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Fusarium dieback is a prevalent disease of tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze) in India and China. The pathogen affects plucking shoots and causes complete crop loss under favourable conditions. Although, other fungal diseases that infect tea were widely explored for pathogen identification and characterization, little is known about Fusarium dieback in major tea growing regions of India. Therefore, in this study 24 isolates of Fusarium species causing dieback on tea in 24 tea gardens of Assam and North Bengal were isolated and characterized through micro-morphological and molecular analysis using multi-locus DNA sequences to determine whether multiple species of Fusarium are responsible for dieback disease. Molecular analysis revealed the association of four species of Fusarium , namely F. concentricum, F. solani, F. fujikuroi, and F. oxysporum. The most dominant species was F. concentricum (62.5%), whereas the occurrence frequencies of F. solani, F. fujikuroi, and F. oxysporum were 20.8%, 12.5%, and 0.04%, respectively. All Fusarium isolates were pathogenic to tea leaves when individually and co-inoculated, with F. concentricum HPE0F10 and NHT0F17 exhibiting 19.3 mm lesion length being the most virulent isolates. The growth rate of the pathogen was positively correlated with lesion lengths (P < 0.001). Co-infection of two or multiple Fusarium species enhanced the disease severity and quicker disease development compared to single inoculation. All the isolates showed diverse genetic backgrounds based on Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) primers and principal coordinate analysis. In fungicide screening test, all isolates except HPE0F10, NDS0F18, and SNY0F22 were insensitive to M1 fungicide (copper oxychloride). Isolates GNP0F8 and LKW0F16 were insensitive to MBC + M3 (Carbendazim + Mancozeb), whereas HPE0F10, NLG0F11, IND0F13, and NLW0F19 were insensitive to DMI (respective each two to Hexaconazole and Valextra) fungicides. Notably, all the isolates were susceptible to propiconazole. Further, ISSR segregated isolates insensitive to MBC + M3 and M1 fungicides into two separate clusters, representing their distinctiveness. The fungicide screening results indicate that fungicide resistance can be managed by rotating different modes of action of fungicides against multiple Fusarium species causing tea dieback. • Fusarium concentricum, F. fujikuroi, F. oxysporum, and F. solani were identified as causal agents of tea dieback. • The identification was confirmed by multi-locus phylogenetic analysis. • Fusarium isolates showed variable pathogenicity through individual and co-inoculation tests. • ISSR primers revealed diverse genetic backgrounds among 24 Fusarium isolates. • Propiconazole was effective against all Fusarium isolates tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted covering a total of one hundred chicken farmers in tribal dominated Boko Block of Kamrup district in Assam to assess different productive and reproductive traits of Desi, Vanaraja and Srinidhi birds under field condition. Information was obtained on mean body weight at various ages, age at first egg, annual egg production, fertility and hatchability and mortality rate. Body weight, egg production and egg weight were significantly(P<0.05) higher in Vanaraja and Srinidhi birds compared to Desi chicken. The age at first egg was significantly (P<0.05) higher in Desi chicken while compared with Vanaraja and Srinidhi under traditional system of management. However no significant (P<0.05) difference was found between Vanaraja and Srinidhi in their body weight and egg production at various ages. Higher mortality percent in Vanaraja (12.23'1.62) and Srinidhi (11.34'1.23) were recorded during 0 to 5 week. No significant (P<0.05) differences were found among all three groups of birds in fertility and hatchability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the workings of science, ideology and economy which integrated Assam into imperial and global commodity networks as a tea 'garden'. It discusses how imperial botanists and their colonial subordinates conceived of botanic gardens as a conduit for transplanting plants such as tea into British-ruled territories. While this clearly served British economic interests, they stressed its vital scientific and strategic implications. The East India Company was willing to finance the Indian tea enterprise when its profitable China monopoly ended. Although the tea plant was found growing wild in Assam, importing Chinese plants and skilled growers was a priority, Nineteenth-century ideas about race science had an important impact, denigrating Assam's plants and people as wild and uncultured, as compared to the civilised lineage of the Chinese. However, as the British acquired greater knowledge about tea cultivation, planters began to prefer bringing cheap, unskilled labourers from other ports of India as indentured coolies to work on harsh terms. For Assam's local people, their high hopes of the tea garden were belied. Their participation in the colonial tea enterprise was mostly limited to subsidiary roles as the region became a dependent outpost of global extractive capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information related to the relocation of one-horned rhinos, Rhinoceros unicornis, from the overpopulated Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India, to other protected areas in the region. Kaziranga represents about 67% of the global population of the rhinoceros. The species is under threat from poaching and the violent ethnic clashes prevalent in the region along with increasing human-rhino encounters due to increase in human population. The Assam state wildlife department, with the help of the International Rhino Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund, has launched "Rhino Vision 2020," to increase the rhino population in Assam to 3000 in the next 15 years by expanding its habitat from the two established parks to seven protected areas. It will be done by shifting 20 to 30 rhinos from Kaziranga and Pabitora parks to five other protected areas.