Short Term Effect of Crop Residue and Different Nitrogen Levels on Grain yield of Wheat under Rice-Wheat System

Crop residues are very important source of plant nutrients and recycling of crop residues with inorganic fertilizer increases the yield of rice and wheat in rice-wheat system. The objective of the study was to determine the production and productivity of wheat as affected by management of crop residues and different nitrogen levels. The field experiments were carried out in 2014 and 2015 at National Wheat Research Program, Bhairahawa, Nepal and the field was laid out in split plot design: two crop residue levels (with and without residues) as whole plot and seven nitrogen levels (0, 25, 50, 75,100, 125, 150 kg/ha) as sub-plot which were replicated three times. Significant difference was observed with crop residues incorporation in biological yield with the value of 5538 kg/ha as compared to without residue incorporation (4167 kg/ha) in 2014. Similar result was observed in 2015 as highest significant biological yield of 6629 kg/ha was recorded from residue incorporation plot. On the other hand, application of nitrogen @ 150 kg/ha resulted to significantly highest grain yield of 2593 and 3073 kg/ha in both years (2014 and 2015) respectively. The overall conclusion is that an improved crop residue management with appropriate dose of chemical fertilizer increases the grain yield of wheat in short term basis

Effect of Metal Ions, Chelating Agent and SH-Reagents on Radish (Raphanus sativus L.) Root β-Amylase

Metal ions play vital roles in enzymes. They may also show sensitivity to various sulfhydryl reagents and chelating reagents. Effect of some metal ions, EDTA and sulfhydryl reagents on the activity of partially purified β-amylase of radish root were studied. Amylolytic activity of purified enzyme was increased substantially in the presence of Ca2+, Mg2+, and Zn2+. Some other divalent cations Cu2+, Pb2+, Sn2+, and Hg2+ almost completely ceased the enzyme activity. Cobalt (II), Manganese (II), and Iron (III) exhibited moderate activating effects on the activity. Of the monovalent cations, Na+ and Ag+ reduced the β-amylase activity, while K+ increased. The chelating agent EDTA was found to be effective in the enzyme. Sulfhydryl reagents, Iodoacetic acid and N-Ethylmaleimide showed marginal inhibitory effect, but p-hydroxymercuribenzoic acid (PCMB) almost completely stopped the enzyme activity. The addition of thiol compounds such as cysteine could reverse the inhibitory effect of heavy metals and PCMB. The results indicate that sulfhydryl groups of radish root β-amylase were essential for the activity although it is not clear whether the sulfhydryl groups were directly involved in catalysis

Gravitational Collapse in Higher Dimensional Husain Space-Time

We investigate exact solution in higher dimensional Husain model for a null fluid source with pressure $p$ and density $\rho$ are related by the following relations (i) $p=k\rho$, (ii) $p=k\rho-\frac{B(v)}{\rho^{\alpha}}$ (variable modified Chaplygin) and (iii) $p=k\rho^{\alpha}$ (polytropic). We have studied the nature of singularity in gravitational collapse for the above equations of state and also for different choices of the of the parameters $k$ and $B$ namely, (i) $k=0$, $B=$ constant (generalized Chaplygin), (ii) $B=$ constant (modified Chaplygin). It is found that the nature of singularity is independent of these choices of different equation of state except for variable Chaplygin model. Choices of various parameters are shown in tabular form. Finally, matching of Szekeres model with exterior Husain space-time is done.Comment: 12 latex pages, No figure, RevTex styl

Establishment of plant residues and inorganic fertilizer application for growth and yield of Vigna unguiculata (L.) in flood-affected cropland of Koshi Tappu Region, Eastern Nepal

Flood increases due to an increase in river overflow which affects on abiotic and biotic factors. The preliminary study of flood-affected crops was carried out in flood-affected cropland of Koshi Tappu Region of Eastern Nepal. For the experiment the plant residues of Eichhornia crassipes and Sesbania rostrata and inorganic fertilizer were selected to examine the growth and yield in Vigna unguiculata. The appropriate treatments for the production of V. unguiculata were analyzed. Before applying treatments, soil was collected and analyzed for physicochemical, microbial biomass and available nitrogen. Soil texture, soil moisture, water holding capacity and bulk density (BD) were calculated. The parameters such as soil pH organic carbon, organic matter and total nitrogen were determined. Soil microbe increases the significance of organic carbon and soil nitrogen is correlated for growth and yield. The results showed that the combined urea and plant residue increases the highest yield. And the Eichhornia compost represents the highest leaf area index and biomass. The total pod production was found in the Echhhornia compost. The dry weight per single pod in Eichhornia fresh was 7.82 g and in Sesbania fresh was 7.42 g. It proves that the land pattern is significant for the soil organic compounds. The experiment showed that the use of plant residues enhanced the increase of physicochemical properties of soil by adding the nutrients. The combined Urea + Eichhornia supports the best growth and development of the plant. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.433815

Save The King: Human-King Cobra, Ophiophagus hannah (Cantor 1836), conflicts and the need for conservation strategies in Nepal

