First distributional report of Filinia camasecla Myers, 1938 (Rotifera: Eurotatoria: Monogononta) from peninsular India

This work reports the first distributional record of Filinia camasecla Myers, 1938 in south India from the Cochin backwaters on the northern stretch of Lake Vembanad. Earlier, the distribution of this species has been known from Oriental (South East-Asia) and Neotropical biogeographical realms. Though it comes under the oriental endemics no previous records of this species were available from this area or other parts of Vembanad backwaters. The occurrence of F. camasecla in this additional geographic region highlights the range extension of the species

On the Refractive Index of Ageing Dispersions of Laponite

Aqueous dispersion of Laponite at low ionic concentration is of interest since it undergoes structural evolution with respect to time, which is usually termed as ageing. In this work we study the refractive index behavior as a function of ageing time, concentration and temperature. We observed that the extended Lorenz-Lorentz equation fitted the refractive index dependence on concentration and temperature very well. The refractive index did not show any dependence on ageing time. However, the dependence of refractive index on concentration showed a marked change as the system underwent transition from an isotropic to a biphasic state. The slope of the refractive index-density data is remarkably close to that of water at all Laponite concentrations. In the context of transport phenomena, optical measurements such as interferometry can exploit the water-like behavior of Laponite dispersions.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Applied Clay Scienc

Development of decadal (1985–1995–2005) land use and land cover database for India

India has experienced significant Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (LULCC) over the past few decades. In this context, careful observation and mapping of LULCC using satellite data of high to medium spatial resolution is crucial for understanding the long-term usage patterns of natural resources and facilitating sustainable management to plan, monitor and evaluate development. The present study utilizes the satellite images to generate national level LULC maps at decadal intervals for 1985, 1995 and 2005 using onscreen visual interpretation techniques with minimum mapping unit of 2.5 hectares. These maps follow the classification scheme of the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP) to ensure compatibility with other global/regional LULC datasets for comparison and integration. Our LULC maps with more than 90% overall accuracy highlight the changes prominent at regional level, i.e., loss of forest cover in central and northeast India, increase of cropland area in Western India, growth of peri-urban area, and relative increase in plantations. We also found spatial correlation between the cropping area and precipitation, which in turn confirms the monsoon dependent agriculture system in the country. On comparison with the existing global LULC products (GlobCover and MODIS), it can be concluded that our dataset has captured the maximum cumulative patch diversity frequency indicating the detailed representation that can be attributed to the on-screen visual interpretation technique. Comparisons with global LULC products (GlobCover and MODIS) show that our dataset captures maximum landscape diversity, which is partly attributable to the on-screen visual interpretation techniques. We advocate the utility of this database for national and regional studies on land dynamics and climate change research. The database would be updated to 2015 as a continuing effort of this study

Whole-Genome Sequence of Sungri/96 Vaccine Strain of Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus

We report the complete genome sequence of the Sungri/96 vaccine strain of peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV). The whole-genome nucleotide sequence has 89 to 99% identity with the available PPRV genome sequences in the NCBI database. This study helps to understand the epidemiological and molecular characteristics of the Sungri/96 strain

Effect of Phosphine and Methyl Bromide Fumigation of Different Life Stages of Peanut Bruchid, Caryedon serratus Olivier

To ensure seed quality, peanut seeds received for export by the Plant Quarantine Unit of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) were subjected to phosphine and methyl bromide fumigation. Effective control of eggs, larvae, and adults of Caryedon serratus Olivier was achieved with methyl bromide vacuum fumigation (16 g/m3 for 4 h exposure). Under normal atmospheric pressure (NAP), phosphine fumigation @ 0.5,1.0, and 2.0 g a.I./m3 for 24, and also with 0.25 g a.l. for 72 h gave effective control of eggs and larvae. Ph~phlne (1.0 g a.l./40 kg burlap bag) with bruchld Infested pods for 120 h resulted in 100% larval and 93% adult mortality. Both the fumigants did not impair the viability of peanut seeds. A dosage of 16 g/m3 of methyl bromide for 4 h under vacuum or 0.25 g a.l./m3 of phosphine for 72 h under NAP or placing 1.0 g a.l. of ph~phlne in dry pods stored in 40 kg burlap bag covered with polythene sheets for 120 h can satisfy the seed health requirements

Effect of phosphine and methyl bromide fumigation on eggs and larvae of rise moth corcyra cephalonica s. a common stored grain pest

Among the insect pests that attack stored groundnut, rice moth Corcyra ~ephalonica Stainton is most important- It is polyphagous in nature and cosmopolitan in distribution. .Its ability to develop at low humidities ( < 20 "/, RH) may account for its prevalence in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) over other stored product lep.idopterous pests (Dick, 1987)- The irifestation in groundnut results in both qualitative and quantitative losses. C. cephalonica is the most co.mrnon insect pest, often encountered during the visual examination of seed samples meant for export. Though this species is cosn~opolitan in distribution and has attained economic importance in several crops, very limited work has been done with respect to its control by fumigation. Hence this study was undertaken to evolve effective, easy, and economic fumigation schedule to control this pest to ensure better sanitation of outgoing seed

Genomic Selection for Wheat Blast in a Diversity Panel, Breeding Panel and Full-Sibs Panel

