all four vermicompost has significantly higher K contents than the cow dung compost. Organic carbon - nitrogen ratios (C/N) were also higher in vermicomposts produced with plant except in Argemone mexicana.

202-209

Authors: R. Shashi Kumar, V. Krishna, . Venkatesh

High frequency plant regeneration protocol has been standardized from banana cultivar Musa paradisiaca cv. Karibale Monthan, an endemic cultivar of Malnad region of Karnataka. The fruits are used as glomerular protective to solve kidney problems. To minimize the microbial contamination and to promote healthy growth, explants were treated with 70 % absolute alcohol for 6 min, 0.1 % Mercuric chloride for 10 min and 0.2 % for 10 min, 1 % Sodium hypochlorite for 15 min, 0.1 % Cefotaxime for 5 min and 0.05 % Gentamicin for 5 min. The high frequency shoot initiation (93.33 %) was recorded at 5 mg/l BAP. The synergetic effect of BAP (4 to 6 mg/l), TDZ (0.1 to 1.2 mg/l) and coconut water (0.1 to 0.9 ml/l) induced multiple shoot buds and it was optimized at the concentration of 5 mg/l BAP, 0.5 mg/l TDZ and 0.5 ml/l coconut water with 15.90 ± 1.66 frequency of shoots per propagule. Supplementation of 1.0 mg/l IBA induced 5.33 ± 1.21 numbers of roots with a mean root length of 7.50 ± 1.87 roots. The 99% of plantlets with distinct roots and shoots were successfully acclimatized in the green house and transferred to the field to evaluate the agro-morphological variations. The weight of the bunch (kg), number of hands in a bunch, number of fingers in a hand, length of the finger (cm), girth of the finger (cm) and girth of the pseudostem (cm) exhibited by in vitro plants were higher than the in vivo plants.

218-222

Authors: Mahesh K.C., Bhoj Raj Joshi, Swoyam Prakash Shrestha, Meera Prajapati, Dipak Kathayat, Santosh Dhakal

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a highly infectious viral disease of swine. This disease is becoming threat to pig industry of every corner of the world. As the status of this disease in Nepal is not properly understood so far, a cross-sectional sero-prevalence study was carried out in four development regions. A total of 200 blood samples were collected from major pig producing areas of eight districts of four development regions of Nepal and the serum samples were tested for antibodies against PRRS virus by rapid antibody detection kit (Immunochromatographic test using colloidal gold immunoassay: Schenzhen Lvshiyuan biotechnology Co. Ltd, China). Among the tested serum samples, 37 were found to be positive for PRRS indicating 18.5% prevalence of the disease. Statistically the prevalence difference was significant between different development regions and between topographical regions (P<0.05) of the country, but no significant difference was observed in age, sex and housing systems of pigs. Presence of antibodies in serum against PRRSV in the unvaccinated pig population of the country clearly indicates that pigs of the surveyed regions of Nepal have already been exposed to PRRS virus and the disease should be given adequate attention during differential diagnosis of porcine respiratory diseases in Nepal. Further studies are needed for molecular characterization of the virus and to develop control strategies against this disease in the country.

227-231

Authors: Prakash Ghimire, Khem Raj Dahal, Santosh Marahatta, Krishna Devkota, Buddhi Raj Ghimire

On-farm experiment was conducted in eight farmers’ field, of Khasyoli village development committee (952 to 1415 masl), Nepal, from April to September, 2011 to address the major constraint (nutrient management) to maize production through site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) as this approach is popular among scientists. The experiment comprised three nutrient omission plots (0N, 0P, and 0K), an ample NPK plot, and a farmers’ fertilization practice (FFP) plot, arranged in randomized complete block design. Farmers planted open pollinated variety (Manakamana-3) and managed in their way. Field-specific NPK application rates were calculated by considering nutrient demand, indigenous NPK supply and recovery efficiency of fertilizers. Grain yield in FFP (2.32 Mg/ha) and 0N (1.79 Mg/ha) plots differed significantly from each other and rest of the treatments, but was statistically similar among 0P (3.18 Mg/ha), 0K (3.40 Mg/ha) and ample NPK (3.38 Mg/ha) plots. Post-harvest grain and stover analysis revealed that indigenous NPK supply (20-71 kg N, 19-68 kg P2O5 and 51-164 kg K2O/ha) of soil vary among the farmers’ field. Moreover, soil was poor in indigenous N supply (42 kg/ha), but rich in indigenous P2O5 (35 kg/ha) and K2O (90 kg/ha) supply, on an average. As per the principles of SSNM, the initial fertilizer recommendation made can vary from 40-222 kg N, 0- 93 kg P2O5, and 0-50 kg K2O/ha. On an average, farmers may apply no or lower dose of P2O5 (18 kg/ha) and K2O (3 kg/ha) but need to significantly increase dose of N (143 kg/ha) fertilizer for enhancing soil and maize productivity.

236-242

Authors: Ravindar Gundeti, N. Swetha sudha, Geeta Rajalingam, P. Nagaraja Rao

The insect immune system exists to protect the host from pathogenic invaders and from other harmful insults. Upon bacterial infection insect haemolymph may lead to fatal consequences and it plays a most important role in transport and storage of nutrients, amino acids and free amino acids concentrations are marked changes for substrates by the immune system, these substrates are provide energy and precursors for the synthesis of new cells, effecter molecules, and protective molecule. We have been studied the certain biochemical changes in bacterial challenged Eri silkworm haemolymph at various time intervals. Results shows that the proteins and amino acids levels were significantly elevated and 18 individual free amino acids were found and that are quantitatively variation in the haemolymph after challenge with gram –ve and gram +ve bacteria when compared and control and sterile haemolymph. We may conclude that these were directly involved in the antimicrobial immune response of Eri silkworm innate immunity

248-255

Authors: Shivangi Bhatt, Neepa Pandhi

The potential threats of bacterial resistance, especially widespread multi-drug resistance, are of major concern. The scenario of a patient dying from an infection caused by a multi-drug resistant organism is now a reality. Infections caused by resistant strains of bacteria are related to higher morbidity and mortality. β-Lactam antibiotics are a broad class of antibiotics, consisting of penicillin, cephalosporin, Monobactam, and carbapenems. β-lactam antibiotics are used to treat various infections. β-lactamases are enzymes responsible to provide resistance to β-lactam antibiotics. Among Gram-negative bacteria, the emergence of resistance to expanded-spectrum cephalosporin has been a major concern. Initially a limited number of bacterial species that could mutate to hyper produce their chromosomal class C β-lactamase were found but now, resistance appeared in large number of bacterial species due to the production of TEM- or SHV-type ESBLs. In our study non clinical samples were selected to study the prevalence of drug resistance. After placing the various generations of β-lactam drugs we found that they were also resistant up to 4th generation of β-lactam drugs. This study confirms the growing incidences of β-lactam resistant strains in bacterial species of community origin.

