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The objective of this study was to assess the genetic diversity of the Sirohi goat for

SummaryPashmina, internationally known as “cashmere”, a fine luxury fibre, is being produced from Changthangi goats bred in the Ladakh region of India. The Leh district of Greater Ladakh produces around 30 000 kg of pashmina fibre which is harvested from about 0.15 million Changthangi goats reared by the Changpa nomads in Changthang region of Greater Ladakh. Changthangi goats are sometimes also called Changra goats. Pashmina producing goats are of great importance for revitalising the economy of the poverty stricken region of Changthang and the Leh district of Ladakh. The information on Changthangi goats was collected from both small and large-scale farmers in Ladakh, and 337 animals were included in the study.The body colour of Changthangi goats varies from white to light brown and nearly whole body is covered with pashmina and long hairs. The average birth weights of male and female kids were estimated as 2.11 ± 0.3 and 2.06 ± 0.2 kg, respectively while weight at 300 days was found to be 20.0 ± 2.1 and 18.7 ± 1.9 kg in male and females respectively.The pashmina yields of bucks, does, male hoggets and female hoggets were estimated as 402 ± 19 g, 248 ± 14 g, 255 ± 12 and 280 ± 16 g, respectively. The length of pashmina fibre was found to be 4.25 ± 1.2 cm in males and 4.02 ± 1.5 cm in females while fibre diameter in male and female goats was estimated as 12.9 ± 2.6 μ and 13.0 ± 3.0 μ, respectively.The twining rate was found to be very low, nearly 0.3%. A preliminary study at DNA level with PCR-RFLP indicated monomorphism at the growth hormone gene. The occurrence of disease was quite low although some genetic deformities in this breed were not uncommon.

Chlorpyrifos was sprayed on the ridges and foliage of potato plants at 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 kg a.i./ha 21 days after planting (single spray) and repeated 21 days after the first spray (double spray) to control cutworms (Agrotis sp.). In unprocessed (i.e. not washed, boiled or peeled) potatoes, the residues persisted above the permitted level of 0.10 ppm on several sampling dates. Residues decreased with the time interval between spraying and sampling. Processing potatoes (i.e. washing, boiling followed by peeling) removed the toxicant to a considerable extent. Storing potatoes from chlorpyrifos-treated plots in country stores for 30 days after normal harvest reduced residues to below the detectable level irrespective of the application rate.

This article reviews the aphid species associated with the potato crop in India, their population dynamics, control and the residues of granular and foliar systemic insecticides used.

Pharmacognostic studies on the stem of Polygonum glabrum Willd. have been carried out along with fluorescence characteristics and ash values.

Replicated field experiments were conducted during autumn 1982–83 at Jalandhar (Punjab) for evaluating an insecticidal schedule involving soil application of aldicarb (Temik) 10 G and carbofuran (Furadan) 3 G @ 1.0 and 1.5 kg a.i./ha in two different protocols viz.; (i) single full dose application of granules in furrows at planting and (ii) equal split dose application of granules (half in furrows at planting + remaining half dose near plants base at earthing up), found effective for aphid control, for residues. The findings indicate that aldicarb and carbofuran residues in unprocessed (unwashed, unboiled and unpeeled) potatoes from 1.0 and 1.5 kg a.i./ha doses applied in single full dose in furrows at planting (in the first protocol) persisted above the tolerance limits (0.50 ppm each for aldicarb and carbofuran) up to 70 days. Aldicarb residues in such unprocessed potatoes persisted above the tolerance limit up to 70/49 and 80/59 days respectively, from 1.0 and 1.5 kg a.i./ha doses when applie...

Potatoes are reported to be attacked by more than 80 insects and many nematode pests in the field and in store in India. They can be broadly classified into soil pests, sucking pests and sap feeders, defoliators and storage pests. Nematode pests are mainly classified into the root knot nematodes and the cyst‐forming nematodes. This article deals with their identification, damage, biology and control measures.

SummaryIn small-scale laboratory experiments with sulphamate baths, alloys of iron with nickel, cobalt, cadmium and zinc have been deposited over a wide composition range. The effect of variables on alloy composition, cathode efficiency and cathode potential has been investigated and optimum operating conditions established for each alloy. The cathode efficiency is close to 90% under favourable conditions, and the limiting current density is quite high, 10 to 25 A/dm2 depending on the alloy. The performance of alloy anodes of nickel-iron and cobalt-iron is quite satisfactory; single metal anodes can be used for the other two alloys. In the case of iron-zinc deposition, there are sudden changes in plate composition for a small variation in the current density, corresponding to changes in the phase of the deposited alloy. X-ray diffraction studies show that the cadmium-iron deposit is a mixture of the two metals.

The survival rate,p, of a measured inoculum ofStaph. aureusin a standard volume of denbrinated blood, is a reliable quantitative measure of the bactericidal power of blood. The number of viable organisms in the inoculum and in the blood-bacterium mixture may be estimated with the necessary accuracy by counts of colonies developing from measured volumes of the fluids let fall on to the surface of solid media. Fildes' agar was the most suitable medium for this surface-viable count, and was selected on the basis of four criteria; of the media tested it yielded the highest counts, and the counts conformed most closely to a Poisson series; and on it the mean colony size was maximum, and the coefficient of variation of colony size was minimum. On this medium, the close conformity of the separate count values to a Poisson series enabled the standard error of the survival rate to be determined from a simplification of the general expression for the standard error of a ratio.The number of colonies growing from a sample of a blood-bacterium mixture may be reduced, not by killing of the individual cocci, but as a result of their aggregation either by agglutinins in the blood, or in the cytoplasm of leucocytes that are phagocytic but not bactericidal. It appears that these mechanisms are unlikely to operate in blood-bacterium mixture containing relatively few organisms; in such mixtures the survival rate is a reflexion of the killing power only.The immunological significance ofphas not been investigated, but the range of values for healthy human adults differs significantly from that for sufferers from chronic staphylococcal infection. Moreover, by the technique employed differences may be detected between individual values ofpthat cannot reasonably be attributed to technical or sampling errors.