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Pearl millet is a vital crop in India cultivated across diverse agro-ecological zones. One of the primary challenges in millet farming is the absence of superior genotypes well-suited to local conditions. Hence, there is a need to develop pearl millet genotypes that exhibit high yield and stability to enhance production. With this regard, the study aimed to identify genotypes with high and stable yields across diverse seasons. Twenty-three genotypes were evaluated in four seasons in a randomized block design. Statistical analysis, including the Eberhart and Russell model, AMMI, and GGE biplot, were employed to assess genotype-environment interactions. The genotype ICMB 07999 was observed to have be stable with consistent mean yield, while PT 6679, PT 7058 and PT 7054 were observed to have above-average stability. These findings were supported by AMMI biplots and various stability indices. GGE biplots revealed two megaenvironments, from which Kharif seasons (mega environment 2) provided more informative assessments of genotype stability compared to summer seasons. Across all models and various parameters analysed, PT 6679 and PT 7058 emerged as stable inbreds with high mean seed yield. These inbreds could be tested further in larger environments for potential use in breeding program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inter‐sub‐specific hybridization between indica and tropical japonica rice germplasm is the most efficient approach for broadening the genetic base of hybrid rice parental lines and enhancing the heterotic potential of hybrids in a tropical country like India. In the present study, 106 indica/tropical–japonica derived lines were developed through inter‐sub‐specific hybridization and screened using functional markers with respect to the major fertility restorer genes, Rf3 and Rf4, and the wide compatibility gene, S5n. The fertility restoration ability of newly developed restorers was validated through test cross nursery performance. The functional markers were observed to accurately predict the trait of fertility restoration. From the present study, the decreasing order of efficiency of different gene combinations on fertility restoration ability are as follows: Rf4/S5n > Rf4/Rf3/S5n > Rf4 > Rf4/Rf3 > Rf3/S5n > Rf3. Based on multi‐trait stability index (MTSI) analysis, the four newly identified restorers, that is, RP6388‐90, RP6382‐49, RP6375‐81 and RP6368‐38, were selected as the top best performing genotypes with high stability for multiple traits, and these genotypes will be useful for the development of superior rice hybrids in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serological studies show that besides the development of suitable antibodies that are evidenced in people who get infected with SARS‐CoV2 or in people who are vaccinated, the possibility of getting reinfected with SARS‐CoV2 remains non‐zero (may be finite). The present article studies how far this possibility of reinfection impacts the transmission dynamics of COVID‐19. Considering a six compartment mathematical model, we have studied the transmission dynamics of the disease and presented the situations that will lead to endemic‐free (also endemic) state. Considering the COVID‐19 waves in India during the spread of SARS‐CoV‐2, delta variant of SARS‐CoV‐2, and Omicron variant, the parameters of the model are estimated corresponding to these three situations. As expected, the obtained parameters lie in the stable region of endemic state. The changes in dynamics of the system with the reinfection is studied, and it shows that its effects are not neglible. Even finite value of reinfection can significantly vary the number of infected individuals, and it could explain secondary (smaller) rise in the COVID‐19 cases after the COVID‐19 wave. We also study the dynamics of the system through fractional order differential equations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficacy of the healthcare system and illumination (awareness) activities control COVID‐19. To defend public health, the spreading pandemic of COVID‐19 disease necessitates social distancing, wearing masks, personal cleanliness, and precautions. Due to inadequate awareness programs, COVID‐19 rapidly increases in India. The primary goal of this research is to investigate the spreading behavior of the COVID‐19 virus in India when people are aware of the disease. We find the optimum value of disease transmission rate and detection of the unidentified asymptomatic and symptomatic populations. An optimal control problem is designed with limited resource allocation to improve the recovered individuals. A stability analysis presents for emphasizes the relevance of disease awareness in preventing the spread of the disease. The control parameters are used to explore the increase and decrease of the infected individual with and without control in optimal control analysis. The model is simulated using the Hattaf‐fractional derivative to study the memory effect in the epidemic. To adapt the model to the total number of reported COVID‐19 cases in India, we collected data from March 20, 2021 to September 30, 2021. According to the simulation results, the pandemic would spread faster if awareness campaigns were improperly carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mathematical modeling is one of the most used techniques for analyzing and preventing the transmission of COVID-19. To control this pandemic, it is essential to classify the infected population. So in this article, a new SEAIQHRDP model was formulated to investigate the transmittal dynamics of COVID-19. This