eChapters

Introduction

The most common indication for laparoscopy in zoo animal clinical medicine includes evaluation of liver disorders (e.g. cirrhosis, hepatitis, hepatomegaly), staging for cancer treatment (liver and peritoneal metastases), diagnosis of various peritoneal diseases (e.g. ascites), diagnosis of pelvic soft tissue diseases (e.g. ovarian problem, endometritis, pyometra,) and diseases of spleen and pancreas. The utility of laparoscopy in zoo animal practice is wide and it has been used in almost all the species with encouraging results. Laparoscopy is now most commonly used in zoo animal medicine to examine and biopsy of liver, gall bladder, kidney, spleen, pancreas, ovaries and prostrate. It provides an excellent means for visualizing the surfaces and colour. Even subtle color and texture changes can be readily detected. The liver is generally evaluated through a right lateral mid abdominal approach in canine and feline species of zoo animals. Abnormal gross liver changes that can be readily appreciated include hepatic lipidosis, glycogen leaden liver, metastasis or multifocal neoplasm, nodular hyperplasia, cirrhosis, cholangihepatitis, extra hepatic biliary tract obstruction etc. Using grasping forceps advanced through the second puncture cannula, the biopsy can be obtained quickly and safely in zoo animals. The pancreas can usually be visualized thorough a right abdominal approach and biopsy samples can be safely obtained.

Inverse Laplace Transform of 1/(s - 2)2 is
(A) exp(2t)            (B) t exp(2t)
(C) 2t exp(2t)         (D) t2 exp(2t)

Grasshoppers: Mecopoda elongata :Tettigonidae; Oxya velox: Acrididae

These pests occur both in nurseries and plantations. Both adults and nymphs feed on leaves by scrapping and eating outer tissues and margins. The emerging leaves are nibbled and the spot holes appear when the leaf unfurls. In severe conditions the entire leaf is eaten leaving behind only the midrib.

Large Language Models are increasingly transforming software engineering by enabling automated code generation, completion, debugging, translation and documentation. This chapter examines how Transformer-based architectures trained on source code and natural-language datasets have expanded the capabilities of intelligent programming systems. It begins with the architectural foundations of code-oriented LLMs and explains how self-attention enables models to capture complex relationships within programming languages. The chapter discusses applications throughout the software development lifecycle, including natural-language-to-code generation, code completion, code translation, refactoring, automated unit testing, bug detection and documentation generation. It also examines training and fine-tuning methodologies and evaluation metrics designed to assess code correctness, functionality and quality. Deployment considerations such as latency, security, computational cost, licensing and human oversight are addressed. Particular attention is given to risks associated with hallucinated code, unreliable outputs and generalization beyond training distributions. Emerging directions, including Retrieval-Augmented Generation, continual learning and formal verification, are considered as mechanisms for improving reliability and developer trust.

Samples having size, n - 30 are known as large sample. For large values of n (i.e., for n - 30), almost all the distributions are very closely approximated by normal distribution. Thus in this case we apply the normal test, which is based upon the area property of the normal probability curve. Large Sample Test is also known as Z-test or SND (Standard Normal Deviate) test.

Dioscorea alata is commonly called greater yam or larger yam or water yam.  This is the most widely distributed species of yam. This species originated in South East Asia, probably in Burma. From there, it first spread to India, Malaysia, Indonesia and the eastern portion of South East Asia.  Later it served as food for voyagers and thereby spread to other parts of the tropics.  Immigrants from India and Malaysia introduced it to Madagascar, from where it was partially introduced into East Africa and Portuguese and Spanish voyager traders of the 16th century probably introduced it into West Africa and later to West Indies.

Aquaculture is currently the fastest-expanding food production industry worldwide, and its continued growth depends greatly on the successful rearing of larvae and juvenile stages. The larval and nursery phases act as a crucial link between the breeding process and the grow-out phase. These early developmental stages are highly sensitive and demand strict environmental regulation, tailored nutrition, and close management.
This article explores the core principles and infrastructure necessary for effective larval rearing and nursery operations in aquaculture. It covers essential techniques, feeding protocols, water quality control, health management practices, and the key challenges encountered in raising both finfish and shellfish.
SIGNIFICANCE OF LARVAL REARING AND NURSERY PRACTICES
• Promotes high survival rates and optimal growth during the most delicate stages of life.
• Produces robust juveniles ready for transfer to grow-out systems such as ponds, cages, or raceways.
• Lowers overall production expenses by reducing early-stage mortality.
• Aids in selective breeding efforts and the production of disease-free stock.
LARVAL REARING
The eggs are elliptical in shape, typically ranging from 1 to 2 mm in diameter, and are attached at one end to a substrate using a short stalk. Initially, the eggs are yellow, but as embryonic development progresses, they turn brownish, and pigmentation appears on the yolk sac. The incubation period generally spans 82 to 100 hours. Hatching begins when the egg membrane ruptures at the head end of the larva, which is the unattached portion, and continues along the dorsal side as the tail begins to move actively.

