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Agroforestry is a sustainable land use system that integrates trees and shrubs on farmlands and rural landscapes to enhance productivity, profitability, diversity and ecosystem sustainability. In the present study effect of different organic manures on production of Lepidium sativum (a veterinary galactogogue/medicinal herb) under open conditions and Morus alba based agroforestry system was investigated. The experiment comprised of 8 treatments. It was observed that treatment T7 recorded higher plant height whereas other growth and yield parameter were recorded to be maximum in treatment T6. Highest number of branches, number of main stem, number of pods, yield parameters were observed in treatment T6 while the lowest was recorded in treatment T4. From the economical point of view, the treatment T3 resulted in higher net return (1154.27 USD $ ha-1) and BC ratio (2.44). Bangladesh J. Bot. 51(4): 797-805, 2022 (December)

The Agroforestry systems practiced traditionally in Himalayan region are witnessed by the trees retained by farmers on their farmland. This traditional sustainable land use may be driven by topographical features, socio-economic conditions, cultural and aesthetic values in the region. For the development of any location-specific agroforestry technology, understanding the basis as well as goals towards which it is to be directed plays an important role. With the time human population has increased, rapid urbanization and industrialization increasing demand an alternate land use system tending to cope with the developmental activities in a sustainable manner. Agroforestry technology acts as a cushion against the ecological hazards associated with the developmental activities. The present article is an overview of the various agroforestry practices prevalent and their structural composition in different agro-ecological zones, along with their potential bio-economic productivity, in Himachal Pradesh of North-Western Himalayan region. Agri-silviculture, agri-horticulture, agri-silvi-horticulture, agri-horti-silviculture, horti-silviculture, silvi-pasture, pastoral-silviculture, agri-silvi-pasture, pastoral-silvi-horticulture, etc. are among different agroforestry systems in the region with structural composition varying as per needs and preferences of the farmers and suiting ecological conditions. The production potential in terms of biological productivity ranged between 5.13ton ha-1 and 198.20 ton ha-1. Economically, the benefit and cost ratio of the systems varied from 1.23 to 5.77 depending on the nature of the components associated, expenses incurred, and the returns obtained from the systems. Further, being economically viable the important advantage associated with the agroforestry is the carbon storage potential helping in mitigation and adaptation to the changing climatic conditions. The carbon stock potential among different agroforestry systems varied from 29.72 ton ha-1 to109.93 ton ha-1.

Livestock farmers always incline producing young ones of the desired sex, to meet the increasing demand for meat and milk which leads to economic benefits to the farmer. Earlier, various techniques have been employed to separate the X and Y sperm, some of the techniques showed encouraging results but lack scientific validation and some remained yet to be established. Presently only one, flow cytometry, is effective. However, the accuracy of the process is great but the speed and yield are slow and low. Additionally, equipment is extremely expensive, and specially trained technicians are required to assure sorting accuracy. Despite these limitations, sexed semen is being produced and cryopreserved for artificial insemination.

The Agroforestry systems practiced traditionally in Himalayan region are witnessed by the trees retained by farmers on their farmland. This traditional sustainable land use may be driven by topographical features, socio-economic conditions, cultural and aesthetic values in the region. For the development of any location-specific agroforestry technology, understanding the basis as well as goals towards which it is to be directed plays an important role. With the time human population has increased, rapid urbanization and industrialization increasing demand an alternate land use system tending to cope with the developmental activities in a sustainable manner. Agroforestry technology acts as a cushion against the ecological hazards associated with the developmental activities. The present article is an overview of the various agroforestry practices prevalent and their structural composition in different agro-ecological zones, along with their potential bio-economic productivity, in Himachal Pradesh of North-Western Himalayan region. Agri-silviculture, agri-horticulture, agri-silvi-horticulture, agri-horti-silviculture, horti-silviculture, silvi-pasture, pastoral-silviculture, agri-silvi-pasture, pastoral-silvi-horticulture, etc. are among different agroforestry systems in the region with structural composition varying as per needs and preferences of the farmers and suiting ecological conditions. The production potential in terms of biological productivity ranged between 5.13ton ha-1and 198.20 ton ha-1. Economically, the benefit and cost ratio of the systems varied from 1.23 to 5.77 depending on the nature of the components associated, expenses incurred, and the returns obtained from the systems. Further, being economically viable the important advantage associated with the agroforestry is the carbon storage potential helping in mitigation and adaptation to the changing climatic conditions. The carbon stock potential among different agroforestry systems varied from 29.72 ton ha-1to109.93 ton ha-1.