261-266

Authors: Govind Kumar, Rajesh Kumar, Anita Sharma

Contamination of soil / water resources by petroleum products poses severe threats to underground water and soil quality. In the present study biosurfactant producing bacterial cultures were used to degrade petrol engine oil under in situ conditions in the plant rhizosphere system. Two bacterial isolates used in this study were recovered from Haldia oil refinery sites and identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa (JX100389) and P. moraviensis (JX149542). Application of consortium C2, (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and P. moraviensis) degraded 79.02 % petrol engine oil @ 2% in the soil planted with mustard (Brassica juncea var. Kranti) crop after 120 days. GC-MS of biodegraded fuel showed the presence of new product like hexadecanoic acid 2, oxo-methyl ester.

272-284

Authors: Mohammad Badrud Duza, S.A. Mastan

The present study was carried out to demonstrate the optimization of growth conditions of bacteria with high cellulase activity. Cellulose degrading bacteria were isolated from soil samples collected from different areas of Guntur district, A.P. The bacteria were isolated using serial dilution and pour plate methods. The isolated bacteria were identified by morphological, biochemical and molecular procedures. The isolated bacterial species were screened for cellulase production in sub-merged fermentation process. The two tested bacterial species showed maximum yield for cellulase production. These two bacteria were identified as Bacillus anthracis and Ochrobactrum anthropi (YZ1). Supplementation of glucose, peptone, tyrosine and EDTA to the fermentation medium is favoured enzyme secretion. The optimum pH and temperature for the activity of crude enzyme was 8 and 45°C, respectively for Ochrobactrum anthropi (YZ1) while for Bacillus anthracis, it was 8 and 4°C, respectively.14% of inoculum level and 96 h of incubation period showed the maximum yield by both the species bacteria for cellulase production. The results of present study indicated that favorable fermentation conditions and the selection of a suitable growth medium played a key role in the production of cellulase from newly isolated Bacillus anthracis and Ochrobactrum anthropi (YZ1).

291-300

Authors: Prasenjit Talukdar, Subrata Borgohain Gogoi

The drilling of the wells from surface to target location with conventional drilling fluids may impair production and ultimate recovery by failing to adequately connect the reservoir with the wellbore by damaging the producing interval. One of the most common ways of damaging a formation is the filtration loss. Non Damaging Drilling Fluid (NDDF) is a clay and barite free environmental friendly polymer mud system mostly used in pay zone sections of development wells and specifically in horizontal drilling to avoid formation damage. Starches [(C6H10O5) n] are an environment-friendly drilling mud additive for water-base drilling fluids used to control the filtration loss. This paper reports the effect and optimum composition of Pre-Gelatinized Starch (PGS) as a filtration control component in the NDDF. PGS is a high-quality nonionic polysaccharide having the Chemical Formula: C27H48O20 and Molecular Weight: 692.658020 [g/mol] which controls the filtration loss by sealing the walls of the borehole due to its long chains of monosaccharide. Some clay specifically the montmorillonite a member of the smectite group that generally also found in the payzones of Geleki Oilfield of Upper Assam Basin absorb hydrogen ions into their structure when comes in contact with fresh water and causing swelling of the clay resulting in a reduction of the pore volume and possibly plug in the pore throats. Therefore the filtration loss should be as low as possible by forming high quality low permeable mud cake of as thin as possible. In this work, an attempt has been made to study the effect of varying composition of PGS on the different mud properties of laboratory formulated NDDF and to choose its optimum composition based on the required mud parameters of the study area.

308-313

Authors: H.M. Shantaveera Swamy, - Ramalingappa

In this paper, ligninase enzymes produced by selected mushrooms have been reported. We collected mushrooms from Western Ghats, most of them were edible food. Thirty samples isolated were tested using a plate assay through direct agar plate assay by using ABTS, decolourisation containing the fifteen isolates were able to decolourise the dye, indicating a lignin-degrading ability. Spectrophotometric enzyme assays from all selected isolates were carried out to examine the production of Ligninolytic enzymes (Laccase, lignin peroxidase and manganese peroxidase). Ten selected isolates produced all three kinds of enzymes tested. Lignolytic enzymes are groups of enzymes these are actively involved in bioremediation.

322-329

Authors: Gbenga Olorunshola Alege

This study was carried out to investigate the genetic diversity among 23 sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) accessions obtained from different agro-ecological localities from 10 different states across 4 geopolitical zones in Nigeria using evidence from Sodium Dodecyl Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Total seed protein of the studied plants resolved on 12% SDS-PAGE showed variations in numbers and intensity of bands among the different sesame accessions. Thirteen (13) major bands were recorded in this study. Lack of unique band and presence of common band (band 7) among the 23 studied sesame accessions indicate some levels of genetic affinity and evidence of common evolutionary origin of the sesame genotypes. This band can therefore be tagged as species specific band for discriminating Sesamum indicum. Cluster analysis grouped the 23 sesame genotypes into two clusters with similarity coefficient ranging from 0.42 to 0.96 which indicates existence of genetic diversity; therefore there is ample opportunity for improving the 23 sesame genotypes. Variations in protein bands observed among the 23 studied plants could be attributed to genomic changes taken place during species diversification. It can be concluded that genetic diversity existed among Nigerian sesame for the improvement of characters of interest. Accessions 9 (YOL), 15(OTT), 22 (OFF) and 23 (JAL) are therefore recommended for used in future breeding programs for the development of improved sesame varieties.

337-341

Authors: A.K. Tiwari, R. Sonkar, P.K. Tiwari

Co-mixed cellulose acetate butyrate and permutit in a definite composition was prepared and coded as MRS-2. The membrane potential was measured with uni-uni valent electrolyte, NaCl solutions using saturated calomel electrodes (SCEs).The effective fixed charge density of the membrane was determined by TMS method and it showed dependence on the porosity, charge on the membrane matrix, charge and size of permeating ions. Other important electrochemical parameters were calculated. Conductance-time data were generated for the kinetic study of the permeating ions in terms of membrane permeability, flow and flux parameters. Donnan membrane equilibrium condition was examined. Membrane adsorbability showed concave dependence with external electrolyte solution and convex type dependence was showed by swelling and conductance parameters. This membrane had no characteristic of anomalous osmosis, indicates that there is no water flooding will take place during membrane operation.

347-351

Authors: Rajnish Prakash Singh, Prabhat Nath Jha

Halophilic microorganisms are recognized as potential source of secondary metabolites including enzymes and drugs with wide agricultural and industrial applications. In the present study protease producing halotolerant bacterium Bacillus licheniformis HSW-16 was isolated from hypersaline Sambhar lake, Rajasthan India. Protease production was performed by using azocasein as substrate. Confirmation of protease production was also done by amplification of alkaline protease gene and sequencing. The various nutritional factors such as carbon and nitrogen source and other physiological parameters like pH, temperature, incubation time and agitation speed were optimized for optimum protease production. The enzyme was active in pH range 7-10, temperature 25 °C-40 °C and salt concentration of 1.5M. The characteristics demonstrated by this isolate showed that it could be used as a potential source of enzyme.

