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Background: Interaction between nutrition and reproduction has been established to play an important role in reproductive performance of animals. Zinc is considered to be an essential element required for reproduction. The present study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of nano zinc (NZn) as feed supplementation on reproductive performance of Assam Hill goats. Methods: A total of twenty-four numbers of 7 days post kidding doe maintained at Goat Research Station, Assam Agricultural University, Burnihat were randomly selected and divided into 4 groups comprising 6 animals in each group. The control group animals were fed with basal diet without zinc supplementation however, all the animals of the treatment groups received 25 mg NZn, 35 mg NZn and 50 mg NZn/kg concentrate mixture with basal diet for a period of three months. Does were bred naturally at 24 hours from the onset of oestrus and confirmed for pregnancy after two months. Parturition behaviour was observed closely from two days before the expected date of kidding upto the period of placental expulsion. Result: Supplementation of 50 mg NZn to the basal diet of postpartum Assam Hill Goat significantly improved the reproductive performance by decreasing postpartum oestrus interval and increasing conception rate (83.33%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Postpartum anoestrus is the most devastating cause of the dairy farming which causes more economic losses to the farmers. The present study was conducted to record the incidence of postpartum anoestrus and to evolve a suitable therapeutic regime for addressing postpartum anoestrus in Lakhimi cows. Methods: A total of 1000 Lakhimi cows maintained in different villages of Assam were selected and the incidence rate was recorded on the basis of breeding records provided by the farmers, per-rectal examination and ultrasonography screening of genital organ. To study the effect of hormonal and nutritional interventions in post partum anoestrus cows, the cows were divided randomly into seven groups comprising twelve animals in each group. The different treatment regimes were Hydroxyprogesterone caproate + eCG, Clomiphene citrate alone, Clomiphene citrate + Mineral mixture, GnRH analogue alone, GnRH analogue + Mineral mixture, Mineral mixture alone and control. The response to different treatment regimes was based on oestrus response, mean interval from the end of treatment to onset of oestrus and conception rate. Result: The incidence of postpartum anoestrus was found to be 20.60%. Clomiphene citrate + Mineral mixture administration regime brought about the highest oestrus induction response (100.00%) and conception rate (66.67%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many low-threshold experiments observe sharply rising event rates of yet unknown origins below a few hundred eV, and larger than expected from known backgrounds. Due to the significant impact of this excess on the dark matter or neutrino sensitivity of these experiments, a collective effort has been started to share the knowledge about the individual observations. For this, the EXCESS Workshop was initiated. In its first iteration in June 2021, ten rare event search collaborations contributed to this initiative via talks and discussions. The contributing collaborations were CONNIE, CRESST, DAMIC, EDELWEISS, MINER, NEWS-G, NUCLEUS, RICOCHET, SENSEI and SuperCDMS. They presented data about their observed energy spectra and known backgrounds together with details about the respective measurements. In this paper, we summarize the presented information and give a comprehensive overview of the similarities and differences between the distinct measurements. The provided data is furthermore publicly available on the workshop’s data repository together with a plotting tool for visualization.

