eChapters

Parakeratosis is a pathological condition characterized by the abnormal keratinization of epithelial tissues. In ruminants, particularly cattle, buffaloes, sheep, and goats, parakeratosis primarily affects the rumen epithelium. This condition is often associated with dietary imbalances, particularly in animals fed high-concentrate, low-fibre diets. Left unchecked, it can lead to significant health issues, including impaired nutrient absorption, secondary infections, and reduced productivity.
The rumen is a vital component of the ruminant digestive system, serving as a fermentation chamber where microbes break down fibrous plant material into volatile fatty acids (VFAs), which are absorbed and used as energy. The rumen wall consists of four layers: the stratum basale, stratum spinosum, stratum granulosum, and stratum corneum. The stratum corneum is the outermost layer, consisting of keratinized epithelial cells that protect the underlying tissues. Under normal conditions, the keratinization of the rumen epithelium is tightly regulated. However, certain dietary and environmental factors can disrupt this process, leading to parakeratosis. Nutritional management is a cornerstone of both the prevention and treatment of parakeratosis. Proper dietary practices ensure the maintenance of a healthy rumen environment, optimal microbial activity, and the prevention of epithelial damage. The link between diet and parakeratosis is well established.

Nutrition and feeding management are crucial components in the seed rearing phase of aquaculture, significantly impacting the growth, survival, and overall health of juvenile fish and shellfish. In the Indian aquaculture industry, which primarily cultivates Indian Major Carps (IMCs), catfish, tilapia, pangasius, shrimp, and freshwater prawns, implementing species-specific and stage-wise feeding practices is essential. During the early developmental stages such as larvae, fry, and fingerlings, the nutritional demands are high due to rapid growth and the development of internal organs. To meet these needs, live feeds like infusoria, rotifers, Moina, Daphnia, and Artemia nauplii are commonly used as they are highly digestible, appropriately sized, and capable of stimulating a natural feeding response. As larvae mature into fry and fingerlings, they are gradually transitioned to formulated micro-diets or crumble feeds that typically contain 30–40% protein and 6–10% lipids. For shellfish species such as shrimp post-larvae and Macrobrachium, specialized starter diets enriched with immune boosters and probiotics are utilized to enhance survival and health. Feeding is typically carried out 3–5 times daily during the nursery phase, with rations adjusted according to biomass and water temperature. Care is taken to avoid both overfeeding, which can lead to water pollution, and underfeeding, which is managed through regular sampling and observation. In extensive systems like ponds and hapas, natural food availability is increased through the application of fertilizers and manures to stimulate plankton production. Overall, maintaining a balanced diet and adopting scientific feeding strategies are vital for producing healthy, fast-growing, and disease-resistant juveniles, thereby improving the economic efficiency and sustainability of aquaculture in India.

INTRODUCTION

The medicinal values of plants are known since prehistoric times. Interestingly, 13000 BC old drawing on Lascaux caves in France suggests that humans were using plants for medicinal purposes. Ancient Egyptians chewed willow bark to relieve fever and headaches; and thousands of years later, scientists discovered that the bark contains salicylic acid- the active ingredient in aspirin. History reveals that in most of the countries natural products including plants, animals and minerals have been the basis of treatment of diseases both in human and veterinary medicines.
 
Plants as a source of medicine has been an ancient practice and is an important component of the health care system in India. The health management of people and domestic animals is based partially on the exploitation of natural resources, which needs proper documentation and research.

4.1. INTRODUCTION

The number of individuals to be included in a research study (the sample size of the study), is an important consideration in the design of many studies. This chapter will provide information on basic factors that determine an appropriate sample size and provides methods for its calculation in some simple, yet common, cases. Sample size is closely tied to statistical power, which is the ability of a study to enable detection of a statistically significant difference. A trade-off exists between a feasible sample size and adequate statistical power. Strategies for reducing the necessary sample size while maintaining a reasonable power is also important.