359-366

Authors: Ayman M. Sabry, Mohamed M. Hassan, Alaa A. Mohamed

The present work aims to molecularly characterize some popular Saudi fish species. Seven popular Saudi fish species namely, Morgan (Nemipteru sjaponicus), Mousa (Solea solea), Hamor (Greasy grouper), Shour (Lethrinus lentjan), Dennis (Caranxsex fasciatus), Harid (Scarus arabicus) and Black surgeon (Acanthurus gahhm) were characterized using six RAPD and three ISSR as well as Rep-PCR markers. These markers produced 187 distinct bands 89.4% were considered as polymorphic bands and 10.6% were considered as monomorphic bands. The RAPD OPA-06 primer revealed 100% polymorphism for 19 produced bands where band width ranged from 190 to 2100 bp. Likewise Rep- PCR ERIC1R primer exhibited 100% polymorphism for 18 bands produced bands where band width ranged from 50 to 1400bp. Data of the three types of genetic markers were combined for phylogenetic analysis. The resulted dendergram produced two large linages with around 59% genetic similarity. One linage only included Morgan (Nemipteru sjaponicus), and the other linage comprised the other six species. This result suggested that this six species were descended from Morgan fish. The second linage comprised two clades; the first clade contained four species (Mousa, Hamor, Shour, and Dennis), where the next clade included only Harid and Black surgeon. Generally genetic distance among native fishes was relatively low. The smallest genetic distance (0.512) was estimated between Shour fish and Black surgeon fish. To the best of our knowledge this work is breaking new ground in two directions, first, molecular characterization of Saudi fish, second employment Rep- PCR genetic marker for molecular characterization of fish species. This work could be considered as preliminary work towards an establishment of Saudi genetic conservation program.

373-374

Authors: Umesh P. Shrivastava

No abstract

389-392

Authors: Supreet Khanal, N. Shakya, N. Nepal, D. Pant

Swertia chirayita is a native Himalayan herb typically found in the altitude of 1500 to 3100m. Swertia species are commonly used as primary medicines in fever, digestive and enteric diseases; especially S. chirayita is of principal importance. The pharmacological and ethno-medicinal perspective of the plant is well understood traditionally and pharmaceutically. Its secondary metabolites including glycosides and xanthones show promising bioactivity making it a powerful herb. Mixing of Swertia chirayita with its other species is done routinely in chiretta trade. Extensive wild collection and lack of sustainable conservation has led to the vulnerable status of the wild cultivar.

402-408

Authors: S. Thakur, C.R. Upreti, K. Jha

The Greater One-horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) is found almost exclusively in Nepal and North-Eastern India. There have beenonly a few studies made on the food and the nutrient compositions of fodder species preferred by The Greater One- horned Rhinoceros. Thepresent study identifies the nutrient content of the fodder species consumed by One-horned rhinoceros which would be helpful to develop proper strategies for rhinoceros food management. For this altogether 8 grass species which were most preferred by rhinoceros were collected from Chitwan National Park. Systematic sampling was applied for sample collection and collected samples were taken to the Animal Nutrition Laboratory, Khumaltar for nutrient analysis. Among all the collected species the highest OM% was seen in Faank (93.98 ± 0.88) while Ash% and CP% was found to be highest in Eragrastic Tenella (13.67 ± 2.92) and Phragmatic karka (11.94 ± 2.26) respectively. Lowest NDF% was again seen in Eragrastic tenella (76.76 ± 2.93) and lowest ADF% and ADL% were found in Mala dubo with mean values (43.50 ± 6.86) and (6.41 ± 2.16) respectively showing high digestibility of these grasses. There were only slight variation in the EE% of the grass species withhighest mean value of (3.702 ± 1.73) of Imperata cylindrical to lowest mean value of (1.722 ± 0.11) of Eragrastic tenella. Highest energy was found in Faank (4181.90 ±1.10) and Calcium content was seen highest in Cynodon dactylon (1.30 ± 0.83).

413-419

Authors: Tanoy Mukherjee, Avijit Ghosh, Santanu Maitra

Plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) are known to influence plant growth by various direct or indirect mechanisms. Present study was conducted with an aim to estimate the PGPB potential of two nickel tolerant bacterial isolates from river Hooghly. Isolates (I-3) (Gram negative coccobacilli) and (II-1) (Gram positive rods) were observed, among a total of 22 other isolates, to tolerate and accumulate significant amounts of nickel and also have multiple Plant Growth Promoting (PGP) activities like IAA production and phosphate solubilization. Present study also shows that seeds of yellow mustard (Brassica hirta) inoculated with both the test isolates individually, significantly enhanced root and shoot growth and also protected the plant from the various phytotoxic effects of nickel.

426-431

Authors: Divya Sood, Arun V Subramaniam, Tulsi Subramaniam

Aims/Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence and severity of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and presence of psychological factors (i.e.,anxiety and depression levels) in dental undergraduate students. Second purpose was to assess the association and correlation between TMD degree and psychological factors viz. anxiety and depression. Materials and methods: The sample comprised of 400 Dental undergraduatestudents aged 18- 25 years, including both the genders. TMD degree was evaluated using an anamnestic questionnaire (modified version of Helkimo’s anamnestic index). Morphologic occlusion was evaluated according to Angle classification. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to assess of levels of anxiety (HADSa) and depression (HADSd) in the dental undergraduate students. Results: Onbasisof the TMD anamnestic index, 74% of students were TMD free. 24.5% of subjects presented with mild degree of TMD and only 1.5% of subjects presented with moderate degree of TMD. According to the results obtained from HADSa, 35.3% of subjects presented with mild anxiety level, 13.8% with moderate anxiety level, and only 1.3% with severe anxiety level. According to the results obtained from HADSd, 10.3% of subjects presented with mild depression level and only 2.3% with moderate depression level. A definite association between TMD degree and Anxiety level (HADSa) was found. A definite association between TMD degree and Depression level (HADSd) was found. Therewas significant association between TMD degree and occlusion. Conclusions: On the basis of anamnestic index, this study revealed a 26% TMD prevalence in the dental undergraduate students included in the study; majority of cases being of mild degree. Both anxiety and depression were found to be associated with TMD degree/severity. Both anxiety and depression are weakly correlated with TMD in the present study.

