Studies on the transportation of live clams

Live clams (Villorita cyprinoides) collected from their natural beds were packed in different ways like dry pack, tray pack, in oxygenated water (wet pack) and depurated samples in wet pack. It was found that the packaging in l kg lots in 200 gauge polythene bags with oxygen at a temperature of 20°C could keep them live for 4 days. In tray pack without oxygen and water they can be kept alive for 3 days at 20°C. Temperature seems to be the critical factor in the transportation of live clams. At room temperature both dry and wet pack can be kept for 24 h only. Depuration technique does not appear to be useful in prolonging the storage life of clams in live condition as percentage mortality is more at 48 h both at 20°C and room temperature compared to the non-depurated samples

Bulk packages for storage and transportation of salted and dried fish

The effect of bulk packaging on the storage of salted and dried fish was studied at ambient conditions. Four different packaging systems were tried, among which gusseted type high density polyethylene woven sacks having either circular loom or traditional loom laminated with 100 gauge low density polyethylene were found to be best suited for dry fish packaging as they could withstand the hazards of handling, transportation and storage

Some aspects of curing of sharks and rays

A simple method for eliminating urea almost completely from elasmobranch muscle consists in desalting the initially salted muscle in 5% brine. The initial salting removes about 58% of the urea, which occurs to the extent of 5.8 to 7.5% D.W.B. in the fresh muscle, and the desalting further reduces the urea content to negligible quantities (0.2%)

Penetration of sodium chloride during prolonged salting of fish

This work deals with adsorption of salt and expulsion of moisture in Synagris japonicus, Sciaenids sp. and Lactarius lactarius during prolonged salting. The fish used in this study were procured fresh and handled immediately. They were gutted, gilled, cleaned well and salted. Results indicated that larger salt proportions and higher temperature of salting both accelerate the rates of absorption of salt and shedding of moisture by fish muscle during salt curing

Collective Action for Integrated Community Watershed Management in Semi-Arid India: Analysis of Multiple Livelihood Impacts and the Drivers of Change

Spatial and temporal attributes of watersheds and associated market failures require institutional arrangements for coordinating use and management of natural resources. Effective collective action (CA) for watershed management has the potential to provide multiple economic and environmental benefits - tangible and non-tangible - to rural communities. This allows smallholder farmers to jointly invest in management practices that provide collective benefits to community members. The functions of the group can also extend to include provision of new services like collective marketing of products and essential inputs. While watershed management contributes to resource productivity and sustainability, increased commercialization and market access open opportunities to diversify into high-value crops, creating incentives for agricultural intensification. However, evaluating the multi-faceted impacts of integrated watershed management interventions is complicated by problems of measurement, valuation and attribution. While, more rigorous methods for evaluating such impacts in the context of developing countries are beginning to emerge, this study employs a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods for evaluating these multi-faceted impacts from a case study of a watershed project in semi-arid India. Results from qualitative insights are confirmed through econometric analyses and empirical measurements using proper count erfactuals. The study analyses the drought mitigation, economic and environmental gains along with linked benefits for commercialization of production and increased farmer participation in markets.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Investigations on long distance transportation of fish. 5. Transportation of filleted and round seer fish (Scomberomorus sp.) from Kakinada to Calcutta by rail

Iced seer fish (Scomberomorus sp.) was transported by rail in expanded polystyrene insulated plywood boxes from Kakinada to Calcutta in round and fillet forms. While both withstood the rigors of transportation squarely, the fillets fetched only half the price of round fish in the auction conducted at the Calcutta market

Modelling , of Polyurethanes Based on Hydroxyl- Terminated Polybutadiene

Forty formulations based on four different grades ofhydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene, HTPB(hydroxyl value 20- 40 mg KOHlg) at r = [NCO] / [OH] values in the range 0.7 -1.0 with varyingamounts of trimethylol propane and butane diol and containing 86 per cent solid loading wereconsidered to test the applicability of a.-model of Marsh, et al. for prediction of the mechanicalproperties of composite solid propellants. Two network parameters, crosslink density (Ve) andeffective chain length (LX), were calculated from the model. Tensile strength and modulus werecorrelated to Ve and elongation at break to LX. Using the correlations obtained from experimental dataat r< 0.8, mechanical properties of the various fonnulations were predicted. Good agreement betweenexperimental and predicted properties was obtained for fonnulations with modulus 10 KSC. Probablereasons for deviation observed at stoichiometric ratio r < 0.8 and low modulus values are discussed.Improved correlations between mechanical properties and network parameters, applicable over a widerange of fonnulations, were arrived at. The standard errors of prediction were found to be close to :+- 1 0-value of the measurement