How many individuals will I need to study? This question is commonly asked by the clinical, ecological and behavioural investigator and exposes one of many issues that are best settled before actually carrying out a study. Consultation with a statistician is worthwhile in addressing many issues of study design, but a statistician is not always readily available.

The amount of information that can be gained from a sample depends upon its absolute size and not upon its size as a proportion of the population size, Just as to decide if the wine is good we need only a sip, irrespective of the bottle size, similarly we do not need to know the exact size of the parent population, provided complete homogeneity exists, But in reality, and more so in biological sciences, such homogeneity is rarely seen. Therefore, appropriate sample size becomes pertinent for drawing valid conclusions and is among the most difficult decisions to be taken for a study.

The size of the sample would depend upon (i) the permissible error in assessment of inference i.e. accuracy and (ii) sampling error. Sampling error measures the amount of variability between sample results; the lesser it is the better. The main determinant of the sample size, therefore, is how accurate results do we used. This in turn, depends on the purpose and type of study.

Overview of Transcription

Gene expression requires base sequences that perform different functional roles

The three stages of transcription are initiation, elongation, and termination

RNA transcripts have different functions Transcription in Bacteria

A promoter is a short sequence of DNA that is necessary to initiate transcription

Bacterial transcription is initiated when RNA polymerase holoenzyme binds at a promoter sequence

The RNA transcript is synthesized during the elongation stage

Transcription is terminated by either an RNA-binding protein or an intrinsic terminator

INTRODUCTION

1. Nematodes belong to the animal kingdom, and phylum Nematoda.
2. The body of nematodes is elongate ( thread like; nema in Greek means thread) without any segment.
3. It is cylindrical, tapering at each end especially towards the tail.
4. Most of the important parasitic genera belong to the order Tylenchida and few under Dorylaimida.

Plant nutrients are important for increased production of food for the ever-increasing world population. Of the plant nutrients, primary nutrients N, P and K are applied to ?elds each season in fairly large amounts. In addition to increasing crop yields, they also impact the environment. This is briefly discussed in this chapter; only main points are made here.

NITROGEN

Nitrogen is blamed the most for environmental degradation. It contributes to eutrophication of inland and sea-waters, enrichment of air with NH₃ and N₂O and even with global warming. However, it is almost impossible to grow more food without additional nitrogen. It is estimated that by 2050 about 250 million tonnes (MT) of fertilizer nitrogen may be needed to meet global increased food demands as against an estimated current consumption of 116 MT

Introduction

We, the participants of ITAF2023 with Dr. B. R. Chavan and Dr. Prashant Bodake, visited Boonsawang Co. under the guidance of Asst. Prof. Dr. Naphat Panthukumbol and Mr. Suthi Mahalao on 18/10/2023 at 09:00 am. Boonsawang Co. in Chonburi, owned by Suthi Mahalao, also exports fry to Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, and Israel. In addition, Suthi runs his sea bass farm and is a feed distributor to farms in the province. The purpose of the visit was to learn about the seabass culture system and get familiar with technical aspects. The farm occupies an area of 10 hectares and is covered in 11 ponds. The farm is aimed to grow from fry to marketable size seabass. The single crop duration is divided into 4 periods.

Introduction

India has one of the world’s largest agricultural production areas of land. The net sown area is 140.1 million hectares, the net irrigated area is 49% of this, which is 68.4 million ha as per 2014–15 land-use statistics (Agriculture Research Data Book 2019). While the proportion of Indians employed in agriculture is decreasing, agriculture, along with its allied sectors such as livestock, forestry and fisheries, remains India’s primary source of income. As per the Lok Sabha Standing Committee on Agriculture (2019–20), agriculture and allied industries employed 54.6 percent of India’s total workforce. Approximately 70% of rural households still rely primarily on agriculture for a living. Agriculture and allied sectors’ share of the country’s Gross Value Added (the value of goods and services produced in an area, industry, or sector of an economy) has fallen from 18.2 percent in 2014-15 to 16.5 percent in 2019-20. As per current trends, 60% of India’s population (more than 10% of the world’s population) will face severe food shortages by 2050.