437-445

Authors: Narmadha Rajasekaran, Gomathi Duraisamy, Kalaiselvi Manokaran, Devaki Kanakasapathi

Objective: Many new bioactive drugs isolated from plants having hypoglycaemic effects showed anti diabetic activity equal and sometimes even more potent than known oral hypoglycaemic agents. In this present study, designed to evaluate antihyperglycermic and antioxidants effect on ethanolic leaf extracts Barleria cristata (EtBc) in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats at dose level 400mg/kg body weight for the treatment of 45 days. Method and materials: The experimental rats were randomly divided into five groups as a control, streptozotocin induced with diabetes (45mg/kg bw) without any treatment, treated with standard drug glibenclamide (1.25 mg/kg bw), EtBc (400 mg/kg bw) in diabetic induced rats and treated with EtBc alone without diabetic rats. At the end of 45th day animals were sacrificed, collect the serum, liver, kidney and pancreas for estimate the glucose, insulin, C-peptide, glycosylated hemoglobin, hemoglobin in serum, protein, enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants and lipid peroxidation in tissues. Results: After the administration of EtBc, blood glucose levels were showed significantly reduction (P<0.05) in diabetic rats and it has been observed alternation occured in body and organ weight and it was also normalized the serum level of glycemic profile like insulin, C-peptide, total hemoglobin and glycosylated hemoglobin levels similar to that of control rats. Antioxidants enzymes were return to back their levels as control in different tissues when compared to diabetic rats and also observed no significance difference between control and EtBc alone group rats at the end of 45th day. Therefore it was suggested that Barleria cristata may act by potentiation of pancreatic secretion of insulin or increasing glucose uptake by muscle cells. Conclusion: In this study, suggested the efficacy of Barleria cristata proved the maintenance of glucose homeostasis and may be used as a therapeutic agent in the management of diabetes mellitus.

451-459

Authors: Nazneen Rahman, Riaz Mahmood, Haseebur Rahman, Mir Haris

The development of multi drug resistance in human and plant pathogens, reconsidering the traditional medicines as antibacterial source and presence of promising phytochemicals in leaf and fruit rind of T. peruviana (S) (Nazneen et al., 2014) prompted the authors to take up the antibacterial evaluation of different extracts. Antibacterial activity, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of various extracts of T. peruviana (S) were measured using methods of National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) spectrophotometric determination of active extracts has found that the MICs of all the active extracts lies between the range of 250 μg to 1250 μg and bactericidal concentration in a range of 500 to 1250 μg. The percentage of inhibition was analysed, where in among all the extracts tested against B. subtilis and E. coli, fruit upper liquid (FUL) exhibited highest inhibition percentage of 33.75% and 30.31 % at 500 μg/ml respectively. Similarly, fruit hexane (FH) extract has the highest inhibition of 15.60% against B. cereus at 750 μg/ml. The Xanthomonas sp. was susceptible to leaf chloroform (LC) with 32.29% of inhibition at 1000 μg/ ml. The activity index and total antimicrobial activity indicates the antibacterial action of extracts. The present investigations have revealed that among the extracts, the fruit rind extracts have most prominent inhibition abilities against tested bacteria, which are validating the use of this plant in traditional system of medicine and this is the first report of exploration of above extracts for their antibacterial activities against B. subtilis, B. cereus, E. coli and Xanthomonas sp.

464-477

Authors: Zilun Shi, Chris Dawson, Stephen L.W. On, Malik Altaf Hussain

A proteome map of the foodborne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni NCTC11168 was analyzed using a state-of-the-art gel-free proteomic approach for the first time. A whole cell protein extract was prepared from the C. jejuni strain NCTC11168 grown in brain heart infusion (BHI) broth at 42°C under microaerobic conditions. A gel-free technique using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) was employed to create a protein expression profile of the strain. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used to identify the proteins. Protein functionalities were searched to classify them. A total of 235 proteins were identified in the whole cell protein fraction of C. jejuni NCTC11168 cells using iTRAQ analysis. Functional grouping of the identified proteins showed that forty percent of these proteins were associated with energy metabolism, protein synthesis and genetic information processing. iTRAQ was faster, easier and proved more sensitive than two-dimensional gel-based proteomics approaches previously applied to C. jejuni, making it an attractive tool for further studies of cellular physiological response.

483-487

Authors: Rameshwor Pudasaini, Resham Bahadur Thapa

An experiment was conducted to determine the foraging behavior of Apis mellifera L. and Apis cerana F. in rapeseed under cage condition in Chitwan, Nepal during 2012-2013. This experiment showed that Apis cerana F. foraged extra 42 minute per day as compared to Apis mellifera L. Apis cerana F. were more attracted to nectar, whereas Apis mellifera L. were more attracted to pollen collection throughout the day. The activities, in into hives and out from hives, for both species were recorded more at 2:00 pm and least at 8:00 am. The highest in-out were observed at 2:00 pm on both species as Apis mellifera L. 44.33 bees entered into hives and 49.66 bees went out of hives, whereas lower number of Apis cerana F. 43.66 bees entered into hives and 48.16 bees were out of hives. Apis mellifera L. collect 1.22:1 and 0.41:1 pollen nectar ratio at 10:00 am and 4:00 am whereas at same hours Apis cerana collect 1.16:1 and 0.30:1 pollen nectar ratio. Apis cerana F. foraged significantly higher number of rapeseed flowers and plants as compared to Apis mellifera L. under caged condition. It shows that Apis cerana F. was more efficient pollinator as compared to Apis mellifera L. under caged condition.

493-500

Authors: B. Neupane, C.P. Shriwastav, S.C. Shah, K. Sah

A research was conducted to evaluate the suitability of soils of different land unit for cereal crops productions at Parbatipur VDC, Chitwan, Nepal with the integrated use of Geographical Information system (GIS) and Multi-criteria evaluation (MCE).Existing geodatabase information from National Land Use Project (NLUP) was used as data for this research. The database was used to derive crop suitability using vector based index model in GIS along with multi-criteria analysis. The research revealed that for rice cultivation, 1.06 %( 10.70ha) was highly suitable, 51.54 %( 515.89ha) was moderately suitable, 3.39% (33.987 ha) was marginally suitable but 28.28 %( 283.11 ha) was not suitable whereas for wheat cultivation, 7.6 %( 76.73ha) was highly suitable, 44.91% (449.53 ha) was moderately suitable and 4.6% (46.26ha) was marginally suitable, but 27.15% (27.14ha) was not suitable. Similarly, for maize cultivation, 12.07% (120.83ha) was highly suitable, 40.19% (402.25ha) was moderately suitable and 0.53% (5.37ha) was marginally suitable, but 31.54% (315.72ha) was not suitable for maize production. Suitability data of this VDC shows that maize and wheat was highly suitable than rice cultivation. But, the area not suitable for rice, wheat and maize must be allocated for alternative uses to achieve optimum productions and further there must be new research for alternative crops in VDC. Hence, this research is useful to farmers and VDC level planners for optimum crops production.

510-515

Authors: Hala Moustafa Ahmed

The present study mainly focuses of combined action of Nepali hog plum as well as citrate synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and Amikacin, as an antibiotic. The synergistic actions of citrate stabilized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs with chem) were compared with that of Nepali hog plum Choerospondia saxillaris (Lapsi) synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs with plant), together with action of antibiotic onselected bacterial strains of Salmonella typhi. The synthesized AgNPs were characterized through UV-Vis spectroscopy, Transmission electronmicroscopy and X-ray diffraction technique. The size of the synthesized silver nanoparticles was measured by Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).

