Retracted: Study of testis histology and sperm morphology in the Bunnei,Barbus sharpeyi (Gunther, 1874) induced by luteinizing hormone‐releasing hormone analogue and carp pituitary extract

This study was conducted to determine the effects of hormone treatment on testis structure in Barbus sharpeyi, as well as the morphology of sperm examined by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). Male B. sharpeyi were divided into three groups (three fish per group) and injected with luteinizing hormone – releasing hormone analogue (LHRH–A₂) or carp pituitary extract (CPE). The first and second groups were treated with 10 μg kg^?1 LHRH–A₂ and metoclopramide (MET), and their testis were sampled pre‐ and Poststripping respectively. The third group received 2 mg kg^?1 CPE and were killed pre‐stripping. Based on the histological results obtained, the testicular connective tissue of the lumen was thicker, and seminal vesicles were of a lower volume, in fish injected with CPE in comparison to the other groups. After treatment with LHRH–A₂ and MET, not all spermatozoa within the testis were ejaculated, and only a small amount of sperm was obtained by abdominal stripping. The highest and lowest diameters of connective tissue within lobules were observed in fish receiving CPE and LHRH–A₂ treatments respectively. There was a significant difference (P < 0.05) in lobule space between the fish injected with the CPE and the fish injected with the LHRH–A₂ and MET. The SEM results revealed that the spermatozoa of B. sharpeyi were composed of a spherical to elliptical head, a cylindrical midpiece, and a lengthy flagellum. In conclusion, it was found that injection with LHRH–A₂ and MET improved the spermatogenic process in comparison to injection with CPE.     

Nano-calcium carbonate reinforced polypropylene and propylene-ethylene copolymer nanocomposites: Tensile vs. impact behavior

Improvement of both the tensile and impact strength of the same polymeric material has always been a great challenge for the plastic industry. The study focuses on the effect of incorporation of calcium carbonate nanoparticles (0.3 wt% to 15 wt%) into three polypropylene (PP) based matrices viz. PP homopolymer, propylene-ethylene (PP-PE) copolymer and the blend of PP:PP-PE (30:70) to improve their impact behavior without hampering the tensile strength much. A loss in both the tensile and impact properties was observed in PP based nanocomposite. However, PP-PE based nanocomposites showed a significant improvement in impact strength (47 %) at 10 wt% loading with a loss of tensile strength by 22 %. To minimize this loss a blend of PP:PP-PE (30:70) was explored as a matrix. At 10 wt% loading, this matrix showed an improvement of 30 % in impact strength whereas the tensile loss was minimized to 10 %. Further, silane coupling agent which promoted good interfacial adhesion was used for best compositions. The variation of crystalline morphology of the nanocomposites with various formulations was analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction.     

Effect of Growth Regulators and Ethanol on Termination of Dormancy in Potato Tubers

The main objective of this study was to find the best practice of inducing the sprouting of dormant potato tubers. We compared two protocols of breakage of dormancy, which are based on dipping excised potato eyes in an aqueous solution of gibberellic acid (GA₃) and kinetin (standard 1) or in the aqueous solution of GA₃, thiourea, and daminozide (standard 2), with a newly reported approach based on ethanol. We tested the effect of ethanol alone or in combination with GA₃ and/or kinetin on dormancy release and sprouting of the potato tubers. As a model, we used two potato genotypes (cultivars Pasat and Dorota), with long dormancy of 5 and 10 weeks respectively. We showed that the standard 2 was the most effective treatment both for dormancy breaking and in promoting sprout growth, especially for cv. Dorota, for which the treatment induced 82.3% of tuber eye-plugs to sprout 28 days after treatment and to produce 93.2% of emerged plants after subsequent 28 days of cultivation in the greenhouse. For this cultivar, similar efficacy was observed for the combination of 4% ethanol with GA₃ and kinetin. The same concentration of ethanol combined with GA₃ but without kinetin was the most efficient treatment for breaking dormancy of cultivar Pasat. However, the difference between the various treatment combinations was statistically insignificant. Ethanol alone or in combination with kinetin poorly induced breakage of dormancy, confirming the main role of GA₃ in artificial dormancy breaking. Thus our study showed that the standard 2 is the most effective approach for breakage of dormancy at least with long term-dormancy cultivars.     

