20 research outputs found
XVI Agricultural Science Congress 2023: Transformation of Agri-Food Systems for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals
The XVI Agricultural Science Congress being jointly organized by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences
(NAAS) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) during 10-13 October 2023, at hotel Le Meridien,
Kochi, is a mega event echoing the theme “Transformation of Agri-Food Systems for achieving Sustainable
Development Goals”. ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute takes great pride in hosting the XVI ASC,
which will be the perfect point of convergence of academicians, researchers, students, farmers, fishers, traders,
entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders involved in agri-production systems that ensure food and nutritional security
for a burgeoning population.
With impeding challenges like growing urbanization, increasing unemployment, growing population, increasing
food demands, degradation of natural resources through human interference, climate change impacts and natural
calamities, the challenges ahead for India to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out by the
United Nations are many. The XVI ASC will provide an interface for dissemination of useful information across all
sectors of stakeholders invested in developing India’s agri-food systems, not only to meet the SDGs, but also to
ensure a stable structure on par with agri-food systems around the world.
It is an honour to present this Book of Abstracts which is a compilation of a total of 668 abstracts that convey the
results of R&D programs being done in India. The abstracts have been categorized under 10 major Themes – 1.
Ensuring Food & Nutritional Security: Production, Consumption and Value addition; 2. Climate Action for Sustainable
Agri-Food Systems; 3. Frontier Science and emerging Genetic Technologies: Genome, Breeding, Gene Editing;
4. Livestock-based Transformation of Food Systems; 5. Horticulture-based Transformation of Food Systems; 6.
Aquaculture & Fisheries-based Transformation of Food Systems; 7. Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable AgriFood Systems; 8. Next Generation Technologies: Digital Agriculture, Precision Farming and AI-based Systems; 9.
Policies and Institutions for Transforming Agri-Food Systems; 10. International Partnership for Research, Education
and Development.
This Book of Abstracts sets the stage for the mega event itself, which will see a flow of knowledge emanating
from a zeal to transform and push India’s Agri-Food Systems to perform par excellence and achieve not only the
SDGs of the UN but also to rise as a world leader in the sector. I thank and congratulate all the participants who
have submitted abstracts for this mega event, and I also applaud the team that has strived hard to publish this
Book of Abstracts ahead of the event. I wish all the delegates and participants a very vibrant and memorable
time at the XVI ASC
Evaluation of the ingestive behaviour of the dairy cow under two systems of rotation with slope
The ingestive behaviour of grazing animals is modulated by the vegetation characteristics, topography and the type of stocking method. This research was carried out in 2019, at the Rumipamba CADER-UCE. It aimed to evaluate the impact of two contrasting stocking methods of dairy cows grazing a pasture with an average of slope >8.5%. Four dairy cows were set to graze a 0.4 ha paddock for 5 days for continuous stocking methods, while for the electric fence
methods the dairy cows were restricted to 0.2 ha and the fence was moved uphill every 3 hours, repeating this process four times a day. Cow were equipped with activity sensors for 12 h per day. The whole procedure was repeated 2 times after realizing an equalization cuts and both paddocks, a rest time of 30 days and a random reassignment of paddocks to one of the treatments. The cows showed a difference in terms of the percentage of grazing P=0.0072,
being higher with the electric fence (55% of the measurement time). From rising-plate-meter estimates of available biomass along the grazing periods, we calculated despite similar forage allowances (electric fence = 48.06 kg DM/cow/d and continuous = 48.21 DM/cow/d) a higher forage intake was obtained in the electric fence treatment (17.5 kg DM/cow/d) compared the continuous stocking (15.7 kg DM/cow/d) (P=0.006). In terms of milk production animals
grazing under the differences electrical fence stocking method tended (P=0.0985) to produce more milk (17.39 kg/d) than those grazing in the continuous system (15.16 kg/d) due to the influence of the slope (P=0.05), while for milk quality the protein content was higher for the electric fence (33.7 g/l) than the continuous method (30.5 g/l) (P=0.039). None of the other milk properties differed between methods (P>0.05)
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Incidence of Injury in Professional Female Soccer
