Remote sensing-based assessment of impact of Phailin cyclone on rice in Odisha,India

Assessing the nature and extent of damage due to natural calamities remains one of the thrust areas in monitoring resource inventory through remote sensing. The effect of the cyclone Phailin and the post-incessant rains during second fortnight of October 2013 on coastal Odisha was studied in terms of rice area flooded, submerged and damaged. Multi-temporal SAR data were analysed to obtain the rice mask, and from this rice mask, the flood affected rice area was determined. Taluka-wise and district-wise crop loss proportion was estimated, and the overall production loss has been estimated. SAR data aided in delineation of flooded regions, while AWiFS NDVI data of subsequent dates showed both continued inundation and crop vigour status post-flood time period. The ground truth indicated that a major portion of the inundated region was not rice but was typha grasses and harvested rice field which should not be accounted as damage to rice crop. The damage on crop yield was difficult to assess; however, the inundation of the crop at panicle initiation and flowering would have impact on grain filling (results in chaffiness) and was considered as completely damaged. Most of the current inundated rice regions fall in this category. It was estimated that a total of 0.167 million hectares and 0.37 million tons of rice crop was lost in the cyclone and floods. The district-level percentage area of rice flooded was communicated to State Remote Sensing Centre in four days timeframe. The overall accuracy obtained for the validation of the ground truth sites was 91.5 %.     

Management strategies for sustainable yield of potato crop under high temperature

High temperature has a deleterious effect in productivity of cool season crops like potato. This study was conducted to assess the efficacy of soil management practices to high-temperature tolerance in potato. Two popularly grown potato cultivars of northeast India, Kufri megha and Rangpuria, were sown under optimal and high-temperature conditions with soil application of inorganic nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Zn), organic amendment, i.e. farm yard manure (FYM), and straw mulch. This integrative soil management practice showed significant positive influence on membrane integrity, chlorophyll content, total soluble sugars and superoxide dismutase activity of potato plant. Higher tuber bulking rate and tuber yield in both optimal and high-temperature situation was recorded under these soil applications. Kufri megha performed better with the application of Ca and Zn along with straw mulch, while Ca with farm yard manure substantially improved restore yield in Rangpuria. Application of CaSO₄ and ZnSO₄ (20 and 60 kg ha^?1, respectively) with FYM and straw mulch (10 and 6 t ha^?1, respectively) can mitigate the high-temperature stress in potato grown in acidic soil (deficient of Ca and Zn) of northeast India.     

Effect of heat killed Mycobacterium phlei on body weight gain and management of caecal coccidiosis in broiler chickens

The objective of this study was to evaluate the immunotherapeutic potential of heat killed Mycobacterium phlei in broiler chicken against experimentally produced Eimeria tenella infection. The selected dose of E. tenella oocyst (5 × 10³ sporulated oocysts per bird) was capable of producing a mild form of caecal coccidiosis as observed by significant difference in body weight gain, clinical findings and caecal lesion score. Heat killed M. phlei was fed orally at 10 mg per bird with sterile PBS vehicle at alternate day for four doses. Our study reveals that per day body weight gain was significantly (p < 0.01) higher for healthy control compared to coccidia infected group. The group fed M. phlei along with coccidial challenge showed significantly (p < 0.05) higher body weight gain than infected control group. Heat killed M. phlei feeding also found effective to reduce the caecal lesion score significantly (p < 0.05) in comparison to E. tenella infected untreated group. IgA concentrations in serum and bile at 7-day post challenge of coccidial oocyst was also significantly (p < 0.01) higher in M. phlei fed group when compared to coccidia infected and healthy control group. We concluded that use of heat killed M. phlei has a beneficial role as an immunostimulant against caecal coccidiosis in broiler chicken.     

A report on the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in yaks (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Bos poephagus</Emphasis>) in the cold desert area of North Sikkim,India

Faecal samples were collected from 348 yaks(Bos poephagus) in and around Gurudogmer Plateau, a cold desert area in North Sikkim, India. The prevalence of gastrointestinal parasitic infection was recorded at 10.05% in both the organized and traditionally managed farms of yak. The pattern of infection was either single (2.58%) or mixed (7.47%) with a faecal egg count range of 100–200 eggs per gram of faeces in positive animals. Among the helminths, Haemonchus spp. infection was predominant (6.89%) followed by Nematodirus spp. (1.72%), Cooperia spp. (1.43%) and Dicrocoelium spp. (0.29%).     

Photolysis of fluchloralin in aqueous methanol

The photodegradation of fluchloralin by UV irradiation or sunlight in aqueous methanolic solution has been examined. In the presence of titanium dioxide five photoproducts were obtained, but only four in its absence. One photoproduct, 2, 2'-azoxy-bis(alpha,alpha,alpha-trifluoro-6-nitro-p-toluidine) is reported for the first time as a metabolite of fluchloralin. In natural sunlight the rate of degradation was higher than in UV light and titanium dioxide had almost no effect on the rate of degradation.     

Antibacterial activity of Vernonia cinerea

The benzene extract of Vernonia cinerea showed a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity.     

Molecular systematics in Chrysanthemum × grandiflorum (Ramat.) Kitamura

An attempt was made to understand the molecular systematics and genetic differences between 10 original chrysanthemum cultivars and 11 mutants. The similarity among the cultivars and mutants varied from 0.17 to 0.90 using RAPD analyses, a simple but efficient method to distinguish cultivars and to assess parentage. Two distinct groups were found. Two cultivars were present as a separate group showing differences from all other cultivars. Mutants with different flower colour could be identified at the molecular level using RAPD technique holding promise to identify unique genes as SCAR markers. A high genetic distance among the different chrysanthemums showed that there exists a possibility of introgressing new and novel genes from the chrysanthemum gene pool.