Effect of Various Substrates on Growth, Flower and Tuber Production of Dahlia (Dahlia variabilis Desf.) cv. Pink Attraction

An experiment entitled Effect of Various Substrates on Growth, Flowering and Tuber Production of Dahlia (Dahlia variabilis Desf.) cv. ‘Pink Attraction’ was carried out in the earthen pots at the Research Farm, Division of Floriculture, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, SKUAST-K, Shalimar during 2007 and 2008. There were twelve treatments of growing substrates comprising of soil, FYM + sand (1:1), sheep manure + sand (1:1), poultry manure + sand (1:1), cocopeat + FYM (1:1), perlite + FYM (1:1), vermiculite + FYM (1:1), soil + FYM + sand (1:1:1), soil + sheep manure + sand (1:1:1), soil + cocopeat + FYM (1:1:1), soil + perlite + FYM (1:1:1), soil + vermiculite + FYM (1:1:1). The study revealed that medium cocopeat + FYM (1:1) recorded maximum plant height (54.72 cm), number of leaves (102.93), primary branches (8.30), stem diameter (10.68 mm) and plant spread (3364.45 cm2). Cocopeat + FYM (1:1) also recorded earliness in flowering (82.0 day) and maximum flower diameter (12.6 cm), length of flower stalk (9.5 cm), number of flowers/plant (18.5), fresh weight of flowers (20.8 g), duration of flowering (13.5) and flower yield (253.8 g/plant). Moreover the various physiological parameters in Dahlia were also influenced markedly by the growing substrates cocopeat peat + FYM (1:1). However, maximum number of tubers/plant (14.8) and fresh weight of tubers (213.1 g) were recorded under substrate vermiculite + FYM (1:1). The maximum net return was obtained with cocopeat + FYM medium. Viewing of these effects, it is concluded that substrates cocopeat + FYM (1:1) can be taken for better plant growth and flower production whereas vermiculite + FYM (1:1) can be effectively used for tuber production in Dahlia cv. Pink Attraction under Kashmir valley conditions

Evaluation of Penicillins minimum inhibitory concentration against clinically isolated Streptococcus pyogenes

Streptococcus specie is the crucial cause of pharyngitis and tonsillitis in human particularly in youngsters and is the main organisms transmitted from the milk to human. Streptococcus pyogenes cause diseases worldwide, thus increases huge burden to national health care systems. The current study was take on to determine antibiotic resistance pattern of S. pyogenes against penicillin group of antibiotics by disc diffusion method. Furthermore, minimum inhibitory concentration of penicillin group of antibiotics were assisted against S. pyogenes isolates. Three hundred samples including sore throat, skin lesion and surgical wounds were collected from different patients. The clinical specimens were cultured on blood agar media to observe hemolysis and were identified with Bacitracin sensitivity test. To evaluate the resistance pattern of Penicillin’s antibiotic sensitivity test was done. Different antibiotics used were Penicillin G (10 U), Ampicillin (10 mcg), Amoxicillin (25 mcg), and Piperacillin (100 mcg) respectively. Minimum inhibitory concentration was checked against S. pyogenes by using four antibiotics i.e. Penicillin G, Piperacillin, Ampicillin and Amoxicillin. A total of 17 isolates showed positive growth for S. pyogenes i.e. from throat specimens the number of positive isolates were 10, surgical wounds showed 05 and skin pus were positive for 02 isolates