Background: Himachal Pradesh is one of the important apple producing state in India and a substantial quantity of apple fruit is utilized in processing for the preparation of juice and the left-over apple pomace remains a pollutant owing to the un-hygienic nature of apple pomace and its quick bio-degradability. Only a small fraction of apple pomace is traditionally being utilized in animal feeding due to the rapid spoilage of the wet pomace. The utilization of apple pomace in animal feeding remains a challenge and thus an attempt was made to ensile the maize through incorporation of apple pomace. Methods: The study was conducted to evaluate the nutritive value of maize silage incorporated with different levels of apple pomace and to study the effect of feeding silage on milk performance of crossbred cows. In the experiment apple pomace was incorporated in maize silage at 10, 20 and 30 per cent level. Result: On studying the proximate composition of different silage it was found that silage (T3) containing 80 per cent maize, 10 per cent apple pomace and 10 per cent mulberry leaves showed promising results. In T3 the proximate principles viz. dry matter, crude protein, crude fibre, ether extract, neutral detergent fibre acid detergent fibre, total ash, acid insoluble ash and pH were in ideal range and was at par with the silage formed by ensiling of sole maize crop. In the animal feeding trial, on feeding of apple pomace based maize silage 10.21 per cent higher milk yield was recorded with significantly higher milk fat, SNF and proteins. The net return on feeding of apple pomace based maize silage to crossbred cows was ₹ 149.00 which was higher than the control group (₹143.00 cow-1 day-1).

Apple based beverages are rich source of sugars and dietary fibres but deficit in proteins and some minerals like calcium. Whey- a major environmental pollutant from dairy industry is an excellent source of proteins and calcium. Non-nutritive sweeteners can be used for the development of low calorie hypoglycaemic beverages. Therefore, the present work was planned to optimize and evaluate the effect of fructooligosaccharide (FOS) incorporation on physico-chemical, nutritional and sensory characteristics of apple-whey blended ready-to-serve beverage. Herbal apple-whey blended beverage was prepared by using 75% apple juice+25% whey with 2.5% jaljeera extract and 13oB TSS. Results revealed that the beverage with 75% sweetos (mixture of fructooligosaccharide and sucralose) was found most acceptable with overall acceptability score of 8.59±0.26. Selected beverage had 12.20±0.01oBrix TSS, 0.30±0.01% acidity, 6.28±0.03% reducing sugar, 9.43±0.06% total sugars, 10.57±0.05 mg/100 g ascorbic acid, 37.84±0.03 mg/100 g total phenols, 15.64±0.02 mg/100 mL calcium, 0.28±0.03% protein and 1.59±0.03% FOS thus depicting enhanced nutritional value. Beverages were stored successfully for a period of 60 days under ambient and refrigerated conditions. However, various quality parameters of RTS beverage were retained higher under refrigerated storage conditions. Conclusively, this creates a scope for better health beverage as well as efficient utilization of whey.

Forty half sib progenies in open pollinated seedling seed orchard of Grewia optiva Drummond were evaluated for morphometric and fodder quality traits. The analysis of variance indicated highly significant differences among the various half sib families for all the traits. The experimental results revealed that out of 40 families, ten families viz., SI-15, SO-3, HA-2, HA-3,HA-4,SO-7,SH-7,SO-4,SI-6 and SI-14 were found superior on the basis of overall mean performance for all quantitative and qualitative traits under study. Hence, these ten half sib families in the seedling seed orchard can be used in further breeding programme and providing mother’s replica.

Bamboos are used extensively for a variety of purposes, and many new species have been introduced to the northwestern Himalaya. However, their potential as a fodder species has not been investigated. Six bamboo species, namely Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Gamble, Dendrocalamus asper (Schult. and Schult.f.) Backer ex K. Heyne, Melocanna baccifera (Roxb.) Kurz, Phyllostachys aurea Riviere and C. Riviere, Phyllostachys bambusoides Sieb and Zucc. and Phyllostachys pubescens (Pradelle) Mazel ex J. Houz. were evaluated for their nutritional value, relative palatability and best lopping time. Dry matter (DM), ether extract (EE), and crude fibre varied from (37.0–67.7)%, (4.7–7.6), and (22.1–37.9)%, respectively. Values of crude protein ranged from (12.2–17.1)%, total ash (TA) from (11.8–21.5)%, acid insoluble ash (AIA) from (0.3–0.5)%, nitrogen free extract from (31.1–40.8)%, carbohydrates from (57.0–69.0)%, organic matter (OM) from (78.5–88.2)%, calcium from (1.7–2.3)%, phosphorus from (0.4–0.8)%, potassium from, (0.9–1.6)%, magnesium from (0.5–0.9)%, sodium from (603.7–1072.7) × 10−6 and vitamin A from (21.1–30.5) × 10−2 mg/g, respectively. D. hamiltonii had maximum values for DM, EE, TA and AIA. OM and vitamin A were highest in M. baccifera. CF and carbohydrates were maximized in P. aurea and CP in P. pubescens. All the values obtained for different bamboo species were less than maximum tolerable concentration of common feed resources of the region thereby indicating their suitability for nutrition and palatability. The contents of anti-nutritional factors, namely hydrocyanic acid and tannin ranged from (33.8–61.7) × 10−2 mg/g and (0.7–1.9)%, respectively. P. pubescens was the best species from a palatability point of view and has maximum crude protein content (17.2%), Ca (2.3%) and lowest tannin content (0.7%). The relative palatability of introduced bamboo species followed trend: P. pubescens (97.6%) > D. hamiltonii (92.5%) > P. bambusoides (81.2%) > D. asper (76.9%) > M. baccifera (75.9%) > P. aurea (73.4%). The optimum months for lopping these species for green leaves are November and December, as the nutritional value declines sharply thereafter.