The objective of larval rearing is to mass-produce high-quality and healthy juvenile fish. In larval rearing, the management of both rearing environment and feeding regime are the most important aspects. Improving larval rearing technique requires understanding of larval morphology & behaviour and requirements of live food, artificial diet and environmental conditions at different ages of larvae (Liao et al., 2001). Striped murrel is predatory as well cannibalistic species in nature. Therefore understanding about its behavior with respect to feeds and feeding, stocking density with growing age is utmost important. It is a general thinking that fish hatchlings do not require exogenous food until yolk-sac attached to their body is exhausted. But this is untrue with many carnivorous fish species, particularly those observe cannibalism. Larvae of such fish species start feeding much before the yolk-sac absorption; rather delay in getting feed make them weak or force them to feed on the conspecifics. Therefore in order to understand larval behavior of this species in respect of feeds and feeding, knowledge on its ontogenic development is crucial particularly in respect of age at which mouth opens; mouth gape size, food choice, size of food particle at different age-groups and finally the age when gut digestion starts.

Yulintine et al. (2017) have given ontogenetic details of striped murrel larvae since hatching. According to him, mouth opens and exogenous feeding begin in this species when hatchling grows to a size 4.63+0.25mm on second say of hatching. On day-3 after hatching, the buccopharynx channeled with the anterior intestine through a short oesophagus and rather narrow lumen, with having prominent liver developed by this time. Two pyloric caeca appeared on day-25 hph, indicating the transition from larval to juvenile stage and acquisition of an adult type of digestion. This chapter provides strategy for larval rearing of striped murrel based on ontogenic studies and work carried out by various workers in this field including that of authors.

Shallow weed infected ponds, swamps, marshes, pools. Bogs infected all inland water bodies. These infected inland water bodies provides shelter food and suitable environmental condition to grow and multiply to different pathogens and microorganism and macro-organism such as mosquitoes, snails other hosts.

Mosquitoes are the vectors of several diseases and carry parasites of malaria, filarial, yellow fever and so on the breed in all sorts of stagnant water and shallow weed infested ponds, swamps, pits gutters and all other kinds of inland water bodies. Different species of mosquitoes prefer different kinds of water for breeding purpose.

A number of fishes have little food value but are of immense utility to public health because of their larvivorous feeding habits. Fish is a natural enemy of mosquito eggs and larvae and its use as means of biological control has been recognized since olden times. Several species of fresh water fishes are known to be larvicidal and of use in the control of mosquito population. Biological control of this type is now regarded as one of the most potent tool in destroying the mosquito population without any causing harmful effect in the food chain and the human system. Man learnt to use them as one of his several measures to combat a number of serious diseases which are spread through the agency of insects. A number of larvicidal fishes directly feed upon mosquito larvae and thus their introduction in such water bodies where mosquitoes breed results in a very effective control on the population the mosquitoes in selection of the larvicidal fishes for such a control of diseases.

45.1 Introduction

Mosquitoes of various species breed in ponds, swamps, gutters, and other bodies of stagnant water, carrying parasites that cause malaria, filaria, dengue fever, chikungunya, Japanese encephalitis, Zika and yellow fever. Various approaches have been used to control mosquito populations to reduce the incidence of vector borne diseases, including chemical, physical, and biological measures. In all types of habitats, biological control against mosquito vectors is safe, friendly, and cost effective. Mosquito biological control entails introducing natural enemies such as parasites, disease organisms, and predatory animals into the environment.

It is a common knowledge that most of the farmers apply irrigation water until all the points in the field are fully wetted and covered with a thin sheet of water. Studies have indicated that a significant (20-25%) amount of irrigation water is lost during its application at the farm due to poor farm designing and unevenness of the fields. This problem is more pronounced in the case of rice fields. Unevenness of fields leads to inefficient use of irrigation water and also delays tillage and crop establishment options. Fields that are not levelled have uneven crop stands, increased weed burdens and uneven maturing of crops. All these factors tend to contribute to reduced yield and produce quality which reduce the potential farm income. Effective land levelling is meant to optimize wateruse efficiency, improve crop establishment, reduce the irrigation time and effort required to manage crop.

