Comparative Allelopathic Effects of Two Weed Extracts on Seed Germination and Seedling Growth of Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. and Abelmoschus esculentus L.

Pot culture experiment and Petri dish bioassay were conducted to assess the allelopathic potential of Cyanthillium cinereum and Lantana camara on seed germination and seedling growth of Vigna unguiculata and Abelmoschus esculentus. Aqueous leaf and stem extracts of weed were used for treatment. The differential inhibitory effect was observed for two weed plants on two tested crops. The experimental results revealed that in case of pot culture experiment, lowest germination percentages (40.8±0.49%, 63.6±0.60% and 83±0.78%) were recorded in L. camara leaf extract treated set of A. esculentus and maximum decrease in seedling length (0.31±0.05 cm, 4.18±0.07 cm, 6.42±0.08 cm and 13.51±0.07 cm) was observed in stem extract treated a set of A. esculentus. L. camara stem and leaf extract induced a more negative effect on seedling length in both A. esculentus and V. unguiculata. For petridish bioassay experiment, lowest germination percentages (54.60±0.40%, 59.20±0.49%, 66.20±0.74% and 69.80±0.38%) were observed in L. camara leaf extract treated a set of A. esculentus. In V. unguiculata, lowest germination percentage (45.8±0.49%, 75.4±0. 40%, 84.4±0.25% and 89±0.32%) was observed in stem extract treated set. Maximum suppressive effect on seedling length was recorded for stem and leaf extract of C. cinereum of A. esculentus and leaf extract of L. camara and stem extract of C. cinereum of V. unguiculata

Effects of vermicompost and urea on the seed germination and growth parameters of Vigna mungo L. and Vigna radiata L. Wilzek

Growth attributes of Vigna mungo and Vigna radiata crop influenced by level and type of fertilizers. The present study was carried out to evaluate and compare the effects of organic (vermicompost) and inorganic (urea) fertilizers on the germination percentage and seedling growth of V. radiata (Green gram) and V. mungo (Black gram). Fresh weight and dry weight of tested plant samples at 10th days of growth stage were also determined. Vermicompost was used as organic fertilizer and urea as inorganic fertilizer. Experimental results showed that vermicompost and urea both has positive effect on seedling growth parameters of V. mungo and V. radiata [average root length (6.1cm and 6.7cm)] , shoot length (6.5cm and 8.3cm), leaf area (312.2 sq.cm and 334.1 sq.cm] as compared to control set [average root length (4.4cm and 4.3cm)] , shoot length (6cm and 5.9cm), leaf area (282.7 sq.cm and 305.5 sq.cm). But urea exerts negative effect on seed germination percentage in V. mungo and V. radiata (58% and 50%) as compared to control (77%). Vermicompost exhibited better result in above parameters in comparison to urea. V. mungo showed increased value in comparison considering V. radiata in case of organic, inorganic fertilizer treated as well as control sets. As composition of locally available fertilizers is unknown, the application of these fertilizers for improving germination percentage and growth parameters of tested crop need to be evaluated. Present work may provide the suggestive approach for usage of these tested fertilizers in field level trial

Bio-Monitoring of airborne fungi and antifungal activity of Clerodendrum infortanum L. against dominant fungi

The present study provides baseline information on the quantitative and qualitative estimation of aeromycoflora. Burkard personal airsampler and Anderson two stage airsampler were used to detect the quantitative and qualitative estimation of aeromycoflora. 17 non-viable fungal spores were recorded with the aid of Burkard personal airsampler and 12 viable fungal genera were detected using Anderson two stage airsampler. Higher concentration airborne fungi observed in the month of March. Aspergillus sp, Ascospore, Basidiospore, Curvularia sp, Alternaria sp were found to be Nigrospora sp most predominant nonviable fungal genera whereas dominant viable genera were Aspergillus sp, Penicillium sp, Cladosporium sp, Curvularia sp, Trichoderma sp and  Fusarium sp in both the environments. The result of antifungal potential of Clerodendrum infortunatum showed highest efficacy against Aspergillus sp followed by Penicillium sp and Fusarium sp. This present study provided the baseline information about the viable and non-viable concentration in the study sites. Besides the outcomes of this study along with the insightful explanation could aptly provide basis for strategizing effective preventive measures against airborne-fungi. Those are responsible for causing different agricultural crops diseases and human respiratory ailments