model contains nine compartments Susceptible(S) class, Exposed(E) class, Asymptomatic(A) class, Infected(I) class, Quarantined(Q) class, Hospitalized(H) class, Recovered(R) class, Death(D) class, and Insusceptible (P) class. This model was fitted to the daily and cumulative confirmed COVID-19 cases in the period between 30th January 2020 and 13th January 2021 in India. Sensitivity analysis concerning R0 was performed to classify the significance of parameters. Contour plots for R0 were executed and the effect of various parameters on the infected classes had shown graphically. The necessity of stringent face mask usage and social seclusion is highlighted by optimal control analysis as a key factor in the dramatic reduction of infection rates. So the optimal control technique was adopted to lessen the disease mortality by taking both nonpharmaceutical and pharmaceutical intervention strategies as control functions and comparing infectives and recoveries with and without controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for mathematical models to inform public health strategies. The present study introduces a novel six-compartment epidemiological model that uniquely incorporates a higher isolation rate for unreported symptomatic cases of COVID-19 compared to reported cases, aiming to enhance prediction accuracy and address the challenge of initial underreporting. Additionally, we employ optimal control theory to assess the cost-effectiveness of interventions and adapt these strategies to specific epidemiological scenarios, such as varying transmission rates and the presence of asymptomatic carriers. By applying this model to COVID-19 data from India (30 January 2020 to 24 November 2020), chosen to capture the initial outbreak and subsequent waves, we calculate a basic reproduction number of 2.147, indicating the high transmissibility of the virus during this period in India. A sensitivity analysis reveals the critical impact of detection rates and isolation measures on disease progression, showing the robustness of our model in estimating the basic reproduction number. Through optimal control simulations, we demonstrate that increasing isolation rates for unreported cases and enhancing detection reduces the spread of COVID-19. Furthermore, our cost-effectiveness analysis establishes that a combined strategy of isolation and treatment is both more effective and economically viable. This research offers novel insights into the efficacy of non-pharmaceutical interventions, providing a tool for strategizing public health interventions and advancing our understanding of infectious disease dynamics., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Cluster bean is originated in India and Pakistan and is characterized as a short day plant. It is a drought tolerant, warm season legume crop, cultivated mainly as rain fed crop in arid and semi-arid regions during rainy season for vegetable, galactomannan gum, forage and green manure. In view of growing demand for its yield, development of new varieties with stable performance over environments is need of the hour. Methods: Twenty five genotypes of cluster bean including one check were evaluated for yield and its attributes in randomized block design with three replications in field investigation during Kharif, 2019 at three agro-climatic Zones of Telangana. G - E interaction and stability analysis of different genotypes across the three environments were worked out as per the model given by Eberhart and Russel (1966). Result: The environments linear were highly significant for all the traits, revealed that the environments were effective in affecting the performance of all the genotypes with respect to cluster bean yield attributing traits. Genotypes IC-9052, IC-10323, IC-10333, IC-103295 and IC-200680 were high yielding and stable under all environments, IC-103295, IC-10323 and IC-9077P1 for higher gum content, IC-10333, IC-28286, IC-103295 and IC-200715 for protein content and genotype IC-9077-P1 for fibre content were considered as desirable and stable over the environments. The results of the present study could contribute for stable cluster bean varietal improvement in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research focuses on the identification of stable trait specific genetic resources across the five semiarid environments located in the four states of India. The study illustrated the existence of a wide range of variations for most of the characters among the sunflower genotypes, which provides opportunities for genetic gain through selection or hybridization. Genotype x Environment (G x E) interaction was significant for all traits except for days to 50 % flowering, maturity days and 100-seed weight which means different genotypes responded differently to environments for the rest of the traits. Based on per se performance across the locations GMU 296 and HOHAL 30 can be considered as high yielding and high oil content accessions. Based on biplot, stability and per se performance genotypes GMU 806, GMU 635, GMU 296, GMU 802 and check DRSF113, can be considered as a medium to high yielding with medium oil content and medium maturity genotypes across the environments and can be considered as an ideal genotype across semi-arid environments. Character association indicated that among the seven traits, seed yield per plant had a significant negative association with oil content. The traits 50 % flowering and maturity days fall under one group and showed the more or less similar type of pattern in the expression of the traits by heat map approach. Based on diversity analysis identified genotypes from the second