Study of anti-inflammatory,analgesic and antipyretic activities of seeds of Hyoscyamus niger and isolation of a new coumarinolignan

A chemical and biological validation of the traditional use of Hyoscyamus niger seeds as anti-inflammatory drug has been established. The methanolic extract of seeds of H. niger (MHN) was evaluated for its analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic activities in experimental animal models at different doses. MHN produced significant increase in hot plate reaction time, while decreasing writhing response in a dose-dependent manner indicating its analgesic activity. It was also effective in both acute and chronic inflammation evaluated through carrageenin-induced paw oedema and cotton pellet granuloma methods. In addition to its analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity, it also exhibited antipyretic activity in yeast-induced pyrexia model. Furthermore, the bioactive MHN under chemical investigation showed the presence of coumarinolignans as major chemical constituent and yielded a new coumarinolignan, cleomiscosin A methyl ether (1) along with four known coumarinolignans, cleomiscosin A (2), cleomiscosin B (3), cleomiscosin A-9′-acetate (4) and cleomiscosin B-9′-acetate (5). The structure elucidation of 1 was done by spectroscopic data interpretation and comparative HPLC analysis. Cleomiscosin A, but not its isomer cleomiscosin B, reduced dry and wet weight of cotton pellet granuloma in mice. This suggests that cleomiscosin A is an important constituent of MHN responsible for anti-inflammatory activity.     

Quantification of methane emitted by ruminants: a review of methods

The contribution of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ruminant production systems varies between countries and between regions within individual countries. The appropriate quantification of GHG emissions, specifically methane (CH₄), has raised questions about the correct reporting of GHG inventories and, perhaps more importantly, how best to mitigate CH₄ emissions. This review documents existing methods and methodologies to measure and estimate CH₄ emissions from ruminant animals and the manure produced therein over various scales and conditions. Measurements of CH₄ have frequently been conducted in research settings using classical methodologies developed for bioenergetic purposes, such as gas exchange techniques (respiration chambers, headboxes). While very precise, these techniques are limited to research settings as they are expensive, labor-intensive, and applicable only to a few animals. Head-stalls, such as the GreenFeed system, have been used to measure expired CH₄ for individual animals housed alone or in groups in confinement or grazing. This technique requires frequent animal visitation over the diurnal measurement period and an adequate number of collection days. The tracer gas technique can be used to measure CH₄ from individual animals housed outdoors, as there is a need to ensure low background concentrations. Micrometeorological techniques (e.g., open-path lasers) can measure CH₄ emissions over larger areas and many animals, but limitations exist, including the need to measure over more extended periods. Measurement of CH₄ emissions from manure depends on the type of storage, animal housing, CH₄ concentration inside and outside the boundaries of the area of interest, and ventilation rate, which is likely the variable that contributes the greatest to measurement uncertainty. For large-scale areas, aircraft, drones, and satellites have been used in association with the tracer flux method, inverse modeling, imagery, and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), but research is lagging in validating these methods. Bottom-up approaches to estimating CH₄ emissions rely on empirical or mechanistic modeling to quantify the contribution of individual sources (enteric and manure). In contrast, top-down approaches estimate the amount of CH₄ in the atmosphere using spatial and temporal models to account for transportation from an emitter to an observation point. While these two estimation approaches rarely agree, they help identify knowledge gaps and research requirements in practice.     

Long-term farmyard manure application effects on properties of a silty clay loam soil under irrigated wheat–soybean rotation

Increasing importance has been placed on the use of agricultural soils for the mitigation of atmospheric CO₂ through sequestration of soil C. Although crop productivity is sustained mainly through the application of organic manure in the Indian Himalayas, little information is available on C sequestration, C content in different aggregate size fractions and soil water transmission properties (infiltration and saturated hydraulic conductivity) as affected by long-term manure addition. We analyzed results of an 8-year experiment, initiated in 1995–1996 on a silty clay loam soil, to determine the influence of fertilizer and fertilizer + farmyard manure (FYM) application on those important soil properties. The overall increase in soil organic C (SOC) content in the 0–45 cm soil depth in NPK + FYM treatment as compared to NPK and control treatments was 11.0 and 13.9 Mg C ha⁻¹ at the end of 8 years, respectively. Application of FYM significantly reduced soil bulk density and increased mean weight diameter (MWD) and SOC contents in different aggregate size fractions. Soil organic C content in macroaggregates was greater than in microaggregates. The response of SOC content to FYM application was dependent upon inorganic fertilization and more upon balanced application of NPK than N only. Steady state infiltration rate under NPK + FYM (1.98 cm h⁻¹) was higher than under unfertilized (0.72 cm h⁻¹) and NPK (1.2 cm h⁻¹). Soil water sorptivity (calculated from Philip's equation) under NPK + FYM (1.06 cm min^−0.5) was higher than under NPK (0.61 cm min^−0.5). We conclude that hill farmers in northern India should be encouraged to use FYM along with chemical fertilizers to increase SOC content and improve soil physical properties.     

