Effect of feed quality restriction followed by realimentation on growth, nutrient utilization, biochemical changes and haematological profiles of Indian major carp, rohu (Labeo rohita H.)

To investigate the effect of protein restriction with subsequent re-alimentation on nutrient utilization, hematological and biochemical changes of Indian major carp, Rohu (Labeo rohita H.), 150 acclimatized Rohu fingerlings (average 20.74 ± 0.13 g) divided into five experimental groups (30 fingerlings in each groups with three replications with 10 fingerlings in each) for experimental trial of 90 days using completely randomized design. Control group (T sub(CPR)) was fed with feed having 30% crude protein at 3% of body weight for 90 days trial period. Other experimental groups T sub(1PR) was alternatively 3 days fed with feed having 20% CP and 30% CP at 3% of body weight, T sub(2PR) was alternatively 7 days fed with feed having 20% CP and 30% CP at 3% of body weight, T sub(3PR) was alternatively 15 days fed with feed having 20% CP and 30% CP at 3% of body weight and T sub(4PR) was alternatively 25 days fed with feed having 20% CP and 30% CP at 3% of body weight during 90 days trial period with daily ration in two equal halves at morning and afternoon. It was noticed that retention of different nutrients was almost similar among all treatment groups indicated improvement of digestibility of nutrients might not be the mechanisms for recovery growth in carps. Increased percent feed intake of body weight (hyperphagia) (4.14 ± 0.30 or 4.94 ± 0.46 and 3.33 ± 0.29), improved specific growth rate (1.86 ± 0.09 or 2.26 ± 0.05 and 1.43 ± 0.01), absolute growth rate (1.57 ± 0.08 or 1.84 ± 0.18 and 1.36 ± 0.12), protein efficiency ratio (1.19 ± 0.11 or1.16 ± 0.12 and 1.05 ± 0.09) were the important mechanism showing better performance index (21.60 ± 1.09 or 23.80 ± 0.21 and 19.45 ± 0.37) through which the experimental groups which were protein restricted and re-alimented at 3 or 7 days alternatively during 90 days trial period could able to compensate the growth retardation and to catch up the final body weight of control (128.68 ± 11.53 g/f) but other experimental groups failed to compensate during 90 days trial period. Result of the present study indicated that deprived fish i.e., fish received alternate 3 or 7 days protein restriction and re-alimentation showed recovery growth had still lower values of Hb (10.21 ± 0.02, and 9.88 ± 0.04 g/dl), hematocrit value (30.62 ± 0.05 and 26.64 ± 0.11%), total erythrocytic count (3.40 ± 0.01 and 3.29 ± 0.01 X10super(6) mm³), plasma glucose (126.93 ± 0.20 and 126.67 ± 0.05 mg/dl), total plasma lipid (1.04 ± 0.01 and 1.02 ± 0.01 g/dl) and liver glycogen (290.10 ± 0.80 and 288.99 ± 0.95 mg/kg) in comparison to control (10.56 ± 0.08 g/dl, 31.68 ± 0.24%, 3.52 ± 0.03 X10super(6) mm³, 128.23 ± 0.25 mg/dl, 1.07 ± 0.01g/dl and 292.00 ± 0.23 mg/kg) at the end of 90 days trial but total plasma protein in deprived group was compensated with advancement of trial period. All hematological and biochemical parameters studied were proportionately lowered in the experimental group got higher degree of deprivation. These findings suggested that with the increase of trial length complete compensation of hematological and biochemical profiles of rohu might be achieved. The results indicated that the implementation of alternative 7 days low and high protein diet feeding during aquaculture of carps could make economize the operation through minimizing the feed input cost

Microstructure analysis and Hardness of Al C355.0 with step varying weight of Hematite particulate reinforcement

Received: December 23rd, 2022 ; Accepted: July 17th, 2023 ; Published: October 16th, 2023 ; Correspondence: [email protected] detail study on the microstructure of engineered Al C355.0 metal matrix with step varying weight of hematite particulate reinforcement from 0–12% in the step of 3% by using stir casting method in the copper chills with and without water circulation is carried out in the present work. It was earlier realized that copper chills increase the hardness of metal matrix compared to its base alloy. The novelty lies in the circulation of water during solidification process so that a stronger matrix reinforcement bonding, low cluster regions, grain reinfinement with minimum porosity could be achieved. The maximum hematite particulate size was 150 μm. From the Scanning Electron microscope, it is clear that there was good distribution of reinforcement in the matrix but not exactly clear whether it is uniform or non-uniformly distributed. SEM and XRD analysis results show the presence of hematite in the matrix. With increase in reinforcement the hardness increased up to 9% of the reinforcement and then decreased. It is concluded that water circulation on casted composites have good effect in improving the hardness of the Al C355.0 at 9% of hematite resulting to BHN 128 and without water circulation it was found to be BHN 124. It is realized that water circulation improves the hardness of the composite for all the cases with hematite as particulate reinforcement for Al C355.0