521-524

Authors: RP Praveen, Ashalantha Nair

The aim of the present study was to compare the antimicrobial efficacy of methanolic extract of root, callus and fruit of Myxopyrum smilacifolium Blume. Antimicrobial activity was tested using agar well diffusion with four bacterial strains viz: Escherechia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus of which E. coli alone was gram negative. The fungal strain employed was Candida albicans. Root extracts shown to be effective only against B. subtilis. Fruit extracts showed the maximum antimicrobial activity against all the microbial species considered for the current study except against S. aureus. Highlight of the present study was the antimicrobial activity of callus extracts.

529-536

Authors: Peyman Ghoraishizadeh, Shraddha Raikar, Mahsa Takhtechian

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) as an opportunistic pathogen infects the pulmonary tract, bladder, cystic fibrosis patients and burn victims. PA infections treatment is challenging because of its ability to rapidly develop resistance to multiple classes of antibiotics. Lectin is protein that isexpressed in cell of PA and cause of infection by attaching to the host cells. Lectin A gene coding lectin protein so we cloned and expressedthis gene then purified of related protein, that can be used in preparation of vaccine to treat PA infections.

544-552

Authors: D.S. Mundaganur, D.Y. Mundaganur, Ashokan Kannarath

Nine, Ebola viruse EBOV (Zaire ebolavirus), proteins are extracted from the NCBI repository and their study was carried out. The physicchemical properties and evolutionary link with other such viruses by homology modeling were carried out. All the proteins show rich in leucine domain an ideal requirement for fast attachment of the virus to the receptor molecule on the host cell surface. The prediction of trans-membrane sequence for the entire glycoprotein component reveals the ability of the virus to enter the host with ease. The lack of adequate homology model for the viral proteins indicates its novel origin and lack of well traceable evolutionary link. We studied the homology based model by using various available tools and find similar approach in all, hence finally concentrated only on one method. The model predicted shows well acceptable region on Ramchandran plot. This discrepancy is only due to the fact that we validate the model to Ramchandran plot and the model predicted were not under the well acceptable ‘e’ value range i.e. >1. Therefore we suggests that vaccine production against this deadly virus should be concentrated on the structure and functions of glycoprotein like low quality secreted glycoprotein (NP_066248), low quality spike glycoprotein(NP_066246)0, small secreted glycoprotein (NP_066247) and RNA dependent RNA polymerase (NP_066251).

559-562

Authors: A. R. Devkota, D. D. Dhakal, D. M. Gautam, J. P. Dutta

A study regarding the losses of harvested horticultural produces in the major fruit and vegetable wholesale markets of Nepal was conducted to identify the major causes of fruits and vegetable wastage. This study aimed at generating useful information about the causes of loss of horticultural produce, types of loss and also about the possibility of reuse and recycling of such organic wastes as resource for composting and vermicomposting. Survey of the three major market centers namely; Narayangadh, Pokhara, and Kalimati fruit and vegetable wholesale market was conducted. Forty five wholesalers and 90 retailers were selected for the study. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. From regression analysis it was concluded that lack of cold storage facility and inappropriate packaging facility had significant effect on the loss of the produce.

570-573

Authors: Reshma Turbekar, Nagesh Malik, Debarshi Dey, Deepak Thakare

In the present study biosurfactant based white board cleaner was formulated, using column purified rhamnolipid produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A rhamnolipid concentration of 0.01% was finalized, as it was efficiently able to remove fresh and aged white board marker stains on white board. The rhamnolipid formulation was found to be stable over a tested span of 6 months and it did not exhibit any cytotoxicity on Human Lung Epithelial Cell Line (L132) and Normal Human Skin Fibroblast (NHSF) cell line. The cleaning efficiency was equivalent to conventional synthetic surfactants, but the biosurfactant based approach is more environment friendly and biocompatible.

579-584

Authors: K. Girish

Rubber processing industry effluent represents a serious environmental pollution problem especially for underground and surface water. Wastewater collected from rubber processing industry was characterized for their pollution characteristics. Analysis showed that the biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), total solids (TS), ammonia and phosphate were high when compared to effluent discharge standard for industrial wastewater. Four bacterial species were isolated from the wastes and were identified as Arthrobacter sp., Bacillus sp., Lactobacillus sp., and Pseudomonas sp. A bacterial consortium was constituted by mixing proportionately these four bacteria and used in effluent aerobic biotreatment. Complex carbon sources such as bagasse, corn-cob, rice straw, wheat bran, molasses, corn steep liquor, were screened for their effect on growth of the consortium constituted. Highest biomass production was in molasses followed by rice straw hydrolysate, wheat bran hydrolysate and bagasse hydrolysate. However, the inoculum grown on rice straw and wheat bran hydrolysate caused maximum degradation in terms of reduction in various parameters such as BOD, COD, TDS, TSS, NH4+ and PO43, about 70 to 80% reduction was observed. From the results of the present study it could be inferred that the constituted consortium could effectively be used for the treatment of effluents from rubber processing industry and rice straw and wheat bran hydrolysate could be used for mass production of effective consortium. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v2i4.11532

222-223

Authors: Saurabh Kumar Singh

No abstract

229-237

Authors: Manu Maya Magar, Ch.V. Durga Rani, G Auradha

The present investigation was undertaken with the objective to develop high yielding, fine grain rice varieties possessing broad spectrum durable resistance by transferring bacterial leaf blight (BLB) resistant genes viz., xa13 and Xa21 from B95-1. A popular high yielding and fine grain rice variety, MTU1010 (Cottondora Sannalu), susceptible to BLB and B95-1 carrying resistant genes for BLB (xa13 & Xa21 genes) was selected as the parent for crossing. B95-1 was verified for the presence of target genes by using gene linked primers viz., xa13 promotor and pTA 248. These primers were also used to study polymorphism between resistant (B95-1) and susceptible (MTU1010) parents. The cross viz., MTU1010 x B95-1 was affected during Rabi, 2010 and F1 progenies were confirmed during Kharif, 2011. The F1 plants confirmed as true hybrids for both the genes were advanced to F2 generation and foreground selection was done using gene linked markers. Genetic analysis in F2 populations confirmed that the genes (xa13 & Xa21) governing BLB resistance followed Mendelian inheritance. The phenotypic data analysis revealed that the plants carrying two resistance gene combinations (xa13xa13 Xa21Xa21, xa13xa13Xa21xa21) showed BLB resistance (0-2 scale), while the gene combinations viz., Xa13Xa13Xa21Xa21, Xa13Xa13Xa21xa21, and Xa13xa13Xa21Xa21, Xa13xa13Xa21xa21 showed BLB resistance (0.5-3.0).

243-252

Authors: Lal B Thapa, Til Maya Dhakal, Raghunath Chaudhary

The Rajis are one of the endangered indigenous people distributed in western part of Nepal enriched in their own mother tongue, culture, beliefs and practices. Owing to lack of proper documentation, the traditional knowledge of uses and practices on wild edible plants by such an endangered community is about to extinct. This paper aims to present the traditional practices and use of wild edible plants by Raji people in Nepal. Our study found that a total of 67 wild edible plant species included in 56 genera and 38 families used by Raji people. Out of them 62 species were angiosperms, one species was Gymnosperm and 4 species were Pteridophytes. The results of study show that Rajis have their traditional way to use different parts of wild plants such as seeds, fruits, leaves, shoots, roots and tubers in the forms of vegetables, pickles, juice, and raw or as fruits.

