First record of the entomopathogenic fungus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Entomophaga aulicae</Emphasis> on the Bihar hairy caterpillar <Emphasis Type="Italic">Spilarctia obliqua</Emphasis> in Manipur,India

Entomophaga aulicae (Hoffman in Bail) Batko (Zygomycotina: Entomophthorales) was found to cause epizootics in Spilarctia obliqua (Walker) (Arctiidae: Lepidoptera), a polyphagous pest in Manipur, India. Infected caterpillars climbed to elevated positions on plants where they hung upside down, attached by their abdominal prolegs. Infection levels reached up to 57%. The conidiophores are simple, conidia are ovoid to pyriform in shape, and the nuclei stained readily in aceto-orcein. Secondary, tertiary conidia and resting spores were also observed. No rhizoids and cystidia were found. This is the first report of E. aulicae infecting S. obliqua in Manipur.     

Embryo transfer: a discussion on its potential for infectious disease control based on a review of studies on infection of gametes and early embryos by various agents

Studies on laboratory animals have shown that viruses vary as to whether or not they are transmissible by the gametes or are capable of passing through the zona pellucida and infecting the embryo.

Methods of studying early embryos for the presence of infectious agents include electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry and cell cultivation.

Determination that early bovine embryos do not become infected by certain agents might allow for easing of restrictions in the current import and export regulations for cattle embryos.

Embryo transfer could be used as a means of controlling or eliminating disease in a herd or flock if the causal agent does not infect the early embryo via the gametes or by penetrating the zona pellucida.

     

Renal and biochemical changes produced in broilers by high-protein, high-calcium, urea-containing, and vitamin-A-deficient diets

Three hundred 18-day-old male chicks (Arbor Acre) were divided into five groups of 60 each and given high-protein (42.28%), high-calcium (3.37%), urea-containing (5%), vitamin-A-deficient, or control diets to study the effect of nutritional imbalances on the development of nephritis and related biochemical changes over 15 weeks. The first four diets increased the levels of glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, glutamate pyruvate transaminase, uric acid, and nonprotein nitrogen in serum. Blood urea was increased by only the urea diet. Hypoglycemia and a decrease in hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase were also observed in chicks fed the first four diets. The vitamin-A-deficient diet resulted in a depletion of vitamin A in the liver and kidneys. These changes were directly correlated with the prolonged feeding of experimental diets and also with the severity of nephritis and degenerative changes in various organs. It was concluded that increasing the intake of nitrogen or calcium in order to increase production may in fact have the opposite effect, leading to degenerative changes in various tissues and to nephritis.     

ANGIOGRAPHIC EVALUATION OF BOVINE INTESTINAL HEALING FOLLOWING INVERTING, EVERTING, AND END-ON ANASTOMOSIS

Angiography during intestinal healing following single-layer inverting, everting, and end-on anastomoses was carried out in 18 calves. Six anastomoses using the same technique were performed in each animal. Six anastomoses, along with one main artery supplying the anastomotic site, were removed from each calf on the first, third, seventh, 15th, 21st, and 28th postoperative days. Angiograms of tubular intestinal segments were obtained after intraarterial infusion of 2–3 ml of sodium iothalamate and lead suspension. Lead-infused intestinal segments were cut open through the mesenteric border to obtain additional angiograms of flat bowel. Angiograms in the early stage of intestinal healing revealed hypervascularity at the cut edges and an avascular zone at the suture line. These changes were more intense with the everting than with the inverting and end-on techniques. The sprouting of vessels at the anastomotic junction and their crossing over started on third postoperative day but were clearly visualized only after the seventh postoperative day. By 15–21 days after operation, anastomotic sites were almost completely revascularized for all techniques. Everted anastomosis elicited more intense vascular response and resulted in earlier vascularization than the other two techniques. No appreciable differences in the pattern of revascularization were observed with inverting and end-on anastomoses. Lead suspension proved to be better than sodium iothalamate for such studies. Angiograms of the open bowel provided more realistic and confirmatory information regarding the sequence of vascular-changes at the suture line.     

Mango explant browning: Effect of ontogenic age,mycorrhization and pre-treatments

The in vitro performance of mango shoot culture is delimited by several factors, of which explant necrosis and media browning are considered as major constraints for successful exploitation of such an important commercial crop. Our results showed that source of explants had a significant effect on the performance of in vitro cultures of mango. The variations in survival of explants collected from glasshouse grown seedlings and field-grown stock plants indicated towards differences between their physiological/ontogenic age. Though, chronologically, both are young, the glasshouse grown shoots are ontogenetically younger and; therefore, responded better over field-grown shoots. Improved performance of explants harvested from mycorrhizal plants suggests integration of mycorrhizal biotechnology with tissue culture biotechnology in order to achieve better results as mycorrhiza being a well-known stress alleviator may help explants mitigate in vitro stresses. Furthermore, shoot tip explants of field-grown ‘Amrapali’ mango was assayed for their browning propensity at pre- and post-culture stages. Status of different bio-chemicals such as in vivo phenol, in vitro phenol exudation, phenylalanine ammonia lyase, peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase as affected by various pre-treatments were estimated to establish the relationship of these bio-chemicals with necrosis of mango shoot cultures. The different pre-treatments comprised etiolation of newly emerged shoots (5–7 days old) of stock plants using black polythene for 7 days, etiolation treatment + agitation of explants in antioxidant solution (antioxidants: ascorbic acid at 100 mg l⁻¹ + citric acid at 50 mg l⁻¹), etiolation treatment + agitation of explants in polyvinylpyrrolidone solution (PVP) at 0.2% and non-etiolated control. Of these, explants treated with PVP proved to be superior to other treatments with regards to explant necrosis percentage as such explants exhibited least activities of phenols and oxidative enzymes. Correlation studies indicated existence of high positive correlation between explant necrosis and these bio-chemicals.     

