Background: Finger millet is an inevitable traditional climate-smart crop of Jharkhand, which has the potential to address the problem of malnutrition on a sustainable basis. However, despite its nutritional and health potential, it is on the verge of extinction. The revival of finger millet in the daily diet of people requires diversification of the products suiting to the changing needs of the consumers. Rapid industrialization and urbanization and changes in the eating habits of Indian people led to a very high demand for convenience mix. Therefore, an attempt was made to develop a low-cost finger millet-based burfi and halwa mix and evaluate the nutritional quality of the mixes. 
 
Methods: Two types of burfi mix and&nbsp;halwa mix were developed by using ragi malt or ragi semolina, wheat and germinated green gram supplemented with milk powder, groundnut, etc. Developed products were subjected to sensory evaluation on a 9-point Hedonic scale and analyzed for proximate composition, calcium, iron, phosphorus, copper, zinc, and &szlig;-carotene by standard methods.&nbsp; 
 
Result: All products were found acceptable. Both experimental burfi and halwa mixes were found superior in terms of protein, fiber, calcium, phosphorus, iron, copper and zinc.

Formulation and Evaluation of Finger Millet based Convenience Mixes

<div>Background: During present investigation burfi was prepared from different combinations of cow milk khoa and pumpkin pulp [viz., 100:00 (T1), 75:25 (T2), 70:30 (T3), 65:35 (T4) and 60:40 (T5)] and the samples were subjected to sensory evaluation, chemical analysis and cost was computed considering the ingredients and processing costs. The pumpkin pulp (as per treatments) and sugar (30% by weight of khoa) were mixed with khoa at different stage of khoa preparation. Then, the mixture was heated till burfi was obtained. 
 
Methods: For preparation of burfi fresh cow milk was obtained from Livestock Instructional Farm, Akola. The milk was standardized to 4.0 per cent fat and 9.0 per cent SNF for the preparation of burfi. The khoa blended with pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) pulp at different ratios, the product without using pumpkin pulp served as control. The burfi was analyzed for chemical composition (viz., fat protein, total sugars, ash and total solids). The organoleptic attributes of burfi were analyzed in terms of its flavor, body and texture and color and appearance, wherein the total score was out of 100; the judging panel comprised on 5 members. 
 
Result: The total sensory scores of burfi obtained were 87.81, 90.46, 95.46, 92.99 and 84.30 for the treatment T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. The burfi prepared from various combinations involving use of up to 70 per cent cow milk khoa in blend with pumpkin pulp was found acceptable. The fat content of burfi&rsquo;s was 19.61, 15.40, 14.38, 13.40 and 12.37 per cent, protein content was 14.89, 12.64, 12.11, 11.61 and 11.04 per cent, total sugar content was 32.78, 36.73, 37.59, 38.45 and 39.31 per cent, ash content was 2.69, 2.55, 2.53, 2.49 and 2.45 per cent, total solids content was 69.94, 67.30, 66.60, 65.94 and 65.17 per cent for the treatment T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. The fat, protein, ash and total solids of burfi tended to decrease while total sugar and moisture content tended to increase with an increase in the level of pumpkin pulp used as additive. The per kg cost of production of pumpkin based burfi decreased with increasing level of incorporation of pumpkin pulp in burfi formulation i.e. ₹ 240 (100:00 khoa), ₹ 204.51 (75:25, khoa: pulp), ₹ 199.11 (70:30 khoa: pulp), ₹ 194.33 (65:35 khoa: pulp), ₹ 189.25 (60:40, khoa : pulp) for the treatment T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. The most acceptable burfi i.e. T3 was computed to be priced at ₹ 199.11 per kg.</div>

​Effects of Addition of Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) Pulp on the Physico-chemical and Sensory Properties of Burfi and its Cost Structure

<div style="text-align: justify;">Burfi is one of the most popular milk product of Indian origin, which is conventionally prepared by using sugar as sweetening agent with Khoa as base. In present study, khoa burfi was prepared using honey as sweetening agent in three different levels @ 10, 15 and 20% on the basis of khoa. The sensory evaluation of freshly prepared khoa burfi &nbsp;using honey as sweetening agent was carried out by the panel of 7 judges. Samples were evaluated for flavour (10), body and texture (10) and colour and appearance (5) using 25 point score. The panel was also asked to judge the overall acceptability of the product by sum of all the scores (25). The highest sensory score was obtained for control khoa burfi prepared from sugar as sweetening agent followed by khoa burfi using honey as sweetening agent @ 15%.&nbsp;</div>

Preparation of khoa burfi using honey as a sweetening agent

<div>Background: Under nutrition is a condition due to insufficient intake of energy and nutrients to meet an individual&rsquo;s needs to maintain good health. Cereals and millets based supplementary foods represents good source of essential nutrients. Recently, millets are tagged as nutri-cereals and its health promoting benefits are attracting consumers worldwide. The current study was aimed to develop millet based ready-to-use composite mix and to evaluate its quality in terms of usage in various traditional foods and shelf life. 
 