Diversity of Foliar Endophytic Fungi in Artocarpus heterophyllusLam. and Citrus reticulata Blanco of Tripura

Present investigationdealt with the isolation and diversity of foliar fungal endophytes from two fruityielding plants of Tripura state. In addition, seasonal distributions of endophytes regardingfruiting and non-fruiting seasonsin two host plants were also studied. Twenty one fungal strains along with one nonsporulating hyaline form were isolated as foliar endophytes from the two host plants. In both fruiting and non-fruiting seasons from Citrus reticulata,seven foliar endophytic fungi were isolated. Mean-while, from Artocarpus heterophyllus in both the seasons,eleven fungal endophytes with one nonsporulating hyaline form were also isolated. The relative frequencies of the isolated fungi from both A.heterophyllusand C.reticulata in fruiting and non-fruiting season significantly differed among the sampling sites, whereas relative frequenciesindividual endophytic fungus showed no significant differences among various sampling sites

Nutritional status of under-five children in rural Bangladesh

A cross-sectional study was carried out in Dumki Upazila of Patuakhali district in Bangladesh to assess the prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight among the under-five children. Anthropometric measurements were taken from all children, aged 0-59 months in the studied area using wooden height board and digital weight machine. We used WHO Anthro software for analyzing the z scores of the children. A total of 4409 (2296 boys and 2113 girls) under five children were counted for anthropometric analysis.  Regarding the Height-for-age Z-score (HAZ), the study revealed that the prevalence of stunting was 27.10% (95% CI: 25.8-28.5) of the children while 7.80% (95% CI: 7-8.6) were severe stunting. By assessing the Weight-for-height Z-score (WHZ), the study showed that 11.20% (95% CI: 10.3-12.1) were wasting whereas 3% (95% CI 2.5-3.5) were severe wasting. According to Weight-for-age Z-score (WAZ), about 18.20% (95% CI: 17-19.3) were underweight and 4.1% (95% CI: 3.5-4.7) were underweight. The findings of the study show that prevalence of stunting is very high. Focusing on childhood stunting is a high priority, and there should be comprehensive efforts to increase the overall nutritional status of the under-five children in this area

CMB power spectrum estimation with non-circular beam and incomplete sky coverage

Over the last decade, measurements of the CMB anisotropy has spearheaded the remarkable transition of cosmology into a precision science. However, addressing the systematic effects in the increasingly sensitive, high resolution, `full' sky measurements from different CMB experiments pose a stiff challenge. The analysis techniques must not only be computationally fast to contend with the huge size of the data, but, the higher sensitivity also limits the simplifying assumptions which can then be invoked to achieve the desired speed without compromising the final precision goals. While maximum likelihood is desirable, the enormous computational cost makes the suboptimal method of power spectrum estimation using Pseudo-C_l unavoidable for high resolution data. We provide a (semi)analytic framework to estimate bias in the power spectrum due to the effect of beam non-circularity and non-uniform sky coverage including incomplete/masked sky maps and scan strategy. The approach is perturbative in the distortion of the beam from non-circularity, allowing for rapid computations when the beam is mildly non-circular. We advocate that it is computationally advantageous to employ `soft' azimuthally apodized masks whose spherical harmonic transform die down fast with m. We numerically implement our method for non-rotating beams. We present preliminary estimates of the computational cost to evaluate the bias for the upcoming CMB anisotropy probes l_max~3000, with angular resolution comparable to the Planck surveyor mission. We further show that this implementation and estimate is applicable for rotating beams on equal declination scans and possibly can be extended to simple approximations to other scan strategies.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures. Revised presentation to highlight significance of extended results. Matches version accepted to the MNRA

