Background: The global rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a serious threat to public health, emphasizing the urgent need for accurate, rapid and efficient detection methods. Conventional approaches for detecting AMR genes typically involve bacterial isolation followed by DNA extraction-procedures that are time-consuming, involve multiple steps and are not well-suited for routine screening. This study aimed to optimize a direct PCR method for the detection of AMR genes and to apply the standardized protocol for screening these genes in various sample types. 
 
Methods: A total of 150 samples (50 samples from each category) were collected from Chennai district, Tamil Nadu, India. The bacteria was isolated following standard protocols, DNA was extracted and PCR amplication was done to detect the presence of AMR genes. In the Direct PCR Master, PCR amplification was done directly from samples without the need for prior DNA extraction.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Escherichia coli was most prevalent in cloacal samples, followed by chicken meat and water, whereas Staphylococcus aureus was predominantly found in chicken meat, followed by water and cloacal samples. Regardless of the source, the genes tetA, sul1 and blaOXA-1 were consistently detected in E. coli, while tetA, sul1 and qnrA were most prevalent in S. aureus isolates. When comparing conventional culture dependent method with the direct PCR method, the latter showed a high concordance rate (&gt;76%) with the culture-dependent method, demonstrating strong sensitivity and specificity for most target genes. Additionally, the direct PCR approach offers several advantages, including reduced risk of contamination, a simplified workflow and shorter turnaround times. These benefits make it a promising alternative for rapid detection of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes, especially in resource-limited settings or during outbreak situations.

Rapid Detection of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Genes by Direct PCR Method: A Comparative Study with Culture-dependent Method

<div style="text-align: justify;">Decades of documented successful pieces of evidence in agritech have shown us a clear picture of the importance of biotechnology in crop improvement. The production in agriculture should have steady growth and to achieve these objective conventional methods should go on parallel with biotechnological approaches. Genetic engineering which has revolutionized the path of crop improvement involves the identification and transfer of novel genes into the existing elite cultivars. Different methods of transferring the gene into plant cells have been developed and continuous efforts have been made to increase its efficiency. Both direct and indirect method of gene transfer has its own merits and demerits. Efforts have been made continuously to eliminate drawbacks and to develop an easy, elite and eco-friendly method to transfer genes. The transformation method which is a base of genetic engineering is vital and Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer and gene gun have shown to be doing well in recent years. As a whole the methodology involved, merits and demerits of different methods have been briefly discussed.</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">Genetic Transformation Methods for Crop Improvement- A Brief Review</div>

<div style="text-align:justify">Background: India is mainly an agriculturist country where agriculture is a very important sector for Indian economy. Different varieties of crops are grown in huge acres of land yielding sufficient quantity. But due to frequent attacks of pests and pathogens the plants gets infected and develops different diseases. These diseases affect the quality of crop production and put the consumer&rsquo;s health at risk. Thus, it is important to keep a track on the health of the plants on a regular basis so that required action can be taken without wasting any time. Therefore the study aimed to propose a method for automatic classification of healthy and diseased plant leaves using transfer learning approach.&nbsp; 
Methods: Deep learning is gaining popularity among researchers due to its several advantages. Two approaches were used in deep learning: one is to build a model from scratch and the other to use pre-trained models (PTMs). This concept is known as transfer learning. It is based on the concept where the network learns from existing models and uses the knowledge to solve a completely different problem. These models are trained on huge datasets to solve a task that is similar to our desired problem. Mobile Net V2 has been used for our research problem and the beans dataset which is a publicly available dataset.&nbsp; 
Result: Mobile Net V2 is a very light weight model which is trained on more than 1.4 M images. We have downloaded the pre-trained model and fine tuned the last layer to solve our desired task. The results observed that in just only 30 epochs our proposed model could achieve a classification accuracy of 98%. Also, we have compared our proposed method with other existing methods in literature and found that our proposed method had higher classification accuracy than other existing methods.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

A Transfer Learning Approach for Leaf Image based Classification of Healthy and Diseased Leaves

<div>Background: We investigated the occurrence of blaCTX-M carrying extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) producing Escherichia coli in pigs from 8 North-eastern states of India with special emphasis on the transferability of ESBL gene from resistant E. coli strains to the susceptible Salmonella strains by in vitro and in vivo. 
 
