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Present paper deals with the morphomatric analysis, incidence and biology of leaf eating caterpillar, Diaphania indica, carried out on cucurbits in arid region. The incidence of leaf eating caterpillar was first reported on fruits of different cucurbits and highest fruit infestation was recorded in muskmelon followed by round melon and watermelon fruits at farm of ICAR-CIAH, Bikaner. Eggs are laid on leaves or young shoots or fruits. The female fly laid the eggs in the cavities made by the ovipositor, just beneath the skin of the fruit. The pooled mean duration of the different stages of D. indica viz., the female fecundity (163.35 number), egg period of 3.59 days, larval period of 9.10 days, pre-pupal period of 2.14 days, pupal period of 9.33 days and adult longevity of 10.08 days, respectively. The length of Ist instar larvae is 4.30 ± 0.135 mm and width is 0.53 ± 0.019 mm. The fifth instar larva is 18.10 ± 0.125 mm length and 3.28 ± 0.043 mm width. Pupa is 13.66 ± 0.088 mm length and 2.28 ± 0.043 mm width. Adult female body length was 11.19 ± 0.211 mm and width 24.54 ± 0.201 with wing expansion. The male body length is 11.00 ± 0.159 mm and width 22.85 ± 0.156 mm with wing expansion. The morphometric variations of different life stages of the D. indica have been recorded. Growers can adopt this study for the timely management of D. indica in arid condition.

Host plant resistance is an important component of integrated pest management of the melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett). Various phenotypic traits including length of ovary pubescence, rind hardness, rind thickness, fruit length, fibre content, and fruit diameter and alleochemical traits including flavonoid content, ascorbic acid, free amino acid, tannins content and phenols content of fruit were studied on fifteen varieties/genotypes of ridge gourd, Luffa acutangula in relation to resistance against B. cucurbitae under field conditions in the hot arid region of India. Significant differences were found in tested varieties/genotypes for fruit infestation and larval density per fruit. The varieties/genotypes AHRG-57 (15.92%), AHRG-29 (17.67%) and Pusa Nasdar (18.27%) were found resistant; AHRG-41 (21.77%), AHRG-35 (25.38%), Arka Sujata (30.08%), AHRG-36 (34.8%), S. Manjari (39.67%) and S. Uphar (42.3%) were moderately resistant; AHRG-30 (55.67%), AHRG-42 (57.63%) and AHRG-33 (57.67%) were susceptible; AHRG-47 (77.75%) and AHRG-31 (79.72) were found the highly susceptible varieties/genotypes to melon fruit fly infestation. A significant positive correlation ( r = 0.96) was also observed between percent fruit infestation and larval density per fruit. The percent fruit infestation and larval density had significant positive correlation with fruit length and diameter and negative correlation with length of ovary pubescence, rind hardness and rind thickness. Based on Kaiser Normalization method, two principal components (PCs) were extracted explaining cumulative variation of 90% in melon fruit fly infestation and length of ovary pubescence, rind thickness, flavonoid content, ascorbic acid, free amino acid, tannins content, and phenols content were the reliable variables for characterization of resistance. Ridge gourd varieties/genotypes AHRG-57, Pusa Nasdar and AHRG-29 were classified as resistant to B. cucurbitae and these could be used in future breeding program as resistant sources.

Host plant resistance is an important component of integrated pest management of the melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae). We studied various antixenotic and allelochemical traits in the fruit for 15 varieties/genotypes of watermelon Citrellus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsumara & Nakai (Cucurbitales: Cucurbitaceae) in relation to resistance against B. cucurbitae under field conditions in a hot arid region of India. Results showed significant differences in tested varieties/genotypes in levels of fruit infestation and larval density per fruit. The varieties/genotypes ‘Asahi Yamato’ (12.73%), ‘AHW/BR-16’ (15.10%), and ‘Thar Manak’ (18.27%) were found to be resistant; ‘Durgapura Lal’ (23.03%), ‘Sugar Baby’ (26.67%), ‘AHW/BR-12’ (29.73%), ‘Arka Manik’ (34.15%), ‘Charleston Gray’ (38.70%), ‘AHW-65’ (35.80%), and ‘AHW-19’ (48.97%) were found to be moderately resistant; and ‘IC 582909’ (53.18%), ‘AHW/BR-60’ (55.52%), ‘BSM-1’ (59.10%), ‘AHW/BR-137’ (60.58%), and ‘AHW/BR-9’ (67.37%) were found to be susceptible to fruit fly infestation. Significant positive correlation (r = 0.99; P < 0.01) was observed between percentage fruit infestation and larval density per fruit. Percentage fruit infestation and larval density per fruit were significantly and positively correlated with fruit length (r = 0.57 and 0.55, respectively) and with days to first fruit harvest (r = 0.75 and 0.76, respectively), but negatively correlated with length of ovary pubescence (r = −0.91 and −0.91, respectively), rind hardness (r = −0.86 and −0.87, respectively), and rind thickness (r = −0.77 and −0.75, respectively). Maximum variation in fruit infestation and larval density were explained by length of ovary pubescence (82.5 and 83.6%, respectively) followed by fruit length (4.3 and 3.0%, respectively) and rind thickness (3.2 and 2.0%, respectively). Free amino acid content was lowest in the resistant ‘Asahi Yamato’ and highest in the susceptible ‘BSM-1’, whereas the contents of phenols, tannins, total alkaloids, and flavonoids were highest in resistant and lowest in susceptible varieties/genotypes. Flavonoid and total alkaloid contents explained 88.4 and 92.0%, respectively, of the total variation in fruit fly infestation and in larval density per fruit.