Abstract.—Snake research tends to have a low priority in Nepal and very little information, mostly confined to populationsin small areas, addresses the biology and threats to the King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah). Herein we providedata that could facilitate an assessment of the species’ status in Nepal and begin to address its conservation needs.We recorded data on King Cobras from 2015–2020, crosschecking with previous studies to avoid any duplicationof records. A King Cobra from Siddhara, Arghakhachi District, was the first record of the species in the district. Werecorded a total of 50 King Cobra mortalities from 20 districts, with most of them killed near human settlementsadjacent to forested areas. We mapped the locations of all mortalities and recorded land-use changes within a 500-mbuffer around each site over a 30-year period (1990–2020), revealing extensive landscape fragmentation in previouslyconnected natural areas. Our data suggest that the major threats to King Cobras are deliberate killing by humans andlarge-scale habitat loss due to an increasing human population. We recommend increased research to better understandthe biology of this charismatic species and continued conservation education and community outreach programs tofacilitate the development of effective conservation strategies

First report of leucism for the kraits Bungarus walli Wall, 1907 and B. niger Wall, 1908, with updates on their geographic distribution in Nepal (Serpentes, Elapidae)

© 2020 The Authors. Published by Societas Europaea Herpetologica in Herpetology Notes. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://www.biotaxa.org/hn/article/view/62989Six species of kraits, genus Bungarus, have been recorded in Nepal (e.g., Schleich and Kästle, 2002; Sharma et al., 2013), including B. bungaroides (Cantor, 1839), B. caeruleus (Schneider, 1801), B. fasciatus (Schneider, 1801), B. lividus Cantor, 1839, B. niger Wall, 1908, and B. walli Wall, 1907. These species occur from the lowland habitats of the Terai Plains along the Nepal-India border into habitats at intermediate elevations in the Siwalik Hills and into the Mahabharat Range (Joshi et al., 2019), extending in the case of B. caeruleus, the most commonly encountered krait in Nepal, up to elevations of at least 1525 m, and up to 1730 m in B. bungaroides (Schleich and Kästle, 2002; Sharma et al., 2013). All of these species appear to be of medical importance as a cause of snakebite mortality and morbidity (e.g., Bhetwal et al., 1998; Pandey, 2015). It is noteworthy that confirmed records of kraits in Nepal display a patchiness consistent with intermittent sampling: while some species probably have a countrywide distribution, records tend to exist primarily for areas of high human population concentration where sampling and the incidence of snakebite can be expected at greater frequency (e.g., B. caeruleus, B. fasciatus, B. lividus). On the other hand, some species cluster only in the southeasternmost extreme of the country (B. bungaroides, B. walli), and given their distribution in neighbouring countries, this sampling may reflect reality

Effectiveness of health communication programme on knowledge regarding prevention of congenital anomalies among parents: a pre-experimental study

Background: Most commonly severe congenital anomalies (CA) are heart defects, neural tube defects, and Down syndrome where some CA can be prevented. The present study was aimed to improve the knowledge regarding the prevention of CA using a health communication programme (HCP) among parents in selected community area at Udaipur.Methods: Evaluative research approach and pre-experimental, one-group pre-test - post-test research designs were adopted for this study. Using a non-probability, convenient sampling technique, sixty parents were recruited from the selected community area at Udaipur city. Tools include demographic data and a self-structured knowledge questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential values by IBM statistical package for social sciences (SPSS; version 23) software.Results: Data revealed that there is a lack of knowledge regarding the prevention of CA among parents and this knowledge can be increased by administering HCP on prevention of CA. The mean and standard deviation of post-test knowledge score 23.63±10.5 was higher than the mean and standard deviation of pre-test knowledge score 9.97±13.1.Conclusions: It is required to focus on HCP to improve the knowledge regarding the prevention of CA among parents in the community.

ECO-FRIENDLY APPROACH FOR MINIMISING POPULATIONS OF SUGARCANE STALK BORER (CHILO AURICILIUS) IN THE TARAI BELT OF UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA

Abstract This paper details the results of the effect of releases of the egg parasitoid Trichogramma chilonis Ishii in minimising populations of the sugarcane stalk borer (Chilo auricilius) and thereby increasing the yield of sugarcane. The experiment was conducted in two successive years, 1999-2000 and 2000-2001, and 10 releases of the parasitoids were made in treated plots in each year. No releases or other controls occurred in the control plots. The infestation index of stalk borer was significantly higher in control plots than in treated plots in both years, 4.45% and 1.562% in control plots and 1.02% and 0.578% in treated plots during the year

Wave Propagation in Anisotropic Magnetically Quantized Ion Plasma with Trapped Electron and Positron

This study examines the effects of magnetically quantized degenerate trapped electrons and positrons on small-amplitude ion acoustic shock waves (IAShWs) in a pair ion plasma using the Zakharov-Kuznetsov Burger (ZKB) equation. It focuses on how factors like magnetic quantization, degenerate temperature, normalized negative ions, electrons, positrons, anisotropic pressure, and other relevant physical parameters from an astrophysical plasma environment influence the propagation of IAShWs, particularly in the nonlinear regime. This research explores that there exist two distinct wave propagation modes—subsonic and supersonic which shows few distinct characteristics in different physical plasma environment of astrophysical origin. The results could aid in understanding the nonlinear dynamics and wave propagation characteristics in superdense plasmas found in white dwarfs and neutron stars, where the effects of trapped electrons and positrons, as well as ionic pressure anisotropy, are significant which is yet to be explored in detail