COMPARATIVE EFFICACY OF CERTAIN PLANT EXTRACTS AGAINST MENOPON GALLINAE AND LIPEURUS CAPONIS

Bindu Lakshmanan, Radhika Rajagopal, Gleeja V L and Hariharan Subramanian

Page No: 1-5

Kerala has rich ethnobotanical background and herbal medicines have stood the test of time for their safety, efficacy, cultural acceptability and lesser side effects. Nevertheless, topical insecticides remain the mainstay of control of lousiness in livestock and poultry and this has led to several problems including the development of resistance, toxic manifestations in animals and birds, and concerns of residues in milk, meat as well as environment. Preliminary in vitro trials were conducted to assess the comparative efficacy of Lantana camara, Calotropis gigantea and Allium sativum against poultry lice by adopting filter paper protocol. The lice selected for the study were recovered from heavy natural infestation from backyard chicken. They were morphologically identified as Menopon gallinae and Lipeurus caponis. The trials proved the significantly high lousicidal property of ethanolic extracts of C. gigantea and A. sativum at 5% concentration in 24 hour incubation period. The lousicidal effect of L. camara as evidenced at 10% concentration after 48 hour incubation period was significantly lower than other two plant extracts with the same treatment. This seems to indicate that extracts from A. sativum bulbs and C. gigantea possess better lousicidal properties than L. camara which were directly proportionate to the concentration. The results are encouraging and provide scientific validation of the efficacy of C. gigantea and A. sativum against Menopon gallinae and Lipeuris caponis. Knowledge of plants with insecticidal properties, their toxic principles and biological activity is of utmost importance not only to replace toxic chemicals but also to unravel their effects in lesser known species.

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THERAPEUTIC MANAGEMENT OF DEGNALA DISEASE IN A BUFFALO CALF: A CASE REPORT

Manoj Kumar

Page No: 6-7

A female buffalo calf have typical sign of Degnala Disease was successfully treated with penta sulphate of Copper, Zinc, Cobalt, Manganese and Iron along with other symptomatic treatment. Animal was well respond to the treatment and complete recovered after 15th day of treatment.

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ASSOCIATION OF IMMUNOCOMPETENCE AND PRODUCTION TRAITS IN WHITE LEGHORN CHICKEN

Sreenivas Dasari

Page No: 8-16

The present investigation was carried out to assess the relationship of immunocompetence traits with production traits in four White leghorn strains viz., IWH, IWI, IWK and control. The anti SRBC titre was positively correlated with age at first egg at genetic level (0.189 to 0.285) while it was negatively correlated phenotypically (-0.056 to -0.111) and environmentally (-0.037 to -0.111). The genetic and phenotypic correlations of anti SRBC titre with body weights and egg production at different ages were mostly positive. The genetic and phenotypic correlations of anti NDV titre with age at first egg, body weights at different age and annual egg production were mostly positive. The correlations of response to PHA-P with other production traits varied both in magnitude and direction. This study indicated that the environmental factors improving the humoral response will reduce the annual egg production and selection for high antibody titre against NDV may improve annual egg production which is of primary importance in layers. Further studies are needed to establish the exact genetic relationship of cell mediated response to PHA-P with production traits.

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PREVALENCE OF CLINICAL CAPRINE MASTITIS IN AND AROUND HYDERABAD

Sree Priya D, Ayodhya S and Satish Kumar K

Page No: 17-20

The present study was carried out to study the age, breed, season, lactation and udder half wise prevalence of clinical mastitis in goats. Highest prevalence was recorded in 3-4 yrs (50%) of age and in non-descript (66.67%) goats. Seasonal prevalence was highest during monsoon (58.33%) and in the month of July (33.33%). Goats in first lactation (50%) showed highest prevalence and the right quarters (55.56%) were more affected than the left quarters (44.44%). Single quarter involvement was noticed in 50% of the goats and remaining 50% showed double quarter infection.

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INFLUENCE OF UV-B RADIATION ON IN VITRO SEED GERMINATION AND SEEDLING GROWTH OF COWPEA

K Rajendiran, L Gowsalya and J Sudaroli Sudha

Page No: 21-37

In vitro seed germination and growth was carried out with three selected varieties viz. GOWMATHI, FOLA and NS-634 of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) after ultraviolet-B irradiation (UV-B = 2 hours once with 1 hour recovery time @ 12.2 kJ m-2 d-1; ambient = 10 kJ m-2 d-1). UV-B stressed GOWMATHI seeds under wet condition failed to respond in vitro germination. Control and UV-B stressed FOLA and NS-634 seeds both in dry and wet treatments germinated under in vitro condition. UV-B irradiation suppressed height of seedlings at both dry and wet conditions in all varieties of cowpea compared with control. Root length of UV-B stressed NS-634 equalled control both after dry and wet exposures. UV-B stressed FOLA wet seeds recorded enhancement (50.13%) in plant growth over control. GOWMATHI, FOLA and NS-634 under dry and wet UV-B exposures accumulated less plant biomass (16.66 to 32.50%) compared to controls. FOLA under dry and wet UV-B exposure produced same number of leaves as the control. Seedlings of FOLA and NS-634 varieties of cowpea had the potentiality to survive under ultraviolet-B radiation.

