Reference Ranges for Serum Uric Acid among Healthy Assamese People

This study was designed to establish reference ranges for serum uric acid among healthy adult Assamese population. Samples from 1470 aged 35–86 years were used to establish age and sex related reference range by the centile method (central 95 percentile) for serum uric acid level. There were 51% (n=754) males and 49% (n=716) females; 75.9% (n=1115) of them were from urban area and the rest 24.1% (n=355) were from the rural area. Majority of the population were nonvegetarian (98.6%, n=1450) and only 1.4% (n=20) were vegetarian. The mean age, weight, height, and uric acid of the studied group were 53.6±11.3 years, 62.6±10.5 kg, 160±9.4 cm, and 5.5±1.4 mg/dL, respectively. There is a statistically significant difference in the mean value of the abovementioned parameters between male and female. The observed reference range of uric acid in the population is 2.6–8.2 mg/dL which is wider than the current reference range used in the laboratory. Except gender (P<0.0001), we did not find any significant relation of uric acid with other selected factors

Climate Resilient Agriculture Experiences from NICRA Implementation in North Bank Plains Zone of Assam

Not AvailableClimate change impacts on agriculture are being witnessed all over the world, but countries like India are more vulnerable in view of the huge population dependent on agriculture, excessive pressure on natural resources and poor coping mechanisms. The warming trend in India over the past 100 years has indicated an increase of 0.60°C. The projected impacts are likely to further aggravate field fluctuations of many crops thus impacting food security. There are already evidences of negative impacts on yield of wheat and paddy in parts of India due to increased temperature, water stress and reduction in number of rainy days. Increased abnormalities in amount and distribution of rainfall has also been observed in North Bank Plains Zone (NBPZ) of Assam along with increase in numbers of wet spell driven flash floods and seasonal droughts in recent years. Planned adaption is essential to increase the resilience of agricultural production to climate change. Several improved agricultural practices evolved over time for diverse agroecological regions in India have potential to enhance climate change adaptation, if deployed prudently. Management practices that increase agricultural production under adverse climatic conditions also tend to support climate change adaptation because they increase resilience and reduce yield variability under variable climate and extreme events. Keeping this in view, National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture was implemented under All India Coordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture, Biswanath Chariali centre on 2011in two selected villages of North Lakhimpur, Chamua and Ganakdoloni. The main aim of the project is to enhance resilience of Indian agriculture to climate change and climate variability through strategic research and technology demonstration. In this bulletin the authors have penned down the experiences gained from implementation of NICRA in NBPZ of Assam. It is hoped that the bulletin will be able to serve the purposes towards achieving its objectives and act as a benchmark study for the entire area. It is expected that the information contained in this bulletin will be exploited by the scientist of different disciplines and extension officials for making rational recommendation. The authors will remain ever grateful to Project Coordinator, (AICRPDA), CRIDA, Hyderabad and Director of Research (Agri), AAU for their guidance, encouragement and sincere support. The authors extend thankfulness to the fellow Scientists, Research Associates and other technical staff for their cooperation and help. The authors express their thankfulness to Sharada Offset, Biswanath Chariali for printing the report.Not Availabl

Characterization of Indian native isolates of Trichoderma spp. and assessment of their bio-control efficiency against plant pathogens

A study was intended to corroborate the positive relatedness of molecular and morphological characters with antagonistic ability of Trichoderma species. On the basis of morphological and cultural characteristics, the Trichoderma isolates were identified as T. virens (11 isolates), T. asperellum (15), T. harzianum (14) and T. longibrachiatum (32). This result was in concordance with the result obtained from the DNA sequence data analysis of internal transcribed spacer 1 and 2 region (ITS1 and ITS2) and the elongation factor 1-alpha gene (tef1). The phylogenetic analyses of the above two marker loci sequences were done. Trichoderma isolates were not fairly separated by ITS 1 and 2 regions analysis whereas these were clearly separated with tef1 sequences analysis into different clusters. Comparative sequence analyses suggest that tef1 is a better marker to distinguish Trichoderma species because of greater transition/transversion ratio (1.32) and evolutionary divergence (1.965). T. virens (Vn) and T. harzianum (Th) were assessed for their mycoparasitic effect on soil borne plant pathogens, Rhizoctonia solani, Pythium aphanidermatum, Fusarium udum, F. solani, Sclerotium rolfsii and Macrophomina phaseolina. The percent inhibitory effect among T. harzianum isolates was between 70 to 90% and T. virens isolates ranged from 50 to 80%. However, Vn09 and Th-12 were distinguishable in exhibiting higher degree of antagonism.Key words: Biocontrol, ITS, tef1, Trichoderma

Effect of dietary zinc on the growth and metabolic enzyme activities of golden mahseer (Tor putitora) fry

The golden mahseer (Tor putitora) is an important and high valued sport and food fish of national and international importance. Therefore for promotion of golden mahseer, proper mineral supplementation in early developmental stages is very important. The present study evaluated the effects of dietary zinc on growth, survivaland physiological response of Tor putitora fry. One thousand eight hundred fry (avg.wt 54.35±3.09 mg) were randomly distributed into 6 treatment groups with triplicates each. Six iso-nitrogenous (40±0.02% to 41.44±0.01% crude protein) semi-purified diets were prepared with graded levels of dietary zinc. Zinc sulphate was added as the dietary zinc source to the basal diet. The results indicated that specific growth rate (SGR) was of value 2.52 ±0.23 gm of T. putitora fry which increased with dietary zinc levels up to a concentration of 40 mg Zn Kg-1 in diet. The zinc dependent metabolic enzymes and antioxidant enzymes was also observed to be highest in groups supplemented with 40 mg zinc/kg feed. The overall results of the present study suggest the efficacy of dietary zinc on growth, survival and physiological response of golden mahseer fry in order to garner the possibility of establishing the species to commercial aquaculture