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

Effects of acute salinity stress on oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion rates of the marine shrimp Metapenaeus monoceros

The present investigation was undertaken to study the effect of an abrupt change in the salinity of the medium on the oxygen consumption and ammonia-N excretion of the marine penaeid shrimp Metapenaeus monoceros (Fabricius). Results showed that in both low-saline (5‰) as well as high-saline (35‰) acclimated shrimps the respiratory rates were significantly lower in midrange salinities (20‰ and 25‰) and significantly higher in both low (5‰, 10‰, and 15‰) and high (30‰ and 35‰) salinities. A significant increase in ammonia-N excretion was observed when high-saline acclimated shrimps were abruptly exposed to different grades of low-saline media. Exposure to different grades of high-saline media on the other hand induced a significant decrease in ammonia excretion rate of low-saline acclimated shrimps. The O:N ratio (ratio of oxygen consumed to nitrogen excreted in atomic equivalents) showed a decreasing trend when the high-saline acclimated shrimps were abruptly exposed to low-saline media, indicating a shift towards protein dominated metabolism. A reverse trend could be observed in the O:N ratio when the shrimps were exposed to high-saline media indicating a shift towards lipid dominated metabolism in high salinities. Thus, there appears to be a shift in energy substrate utilization in these shrimps from protein dominated metabolism in low salinities (5‰, 10‰, 15‰ and 20‰) to lipid/carbohydrate dominated metabolism in high salinities (25‰, 30‰ and 35‰)

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Mechanisms of acute neurovascular protection with AT1 blockade after stroke: Effect of prestroke hypertension.

Stroke is a leading cause of adult disability worldwide. Improving stroke outcome requires an orchestrated interplay that involves up regulation of pro-survival pathways and a concomitant suppression of pro-apoptotic mediators. In this investigation, we assessed the involvement of eNOS in the AT1 blocker-mediated protective and pro-recovery effects in animals with hypertension. We also evaluated the effect of acute eNOS inhibition in hypertensive animals. To achieve these goals, spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were implanted with blood pressure transmitters, and randomized to receive either an eNOS inhibitor (L-NIO) or saline one hour before cerebral ischemia induction. After 3 hours of ischemia, animals were further randomized to receive either candesartan or saline at the time of reperfusion and sacrificed either 24 hours or 7 days later. Candesartan induced an early protective effect that was independent of eNOS inhibition (50% improvement in motor function). However, the protective effect of candesartan was associated with about five fold up regulation of BDNF expression and about three fold reduction in ER stress markers, in an eNOS dependent manner. The early benefit of a single dose of candesartan, present at 24 hours after stroke, was diminished at 7 days, perhaps due to a failure to induce an angiogenic response in these hypertensive animals. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate an early prorecovery effect of candesartan at both functional and molecular levels. Candesartan induced prorecovery signaling was mediated through eNOS. This effect was not maintained at 7 days after experimental ischemia

RAS modulation prevents progressive cognitive impairment after experimental stroke: a randomized, blinded preclinical trial

Abstract Background With the aging population, the prevalence and incidence of cerebrovascular disease will continue to rise, as well as the number of individuals with vascular cognitive impairment/dementia (VCID). No specific FDA-approved treatments for VCID exist. Although clinical evidence supports that angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) prevent cognitive decline in older adults, whether ARBs have a similar effect on VCID after stroke is unknown. Moreover, these agents reduce BP, which is undesirable in the acute stroke period, so we believe that giving C21 in this acute phase or delaying ARB administration would enable us to achieve the neurovascular benefits without the risk of unintended and potentially dangerous, acute BP lowering. Methods The aim of our study was to determine the impact of candesartan (ARB) or compound-21 (an angiotensin type 2 receptor––AT2R––agonist) on long-term cognitive function post-stroke, in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). We hypothesized that AT2R stimulation, either directly with C21, or indirectly by blocking the angiotensin type 1 receptor (AT1R) with candesartan, initiated after stroke, would reduce cognitive impairment. Animals were subjected to a 60-min transient middle cerebral artery occlusion and randomly assigned to either saline/C21 monotherapy, for the full study duration (30 days), or given sequential therapy starting with saline/C21 (7 days) followed by candesartan for the remainder of the study (21 days). Outcome measures included sensorimotor/cognitive-function, amyloid-β determination, and histopathologic analyses. Results Treatment with RAS modulators effectively preserved cognitive function, reduced cytotoxicity, and prevented chronic-reactive microgliosis in SHRs, post-stroke. These protective effects were apparent even when treatment was delayed up to 7 days post-stroke and were independent of blood pressure and β-amyloid accumulation. Conclusion Collectively, our findings demonstrate that RAS modulators effectively prevent cognitive impairment after stroke, even when treatment is delayed

Acute eNOS inhibition did not alter early AT1 blocker treatment induced reduction of blood pressure after the induction of cerebral ischemia.

<p>A schematic diagram showing the experimental design (A). Blood pressure telemetry showing the hypotensive effect of Candesartan following cerebral ischemia. This effect was not altered with acute eNOS inhibition before the induction of cerebral ischemia. Data presented as mean±SEM; n = 5–6 animals per group.</p

A schematic representation of the main findings.

<p>Acute administration of ARBs improves short term functional outcome through an eNOS mediated amelioration of ER stress and BDNF/TrkB mediated signaling. Acute eNOS inhibition increases NOGO-A, nNOS expression and JNK phosphorylation.</p