Semen characteristics of the Indian Red Jungle Fowl ([i]Gallus gallus murghi[/i])

The Indian Red Jungle Fowl is a wild native gallus subspecies of Southern Asia. Semen has never been studied in this species. In order to better know the male reproductive capacities, experiments were conducted to study the semen characteristics, impact of ejaculate collection frequencies, and timing of collection on sperm quality parameters. Mean sperm concentration 800 million/mL, total sperm per ejaculate (0.015 billion), motility (63.5 %), live/total sperm (92.4 %), intact acrosome (75.5 %), and plasma membrane integrity (89.2 %) were recorded. Percentage of abnormal sperm (head, mid-piece, and tail) was 8.1 % and recovered mainly mid-piece abnormalities. The motile sperm percentage was positively correlated with intact acrosomes (r = 0.34) and plasma membrane integrity (r = 0.41). Total sperm per ejaculate (billion) was maximum at 72 h of collection followed by 24 and 48 h of collection. Daily and weekly sperm production (billion) was found maximum at 24 h of collection compared to 12, 48, and 72 h of collection. Sperm motility was higher at 24, 48, and 72 h of collection compared to 12 h of collection, but the number of live sperm were higher at 12 h of collection compared to 24, 48, and 72 h. Sperm concentration was better in the morning time, while the values for sperm viability and plasma membrane integrity were higher in the semen collected at evening time. In conclusion, the Indian Red Jungle Fowl shows a semen production quantitatively relatively low for the species as compared to domestic chicken and contrasted parameters of quality. The semen production is affected by the frequency of collection with an optimum for a daily collection preferentially held in the evening period. These results may now be used for artificial insemination and conservation program

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) establishment techniques and their implications for soil properties, global warming potential mitigation and crop yields

Rice-based intensive cropping systems require high input levels making them less profitable and vulnerable to the reduced availability of labor and water in Asia. With continuous conventional puddled rice transplanting, the situation is exacerbated by damaged soil structure, declining underground water and decreasing land and water productivity. To minimize these negative effects a range of new crop establishment practices have been developed (zero tillage, dry direct seeding, wet direct seeding, water seeding, strip planting, bed planting, non-puddled transplanting of rice, mechanical transplanting of rice crop and combinations thereof) with varying effects on soil health, crop productivity, resource saving and global warming mitigation potential. Some of these allow Conservation Agriculture (CA) to be practiced in the rice-based mono-, double- and triple cropping systems. Innovations in machinery especially for smallholder farms have supported the adoption of the new establishment techniques. Non-puddling establishment of rice together with increased crop residue retention increased soil organic carbon by 79% and total N (TN) in soil by 62% relative to conventional puddling practice. Rice establishment methods (direct seeding of rice, system of rice intensification and non-puddled transplanting of rice) improve soil health by improving the physical (reduced bulk density, increased porosity, available water content), chemical (increased phosphorus, potassium and sulphur in their available forms) and biological properties (microbiome structure, microbial biomass C and N) of the soil. Even in the first year of its practice, the non-puddled transplanting method of rice establishment and CA practices for other crops increase the productivity of the rice-based cropping systems. Estimates suggest global warming potential (GWP) (the overall net effect) can be reduced by a quarter by replacing conventional puddling of rice by direct-seeded rice in the Indo-Gangetic Plains for the rice-based cropping system. Moreover, non-puddled transplanting of rice saves 35% of the net life cycle greenhouse gases (GHGs) compared with the conventional practice by a combination of decreasing greenhouse gases emissions from soil and increasing soil organic carbon (SOC). Though the system of rice intensification decreases net GHG emission, the practice releases 1.5 times greater N2O due to the increased soil aeration. There is no single rice establishment technology that is superior to others in all circumstances, rather a range of effective technologies that can be applied to different agro-climates, demography and farm typologies

The HyperPed-COVID international registry: Impact of age of onset, disease presentation and geographical distribution on the final outcome of MIS-C.

The aim of the study was to establish an international multicenter registry to collect data on patients with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), in order to highlight a relationship between clinical presentation, age of onset and geographical distribution on the clinical outcome. Multicenter retrospective study involving different international societies for rare immunological disorders.1009 patients diagnosed with MIS-C between March and September 2022, from 48 centers and 22 countries were collected. Five age groups (<1, 1-4, 5-11, 12-16, >16 years) and four geographic macro-areas, Western Europe, Central-Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asian-African resource-limited countries (LRC), were identified. Time to referral was significantly higher in LRC. Intensive anti-inflammatory treatment, including biologics, respiratory support and mechanic ventilation were more frequently used in older children and in European countries. The mortality rate was higher in very young children (<1 year), in older patients (>16 years of age) and in LRC. Multivariate analysis identified the residence in LRC, presence of severe cardiac involvement, renal hypertension, lymphopenia and non-use of heparin prophylaxis, as the factors most strongly associated with unfavorable outcomes. The stratification of patients by age and geographic macro-area provided insights into the clinical presentation, treatment and outcome of MIS-C. The mortality and sequelae rates exhibited a correlation with the age and geographical areas. Patients admitted and treated in LRC displayed more severe outcomes, possibly due to delays in hospital admission and limited access to biologic drugs and to intensive care facilities