Advances in fruit breeding in Nepal

Nepal has spent about six decades on fruit development and research in different species. Fruit breeding particularly local and exotic germplasm collection started after 1950s and has gained momentum after the formation of commodity programme in 1972 AD. Major researches in the past were focused on indigenous and exotic genotype collection, evaluation, selection, propagation protocol standardization and adoptive trials. Some good ground works have already been done in major fruits such as apple, pear, plum, persimmon, kiwifruit, citrus, litchi, guava, pomegranate, walnut, papaya, banana and mango. The major public institutions involved in fruit breeding are Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) following Agriculture and Forestry University. Some of the private nurseries like Everything Organic Nursery, Kavre and Technology Demonstration Centre of ICIMOD, Lalitpur were also involved in introduction and maintenance of indigenous and exotic fruit species. National Centre for Fruit Development, Kirtipur; Tropical Region Horticulture Centre, Nawalpur; Temperate Horticulture Farm, Satbanj, and Horticulture Farm, Marpha collected many local and exotic fruits and maintained at field gene bank. Horticulture Research Station, Rajikot has introduced 25 spur type apple cultivars and maintained in field gene bank. National Citrus Research Programme, Paripatle has introduced, collected and maintained 130 genotypes including exotic and indigenous landraces of citrus. Two varieties of acid lime ‘Sunkagati-1’ and ‘Sunkagati-2’ have been released and one variety ‘Terhathum Local’ has been registered. ‘Khoku Selection’ of mandarin orange has also been registered. Banana varieties 'Malbhog', 'Willium Hybrid' and 'G9' has been selected by participatory varietal selection and registered.  To strengthen fruit breeding in the nation, NARC needs to be restructured with special focus on fruit researches. Establishment of national fruit commodity programs along with establishment of Tropical Fruit Research Station in Province 2 and Temperate Fruit Research Station in Province 5 at national level can streamline NARC's fruit breeding researches

Surgical management of spontaneous hypertensive brainstem hemorrhage

AbstractSpontaneous hypertensive brainstem hemorrhage is the spontaneous brainstem hemorrhage associated with long term hypertension but not having definite focal or objective lesion. It is a catastrophic event which has a poor prognosis and usually managed conservatively. It is not uncommon, especially in eastern Asian populations, accounting approximately for 10% of the intracerebral hemorrhage. Before the advent of computed tomography, the diagnosis of brainstem hemorrhage was usually based on the clinical picture or by autopsy and believed to be untreatable via surgery. The introduction of computed tomography permitted to categorize the subtypes of brainstem hemorrhage with more predicted outcome. Continuous ongoing developments in the stereotactic surgery and microsurgery have added more specific surgical management in these patients. However, whether to manage conservatively or promptly with surgical evacuation of hematoma is still a controversy. Studies have shown that an accurate prognostic assessment based on clinical and radiological features on admission is critical for establishing a reasonable therapeutic approach. Some authors have advocate conservative management, whereas others have suggested the efficacy of surgical treatment in brainstem hemorrhage. With the widening knowledge in microsurgical techniques as well as neuroimaging technology, there seems to have more optimistic hope of surgical management of spontaneous hypertensive brainstem hemorrhage for better prognosis. Here we present five cases of severe spontaneous hypertensive brainstem hemorrhage patients who had undergone surgery; and explore the possibilities of surgical management in patients with the spontaneous hypertensive brainstem hemorrhage

Intellectual Property Right on Basmati Rice: Current Scenario and Evidences of Origin, Diversity, Cultivation and Use Values of Basmati Rice in Nepal

Basmati rice, also called the king/prince of rice landraces has very special values in Nepalese society as well as in other countries of Indian Subcontinent. With the objectives of collecting, analyzing and documenting Basmati related information in Nepal, we visited different sites; carried out key informant surveys; organized focus group discussions, online interaction and discussion meetings; requested all relevant offices/ persons/ stakeholders through phone, website, and letter to share information; organized high level official meeting, and Basmati rice expert meeting; documented video documentary and did online as well as library search. Because of its high market value at global level, many countries and organizations have been attempting to get intellectual property rights (mainly patent and geographical indication tag) on Basmati rice. India applied for GI tag to Basmati rice in the European Union (EU) in July 2018, and Nepal submitted opposition letter along with proofs and evidences of origin, diversity, cultivation and use values of Basmati rice on 9 December 2020. A total 133 Basmati type rice landraces are grown in 60 districts of Nepal. Basmati rice is traditionally grown, sold, and consumed in geographically localized areas of Nepal since ancient time. International and national scientists have defined lower altitude of Nepal as one of the centers of origin of Basmati rice. Many Nepalese basmati rice landraces have been characterized and evaluated using morphological traits, isozymes and DNA markers. Four basmati type of rice landraces have been registered in National Seed Board. Many community seed banks have maintained different types of Basmati rice landraces. National Agriculture Genetic Resources Center and International genebanks have collected more than 80 and conserved 68 basmati landraces. Basmati rice landraces have geo-linked traits. The historical culture of production, consumption and marketing of native basmati rice in Nepal should always be favored by both national and international rules and regulations. Nepal has ample and valid evidences to get geographical indication (GI) right on Basmati rice

