Evaluation of Native Biocontrol Agents against Fusarium solani f.sp. melongenae Causing Wilt Disease of Brinjal in Kashmir

In the present study the native biocontrol agents (BCA) were isolated from rhizosphere viz. Gliocladium roseum from apple; Paecilomyces varioti, Trichothecium roseum and Aspergillus flavus from mulberry; Trichoderma viride (isolate-I&II) of mushroom and pea; Trichoderma harzianum (isolate-I &II) of pea and paddy while Pseudomonas fluorescens of rajmash and cultured on PDA/king’s B medium. All the native BCA’s were evaluated in vitro against Fusarium solani f.sp. melongenae causing wilt disease of brinjal. Except Gliocladium roseum and Trichothecium roseum all the fungal BCA’s were more effective than bacterial BCA ie. Pseudomonas fluorescens,   whereas, Trichoderma harzianum isolate-I  caused maximum  inhibition(70.79%) followed  by T. viride isolate-I(68.57%), T. harzianum isolate-II(63.80%), T.viride isolate-II(60.0%), Paecilomyces varioti(53.33%) and Aspergillus flavus(46.34%) but Trichothecium roseum and Gliocladium roseum were the least effective and resulted 18.09 and 27.61 per cent inhibition of wilt pathogen respectively. The bacterial bioagent, Pseudomonas fluorescens was slightly more effective (28.17%) against wilt pathogen.  Similarly, in vitro agar plug test, T. viride(isolate-I&II), A.flavus, G.roseum and T.roseum were created inhibition zones but rest fungal BCA’s were advanced and occupied the entire plate within 10-20 days whereas P. flourescens did not show further advancement beyond the zone of contact

Erratum: Hookah smoking, nass chewing, and oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Kashmir, India (British Journal of Cancer (2012) 107 (1618-1623) DOI: 10.1038/bjc.2012.449)

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Hookah smoking, nass chewing, and oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Kashmir, India

Background: Although cigarette smoking is an established risk factor for oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), there is little information about the association between other smoking and smokeless tobacco products, including hookah and nass, and ESCC risk. We conducted a casecontrol study in Kashmir Valley, India, where hookah smoking, nass chewing, and ESCC are common, to investigate the association of hookah smoking, nass use, and several other habits with ESCC. Methods: We recruited 702 histologically confirmed ESCC cases and 1663 hospital-based controls, individually matched to the cases for age, sex, and district of residence from September 2008 to January 2012. Conditional logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Results: Ever-hookah smoking (OR1.85; 95% CI, 1.412.44) and nass chewing (OR2.88; 95% CI, 2.064.04) were associated with ESCC risk. These associations were consistent across different measures of use, including intensity, duration, and cumulative amount of use, and after excluding ever users of the other product and cigarette smokers. Our results also suggest an increased risk of ESCC associated with ever-gutka chewing and-bidi smoking. However, the latter associations were based on small number of participants. Conclusion: This study shows that hookah and nass use are associated with ESCC risk. As prevalence of hookah use seems to be increasing among young people worldwide, these results may have relevance not only for the regions in which hookah use has been a traditional habit, but also for other regions, including western countries. © 2012 Cancer Research UK All rights reserved