Life Sciences

Jamun (Syzygium cumini Skeels.) is an under exploited indigenous fruit tree of India.The variations act as an important source and are a prerequisite for a tree breeder in breeding methods to improve a species. To collect the variability with the aim of selecting some superior types/strains a survey was carried out in Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Pathankot Districts, in which 25 seedlings of jamun were evaluated for their physical characteristics and biochemical composition during 2015-2016 respectively.

Hearing loss and deafness can develop during infancy or childhood or adolescence or during old age. Congenital hearing loss is relatively frequent and has serious negative consequences if it is not diagnosed and treated. Worldwide 360 million people living with disabling hearing loss. In this 32 million of these are children (<15 years of age). Children whose hearing loss is > 90 dB are considered deaf for the purposes of educational placement.

Participatory evaluation of seven desert banana varieties were carried out in Dello Menna district of Bale zone, South Eastern Ethiopia. The purpose of the study was to test the adaptability of different banana varieties in the study area. The study was undertaken in four sites, with treatments arranged in randomized complete block design with three replications. Both agronomic data and farmers preferences toward the varieties were collected and analyzed using Genestat statistical software and matrix ranking respectively.

The productivity of livestock in Ethiopia is low due to scarcity and fluctuating quantity and quality of feed resources. Identify and use of new potential feed resources such as indigenous fodder trees and shrubs (IFTS) could bridge the gap.  The present study was aimed to identify and evaluate agro-ecological and seasonal variations of nutrients as well as to estimate potential biomass yield of IFTS collected from low and mid altitude of Gambella region, south-western of Ethiopia.

The study was designed to test the effectiveness of the linkages between the main actors in the extension delivery system in Delta State. The study sampled 120 farmers. Two cells were selected from five extension blocks making a total of 10 cells and six each from contact and non contact farmers were randomly selected from each of the ten cells. All the 81 extension Administration operating in the Delta North ADP zone were sampled, while Ten (10) administrators were randomly sampled from two innovation centres at five per centre. Descriptive statistical tools were employed in the study.

Decisions on containment of potential Cu toxicity require an understanding of its behaviour in the soil. Two experiments arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), with four replications, were carried out separately, to assess the distribution of Cu. The treatments were 0.00, 12.33, 18.50 and 24.70 g/m2. Two different soils, Gleyic Arenosol (Nta series) and Eutric/Dysteric Gleysol(Temang series) were used for the studies. The study showed Cu sorption increased with increasing soil organic matter (SOM) content.

Small dairy farms in Costa Rica are the most common; nonetheless milk and dairy industrialization is owned by few companies with large market power. The imminent entry to a free market, due to the Free Trade Agreement with United States, dairy imports are expected to increase in the upcoming years.

A field experiment entitled "Performance of nitrogen and zinc levels on growth, yield, quality and economics of fodder pearl millet under Dry land condition” was conducted during kharif season of 2015-16 at the farm Of Agronomy in Bhagwant University, Ajmer (Rajasthan). The soil of experimental plot was sandy loam in texture, slightly alkaline in reaction, low in organic carbon and in available nitrogen and low in available phosphorus but having fairly rich status of available potassium.

In spite of strategies that has been put in place to achieve the 5th millennium goal of improving maternal health, maternal malnutrition continues to be a global problem. Women in poor rural communities often consume diets deficient in energy and therefore many other nutrients..

Twenty five genotypes of dahlia were used to study the genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance and correlation for growth and yield contributing characters under Mudigere condition. Significant variations were observed for all twenty different characters studied.  The study indicated that the moderate to high genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) were observed for all the characters (more than 20 % value for both GCV and PCV).