Aim To study the effect of preputial washing on bacterial load, preservability and semen quality in Murrah buffalo bulls. Materials and methods A total of 36 collections of three Murrah buffalo bulls maintained at Artificial Breeding Research Centre, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, were collected at weekly intervals from each bull without preputial washing and latter ejaculates from same bull with preputial washing by infusing normal saline (0.85%), KMnO4 (0.02%) and savlon (2.0%) to first, second and third bull, respectively. The microbial load and semen quality were evaluated during different hours of storage at refrigerated temperature (0, 24 and 48 h) and after thrawing of cryopreserved (at -196°C) semen. Results The results of preservation of semen at refrigerated temperature showed that bacterial load was markedly lower in ejaculates of bulls subjected to preputial washing. Semen preserved at refrigerator temperature and cryopreserved, the effect of washing solution was significant for individual motility (IM), non-eosiniphilic count, hypo-osmotic swelling reactivity (HOST), total plate count (TPC) and acrosome integrity. KMnO4 was found to be the best in lowering bacterial load, sperm abnormalities and in improving semen quality such as motility, non-eosinophilic count, HOST and acrosome integrity even up to 48 h of preservation and cryopreserved semen. Effect of duration of preservation and stage of cryopreservation was also significant for IM, non-eosiniphilic count, HOST, sperm abnormalities and acrosome integrity. Conclusion Overall the results suggested that preputial washing with KMnO4 solution improved the semen quality and reduced microbial load of Murrah buffalo bull's semen preserved at refrigerated temperature and cryopreservation.

The aim of the present study was designed to investigate the effect of varying osmolarity of tris egg yolk citrate glycerol extender on seminal attributes of buffalo at various hours of refrigeration at 5 oC. Twenty four ejaculates having mass motility ≥ 3+ from 4 bulls (6 ejaculate from each bull) were collected. Each ejaculate was divided into four group’s viz., Group I, Group II, Group III and Group IV, diluted with extenders with osmolarities of 240, 260, 280 and 300, milliosmol/kg, respectively, upto 80×106 sperm/ml. After, dilution, semen samples were filled in French mini straws and kept at 5°C and evaluated at 0, 24, 48, and 72, hours for various seminal attributes such as individual motility, viability, acrosomal integrity, and hypo-osmotic swelling test. No significant difference in individual motility at 0 hour was observed among all the groups. However, at 24, 48 and 72 hours, the individual motility was significantly (P

The present study was carried out to analyse nutrient and anti-nutritional principles in Pittosporum floribundum on seasonal basis to determine its best cultivation time and to assess its value as potential fodder species in the mid Himalayan zone, H.P. The highest CP (14.58%), DM (58.86%), OM (90.97%), P (0.24%), K (2.55%), Mn (47 ppm) contents were higher during spring season while CF (16.63%), ADF (23.30%) and NDF (34.92%) levels were the maximum during summer season. Winter season exhibited the highest NFE (62.06%), total carbohydrates (74.58%), Ca (4.38%), Cu (21.80 ppm), Fe (696.20 ppm) and Zn (54.40 ppm) contents. Anti-nutritional principles viz., phenol (1.32%) and tannins (0.22%) were the lowest during summer season and the highest during autumn season. Nitrate content was the highest (4.99 ppm) in spring season while saponins levels were the maximum (32.40%) during winter season. All anti-nutrients except saponins were observed to be below the toxic level for animal consumption in P. floribundum. Hence, P. floribundum has a high potential as feed for livestock.