cluster can be utilized for the development of high yielding, medium oil content and medium duration diverse gene pool in sunflower for semi-arid environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious disease which can cause death. In this paper, a nonlinear model is proposed and analyzed by assuming reduction in transmission due to case detection. The dampening in the transmission term is modelled as Holling type II function. Additionally, impact of media is incorporated by including an exponential decay factor in the movement of individuals from exposed class to the class of undetected infectives. The basic reproduction number Ro is computed. All possible equilibria of the models are obtained and stability of these equilibria are discussed in details. The proposed model exhibits backward bifurcation for some set of parameters, which suggests that reducing Ro below one is not enough to make disease-free equilibrium to be globally stable. Parameter estimation is performed using real-life data of different states of India where TB is endemic. Numerical simulations are presented to illustrate our analytical findings. Finally, the proposed model is extended to optimal control problem by introducing one control function in the transmission term. The results of optimal control model is compared with the results of model without control using numerical simulation. From the simulation results, it is found that the optimal control model gives better result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance of a genotype is the result of its genetic constitution and the environment in which it has been grown. In practice, a particular variety may not exhibit the same phenotypic performance under different environments. Also, different varieties may respond differently to a specific environment. Additive Main effects and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) and GGE biplot analyses are the most frequently used models to explain G×E interaction of multi-environment cultivar trials. Based on climatic conditions, the pearl millet cultivation in India is divided in 3 major zones A1, A and B for effective evaluation of the pearl millet breeding material. In the present study, the G×E interaction in pearl millet genotypes from zone-A of India has been evaluated using the techniques of AMMI and GGE biplot analyses. A new Weighted Stability Index (WSI) has been proposed for determining the high yielding and stable genotypes based on the normalized indices for grain yield and ASV indices. The three interaction principal component axes (IPCA1, IPCA2 and IPCA3) have been found to be significant for this zone. AMMI Stability Value (ASV) and Stability Index have been used to find the most stable genotypes while indices YSI and WSI have been used to find both the most stable and high yielding genotypes. On the basis of ASV, genotypes MH 2120, MH 2109 and MH 2116 have been found to be the most stable for this Zone. The Spearman's rank correlation coefficient between YSI and WSI was found to be significant at 1% level of significance indicating that the two indices have almost similar performance in determining high yielding stable genotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, changes in the life style pattern together with low consumption of vitamin D rich foods resulted in 50–90% of population as vitamin D deficient. Fortification is the common practice followed to overcome such micronutrient deficiencies. Vitamin D is fat soluble in nature and simultaneously sensitive to light and heat, however binding to milk protein improves the solubility and stability towards heat and light. Sodium caseinate, succinylated sodium caseinate (SNaCas), reassembled sodium caseinate (RNaCas) and reassembled succinylated sodium caseinate (RSNaCas) were complexed with ergocalciferol (vitamin D 2). Milk protein-vitamin D 2 complexes (NaCas-VD, SNaCas-VD, RNaCas-VD and RSNaCas-VD) and free vitamin D 2 (free-VD) showed highest stability when stored at −20 °C, followed by 4 °C and 37 °C. At the end of storage period of 48 h, the stability (%) of vitamin D 2 in milk protein-vitamin D 2 complex and free vitamin D 2 (free-VD) fortified milk was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in fortified samples stored in transparent glass bottles (upto 53.88%) as compared to samples stored in low density polyethylene (LDPE) pouches (upto 49.56%) upon exposure to different light intensities (1485, 2970, 4455 lux). Complexation of vitamin D 2 with milk protein provided greater stability to withstand the heat treatments (pasteurization, boiling and sterilization). Stability of vitamin D was greater from milk protein-vitamin D 2 fortified milk stored in transparent glass bottles than the fortified milk stored in LDPE pouches. • Complexes showed the highest stability at −20 °C and lowest stability at 37 °C. • Glass bottles are more effective packaging material as compared to LDPE pouches. • Complexation of vitamin D 2 to milk protein improves its stability. • Free vitamin D (fat soluble) showed the lowest vitamin D stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The repetitive soil slope failure along the National Highway (NH)-5 in Jhakri region of Himachal Pradesh, India draws frequent concern due to heavy damage and traffic disruption almost every year. Being only linking route from border district to the nearby land area, stability of the road-cut slopes along this highway is of major concern in regard to safe transportation. Absence of any previous stability investigation of this recurring slope failure calls for an integrated geotechnical and numerical approach in order to