Introduction
In the era of digital media consumption, smartphones have emerged as powerful tools for video creation and editing making it accessible to everyone, from casual users to professional creators. With advancements in mobile technology, users can capture high-quality video and audio and edit them seamlessly within mobile applications. However, one of the significant challenges in video production is achieving proper synchronization between audio and video tracks. This chapter explores the principles of audio synchronization, the importance of this process in video editing, and practical techniques for
achieving perfect alignment using smartphone applications.
Understanding Audio Synchronization in Mobile Video Editing
Audio synchronization, or “lip-syncing,” is particularly vital in videos where
dialogue, music, or sound effects are synchronized with visual cues. Accurate synchronization can help convey emotions, emphasize actions, and create an immersive experience. On smartphones, achieving perfect synchronization requires both intuitive tools and practical techniques to account for various factors, such as audio drift, frame rates, and video quality.
Smartphone applications for video editing typically support audio synchronization through visual audio waveform displays, alignment tools, and timing adjustments. These features empower users to manually or automatically adjust and align audio with visual footage.

Feeding standards are vital guidelines that specify the necessary nutrient amounts for animals’ growth, health, and production. These standards have evolved since the nineteenth century and are classified into three types: comparative, digestible nutrient, and production value. They provide daily nutrient requirements or percentages of the diet, depending on the feeding method. Precise feeding uses daily requirements, while ad libitum feeding employs percentages.
A. Comparative type
1. Hay standard: In 1810, German scientist Thaer revolutionized the practice of animal feeding by introducing a standard for comparing different types of feed. This standard used meadow hay as the reference unit and considered it equivalent to 91 lbs. of clover hay, 200 lbs. of potatoes, or 625 lbs. of mangels. This allowed for a more accurate measurement and comparison of feed options, aiding farmers in their feeding decisions. Prior to this, feeding practices relied on practical experience due to limited knowledge of feed composition and animal needs. However, with Thaer’s new standard, farmers were able to make more informed choices when it came to providing proper nutrition for their animals. This marked an important advancement in the field of animal husbandry and laid the foundation for further research and understanding in the years to come.
2. Scandinavian “feed unit” standard: In 1884, Professor Fjord introduced the Scandinavian feeding standard, which focuses on the feed unit. One pound of common grains like corn, barley, or wheat is considered one unit, with other foods valued relative to this. The standard recommends one feed unit per 150 lbs. of body weight, with an additional unit for every three pounds of milk produced.

Galangal is the dried rhizome or root of a plant, Alpinia galanga Linn. Willd. which grows mainly in the Eastern Himalayas and South-Western India. The plant is 1.8-2.1 meters high, and bears perennial rhizomes which are deep, orange-brown in color, aromatic, pungent and bitter. The fruits are about 13 mm long, constricted in the middle, and contains 3-6 seeds. The seeds are slightly pungent, with an aroma similar to that of the rhizome. Cut pieces of the rhizomes of this species are known as “Greater Galangal”. The rhizome of “Lesser Galangal” is smaller and reddish brown in color, and, has a stronger odor ansd taste. According to Guenther (1973) Galangal root is also known under the names of “Smaller Galangal” and “Radix galangal minoris”. The earliest reference to this spice is that of an Arabian geographer Ibn Khurdabah (869-895 AD), who included Galangal in a list of products from a country he refers to as Sila (which was undoubtedly China). Sometimes later, Plutarch made reference to the use of Galangal as a fumigating spice by the early Egyptians. In 1153, it was mentioned by Edrisi as an incoming spice into Ade, which was then the port used by the Egyptians for all Asiatic products. In his travels, Marco Polo mentions that it was produced fairly extensively in Kachanfu and Kinsai (Tonkin). Galangal is one of the spices which reached European markets relatively early, for it is mentioned along with Black pepper in the literature of the Middle Ages, where it received praise in various writings dealing with drugs, medicines etc. The source of the spice which was reaching the European market remained almost unknown until the last century, when in 1867, a plant of unknown botanical origin was discovered in the extreme south of China. The following year, Hance examined both dried and living specimens of the plant and was able to conclude that it was the same as the “Lesser Galangal” known to the pharmacists.