Rapid immunochromatographic test: An evolving tool for diagnosis of scrub typhus

Background: Scrub typhus is prevalent in many districts of South Bengal throughout the year where an average temperature of 20–35°C, which contributes to the spread of Leptotrombidium deliense. However, its diagnosis remains complicated by the lack of readily available and validated assays, the non-specificity of clinical symptoms on admission, and even non-availability of the pathognomonic eschar in most of the cases. Aims and Objectives: This study was carried out to evaluate the rapid immunochromatographic test (RICT) for early detection of scrub typhus for using it as an early diagnostic tool at the field level. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study in which 181 serum samples from clinically suspected cases (after excluding dengue, malaria, Japanese encephalitis, and typhoid fever) collected over 13 months were processed for the detection of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies for scrub typhus by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and rapid test. Results: Considering IgM ELISA for scrub typhus as the gold standard, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for RICT were found to be 100%, 86.87%, 50%, and 100%, respectively. Conclusion: RICT is a simple, rapid, and reliable assay for diagnosis of scrub typhus, capable of providing accurate results quickly and is highly suitable for field deployment in remote areas with limited medical support

Potencial de especies de Trichoderma como biofertilizante y control biológico en el cultivo de Oryza sativa L.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the main staples around the world, especially in Asia, the most consuming region. Rice cultivation currently faces many environmental problems caused by the contribution of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This review is carried out to document the principal findings of Trichoderma species application on rice plants. The analysis revealed that different species of Trichoderma have been applied in different fields of research on rice plants to increase the absorption of nutrients, soil fertility, tolerance to salinity, plant growth promotion and development with increased yields. Mechanisms include decomposition, mycoparasitism, cellulose degradation, and phosphate solubilizing activity. The potential for antagonistic activity against disease-causing fungi and inhibition of growth of harmful root microflora is demonstrated. This work also suggested that Trichoderma can be applied alone or together with other microorganisms to significantly promote the growth and performance of rice plants. Among the species, T. harzianum was studied mainly to determine its different roles in rice, followed by T. asperellum, T. viride, T. virens and T. atroviride. Therefore, the findings revealed the potential of the Trichoderma species as a possible biofertilizer and biological control for rice cultivation worldwide.El arroz (Oryza sativa L.) es uno de los principales alimentos básicos en todo el mundo, especialmente en Asia, la región más consumidora. El cultivo de arroz en la actualidad enfrenta muchos problemas ambientales causados por el aporte de fertilizantes químicos y plaguicidas. El objetivo de este trabajo de revisión fue documentar los principales hallazgos sobre el empleo de especies de Trichoderma en el cultivo de arroz. Este análisis reveló que diferentes especies de Trichoderma se han aplicado en diferentes campos de investigación sobre plantas de arroz para aumentar la absorción de nutrientes, la fertilidad del suelo, la tolerancia a la salinidad, promoción del crecimiento y desarrollo de las plantas con incremento en los rendimientos. Entre los mecanismos se menciona la descomposición, el micoparasitismo, la degradación de celulosa y la actividad solubilizadora de fosfatos. Se demuestra el potencial de actividad antagonista contra hongos causantes de enfermedades y la inhibición del crecimiento de la microflora perjudicial de la raíz. Este trabajo también sugirió que Trichoderma puede aplicarse solo o junto con otros microorganismos para promover significativamente el crecimiento y el rendimiento de las plantas de arroz. Entre las especies, T. harzianum se estudió principalmente para determinar sus diferentes roles en el arroz, seguido de T. asperellum, T. viride, T. virens y T. atroviride. Por lo tanto, los hallazgos revelaron el potencial de las especies de Trichoderma como un posible biofertilizante y control biológico para el cultivo de arroz en todo el mundo

Non-Circular beam correction to the CMB power spectrum

In the era of high precision CMB measurements, systematic effects are beginning to limit the ability to extract subtler cosmological information. The non-circularity of the experimental beam has become progressively important as CMB experiments strive to attain higher angular resolution and sensitivity. The effect of non-circular beam on the power spectrum is important at multipoles larger than the beam-width. For recent experiments with high angular resolution, optimal methods of power spectrum estimation are computationally prohibitive and sub-optimal approaches, such as the Pseudo-Cl method, are used. We provide an analytic framework for correcting the power spectrum for the effect of beam non-circularity and non-uniform sky coverage (including incomplete/masked sky maps). The approach is perturbative in the distortion of the beam from non-circularity allowing for rapid computations when the beam is mildly non-circular. When non-circular beam effect is important, we advocate that it is computationally advantageous to employ `soft' azimuthally apodized masks whose spherical harmonic transform die down fast with m.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures; Proceedings of the Fundamental Physics With CMB workshop, UC Irvine, March 23-25, 2006, to be published in New Astronomy Review