Attractants for Synanthropic Flies. 2. Response Patterns of House Flies to Attractive Baits on Poultry Ranches

A proteinaceous attractant, prepared by freeze-drying fermented whole egg solids, was found to attract Musca domestica L. and other synanthropic Diptera. In field experiments, a mixture of 2 g of the attractant and 2 g of dichlorvos sugar-bait increased fly collection two-fold on manure substrate in trays set on the ground and three-fold in suspended bait units over the sugar-toxicant bait alone. This increase was due primarily to the increased response of nulliparous and parous females in which vitellogenesis was about to occur. Attractancy of the bait declined sharply after 48 hours of field exposure. The location of bait stations significantly affected the number, sex ratio, and female age structure of the flies collected. Stations collecting the greatest number of flies were generally situated at the ends of the cage rows in sunlight-shade border areas. Fly collections from areas of greatest fly activity were characterized by a high proportion of hoth nulliparous and parous protein-searching females, and the sex ratio in these high-activity zones approached 1. East-west and north-south preferences of certain female age groups were manifested in the collection

Degradation and detoxification of leather tannery effluent by a newly developed bacterial consortium GS-TE1310 for environmental safety

The untreated/partially treated effluent discharged from leather tanning industries is heavily polluting our water and soil resources. Hence, the adequate treatment/detoxification of tannery effluent (TE) is required before its safe disposal into the environment. In the present study, an effective degradation of real TE was attained by a newly developed bacterial consortium GS-TE1310 within 120 h with 76.12, 85.32, 71.89, 48.59, 78.81, 69.53, 71.22, and 88.70 % reduction in pollution parameters such as COD, BOD, TDS, phosphate, sulphate, nitrate, Cr, and phenol, respectively. The HP-LC, FT-IR, and GC–MS study showed that most of the organic contaminants identified in the untreated TE were completely mineralized/degraded into new degradation products in the treated TE by the newly developed bacterial consortium GS-TE1310 at 7 pH, 0.5 % glucose and ammonium chloride, 120 rpm, and 20 mL inoculum volume. Further, the bacterially treated TE was used for the phytotoxicity evaluation using Phaseolus aureus L as a terrestrial model organism. Results revealed that the toxicity of bacterially treated TE was significantly reduced, allowing the 70 % germination of seeds, and thus, confirmed the detoxification of leather TE. Overall, the newly developed bacterial consortium GS-TE1310 demonstrated a remarkable potential to efficiently treat/detoxify leather TE for environmental safety

OPTIMIZATION OF FORMULATION OF SOLID DISPERSION OF FUROSEMIDE BY FACTORIAL DESIGN

Objective: The present study aimed to improve the rate of dissolution of furosemide by solid dispersion technique. Methods: Solid dispersion of furosemide was prepared by using hydrogel isolated from the seeds of Lepidium sativum as a novel carrier by the solvent evaporation method. Solid dispersion was evaluated to study the improvement in the rate of dissolution. Molecular dispersion of furosemide in the novel carrier was studied by DSC and FTIR studies. Solid dispersion was filled in capsules after stability studies and the formulation was optimized by adopting factorial design. Results: Solid dispersion of furosemide exhibited dissolution improvement from 13.54 % (plain furosemide) to 69.12% (solid dispersion) in the first 60 min. Improvement in dissolution efficiency was found to be retained after stability studies. Capsules were filled with the formulation of solid dispersion using two different grades of lactose-α lactose monohydrate and anhydrous lactose and were found stable after stabilization studies. Conclusion: The dissolution improvement of furosemide was attributed to its molecular dispersion in the novel carrier selected for this study. The recrystallization of furosemide was prevented due to intermolecular interaction between the novel carrier and furosemide. This was confirmed by FTIR. Evaluation of the dissolution data of factorial batches was analyzed by ANOVA. Analysis of the data revealed that selected levels of α lactose monohydrate and anhydrous lactose would be useful to navigate design space