So many men's, so many opinions are there for managing a difficult airway in a child with temporomandibular joint ankylosis (TMJA). It is an exceptionally challenging even in hands of experienced anesthesiologist. Success lies in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. At times newer equipments and techniques turn out to be failure with uncooperative child. Here we present a case report of TMJA where successful intubation was possible in child with limited mouth opening

Host plant resistance is an important component for management of the melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett), owing to difficulties associated with its chemical and biological control. Various biochemical traits including total sugar, reducing sugar, non-reducing sugar, tannins, phenols, alkaloids, flavinoid and pH contents of fruit were studied on 11varieties/ genotypes of muskmelon, Cucumis melo L., in relation to resistance against B. cucurbitae under field conditions. Significant differences were found in tested varieties/ genotypes for fruit infestation and larval density per fruit. AHMM/BR-1, RM-50 and AHMM/BR-8 were the most resistant; MHY-5, Durgapura Madhu and Pusa Sarabati were moderately resistant; AHMM/BR-13, Pusa Madhuras and Arka Jeet were susceptible; whereas Arka Rajhans and GMM-3 were the highly susceptible varieties/ genotypes to fruit fly in both seasons, 2011 and 2012. The larval density per fruit increased with an increase in percent fruit infestation and there was a significant positive correlation (r = 0.97) between percent fruit infestation and larval density per fruit. Total sugar, reducing sugar, non-reducing sugar and pH were lowest in resistant and highest in susceptible varieties/ genotypes, whereas tannins, phenols, alkaloids and flavinoid contents were highest in resistant and lowest in susceptible varieties/ genotypes. Total alkaloid and pH contents explained 97.96% of the total variation in fruit fly infestation and 92.83% of the total variation in larval density per fruit due to alkaloids and total sugar contents.

Interspecific hybridization is an important tool to elucidate intergenomic relationships, transfer characters across species, create genetic variability, and to develop synthetic amphidiploids. It has been widely used for improving Brassica. The present study was conducted to find out the crossability between Brassica juncea (AABB, 2n=36) and B. napus (AACC, 2n=38), analyze chromosome association in the F1 hybrids, and to estimate variability in F2 progenies of the cross. The crossability between B. juncea and B. napus was higher when B. juncea was used as the female parent. The hybrids, in general, were vigorous and intermediate in morphological attributes. The meiotic studies of F1 plants of cross B. juncea × B. napus (AABC, 2n=37) exhibited 10 bivalents in the majority of the pollen mother cells (PMCs) analyzed. A maximum of 14 bivalents in AABC hybrids and the presence of multivalent associations were attributed to the autoand allosyndetic nature of pairing within and between the B and C genomes. In the F2 generation, a high percentage of plants resembling B. juncea type and transgressive segregation for many characters were found.

The crossability between Brassica tournefortii (TT, 2n = 20) and Brassica rapa (AA, 2n = 20) and the cytomorphology of their F1 hybrids were studied. Hybrids between these two species were obtained only when B. tournefortii was involved as a female parent. The hybrid plants were intermediate for most of the morphological attributes and were found to be free from white rust under field conditions. The F1 plants showed poor pollen fertility, although occasional seed set was achieved from open pollination. Self-pollination or backcrosses did not yield any seeds in these plants. The occurrence of chromosome association ranging from bivalents (0–7), trivalents (0–2) to a rare quadrivalent (0–1) in the dihaploid hybrids indicates pairing between the T and A genomes. The homoeologous pairing coupled with seed set in the F1 plants offer an opportunity for interspecific gene transfers from B. tournefortii to B. rapa and vice-versa through interspecific hybridization.

