ASSESSMENT OF DRINKING WATER QUALITY IN TRIBAL DOMINATED VILLAGES OF BARKAGAON, HAZARIBAG, JHARKHAND, INDIA

Water is most essential component for the survival of any kind of life on the planet Earth. Quality and quantity of water at any place play a vital role in health, wealth and prosperity of life. Geogenic contaminants including fluoride have affected ground water in more than 200 districts of 19 states of India. Fluoride is one of the most essential elements for calcification of bones and teeth where as excess intake (above 1.5 mg/lit.) may cause skeletal, non skeletal and dental fluorosis. Drinking water samples from five tribal dominated villages of Barkagaon (230 52′ 5′′ N latitude and 850 14′ 15′′ E longitude), Hazaribag, Jharkhand, India were taken fortnightly from hand pump during rainy, winter and summer seasons (July 2011- June 2012) for fluoride analysis as per standard protocol of APHA (2005) and the results showed that all the samples contained higher concentration. The highest average concentration of fluoride was recorded in Bhurkundwa village (3.84±0.8 mg/lit.) where as it was lowest in Aswa village (1.89± 0.8 mg/lit). We have studied the impact of fluoride among 426 school children (06-16 yrs) with reference to Dean’s Index for dental fluorosis which reveals that almost 87% were suffering from dental fluorosis. The results clearly indicate that the dental fluorosis among children is directly related to fluoride concentration in drinking water. Our opinion regarding the higher fluoride concentration in the study area is due to excess mineral exploration. Thus necessary steps must be taken to supply the quality drinking water to the locality for the maintenance of the health of tribal people

Observations on variations in physico-chemical water parameters of marine fish cage farm off Karwar

An investigation was undertaken to study the fluctuations in the water quality parameters in a marine fish cage culture site off Karwar during the period 2009-2011. Two stations viz., one from cage site (Station 1) and the other away from the cage site (Station 2) were selected for the study. Water samples were collected at weekly intervals. Temperature of Station 1 varied from 28.5 ± 0.89 oC to 32.5 ± 1.04 oC during the first crop of Asian seabass culture in 2009-10 and it ranged between 26.7 ± 0.83 to 32.5 ± 0.79 oC during the second crop of seabass culture in 2010- 11. The salinity was minimum during July 2010 and maximum in May 2010. There was no significant difference observed between the water quality parameters of the two stations (p>0.05). However, difference in salinity was significant between the two culture periods in Station 1 (p<0.05). No significant difference was observed in the nutrient levels of the cage and reference sites and also between the two crops. No significant difference was observed between the mean weight of the fish and temperature of both the sites and periods. A positive correlation was observed between the weight gain of fish and salinity of water at cage site

Farming of cobia, Rachycentron canadum (Linnaeus 1766) in open sea floating cages in India

Experiments on culture and growth performance of cobia were undertaken in marine cages installed in the Arabian Sea off Karwar on the south-west coast of India. Hatchery produced cobia fingerlings were stocked at two densities of 3.5 fish cubic m-1 and 14.1 fish cubic m-1 in circular HDPE cages. Mean weight and specific growth rate (SGR) of cobia stocked @ 3.5 fish cubic m -1 were 10.5 kg and 2.2% day-1, respectively, at 300 days of culture (DOC). Cobia stocked @ of 14.1 fish cubic m-1 attained an average weight of 3.68 kg and SGR of 1.9% day-1 at 300 DOC. SGR was found to be positively correlated with water temperature and salinity during the culture period. No significant variation was found in SGR and feed conversion ratio of cobia stocked at two different densities. However, absolute growth rate, relative growth rate and mean weight of cobia varied significantly between the two groups

Length-weight relationship of Asian seabass, Lates calcarifer (Bloch) reared in open sea floating cages

The paper presents the length-weight relationship (LWR) parameters of Lates calcarifer reared in open sea floating cages off Karwar along the south-west coast of India. The relationship obtained in the present study was W = 0.000008299L3.088 which indicates that seabass reared in open sea floating cages in semi-intensive condition does not differ significantly in body appearance from their counterparts found in natural conditions. The growth of the fishes was found to be positively allometric

Length-weight relationship of Asian seabass, Lates calcarifer (Bloch) reared in open sea floating cages