Agro-morphological Diversity of High Altitude Bean Landraces in the Kailash Sacred Landscape of Nepal

Many varieties of bean are widely grown across diverse agro-ecological zones in Nepal. And opportunities exist for improving the crops and enhancing their resilience to various biotic and abiotic stressors. In this context, an experiment was conducted from June to October 2016 in Khar VDC of Darchula district to study the phenotypic traits of nine landraces of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The bean landraces were planted using randomized complete block design in three sites (Dhamidera, Dallekh and Sundamunda villages), with three replications in each site for their comparative analysis. The study considered the following phenotypic traits: days to emergence, days to 50% flowering, days to 90% pod maturity, number of nodes, pod length, pod width, number of pods, number of seeds per pod and weight and grain yield for 100 seeds. Kruskal-Wallis test showed significant differences in the landraces both within and among locations. KA-17-08-FB and KA-17-04-FB were late  flowering (63 and 65 days respectively) compared to other landraces whereas KA-17-07-FB flowered earliest (within 42 days). In all three sites, three landraces namely KA-17-07-FB, KA-17-04-FB and KA-17-06-FB were found to be relatively more resistant to pest and diseases than other landraces. Eight out of nine landraces in Dhamidera and Dallekh villages and seven out of nine in Sundamunda village produced seeds greater than 1.0 t/ha. Among the nine varieties KA-17-02-FB was the highest yielding variety, with an average yield of 3.8 t/ha. This study is useful for identifying suitable landraces for future promotion based on their maturity, grain yield, diseases resistance and other qualitative and quantitative characteristics

Gemykibivirus detection in acute encephalitis patients from Nepal

UNLABELLED: Acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) causes significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. In Nepal, Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) accounts for ~5-20% of AES cases, but ~75% of AES cases are of unknown etiology. We identified a gemykibivirus in CSF collected in 2020 from an 8-year-old male patient with AES using metagenomic next-generation sequencing. Gemykibiviruses are single stranded, circular DNA viruses in the family IMPORTANCE: Viral encephalitis is a devastating disease, but unfortunately, worldwide, the causative virus in many cases is unknown. Therefore, it is important to identify viruses that could be responsible for cases of human encephalitis. Here, using metagenomic sequencing of CSF, we identified a gemykibivirus in a male child from Nepal with acute encephalitis syndrome (AES). We subsequently detected gemykibivirus DNA in CSF or serum of 12 more encephalitis patients by real-time PCR. The virus genomes we identified are highly similar to gemykibiviruses previously detected in CSF of three encephalitis patients from Sri Lanka. These results raise the possibility that gemykibivirus could be an underrecognized human pathogen

Collaborative Exploration of Legume and Amaranth Germplasm in Eastern Nepal from February 14 to 24, 2018

This is a report for the Plant Genetic Resources in Asia (PGRAsia) project and the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) genebank project for the collaborative collection and conservation of plant genetic resources in Nepal under the agreement between the National Agriculture Genetic Resources Center (NAGRC), Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), and the Genetic Resources Center, NARO, Japan.A field survey was conducted in Eastern Nepal from February 16th to February 21st, 2018, with the participants separated into teams A and B. Team A focused on cucumber and chili pepper and team B focused on legumes and amaranth. This report is the survey results from team B, with mention of some of the materials collected by team A. A total of 91 samples were collected and conserved in the gene bank at NAGRC, Nepal; these accessions consisted of 16 species from 10 genera, including Amaranthus, Coriandrum, Cyclanthera, Glycine, Lablab, Macrotyloma, Perilla, Phaseolus, Solanum and Vigna.本報告は農林水産省委託プロジェクト研究「海外植物遺伝資源の収集・提供強化」および国立研究開発法人農業・食品産業技術総合研究機構（農研機構）農業生物資源ジーンバンク事業の予算により実施され，農研機構・遺伝資源センターとネパール国立農業研究評議会との間で締結した共同研究協定に基づいて行われたネパール東部における豆類およびアマランサス遺伝資源の探索・収集に関わる調査報告書である．調査は，2018年2月14日～24日にかけてネパール東部のイラム県，パンチタール県，ダンクタ県において行った．探索は，チームA（トウガラシ属およびウリ科野菜）とチームB（豆類とアマランサス）に分かれて実施した．本報告は，チームBの報告（一部チームAの収集品を含む）である．探索の結果，10属（Amaranthus, Cariandrum, Cyclanthera, Glycine, Lablab, Macrotyloma, Perilla, Phaseolus, Solanum, Vigna），16種，91点の遺伝資源を収集し，収集品はネパール国立農業遺伝資源センターに保存した

Collaborative Exploration for Amaranthus and Capsicum Genetic Resources in Mid and Far Western Nepal, October and November 2016