Self-generated microbial population or cultured microflora – an important criterion toward development of an effective and economically viable road map for organic soil management

Huge depletion of soil microflora under conventional farming practice has become the primary contributory factor toward the present depletion of soil and crop productivity. Reconstitution of soil microbial dynamics has been identified as the only way out, but there has been a debate regarding the most effective pathway for soil rejuvenation i.e. whether to create the environment for natural proliferation or opt for inoculation of laboratory generated microbes. In this respect, a study was undertaken at Maud T.E. (Assam) under FAO-CFC-TBI Project, where bio-fertilizer (microbial inoculant, MI), vermicompost (organic food source, OF), vermicompost + bio-fertilizer (OF+MI), and Novcom compost (representing self-generated native microflora in the order of 10¹⁶c.f.u. along with organic food source, SNM); were taken as treatments for a yield target of 1500 kg made tea/ha. The highest crop yield (1500 kg ha^?1) along with high and consistent soil quality development was noted under SNM treatment; while MI influenced lowest yield (1268 kg ha^?1) and minimal soil response. Addition of the organic food source with cultured microbes (MI+OF) was found to improve crop performance (1427 kg ha^?1), but with 7.60 times higher cost (Rs. 39.97 kg^?1 made tea). Economic viability study indicated that except SNM, all other treatments were vulnerable toward crop loss or market downfall.     

Conditioning,maturation and year‐round natural spawning of orange‐spotted grouper,Epinephelus coioides (Hamilton, 1822), in recirculating aquaculture system

The present experiment was aimed at studying the conditioning, maturation and natural spawning of orange‐spotted grouper, Epinephelus coioides, in a recirculatory aquaculture system (RAS). Thirty fish (n = 30; 3.35 ± 0.05 kg) were stocked in a circular tank of 125 m³ capacity fitted with an RAS for conditioning and broodstock development. After 15 days, 15 fish were implanted with 17 α methyl testosterone and letrozole at the rate of 5 mg and 0.2 mg/kg body weight, respectively, for conversion from female to male. The gonadal development started after 1 month, and by 90th day, 63.53 ± 3.78% and 2.07 ± 0.84% of the oocytes attained a size of 400–500 μm and 500–600 μm respectively. Natural spawning commenced in the RAS from 4th month onward after stocking and spawning continued round the year. The spawning pair showed courtship behaviour with a typical vertical burst of swimming just before release of gametes. The total number of eggs spawned during 1 year was 47.23 million with spawning frequency varying form 5 to 13 times per month. The association of spawning events with new moon day (lunar cycle) weakened as time progressed. The mean monthly fertilization and hatching rates varied from 77.80 ± 3.34% to 83.70 ± 1.76% and 82.80 ± 4.21% to 88.33 ± 1.39% respectively. The study proved that RAS is an efficient system that provides a stable, controllable and conducive environment for year‐round natural breeding of orange‐spotted grouper.     

Heterosis for leaf photosynthesis,grain yield and yield components in maize

Summary One of the primary avenues of improving the biological efficiency of crop plants is through the improvement of the leaf and canopy photosynthetic rates. However, the question whether the superiority of hybrids in respect of productivity potential could be traced, in retrospective fashion, to the photosynthetic parameters should be answered first. Once established and standardized, such indices could be streamlined in innovative breeding to predict the heterotic combinations for final yield formation. To answer this question, the photosynthetic rate and other components of photosynthetic efficiency were monitored among eight inbred stocks of maize (selected for variable photosynthetic rate from a previous study) and their all possible one-way crosses. The results demonstrated extensive heterosis in respect of photosynthetic rate and other photosynthetic indices which, in turn, was also realized in terms of higher biomass productivity and yield. Nonetheless, high leaf photosynthesis alone did not result in higher grain yield. On the contrary, component interaction among the photosynthetic indices like photosynthetic rate, leaf area/plant, number of leaves and chlorophyll content on one hand and the complementary gene action on the other, could be held responsible for higher yields in hybrids. Since the components of photosynthetic efficiency can predict heterosis for biomass and grain yield upto a reasonable extent, judicious incorporation of such indices in selection parameters for applied genetic protocols can add yet another dimension to the strategies for future yield improvements.     

Molecular typing of Brucella species isolates from livestock and human

Although host specificity has been observed in different species of Brucella, crossing the animal host boundary is likely to occur at any time. In this study, Bruce ladder PCR and abortus–melitensis–ovis–suis (AMOS) PCR assays were used to characterize 47 Brucella isolates from Indian origin in order to know exact species for understanding epidemiology of brucellosis. Out of them, 28, 14, and 5 isolates were found to be Brucella abortus, Brucella melitensis, and Brucella suis, respectively. Further analysis by AMOS PCR has identified that all the B. abortus isolates belong to any one of the biovar 1, 2, or 4; of the five B. suis isolates, three belong to biovar 1 and two belong to any one of the biovar 2, 3, 4, or 5. Although this multiplex Bruce ladder PCR is useful in differentiating all Brucella species, elaborate study is required to further characterize the isolates at exact biovar level.     

