Bioefficacy of certain chemical insecticides against rice yellow stem borer (Scirpophaga incertulas Wlk.)

Rice is the major staple food in Jharkhand in India and is threatened by various biotic and abiotic stresses. Among the insect pests that imperil the rice cultivation in Jharkhand, the yellow stem borer (Scirpophaga incertulas Wlk.) is one of the most notorious ones. The present investigation was conducted in Kharif 2018 to study the bioefficacy of certain chemical insecticidal treatments against yellow stem borers in rice measured in terms of mean values of dead heart (% DH) and white ear (%WE). Ten insecticidal treatments, namely, T1 - Flubendiamide 240 SC + Thiacloprid 240 SC (combination product) @ 200 ml/ha, T2 - Flubendiamide 240 SC + Thiacloprid 240 SC (combination product) @ 250 ml/ha, T3 - Imidacloprid 17.8 SL @150 ml/ha, T4 - Flubendiamide 480 SC @ 50 ml/ha, T5 - Rynaxypyr 20 SC @150 ml/ha, T6 - Fipronil 80 WG @ 65 g/ha, T7 - Dinotefuran 20 SG @ 200 g/ha, T8 - Fipronil 0.3 GR followed by Chlorpyriphos 20 EC @2000 ml/ha, T9 - Chlorpyriphos 20 EC@ 2000 ml/ha and T10 - untreated control  were taken for the experiment. The results showed that two of the insecticidal treatments,namely T2- flubendiamide 240 SC + thiacloprid 240 SC @ 250 ml/ha (2.07% DH and 2.30% WE)  and T4 - flubendiamide 480 SC @ 50 ml/ha (1.89% DH and 2.49% WE), were at par with each other. They performed better than all the other treatments, suggesting that using these two newer insecticidal treatments could provide all-around protection for the rice crop against rice yellow stem borer in terms of both dead heart and white ear.

Impact of biochar and plastic mulch on soil properties in a maize field in Nepal

Biochar is a carbon rich product obtained from organic material by a process called pyrolysis. Similarly, plastic mulch protects soil from erosion, conserve water, suppress weed, and makes soil condition favorable for crop growth. The use of biochar and mulch has the potential to boost soil fertility by raising soil pH, increasing water and nutrient holding capacity, improving cation exchange capacity, and increasing microbial population. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of biochar application and plastic mulch on soil properties applied in maize fields with sandy loam soil at Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal from 31 March to 6 July 2018. The experiment was carried out in a split-plot design having plastic mulch as a main factor and biochar doses as a sub factor with three replications. The main plot is comprised of plastic mulch and no mulch. Similarly, the subplot consisted of four biochar doses i.e., 0 t/ha, 5 t/ha, 15 t/ha, and 25 t/ha. To know the effect of treatments the soil samples were collected at random points in the middle of each plot (to avoid edge effect) from 30 cm depth with the help of a screw auger. Dried, and grounded soil samples were analyzed in the lab. The results indicated that the Bulk density of soil relatively decreased with the plastic mulch but it was significantly higher in plots with biochar. 0 t/ha biochar showed the highest (1.22 gm/cm3) bulk density and the lowest was obtained from 25 t/ha (1.09 gm/cm3). However, soil parameters such as soil pH, Cation Exchange Capacity, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Organic Carbon were relatively higher under plastic mulch over no mulch. In the same way, the potassium content of the soil was significantly influenced by biochar doses, it was the highest at 25 t/ha (741.47 Kg/ha) and the lowest at 0 t/ha (351.60 Kg/ha). However, soil pH, CEC, N, P, and OC were relatively increased with increasing rates of biochar application. Therefore, application rate of 25 t ha−1 biochar and use of plastic mulch in soil is considered as suitable because these efficiently increase soil moisture. In addition to that biochar increase Potassium content, decrease bulk density, and also improves Soil pH, Cation Exchange Capacity, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Organic Carbon of soil

Bioactive Metabolites from Marine Algae as Potent Pharmacophores against Oxidative Stress-Associated Human Diseases: A Comprehensive Review