Plant growth promoting bacteria from cow dung based biodynamic preparations

Not AvailableIndigenous formulations based on cow dung fermentation are commonly used in organic farming. Three biodynamic preparations viz., Panchagavya (PG), BD500 and ‘Cow pat pit’ (CPP) showed high counts of lactobacilli (109 ml-1) and yeasts (104 ml-1). Actinomycetes werepresent only in CPP (104 ml-1) and absent in the other two. Seven bacterial isolates from these ferments were identified by a polyphasic approach: Bacillus safensis (PG1), Bacillus cereus (PG2, PG4 PG5), Bacillus subtilis (BD2) Lysinibacillus xylanilyticus (BD3) and Bacillus licheniformis (CPP1). This is the first report of L. xylanilyticus and B. licheniformis in biodynamic preparations. Only three carbon sources—dextrose, sucrose and trehalose out of 21 tested were utilized by all the bacteria. None could utilizearabinose, dulcitol, galactose, inositol, inulin, melibiose,raffinose, rhamnose and sorbitol. All the strains producedindole acetic acid (1.8–3.7 lg ml-1 culture filtrate) and ammonia. None could fix nitrogen; but all except B. safensis and B. licheniformis could solubilize phosphorous from insoluble tri-calcium phosphate. All the strains except L. xylaniliticus exhibited antagonism to the plant pathogen Rhizoctonia bataticola whereas none could inhibit Sclerotium rolfsi. In green house experiment in soil microcosms, bacterial inoculation significantly promoted growth of maize; plant dry weight increased by *21 % due to inoculation with B. cereus (PG2). Results provide a basis forunderstanding the beneficial effects of biodynamic preparations and industrial deployment of the strainsNot Availabl

Investigations on long distance transportation of fish. 4. A comparative study of the performance of expanded polystyrene slabs and multi-layer gunny (jute) fabric as insulants

A comparative study of the insulation efficiencies of expanded polystyrene slabs and multi-layer gunny fabric in long distance transportation of fresh iced fish was made. Used plywood boxes (second hand tea chests) were employed as containers and the experiments conducted between Kakinada and Calcutta. All the three insulants tried, namely, 25.4 mm thick expanded polystyrene slab, four and two layer gunny (jute) fabric, all sealed in 150 gauge polythene sheets, showed comparable insulation efficiencies, considering total bacterial counts, organoleptic qualities and TMA and TVN values of the transported fish as parameters

Monitoring Damage Evolution of Concrete Prisms under Cyclic Incremental Loading by Acoustic Emission

This study aims to monitor the damage growth of plain and fly ash concrete prisms with different curing periods under cyclic incremental loading using acoustic emission (AE) parameters. Higher flexural strength was observed for 28 days cured plain and fly ash concrete prisms as compared to 7 days cured. AE results for 7 days cured plain and fly ash concrete prisms have shown that, Kaiser effect exist in first two loading cycles and from third cycle onwards significant AE activity occurs prior to the previous cycle's maximum load. This is an indication of the start of damage almost at the same load in both the concretes. For 28 days cured fly ash concrete, AE activity during cyclic loading is observed only at 20 kN load as compared to plain concrete in which it occurs at 12 kN load. This shows that cyclic load flexural resistance of fly ash concrete for damage accumulation is higher than that of plain concrete. Load ratio of both types of concrete has been determined during each cycle. Decrease in trend of load ratio with loading cycle is an indication of damage growth. Higher load ratio in 28 days cured fly ash concrete shows addition of fly ash with extended curing which resists damage accumulation. An attempt has been made to classify damage levels during each cycles using NDIS 2421 standard and compared the types of damage in both plain and fly ash concretes