Bait Units for Collection of House Flies

Lurtox™4 is a proteinaceous attractant for Musca domestica L. and other synanthropic Diptera (Mulla et al. 1973: Willson and Mulla 1973a) and is easily mixed with commercial poison sugar baits. The mixture of Lurtox and dichlorvos sugar bait (50:50 by wt) can be administered in measurable quantities into compact bait units where dead flies can be easily recovered for counting and for other studies. While developing Lurtox for control of Hippelates eye gnats, Mulla et al. (1973) found that moisture was essential for the emanation of the volatile attractants contained in the bait. Therefore, if the prevalent humidity level is not sufficient to activate the attractant, the bait unit designed for use with the bait mixture should include a moisture sourc

Isolation and molecular characterization of symbiotic bacterial isolates associated with entomopathogenic nematodes in agro climatic zone 5 of Karnataka

The investigation was carried out to study the biochemical characterization of symbiotic bacteria associated with entomopathogenic nematodes isolated from agro climatic zone 5 of Karnataka. Twenty two entomopathogenic nematodes were isolated by insect bait method using fifth instar larvae of Galleria mellonella. Twenty symbiotic bacteria were isolated from these entomopathogenic nematodes and named based on the source place. These isolates were identified based on microscopic observation, biochemical and physiological characters like Gelatin liquefaction test, Catalase test, Lactose fermentation test, Urease test, Motility test and Colony morphology studies on Nutrient agar, NBTA and Mac Conkey agar media. The diversity of these isolates was characterized by using RAPD markers. Primer screening was carried out using 13 decamer random primers, out of which 7 primers were detected for RAPD analysis. A total of 44 bands were scored out of which 42 bands were found to be polymorphic. Statistical analysis of RAPD data clearly depicted that all the 20 symbiotic bacterial isolates formed four major clusters. The percent polymorphism observed in the isolates was 95.45% which is quiet high and suggests that the symbiotic bacterial population exhibit high genetic diversity

Phytoremediation of heavy metal-contaminated sites: Eco-environmental concerns, field studies, sustainability issues and future prospects

Environmental contamination due to heavy metals (HMs) is of serious ecotoxicological concern worldwide because of their increasing use at industries. Due to non-biodegradable and persistent nature, HMs cause serious soil/water pollution and severe health hazards in living beings upon exposure. HMs can be genotoxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic in nature even at low concentration. They may also act as endocrine disruptors and induce developmental as well as neurological disorders and thus, their removal from our natural environment is crucial for the rehabilitation of contaminated sites. To cope with HM pollution, phytoremediation has emerged as a low-cost and eco-sustainable solution to conventional physico-chemical cleanup methods that require high capital investment and labor alter soil properties and disturb soil microflora. Phytoremediation is a green technology wherein plants and associated microbes are used to remediate HM-contaminated sites to safeguard the environment and protect public health. Hence, in view of the above, the present paper aims to examine the feasibility of phytoremediation as a sustainable remediation technology for the management of metals-contaminated sites. Therefore, this paper provides an in-depth review on both the conventional and novel phytoremediation approaches, evaluate their efficacy to remove toxic metals from our natural environment, explore current scientific progresses, field experiences and sustainability issues and revise world over trends in phytoremediation research for its wider recognition and public acceptance as a sustainable remediation technology for the management of contaminated sites in 21st century

Environmental and health hazards of textile industry wastewater pollutants and its treatment approaches

Textile industry wastewater (TIWW) causes serious water and soil pollution. TIWW has high pH, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS), total organic carbon (TOC), solids suspended (SS), total solids suspended (TSS) sulfate, nitrate, and chloride. It also has a variety of recalcitrant chemicals like dyes, detergents, salts, phenol, and metals like arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr), which cause serious threats in the environment and severe health hazards in human/animals. Textile dyes are well known for its highly toxic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, and genotoxic effects on living beings. Physicochemical methods are not efficient for the removal of TIWW due to the requirement of expensive chemicals and the production of a large amount of sludge as a secondary pollutant. Whereas biological methods use different classes of microbes and plant species for the removal and treatment of dyestuff and wastewater. Combined and membrane treatments are highly effective methods for the degradation and detoxification of textile wastewater. This chapter provides an overview of the textile industry, wastewater generation, and environmental pollution. Further, toxicity profile and bioremediation methods for degradation and detoxification of TIWW are also explained in this chapter

