Monk fruit (Siraitia grosvenorii) commonly called as Luo Han Guo is a perennial herb and generally cultivated in Guangxi province of China. Traditionally the fruit was used in folk medicine for the treatment of several common diseases like cough, cold, sore throat, constipation and dire thirst. Studies over past decades advanced the knowledge of bio-chemical and pharmacological properties of monk fruit. Till now, several compounds have been identified and isolated from monk fruit, mainly triterpenoids, flavonoids, essential oils, amino acids, vitamins, minerals and polysaccharides. A triterpene glycoside consists of a group of mogrosides which are mainly considered to be responsible for higher biological effects of monk fruit. The mogroside extract of monk fruit gives >300 more sweetness as compared to 5% sucrose solution without giving extra calories during consumption. Biochemical properties as well as health benefits of monk fruit including scope for its utilization in food and beverage industries for the development of low calories products for diabetics and health conscious consumers are discussed in this article.
Brucellosis is a disease affecting a wide range of animal species including the major food-producing animals as cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. Other species such as bison, buffalo, camels, dogs, horses, reindeer and yaks are also affected and act as a significant local source of infection in some regions. Infections in marine animals (dolphins, porpoises and seals) have further escalated the chances of transmission of the disease in other susceptible hosts. Till date, none of the prevention and control measures have been helpful in the eradication /elimination of this disease. With the initiation of’ National Animal Disease Control’ programme launched recently which aims at controlling this disease through proper vaccination, one can hope to curtail the problem to some extent.
India has about 48.12 million indigenous cattle out of total 190.90 million (37.28%) cattle population as per the all India livestock census, 2012. The trend in livestock population over decades showed that the composition of cattle population is in favor of crossbred/exotic cattle (increased by 20.18%) than the indigenous cattle (decreased by 8.94%). Thus improving the indigenous stock by proper selection is the need of the hour. Selection is mostly based on the milk production of the animal which is affected by various genetic and non-genetic factors. Sire, season of calving, period of calving, parity of animals, age group of animals etc affect the milk production. Adjustment of significant effect of non-genetic factors on milk production helps in accurate estimation of genetic parameters. The production traits reviewed in the article were monthly test day milk yield (MTDMY), 305 days milk yield (305MY) and lifetime milk yield (LTMY). Understanding the factors affecting milk production in Sahiwal cattle is essential to enhance the selection process and thus the productivity of indigenous cattle.
A field experiment was conducted at G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar to study the response of sweet corn (Zea mays L. saccharata) to different levels of FYM and nutrients. The experiment consisting of 4 levels of FYM (0, 5, 10 and 15 t/ha) and 4 doses of nutrients (50, 75, 100 and 125% recommended NPK) was laid out in factorial RBD with three replications. Results revealed that plant growth in terms of height, leaf area and shoot dry matter accumulation increased significantly with increase in FYM and nutrient levels. Crop nourished with FYM showed significant improvement in yield attributes viz. cob length and cob girth, cob yield and net return but did not respond beyond 5 t/ha. The increase in husked and dehusked cob yields under 5t/ha FYM was 13.5 and 17.6%, respectively over no use of FYM. An increase in nutrient level from 50 to 125% resulted into significant improvement in cob yield up to 100% recommended dose of nutrients. The yield advantage under 100 % NPK over 50 and 75% was 35.8 and 8.4% for husked and 36.4 and 11.0% for dehusked cob yields, respectively. Application of 5 t FYM/ha and 100% recommended dose of nutrients was economically viable as these recorded significantly more net return.
Penoxsulam is a new herbicide of Triazolopyrimidine sulfonamide group. In order to explore its persistence in waters of varying pH, dissipation studies of penoxsulam herbicide were conducted in water maintained at three different pH (4, 7 and 9.2) at 1 and 2 µg ml-1 fortification levels. Water samples were collected at different time intervals i.e. 0 (2h), 1, 3, 7, 14, 30, 60, 90 days after herbicide application and processed for penoxsulam residues using HPLC. Degradation kinetics of penoxsulam was found to follow first order kinetics which could be better accounted by a monophasic pattern. The calculated half lives (t 1/2) in water samples of different pH depicted highest stability in acidic pH (t 1/2 = 69.0 to 77.0 days), followed by neutral (t 1/2 = 57.75 to 63.0 days) and alkaline pH (t 1/2 = 33.0 to 34.66 days) irrespective of the dose applied. Penoxsulam degrades rapidly in alkaline water and since it possesses low vapour pressure, its degradation in water is also dependant upon sunlight exposure which causes photolysis of the herbicide.
