Combining Ability Studies in Cowpea for Dual Purpose Types

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L) Walp.) is widely grown all over India more particularly in central and peninsular regions. Grains are consumed as food and the haulms are fed to livestock as a nutritious fodder. Cowpea is is equally important as nutritious fodder for livestock. The use of cowpea as a dual-purpose crop is attractive in mixed crop/livestock systems where land and feed are becoming increasingly scarce (Tarawali et al., 1997) especially in the dry season. Efforts at global level (IITA & ILRI) focused to develop medium-maturing (85-95 days), semi-erect, dual-purpose varieties with higher grain and fodder yields and with enhanced fodder quality

Fodder Scenario and Hortipastoral Opportunities to Enhance Fodder Production in India

Food grain production and livestock production are closely related in India as crop-residue forms the major source of fodder for livestock. It’s thus assumed that increase in food grain production has positive effect on availability of dry matter to the livestock. Using land use classification, crop production (2015 to 2020) and livestock census (2019) data, dry matter (DM) availability for livestock for 28 states of India was estimated. Hortipastoral opportunities by estimating area available under orchards in southern India were done to assess the possibility of introducing fodder crops in orchards. Some of the fodder crops were introduced in orchards of livestock farmers to know how fodder crops address the issue of fodder availability at household level. The lowest DM available state was Assam (52.80 % availability) and highest available state was Haryana (110.80 %). Eight states have surplus DM (+110.80% to +2.3%). Twelve states experience DM deficiency (-2.96 to -47.20%). Inter spaces in orchards, a niche to cultivate fodder crops to reduce such fodder shortage, estimated to produce 67.13 MT of green fodder sufficing yearly requirement of 13.57 million Adult Cattle Units. Adult Cattle Unit is a reference unit which facilitates the aggregation of livestock from various species and age using specific coefficients derived based on the nutritional and feed requirement of each type of animal. Perennial fodder crops were introduced to 450 Mango and Coconut farmers (from 2016-2021) that reduced fodder shortage (50.6±4.39 to 9±1.64%)

New foam stabilising additive for alumnium

Liquid metals are mostly made foamable by Ca additions followed by a thickening period. There is a need for an additive that can be easily admixed to an aluminium alloy melt and makes this melt foamable. We have selected aluminium-based grain refiner composites to test their foamability. TiB2, TiC or TiAl3 particles were produced in the melt by flux-assisted melting using fluoride salts. The particle size was kept below 1 im for TiB2 and TiC and around 10µm for TiAl3. The composites were heated to above their melting point (700°C) and were then foamed by either the addition of TiH2 or by injecting gases into the melt directly. Foams were successfully produced using TiB2 and TiC particles, while TiAl3 did not lead to any foam. Foam stability increased from TiB2 to TiC. Ex-situ characterisation of the foams by SEM showed that the particles segregate to the surfaces of the cell walls and lead to almost dense coverages there. Even after dilution of the initial composite a significant amount of foam can be still produced, indicating that these composites are suitable foam stabilizing additive for aluminium alloys and that foams based on small volume fractions of nonmetallic additives can be produced

The rupture of a single liquid aluminium alloy film

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.The present study is based on the idea of understanding the rupture of films in metal foams by studying free standing metallic films as a model system. Liquid dynamics, the velocity of the rupturing material as well as the behaviour of ceramic particles inside the melt were analysed optically ex situ and by synchrotron X-ray radiography in situ. It was found that the resistance of films to rupture is mainly based on the interaction between solid particles and an immobile oxide skin, the formation of which depends on the oxygen content of the surrounding atmosphere and the presence of magnesium

Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practices of universal precautions among medical and nursing students

Background: Universal precautions is an approach to infection control to treat all human blood and certain human body fluids as if they were known to be infectious for HIV, HBV and other bloodborne pathogens. The CDC recommends Standard Precautions for the care of all patients, regardless of their diagnosis or presumed infection status. Health care personals are at risk of being exposed to blood-borne pathogens. The aim of the study to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of medical and nursing students towards universal precautions.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out at S. S. Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Davangere, Karnataka. The participants were medical and Nursing undergraduate students. A questionnaire was prepared based on the WHO and CDC guidelines on Universal Precautions and was validated and pre-tested before finalization. Degree of knowledge was ascertained by means of yes-no questions on each item being evaluated.Results: All students were aware of Universal precautions, but soundness of their knowledge is very poor. Compliance in Universal precautions is good to average in nursing students but poor to average in medical students.Conclusions: It can be concluded that interventions to improve Universal precautions among medical students, nursing students urgently needed. So, there is a need for developing strategies to promote the use of Universal precautions which take into account behaviour change and accuracy of knowledge including its integration into practice. Teaching universal precautions early in their curriculum is necessary for better learning and practices during their posting

