Expression of Heterosis for Productive Traits in Bottle Gourd Hybrids

A study was conducted in bottle gourd to estimate the magnitude of heterosis for yield and its thirteen yield related components. Twenty one bottle gourd hybrids generated from 7 × 7 diallel cross (excluding reciprocals) along with their seven parents evaluated in a Randomized Block Design with three replication at at the Olericulture Division of Horticulture Research Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur, Bangladesh during 2018-19. Most of the crosses showed significant heterobeltiosis for earliness. The highest heterobeltiotic effect was observed in the cross P2XP7 and P4XP7. The best heterotic cross for fruit length was P4XP5. Maximum heterotic effect in respect of fruit number per plant was found in the cross P1XP6 and P4XP6. In terms of yield per plant the highest heterobeltiosis was shown by the crosses P3XP4, P3XP5, P4XP5 and P4XP7. In the overall analysis, both additive and non-additive gene actions were found important with predominance of the additive gene effects in the inheritance of bottle gourd

Role of dietary concentrates on the venison quality of Sika deer (Cervus nippon)

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of feed concentrate level on carcass characteristics and meat quality of sika deer (Cervus nippon). A total of 16 sika deer (mean bodyweight 30 kg) were randomly assigned to one of two treatments, namely Treatment 1 (T1): fed concentrate at 1.5% of total bodyweight); and Treatment 2 (T2): fed concentrate ad libitum. Both groups had free access to roughage (hay) and water. Each group was fed concentrate twice daily (at 09h00 and 16h00) for eight months. The fat concentration of venison from deer in T2 was significantly greater than that of T1. However, fat loss through cooking, shear force, and pH did not differ significantly between the two groups. Water-binding capacity of venison from deer in T1 was significantly greater (2.83%) than that of T2. Colour parameters a* (redness) and b* (yellowness) were significantly greater for venison from T2 than for deer in T1. Likewise, cholesterol concentration of venison from deer in T2 was significantly greater than for deer in T1. However, the cholesterol concentration in venison from deer that were subjected to both treatments was less than that of meat from other livestock species. In conclusion, the results of this study provide a baseline to estimate fodder cost standards to produce sika deer venison, and would aid commercial deer farmers in developing optimal management strategies for venison production.Keywords: carcass composition, concentrate feeding, meat qualit

Evaluation of the efficacies of selected antibiotics and medicinal plants on common bacterial fish pathogens

An experiment was conducted to compare the efficacies of some selected antibiotics and medicinal plants against common bacterial fish pathogens viz., Aeromonas hydrophila, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Edwardsiella tarda. Four different antibiotics viz., CFCIN (ciprofloxacin), Renamycin (oxytetracycline), DT-10 (doxycicline) and Sulfatrim (sulphadiazine + trimethoprim) were exposed in different doses (100, 75, 50 and 25 ppm) to the culture of freshly isolated bacteria under the in vitro condition for sensitivity test and minimum inhibitory dose (MID) was determined. Based on in vitro results, antibiotics were applied to the experimental infection of Thai silver barb, Barbonymus gonionotus. CFCIN showed the best result with 100% recoveries of challenged fish in prolonged bath treatment. Medicinal plants were selected on the basis of previous studies. Crude extracts were prepared from various parts (leaves and bulb) of garlic, turmeric, akand and neem and four different doses were applied to the fresh culture of pathogenic isolates under the in-vitro condition to determine minimum inhibitory dose (MID). However, garlic offered the best result with 90.00 ± 2.89% recoveries of challenged fish in aquarium trial. Akand + neem, turmeric and akand showed moderate to weak recovery rates with the same dose. The present study thus showed that medicinal plants would be an effective control measure along with antibiotics against bacterial fish diseases