Methods: RTU composite mix was developed using locally available cereals, millets, pulses and oilseeds. The nutrient composition of developed mix was analyzed. The traditional region specific foods namely Dose, roti and Mudde (Ragi ball) was prepared and subjected for sensory evaluation. Further mix was stored up to three months at room temperature and evaluated for microbial load, moisture, free fatty acid and peroxide value. 
 
Result: Protein, fat, carbohydrate and energy content of the mix were 18.5g, 9.56g, 58.21 g and 393.24 kcal per 100 g respectively. Roti was best accepted (7.63), followed by mudde (7.50) and dose (7.03). Free Fatty Acid (FFA) was increased from 1.08 per cent to 1.56 per cent oleic acid, whereas peroxide value (PV) was increased from 7.46 to 9.35 mEq O2/kg of oil during storage. Total bacterial count (TBC) was increased from 4.5 X 102 to 8.1 X 103. The developed RTU mix which has nutritional potential needs to be popularized to address under nutrition and for overall good health of the society.</div>

​Nutritional Composition and Shelf Life Evaluation of Millet based Composite Mix

<div style="text-align: justify;">Burfi was manufactured in three-stage scraped surface heat exchanger by adding sugar directly into preheated milk by varying scraper speed in all three stages with different steam pressure in all three stages. The performance evaluation of the machine was evaluated during continuous mechanized manufacturing of Burfi. The average overall heat transfer coefficient were 1600, 950, and 410 W/m2 K for first, the second and third stage of TFSSHE, respectively. The specific steam consumption was found out to be 1.12 to 0.93 kg steam per kg of milk processed with mean value of 1 kg steam per kg of milk processed. The electricity consumption was found out to be 6.0 to 8.34 kWh per 1000 kg of milk processed with a mean value of 6.83 kWh per 1000 kg of milk processed. The sensory evaluation score of the burfi manufactured in the SSHE was obtained 20.6 out of a total of 25.&nbsp;</div>

Performance Evaluation of Three-Stage SSHE for Continuous Manufacturing of Burfi

Excessive aggression between weaned piglets after mixing is a welfare and production issue resulting in stress, injuries and economic losses. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of former acquaintance (FA) on aggression, lesion and growth performance in weaned, mixed piglets. The results showed that the FA group significantly reduced the number of fights, time spent fighting, number of bullying events, lesions, the average injury scores of the front site and middle site of weaned piglets after mixing. A significant interaction was found between the effects of sex and treatment on the number of fights won and bullying events, between the effects of days post-weaning and treatment on the lesion scores as well as between the effect of the lesion sites and treatments on the lesion score for all three days after mixing. The results suggested a potential welfare advantage to allow litters to have some acquaintance before weaning.

Effects of former acquaintance on aggression, lesion and growth performance in weaned piglets after mixing

<div>Background: The year round green forage supply for better health and productivity of the animals can be ensured by mixed cropping of cereal and legume forages along with proper nutrient management. Keeping these facts in mind an experiment was carried out to analyse growth, productivity and profitability of fodder sorghum and clusterbean as influenced by mixed cropping and nutrient management. 
 
Methods: Experiment was laid out in factorial randomized complete block design with four seed rate combinations of sorghum and clusterbean (S1 - sole sorghum, S2 - sole clusterbean, S3 - 75% sorghum + 25% clusterbean and S4 - 60% sorghum + 40% clusterbean) along with six nutrient management treatments (N1 - 100% RDF, N2 - 100% RDF + PGPR, N3 - 100% RDF + seaweed extract, N4 - 75% RDF + PGPR, N5 - 75% RDF + seaweed extract and N6 &ndash; 50% RDF + PGPR + seaweed extract) in three replications. The growth of crops was evaluated in terms of plant height, leaf length, leaf width, number of leaves, leaf stem ratio and stem girth which all together contributed towards the fodder yield. 
 