Pathogenicity of symbiotic bacteria associated with entomopathogenic nematodes on larvae of Galleria mellonella

The investigation was carried out to study the effect of different population of symbiotic bacteria associated with entomopathogenic nematodes isolated from agroclimatic zone 5 of Karnataka on second instar larvae of greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella by artificial diet method. Entomopathogenic nematodes were isolated by insect bait method and symbiotic bacteria were isolated and identified by morphological and biochemical tests. Second instar larvae of G. mellonella were fed with artificial diet containing different populations of bacterial cells and mortality data of larvae was recorded after 48hrs. The cumulative mortality of larvae has increased with increase in the concentration of bacterial cells. The median lethal concentration varied among the bacterial isolates against G.mellonella larvae. Among the twenty isolates used in the study, isolate KPR1 was found to be highly pathogenic with a lower median lethal concentration of  0.018x105 cells/ml followed by HEB2 (0.084x105 cells/ml), KPR4 (0.12x105 cells/ml), CHK1(0.13x105 cells/ml), KPR3(0.16x105 cells/ml), EXP2 (0.19x105 cells/ml) CHK2 (0.19x105 cells/ml), RMG2(0.20x105 cells/ml). The remaining twelve bacterial isolates showed higher median lethal concentration with isolate BGR showing the highest LD50 of 26x105 cells/ml. These results suggest that the toxic activity to G. mellonella varied among the Symbiotic bacteria isolated from different locations.ÂÂ

Degradation mechanism and toxicity reduction of methyl orange dye by a newly isolated bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa MZ520730

Methyl orange (MO) dye is recalcitrant in nature, hard to degrade and if released into the soil and aquatic resources could cause serious threats on environment and human health. MO is toxic to plant growth. Bacterial treatment may be a sustainable solution for its degradation and decolourization. In this work, a bacterium (RKS6) was isolated from textile industry wastewater and sludge samples and identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa based on the 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. RKS6 showed more than 99% decolorization of MO dye (100 mg/l) and 96% reduction of total organic carbon (TOC) within 12 h, at 30 °C, pH 7 at static conditions. RKS6 also produced MnP enzyme of molecular weight ∼53 kDa as characterized by the SDS-PAGE analysis. Further, LC-MS analysis showed that MO dye was degraded into 4-[(4-aminophenyl) diazenyl] benzene sulfonate, 4, 2-((dihydroxymethyl) hyrazono-4) 5-benzene sulfonate, 4-(triazan-2-yl) benzene sulfonic, water and carbon dioxide by RKS6. Toxicity assessment showed that the solution treated by the bacterium allowed 90% seed germination indicating that RKS6 was effective in mineralization and detoxification of MO dye and can be effectively used in industrial wastewater treatment

Border Alert System for Fishermen Using GPS System

The livelihood of fishermen is such that he crosses the country border unknowingly and poses threats to them by being killed or captured. The sea borders between countries are not easily identifiable which is the main reason behind this problem. ldquoBorder alert system for fisherman using GPSrdquo describes about a system which helps the fishermen by notifying the country border. Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global system for mobile communication (GSM) are used for this purpose. Here GPS receiver is used to find the current location of the fishing boat. Using GPS, present latitude and longitude values are sent to microcontroller unit. Later the controller unit identifies the current location by comparing the present latitude and longitudinal values with the predefined value. After the comparison, border alert system aware the fishermen that they are about to reach the nautical border. The region is divided into normal zone and warning zone. When the boat is in normal area, the LCD displays normal zone. Thus they can make it clear that the boat is in normal area. In case if it moves further and reaches the warning zone, the LCD displays warning zone