Effect of different feeds on the growth,survival and reproductive performance of zebrafish,Danio rerio (Hamilton, 1822)

Present experiment was conducted to determine the effect of different feeds with varying protein levels on the growth, survival and reproductive performance of zebrafish, Danio rerio. The control diet (T1) was wild‐collected zooplankton from local fish ponds, while test diets with 350 g kg^?1 protein (T2), 400 g kg^?1 protein (T3) and 450 g kg^?1 protein (T4) were formulated and fed to fish for a period of 210 days. The significantly (P < 0.05) highest mean weight gain and specific growth rate were observed in T1, which were similar with T3 and T4. The significantly (P < 0.05) highest number of egg production per female and relative fecundity were found in T1, followed by T4 and T3 while T2 produced lowest number of eggs. No significant (P > 0.05) differences were observed in brood survival rate, fertilization and hatching rate among the dietary treatments. The highest (P < 0.05) fry survival rate was recorded in T1, followed by T3 and T4. Thus, it is suggested that control diet i.e. mixed zooplankton exhibited better growth, reproductive performance and fry survival rate. However, diet containing 400 g kg^?1 crude protein also gave comparable results in terms of growth, survival and reproductive performance of zebrafish.     

Exogenous xylanase improves growth,protein digestibility and digestive enzymes activities in Nile tilapia,Oreochromis niloticus,fed different ratios of fish meal to sunflower meal

A 3 × 2 factorial experiment was designed to evaluate the effect of different ratios of fish meal (FM): sunflower meal (SFM) with or without exogenous xylanase supplementation on growth, feed utilization, digestive enzymes activities, apparent digestibility, intestinal and liver morphology and chemical composition of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus. Three isonitrogenous (329.80 g/kg of crude protein) and isoenergetic (18.46 MJ/kg gross energy) experimental diets were formulated as SFM₁ (FM:SFM = 2:1), SFM₂ (FM:SFM = 1:1) and SFM₃ (FM:SFM = 1:2) based on protein content. Each diet was supplemented with 0 or 0.5 g/kg of exogenous xylanase and was fed to triplicate groups of twelve fish (with initial weight, 1.31 ± 0.02 g) for 84 days. After 84 days of feeding period, the highest weight gain, specific growth rate, protein efficiency, protein productive value and the best feed conversion ratio were recorded in fish fed either SFM₁ or SFM₂ supplemented with exogenous xylanase. Whereas lowest growth performance was recorded in fish fed SFM₂ and SFM₃ un‐supplemented with xylanase. The highest activities of chymotrypsin, trypsin, lipase, amylase, alkaline phosphatase and cholecystokinin were observed in fish fed SFM₁ and SFM₂ diets supplemented with xylanase. The highest ADCs of dry matter, protein, lipid and digestible energy were recorded in fish fed SFM₁ and SFM₂ diets supplemented with exogenous xylanase. Supplementation of exogenous xylanase improved muscularis mucosa thickness, height of mucosal folds and enterocytes of intestinal fish. Addition of exogenous xylanase increased the calcium and phosphorus retention. Results of this study indicated that the addition of exogenous xylanase to diet containing high inclusion level of sunflower meal improved growth, digestive enzymes, nutrient digestibility, histological morphometric of liver and intestine and nutrient retention.     

Paraphoma root rot of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) in Inner Mongolia,China

Root rot symptoms were observed in fields of alfalfa in Chifeng city, Inner Mongolia, China in 2016. Disease incidences of seven alfalfa varieties planted in 2014 ranged from 56% to 95%, while incidence of Gongnong No. 1 planted in 2016 was 8%, 31% and 76% in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. Paraphoma isolates were consistently recovered from black necrotic root tissues of diseased plants with a frequency of 77.1%. Based on morphological characters and phylogenetic analysis of rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS), elongation factor 1-α (EF1-α) and β-tubulin (TUB), this fungus was identified as Paraphoma radicina. Glasshouse pathogenicity experiments showed that P. radicina significantly reduced above- and below-ground biomass of alfalfa plants 2 months after inoculation. Paraphoma radicina infected 70% of the plants inoculated with a root dip in conidia, and these symptoms were consistent with the symptoms in the field. Paraphoma radicina was successfully reisolated from disease roots of the inoculated alfalfa plants. This is the first report of P. radicina as the causal agent of alfalfa root rot in China.