Result: In sorghum crop the growth was not statistically different between the treatments S1 and S3 but in clusterbean sole crop recorded higher growth yet the influence was not significant on all parameters. Among nutrient management N1, N2 and N3 treatments recorded higher growth and thus yield in both crops which was not statistically different from N5 treatment. The correlation study indicated that cumulative influence of these growth parameters resulted in higher green and dry fodder yield under sole crop. Whereas in mixed cropping S3 treatment recorded significantly at par fodder yield to S1. The evidence presented above shows that 75% sorghum + 25% clusterbean mixed cropping treatment with 75% RDF + seaweed extract served its purpose of fodder yield enhancement.</div>

<div>Growth, Productivity and Profitability of Fodder Sorghum and Cluster Bean as Influenced by Mixed Cropping and Nutrient Management</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">Growth trial of 90 days was conducted on 12 male Corriedale lambs, divided in two groups of six lambs each, to study the effect of feeding of paddy straw based complete feed supplemented of probiotic mix (Saccharomyces cerevisiae 2&times;1010cfu/g + Lactobacillus acidophilus 6&times;109cfu/g) in equal ratio @ 3 % of DM, as per the in vitro studies, while complete feed without probiotics served as control. There was significantly (P&lt;0.01) &nbsp;higher haemoglobin concentration, RBC, WBC and monocyte count in animals fed probiotic mix than control, with no significant effect on PCV, lymphocyte, eosinophill and neutrophill count. Blood glucose, total serum protein, albumin, globulin, BUN and serum creatinine values were statistically higher in probiotic mix supplemented animals. Lambs fed with probiotics show significant (P&lt;0.01) decrease in serum cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides with increment of HDL-cholesterol than animals fed unsupplemented diet, with no effect on enzyme activities of liver enzymes. The lambs fed on probiotic mix shows significant reduction in faecal shedding of E. coli and total coliform with firm pellets faecal consistency. Probiotic mix has great potential to beneficially affect the haemato-biochemical parameters and gut micro-flora and hence improve physiological health status of animals.</div>

Effect of probiotics mix supplementation on haemato-biochemical parameters and bacterial faecal shedding in Corriedale lambs fed paddy straw based complete feed

<div>Background: Among the traditional dairy products, burfi is the most popular khoa based confection in Indian subcontinent. Burfi has special importance in different functions like birthday, anniversary, wedding, etc. Consumers in India are becoming more health conscious and demand for healthier food because of rise in disposable income, educational level and awareness of nutrition. In wedding ceremony, now a days, besan burfi is famous instead of laddoos because of nutrition in pulses. Therefore, black gram can be also used in burfi due to it is rich in protein and having best results against many diseases in humans. 
 
Methods: Burfi was prepared from milk with constant level of sugar (30 per cent by weight of khoa) and different levels of black gram flour (2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 per cent by weight of khoa). Properly blending khoa and sugar with black gram flour on low flame and then cut into pieces after setting. 
 
Result: The overall acceptability score for treatment T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 were 8.27, 8.38, 8.51, 8.03 and 7.64 respectively. Burfi sample was evaluated for storage study conducted at room (30&plusmn;2oC) temperature and refrigerated (7&plusmn;2oC) temperature conditions.&nbsp;The cost of production of burfi with black gram powder was Rs. 255.38, Rs. 252.45, Rs. 249.62, Rs. 246.90 and Rs. 244.28 per kg for treatment T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively.</div>

Effect of Sensory Properties, Shelf Life and Cost of Production on Black Gram (Vigna mungo) Flour Burfi

<div>Background: Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is an annual plant with very rapid growth and a major species in the assortment of leafy vegetables. Plant parasitic nematodes are economically important pests of leafy vegetables in monoculture and intensive organic fertilization. The simultaneous cultivation of several plant species in the same area can overcome the disadvantages of crops from homogeneous crops. The purpose of this work is to determine the quantitative changes in soil nematode communities in the joint cultivation of medicinal and vegetable species.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The experiments were carried out in a vegetation house. To create mixed crops, the plants the lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), cutivar &lsquo;Bohemia&rsquo;, tagetes (Tagetes sp. L.), basil (Ocimum basilicum L.), calendula (Calendula officinalis L.) summer savory (Satureja hortensis L.) and arugula (Eruca sativa L. Cav.) were used.&nbsp; 
 
Result: The results of the nematological analysis showed a decrease in the number of nematodes when mixed growing of lettuce with arugula, calendula and tagetes. The mixed growing of lettuce and calendula resulted in a significant reduction in nematodes, with a Pf/Pi value of 0.3. As a result of the decrease in the nematode population, there was an increase in lettuce yields when mixed grown with arugula and calendula, compared to when grown alone. The study of plant parasitic nematodes based on comparative evaluation of different combinations of plants shows that combinations of crops can be applied as a control method in integrated plant protection systems.</div>

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