The epidemiology of injury in male professional football is well documented and has been used as a basis to monitor injury trends and implement injury prevention strategies. There are no systematic reviews that have investigated injury incidence in women’s professional football. Therefore, the extent of injury burden in women’s professional football remains unknown. PURPOSE: The primary aim of this study was to calculate an overall incidence rate of injury in senior female professional soccer. The secondary aims were to provide an incidence rate for training and match play. METHODS: PubMed, Discover, EBSCO, Embase and ScienceDirect electronic databases were searched from inception to September 2018. Two reviewers independently assessed study quality using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology statement using a 22-item STROBE checklist. Seven prospective studies (n=1137 professional players) were combined in a pooled analysis of injury incidence using a mixed effects model. Heterogeneity was evaluated using the Cochrane Q statistic and I2. RESULTS: The epidemiological incidence proportion over one season was 0.62 (95% CI 0.59 - 0.64). Mean total incidence of injury was 3.15 (95% CI 1.54 - 4.75) injuries per 1000 hours. The mean incidence of injury during match play was 10.72 (95% CI 9.11 - 12.33) and during training was 2.21 (95% CI 0.96 - 3.45). Data analysis found a significant level of heterogeneity (total Incidence, X2 = 16.57 P < 0.05; I2 = 63.8%) and during subsequent sub group analyses in those studies reviewed (match incidence, X2 = 76.4 (d.f. = 7), P <0.05; I2 = 90.8%, training incidence, X2 = 16.97 (d.f. = 7), P < 0.05; I2 = 58.8%). Appraisal of the study methodologies revealed inconsistency in the use of injury terminology, data collection procedures and calculation of exposure by researchers. Such inconsistencies likely contribute to the large variance in the incidence and prevalence of injury reported. CONCLUSIONS: The estimated risk of sustaining at least one injury over one football season is 62%. Continued reporting of heterogeneous results in population samples limits meaningful comparison of studies. Standardising the criteria used to attribute injury and activity coupled with more accurate methods of calculating exposure will overcome such limitations
Membrane vesicles: Examination of biophysical properties with atomic force microscopy
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are not only intensively studied to increase our fundamental knowledge on their functioning, but also for diagnosis, therapeutics and drug delivery purposes. To improve the current and potential applications of EVs, a fundamental understanding of their stability, structure, and function is crucial. Such studies can be conducted at the single particle level to gain biological and physical information about the vesicles and the particle to particle variability. A suitable technique to investigate EVs under near- to physiological conditions is atomic force microscopy (AFM). Operated in liquid, it provides images of the EVs while mechanical properties of the particles can be obtained as well. Here we present our approach and the latest results in studying the structure and mechanics of these particles
The role of visual adaptation in cichlid fish speciation
D. Shane Wright (1) , Ole Seehausen (2), Ton G.G. Groothuis (1), Martine E. Maan (1) (1) University of Groningen; GELIFES; EGDB(2) Department of Fish Ecology & Evolution, EAWAG Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry, Kastanienbaum AND Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Aquatic Ecology, University of Bern.In less than 15,000 years, Lake Victoria cichlid fishes have radiated into as many as 500 different species. Ecological and sexual sel ection are thought to contribute to this ongoing speciation process, but genetic differentiation remains low. However, recent work in visual pigment genes, opsins, has shown more diversity. Unlike neighboring Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika, Lake Victoria is highly turbid, resulting in a long wavelength shift in the light spectrum with increasing depth, providing an environmental gradient for exploring divergent coevolution in sensory systems and colour signals via sensory drive. Pundamilia pundamila and Pundamilia nyererei are two sympatric species found at rocky islands across southern portions of Lake Victoria, differing in male colouration and the depth they reside. Previous work has shown species differentiation in colour discrimination, corresponding to divergent female preferences for conspecific male colouration. A mechanistic link between colour vision and preference would provide a rapid route to reproductive isolation between divergently adapting populations. This link is tested by experimental manip ulation of colour vision - raising both species and their hybrids under light conditions mimicking shallow and deep habitats. We quantify the expression of retinal opsins and test behaviours important for speciation: mate choice, habitat preference, and fo raging performance