Background: Comprehensive information on oocyte growth and ovarian development patterns (synchronous or asynchronous) is lacking. Therefore, the present study aimed to study oocyte growth and ovarian development patterns in Eleutheronema tetradactylum collected from the Gujarat coast of India from September 2021 to August 2022. 
 
Methods: 333 female E. tetradactylum were collected from the Navsari coast, Gujarat, India. Macroscopically, determined gonads were preserved in 10% neutral buffered formalin and processed for histology. Ovaries preserved in Gilson&rsquo;s fluid were examined for oocyte size and development pattern, with 150-400 oocytes per fish measured in a microscope. 
 
Result: The results revealed that E. tetradactylum oocytes development stages were classified into five developmental stages. (i) pre-vitellogenic (ii) vitellogenic (iii) late-vitellogenic (iv) postvitellogenic and (v) follicular atresia. The oocyte attained the maturation stage at 550-650 &micro;m. Histological observation and percentage distribution of oocyte types revealed that the E. tetradactylum is an asynchronous and multiple spawner fish species. In the various ovarian maturity stages, the presence of different stages of oocytes confirms asynchronous oocyte growth. Furthermore, the pattern of continuous oocyte size frequency in maturing to the ripe stage indicates a batch spawning strategy. The findings provide essential baseline data for assessing oocyte maturity and optimizing hormonal induction protocols in artificial breeding programs. 
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Histological Observations on Oocyte Development in the Fourfinger Threadfin (Eleutheronema tetradactylum)

<div>Background: The Cotton growing farmers in India are facing major problem at the time of harvest due to labor shortages, asynchronized boll opening, leaf trash in the cotton, which is reducing the boll picking efficiency and fiber quality. Presently, the Indian cotton industry is moving towards mechanical harvesting by cotton harvester. Defoliation or leaf abscission is induced in cotton as a natural physiological process which usually is inadequate for a complete mechanical harvest of cotton. Defoliation before harvest is often induced by managing the plants so that senescence, abscission (separation) layer development and leaf drop are encouraged. Chemical defoliants induce leaf abscission, hasten mature boll dehiscence and inhibit re&shy; growth. Selection of appropriate defoliants is one of the critical decisions in cotton production. Their use can result in increased manual as well as machine harvest efficiency, reducing boll rot and the trash in seed cotton. The physiological basis of defoliation in cotton is essential to understand the role of appropriate defoliant with time of application. Hence, the objective of the study was to evaluate the defoliation efficiency, boll opening percentage and to know the physiological basis of defoliation in response to different defoliants and time of application in high density Cotton cultivation which eases the mechanical harvesting. 
 
Methods: In this field investigation during 2018-2019 at Department of Crop Physiology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore was carried with seven different defoliants and three different time of defoliants application were fixed based on crop maturity and duration of the crop. In this study, high density cotton variety CO 17 was used as experimental material. A series of lab and field analysis were determined on defoliation process, physiological attributes, boll opening percentage and seed yield and quality. The collected data were subjected to statistical analysis. 
 
Result: Our investigation exploring the effect of different defoliants on physiological, biochemical, yield and quality parameters of high density Cotton. Among the different defoliants and time of applications, two defoliants and two times of applications works better in terms of better defoliation, boll opening rate, physiology, yield and quality. The physiological and biochemical effects of defoliants on defoliation process were discussed. The present work will be useful for mechanized picking with these effective defoliants without loss of yield and quality loss in cotton.</div>

Histological Observations on Oocyte Development in the Fourfinger Threadfin (Eleutheronema tetradactylum)

Impact of Chemical Defoliants on Chlorophyll Fluorescence, Biochemical Parameters, Yield and Fiber Quality of High Density Cotton