<p><strong>Background:</strong> Malnutrition among school children is still a major public health problem, particularly in the state like Jharkhand. A diverse diet is important for ensuring adequate intake of all essential nutrients for physical and mental development. Information on the dietary diversity and nutritional status of the children is scanty concerning the tribal belt of Jharkhand. Therefore, a study was undertaken to assess the dietary diversity score and prevalence of malnutrition among school children.<br />
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<strong>Methods:</strong> The study was a cross-sectional survey involving 179 mothers and their 6 to 10 years old children covering 2 blocks and four villages of Ranchi district of Jharkhand. A pretested questionnaire was used to obtain information on socio-demographics. The 24-hour dietary recall method was used to calculate individual dietary diversity score (DDS based on a scale of 12 food groups) and the scores were divided into low = &le; 4, medium = 5-8 and high = 9-12. Anthropometric measurements were taken following the standard techniques. The degree of malnutrition was calculated according to BMI in comparison with age/gender-specific centile values recommended by WHO.<br />
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<strong>Result: </strong>Cereals (0.91&plusmn;0.38) and Roots and Tubers (0.60&plusmn;0.29) had higher mean DDS values, while fish (0.09&plusmn;0.17) and milk and milk products (0.21&plusmn;0.18) had the lowest value. While assessing the prevalence of malnutrition, 36.32% and 10.6% were found to be suffering from under nutrition and overweight, respectively.&nbsp;</p>


<p>Assessment of Dietary Diversity and Nutritional Status of School Children of Ranchi District of Jharkhand</p>


<div style="text-align: justify;">This trial was conducted to investigate the adhesion of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens to Caco-2 cells, the effects of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens on the mucosal immunity, cecal volatile fatty acids and microbial diversity in broiler chickens. Three hundred and sixty 1-d-old Ross 308 chicks were randomly divided into 3 dietary treatments groups, which birds fed with basal diet, basal diet supplemented with colistine sulfate, and basal diet supplemented with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. Polymerase chain reaction denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis was used to analyze the change of cecal microflora, and Gas Chromatography was used to analyze the cecal volatile fatty acids. Data showed that: 1) Bacillus amyloliquefaciens had a good adhesion ability to epithelial cells; 2) the supplementation of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens significantly increased the concentration of ileal mucosal secretory IgA and interleukin 6, decreased (P&lt;0.05) the concentration of tumor necrosis factor-a; 3) resulted in the change of cecal microbial community, higher levels of acetic acid, methylacetic and isovaleric acid in the birds. Thus, we considered that Bacillus amyloliquefaciens enhanced the mucosal immunity, increased the cecal concentration of major volatile fatty acids and the diversity microflora community in broilers.&nbsp;</div>

Effects of dietary <em>Bacillus amyloliquefaciens</em> on mucosal immunity, cecal volatile fatty acids and microbial diversity in broiler chickens

<div style="text-align: justify;">Thyroid disorders are among the most common endocrine disorders in India. Hypothyroidism is a very common condition. The condition is more common in women than in men, and its incidence increases with age. For the present study 150 females of 21 to 50 years of age were selected via random sampling from Pantnagar area of Udham Singh Nagar District, Uttarakhand and were interviewed using a predesigned proforma. The subjects mainly belonged to middle and upper income groups. Among 150 subjects, 30 were found to be suffering from hypothyroidism of which six were the newly diagnosed cases who had not started medications. Subjects were assessed for their dietary intakes and differences in the food habits based on food avoidance, food preferences, dietary habits and dietary diversity scores. Based on the analysis of the dietary intakes of normal (n=120) and hypothyroid (n=30) subjects not much difference was found, as was also evident from the dietary diversity scores (where non-significant difference was observed) except for in case of some dietary habits which showed significant differences. The mean dietary diversity scores of hypothyroid and normal subjects were 5.8&plusmn;0.88 and 6.0&plusmn;0.90 respectively. Urine samples were also collected for the measurement of urinary iodine concentration of only 30 subjects which included six of the newly detected hypothyroid cases not on medication and the remaining 24 normal subjects. Only 2 hypothyroid subjects and 3 normal subjects were found to be suffering from mild iodine deficiency with values of urinary iodine ranging from 76.5 to 94.6&micro;g/l. Median urine iodine excretion in the present study was 172 &micro;g/l (mean 186.5&plusmn;58.4 &micro;g/l) indicating iodine sufficiency.</div>