Rickettsial neglected zoonoses: prevalence of scrub typhus at central Karnataka

Background: Fever of unknown Origin (FUO) has many multiple causes such as enteric fever, malaria, dengue, tuberculosis, brucellosis. But scrub typhus is less known cause in Indian scenario. The present study reports the prevalence of scrub typhus at central Karnataka and compares the sensitivity and specificity of Weil-Felix test and the IgM ELISA in the detection of infection.Methods: 368 serum samples of FUO cases were collected. Weil-Felix test was performed and also analyzed for IgM antibodies to Orienta tsutsugamushi by IgM ELISA test along with haematological and biochemical investigations.Results: Out of 368 patients of fever of unknown origin, 94 cases were positive by OXK antigens by Weil Felix test and 61 were positive by ELISA test for ST IgM antibodies. Fever was the most common clinical presentation occurring in ST IgM ELISA positive cases, followed by myalgia in 90.1% cases, headache in 77%, hepatomegaly in 65.5%, splenomegaly in 62.2% and rashes were seen in 29.5% patients. Eschar was seen in 13.1% patients, pneumonia in 3.2% and meningo-encephalitis in 1.6%. Sensitivity and specificity of WFT in relation to IgM ELISA at a titre of 160 was 81.97% and 85.67% respectively.Conclusions: With the growing number of cases detected in India, scrub typhus is fast emerging as a public health threat and also due to limited diagnostics leading to underreporting, Weil Felix test could be used in adjunct with Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and blood parameters in the diagnosis of rickettsial diseases

Characterization and its implication on beneficiation of low grade iron ore by gravity separation

Studies were undertaken on low grade iron ore sample from Noamundi iron ore mines. The objective of this study was to examine the possibility of the physical beneficiation of low grade iron ore sample by physical methods for the blast furnace route of iron production. The present investigation relies on petrography and ore mineralogical characterization, ore textures (primary, secondary, metamorphic), liberation characters and its impact on the mineral beneficiation methods to produce quality concentrate. The geological characters, alteration mineralogy, morphometric variation, ore microscopy (using model microscope with transmitted and reflected light) and thereby understanding the genesis has given proper insight into the occurrence of various minerals. In addition to this, representative samples were employed for detailed investigation by using XRD, SEM-EDS and cathodoluminescence (CL) studies for confirmation of major as well as minor ore minerals and associated gangue minerals. Investigations suggest that lateritic iron ore samples obtained from the study area are composed of hematite (two generations), goethite (two generations) and limonitic material (younger generation) in association with major gangue minerals such as clay minerals (kaolinite, illite), bauxitic minerals(gibbsite, boehmite and diaspore), cryptocrystalline silica(japer, chert) and crystalline quartz as well as apatite and collophane. Fair liberation obtained below 74 micron size. It was interesting to find that inspite of the complex mineralogy of iron ore, beneficiation results using gravity separation like multi gravity separator (MGS), particularly in finer size ranges was encouraging. The result of ore-gangue mineralogical studies were found quite useful in evaluating the separation efficacy of gravity separation process. The process mineralogical data corroborated well with beneficiation results

Pyothorax in a cat due to Acinetobacter spp. infection : a case report

A 3-month-old kitten weighing 1.05 kg was presented to the University veterinary hospital at Kokkalai in Thrissur district of Kerala, India, with the complaint of open-mouth breathing, lethargy and complete anorexia for the past three days, and weight loss. Detailed clinical examination revealed inspiratory dyspnoea without stridor, tachypnoea, muffled lung and heart sounds on auscultation, pale mucous membrane, and weak pulse. Haematology revealed leukocytosis with granulocytosis and monocytosis. Thoracic radiography, ultrasonography and thoracocentesis confirmed pyothorax. Microbial culture of thoracic aspirate revealed heavy growth of Acinetobacte spp. The cat responded to parenteral therapy with ceftiofur followed by cefixime orally for 21 days. Doxycycline was prescribed for concurrent mycoplasmosis. Thoracic radiograph 10 days later revealed a significant reduction in pleural fluid. A review of the case two months later found that the kitten recovered uneventfully. A rare case of Acinetobacter spp. associated pyothorax and its medical management in a cat is reported. The clinical manifestations, radiographic changes and ultrasonographic findings were discussed

Recent advances and viability in sustainable thermochemical conversion of sludge to bio-fuel production

Thermochemical methods are regarded as promising approach for managing sludge, that can achieve resources and energy recovery, volume reduction followed by efficient elimination of microorganisms. This review highlights an extensive description of the implementation of thermochemical technologies involving pyrolysis, gasification and hydrothermal liquefaction for valorisation of sludge into bio-fuel thus reducing the issues related to surplus generation and accumulation of sludge in environment affecting human health followed by rapid depletion of energy resources. The paper addresses working mechanism of thermochemical processes, their implementation for sludge conversion to bio-fuel and common factors affecting the process efficiency. Various studies have proved possible potential of thermochemical techniques for conversion of sludge to bio-fuel obtaining a high yield of bio-fuel and syngas. However, few technical challenges are still there that requires further studies and understanding for a better commercialization on industrial-scale and subsequently the future perspectives have also been analysed. Data collected from existing studies revealed that hydrothermal liquefaction has the efficiency to be proved better than other thermochemical technologies for proper valorisation of sludge resulting in high bio-fuel yield