Methods: Fecal samples (n=790) were collected from pigs reared under organized and unorganized farming set up of entire North-eastern region of India. All the samples were processed for isolation and identification of E. coli. All the isolates were subjected to antimicrobial sensitivity assay by disc diffusion method followed by determination of ESBLs producing ability by double disc synergy test (DDST). All the ESBLs producing isolates were screened for blaCTX-M gene by PCR using specific primers. The representative blaCTX-M gene positive isolates were used as donor to determine the ability to transfer of resistance gene in Salmonella by in vitro and in vivo assays with and without antibiotic selection pressure. &nbsp; 
 
Result: A total of 2,291 E. coli was isolated, of which 1113 and 1178 were from organized and unorganized farms, respectively. Majority of the isolates were multi-drug resistant with highest resistance against amoxicillin (84.81%) followed by cefalexin (77.17%), sulphafurazole (56.79%), piperacillin (46.40%), tetracycline (38.29%) and cefexime (35.66%). Isolates from unorganized farms showed higher resistance than the isolates recovered from organized farms. A total of 654 (28.55%) isolates were confirmed as ESBL producers by double disc synergy test (DDST) method, of which 65 (2.84%) isolates were positive for blaCTX-M gene. Genotypically, isolates with specific amino acids substitution revealed variation in their antibiotic susceptibility by phenotypic method. blaCTX-M gene could be successfully transferred horizontally from E. coli (donor) to Salmonella (recipient) by in vitro (3.6&plusmn;2.07x10-8 to 4.4&plusmn;2.88x10-8 transconjugate per donor) and in vivo method. By in vivo method in pig model, the frequency of transfer was higher under the antibiotic selection pressure (6.6&plusmn;3.05x10-5 to 7.2&plusmn;1.92x10-5 trans-conjugants per donor) than without antibiotic pressure (5.6&plusmn;2.3x10-4 to 6.8&plusmn;3.35x10-4 trans-conjugants per donor).</div>

Transferable blaCTX-M Carrying Multidrug Resistant Escherichia coli from Pig Population of North Eastern Region of India

<div style="text-align: justify;">The study was conducted in the Udaipur district of Rajasthan to find the knowledge and benefits gained by rural women from Rashtriya Krishi Beema Yojana (RKBY) and problems faced by them in gaining benefits of the scheme. A sample of 100 rural women was selected randomly for the present study from four villages namely Dhar, Kathar,Madar and Mathatha from the Badgaon panchayat samiti of Udaipur, Rajasthan. Personal interview method was used for data collection. Frequencies, percentage, means percent scores and mean weighted scores were used for analysis of the data. Findings reveal that the respondents possessed average knowledge about RKBY with the MPS of 38.54. Regarding the benefit of RKBY gained by the rural women, it was found that the benefit of scheme was gained only by 2 per cent of the respondents. Study of problems experienced by rural women in gaining benefits of the RKBY revealed that the respondents faced the problems of unavailability of benefit on time to large extent with MPS 3.</div>

Benefits gained by the rural women of Udaipur from Rashtriya Krishi Beema Yojana

<div>Background: With the unparalleled growth in area and production, soybean has established itself as a leading oilseed crop of India. The crop is mainly grown under rainfed conditions, and the distribution of rainfall plays an important role in yield realization. The changed landform management with broad-bed furrow seed drill is gaining popularity as the system helps in in situ moisture conservation and draining out excess rainwater. A field experiment was conducted at Regional Sugarcane and Rice Research Station, Rudrur. The yield advantage by adoption of broad-bed and furrow (BBF) method over flat bed was 7.06%. Seed rate of 50 kg ha-1&nbsp;recorded significantly higher mean seed yield of 2804 kg ha-1 over 75, 38, 20 kg ha-1. The total benefit from adoption of BBF method recorded net returns of ₹ 53,233 ha-1&nbsp;and B:C ratio of 2.58 over flatbed planting. Seed rate of 50 kg seed ha-1 recorded the highest net returns and B:C ratio this was followed by 75 kg ha-1 seed rate. 
 