Hypothyroidism among females and differences in their dietary patterns and urinary iodine concentrations compared to normal subjects<br />&nbsp;

<div><strong>Background:</strong> Pulikulam cattle is an indigenous cattle breed native to south India, Understanding the rumen microbiome is an important step to develop effective strategies to minimize their enteric methane emission. The rumen microbiome of this breed has not been documented.&nbsp; Hence, a study was executed in Pulikulam cattle, fed different diets, to investigate the diversity of rumen methanogens using metagenomic techniques.&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Methods:</strong> Twenty recently calved Pulikulam cattle with mean body weight of 200 Kg were randomly distributed into four treatments, with five animals per treatment. The animals were fed their respective diets as per their treatment for 30 days, after which the rumen liquor was collected.&nbsp; DNA from the samples were extracted and subjected for 16s rRNA gene amplification using region specific primers.&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Result:</strong> Methanogens belonging to five orders, four classes and eleven families were identified. Order Methanomassiliicoccales was not present in treatment group fed with high energy diet. The methanogens affiliated to the order Methanomicrobiales were predominant in treatment 1 (14%) and treatment 2 (16.30%). Order methanococcales (15%) was predominant in treatment 3 and order Methanosarcinales (18%) was predominant in treatment 4. Archaeal order belonging to Thermoplasmatales were also identified in Pulikulam cattle fed different dietary regimen except in treatment 3. Archaeal family Methanothermaceae belonging to the order Methanobacteriales was identified in Pulikulam cattle. Methanocorpusculum labreanum was the predominant species in all the treatment groups. Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, Sulfolobus islandicus, Sulfolobus solfataricus, Sulfolobus sp. A20 and Sulfolobus tokodaii were identified in treatment 1, which had higher dietary crude protein. It was concluded that methanogen diversity varied under different feeding regimen and predominant methanogen is varied in Pulikulam breed of cattle.&nbsp; M. labreanum was the predominant methanogen in Pulikulam cattle fed with different dietary regimen.</div>


<p>Rumen Methanogens Diversity in Native Cattle under Different Feeding Regimen using 16s Metagenomic Techniques</p>


<div style="text-align: justify;">Genetic diversity among 54 genotypes of field and garden pea of India were studied using 30 RAPD primers. A total of 168 amplicons were scored, of which 154 were polymorphic revealing 89.3% of polymophism. Out of 30 RAPD primers tested, 22 primers produced clear and reproducible bands. The number of products generated by these primers ranged from 04 to 14 with primer OPU-17 giving maximum (14) and primer OPC-08 giving minimum number of amplicons (04). Genetic similarity estimates based on the binomial data using Jaccard&rsquo;s coefficient ranged from 0.34 (Kaza-2/IC-218991) to 0.89 (IC-209118/IC-209123) with an average similarity index of 0.54 exhibiting considerable diversity among the pea genotypes studied. The dendrogram showed clear pattern of clustering according to the source of germplasm. This study indicated that Himalayan region germplasm exhibited higher diversity.&nbsp;</div>

Diversity analysis of pea genotypes using RAPD markers

<div><strong>Background: </strong>Intercropping and mixed cropping based on two or more different crops have been widely used in Insect Pest Management to manage the population density of insect pests in various crops like maize with soybean, sorghum with soybean and sunflower with soybean. Genotypic diversity is the mixture or combination of various varieties/lines/genotypes of a crop. It decreases the insect-pests population by unfitness of crop to them due to intraspecific diversity such as mixture of susceptible and resistant varieties. Also, it increases the natural enemy population more due to longer period of flowering, availability of wide diverse food, more movement of herbivores <em>etc</em>. This concept has also been used successfully to manage insect-pests in maize, wheat and potato. In India, this connect is used in very small scale in crop. The objective of this study was to determine effects of genotypic diversity by comparing the population densities of major insect pests between monoculture of single variety and mixture of varieties.<br />
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<strong>Methods: </strong>To test the effects of genotypic diversity on soybean insect-pest and their natural enemy population an experiment was laid in<em> kharif </em>2018 and 2019 at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Soybean Research, Indore. All recommended agronomic package of practices were followed for raising of crop. Randomized block design with three replication having plot size of 9 rows of 5 meter row length was used. Totally 20 treatments were chosen for this experiment and out of 20 four treatments namely, T1, T6, T11 and T16 were the treatments of four varietal mixture treatments of almost similar maturity duration and agronomic traits and rest of treatments were of sole varietal treatments. Observations were made on insect-pests from 10 selected plants in each plot on three leaves selected at top, middle and lower portion of plant.<br />
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<strong>Result: </strong>Effects of genotypic diversity in soybean revealed that for whitefly management T11 (NRC-86, JS-335, JS-2098 and RKS-45) was found most effective treatment. In case of mite, thrips and treehoppers management T1 (JS-9560, JS-20-34, MAUS-47 and MAUS-1460) was found most effective treatment. For leafhopper and mealy bug T6 (JS-9305, JS-2029, RVS-2001-4 and Dsb-28-3) was found most effective treatment. While for spittlebug T16 (NRC-37, JS-9752, RSC-1046 and RKS-113) was found most effective treatment. So, genotypic diverse treatments were found more effective than their respective sole varietal treatments.</div>