Genetic diversity and species identification of Argulus parasites collected from major aquaculture regions of India using RAPD‐PCR

Argulus is one of the most important fish parasites that cause heavy economic loss to aquaculture industry. The present investigation was undertaken to study the genetic diversity of the Argulus sp. collected from 13 locations representing major aquaculture zones in India by RAPD analysis and to develop species‐specific markers. Thirteen random decamer primers were used to amplify DNA fragments from three individual parasites of each location. Of the 172 bands scored by the primers, 168 were polymorphic. The per cent polymorphic loci and gene diversity values varied within a range of 8.14–43.02 and 0.0342–0.1727 respectively. Nei's genetic similarity between populations across all the primers ranged from 0.363 to 0.969. The dendrogram based on Nei's genetic distance showed two clusters; Bangalore and Mandi populations forming one cluster, and the rest in another cluster. The clusters also revealed strong correlation with the species identified as A. japonicus and A. siamensis respectively by morphological method. The study thus indicated A. siamensis as the major prevalent species in carp culture farms in India. Species‐specific primers were designed from unique sequences cloned from RAPD fragments that could able to identify A. siamensis and A. japonicus separately.     

Long-term yield trend and sustainability of rainfed soybean–wheat system through farmyard manure application in a sandy loam soil of the Indian Himalayas

A long-term (30 years) soybean–wheat experiment was conducted at Hawalbagh, Almora, India to study the effects of organic and inorganic sources of nutrients on grain yield trends of rainfed soybean (Glycine max)–wheat (Triticum aestivum) system and nutrient status (soil C, N, P and K) in a sandy loam soil (Typic Haplaquept). The unfertilized plot supported 0.56 Mg ha⁻¹ of soybean yield and 0.71 Mg ha⁻¹ of wheat yield (average yield of 30 years). Soybean responded to inorganic NPK application and the yield increased significantly to 0.87 Mg ha⁻¹ with NPK. Maximum yields of soybean (2.84 Mg ha⁻¹) and residual wheat (1.88 Mg ha⁻¹) were obtained in the plots under NPK + farmyard manure (FYM) treatment, which were significantly higher than yields observed under other treatments. Soybean yields in the plots under the unfertilized and the inorganic fertilizer treatments decreased with time, whereas yields increased significantly in the plots under N + FYM and NPK + FYM treatments. At the end of 30 years, total soil organic C (SOC) and total N concentrations increased in all the treatments. Soils under NPK + FYM-treated plots contained higher SOC and total N by 89 and 58% in the 0–45 cm soil layer, respectively, over that of the initial status. Hence, the decline in yields might be due to decline in available P and K status of soil. Combined use of NPK and FYM increased SOC, oxidizable SOC, total N, total P, Olsen P, and ammonium acetate exchangeable K by 37.8, 42.0, 20.8, 30.2, 25.0, and 52.7%, respectively, at 0–45 cm soil layer compared to application of NPK through inorganic fertilizers. However, the soil profiles under all the treatments had a net loss of nonexchangeable K, ranging from 172 kg ha⁻¹ under treatment NK to a maximum of 960 kg ha⁻¹ under NPK + FYM after 30 years of cropping. Depletion of available P and K might have contributed to the soybean yield decline in treatments where manure was not applied. The study also showed that although the combined NPK and FYM application sustained long-term productivity of the soybean–wheat system, increased K input is required to maintain soil nonexchangeable K level.     

Resistance to ETEC F4/F18–mediated piglet diarrhoea: opening the gene black box

Diarrhoea, a significant problem in pig rearing industry affecting pre- and post-weaning piglets is caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). The ETEC are classified as per the fimbriae types which are responsible for bacterial attachment with enterocytes and release of toxins causing diarrhoea. However, genetic difference exists for susceptibility to ETEC infection in piglets. The different phenotypes found in pigs determine their (pigs’) susceptibility or resistance towards fimbrial subtypes/variants (F4ab, F4ac, F4ad and F18). Specific receptors are present on intestinal epithelium for attachment of these fimbriae, which do not express to same level in all animals. This differential expression is genetically determined and thus their genetic causes (may be putative candidate gene or mutations) render some animals resistant or susceptible to one or more fimbrial subtypes. Genetic linkage studies have revealed the mapping location of the receptor loci for the two most frequent variants F4ab and F4ac to SSC13q41 (i.e. q arm of 13th chromosome of Sus scrofa). Some SNPs have been identified in mucin gene family, transferring receptor gene, fucosyltransferase 1 gene and swine leucocyte antigen locus that are proposed to be linked mutations for resistance/susceptibility towards ETEC diarrhoea. However, owing to the variety of fimbrial types and subtypes, it would be difficult to identify a single causative mutation and the candidate loci may involve more number of genes/regions. In this review, we focus on the genetic mutations in genes involved in imparting resistance/susceptibility to F4 or F18 ETEC diarrhoea and possibilities to use them as marker for selection against susceptible animals.