Amphidiploid Raphanofortii was synthesized by colchicinization of the F1 hybrid Brassica tournefortii (TT, 2n = 20)×Raphanus caudatus (RR, 2n = 18). The crossability between these two species, and the cytomorphology of the F1 plants and the amphidiploids were investigated. Intergeneric hybrids between the species were obtained only when B. tournefortii was involved as female parent. The hybrid plants were intermediate for most of the morphological attributes and showed very low pollen fertility compared to the parents. Although a majority of the pollen mother cells of the dihaploid hybrid (TR, 2n = 19) harboured univalents, a maximum of six bivalents were also observed. Of the 37 colchicine-treated F1 plants analyzed cytologically, 21 were found to be true amphidiploids (2n = 38), whereas seven were mixoploids. Meiosis in the amphidiploids was characterized by the occurrence of 19 bivalents, though multivalents and univalents were also observed in a few cells. Most of the amphidiploid plants exhibited a fairly high pollen and seed fertility, which was further enhanced with the advancement of generations. Out of 69 plants investigated in the A2 generation, 64 were euploids while the remaining five were aneuploids (2n = 36, 37, 39, 40 and 42). The newly synthesized Raphanofortii has great potential as a new commercial crop, as well as a bridge species for the transfer of economically important attributes of both the species to other Brassicas.

The crossability between Brassica carinata (BBCC, 2n=34) and Brassica rapa (AA, 2n=20), and the cytomorphology of their F1 hybrids were studied. Hybrids between these two species were only obtained when B. carinata was used as the female parent. The hybrid plants exhibited intermediate leaf and flower morphology, and were found to be free from white rust and Alternaria blight diseases. One of the four F1 plants was completely male sterile, while the remaining plants had 4.8, 8.6, and 10.9% stainable pollen, respectively. No seed was produced on hybrid plants under self pollination or in backcrosses; but seed was obtained from open pollination. The occurrence of the maximum of 11 bivalents as well as up to 44.8%) of cells with multivalent associations in the form of trivalents (0-2) and a quadrivalent (0-1) in the trigenomic triploid hybrid (ABC, 2n = 27) revealed intergenomic homoeology among the A, B and C genomes. Meiotic analysis of F1 hybrids indicated that traits of economic importance, such as disease resistance, could be transferred from B. carinata to B. rapa through interspecific crosses.

Host plant resistance is an important component for management of the melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) owing to difficulties associated with its chemical and biological control. A total of 27 watermelon varieties/genotypes were evaluated for their susceptiblity to the fruit fly in hot arid region of Rajasthan. The results showed that the varieties/genotypes viz. percentage of fruit infestation and larval population per fruit varied significantly. Pooled data showed that the varieties/genotypes viz., AHW/BR-60, BSM-1, IC 582909, AHW/BR-9, AHW/BR-137, Durgapura Kesar, AHW/BR-10, AHW/BR-18, AHW/BR-8, AHW/BR-21, AHW/BR-20 and YF-4 can be categorized as susceptible with considerable fruit infestation (55.72%, 59.28%, 53.05%, 67.20%, 60.43%, 61.83%, 63.87%, 63.62%, 59.45%, 59.62%, 62.52% and 55.68%, respectively) and with larval population per fruit viz. 17.12, 17.85, 16.45, 19.23, 17.90, 18.48, 18.38, 18.32, 18.40, 17.57, 17.93 and 17.70, respectively. The varieties/genotypes Asahi Yamato, AHW/BR-16 and Thar Manak had 12–18% fruit infestation (12.75%, 15.05% and 18.18%, respectively) with 1–1 lawal per fruit (10.13, 10.82 and 11.08, respectively) and declared which can be considered resistant. Lower values of host plant susceptibility indices based on fruit infestation (HPSI) were recorded on resistance varieties/genotypes, viz., Asahi Yamato, AHW/BR-16 and Thar Manak (28.85%, 34.05% and 41.14%, respectively). These could be used as a source of resistance for developing watermelon varieties/genotypes resistant to fruit fly.

Seventeen bottle gourd genotypes such as Pusa Naveen, Pusa Samridhi, Udaipur Local, Pusa Santushti, Pusa Sandesh, PSPL, Chomu Lo-cal, Azad Harit, Panchmahal Local, Arka Bahar, Thar Samridhi, PN-22, DBG-5, DBG-6, Jodhpur Local, IC-567538 and Sriganganagar Local were evaluated for resistance against Alternaria blight during rainy season of 2011 and 2012 under field conditions. Among them, 06 varieties such as Pusa Naveen, Pusa Samridhi, Pusa Sandesh, Pusa Santushti, Arka Bahar and PSPL showed moderately resistant having 4.87–8.62% disease severity and 10 genotypes were categorized as moderately susceptible (13.0 to 24.75%) while one germplasm ‘Chomu Local ’proved suscepti-ble against this disease.