In addition to cancer and diabetes, inflammatory and ROS-related diseases represent one of the major health problems worldwide. Currently, several synthetic drugs are used to reduce oxidative stress; nevertheless, these approaches often have side effects. Therefore, to overcome these issues, the search for alternative therapies has gained importance in recent times. Natural bioactive compounds have represented, and they still do, an important source of drugs with high therapeutic efficacy. In the “synthetic” era, terrestrial and aquatic photosynthetic organisms have been shown to be an essential source of natural compounds, some of which might play a leading role in pharmaceutical drug development. Marine organisms constitute nearly half of the worldwide biodiversity. In the marine environment, algae, seaweeds, and seagrasses are the first reported sources of marine natural products for discovering novel pharmacophores. The algal bioactive compounds are a potential source of novel antioxidant and anticancer (through modulation of the cell cycle, metastasis, and apoptosis) compounds. Secondary metabolites in marine Algae, such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, and tannins, could have great therapeutic implications against several diseases. In this context, this review focuses on the diversity of functional compounds extracted from algae and their potential beneficial effects in fighting cancer, diabetes, and inflammatory diseases

Coverage and Awareness of and Compliance with Mass Drug Administration for Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis in Burdwan District, West Bengal, India

India adopted WHO\u2019s strategy of repeated rounds of mass drug administration (MDA) with diethylcarbamazine to eliminate lymphatic filariasis. The present study attempted to assess the coverage and awareness of and compliance with MDA for elimination of lymphatic filariasis in Burdwan district of India, following MDA round in July 2010. A cross-sectional study was conducted among the four randomly-selected clusters in the district of Burdwan, West Bengal, India, covering 603 individuals from 154 households, using a predesigned pretested schedule. The drug distribution coverage, compliance, and effective coverage were 48.76 %, 70.07%, and 34.16% respectively. Only 41.4% of the study population was aware of the MDA activity. This evaluation study noted that MDA is restricted to tablet distribution only. There is an urgent need to improve compliance with drug intake through strengthening of the awareness programme involving both government health workers and community volunteers

Assessing the prospects of transboundary multihazard dynamics:The case of Bhotekoshi—Sunkoshi watershed in Sino—Nepal border region

The impacts of multihazards have become more pronounced over the past few decades globally. Multiple hazards and their cascading impacts claim enormous losses of lives, livelihoods, and built environment. This paradigm prompts integrated and multidisciplinary perspectives to identify, characterize, and assess the occurrence of multihazards and subsequently design counter-measures considering impending multihazard scenarios at the local level. To this end, we considered one of the most egregious transboundary watersheds, which is regarded as a multihazard hotspot of Nepal, to analyze the underlying causes and cascade scenarios of multihazards, and their associated impacts. In this paper, geophysical, hydrometeorological, and socioeconomic perspectives are formulated to characterize the watershed from the dimension of susceptibility to multihaz-ard occurrence. To characterize the complex dynamics of transboundary multihazard occurrence, insights have been presented from both the Nepali and the Chinese sides. Individual case studies and the interrelation matrix between various natural hazards are also presented so as to depict mul-tihazard consequences in the transboundary region. The sum of the observations highlights that the watershed is highly vulnerable to a single as well as multiple natural hazards that often switch to disasters

Effect of molybdenum trioxide nanoparticle-mediated seed priming on the productivity of green gram (Vigna radiata L.)

A field experiment was undertaken in the post-Rabi season of 2019-2020 to reveal the response of greengram (Vigna radiata L.) to seed dressing and seed priming with nano molybdenum trioxide (MoO3). The experiment was laid out in randomized block design (RBD) consisting of 10 different treatments i.e., M0 (no seed treatment with Mo); M1 (seed dressing with Sodium molybdate @ 400 ppm); M2, M3, M4, and M5 (seed dressing with nano Molybdenum trioxide-MoO3 @ 50, 100, 200 and 400 ppm, respectively); and M6, M7, M8 and M9 (seed priming with nano MoO3 @ 50, 100, 200 and 400 ppm, respectively). Inoculation of greengram seeds cv. Shreya (IPM 2-14) with Rhizobium sps. was undertaken in all treatments as per the recommended practice, except in M0 (control). The MoO3 nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized from Ammonium molybdate through calcination at 600 0C for 5 hours indicated globular-shaped NPs of 68.55 nm in TEM and XRD. Nanopriming with MoO3 @ 200 ppm (M8) was most promising in recording significantly superior growth and yield attributing parameters and yield, whereas Mo (control) produced the least. Crop height, number of branches, root length, shoot dry matter, pods/plant and seeds/plant and root nodulation at harvest in M8 were 39.4% and 22.6%; 39% and 5.6%; 23% and 9.3%; 43.9%, and 16.3%; 28.2% and 5.3%; 28.1% and 0.8%, and 73.3% and 36.5% higher than M0 (control) and M1 (farmers’ practice), respectively. Superior growth and yield attributing characters in M8 treatment produced the highest grain and stover yield of 0.88 and 3.74 t/ ha that was 32.53% and 8.37%, and 35.5% and 14.7% higher than M0 (control) and M1 (farmers’ practice), respectively. Seed priming with nano MoO3 @ 400 ppm (M9) and seed dressing with nano MoO3 @ 400 ppm (M5) were of second and third order in recording grain and stover yield but M0 recorded the lowest among all the treatments