Heat transfer enhancement in latent heat thermal energy storage system using fins for solar thermal power plant

Paper presented to the 3rd Southern African Solar Energy Conference, South Africa, 11-13 May, 2015.Thermal energy storage is essential for the solar thermal power plant for the continuous generation of electricity which may be interrupted due to the intermittent nature of solar radiation. In this context, phase change materials (PCMs) can be used as the storage materials because of their high energy density and the ability to store more energy compared to sensible material with a small temperature difference. However, most of the PCMs possess very low thermal conductivity (~0.2–0.5 W/m-k), which severely affects the thermal performance of the storage system. Therefore, it becomes important to improve the effective thermal conductivity of PCMs. In the present study, fin is used as a thermal conductivity enhancer (TCE) to augment heat transfer in PCM. The study numerically investigates the thermal performance of the storage system during melting and solidification with and without PCM. The enthalpy technique is adopted for modeling convection- diffusion phase change in the storage system.dc201

Ocular infections after penetrating keratoplasty

Context Early diagnosis of ocular infections following penetrating keratoplasty (PK) depending on clinical presentation in addition to ancillary laboratory investigations facilitates preservation of useful vision and prevention of further intraocular spread. Aim The aim of this research was to study donor and recipient risk factors in post-PK ocular infections. Patients and methods This is an interventional prospective study. This prospective study was conducted in 34 patients who underwent PK under peribulbar anaesthesia from 2014 to 2016 in a tertiary hospital. Six patients developed signs and symptoms suspicious of postoperative infections. Inclusion and exclusion criteria are mentioned. MS excel was used for statistical analyses. Results The mean age was 53±18.04 years, ranging from 12 to 86 years with 24 (70.59%) male and 10 (29.41) female individuals studied. There were 24 (70.59%) right eyes and 10 left eyes (29.41). The mean age was 63.97±16.8 years among the donors. Six (17.64%) patients developed postoperative infections that included one patient with Pseudomonas aeroginosa keratoconjunctivitis, two patients with fusarium fungal keratitis and growth could not be established in the remaining three cases. Positive microbial identification by culture was possible in three (8.82%) patients. Conclusion Microbial identification was confirmed in three cases, and three cases were negative for growth. The risk factor found among recipients were vegetative injury, dust fall and eye rubbing, as well as taking a very hot bath. Graft clarity restoration significantly improved after topical management with fortified antibiotics and antifungal agents

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Not AvailableThe Blue Gourami (Trichogaster trichopterus) is one of the quite popular ornamental fish having nest building bahaviour. The banana leaves used for stability of bubbles started rotting in water after a few days and polluted the water. To overcome this problem thermocoal sheet was used as an alternate. A group of 5 pairs of fishes were transferred into three separate aquarium (T-1, T-2, T-3) having capacity of 60 Lit. T-1 was provided with thermocoal, T-2 with banana leaves and T-3 was maintained without any substratum. One pair of fish was selected from each aquarium for breeding trial by using the thermocoal and banana leaves as substratum. After chasing activities, male started formation of bubble nest over water surface in T-1. After about 80-85 hrs. of bubble formation, female fish has released eggs under bubble nest which were guarded by male. Fecundity was about 3335 and survival was observed as 70% after 7 days of hatching the eggs. In T-2, color and texture of banana leaves changed. Thus thermocoal sheet was proved as better material to provide stability of bubble nest.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableTrichogrammatids (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) are the most important egg parasitoids widely used in different biocontrol programs worldwide. Since there are several species, strains, and ecotypes available, correct identification is the first step for successful biological control programs. Morphological identification remains complex due to subtle difference in male genetalia, therefore alternative molecular techniques were employed for rapid and reliable identification of this group of parasitoids. Furthermore, many of the field collected specimens are females, which are not identifiable using morphological keys. This study was carried out to unravel the discrimination success in the two molecular marker loci cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and internal transcribed spacer-2 (ITS-2) region of trichogrammatids. In achieving these objectives, the single specimen of 22 trichogrammatids belonging to 19 species were subjected to DNA extraction, PCR amplification, and sequencing. Additionally, we obtained homologous sequences from GenBank and sequences in BOLD database to understand internal relationships between the trichogrammatids. Bayesian inference phylogenetic analysis conducted with 84 and 76 sequences of COI and ITS-2 loci respectively and studied discrimination among the different species. Based on trees in comparison, we observed that there was a total of 10 and 6 out of 19 species correctly discriminate with COI and ITS-2 respectively. Our result revealed that the ITS-2 gene was less divergent than the COI gene in the majority of species and failed to differentiate all terminal clades. Therefore, we recommend that COI is suitable as the primary DNA barcode locus in trichogrammatids. Overall, we suggest that COI gene has higher discrimination power and can be considered as an appropriate molecular marker for species identification in trichogrammatids.Not Availabl