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India has been the land of the 'Queen of Textiles', that is, silk, from a very old time. At present, India occupies the second position in the production of silk in the world, only next to China while occupying the first position in the consumption of the same. Mulberry silk accounts for 69.16% of the total silk production in India and eri comprises of 20.87%. However, in the state of Assam, non-Mulberry silk (eri and muga) occupies the lion's share (around 99%) in the total silk production, thereby making the sericulture sector of Assam different from the rest of India. The IPCC (2007) has projected that the global temperature would most likely rise by 4.3 to 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the next century and silk being an agro-industrial product will be deeply affected. With muga being more susceptible to climate change, the muga cultivators would be more severely affected than the eri cultivators. In light of the above situation, this paper would attempt to analyse two issues. Firstly, it would try to see the differentiated impact of climate change on eri and muga cultivation of Assam and secondly, it would try to understand the resultant impact on rural income and employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topography and high rainfall has given rise to different fisheries resources in Assam in the form of rivers, floodplain wetlands/beels, swamp/low-lying areas, forest fisheries, reservoirs, individual ponds and community ponds. India currently stands at second position in the world in case of fisheries production with 13.7 million metric tons in the year 2018-19, 65% of which was from inland sector. A rapid and faster growth can be seen in this sector during the recent years. Assam, a northeastern state of India is with dense geographical pattern, having about 10.5% of its area with surface water bodies. Along with agriculture and animal husbandry, fish farming is also an important source of occupation in the state. There is a high demand for fish and fish products in Assam (near about 3.36 lakh tons a year), but the current supply of the same (2.94 lakh tons) is not sufficient to cover the huge demand for fisheries products in the state. However, Assam has a large number of water bodies in its surface which can be utilized for fishing activities. The proposed study aims to bring light to the growing trend of fishing culture in Assam and a comparison with the national level averages. It also attempts to focus the growing scope and opportunities of fishing industry in Assam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present research entails an in-depth analysis on the effect of two secondary host plants of eri silkworm viz., borpat (Ailanthus grandis Prain) and borkesseru (Ailanthus excels Roxb.) and seasons on yarn parameters of eri silk as quality of silk depends on food quality and rearing season. Seasons had significant effect on all the yarn parameters viz., yarn size, breaking load, tenacity and elongation except twist per inch. Significantly the highest yarn size (10.26s) was observed in autumn season which was at par with the spring season. But the maximum breaking load (0.67 kg) and tenacity (1.40 g/denier) were recorded in spring season and elongation (26.54%) in early summer season. Regardless of the seasons, significantly the higher breaking load (0.64 kg) and tenacity (1.51 g/denier) were recorded on the borkesseru leaves. The interaction effect of seasons and two host plants on eri silk yarn was found to be non-significant. Diversiform effect of both the seasons and the host plants pertaining to yarn characters were witnessed. It can be ensured that all the seasons and host plants are relevant with slight alteration in the yarn quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Baby corn is the small (6-7 cm long) and young unfertilized corn ear harvested at the stage of silk emergence (i.e. within 2 - 3 days of silk emergence). In the present scenario, the use of chemical fertilizers may help in achieving maximum yield of baby corn but they pose serious health hazards and it is a big threat to the sustainability of agriculture. Assam has tremendous potential to grow crops organically and emerge as the main supplier of organic products in the world's organic market. In Assam, baby corn is rather a new introduction, so efforts are required to standardize the its cultivation. Therefore, the need was felt to standardize organic production technology for baby corn through supplementation of the nutrient requirement through organic manures and biofertilizers. Moisture conservation in agriculture is also very essential in this dynamic climate change. Methods: A field experiment was conducted at Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat during the year 2016-17. The experiment consisted of two different factors i.e. nutrient management viz., control, enriched compost 2.5 t ha-1, vermicompost 2 t ha-1 incubated with biofertilizers, poultry manure 2 t ha-1 incubated with bio-fertilizers, FYM 2.5 t ha-1 incubated with bio-fertilizers and FYM 2.5 t ha-1+lime+ash (1000:10:1) and moisture conservation