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<p>​Effects of Genotypic Diversity on Insect-pests of Soybean</p>


<div style="text-align:justify">Modern intensive monocropping system is becoming unproductive, pest ridden, loss incurring, and resource depleting and hence turning out to be untenable. Lack of discrimination in input use by farm managers and overall poor management are accelerating degradation and desertification processes, and loss of biodiversity particularly add in endangered regions. &nbsp;While, properly designed diverse and strategically located tree/seasonal crop based land use systems can contribute to ecologic services by mitigation land degradation, climate change and desertification, while conserving natural resources and biodiversity. Besides providing, diverse goods and services, on-farm diversity can be considered as an adoptive strategy in areas climatically and biologically vulnerable. Being a potential C sink, tree based land use systems can also mitigate negative impacts of CO2 emission. As green belt/bank these have an important role in maintaining air, water and soil quality in mining and industrial areas. The so-called cellulosic feedstocks can be grown on marginal land, enhance soil fertility by promoting the growth of various soil organisms, and provide a climate- friendly source of energy. There are plenty of underexploited but potential plant species which can find niche in the existing agroecosystems with substantial addition to total production while contributing sufficiently to ecological services. These needs to be identified and useful models are developed for specific situations.</div>

On-farm crop diversity for sustainability and resilience in farming - A review

<div><strong>Background: </strong>The variety of indigenous duck germplasm contribute maximum to the poultry industry in India, besides chicken population. In southern part of India, the available duck genetic resource, particularly Arni ducks (comprises of Sanyasi and Keeri ducks) of Tamil Nadu, has its own characteristics with innate potentiality of higher productivity without any input system of management. Genetic characterization and diversity of indigenous duck genetic resources has not been properly studied. In the present study, the genetic diversity of Arni ducks with other indigenous and exotic duck germplasm were analysed with microsatellite markers.&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Methods: </strong>Genomic DNA was isolated from the blood samples of six duck populations. Molecular characterization was carried out with duck specific FAO recommended microsatellite markers. The genotyping of ducks was done based on the size of 4324 PCR amplicons of 23 microsatellite loci, which were subjected to capillary electrophoresis using automatic sequencer.<br />
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<strong>Result: </strong>A total of 222 alleles in six duck populations across 23 microsatellite loci with a mean of 9.65&plusmn;0.95 alleles were found. Kuttanad duck variety had the highest number of alleles (139) followed by Sanyasi (136), Keeri (129), Muscovy (118), Assam (91) and White Pekin (78) ducks. The mean observed number of alleles was 6.04&plusmn;0.59, 5.91&plusmn;0.76, 5.61&plusmn;3.17, 5.13&plusmn;0.44, 3.96&plusmn;0.76 and 3.39&plusmn;0.40 in Kuttanad, Sanyasi, Keeri, Muscovy, Assam and White Pekin ducks respectively. The overall mean polymorphism information content (PIC) values among the six duck populations was 0.6269. &nbsp;In most of the duck populations, the mean PIC value was more than 0.5 except in Assam (0.4815) and White Pekin (0.3725) ducks. The observed heterozygosity was the highest in Keeri ducks (0.5217) and lowest in White Pekin ducks (0.2766), while, the mean expected heterozygosity was the highest in Sanyasi (0.5628) and lowest in White Pekin (0.4038) ducks. The variations in the observed and expected number of alleles, differences in PIC of various microsatellite loci might be attributed to the genetic variability of the duck populations, number and type of microsatellite primers utilised for analysis and the genetic diversity of the duck breeds under study. Higher FST value indicates the substantial degree of breed differentiation among the studied duck populations.</div>


