New sources of resistance to <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cucumber mosaic virus</Emphasis> in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Capsicum annuum</Emphasis>

Background

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is the most serious virus disease affecting chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) worldwide and the absence of natural resistance makes management of CMV outbreaks difficult. The characterization of improved sources of resistance to CMV in chilli would facilitate the development of commercially acceptable chilli varieties with adequate levels of CMV resistance. A total of 30 chilli genotypes were evaluated for their reaction to CMV in field and artificial inoculated conditions during 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. Large differences were observed among genotypes for disease incidence, severity indexes, and yield losses. Based on observed data, genotype CA23 (Noakhali) was identified as resistant, while CA12 (Comilla-2) was categorized as moderately resistant to CMV both in natural and inoculated conditions. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay absorbance values of samples taken from CMV-infected leaves corresponded well with visible viral symptoms for these genotypes. The identified C. annuum CA23 and CA12 genotypes represent previously undescribed and potentially useful sources of CMV resistance.

     

Replacement of Artemia with Moina micrura in the rearing of freshwater shrimp larvae

The effect of an abrupt change in the live diet of shrimp larvae was investigated by replacing Artemia with Moina micrura. The control treatment consisted of feeding Artemia throughout the rearing period (regime A), while in the other treatments the onset of Moina feeding was arbitrarily chosen at larval stages iv (A3M), vi (A5M), viii (A7M) and x (A9M). No significant differences ( = 0.05) were observed among the treatments during larval production, mean stage development (MSD) and growth of postlarvae. The mean (SD) yields of postlarvae (PL) were 11.97 (1.98), 15.10 (2.92), 14.72(1.56), 13.51 (1.74) and 12.70 (1.40) PL l^–1 respectively for the feeding regimes A3M, A5M, A7M, A9M and A. Up to stage v, the ingestion rate in the Moina treatment was as low as 0.01–0.47 larva^–1 h^–1 compared with that in the Artemia treatment (0.29–1.77 larva^–1 h^–1). However, the ingestion of Moina increased from stage vi–vii onwards.     

Dietary Protein Requirements of Juvenile Black Sea Bass,Centropristis striata

A feeding trial was conducted in a recirculating system to determine the dietary protein requirement for juvenile black sea bass. Six isocaloric diets were formulated to contain varying levels of crude protein (CP) ranging from 36 to 56% (36, 40, 44, 48, 52, and 56%) by substituting a mixture of carbohydrates and lipid for fish meal. The feeding experiment was carried out in 18‐75 L aquaria stocked at a density of 15 juveniles (initial average weight 6.7 g) per tank. Fish were fed test diets in triplicate tanks to apparent satiation twice a day for 8 wk. Whole‐body proximate composition was analyzed after the feeding trial. After the feeding trial, weight gain and specific growth rate of fish fed the 44% CP diet were not significantly different from those fed the 48, 52, and 56% CP diets, but were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those fed the 36 and 40% CP diets. Feed conversion efficiency and protein efficiency ratio were significantly affected by dietary protein level. The dietary requirement of protein for maximum growth of black sea bass juveniles, estimated using broken‐line regression analysis on weight gain, was 45.3% and maximum weight gain occurred at 52.6% based on polynomial regression analysis.     

Stochastic modeling of production risk and technical efficiency of Thai koi (Anabas testudineus) farming in Northern Bangladesh

Thai koi is one of the high commercially valued farm fishes which have expanded tremendously in the northern part of Bangladesh. However, despite its impressive growth in the initial years, output of the industry is highly volatile across different years and farms. This research, following the Just and Pope framework, has made use of Kumbhakar’s (2002 Kumbhakar, S.C. (2002) Specification and estimation of production risk, risk preferences, and technical efficiency. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 84, 8–22.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) extended stochastic frontier model (SFM) to estimate production risk and technical efficiency (TE) in Thai koi farming. Results show that feed is the most important input significantly influencing production. Zeolite and pesticide appear to be risk-reducing, while fingerlings, labor, feed and salt turn out to be risk-increasing inputs. The inefficiency model indicates that labor and pond area significantly reduce the technical inefficiency. Feed, fingerling and lime also act as TE-improving factors. Education of farmers improves TE, while experience, training and frequency of water change do not impact the TE. The mean TE scores are 0.73 and 0.96 for the flexible risk estimate and conventional SFM estimates, respectively. TE values appear to become exaggerated when production risk is excluded from the model. SFM recognizes that risk is involved in Thai koi farming that causes lower TE.     