Methods: A field experiment was conducted for three years (2017-19) at Regional Sugarcane and Rice Research Station, Rudrur, situated at an altitude of 286.3 m above mean sea level at 18&deg;49&rsquo;41&quot; N latitude and 78&deg;56&rsquo; 45&quot; E longitude. Indeterminate variety of soybean ASB 22 was selected. The experimental plots (6m &times; 6m= 36m2) were laid out with split plot design with three replications. Main&nbsp; plot treatments were methods of planting: M1- Flat bed, M2- Broad bed and Furrow, and sub plot treatments were : seed rates; S1- 75 kg ha-1 (30 &times; 10 cm), S2- 50 kg ha-1 (30 &times; 15 cm),&nbsp; S3- 38 kg ha-1 (30 &times; 20 cm),&nbsp; S4- 20 kg ha-1 (30 &times; 30 cm). 
 
Result: The grain yields, water productivity, harvest index and economics of soybeans under BBF method of planting (in-situ water conservation) and flatbed practices were studied. BBF method increased seasonal soil water storage by 5.37%, 5.78% and 6.20% respectively compared with flatbed planting for 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively. Seed rate of 50 kg ha-1 recorded significantly higher mean seed yield of 2804 kg ha-1 over 75, 38, 20 kg ha-1. The yield advantage by adopting seed rate of 50 kg ha-1 was 16.08%, 56.02% and 67.6% over 75, 38 and 20 kg ha-1 respectively. The total benefit from adoption of BBF method recorded net returns of ₹&nbsp;53,233 ha-1 and B:C ratio of 2.58 over flatbed planting. Seed rate of 50 kg ha-1 recorded the highest net returns and B:C ratio this was followed by 75 kg ha-1. Broad bed and furrow method of planting and optimum seed rate in soybean will enhance the soybean productivity.</div>

Enhancement of Soybean (Glycine max L.)&nbsp;Productivity through Sowing Methods and Seed Rates in Telangana State

<div style="text-align: justify;">Background: Cardamom is often valued as the third most expensive spice in the world after saffron and vanilla. The prominent area where e-marketing is adopted in spice trade in Kerala is in the e-auctioning of cardamom. The Spices Board had introduced e-auction of cardamom in Vandanmedu, Idukki, Kerala in December 2007. The other e-marketing platforms of cardamom includes marketing through websites and social media. The current study aimed to delineate the benefits and constraints perceived by farmers in e-marketing of cardamom. 
Methods: The study was conducted in the Idukki district of Kerala. Sixty farmers undertaking e-marketing of cardamom were selected and interviewed, six each from the ten panchayats with maximum area under cardamom cultivation. The benefits and constraints identified based on open-ended questions during survey were listed and ranked according to their frequency and percentage. 
Result: The major benefits of e-marketing identified were the availability of proper transaction records and bills, assurance of timely delivery and prompt payment and absence of information asymmetry between buyers and sellers. The major constraints of e-marketing identified were the delay in payments, exploitation of farmers by auctioning agencies and effect of lot number in the e-auction on the prices offered.</div>

E-Marketing of Small Cardamom in Kerala: Constraint-Benefit Analysis

Background: Agarwood farmers are currently unable to extract agarwood oil because they do not get any benefit from the processing process due to the high cost and the yield obtained is still low; it is necessary to identify the right processing method so that they can obtain high agarwood oil and the cost is not too expensive. The added value of agarwood oil can be obtained by processing agarwood into oleoresin through agarwood oil extraction. 
&nbsp; 
Methods: This study consists of several aspects of identifying the added value of agarwood oil. The first aims to extract agarwood oil using several techniques, namely microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE). Then calculate the Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and the added value of agarwood oil using the Hayami method. 
&nbsp; 
Result: The calculation of life cycle costing shows that microwave-assisted maceration is the most effective and cheapest extraction method, with a cost of IDR 1,063 and has an extract yield of 4 grams during the 24-hour extraction process. An extract yield of 2 grams was obtained for 24 hours for IDR 2,127 for the extraction process using the ultrasonic-assisted maceration method. The results of the calculation of added value from the comparison of agarwood oil extraction methods show that the agarwood oil processing method with the microwave-assisted maceration method obtains higher added value compared to the ultrasonic-assisted maceration method, which is IDR 7,875,496 / kg. and obtains a profit of IDR 6,675,496 / kg. Therefore, the microwave-assisted extraction method can be used to increase agarwood oil production.