Abstract

Crop cultivation is a complex process and involves a set of activities like land preparation, planting, pest control, irrigation, nutrient management, harvesting, marketing, etc. Entire cycle of crop production requires multitude of information by the farmers. Despite many efforts over the years to disseminate and transfer agriculture knowledge to the stakeholders, large amounts of expertise and knowledge are still out of reach to most of them. Agriculture knowledge may be contained in the corporate database, or it may reside undocumented inside the brain of the researchers or even stored in locations unknown to the majority of the people in the organization. Large sections of the farming community, particularly the rural folk, do not have access to the huge knowledge base acquired by agricultural universities, extension-centers and businesses. In this respect the main challenge is to find this knowledge and apply it to the decision making process involved in agriculture development.

Abstract

Buffaloes are considered to be the principle milk producing livestock species in India and Surti is one of the well-defined buffalo breeds of India. The study on lactation curve and persistency is very much helpful to know the sustainability of the lactation. The present study is based on daily milk production records for 298 lactations from 130 buffaloes belonging to 15 sires. Lactation curve was prepared through Statistical Packages for Social Sciences programme. Two functions, i.e. gamma function and inverse polynomial functions were fitted to the daily milk yield records. Persistency was calculated through simple analysis in Microsoft Excel 2000 on the weekly records of the milk yield. Gamma function was found to be more effective as compared to inverse polynomial function with higher R2 value for all the four lactations, which indicated that gamma function can be effectively used to establish lactation curve and predict milk yield of animals on any day of lactation. The value of persistency ranged from 97.94% in fourth lactation to 98.56 % in first lactation, indicating Surti buffaloes as fairly persistent in milk production throughout the lactation.

Origin and history: Papaya has long been known as wonder fruit of the tropics and is one of the five major fruit crops of tropical world, papaya fruits throughout the year and a remunerative fruit crop which is grown in almost every part of the country. It gives maximum yield per unit and income next to banana. It is generally grown as fruit plant in kitchen garden, home garden or nutrition garden and later as commercial fruit. It is also planted as a filler plant in a fruit orchard. India is the second largest producer of papaya in the world after Brazil. It is a fruit native to tropical America and commercially grown in many parts of the world viz., Australia, Hawaii, Taiwan, Puerto Rico, Peru, Florida, Texas, California, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. In India, it was introduced by Portuguese in 1611. It is grown in Karnataka, Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Gujarat, Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh etc.

The Genetic Basis for Protein Synthesis

Archibald Garrod proposed that some genes code for the production of a single enzyme

Beadle and Tatum’s experiments with Neurospora led them to propose the one gene-one enzyme hypothesis

During translation, the genetic code within mRNA is used to make a polypeptide with a specific amino acid sequence

Exceptions to the genetic code are known to occur, which include the incorporation of selenocysteine and pyrrolysine into polypeptides

Synthetic RNA helped to decipher the genetic code

The use of RNA copolymers and the triplet binding assay also helped to crack the genetic code

A polypeptide chain has directionality from its amino terminal to its carboxyl terminal end

The amino acid sequences of polypeptides determine the structure and function of proteins

Cellular proteins are primarily responsible for the characteristics of living cells and an organism’s traits

1. Preparation of Standard Sodium Hydroxide Solution

 Introduction

 When oxalic acid reacts sodium hydroxide, sodium oxalate and water are

form. Phenolphthalein indicator detects the end point by its characteristics

colour change.