Insecticide resistance compromises the control of Aedes aegypti in Bangladesh

BACKGROUND

With no effective drugs or widely available vaccines, dengue control in Bangladesh is dependent on targeting the primary vector Aedes aegypti with insecticides and larval source management. Despite these interventions, the dengue burden is increasing in Bangladesh, and the country experienced its worst outbreak in 2019 with 101 354 hospitalized cases. This may be partially facilitated by the presence of intense insecticide resistance in vector populations. Here, we describe the intensity and mechanisms of resistance to insecticides commonly deployed against Ae. aegypti in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

RESULTS

Dhaka Ae. aegypti colonies exhibited high-intensity resistance to pyrethroids. Using CDC bottle assays, we recorded 2–24% mortality (recorded at 24 h) to permethrin and 48–94% mortality to deltamethrin, at 10× the diagnostic dose. Bioassays conducted using insecticide–synergist combinations suggested that metabolic mechanisms were contributing to pyrethroid resistance, specifically multi-function oxidases, esterases, and glutathione S-transferases. In addition, kdr alleles were detected, with a high frequency (78–98%) of homozygotes for the V1016G mutation. A large proportion (≤ 74%) of free-flying and resting mosquitoes from Dhaka colonies survived exposure to standard applications of pyrethroid aerosols in an experimental free-flight room. Although that exposure affected the immediate host-seeking behavior of Ae. aegypti, the effect was transient in surviving mosquitoes.

CONCLUSION

The intense resistance characterized in this study is likely compromising the operational effectiveness of pyrethroids against Ae. aegypti in Dhaka. Switching to alternative chemical classes may offer a medium-term solution, but ultimately a more sustainable and effective approach to controlling dengue vectors is required. © 2023 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.     

Applications of polysaccharides (β-glucan) for physiological and biochemical parameters for evaluation rice tolerance under salinity stress at seedling stage

Salt stress is considered to be the most important abiotic stress and is the main problem in the interruption of the metabolic processes of plants, thereby limiting crop production. The present study was carried out to examine the effects of exogenously applied mushroom polysaccharides (β-glucan) on the growth of two rice varieties of Oryza sativa L. (MRQ74 and MR269) seedlings grown in vitro in 200 Mm sodium chloride (NaCl). Growth characteristics, including shoot and root height, and fresh and dry weight of salt-stressed rice seedlings were inhibited by sodium chloride treatment, the degree of which depends on the rice variety. The negative effects of salinity stress resulted in an imbalance of N, K⁺ Na⁺ and Na/K ratios and biochemical analysis activities a degradation of chlorophyll content in the plants. However, treatment with exogenously applied polysaccharides (β-glucan) ameliorated the stress generated by NaCl and improved the parameters mentioned above. The significance of the changes in growth and metabolism to salt stress tolerance in rice seedlings are discussed in the paper.     

Fatty acid composition,fat deposition,lipogenic gene expression and performance of broiler fed diet supplemented with different sources of oil

The present study assessed the effect of feeding palm oil (PO), sunflower oil (SO) and their combination on performance, fat deposition, fatty acid composition and lipogenic gene expression of broilers reared for 42 days. A total of 144 1‐day‐old broilers (Cobb500) were randomly allotted into four treatment diets with each having six replicates of six chicks in each replicate following a completely randomized design. Live weight gain and feed efficiency was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in birds fed with a combination of oil sources compared to controls. Birds fed with the combination of oil and SO alone had higher carcass yield and lower abdominal fat. Higher (P < 0.05) concentrations of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) and lower concentrations of palmitic acid and saturated fatty acid (SFA) was found in birds fed SO alone and combinations of SO and PO. Furthermore, the outcomes showed that birds fed diet supplemented with SO and the combination of SO and PO down‐regulated gene expression of key hepatic lipogenic enzymes of fatty acids synthase (FAS), acetyl‐CoA carboxylase (ACC) and stearoyl‐CoA desaturase (SCD). These findings suggest that the diet containing the combination of 2% PO and 4% SO may reduce hepatic lipogenesis, as well as lower abdominal fat content of broilers.