Value Added in Agarwood Oleoresin Extraction: Benefits of Microwave and Ultrasonic Maceration

Background: Limited genetic variation exists within chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) owing to its narrow genetic base. Consequently, the DNA-based markers i.e. simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers that show considerable polymorphism in other crops reveal limited polymorphism in chickpea. Development of saturated linkage maps, marker assisted selection and gene cloning needs larger number of polymorphic markers which necessitates development of additional SSR markers for chickpea. Microsatellite marker development is costly, requires a great research expertise and effort. The cross-genera transferability of pre-developed SSR markers is a good alternative to new SSR marker development. 
 
Methods: To generate additional SSR markers for chickpea, a total of 292 SSR markers from horsegram (Macrotyloma uniflorum, 94 SSRs), lentil (Lens culinaris, 66 SSRs) and pea (Pisum sativum, 132 SSRs) were evaluated for cross-transferability to chickpea using a panel of four chickpea genotypes-GPF2, ICC16349, ICC10685 and ICC15614. 
 
Result: Lentil SSR markers had highest transferability to chickpea (36.36%) followed by pea (18.18%) and horsegram (14.89%). Limited polymorphism was detected in chickpea; 10.61% by lentil markers, 4.25% by horsegram markers and 3.79% by pea markers. Overall, 62 new SSR markers were added to repository of chickpea SSRs.&nbsp;

Transferability of Simple Sequence Repeat Markers from other Members of Family Fabaceae to Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

<div style="text-align: justify;">An experiment was conducted during 2014-2015 to standardize the seed testing method in Kabuli chickpea MNK-1 by number of seeds and number of germination papers. Among the different testing methods 25 seeds per replication recorded highest seed germination percentage (91.58%), less number of fresh un-germinated seeds (1.91%), abnormal seedlings (4.00%), diseased seeds (2.33%) and significantly higher seedling vigour index-I and II (2215 and 6863), among the number of germination papers used 2+1 &nbsp;as in between paper method(Bottom 2 and one paper above) recorded significantly higher germination percentage (92.12%), less number of fresh un-germinated seeds (1.41%), abnormal seedlings (3.66%), diseased seeds (2.33%) and significantly higher seedling vigour index-I and II (2463 and 6900), when compared to other. Irrespective of number of germination paper and seeds used however, interaction of 25 seeds per replication and 2+1 between paper method of seed germination testing showed significantly germination percentage (96.50%), less number of fresh un-germinated seeds (0.00%), abnormal seedlings (1.00%), diseased seeds (1.00%) and significantly higher seedling vigour index-I and II (2844 and 7792) followed by 50 seeds per replication.&nbsp;</div>

Rapid Detection of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Genes by Direct PCR Method: A Comparative Study with Culture-dependent Method

Genetic Transformation Methods for Crop Improvement- A Brief Review

A Transfer Learning Approach for Leaf Image based Classification of Healthy and Diseased Leaves

Transferable bla_CTX-M Carrying Multidrug Resistant Escherichia coli from Pig Population of North Eastern Region of India

Benefits gained by the rural women of Udaipur from Rashtriya Krishi Beema Yojana

Enhancement of Soybean (Glycine max L.) Productivity through Sowing Methods and Seed Rates in Telangana State

E-Marketing of Small Cardamom in Kerala: Constraint-Benefit Analysis

Value Added in Agarwood Oleoresin Extraction: Benefits of Microwave and Ultrasonic Maceration

Transferability of Simple Sequence Repeat Markers from other Members of Family Fabaceae to Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

An improved method of seed germination testing in Kabuli chickpea