<div>Genetic Diversity of Six Duck Populations in India</div>


<div>The study was undertaken to document the elasmobranch diversity and their abundance along Wadge Bank. Species were collected fortnightly during June 2015 to May 2016 from three landing centres viz., Chinnamuttom,Colachel and Vizhinjam of Wadge Bank. A total of 1,575 specimens were collected during the period and 44 species were identified belonging to 8 orders, 13 families and 25 genera. Among the recorded \families,Carcharhinidae is the most dominant family with 12 species. The Colachel landing centre was rich in diversity with 43 species followed by Chinnamuttom 39 species and Vizhinjam26 species. The highest Shannon Weiner diversity (H&rsquo; value) was observed at Colachel (4.17) followed by Chinnamuttom (4.11) and Vizhinjam (3.76). The Margalef&rsquo;s species richness (&lsquo;d&rsquo;) value was assessed at Colachel (4.55) followed by Chinnamuttom (4.01) and Vizhinjam (2.91). The Pielou&rsquo;s evenness (J&rsquo;) estimated was 0.7786, 0.7700 and 0.8005respectively, for Chinnamuttom, Colachal and Vizhinjam. The highest taxonomic diversity value was observed at Colachel (60.33) and the lowest during at Vizhinjam (54.08). Among the three landing centres studied, the total phylogenetic diversity (sPhi+) was found to be the lowest at Vizhinjam (940) and highest at Colachel landing centre (1720). Bray Curtis similarities measure was also calculated, fish communities were separated into several clusters based on seasons. The conservation of elasmobranchs and the management measures to be followed along the Wadge Bank is also discussed.</div>


<div>Elasmobranch diversity, conservation and management along Wadge Bank, South India</div>


<div><strong>Background: </strong>Livestock&nbsp;genetic diversity studies focus on their within and diversity, breed history, adaptive variations, ancestral information, site of domestication and parentage testing and assess the genetic uniformity, admixture or subdivision, inbreeding, or introgression in the population which is helpful in breed formation and their sustainable utilization.<br />
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<div style="text-align:justify"><strong>Methods:</strong> The present research work was conducted during the year 2016-17 at National Bureau of Animal Genetics Resources, Karnal-132001. STR data of 25 markers on 1237 random samples of 27 goat populations was used for analysis. The genetic diversity analysis of new population &nbsp;<em>viz</em>: Narayanpatna, Raighar, Kalahandi, Malkangiri of Odisha state and Rohilkhandi (UK) and their association studies with other Indian goat breeds was performed.<br />
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<strong>Result: </strong>It was found that used markers are highly polymorphic- and the studied breeds/population showed great diversity and distributed mostly on the basis of physio-geographical condition and type of production but among new populations diversity was least which might be due to exchange of animal for breeding purposes. The studied new goat populations were well differentiated from other goat breeds which might be due to physio-geographical condition and breeding practices, so these may be considered as separate breeds/populations. In conclusion, the results showed high level of conserved genetic diversity in the Indian goat breeds. The smaller and isolated new population showed less diversity and a higher inbreeding level as compared to registered breeds.</div>


Assessment of Dietary Diversity and Nutritional Status of School Children of Ranchi District of Jharkhand

Effects of dietary Bacillus amyloliquefaciens on mucosal immunity, cecal volatile fatty acids and microbial diversity in broiler chickens

Hypothyroidism among females and differences in their dietary patterns and urinary iodine concentrations compared to normal subjects

Rumen Methanogens Diversity in Native Cattle under Different Feeding Regimen using 16s Metagenomic Techniques

Diversity analysis of pea genotypes using RAPD markers

Effects of Genotypic Diversity on Insect-pests of Soybean

On-farm crop diversity for sustainability and resilience in farming - A review

Genetic Diversity of Six Duck Populations in India

Elasmobranch diversity, conservation and management along Wadge Bank, South India

Genetic Diversity Analysis among 27 Indian Goat Populations using Microsatellite Markers