Potential of Biocontrol Agents in Plant Disease Control for Improving Food Safety

Plant disease control is mainly based on extraneous application of pesticides to improve agriculture productivity. However, only a part of applied pesticides is used for killing of pathogens and pests. Large part of applied pesticides remains either as residual pesticide or gets volatilized or leached resulting in ecological and environmental problems, and human health hazards. The increased consumer demands for safe food have invigorated research on development of safe and ecofriendly biopesticides. The use of microorganisms for biological control of pests is considered as a pragmatic approach which can drastically lessen the adverse outcomes of agrochemicals in soil. Rhizospheric microorganisms isolated from various crops produce different antagnostic compounds and inhibit the growth of various phytopathogens and insect pests. Moreover, in several plants, hormones like salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and ethylene contribute towards induction of both, systemic acquired as well as induced systemic resitance. In this article, antagonistic rhizosphere microorganisms have been explored for control of phytopathogens. Further, recent advances in field of biopesticides using rhizosphere microorganisms under field conditions is discussed for improvingcrop productivity in sustainable agricultur

The Effect of Implant Abutment Surface Modifications on the Retention of Cement Retained Restoration: An In-Vitro Study

Purpose: Retention is one of the most important factors for clinical success for any prosthesis. The most common technical complications of cement –retained implant supported fixed restorations are loss of retention. Surface modification of abutment and crown may increase the retentive strength of cemented crowns. Purpose of the present study was to compare the effect of implant abutment surface modifications on the retention of cement retained restoration. Materials and Method: Forty solid titanium implant abutments (Top Implants) were divided into 4 groups. Ten abutments without surface modification (Group I) as supplied by the manufacturer, ten abutments with circumferential grooves (Group II) , ten abutments modified with an etchant (Group III) and ten abutments air-abraded with 50 microns aluminium oxide (Group IV)were used. Ni-Cr copings were fabricated for each abutment and luting cement (zinc phosphate cement) was used for cementing the copings. Using a Universal Testing Machine, tensile bond strength was recorded in Newton. Results: Mean tensile bond strength of Group I, II, III and IV were found to be 300.97,491.41,339.80 and 317.05 Newton respectively. The values were statistically different from each other (p<0.001). Conclusion: Abutments with circumferential retentive grooves showed the highest retention followed by abutments etched with an etchant, sandblasted abutments and then by abutments with no modifications. Clinical Implications: Retention of the restoration depends on several factors like taper, surface area and height, surface finish and roughness as well as the luting agent used. Incorporation of circumferential retentive grooves, particle abrasion or acid etching can increase retention which is valuable especially in short clinical crown situations

Biopesticides: Use of Rhizosphere Bacteria for Biological Control of Plant Pathogens

The pesticides used to control pests and diseases are also implicated in ecological, environmental and human health hazards. To reduce the deleterious effects of these agrochemicals, certain antagonistic microorganisms have been characterised from rhizosphere of different crop plants that suppress various plant diseases and thus, minimize the use of pesticides. The application of these specific antagonistic microorganisms in biological control of soilborne pathogens has been studied intensively in the last two decades. These beneficial rhizosphere microorganisms inhibit the pathogenic bacteria and fungi by producing antibiotics, bacteriocins, siderophores, hydrolytic enzymes and other secondary metabolites. The efficiency of these biocontrol products can be improved by manipulation of the environment, using mixtures of beneficial organisms, physiological and genetic enhancement of the biocontrol mechanisms, manipulation of formulations and integration of biocontrol with other alternative methods that provide additive effects. These biocontrol agents could be effectively utilised in sustainable agriculture for improving growth of crop plants

Changing physician behavior: interventions to improve prescription writing practices in a secondary level hospital in Delhi

