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Background: Weeds are one of major threats to crop yield and quality. Weeds compete with cane crop and reduce the yield significantly in a very short period. Planned use of all available farm resources leads to integrated control strategy. The current study aimed to study the use of inter row rotary weeder for integrated weeds management to control population dynamics of weeds in sugarcane crop. The objective of experiment is to find out economical, feasible and easy to use approach to minimize the weed density below the threshold level in sugarcane crop and to minimize the use of chemicals for weeds control to promote organic farming. Methods: In this research experiment, at Sugarcane Research Institute, Faisalabad during 2017 and 2018, the treatment includes viz. Application od Click (atrazine and acetochlor) @ 3.75 Liter per hectare as Pre-emergence, Ametryn + Atrazine 80 W.P @ 2.50 kg per hectare as post-emergence, Machanical Inter-culture with Rotary weeder and cultivator plough and earthing up. These treatments in different combinations were compared with control. Result: The application of Pre-emergence weedicide Click (atrazine and acetochlor) @ 3.75 Liter per hectare + Inter culture with Rotary weeder 50 days after planting (DAP) + Inter culture with cultivator plough before earthing up (100 DAP) produced significantly higher cane yield of 105 t. ha-1 and highest net benefits per hectare of Rs. 156250/-. The lowest cane yield of 70 t. ha-1 was noted from the experimental units with Weedy check / control. If farmers use this approach, the use of post emergence weedicides will be minimized and will encourage organic farming with safe and healthy environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The common sunstar, Crossaster papposus, belongs to the family Solasteridae whose ordinal classification has been unstable. Here, for the first time, we assembled and annotated the complete mitochondrial genome of the common sunstar, C. papposus Linnaeus, 1767. The circular genome of C. papposus is 16,335 bp in length and contains 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, a control region, and large and small ribosomal subunits. The overall genomic structure and gene arrangement were identical to the reported mitochondrial genomes of sea star species, and a phylogenetic analysis of 13 PCGs recovers a closest relationship with the derived cluster of the paraphyletic order Valvatida. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In early 2018, a large easterly storm hit the East Anglian coast of the UK, colloquially known as the 'Beast from the East', which also resulted in mass strandings of benthic organisms. There were subsequent instances of dogs consuming such organisms, leading to illness and, in some cases, fatalities. Epidemiological investigations identified paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) as the cause, with toxins present in a range of species and concentrations exceeding 14,000 µg STX eq./kg in the sunstar Crossaster papposus. This study sought to better elucidate the geographic spread of any toxicity and identify any key organisms of concern. During the summers of 2018 and 2019, various species of benthic invertebrates were collected from demersal trawl surveys conducted across a variety of locations in the North Sea. An analysis of the benthic epifauna using two independent PST testing methods identified a 'hot spot' of toxic organisms in the Southern Bight, with a mean toxicity of 449 µg STX eq./kg. PSTs were quantified in sea chervil (Alcyonidium diaphanum), the first known detection in the phylum bryozoan, as well as eleven other new vectors (>50 µg STX eq./kg), namely the opisthobranch Scaphander lignarius, the starfish Anseropoda placenta, Asterias rubens, Luidia ciliaris, Astropecten irregularis and Stichastrella rosea, the brittlestar Ophiura ophiura, the crustaceans Atelecyclus rotundatus and Munida rugosa, the sea mouse Aphrodita aculeata, and the sea urchin Psammechinus miliaris. The two species that showed consistently high PST concentrations were C. papposus and A. diaphanum. Two toxic profiles were identified, with one dominated by dcSTX (decarbamoylsaxitoxin) associated with the majority of samples across the whole sampling region. The second profile occurred only in North-Eastern England and consisted of mostly STX (Saxitoxin) and GTX2 (gonyautoxin 2). Consequently, this study highlights widespread and variable levels of PSTs in the marine benthos, together with the first evidence for toxicity in a large number of new species. These findings highlight impacts to 'One Health', with the unexpected sources of toxins potentially creating risks to animal, human and environmental health, with further work required to assess the severity and geographical/temporal extent of these impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]