ABSTRACT The paper presents the length-weight relationship (LWR) parameters of Lates calcarifer reared in open sea floating cages off Karwar along the south-west coast of India. The relationship obtained in the present study was W = 0.000008299L 3.088 which indicates that seabass reared in open sea floating cages in semi-intensive condition does not differ significantly in body appearance from their counterparts found in natural conditions. The growth of the fishes was found to be positively allometric. Keywords: Allometry, Growth, Lates calcarifer, Length-weight relationship, Open sea floating cage, Semi-intensive Length and weight data based statistics are the cornerstones in the foundation of fishery research and management. The relationship between total length (L) and total weight (W) for nearly all species of fish is expressed by the equation: W = aL b . The exact relationship between length and weight differs among species of fish according to their inherited body shape and, within a species according to the robustness of individual fish. The relationship between the length and weight of a fish is used by fisheries researchers and managers for two main purposes (Le Cren, 1951). First, the relationship is used to predict the weight from the length of a fish. This is particularly useful for computing the biomass of a sample population of fish from the length-frequency of that sample. Second purpose is usually generically referred to as describing the condition of the species. The Central Marine Fishereis Research Insitute (CMFRI) is instrumental in the successful development of open sea floating cage culture for various finfish and shellfish species along the east and west coasts of India. The Asian seabass Lates calcarifer, is one among the promising candidate species for mariculture ventures in India, because of its fast growth rate, tolerance to wide environmental conditions and its sustained demand in both domestic and export markets. Open sea cage culture has been expanding in recent years on a global basis and it is viewed by many stakeholders in the industry as &quot;the aquaculture system of the millennium&quot;. Cage culture has made possible, the large-scale production of commercial finfish in many parts of the world and can be considered as Indian J. Fish., 60(1) : 139-140, 2013 Note the most efficient and economical way of rearing high valued fish. In the present study, length-weight relationship was estimated for L. calcarifer cultured in open sea floating cages in the coastal waters of the Arabian Sea off Karwar along the south-west coast of India. Hatchery produced seabass seeds, by induced spawning, were used for the present study. Uniform sized fingerlings were stocked in circular open sea cages of 6 m diameter. The stocking density used for growout culture in open sea cages were 2000 nos. per cage. The growth data were collected during monthly samplings, between December 2009 and July 2010. Water samples were collected from the open sea cage culture site during the morning hours at daily intervals to monitor parameters such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, salinity and ammonia The fishes were fed with fresh chopped oilsardine @10% of the total biomass initially for a month and later @2% of the total biomass. A total of 450 fishes were randomly collected for measurements during different periods of the experiment. Total length (TL) and body weight (W) of the sampled fishes were measured to the nearest 1 mm and 0.01 g, respectively. The length-weight relationships were derived from the formula, W = a L b , where W is total body weight (g), L the total length (mm), a and b are the coefficients of the functional regression between W and

Culture of Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer, Bloch) in open sea floating net cages off Karwar, South India

Cage farming of marine finfish is an alternative to meet increasing demand for food fish. Culture of Asian seabass in open sea floating net cages made of either HDPE or GI pipes, has been successfully demonstrated off Karwar, south India. Fish were fed with chopped oilsardine. Various growth parameters like average daily growth rate (ADGR), survival rate (SR), specific growth rate (SGR) and biomass index (BI) were estimated. Mean weight and length at the end of the 150 days experimental period was 1.02 kg and 412.05 mm respectively with a SR of 68.8%. The economics of cage farming was also worked out. The need to standardise stocking densities and feeding rate has been emphasised

Comparison study of preferential oxidation of CO over nanocrystalline Cu/CeO2 catalysts synthesized by different preparation methods

121-126Preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide in presence of excess hydrogen is a promising alternative to restrict the CO deposition in the Pt-anode in the practical polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell application. In the present work, nanocrystalline copper-ceria catalysts have been synthesized by hydrothermal method, wet impregnation method and urea nitrate combustion method. Their characterizations have been carried out by using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X . ray photoelectron spectroscopy- It has been found that Cu2+ replaced Ce4+ in cerium oxide, creating oxygen vacancy. The formation of more nano-sized CeO2 leads to more oxygen vacancies in CeO2 through the formation of interfacial Cu1+ ions, which also enhances the CO oxidation activity. Among the synthesized Cu-CeO2 catalysts, the catalyst prepared by hydrothermal method have shown both CO conversion andC O2 selectivity as 100% towards CO oxidation at 373 K in the presence of excess H2 making this catalyst viable for practical fuel cell application.

Phase diagram of the ABC model with nonequal densities

The ABC model is a driven diffusive exclusion model, composed of three species of particles that hop on a ring with local asymmetric rates. In the weak asymmetry limit, where the asymmetry vanishes with the length of the system, the model exhibits a phase transition between a homogenous state and a phase separated state. We derive the exact solution for the density profiles of the three species in the hydrodynamic limit for arbitrary average densities. The solution yields the complete phase diagram of the model and allows the study of the nature of the first order phase transition found for average densities that deviate significantly from the equal densities point.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, submitted to J. Phys.