Background: According to a report by World Health Organization (WHO) in 2003, approximately 50% of all patients fail to take their medicine correctly. This is due to errors in prescription, underuse or misuse of medicines and ignorance of prescribers, dispensers, and patients.Methods: It is a hospital-based interventional-study carried out in a secondary level multispecialty hospital of Delhi. Investigators collected 536 prescriptions from the outpatient department of various departments and studied according to WHO core prescribing indicators for assessing drug prescription writing pattern. Interventions to improve the prescribing pattern included one continued medical education session and one workshop on prescription writing (providing essential drug list [EDL] etc.,), sharing the baseline data with the physicians and administrative approach. Evaluation of the prescribing pattern after 6 weeks of the intervention was done to find out the impact.Results: On an average 3.43 drug per encounter before intervention increased to 3.46 drugs per encounter. Inclusion of generic drugs and from EDL increased significantly from 54.8% to 73.4% and 76.9% to 88.4% respectively.. Prescribing antibiotics and injectables showed no significant reduction from baseline. The completeness of the prescriptions with respect to the various components improved significantly.Conclusion: Combining different intervention seems a noble approach to improve the prescription writing practices with respect to completeness and inclusion of generic drugs, drugs from EDL

Carcass characteristics of male buffalo calf and meat quality of its veal

Buffalo calf is rarely used as meat animal and is being explored here for its carcass and meat quality. The carcass traits revealed that the calf slaughtered was having the dressing per cent, carcass length, loin eye area and fat thickness as 47.63 %, 101.67 cm, 37.00 cm2 and 1.20 mm respectively. Among the byproducts the gastrointestinal tract, skin and head were the major contributors with 26.42, 9.74 and 4.96 % of live weight of animal. The chuck and round were the major cuts obtained from fore and hind quarter, contributing to 27.17 and 25.84 % respectively of dressed carcass weight. The analysis of buffalo veal revealed that the moisture, protein, fat and ash were 76.64, 19.76, 1.02 and 1.23 % respectively. The muscle fiber diameter and sarcomere length observed, had the values of 32.41 µm and 1.76 µm respectively. The texture profile and sensory evaluation of buffalo veal product and its comparison with chevon revealed its sensory acceptability

Photovoltaic system for maximum power point tracking using hybrid firefly and perturbation and observation algorithm

This work presents the novel maximum power point tracking (MPPT) approach for a small 50 W photovoltaic (PV) system using the dc-dc converter. The method of modeling of PV module is discussed. The firefly (FFY) algorithm and the perturbation and observation (P&O) algorithm are combined to implement MPPT of the PV system connected to battery load. The operating principle is discussed in detail and steady-state analysis of the proposed system is implemented through simulation. The charging profile of the 7.5 Ah VRL battery is also studied using simulation. Furthermore, a low-cost microcontroller-based experimental setup rated at 50 W system connected to battery load was built to implement a hybrid FFY-P&O algorithm. The experimental results are in same as the simulation result. In contrast to the traditional P&O approach, it demonstrated the quick and efficient maximum power point operation triggered by a sudden transition in the environment

MHC-DRB1 exon 2 polymorphism and its association with faecal egg count of Haemonchus contortus in Munjal sheep

365-369Haemonchosis is an important disease of small ruminants. Anthelmenthic resistance has instigated the demand of other viable method for control of gastrointestinal parasite. Here, we investigated ovine major histocompatibility complex class II (Ovar MHC II) DRB1 exon 2 polymorphism and its association with faecal egg count (FEC) of Haemonchus contortus in Munjal population of sheep. Genomic DNA was isolated from blood samples of 46 lambs between 6-7 months of age. The polymorphism in DRB1 gene was analyzed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique. PCR products of exon 2 of DRB1 gene were digested with HaeII, BsaHI and NciI restriction enzymes. Fragment of the DRB1 gene comprising 9 bp of the 5' intron and 270 bp of entire exon 2 was successfully amplified. On digestion of 279 bp PCR product with NciI, three genotypes viz. A1A1, A2A2 and A1A2 were found with allele frequencies 0.65 and 0.35. HaeII enzyme revealed three genotypes A1A1, A1A2 and A2A2 with allele frequencies of A1 and A2 were 0.42 and 0.58. BsaHI enzyme also generated three genotypes A1A1, A1A2 and A2A2 with allele frequencies of A1 and A2 was 0.42 and 0.58. We were able to found polymorphism in DRB1 gene but no association could be established between genotypes generated by different restriction enzymes and FEC of H. contortus in Munjal sheep