260-264

Authors: Goutam Sabat, A.K. Panigrahi, A.K. Sahu, Bijaya Kumar Mohanty

Anabaena cylindrica L, a blue green alga commonly found in rice fields was experimentally exposed with a board spectrum insecticide, Endosulphan, EC50 in laboratory conditions for varied days. The growth of alga in terms of increase in Absorbance, dry weight and pigments like Total chlorophyll, carotenoid and phaeophytin were estimated to study the toxic effect and the subsequent recovery from insecticide stress. The results obtained indicated decrease in all studied parameters with increase in exposure period and concentration. The highest concentration (3.25ml/L) and highest period (15 Days) severely affected the growth of alga and decreased pigment content. However, when the algae were allowed to grow in insecticide free environment for 15 days, they could able to recover fully from the toxic stress.

270-274

Authors: Y.P. Giri, R.B. Thapa, N. Dangi, S. Aryal, S. M. Shrestha, S. B. Pradhan, M. Sporleder

Annual monitoring of potato tuber moth (PTM) was made in 2008/09 in15 districts of Nepal to understand the distribution and seasonal abundance. The locally made pheromone trap was installed and observed in 24 hours intervals. The activity of PTM was observed in plain, mid hills (below 2200 masl) and high hill districts. The population of PTM was found more in mid-hills than in plain whereas PTM was absent in high hill districts. The highest average number of PTM was observed in May (480±238 moth/month) with no adult moths in October to December in plain whereas 522±174 moth/month was observed in July and 18±4 moth/month in December in mid-hills of Nepal. The seasonal abundance of PTM observed from March to July (74±63 to 126±100 moth/month) in Plain and March to October (191±157 to 104±60 moth/month) in mid-hills. The understanding of PTM population dynamics could be useful to make suitable management decision.

279-282

Authors: N. Packialakshmi, H. Fazila Beevi

The present study deals with the aqueous leaf extract and synthesized silver nanoparticle of Argyreia cymosa (Roxb) were evaluated for antibacterial activity. The aqueous leaf extract and synthesized nanoparticle of Argyreia cymosa is active against E. coli, P. aeruginosa, Bacillus and S. aureus. The aqueous leaf extract showed maximum activity against Bacillus (20mm), S.aureus (18mm), P. aeruginosa (13mm) E.coli (12mm) and the synthesized silver nano particle showed maximum activity against Bacillus (27mm), E. coli (21mm) , S. aureus (12mm) and P. aeruginosa (11mm).

291-297

Authors: B.O.T. Ifesan, O.O. Egbewole, B.T. Ifesan

Fresh leafy vegetables which include Amarathus hybridus (Bush green), Telfairia occidentalis (Fluted pumpkin leaf), Vernonia amygdalina (Bitter leaf) and Pterocarpus mildbraedii (White campwood leaf) were subjected to spontaneous fermentation for 5 days at room temperature. Physicochemical properties (pH, temperature, and total titratable acidity) were monitored during the fermentation. It was observed that the pH (6.8 to 3.78) of all the vegetables decreased steadily as fermentation progressed. However, the temperature (27°C to 34°C) and total titratable acidity expressed as lactic acid equivalent (0.014-0.147) for all the vegetables increased as fermentation progressed. The percentage of occurrence of bacteria isolated from the fermenting mass include Bacillus spp. (39.1%), Lactobacillus spp. (26.1%), Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus spp. (8.7%), Proteus spp., Serratia spp., Citrobacter spp. and Pseudomonas spp (4.3%) respectively. The proximate composition and mineral contents of fermented and unfermented leaves were investigated. Significant increase in ash content was noticed for unfermented (8.07%-15.72%) and for fermented vegetables (12.50%-23.28%). The protein contents of T. occidentalis (24.29%-25.65%), and A. hybridus (14.27%-16.96%) increased significantly after fermentation. A decrease in fiber content was noticed for all fermented vegetables except for V. amygdalina where significant increase was noticed (10.97%-14.55%). Increase in both thiamine (1.37-1.52mg/ml) and niacin (1.32-1.62mg/ml) contents were observed in T. occidentalis after fermentation while significant reductions were recorded for A. hybridus and V. amygdalina. Generally, vitamin C content of the vegetables decreased during fermentation while some increases were recorded in the mineral content of fermented vegetables.

302-304

Authors: K Manimegalai, S Sukanya

Soil serves as a more reliable index for productivity than water qualities. The productivity of any pond depends largely on the quality of bottom soil that is “store house of nutrients.” The present paper deals with the study of physicochemical parameters like organic carbon, pH, Electrical conductivity, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium of soil from Muthannan Kulam,Coimbatore (March 2013- May 2013). Analysis for the above parameters indicated contamination of the soil quality due to some anthropogenic activities.

311-314

Authors: Shristi Ghimire, Santosh Dhakal, Narayan Prasad Ghimire, Durga Datt Joshi

The objectives of this cross-sectional study was to determine the seropositivity status of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in pig and ascertain the farm level risk factors in Nepal. Serum samples were collected from 181 pigs in 91 farms of Rupandehi and Kapilbastu districts and tested for antibodies by IgG ELISA. Survey of farmers in each farm was carried out to determine the farm level risk factors. A total of 20 out of 181 (11%) serum samples tested positive for JEV antibodies. There was no statistically significant difference in seropositivity with age (p>0.05), sex (p>0.05) and breed (p>0.05) of pigs. Farm level infection was significantly associated with closeness to rice fields (p<0.05), closeness to standing water sources (p<0.05), wild bird exposure (p<0.05) and mosquito bite to pigs (p<0.05). These factors need to be addressed while formulating prevention, control and management strategies of JEV in pig and hence in human.

328-335

Authors: Saugat Dahal, Tika Bahadur Karki, Lal Prasad Amgain, Birendra Kumar Bhattachan

With the aim of developing crop management technologies that reduce the yield gap of maize (Zea mays L.) in Nepal, a study was carried-out to determine whether the grain yield of maize could be manipulated through tillage, residue, and nutrient and weed management practices. The effect of tillage (conventional and no tillage), residue (residue retained and residue removed), fertilizer (recommended doses of fertilizer and farmers’ doses of fertilizer) and weed management practices (herbicide use and manual weeding) on phenology and grain yield of maize were investigated under maize-rice cropping system in Rampur, Nepal during 2013. The experimental results revealed that no tillage had significant effect on grain yield (6.64 Mg ha-1) and phenological parameters like days to silking, physiological maturity and seed fill duration. Similarly, residue retained treatment had significant effect on grain yield (7.02 Mg ha-1) and phenological parameters. Research dose of fertilizer had significant effect on phenological parameters and grain yield (8.42 Mg ha-1). However, weed management factor did not influence significantly on grain yield and phenological parameters. The grain yield increased in no tillage by 23.19% over conventional tillage, residue retained by 39.84% over residue removed, recommended doses of fertilizer by 132.60% over farmer dose of fertilizer. Thus, no tillage, residue retention, recommended doses of fertilizer and use of herbicide for weed management can be alternative technologies for sustainable higher grain yield.