Reasonably levelled agriculture fields has advantage over uneven and undulating crop fields as unevenness of the soil surface has a significant impact on the seed germination, crop stand and its yield. Traditionally land levelling was being done throughout India by bullock drawn plough or tractors and applying different devices for levelling the field by visual assessment e.g. on small plots with hoes, or with draft animals and equipment such as ploughs and bars or scrapers or grading. Equipment such as grading blades and hydraulically operated levellers mounted on wheels are used with tractors. More advanced and sophisticated levelling equipment is operated with a laser emitter, a laser sensor or receiver, and a scraper pulled by a tractor. After the desired level or slope of the field and/or the difference of the high and low spots have been surveyed, the emitter is set to send a rotating laser beam creating a plane of laser light above the field surface. The laser light is used as the levelling reference. It directs the hydraulic system of the moving tractor and scraper, and thereby controls the levelling. Hence, laser levelling or laser land levelling is levelling the crop field within certain degree of desired slope using a guided laser beam throughout the field.

Lasoda (Cordia myxa L.) known by many names viz., cherry of desert, assyrian palm, sebestene plum,  lasura, lehsua, gonda and naruvilli, is an underutilized, multipurpose fruit tree distributed in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Arid regions are considered under the category of wastelands which are not being used to their fullest potential. Among the arid region crops, lasoda is very suitable crop for cultivation in Rajasthan as it can withstand drought to a very great extent and can tolerate temperature as high as 48 to 50°C during summer months. Lasoda thrives well on neglected, low fertile, sandy, gravelly, saline, alkaline soils and hence can be used for forestation of waste lands. However, it grows vigorously in moist sandy loam soils and gives high productivity.

Background

Water is the most precious input for dryland horticulture, and therefore, its use should be planned judiciously. Rainwater harvesting and its management play a significant role in horticultural production. The rainwater can be diverted either directly to tree basins in situ or in suitable structures ex situ, which can later be utilized as lifesaving irrigation. In sandy soils, in situ conservation should be popularized, while in heavier soils, ex-situ conservation should be popularized. The water thus collected remains stored deep into the soil profile, escapes from evaporative losses, and is available during critical periods of demand. Perennial fruit trees, once established, get the advantage of any time it rains during the year, unlike annual crops. Water harvesting in khadins in parts of the Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan and its use in raising crops and trees is the age-old practice of in situ water harvesting. The hilly, rocky, and sloppy lands generate runoff, which can be collected in ponds or tanks and recycled for the establishment of fruit plantations and lifesaving irrigation at critical stages. In the same stance, nutrient management also plays an important role in the successful cultivation of horticultural crops under dryland. The arid zone soils are very poor in the majority of nutrients except potash. Enrichment of soil with organic and inorganic sources is essential for optimum production of fruits and vegetables. The application of chemical fertilizers has made miracles initially in agriculture and horticulture. However, increasing awareness of environmental degradation due to various anthropogenic activities has been expressed worldwide about the over-reliance on mineral fertilizers, which causes environmental penalties. It has also led to a deficiency of several micronutrients. Therefore, the option left is whether to revert back to traditional farming using organic input or to follow some middle path by integrating both organic and inorganic. So far as present knowledge is concerned, organic manuring alone cannot maintain the required productivity and demand for food.