Based on the agreement between the National Agriculture Genetic Resources Center (NAGRC), Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Nepal, and the Genetic Resources Center, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Japan, we began the second collaborative exploration for Amaranthus and Capsicum genetic resources in Nepal following the first one, which was conducted in the Mid and Far Western Development Region from October 29 to November 10, 2016. In this survey, a total of 98 samples were collected. Among them, 28 samples were of Amaranthus spp.—24 of A. hypochondriacus, two of A. caudatus; and two of weedy amaranths (Amaranthus spp.)—and 36 Capsicum spp.—33 of C. annuum and three of C. frutescens. All samples were conserved in the gene bank of NAGRC, Nepal. A subset was transferred to the NARO, Japan, under the Standard Material Transfer Agreement of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.ネパール農業研究評議会 (NARC) 国立農業遺伝資源センター (NAGRC) と農業・食品産業技術総合研究機構 (NARO) 遺伝資源センターとの合意に基づき，アマランサス属およびトウガラシ属を主な対象とした第 2 回目の植物遺伝資源共同探索調査を 2016 年 2 月に実施した第 1 回目に続いて 2016 年 10 月 29 日から 11 月 10 にかけて中西部および極西部地域において実施した．本探索において計 98 サンプルが収集され，そのうちアマランサス遺伝資源が 28 系統（Amaranthus hypochondriacus 24 系統，A. caudatus 2 系統，その他の雑草種 2 系統）およびトウガラシ遺伝資源が 36 系統（Capsicum annuum 33 系統およびC. frutescens 3 系統）であった．すべての系統は NAGCR のジーンバンクに保存され，サブセットは食料および農業のための植物遺伝資源に関する国際条約の標準材料移転契約に基づき NARO ジーンバンクに移転された

Policy Gaps and Practices on Genetic Diversity, The Heterogenous and Localized Evolutionary Population as well as Native Landraces in Agriculture of Nepal

Formal breeding strategies and processes focus on developing uniform and non-evolutionary populations. However, many farmers continue to cultivate heterogenous cultivars and populations. To understand the recognition of genetic diversity (heterogenous cultivars and populations) in policies and the fields, a literature survey along with field survey, interaction and field action research were carried out in 15 districts of Nepal. Existing policies demand varieties to go through DUS (distinctness, uniformity, stability) testing and be registered in National Seed Board (NSB) for commercial production and sale. This means all native landraces and other broad genetic-based genotypes cannot be marketed without registration. A formal agriculture system accelerates the cultivation of a single genotype in a large area, leading to a lack of pollinators and the loss of many genetic diversities. Legal agricultural systems have focused mainly on modernizing agriculture through exotic resources, giving less priority to making native landraces and technologies globally competitive. In contrast, the informal seed system deals with polymorphic and evolutionary populations. Therefore, policies should consider the strategies that favor and increase genetic diversity, evolutionary population, site-specific genotypes and staple food, self-seed production system, ecological services, insects/birds/ microorganism-friendly systems, etc. Native agricultural genetic resources (AGRs) with broad genetic bases are essential for food, nutrition, health, environment, and business security. Therefore, native landraces of all six components of agrobiodiversity (namely crops, forages, livestock, aquatic genetic resources, insects, and microorganisms) should receive priority in research, development, extension, and education. Additionally, a favorable policy for the commercialization of such native landraces and/ or their products without registration should be established. Alternatively, a registration system should be developed for broad genetic base genotypes and heterogenous and evolutionary populations

Writing a Research Paper for Journal of Nepal Agricultural Research Council

Agricultural research findings are required to reach soon to the farmers, extensionists, media, researchers, policy makers, businessperson, students, teachers and so many other stakeholders. Among different types of publications, research paper is generally published in journal considered as standard type of publication in term of quality and recognition. Most of the journals follow similar pattern and framework; however, the style, format and process may be different with each other. A research (scientific) paper is a written describing original research result using standard methods and materials. The major sections in a journal paper are abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusion, and references. Accordingly Journal of Nepal Agricultural Research Council has its own style and format. Author needs to follow guidelines strictly on the use of punctuation marks such as comma (,), period (.), space, justification etc; otherwise submitted manuscripts could be immediately return to author without considering in review process. In general, we received manuscripts with many errors on citation and references, poor elaboration of results of experiments, weak discussion, missing to acknowledge funding agencies, submitting non-editable figures, very few numbers of citations of Nepalese researchers, statements not in logical order, etc. In general, the scientific papers should be written in simple way with new but sufficient justification backed up by data in the form of tables, graphs, flow diagrams etc so that readers can understand easily with high readability. The submitted manuscript in the journal office are sent to two to three reviewers for specific recommendation on the originality of the work, appropriateness of the approach and experimental design, adequacy of experimental techniques, soundness of conclusions and interpretations, relevance of discussion and importance of the research. The language clarity and organization of the article are also asked with the reviewers. In response to reviewer's comments all authors are expected to reply each and every comments and suggestions of reviewers, if such comments and suggestion are not acceptable, the author/s can argue for their points, if genuine. Here in this paper we described detail contents of each section along with style and format for a research paper writing targeted to Journal of Nepal Agricultural Research Council