i.e. no mulch and mulch with paddy straw @ 2 t ha-1). Plant height at harvest, number of leaves plant-1 at harvest and dry matter production (g plant-1), LAI, LAD at 30 day days interval was recorded. Reading on chlorophyll content was taken by SPAD-502 chlorophyll meter at 45 DAS and 90 DAS. Cob yield was recorded from the net plot area and expressed in t ha-1. Result: Application of enriched compost 2.5 t ha-1 in baby corn produced highest growth characters like plant height, number of leaves plant-1, dry matter production, leaf area index, leaf area duration, chlorophyll content, cob yield with husk (8.165 t ha-1) followed by FYM 2.5 t ha-1+lime+ash (6.495 t ha-1). Mulching with paddy straw 2 t ha-1 recorded the higher cob yield (6.172 t ha-1) over no mulch condition (5.431 t ha-1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adulteration of meat with their cheaper or inferior counterparts has become a common practice in the meat industry which threatens the feelings as well as the health of the people. Meat adulteration has issues relating to social, religious, economic, and public health. Therefore, it is important to develop simple and reliable techniques for the authentication of species of meat. Mitochondrial markers have been widely used in species identification and authentication as PCR of species-specific markers of mitochondrial origin is relatively rapid, accurate, sensitive and cost-effective as compared to other PCR based assays. The present study was carried out for authentication of raw and cooked meat from different species using PCR amplification of species-specific Cytb and D-loop markers of mitochondrial origin. Methods: In this study, detection of different raw meat viz. beef, carabeef, mutton, chevon, chicken, duck meat and dog meat as well as meat samples subjected to different processing temperatures was done using PCR of species-specific mitochondrial Cytb and Dloop markers. Samples of beef, carabeef, mutton, chevon, chicken, duck meat and dog meat were collected randomly from different locations of the North-Eastern region of India. The meat samples were subjected to heat treatment in hot water (80°C) to have 75°C core temperature. They were also cooked in steam to have the core temperature of 95°C. The samples were also subjected to autoclaving at a temperature of 121°C and 15 lb pressure. Result: The markers used in this study successfully amplified unique fragments for beef, carabeef, mutton, chevon, chicken, duck meat and dog meat. The sizes of the amplified products were 126 bp for beef, 226 bp for carabeef, 254 bp for mutton, 453 bp for chevon, 256 bp for chicken, 292 bp for duck meat and 100 bp for dog meat. The results were consistent in the meat samples which were subjected to different cooking temperatures ranging from 75-121°C. Consequently, these markers were validated for crossamplification by checking them with other meat samples and no amplifications were observed in non-target species. The results suggested that all the markers were highly specific for the target species. The simplicity, sensitivity and stability of the assay indicated that this method could be very useful for meat authentication and thereby to detect adulteration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of different seasons in larval growth of eri silkworm (Samia ricini Boisduval) reared on Ailanthus species viz., borpat (Ailanthus grandis) and borkesseru (Ailanthus excelsa). The study revealed that the larval growth parameters of eri silkworm was found better in terms of larval duration, full grown larval weight and matured larval weight on the borpat leaves as compared to the borkesseru leaves. Considering the seasons, the full grown larval weight and matured larval weight were observed significantly higher during the autumn season but the shortest larval duration was observed during the late summer season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Trichomonas gallinae is a flagellated protozoa, infects the upper digestive system of pigeon and causing a condition called canker, characterized by development of granulomatous lesions in the buccal cavity, crop, proventriculus, gizzard and liver of affected birds causing mortality upto 90% in squabs. Systemic research on prevalence and pathology of T. gallinae in pigeons are scant in India. The present work was carried out to document the prevalence and pathology of T. gallinae in pigeons of Assam. Methods: During the one- year study period, throat swab samples were collected from households, market places and temple premises in 4 districts of Assam. A total of 324 birds were examined by wet mount and Giemsa staining methods for detection of T. gallinae. Naturally died carcasses were studied for gross and histopathological alteration in different organs. Result and Conclusion: In the present study prevalence of T. gallinae was found 26.85% and squabs were highly susceptible with 56.25 percent. Sex wise, comparatively higher prevalence was observed in females (33.54%) than in the males (20.48%). Seasonality study revealed highest prevalence during winter. Gross pathological alteration characterized by yellowish white caseo-necrotic