understand the instability factors. The geotechnical analysis has been performed to determine the inherent properties of soil materials which affect the stability of existing slope. An event-specific antecedent rainfall threshold has been suggested to quantify the relationship between rainfall and slope failure. A two-dimensional limit equilibrium method has also been executed to visualize the scenario of pre- and post-failure stability of the slope. On the basis of limit equilibrium analysis, it has been inferred that slope geometry is a major affecting parameter that influences the failure pattern. Moreover, preventive measures through benching and soil nailing have also been proposed and validated through limit equilibrium analysis for long-term stability and safe transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stability performance of 105 barley genotypes including commercial cultivars and elite lines (indigenous and exotic) were compared by using regression on environmental means for grain yield and its components under 3 different environments during Rabi 2012-2014. Significant differences were observed among the genotypes for all the traits studied over all 3 individual environments. Genotype × environment interactions were highly significant for all the characters studied. The linear component of G × E interaction was preponderant for days to heading, days to maturity, effective tillers per plant, grains per ear and grain yield per plant. Most of the genotypes did not satisfy the stability criteria indicating the presence of non-linear component of G × E instead of the linear component for most of the traits studied. The genotypes RD-2618, PL-760 and NDB-1229 for days to heading; Lakhan, Clipper, JB-57, PL-760 and Maria for short duration; BH-688, BC-112, K-603, RD-2624 and BH-548 for dwarf stature; CIHO-3510 for tiller number; JB-16 for peduncle length, DL-88, BCU-IC-437851, Karan-15, RD-2660, Lakhan and JB-15 for spike length; BCU-550, EIBGN-04-14 and RS-6 for flag leaf length; Manjula and EIBGN-04-14 for grains per ear; EIBGN-2-1 and Jyoti for grain yield per plant were found to be comparatively stable by meeting all the 3 parameters of stability over the environments. These promising genotypes may be utilized as donors in barley improvement program for target ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sericulture is an agro-based industry, which heavily depends on mulberry ( Morus spp.) for its sustainability, as mulberry leaf is the only available feed for the silkworm Bombyx mori L. Sericulture, in West Bengal and other subtropical regions in India, suffers from lack of adequate quantity of quality mulberry leaf during the colder months, the best season for rearing the high yielding bivoltine silkworm hybrids. In order to develop mulberry varieties, which can sustain normal growth during these colder months to yield better, efforts have been made in different research institutes in India. The present report is part of such an effort in which accessions in germplasm bank were screened for better growth, leaf retention and leaf yield contributing associated traits. Twenty three selected parents were crossed, 3,500 seeds were sown, 2,700 seedlings were transplanted to progeny row trail, selected 210 hybrids were evaluated under primary yield trial and finally nine hybrids along with a control variety were studied in detail for all leaf yield contributing traits under final yield trial. Stability analysis was adopted to identify hybrids, which can yield stably across seasons. The hybrids CT-44 and CT-11 out yielding the control by 17.17 and 7.11% were selected as these hybrids yield 7.93 and 8.15 mt/ha leaf respectively during the colder months (February) for their direct use as cultivars in West Bengal and other subtropical areas of India to sustain bivoltine sericulture to produce quality and gradable silk fibers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dengue is one of the most widely spread mosquito-borne viral diseases which is transmitted by mosquitoes of Aedes species. It is endemic in all states and union territories (UTs) of India. Dengue virus is one of the major cause of illness and death in the tropical and subtropical regions. There is no vaccine available which can prevent infection with dengue virus. The best way to reduce the transmission of this disease is to avoid mosquito bites. Treatment of dengue infected individuals is an important factor that contributes significantly in the reduction of transmission of this disease. But sometimes in the developing countries it is not always possible to give treatment to each infected individuals. That is why we include a treatment function in our model. In the present paper, a mathematical model for dengue virus transmission with treatment by considering logistic growth of mosquito is formulated and analyzed. It is assumed that the treatment rate is proportional to the number of infectives below the capacity and is constant when the number of infectives is greater than the capacity. We find that the system exhibits backward bifurcation if the capacity is small. When the basic reproduction number (R 0) is greater than one, the endemic equilibrium point exists and is locally asymptotically stable under some restriction on parameters. We estimate the parameter corresponding to transmission of dengue using real data from different states of India by the least square method. We also perform sensitivity analysis to identify the key parameters that influence the basic reproduction number and hence regulate the transmission dynamics of dengue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]