The present study was conducted on a total of 909 crossbred cows maintained in various private farms from Kamrup, Darrang and Lakhimpur districts of Assam. Breeding records provided by the farmers and characteristic genital changes detected on per rectum examination of 133 reported infertile cows were analyzed. The study revealed that the incidence of infertility due to different types of reproductive disorders was 14.63 per cent in cross bred cow under field conditions. Common clinically detectable reproductive disorders were repeat breeding with uterine infection, repeat breeding without uterine infection, true anoestrus and silent oestrus with the percentage frequencies of 36.09, 23.30, 20.30 and 17.29 respectively when estimated out of total number of infertile cows. Less frequent reproductive disorders were pyometra, ovarian cyst, infantile genitalia and ovario-bursal adhesion occurring in the frequencies of 36.09, 23.30, 20.30 and 17.29 per cent respectively. Irrespective of type the incidence of anoestrus and repeat breeding was 37.59 and 59.39 per cent respectively. Palpable corpus luteum was present in the ovary of silent oestrous cows but totally absent in cows affected with true anoestrus. Mucopurulent vaginal discharge was a distinct clinically detectable genital characteristic observed in 62.50 per cent repeat breeder cows with uterine infection. Of the infertile cows 53.38 per cent had body condition score between 2.5 and 3.5 and 46.61 per cent had the score less than 2.5. Out of repeat breeder cows with uterine infection 43.66 per cent had good body condition and 27.41 per cent poor body condition. Level of serum calcium, zinc, leptin, ghrelin and IGF-1 did not vary significantly between types of infertility. Level of phosphorus and iron was lower in cows affected with repeat breeding due to infection. Serum oestrogen level remained low in cows affected with silent oestrus and true anoestrus while level of progesterone was higher in cows affected with silent oestrus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficacy of different tapioca varieties on larval growth and quantitative cocoon characters of eri silkworm revealed that the larvae reared on H-97 variety performed better with shorter larval duration in respect of larval growth parameters such as larval weight (full grown and mature), silkgland weight, silkgland tissue somatic index, effective rate of rearing and cocoon parameters viz., cocoon weight, shell weight and shell ratio compared to other varieties and spring rearing accounted better for larval growth and cocoon characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sericulture is an agro based labour intensive industry providing gainful employment mostly for rural people. Sericulture comprises cultivation of four varieties of silkworm mainly Mulberry, Eri, Muga and Tassar. Though, all the four major varieties of silk are reared in Assam, eri silk occupies the prime position in the sericulture scenario of the state. The present study was carried out in Jorhat district of Assam. The district consists of 3 sub-divisions and out of which two sub-divisions namely Jorhat Sadar and Titabar were selected. Among these, two villages were selected from each sub-division by simple random sampling technique and a sample of eighty respondents was selected from these four villages. The study revealed that nearly sixty one per cent of the eri rearers exhibited medium level of extent of adoption, followed by twenty one per cent exhibited low level of extent of adoption, while about eighteen per cent of the rearers exhibited high level of extent of adoption respectively. The perusal of data revealed that out of ten dependent variables, five variables viz, age, education, size of operational land holding, annual family income, risk bearing of the rearers was positively and significantly related with the extent of adoption of scientific eri culture practices at 0.01 level of probability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study on incidence and intensity of attack of Ariadne merione C. infesting castor in the agro climatic condition of Assam revealed that the insect pest made its appearance from the month of April and continued till February. The incidence and intensity of attack of the pest gradually increased from the month of April and reach peak in October and thereafter it deceases with no incidence in the month of March. The correlation study on incidence and intensity of attack of the insect pest with weather parameters revealed that bright sunshine hour has positive and significant relationship with incidence and positive and non significant relationship with intensity of attack. The relationship with maximum temperature, morning and evening relative humidity was positive and non significant while it was negative and non significant with number of rainy days and total rain fall in respect of both incidence and intensity of attack. The regression analysis revealed that 99.1 percent variation in incidence and 98.8 percent variation in intensity of attack of the insect pest were influenced by the combine effect of various weather parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study undertaken at Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat (Assam) on effect of oviposition devices and mating durations on oviposition, fecundity and hatchability of muga silkworm revealed that oviposition period of muga silk moth continues for a maximum of 7 days irrespective of mating duration and oviposition devices. A period of 3-5 hours mating duration is optimum for maximum egg laying of muga silk moth. In addition to common practices of egg laying preparation of muga silk moth on Kharika, the bio-degradable news paper, tree twig and rice straw made coupling devices could be effectively used for quality egg (seed) production of muga silkworm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY Rats with one kidney removed showed a progressive increase in weight of the remaining kidney over a six-week period. Autoradiographic and radiochemical studies with 3H-thymidine indicated that the increase in new kidney cell formation was maximal forty-eight to seventy-two hours after unilateral nephrectomy. This early response was chiefly due to the production of new cells by the renal cortical tubules. Normal rates of tubule cell turnover were achieved two weeks after operation. The glomerular tufts contained fewer new cells and their peak production was delayed to the one-week period with a slow decline thereafter. Rats forty-eight hours after unilateral nephrectomy were chosen as a model to study the effect of various substances on the magnitude of new cell formation. The number of DN A-synthesising cells in the stimulated kidney was reduced by treatment with hydrocortisone, ACTH, 9,10-dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene, and 1,2-benzanthracene; the numbers were increased by the administration of deoxycorticosterone and aldosterone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]