 Apparatus

 Burettes, pipette, volumetric flask, beaker

 Reagents

 • Oxalic acid crystals

 • Sodium hydroxide – 0.1 N approximate

 • Phenolphthalein solution – 0.1 percent in ethyl alcohol

Procedure Preparation of 0.1 N oxalic acid solution 1. Weight accurately 1.575 g of oxalic acid into a 250 ml beaker using a weighing bottle. 2. Add some distilled water to the beaker and dissolve the oxalic acid with the help of glass rod. 3. Transfer the solution into a 250 ml volumetric flask through a funnel. 4. Wash the beaker 3- 4 times with small quantities of distilled water and transfer the washing into the flask. 5. Make up the volume up to the mark with distilled water and mix thoroughly. 6. Preparation of approximately 0.1 N sodium hydroxide solution 7. Weigh about 4.25 g of sodium hydroxide pellets and dissolve into 200 ml of distilled water.

Introduction

The term, “non-governmental organization” or NGO, came into use in 1945 because of the need for the UN to differentiate in its Charter between participation rights for intergovernmental specialized agencies and those for international private organizations. At the UN, virtually all types of private bodies can be recognized as NGOs .They only have to be independent from government control, not seeking to challenge governments either as a political party or by a narrow focus on human rights, non-profit-making and non-criminal (Ali Mostashari, 2005). On the contrary India is one the poorest countries housing one third of the total world poor population. 43% of Indian children are malnourished, a third ofthe world’s total. Over 25% of Indians are illiterate, and more than 20 million children are out of school (Asheesh Bisht et al., 2013). India is a highly populated and predominantly rural country. It is classified as a country of medium human development, ranked 128th in the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index 2007. Life expectancy is 63.7 years at birth, and four fifths of the population lives on less than $2/day. The adult literacy rate is 61 percentages. India has a long history of civil society based on the concepts of daana (giving) and seva (service). Numerous organizations were established during this period, including the Friend-in-Need Society (1858), Prathana Samaj (1864), Satya Shodhan Samaj (1873), Arya Samaj (1875), the National Council for Women in India (1875), and the Indian National Conference (1887). Mahatma Gandhi’s return to India in 1916 shifted the focus of development activities to economic self sufficiency.

Clouds play very important role on weather and climate. The formation of clouds takes place when water condenses in the sky. Clouds are visible accumulation of tiny water droplets and ice crystals in the Earth’s atmosphere. The moisture is always present in the atmosphere though it may not be visible. Clouds form when air becomes cooler until the water vapour present in it condenses to liquid form. The condensation over oceans occurs around solid particles like salt, dust, smoke etc. suspended in the atmosphere. The type of clouds depends upon temperature and wind. The clouds are classified based on physical appearance and the height at which clouds are formed (Fig. 7.1).

Introduction

Biofilm formation is a series of complex process and accomplished mainly in five stages -Reversibleattachment, Irreversible attachment or colonization,Proliferation, Maturation &Dispersion. Usually biofilms comprise 10% of dry mass that represent microorganisms while the rest 90%derived from the matrix of biofilm. Microbial biofilms are aggregates of microorganisms embedded in self-produced matrices and adhere to an abiotic or biotic surface. Firstly, Marshall et al. (1971) threw light on the concept of biofilms &it’s complexity was discussed by many researchers. According to Donlan and Costerton (2002) “Biofilm as a structured community of microbial cells enclosed in a self-produced polymeric matrix and adherent to a surface to interface, and to each other” still remains the most appreciated definition of biofilms (Mishra et al., 2022). Basically, microbial biofilms are complex, dynamic and three dimensional heterogeneous structures in which cells are interconnected by EPS (Extracellular Polymeric Substances). Biofilms are found to be resistant against UV light, metal toxicity, antimicrobials and other chemical agents like soaps, detergents, disinfectant and other cleaning agents. Future insight the immense need to implicate effective methods for elimination of biofilms from the environment.