haemorrhagic lesion in the upper digestive tract beginning with the oral cavity and lesions also found in liver and lungs. Histopathological alteration also recorded in different organs. In the liver sinusoidal congestion and kupffer cell hyperplasia were observed. Infiltration of polymorphonuclear cells in the thickened inter alveolar space of lungs also recorded. Further study is required to identify the prevalent strains of T. gallinae on the basis of pathogenicity in this geographic region and immunology of T. gallinae in pigeons and other hosts remain to be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field experiment was conducted during the rabi season of 2016-17 to study the effect of nutrient management and moisture conservation practices on yield attributing characters, yield and economic return of organic baby corn grown in a sandy loam soil under rainfed condition. The experiment was laid out in RBD factorial design with three replications. PAC 321 was used as the test variety of baby corn. Among the treatments enriched compost @ 2.5 t ha-1 has shown the significantly better results with respect to yield attributing characters and cob yield followed by application of FYM @ 2.5 t ha-1+lime+ash (1000:10:1). Treatments with straw mulch @ 2 t/ha recorded significantly higher results with respect to different yield attributing characters, cob yield, green fodder yield and high monitary return with B:C ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wind profiling features received from recently installed stratospheric-tropospheric (ST) radar of Gauhati University (GU) ( 26. 2 ∘ N, 91. 75 ∘ E) are presented in the paper along with the validation process of the data by using radiosonde-derived wind parameters. The final focus of the paper is directed onto the thunderstorm-related changes in wind fields covering both vertical and composite components. Starting with the seasonal thunderstorm occurrence character over Guwahati through eight years of observations, the importance of the work on this meteorologically sensitive subtropical zone is highlighted. For identifying the process of growth of thunderstorm, the magnitudes of updrafts and downdrafts are extracted from the ST Radar-derived storm-time wind profilings. For evaluation of atmospheric system dynamics, the structure constant C n 2 is calculated through radar Bragg-scattered signals and the resultant modifications induced by the thunderstorm on this parameter are presented and brought into ambit of discussions. The paper finally identifies the storm-induced effects in the wind field-derived variabilities, for possible adaptation as inputs for a thunderstorm predictive model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of organic agriculture is receiving increased attention and organic food markets are also expanding quite fast in many parts of the world including India. Development of production technology particularly appropriate nutrient management strategy for organic baby corn is necessary for realizing higher yield and economic returns as well as soil health aspect. Most of the organic manures are low in nutrient contents, which are not sufficient to meet the nutritional requirement of the crops with smaller quantities, especially when inorganic fertilizers are not applied. Under such circumstances, enrichment of organic manures and composts with permitted additives like rock phosphate and beneficial microbial cultures is a feasible option for nutrient supplementation in organic food production. Microbial enrichment technique with bio-inoculants to composting material had been shown to improve the quality of compost. The enrichment of the organic manures with beneficial microbial cultures will further contribute to the enhancement of N and P contents through nitrogen fixation and phosphate solubilization. Hence, the enriched organic manures and their combination provide an ideal nutrition strategy for the crop. There is the possibility of increasing the nitrogen content of compost by inoculation with nitrogen-fixing organisms and the phosphorus content by the inoculation with phosphate solubilizing bacteria. Improved manures will play a major role in organic farming since the method of production is simple and easy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fermented bamboo shoot (FBS) is intricately associated with human diet. Traditionally prepared FBS products like hirring, soibum, soidon, hecche, ekung and eup collected from Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur states were analyzed for nutritional and functional composition. All products were acidic with high crude fibre content (3.79-20.84%) and very low fat content (2.19-3.64%). The protein content was significantly high (19.53-27.55%), carbohydrates, moisture and ash content (%) was found to be in the range of 7.27-25.88, 31.05-52.58 and 6.22-14.36, respectively. Phenolics, flavonoids and tannin varied between 718.03 and 920.1.01, 308.72-568.54 and 20.093-33.602 µg/g, respectively. All products exhibited significant radical scavenging activity and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity; IC50 values found to be in the range of 23.70-31.16 ppm. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and vitamins (B9, B12 and vitamin C) were also detected. Cyanogen glycosides content was within the limit (<10 ppm). This study provides potential evidence for FBS products as health enhancing foods due to its rich nutritional and functional properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antheraea assamensis is reared on various species of the Lauraceae family from north-east India for its distinctive cocoon silk. We demonstrate differential expression of digestive trypsin and chymotrypsins in larvae feeding on a primary host, Persea bombycina Kosterm., in comparison to larvae feeding on Litsea monopetala Roxb. using in vitro proteolytic assays, zymogram analyses with proteinase inhibitors, restriction digestion of RNA-PCR amplicons and quantitative real-time PCR (RT-PCR). Eight novel members of the serine proteinase gene family were identified, including an intron-spliced trypsin (AaPb4) and seven putative chymotrypsins (AaPb2, AaPb4, AaPb12, AaLm4, AaLm6, AaLm19 and AaLm29). Midgut transcript levels of the putative trypsin were higher in larvae fed P. bombycina whereas levels of transcripts encoding putative chymotrypsins were higher in larvae reared on L. monopetala. Complex, differential expression of sequence divergent midgut serine proteinases may reflect the ability of lepidopteran larvae to feed on different species of host plants. Possible implications of host plant choice on the digestive physiology of A. assamensis are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A switchable wideband reflective metamaterial polarisation rotator based on plasmon resonances has been presented. The proposed design comprises of periodically arranged split rings on which PIN diodes are mounted to demonstrate switching operation. By controlling the bias voltage of the PIN diodes, the polarisation of the reflected wave can be controlled over a broad frequency range. The simulated result shows that over 90% cross‐polarised reflection is observed in 2.42–3.52 GHz under OFF state, whereas co‐polarised reflection is exhibited under ON state. Polarisation rotation has also been explained using two plasmon resonances in terms of electromagnetic responses. Finally the structure has been fabricated, whose measured results agree well with simulated responses, thus validating the concept behind switchable polarisation rotator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ipomoea carnea woody stems were pyrolyzed in a laboratory-scale reactor in the temperatures ranging from 350° to 600°C and at constant heating rate of 5°C/min. Yield, density, ash content, volatile matter, fixed carbon content and calorific value of the charcoal samples produced were evaluated. Charcoal yield ranged from 24.23% to 37.89 wt% and calorific value varied from 17.29 to 33.47 MJ/Kg. Conversion of charcoal fines to solid fuel improved combustion quality. Mass balance experiments of pyrolytic decomposition products of I. carnea yielded much higher percentages of non-condensable liquid (59.2-61.8 wt%) as compared to those of tar (4.2-4.8 wt%) and gas (7.3-8.2 wt%) fractions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on 90 accurately localized earthquakes in and around North-East India and the local crustal velocity model of Gupta et al. [4], the travel times of P-waves have been determined from the foci of these earthquakes at arbitrarily selected depths of 5, 13, 25, 41 and 50 km to the sites of the seismic stations operated by the Regional Research Laboratory, Jorhat and the National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, and also to the sites of the Shillong and Tura seismic stations run by the India Meteorological Department, New Delhi. The travel times of P-waves fit a straight line very well with velocities of 5·97 ± 0·31, 6·18 ± 0·01, 6·41 ± 0·03, 7·82 ± 0·07 and 7·95 ± 0·01 km/sec at each of the depths under study. Similar investigations of P* and Pg-waves of 16 earthquakes at a depth of 10 km have revealed velocities of 6·53 ± 0·31 and 5·64 ± 0·34 km/sec, respectively. A simplified two-layered crustal model consisting of an average crustal thickness of 41·5 km with 22·2 and 19·3 km thick layers has been obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A switchable wideband reflective metamaterial polarisation rotator based on plasmon resonances has been presented. The proposed design comprises of periodically arranged split rings on which PIN diodes are mounted to demonstrate switching operation. By controlling the bias voltage of the PIN diodes, the polarisation of the reflected wave can be controlled over a broad frequency range. The simulated result shows that over 90% cross-polarised reflection is observed in 2.42-3.52 GHz under OFF state, whereas co-polarised reflection is exhibited under ON state. Polarisation rotation has also been explained using two plasmon resonances in terms of electromagnetic responses. Finally the structure has been fabricated, whose measured results agree well with simulated responses, thus validating the concept behind switchable polarisation rotator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]