CD34 protein is expressed in murine,canine, and porcine lungs

The cell surface protein CD34 is expressed in various human tissues and cells, including hematopoietic stem cells, vascular endothelial cells, mucosal dendritic cells, mast cells, eosinophils, microglia, fibrocytes, muscle satellite cells, and platelets. There is a lack of data on the expression of CD34 in canine and porcine tissues. Therefore, we designed a series of immunoblotting, immunohistochemistry, and immunofluorescence experiments to observe CD34 expression in murine, canine, and porcine lungs. We used a rabbit antibody (clone EP373Y) to target the conserved human CD34 C-terminal region and validated its immunoreactivity against mouse lung homogenates. The data showed diffuse bronchiolar and alveolar epithelial localization of CD34 protein in normal murine, canine, and porcine lungs. At 9 or 24 h after bacterial endotoxin exposure, murine CD34 protein shifted to specific bronchoalveolar cells with a punctate pattern, as quantified by CD34 fluorescence. Specific porcine bronchoalveolar cells and leukocytes had significant CD34-positive immunostaining after H3N1 influenza infection. Thus, our study provides fundamental data on the expression of CD34 in lungs and validates an antibody for use in further experiments in these animal species.     

Ultrasonographic diagnosis and surgical management of double intestinal intussusception in 3 dogs

The diagnosis and treatment of double intestinal intussusception in 3 pups with persistent vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, anemia, leucocytosis, and electrolyte imbalance are described. Ultrasonography confirmed intussusception and laparotomy revealed double intussusceptions. Intussusceptions were corrected by manual reduction in 1 pup and intestinal resection and anastomosis in 2 pups. Two pups survived and 1 pup died on the 4th day after surgery.     

Modulation of manganese toxicity in Pisum sativum L. seedlings by kinetin

In the present study, the effects of kinetin (KN; 10 and 100 μM) application under manganese toxicity (Mn; 50, 100 and 250 μM) were investigated, on growth, photosynthetic pigments, total protein, total nitrogen, ammonium (NH₄⁺) content, NH₄⁺ assimilating enzymes and antioxidant system in pea seedlings. The exposure of pea seedlings to Mn and 100 μM of KN alone and in combination, caused decrease in growth, photosynthetic pigments, total protein and total nitrogen contents, and an increase in NH₄⁺ content. However, application of 10 μM of KN together with Mn reduced the Mn toxicity symptoms, promoted the growth of seedlings and led to the decrease in NH₄⁺ content compared to Mn treatments alone. The root and shoot activities of glutamine synthetase (GS), glutamate oxoglutarate aminotransferase (GOGAT) and catalase (CAT) were decreased while glutathione reductase (GR) and dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) activities exhibited differential responses when pea seedlings were exposed to Mn and 100 μM of KN. However, under similar treatments, activities of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in root and shoot were increased. It was noticed that addition of 10 μM of KN together with Mn, caused significant stimulation in activities of enzymes of NH₄⁺ assimilation and antioxidant defense system even over their respective control values. Non-enzymatic antioxidants (ascorbate and glutathione) in root and shoot of pea seedlings exposed to Mn stress were significantly increased by the addition of 10 μM of KN. Therefore, ameliorative effect of 10 μM of KN against Mn toxicity was observed. This study thus suggests that 10 μM of KN appreciably improves Mn tolerance of pea seedlings under Mn toxicity while reverse effects were exhibited by 100 μM of KN.     

Occurrence of aphid vector and genetic tolerance to infection by potyvirus in hot pepper

The productivity and marketable quality of hot pepper (Capsicum annuum var. annuum L.) are low in tropical regions mainly due to virus infections and lack of effective virus management strategies. The absence of effective virus management strategies could be attributed to lack of information on virus vectors and host resistance. Parental (P₁ and P₂) and progeny (F₁, B₁, B₂ and F₂) generations of five hot pepper crosses were grown in Ethiopia at three sites (Bako, Hawasa and Melkasa) to monitor number and species of potential aphid vectors, disease incidence levels with regards to natural infections by Potato virus Y (PVY) and Ethiopian pepper mottle virus (EPMV) complex, and to determine genetic tolerance of the crop to the viruses. Disease incidence was assessed before the flowering stage of the crop plants using visible disease symptoms due to infections by PVY and EPMV. The serological tests revealed presence of symptomless genotypes of the crop to the virus infections. Aphid species potentially transmitting the viruses, such as Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris), Aphis fabae (Scopoli), and Myzus persicae (Sulzer), were identified from specimens caught by yellow water traps. The highest number of aphids from yellow water traps was recorded at a dense foliage growth stage of the crop at Melkasa. Highly significant variation was observed among generations of the five crosses in response to infections by PVY and EPMV complex. The most susceptible parents had the levels of disease incidences ranging from 80 to 90%, whereas their progenies had only below 30% incidence levels. The most tolerant parent remained symptomless to the natural infections of PVY- and EPMV-complex. Incidence levels in progenies of a cross from the most susceptible and tolerant parents remained below 20%. Based on serological test, the proportion of PVY-positive plants ranged from 0 to 75% and of EPMV-positive plants from 0 to 25%, with 0 to 17% co-infection by the two viruses. Availability of virus sources in the vicinity, efficiency of aphids in vectoring, weather conditions during the growth period, genetic tolerance and the growth stage of the crop affected natural infection by PVY- and EPMV-complex. Exploitation of the genetic potential of introduced elite genotypes and their progenies along with breeding elite local cultivars for resistance and excluding aphid vectors at young (seedling) stage of the crop plants could be helpful for minimizing losses in yield and quality of hot pepper due to infections by PVY- and EPMV-complex.