Ultrasensitive Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Detection by Porous Silver Supraparticles from Self-Lubricating Drop Evaporation

This work demonstrates an original and ultrasensitive approach for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) detection based on evaporation of self-lubricating drops containing silver supraparticles. The developed method detects an extremely low concentration of analyte that is enriched and concentrated on sensitive SERS sites of the compact supraparticles formed from drop evaporation. A low limit of detection of 10^-16 M is achieved for a model hydrophobic compound rhodamine 6G (R6G). The quantitative analysis of R6G concentration is obtained from 10^-5 to 10^-11 M. In addition, for a model micro-pollutant in water triclosan, the detection limit of 10^-6 M is achieved by using microliter sample solutions. The intensity of SERS detection in this approach is robust to the dispersity of the nanoparticles in the drop but became stronger after a longer drying time. The ultrasensitive detection mechanism is the sequential process of concentration, extraction, and absorption of the analyte during evaporation of self-lubrication drop and hot spot generation for intensification of SERS signals. This novel approach for sample preparation in ultrasensitive SERS detection can be applied to the detection of chemical and biological signatures in areas such as environment monitoring, food safety, and biomedical diagnostics.Comment: 25 Pages, 12 Figure

Clinicopathological studies of gastrointestinal tract disorders in sheep with parasitic infection

Aim: This study was envisaged to elucidate the parasitological aspects of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) disorders of sheep. Materials and Methods: Fecal, blood and serum samples collected from 31 sheep/lambs of Sheep Breeding Farm, Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, Hisar. Results: Of 25 cases, strongyle eggs (12 cases, 48%) were a major infection, followed by Strongyloides spp. (8 cases, 32%) and Moniezia spp. (5 case, 20%). In one case, massive infection of strongyle particularly Haemonchus contortus and Moniezia spp. was observed. All these animals were found negative for hemoprotozoan parasites in blood smear examination. Hematological studies revealed that significantly decreased values of hemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV) and total erythrocytic count (TEC). Absolute leukocytic count revealed significant leukocytosis due to neutrophilia, lymphocytosis, monocytosis and eosinophilia. Serum biochemical profiles of diarrheic sheep/lambs in present study were significant decrease in values of total protein, serum globulin, glucose where as significant increase in the albumin: Globulin ratio, aspartate aminotransaminase (AST), alanine aminotransaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatise (ALKP) and bilirubin. Conclusions: From the present study, it is reasonable to conclude that major parasitic infection of sheep/lamb observed was strongyle, followed by Strongyloides spp. and Moniezia spp. Hemato-biochemical studies revealed significant leukocytosis and increase in AST, ALT, ALKP and bilirubin

Deep reinforced learning-based inductively coupled DSTATCOM under load uncertainties

Concerning the power quality issues in the power distribution network due to load uncertainties and improper impedance matching of the inductances, deep reinforced learning (DRL)-based inductively coupled DSTATCOM (IC-DSTATCOM) is proposed. First, by analyzing the impedance matching principle, the expression of source, load and filter current is derived with the help of inductive filtering transformer. And second, an individual DRL subnet structure is accumulated for each phase using mathematical equations to perform the better dynamic response. A 10-kVA, 230-V, 50-Hz prototype direct coupled distributed static compensator (DC-DSTATCOM) and IC-DSTATCOM experimental setup is buit to verify the experimental performance under uncertainties of loading. The IC-DSTATCOM is augmented better dynamic performance in terms of harmonics curtailment, improvement in power factor, load balancing, potential regulation, etc. The benchmark IEEE-519-2017, IEC-61727 and IEC-61000-1 grid code are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the simulation and experimental study