Multi-Hazard Risk Assessment of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

Natural hazards are complex phenomena that can occur independently, simultaneously, or in a series as cascading events. For any particular region, numerous single hazard maps may not necessarily provide all information regarding impending hazards to the stakeholders for preparedness and planning. A multi-hazard map furnishes composite illustration of the natural hazards of varying magnitude, frequency, and spatial distribution. Thus, multi-hazard risk assessment is performed to depict the holistic natural hazards scenario of any particular region. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, multi-hazard risk assessments are rarely conducted in Nepal although multiple natural hazards strike the country almost every year. In this study, floods, landslides, earthquakes, and urban fire hazards are used to assess multi-hazard risk in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is then integrated with the Geographical Information System (GIS). First, flood, landslide, earthquake, and urban fire hazard assessments are performed individually and then superimposed to obtain multi-hazard risk. Multi-hazard risk assessment of Kathmandu Valley is performed by pair-wise comparison of the four natural hazards. The sum of observations concludes that densely populated areas, old settlements, and the central valley have high to very high level of multi-hazard risk

Unzipping flood vulnerability and functionality loss:tale of struggle for existence of riparian buildings

Floods pose significant risk to riparian buildings as evidenced during many historical events. Although structural resilience to tsunami flooding is well studied in the literature, high-velocity and debris-laden floods in steep terrains are not considered adequately so far. Historical floods in steep terrains necessitate the need for flood vulnerability analysis of buildings. To this end, we report vulnerability of riparian-reinforced concrete buildings using forensic damage interpretations and empirical/analytical vulnerability analyses. Furthermore, we propose the concept and implications of functionality loss due to flooding in residential reinforced concrete (RC) buildings using empirical data. Fragility functions using inundation depth and momentum flux are presented for RC buildings considering a recent flooding event in Nepal. The results show that flow velocity and sediment load, rather than hydrostatic load, govern the damages in riparian RC buildings. However, at larger inundation depth, hydrostatic force alone may collapse some of the RC buildings

MITE PEST FAUNA OF OKRA AND THEIR MANAGEMENT

Field survey conducted in Ranchi region of Jharkhand pertaining to mite pest fauna associated with okra indicated that the crop was infested with four mite species, Tetranychus urticae, T. macfarlanei, T. ludeni and Brevipalpus phoenicis all-round the year except winter season T. urticae appeared as severe mite pest during spring and post rainy season and as extremely severe pest during hot summer months. Acaricidal trials revealed that fenazaquin (0.05%) proved to be the most effective followed by fenazaquin (0.025%), ethion (0.05%), dicofol (0.06%), Vanguard (neem based) 1.0% and Mitex-s (micronised sulphur) applied Q. 0.250 percent in causing higher mortality of the okra mite, T. urticae. The test acaricides caused mite mortality ranging from 80.53 to 95.16 percent based on the overall results.Key words :,,

ACARICIDAL MANAGEMENT OF YELLOW MITE, POLYPHAGOTARSONEMUS LATUS BANKS INFESTING CHILLI (CAPSICUM ANNUM L.)

An experiment was conducted over the periods of two years in the field of Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi to evaluate acaricidal efficacy and economics of certain pesticides against the yellow mite, Polyphagotarsonenzus latus Banks infesting chilli (Var. G4). The overall results revealed that thiodicarb 75 WP 625-1000 g/ha proved to be highly effective and on par with dicofol 18.5 EC ccl 1700 ml/ha in reducing the incidence of the mite. As such. thiodicarb 75 WP 625 and 1000g/ha produced substantially higher yield of green chilli fruits of 62.40 and 75.70 q/ha and net monetary returns, NMR, of Rs. 25,385 / ha and Rs. 44,255/ha with cost benefit ratios (CBR) of 1:9.26 and 1:11.58 respectively. However. dicofol 18.5 EC applied (d, 1700 ml/ha realized maximum suppression of the mite incidence NA hich in turn gave rise to the highest yield of 78.97 kg/ha and NMR of Rs. 49,220/ha with CBR of 1:13.09. The minimum yield of green chilli fruits (43.65 q/ha) was obtained from the unprotected crop. Yield loss varying from 13 to 45 percent caused by P. latus could be avoided by 'different treatments