Effects of control of C/N ratio by low-cost carbohydrate addition on water quality and pond ecology in freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii post-larvae nursing system

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of control of carbon/nitrogen ratio (C/N ratio) by addition of low cost carbohydrate to the water column on water quality and pond ecology in freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii post-larvae nursing system. In this experiment, two level of dietary protein 20% and 35% without carbohydrate addition (‘P20' and ‘P35') and with carbohydrate addition (‘P20+CH' and ‘P35+CH') were compared in small ponds of 40 m² area stocked with 20 post-larvae (0.021 ± 0.001g) per m² . Maize flour was used as low cost carbohydrate and applied to the water column followed by the first feeding during the day. The addition of carbohydrate significantly reduced (p0.05) of total phytoplankton and zooplankton among the treatments. Survival rate of prawn was significantly lowest (p0.05) was observed between P20+CH and P35 treatments. Control of C/N ratio by the addition of low-cost carbohydrate to the pond water column benefited the freshwater prawn nursing practices in three ways (1) increased heterotrophic bacterial growth supplying bacterial protein augment the prawn post-larvae growth performances, (2) reduced demand for supplemental feed protein and subsequent reduction in feed cost and (3) reduced toxic NH sub(3)-N and NO sub(2)-N levels in pond nursing system

Observation on some of the environmental parameters and feed quality of selected golda (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) farms in Bangladesh

A study was conducted to ascertain the existing farm water, effluent and feed quality of selected giant freshwater prawn farms from major prawn farming areas (Bagerhat Sadar, Noakhali Sadar and Mymensingh) of Bangladesh during July to November 2005. Water quality parameters such as the mean values of dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, nitrite-nitrogen, phosphate-phosphorus and ammoniacal nitrogen did not show any significantly differences among the farming areas. Whereas significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed in the mean values of temperature, secchi disc visibility, pH and chlorophyll a. However, all the water quality parameters in the farming areas were within the suitable range for prawn culture. There was no significant variation in nutrients concentration of discharged effluent among the prawn farming areas. All of the nutrients measured in effluent water were within the acceptable range and did not seem to pose a direct threat to the recipient environment. The analysed crude protein contents of commercial CP, Quality and Saudi-Bangla prawn feeds were 31.84%, 27.21% and 28.97%, respectively, whereas all analysed farm made feeds were less than 25%. The other nutrients of prawn feeds varied largely with the source of feeds and ingredients used to prepare feed. The annual yield of prawn varied from 320.4 to 512.6 kg/ha (mean 412.3 kg/ha) depending on the management system

The Impact of Load Shedding on The Cost of Living: A Zambian Perspective

In this paper, we assess the impact of Zambia Electricity Supply Corporationrsquos (ZESCO) power rationing (load shedding) on the cost of living of the Zambian people. We also assess whether the businesses and households have capacity to resort to alternative sources of energy in the time of crisis. Our results show that, although the rationing does not last for 24 hours in most places, the duration that businesses and households stay out of power is long enough to impact negatively on the livelihoods of the Zambian people and consequently itrsquos Economy. nbs

Performance of Amblypharyngodon mola with Barbodes gonionotus, Cyprinus carpio and Macrobrachium rosenbergii in rice-fish culture system

An experiment was conducted to assess the performance of mola (Amblyphmyngodon mola) in rice fish culture system with freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii), Thai silver barb (Bm·bades ganianotus) and common carp (Cyprinus cmpia) for a period of 4 months at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh. Four treatments viz., treatment-I (T1) with A. mala and M. rosenbergii; treatmen t-II (T2) with A. mala, M. rosenbergii and B. gonianatus ; treatmentIII (T3) with A. mala, 1Vf. rosenbergii and C. cmpia, and treatment- IV (T4) as control (without fish) were used in triplicate. All treatments were equally fertilized with urea (200 kg/ha), TSP (150 kg/ha) and MP (75 kg/ha). The mean values of water quality parameters viz., temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, nitrate-nitrogen showed a very small variations among different treatments, but phosphate-phosphorus and chlorophyll-a were relatively higher in T4 without fish (i.e., control). The fish production of 480.5 kg/ha in T3 was significantly higher than that of 355.6 kg/ha T2 and 223.8 kg/ha in T 1• The values of soil organic matter, total-nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium at harvest were significantly (P<0.05) higher in the treatments with fish than without fish, but pH did not show any significant differences. The yield of rice grain and straw was also obtained significantly (P<0.05) higher in the treatments with fish. The increase in grain was higher over the control by 11.81%, 9.41% and 14.76% and that in straw was by 9.83%, 4.77% and 13.29% in Tl> T2, and T3 respectively

Culture potential of Amblypharyngodon mola with carps in polyculture in farmers' pond of northern regions of Bangladesh