342-358

Authors: S R Surekha, Lincy Joseph, Mathew George

A series of 8-hydroxyquinolines are synthesized and their Antitubercular, antifungal, and antibacterial activities are tested. Quinolines are found to possess antibacterial, antifungal, immunosuppressive, analgesic, vasorelaxing, Antiplasmodial, anticancer and PDE4 inhibitory activities. Aryloxypropanolamines were reported to be associated with β-adrenergic blocking, CNS depressant and hypotensive activities. In view of the potential nature of these moieties it was considered worthwhile to study the effects of two pharmacophoric moieties such as quinoline and propanolamines/amino ethane in a single molecule. In the present study the synthesis, antitubercular, antifungal, and antibacterial activities and structure activity relationship of aryloxypropanolamine substituted 8-hydroxy quinolines are reported. The compounds were characterized by IR, H-NMR, spectral and Elemental analysis.

364-370

Authors: M. A. Rahman, M. S. Hossain, I.F. Chowdhury, M.A. Matin, H. Mehraj

The experiment was conducted in experimental Farm, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Bangladesh from July to December 2011 to study the variability of advanced lines of fine rice with correlation and path co-efficient of yield and yield contributing characters. Seven newly developed lines viz. S-1, S-2, S-5, AL-33(II), AL-36, AL-42(II), AL-44(I) and Chinigura. Grain yield/plant of newly developed advanced fine rice lines and check showed positive association in respect of number of effective tillers/hill (0.308), number of filled spikelets/panicle (0.110) and weight of 1000-grains (0.109), whereas significant negative association with panicle length (-0.609), number of unfilled spikelets/panicle (-0.542) and non significant negative association with plant height (-0.136) and number of ineffective tillers/hill (-0.304). Path analysis revealed that plant height had positive direct effect (0.154), number of effective tillers/hill had positive direct effect (0.065), number of ineffective tillers/hill had negative direct effect (-0.114), panicle length had positive direct effect (0.163), number of filled spikelets/panicle had positive direct effect (0.285), number of unfilled spikelets/panicle had negative direct effect (-0.154), weight of 1000-grains had positive direct effect (0.234) on grain yield/plant.

112-113

Authors: Umesh Prasad Shrivastava

No abstract DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v2i2.10655

121-125

Authors: Anil Langer, Sunanda Sharma, Narendra Kumar Sharma, DS Nauriyal

Seven hundred ninety six milk samples from 266 quarters of 69 lactating cows were subjected to microbiological investigations for identification of pathogens. One hundred ninety bacterial isolates were recovered from 89 infected quarters, among these monomicrobial infection was found in 50 (56.2%) quarters, whereas, mixed infection was observed in 39 (43.8%) quarters. Bacterial isolates identified were Staph. chromogenes (49.47%), Staph. hyicus (21.1%), Staph. epidermidis (11.05%), Str. agalactiae (5.8%), Staph. aureus (4.2%), Staph. intermedius (3.1%), Enterobacter sp. (1.5%), Klebsiella sp., E. coli (1.05%), Micrococcus sp. (1.05%) and Serratia marcescens (0.52%). Milk samples from every quarter of each cow were also subjected to 6 mastitis marker tests named Somatic cell count (SCC), California mastitis test (CMT), electrical conductivity (EC) by EC-meter as well as by Hand-held mastitis detector, pH detection by impregnated paper strip and also by pH meter. Efficacy of mastitis markers for diagnosis of sub-clinical mastitis was determined by comparing results of mastitis marker tests with microbiological findings. Mean value of SSC in milk from healthy quarters was significantly lower (p than that in milk from infected quarters. Significantly higher (p value of SSC was observed in milk samples having coagulase positive staphylococci as compared to that in milk from quarter with coagulase negative pathogens. The mean electrical conductivity (EC) in milk samples from infected quarters was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that from healthy quarters. Numbers and percentages of samples showing true positive, true negative, false positive and false negative results with SSC, CMT, EC by EC-meter, EC by hand-held meter, pH by impregnated strips, pH by digital pH-meter tests were evaluated and compared. The sensitivity and specificity of impregnated pH paper strip, CMT, pH-meter test, SCC, electrical conductivity by EC-meter and the same by Hand-held mastitis detector were evaluated The compatibility between the results of SCC, impregnated pH paper strip, CMT, EC-meter, pH-meter, Hand-held mastitis detector and bacteriological culture examination (reference test) was found to be 64.4, 63.4, 61.5, 59, 59 and 53 respectively.

132-134

Authors: P. K. Agrawal, Sangeet Prabha, Shalu Mittal

Bioremediation uses various microorganisms to detoxify or degrade various harmful substances in the nature, particularly soil and water. In the proposed work, five species of micro-organisms were used to analyse their impact on various physico-chemical parameters of water. In the first attempt the actual physico chemical parameters of the collected sample water were noted down (Fresh sample parameters). Then the sample water was treated with micro-organisms (one at a time). The growth of microbes was noted carefully over 96 hours after inoculation. The physico chemical parameters were recorded again and were compared with the fresh sample parameters. The results were analysed for any change and on this basis an impact factor was developed. The study reveals all the selected microbes have a great capacity of degrading and simplifying the complex molecules into simpler ones. Bioremediative treatment further enhances this capacity and therefore this approach can be utilized on large scale to minimize pollution of water bodies.

142-145

Authors: DK Dnyanesh, Suma Dnyanesh, Roopa Bellad

Objectives: To determine the profile and outcome of paediatric patients presenting with poisoning to a tertiary care center in Karnataka. Methods: Retrospectively we studied the PICU records of all the paediatric patients who presented with acute poisoning during the 4-years period from Feb 2010 to Jan 2014. All children aged less than 18 years with a definite history and suspected cases of poisoning were included. Results: 106 patients presented with acute poisoning during the study period. The majority of our patients were in the 0 - 6 year age group. Poisoning in this age group was most common with higher frequency in males, the ratio being 1.2:1. The agents most frequently used were hydrocarbons (43.1%), pyrethrine compounds 15.5%, Organo-Chlorine compounds 12.1%drugs, Organo-Phospherous compounds 12.1%, drugs 1.8%. In 1 - 6 year age group 54.7% cases were accidental in nature, whereas in the 12 - 18 year group 93.3% were suicidal. All patients were symptomatic and needed symptomatic or definitive treatment. 21 patients required mechanical ventilation. Almost 3/4th of patients underwent Gastric lavage. Specific antidote was given to 41 patients. 2 patients of OP poisoning died. Conclusion: Our study concluded that accidental poisoning is common in 0-6 year children, the common substance being used in rural areas was kerosene and in urban areas it was found to be pyrethrin compounds. Lack of awareness of parents regarding appropriate storage of these dangerous household products is the main cause. Measures should be taken to educate the parents and public in order to decrease the poisoning cases. Suicidal cases are increasing in adolescents and precipitating factors like exam fear, exam failure, love failure and parental pressure regarding studies needs counseling of both parents and children.