Abstract

The Cauvery delta is a major bird-foot shaped delta with its apex located east of Tiruchirappalli with the mother channel Cauvery flowing along Thanjavur– Kumbakonam – Kaveripoompattinam. The distributary drainages are radiating over an arc towards east from its apex with a fan shape and finally debouch into the sea from south of Tiruthuraipoondi in the south to Kaveripoompattinam in the north. All these distributary drainages are now seen as palaeochannels including the mother channel Cauvery, which is now called as “Palam Cauvery”. The present day flow of Cauvery river is confined to the northernmost rim of the delta as river Coleroon. On the basis of the archaeological, epigraphic and historical data analysed earlier and the14C dating carried out recently, the present authors infer that the age of the delta may vary from 2300 Y.B.P. ( Years Before Present) to 750 Y.B.P. and the age of the palaeochannels are also younging from 2300 Y.B.P. in the south to 750 Y.B.P. in the north. In the southern part of the Cauvery delta, the Mio-Pliocene Sandstone of Pattukottai-Mannargudi area is undergoing upliftment along N-S faults. On the basis of the rapid land progradation during 6085±233 Y.B.P. - 1020±80 Y.B.P. in Vedaranniyam coast, it is visualized that the Mio-Pliocene Sandstone must be undergoing upliftment significantly since 6100 Y.B.P. onwards. On the basis of the occurrence of older palaeochannels in the south, the gradual younging palaeochannels towards the north and the land emergence in the south of the Cauvery delta in Pattukottai – Mannargudi area, it is concluded that the distributary drainages of river Cauvery would have become sequentially defunct / shifted from south to north and finally the mother channel Cauvery also would have been pushed towards north to reach the present tract of Coleroon river. The thinner palaeochannels in the south and the gradual wider palaeochannels in the north of the delta further indicate that as the land was already undergoing emergence in the south even before river Cauvery has entered into Thanjavur plains, the river could not comfortably spread its distributaries in the south. Hence, the southern distributaries, after a brief flow, would have started drying sequentially from south to north during 2300–750 Y.B.P. thereby the floodwater of each of the southern distributary channel would have been pushed to its successive northern counterpart, i.e. the southern distributary (say 1), pushing its water to its immediate northern counterpart (say 2), then the combined flow of 1 and 2 pushing the water to 3 and so on. The anomalous eyed drainage and its modifications during the last 50–60 years and compressed meanders in Coleroon river, deflected drainages in Palam Cauvery, truncation and punctuation of beach ridges by the E – W faults along the N – S coast and such faults acting as pathways for the sub parallel creeks indicate vibrant Late Holocene geological history predominated by the tectonic movements in Cauvery delta.

INTRODUCTION

It is well accepted that the climatic changes also influence the geomorphic process efficiency and landform development (Ahamad, 1985). Glaciation, sea level changes, flooding and many other geo- environmental events are related with global and regional climatic changes along with tectonic and other non-tectonic factors like natural vegetation, soil, organic development etc. Considering the role of climate on landform development and dynamics of the Late Quaternary climate, a climato-geomorphic study was conducted on the coastal and paleo-coastal areas of the Bengal Basin namely-lower Western (West Bengal coast) and Eastern (Tripura Paleo-coastal Fold Belt Province) Geo-provences. The main objectives of the study were to investigate (i) Development of the landforms during Late Quaternary period with sea level changes and (ii) Climatological influences on the landform modifications.

Introduction

The classic bone tissue engineering paradigm highlights several key players: biocompatible scaffold that closely mimics the natural bone extracellular matrix niche, osteogenic cells to lay down the bone tissue matrix, morphogenic signals that help to direct the cells to the phenotypically desirable type, and sufficient vascularization to meet the growing tissue nutrient supply and clearance needs. The biomaterials are critical components in the bone-tissue engineering strategies, including polymers, ceramics, or their combinations applied in various forms, such as membranes and three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds. These materials typically mimic the extracellular matrix of bone tissue during the tissue regeneration process, providing mechanical support and a suitable environment for cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation

A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. The term may also refer to the resulting grain itself (specifically “cereal grain”). Cereal grain crops are grown in greater quantities and provide more food energy worldwide than any other type of crop and are therefore staple crops. Edible grains from other plant families, such as buckwheat, quinoa and chia, are referred to as pseudo cereals. In their natural, unprocessed, whole grain form, cereals are a rich source of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, oils, and protein. When processed by the removal of the bran and germ the remaining endosperm is mostly carbohydrate. In some developing countries, grain in the form of rice, wheat, millet, maize etc. constitutes a majority of daily sustenance. 

Sugarcane, (Saccharum officinarum), perennial grass crop of the family Poaceae, primarily cultivated for its juice from which sugar is processed. Most of the world’s sugarcane is grown in subtropical and tropical areas. The plant is also grown for biofuel production, especially in Brazil, as the canes can be used directly to produce ethyl alcohol (ethanol). The by-products from cane sugar processing, namely the straw and bagasse (cane fibres), can be used to produce cellulosic ethanol, a second-generation biofuel. Other sugarcane products include molasses, rum, and cachaça (a Brazilian alcohol), and the plant itself can be used as thatch and as livestock fodder.

Oilseed crops have been grown all over the world and are considered important crops due to their economic value. Oilseed crops are primarily grown for edible oil. Recently, oilseeds attracted more attention due to an increasing demand for their healthy vegetable oils, livestock feeds, pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and other oleochemical industrial uses. The increased interest resulted in an 82% expansion of oilseed crop cultivation areas and about a 240% increase in total world production over the last 30 years.