To assess the culture potential of mola (Amblypharyngodon mola) along with carps in polyculture systems, an experiment consisted of three treatments each with five replications was conducted for 4 months in two villages of Parbatipur upazilla under Dinajpur district. In the first treatment (SS), catla, rohu, mrigal, grass carp, Thai punti, common carp and a higher density of silver carp (8 per 40m²) were stocked. In the second treatment (SM), stocking density of silver carp was reduced to half and mola was added at a stocking density of 12,500/ha with all other fishes used in SS. In the third treatment (MM), no silver carp was stocked and mola was added at a stocking density of 25,000/ha with all other fishes used in SS. All treatments were subjected to the same regime of feed and fertilizers. The yields of large carps were 2035 kg/ha, 1757 kg/ha and 1326 kg/ha for treatments SS, SM and MM, respectively. Catla, grass carp and carpio showed better growth and production performance in presence of mola at a higher density, while rohu, Thai punti and mrigal showed better performance when stocking density of mola was relatively low. Mola yield was almost two times higher (184 kg/ha) in absence of silver carp (MM) than (62 kg/ha) in presence of silver carp (SM). The result showed that there was a significantly (p<0.01) lower total fish production in treatment MM. But there were no significant difference in total production between treatment SS and SM

Studies on the growth and production of six major and exotic carps in Nasti baor, Jhenaidah, Bangladesh

An investigation on growth, production and fishery of three Indian major carps: rohu, Labeo rohita, catla, Catla catla and mrigal, Cirrhinus mrigala and three exotic carps: silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella, and common carp, Cyprinus carpio was carried out in Nasti baor during February to April months. In catch per unit effort (CPUE) study the highest catch/day/person (3.13 kg) and catch/day/gear (40.65 kg) was recorded in the month of March for kochal fishing. In komar fishing catch/day/person (15.08 kg) and catch/day/gear (1206 kg) was also found higher in March. Komar fishing was done only in March and April and its CPUE was greater in both the months than that of kochal. The average recovery rate (combination of all six species) was 37.80 considering the stocking from July month of the previous year. The recovery rate of common carp (54.1) was the highest and lowest (13.90) in case of silver carp. When the recovery was calculated on the basis of one year data and stocking, it was 55.6%. Analysis of production model revealed that the present production (54,806 kg/year) is less than both theoretical production (model I- 85,285 kg/year and model II -75,952 kg/year) estimated. Therefore, it may be concluded that the fish production from Nasti baor could still be increased from the present level of production

Simultaneous Quantification of Paracetamol and Meloxicam in Tablets by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Purpose: To develop and validate a simple, rapid and inexpensive RP-HPLC method for the simultaneous estimation of paracetamol and meloxicam in tablets.Methods: For the analysis of the drugs, chromatographic analysis was performed on XTerra symmetry C18 column (100 × 4.6 mm, 5 μ particle size) with mobile phase consisting of methanol and phosphate buffer (pH 9.2) in the ratio of 50:50 v/v, at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min and eluents monitored at 244 nm. The method was validated for linearity, accuracy, precision, robustness and application for assay as per International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines.Results: The retention times of paracetamol and meloxicam were 2.467 and 4.971 min, respectively. The calibration curves of peak area versus concentration, which was linear from 5 - 60 μg/mL for paracetamol and 1 - 12 μg/mL for meloxicam, had regression coefficient (r2) greater than 0.999. The method had the requisite accuracy, precision, and robustness for simultaneous determination of paracetamol and meloxicam in tablets.Conclusion: The proposed method is simple, low-cost, accurate, precise and can be successfully employed in routine quality control for the simultaneous analysis of paracetamol and meloxicam in tablets.Keywords: Paracetamol, Meloxicam, RP-HPLC, Simultaneous analysis, Tablet

Incorporating changes in albedo in estimating the climate mitigation benefits of land use change projects

International audienceSome climate scientists are questioning whether the practice of converting of non-forest lands to forest land (afforestation or reforestation) is an effective climate change mitigation option. The discussion focuses particularly on areas where the new forest is primarily coniferous and there is significant amount of snow since the increased climate forcing due to the change in albedo may counteract the decreased climate forcing due to carbon dioxide removal. In this paper, we develop a stand-based model that combines changes in surface albedo, solar radiation, latitude, cloud cover and carbon sequestration. As well, we develop a procedure to convert carbon stock changes to equivalent climatic forcing or climatic forcing to equivalent carbon stock changes. Using the model, we investigate the sensitivity of combined affects of changes in surface albedo and carbon stock changes to model parameters. The model is sensitive to amount of cloud, atmospheric absorption, timing of canopy closure, carbon sequestration rate among other factors. The sensitivity of the model is investigated at one Canadian site, and then the model is tested at numerous sites across Canada. In general, we find that the change in albedo reduces the carbon sequestration benefits by approximately 30% over 100 years, but this is not drastic enough to suggest that one should not use afforestation or reforestation as a climate change mitigation option. This occurs because the forests grow in places where there is significant amount of cloud in winter. As well, variations in sequestration rate seem to be counterbalanced by the amount and timing of canopy closure. We close by speculating that the effects of albedo may also be significant in locations at lower latitudes, where there are less clouds, and where there are extended dry seasons. These conditions make grasses light coloured and when irrigated crops, dark forests or other vegetation such as biofuels replace the grasses, the change in carbon stocks may not compensate for the darkening of the surface