152-159

Authors: Manoj Kumar Verma, Vikas Kaushik

Increased levels of locus-specific mutations within the BLM result in development of Bloom Syndrome and patients are found to be immune deficient. HRDC domain amino acid Lys1270 is presumably to play role in mediating interactions with DNA. Single point mutation of Lys1270 (K1270V) reduces the potency of Double Holliday junction (DHJ) DNA unwinding so BLM lead to its functional loss. Quadruplex formation have role in immunoglobulin heavy chain switching and inhibiting RecQ helicases activity in-vitro in BLM. Variety of G-Quadruplex ligands are employed by molecular docking for arriving at lead compound identification. The scoring function of docking results describes protein-ligand interaction and it conjointly instructed that docking of ligand at mutational binding site shows some repressing function to make potential lead drug molecule. So as to know the elaborated purposeful functional mechanism of protein and to relate impact of mutation with function and activity; dock screening, hit identification and lead optimization facilitate in design of lead drug compound.

168-175

Authors: Anant Gopal Singh, Anil Sharma

Invasive species are non-native to the locality. They have been introduced in any area both accidentally and intentionally. Their introduction undoubtedly modifies the structure and functions of the ecosystem supply and alters the rate of nutrient cycling. Invasive alien species compete with the crop mainly for water, light, and nutrients. During study we have collected fifty-five species which are invasive and alien. They directly affect the productivity of food crop like rice, wheat, maize etc.

180-184

Authors: FP Aquino, Eufrocina P. Atabay

Transvaginal ultrasound-guided follicular aspiration (TUFA) has become a popular tool for embryo production in vitro due to its high degree of repeatability in terms of recovering oocytes from live animals. In Study 1, the quantity and quality of oocytes from Bulgarian Murrah buffalo cows (n=10) of varying ages (Group 1, 8-12; and Group 2, 13-17 years) were assessed. Group 1 buffalo donor cows yielded significantly higher (P<0.05) number of oocytes vs Group 2 buffalo donor cows (71 vs 29 oocytes, respectively), though in terms of oocyte quality, no difference was observed. In Study 2, oocytes collected (n=100) in Study 1 were matured, fertilized in vitro and the resulting zygotes were cultured which developed to blastocyst stage embryos. The maturation, fertilization and blastocyst development rates obtained were 53.0%, 40.0% and 32.5%, respectively. In Study 3, the viability of resulting blastocyst stage embryos was determined by transferring to recipient cows. Of 10 recipients 1 got pregnant and delivered a 35 kg male calf after 310 days gestation period. Overall, the results of the studies conducted demonstrated the potential of TUFA technology in the in vitro production of embryos which eventually could be used in the production of live.

193-198

Authors: Roshan Babu Ojha, Shree Chand Shah, Keshab Raj Pande, Durga Datta Dhakal

Two experiments were carried out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with six treatments (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 Mg FYM ha-1) replicated four times at the horticultural farm, IAAS, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal in winter (Oct-Jan) and spring (Feb-May) seasons to quantify optimum dose of organic manure (FYM) to maintain earthworm population and enhance soil properties. In each treatment 100 earthworms (Eisenia fetida) were inoculated within one square meter of each plot. Porosity in the first season was significantly higher than the control treatment (0 Mg FYM ha-1). In the second season it remained unaffected but in increasing trend. In the second season the highest porosity (40.75 ± 1.57%) was obtained from 50 Mg FYM ha-1. The highest bulk density (1.553 ± 0.017 Mg m-3) in the second season was observed from the control treatment but it was in decreasing trend with increasing doses of FYM. There was no significant effect of FYM on pH in the either season. The highest OM (3.87 ± 0.22%) was observed from 50 Mg FYM ha-1 which was similar to 30 and 40 Mg FYM ha-1 in first season. Similarly, in the second season, increasing doses of FYM increased the OM and the highest OM (3.83 ± 0.19%) was from 50 Mg FYM ha-1 which did not differ from 40 Mg FYM ha-1. As anticipated, the lowest OM 2.425 ± 0.224% and 2.275 ± 0.1968% were from control treatments of the first and second seasons, respectively. As the doses of FYM were increased, earthworm populations were also increased significantly in the both seasons. Earthworm numbers from 50 Mg FYM ha-1 were significantly higher than the 20, 30 and 40 Mg FYM ha-1 in both seasons. The highest numbers 887 ± 12.84 and 976 ± 20.30 of earthworm per square meter were recorded from 50 Mg FYM ha-1 in the both seasons, respectively. Thus, the application of 30 Mg FYM ha-1 is optimum for both the seasons to improve soil properties and to maintain earthworm population in the agricultural field. Also, this research indicated a possibility for earthworm inoculation in the field to enhance soil fertility for sustainable agriculture in the western Chitwan, Nepal.

206-210

Authors: Jyoti Choudhary, S.N. Singh, Sunita Singh

Physico chemical and biological parameters of the three rural pond of Sasaram,Bihar has been studied to see the present condition for its better utilization. The study revealed that parameters are within permissible limit for fish culture and the stocking should be done as per the productivity of the water. As per the BOD estimation the ponds falls under moderately polluted category.

217-221

Authors: J. M. Jacob, M. T. Olaleye, J. A. O. Olugbuyiro

Ethnopharmacological relevance: The dry leaf of Alchornea cordifolia (AC) is used, in traditional medicine in the S Nigeria, for the preparation of blood tonic, remedies for urinary, respiratory, liver and gas intestinal disorders. Aim of the study: This study investigated the protective property of AC leaf against liver damage in animals with a view to exploring its use for the treatment of hepatotoxicity in humans. Material and methods: Ethanol extract of A. cordifolia was used to study the hepatoprotective activity in acetaminophen-induced Albino rats (150-200g). Animals in Group 1 served as vehicle control, Group 2 served as hepatotoxin (Acetaminophen 2g/kg treated) group, Groups 3 and 4 served as positive control (Vitamin E and Curcumin 100 mg/kg bw respectively) groups, and Groups 5-8 served as (200-500mg/kg bw) AC leaf extract treated groups while Group 9 served as normal group (AC extract only 300 mg/kg bw). Results: The hepatotoxic group showed hepatocytic necrosis, cellular infiltration and inflammation in the liver. The treatment group restored the liver cells to their normal lobular architecture in a dose dependent manner. The protection offered by the plant extract compared well with the standard antioxidant agents (Curcumin and Vitamin E). Tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids and saponins were detected in the phytochemical screening. Conclusion: Our findings suggest Alchornea cordifolia ethanol leaf extract as promising herpatoprotective herb and give credence to the folkloric use of this plant for the treatment of liver problems.