Wheat blast is an emerging threat to wheat production, due to its recent migration to South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Because genomic selection (GS) has emerged as a promising breeding strategy, the key objective of this study was to evaluate it for wheat blast phenotyped at precision phenotyping platforms in Quirusillas (Bolivia), Okinawa (Bolivia) and Jashore (Bangladesh) using three panels: (i) a diversity panel comprising 172 diverse spring wheat genotypes, (ii) a breeding panel comprising 248 elite breeding lines, and (iii) a full-sibs panel comprising 298 full-sibs. We evaluated two genomic prediction models (the genomic best linear unbiased prediction or GBLUP model and the Bayes B model) and compared the genomic prediction accuracies with accuracies from a fixed effects model (with selected blast-associated markers as fixed effects), a GBLUP + fixed effects model and a pedigree relationships-based model (ABLUP). On average, across all the panels and environments analyzed, the GBLUP + fixed effects model (0.63 +/- 0.13) and the fixed effects model (0.62 +/- 0.13) gave the highest prediction accuracies, followed by the Bayes B (0.59 +/- 0.11), GBLUP (0.55 +/- 0.1), and ABLUP (0.48 +/- 0.06) models. The high prediction accuracies from the fixed effects model resulted from the markers tagging the 2NS translocation that had a large effect on blast in all the panels. This implies that in environments where the 2NS translocation-based blast resistance is effective, genotyping one to few markers tagging the translocation is sufficient to predict the blast response and genome-wide markers may not be needed. We also observed that marker-assisted selection (MAS) based on a few blast-associated markers outperformed GS as it selected the highest mean percentage (88.5%) of lines also selected by phenotypic selection and discarded the highest mean percentage of lines (91.8%) also discarded by phenotypic selection, across all panels. In conclusion, while this study demonstrates that MAS might be a powerful strategy to select for the 2NS translocation-based blast resistance, we emphasize that further efforts to use genomic tools to identify non-2NS translocation-based blast resistance are critical

Legumes in the Indo-Gangetic Plain of India

Cropping in the Indo-Gangetic Plain of India covering 44 million ha is predominantly cereal based. Rice-wheat and rice-based cropping systems are the most important systems, with rice-wheat rotations covering about 10 million ha. Legumes account for about 5 million ha, which amounts to about 14% of the total area in the country. This region has large spatial variation in rainfall pattern (268 mm in the extreme north to 1600 mm in the extreme east), and is largely dominated by Inceptisol soils. There is large variation in other agroclimatic characteristics such as temperature regime, length of growing season, and evapotranspiration. Despite this large variation chickpea, lentil, and pigeonpea are cultivated as major legumes across the region. Their production in this diverse part of the country is severely constrained by a number of diseases, insect pests, and abiotic stresses. Socioeconomic constraints are also important in discouraging their production. The Government of India increased research outlay to develop improved technologies for increasing legumes production in the country. The results of Government investment were promising, and a number of improved cultivars and technology options were developed to alleviate biotic and abiotic constraints. The Government also initiated several policy measures to alleviate socioeconomic constraints for increasing legumes production. The available trends show that in some parts, legumes area is gradually increasing. The region shows huge potential for legumes production (either as a catch crop, summer crop, or sole crop in different cropping systems), provided appropriate cultivars/ technologies reach farmers' fields

Effectiveness of a scalable group-based education and monitoring program, delivered by health workers, to improve control of hypertension in rural India: A cluster randomised controlled trial

New methods are required to manage hypertension in resource-poor settings. We hypothesised that a community health worker (CHW)-led group-based education and monitoring intervention would improve control of blood pressure (BP). We conducted a baseline community-based survey followed by a cluster randomised controlled trial of people with hypertension in 3 rural regions of South India, each at differing stages of epidemiological transition. Participants with hypertension, defined as BP ≥ 140/90 mm Hg or taking antihypertensive medication, were advised to visit a doctor. In each region, villages were randomly assigned to intervention or usual care (UC) in a 1:2 ratio. In intervention clusters, trained CHWs delivered a group-based intervention to people with hypertension. The program, conducted fortnightly for 3 months, included monitoring of BP, education about hypertension, and support for healthy lifestyle change. Outcomes were assessed approximately 2 months after completion of the intervention. The primary outcome was control of BP (BP < 140/90 mm Hg), analysed using mixed effects regression, clustered by village within region and adjusted for baseline control of hypertension (using intention-to-treat principles). Of 2,382 potentially eligible people, 637 from 5 intervention clusters and 1,097 from 10 UC clusters were recruited between November 2015 and April 2016, with follow-up occurring in 459 in the intervention group and 1,012 in UC. Mean age was 56.9 years (SD 13.7). Baseline BP was similar between groups. Control of BP improved from baseline to follow-up more in the intervention group (from 227 [49.5%] to 320 [69.7%] individuals) than in the UC group (from 528 [52.2%] to 624 [61.7%] individuals) (odds ratio [OR] 1.6, 95% CI 1.2-2.1; P = 0.001). In secondary outcome analyses, there was a greater decline in systolic BP in the intervention than UC group (-5.0 mm Hg, 95% CI -7.1 to -3.0; P < 0.001) and a greater decline in diastolic BP (-2.1 mm Hg, 95% CI -3.6 to -0.6; P < 0.006), but no detectable difference in the use of BP-lowering medications between groups (OR 1.2, 95% CI 0.8-1.9; P = 0.34). Similar results were found when using imputation analyses that included those lost to follow-up. Limitations include a relatively short follow-up period and use of outcome assessors who were not blinded to the group allocation. While the durability of the effect is uncertain, this trial provides evidence that a low-cost program using CHWs to deliver an education and monitoring intervention is effective in controlling BP and is potentially scalable in resource-poor settings globally. The trial was registered with the Clinical Trials Registry-India (CTRI/2016/02/006678)