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EFFECT OF IMPROVED HIGH YIELDING RICE VARIETY ON FARMERS PRODUCTIVITY IN MADA, MALAYSIA

Abiola Olapeju Adedoyin, Mad Nasir Shamsudin, Alias Radam and Ismail AbdLatif

Page No: 38-52

Worldwide, technological change in rice production has given in an era of agricultural development and increased productivity performance. However, such performance appears to be unevenly distributed among farmers. Though, with new technologies introduced in Malaysia, development is premised on the recognition that low productivity is a major cause of the lack of advancement in the rice sector. There was no significant improvement in yield as the average farm yields varies from 3-5 tons per hectare below the neighbouring countries such as Vietnam and Indonesian at 5.5 and 4.9 tons per hectare respectively. Therefore, this study examined socialeconomic factors influencing the use of improved high yielding varieties and its’ impact level on rice yield in MADA, Malaysia. A total sampling size of 396 rice farmers were selected using a multistage random sampling through a well-structured questionnaire. The findings re-affirmed the claim that socio-economic factors such as education, experience, and farm size were the factors influencing the adoption of improved high yielding varieties. There exist upward neutral shifts in production function when MR 263, MR 220CL1 and MR 220CL2 are used by 1.5 times more yield compared to local varieties. It may be concluded that the improved high yielding varieties of seed are more important and beneficial for the productivity of rice. Therefore, the study suggested that extension agents in the area as a whole need to be improved on various ways used in disseminating improved high yield varieties to farmers. The strategies for rice technology transfer to farmers should be specially packaged.

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IN VITRO CALLUS INDUCTION IN LEAF EXPLANTS OF BLACK GRAM VARIETIES GROWN UNDER IN SITU UV-B RADIATION

K Rajendiran, K Thiruvarasan and R Vijayalakshmi

Page No: 53-64

Callus induction was tried with leaf explants (third leaf from top of canopy) harvested from 30 DAS (days after seed germination) in situ control and supplementary UV-B irradiated (UV-B = 2 hours daily @ 12.2 kJ m-2 d-1; ambient = 10 kJ m-2 d-1) VAMBAN-3, NIRMAL-7 and T-9 varieties of black gram to study their viability for utilization in germplasm conservation. Callus induction occurred only in leaf explants of in situ grown VAMBAN-3 and NIRMAL-7 controls. Parenchyma cells in the callus of control VAMBAN-3 were larger and less in number compared to NIRMAL-7. VAMBAN-3 and NIRMAL-7 varieties had 57.14% similarity between them, while T-9 remained separated showing only 14.28% similarity with other members. The leaf explants excised from all varieties of black gram cultivated under in situ UV-B stress, failed to induct callus as they succumbed to the abiotic stress.

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NATURE OF INCOME AND EXPENDITURE OF RURAL AND URBAN HOUSEHOLDS: A MICRO LEVEL STUDY IN BANKURA DISTRICT OF WEST BENGAL

Samir Show

Page No: 65-75

The studies on food and non-food consumption pattern or expenditure pattern are very important as it is related to poverty and standard of our society. Food being the foremost basic need gets the priority in the expenditure of people, especially the poor classes. It is necessary to study the change in food consumption pattern under the changing situation of liberalization, privatization and globalization. In study area there are two types of consumption expenditure. One food consumption expenditure and the other non-food Consumption expenditure. The Food and non-food consumption depends on different factors like Income, Price Level, Age, Sex, rate of interest, Education, time, Credit Condition, Health, Wealth, etc. It is observed that food and nonfood consumption expenditure in rural and urban area of West Bengal is varies. In this paper I compare Income and expenditure of rural households and urban households in Bankura district of West Bengal. The pattern of food and non-food consumption expenditure of rural and urban households is examined here. Food and non-food consumption expenditure of urban person is higher than that of the rural person. Side by side, the savings of rural persons is lower than that of urban persons. The rural Class spent (63%) more of their income on food consumption, their income being very low. Rural savings level is less than urban savings. On the other hand the urban class saves above 38% of total income.

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IN VITRO CALLUS PROLIFERATION FROM STEM EXPLANTS OF THREE VARIETIES OF GREEN GRAM AFTER IN SITU ULTRAVIOLET-B EXPOSURE

K Rajendiran, S Vidya and D Arulmozhi

Page No: 76-87

The in vitro callus induction was carried out with stem explants (nodal region from third node from top of canopy) harvested on 30 days after seed germination from in situ control and supplementary ultraviolet-B irradiated (UV-B = 2 hours daily @ 12.2 kJ m-2 d-1; ambient = 10 kJ m-2 d-1) three varieties of green gram viz. CO-8, NVL-585 and VAMBAN-2 to evaluate the viability of the stem explants for the purpose of germplasm storage. Callus and axillary bud initiation occurred only in NVL-585 control stem explants. Stem explants of CO-8 and VAMBAN-2 controls failed to proliferate callus. Stem explants of all UV-B exposed green gram varieties also failed to proliferate callus losing the possibility of utilizing them for germplasm conservation.

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