Issue 2

The forensically-important Dipteran flies, Lucilia sericata and Megaselia scalaris, complete their life-cycles in perishable, filthy, unhygienic and fowl-smelled natural diets, which  hinder the rearing work and the indoor environment of laboratory. To overcome this unhygienic condition, a newly formulated simple, comparatively more hygienic one was prepared and evaluated for the rearing of these two flies. This artificial diet, when compared to their natural diets for rearing at different temperatures, it demonstrated no significant difference for their developmental durations. Statistical analyses proved that the difference between the natural and formulated diet was not responsible for their developmental durations; rather their rearing temperatures played a significant role in this respect. Taken together, these findings showed that the newly formulated artificial diet might facilitate the hygienic and easy rearing of these flies for forensic and medical entomology as well as other research purposes in terms of nutrition, cost-effectiveness and availability of the ingredients of diets.  

The first time study approach about culture and management in Bangladesh was conducted to observe the induce breeding, nursing and rearing technique of Vietnam koi (Anabas testudineus) fish culture in fresh water farm in Mymensingh region, Bangladesh for a period of 120 days from May, 2013 to August, 2013. In this study, inducing agent PG was used to achieve fertilization and hatching success of climbing perch, Anabas testudineus. During induce breeding, male and female in a ratio of 1:1 were used. The females were given single injection of 6-8 mg PG/kg body weight and the males were given 2-3 mg PG/kg body weight and nursing and rearing of vietnam koi (Anabas testudineus) fish were carried out as monoculture in earthen ponds.  In this study, two earthen ponds of 20 decimal with an average depth of 2.5 to 3 feet and two earthen ponds of 50 decimal with an average depth of 3 to 5 feet were used for nursing and rearing of Vietnam koi respectively. Nursing and rearing of Vietnam koi (Anabas testudinus) were carried out as monoculture in earthen ponds. The water temperature in the culture pond was ranged from 31.29±0.85 to 35.5±0.58 ⁰C during nursing and rearing. The value of Dissolve Oxygen (DO) and pH was ranged from 6.20±0.41 to 5.0±0.71 mg/l and 7.8±0.62 to 7.1±0.47 respectively. The average weight of the fingerlings during stocking was 0.8g in nursery stage and 20g in rearing stage. Fingerlings were stocked at 1750 fish /decimal in the rearing pond. Fry in the nursing ponds were fed with Hatchery feed (powder) at the rate of 40-50% of their total body weight. Fingerlings in the rearing ponds were fed with Koi Starter and Koi Grower feed at the rate of 15-20% of their total body weight. The final average weight (g) of Vietnam koi was (0.8±0.08)g in nursery stage & (200.0±0.82)g in rearing stage. The Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) of total artificial feed was 1.63. The survival rate of Vietnam koi fish was 70% and the net production was 167kg/decimal. The total benefit was 5,48,455.00 BDT. Benefit-cost ratio of this study was 1.43. Therefore, it could be concluded that nursing and rearing of Vietnam koi (Anabas testudineus) by using artificial feed under a monoculture system in the earthen ponds is potentially and economically feasible.

The present study was conducted to assess the contribution of aquaculture on livelihood status of fish farmer at Noakhali sadar upazila. This research work was carried out during the period of February 2013 to July 2013. A total of 50 fish farmers were interviewed with a well-structured questionnaire. The survey revealed that average pond size was 0.48 ha with 40% of the farmers having ponds of single ownership, 20% having ponds of multiple-ownership, 30% having ponds of single lease and 10% having ponds of multiple leases. Poly culture of Indian major carps and exotic carps has been practiced by most of the farmers. Fish fingerlings were stocked from April to June and average stocking density was 12,370 fingerlings/ha. The average fish production cost was Tk 69,870/ha/yr. Although the living condition of the rural fish farmers were poor, livelihood outcomes were found positive and 88% of the farmers have improved their socio-economic conditions through fish farming. The gross income and net profit were Tk. 1, 06,400 and Tk. 1, 00,000/ha/yr respectively. The average monthly income was in range of BDT 15,000-25,000. Their basic need like food, cloth, house, education and medical facility had changed after fish farming. The households have broadly improved their food consumption, family education, standards of living, purchasing power, choice and economic ability through fish farming. The constraints for sustainable pond fish farming in the areas were lack of technical knowledge of the farmers, disease of fishes, multiple ownership of the pond, higher production cost (mainly seeds and feed), in-sufficient supply of fry and fingerlings, lack of money and credit facilities and inadequate extension services. It is therefore essential to provide the necessary training facilities with institutional and organizational supports, credit facilities and extension services for sustainable fish production and livelihoods of rural fish farmers.

Probiotics are live microorganisms that provide health benefits when consumed. Bifidobacteria are one of the major genera of bacteria that make up the colon flora in mammals and have great beneficial impact on health. This study was performed to culture and characterize some potential Bifidobacterium sp. isolated from mother's milk and infant feces. Eleven isolates were presumptively identified as Bifidobacteriums sp. based on morphological characteristic and biochemical properties such as catalase, oxidase, Esculin test, Gelatinase activities and production of gas from glucose. Probiotic potentials of the isolates were investigated through probiotic potentiality tests e.g. p^H tolerance test, NaCl tolerance test, bile salt tolerance test, antimicrobial activity, growth rate in gastric juice, antimicrobial susceptibility (Antibiogram). Four of the isolates BI-3, BI-5, BI-9, and BI-14 were observed as potential probiotic based on their probiotic activities. These isolates showed resistance to stomach pH (pH 3.0), tolerance against 0.3% bile concentration and gastric juice tolerance. Most of the isolates were able to grow at 1- 6% NaCl concentration and the growth declined with the increase of the salt concentration. Proteolytic activity was measured to estimate the probable role of probiotics in protein digestion. For this purpose milk protein digestion was tested and these isolates had showed better proteolytic activity than others. Antimicrobial activity against pathogens showed better probiotic properties. These isolates were found to have moderately antibiotic susceptible to common antibiotics. This experiment revealed that these four isolates BI-3, BI-5, BI-9, and BI-14 have good probiotic properties and can be used as probiotics after successful molecular identification and completion of animal trial.

The increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus in recent years to the focus of public health interests in Bangladesh. Herbal medicinal plant such as mahogany and bitter melon can be used as alternative of synthetic drugs to avoid side effects and high cost. So the present study was undertaken to investigate the antidiabetogenic effect of bitter melon and mahogany on diabetic rabbits. Four months old rabbits were randomly assigned into five groups (T₁, T₂, T₃, T₄ and T₅) with 4 rabbits. Group T₁ was kept for negative (no alloxan) control, the rest of the group (T₂, T₃, T₄ and T₅) were injected with alloxan intramuscularly at a dose rate of 75mg /kg body weight. T₂ was positive control group. Group T₃, T₄ and T₅ was considered for bitter melon (150mg/kg b.w.), mahogany (50mg/kg b.w) and combined with previous dose respectively. Suspension of both fruit was tested for its efficacy in alloxan induced diabetic rabbit. Over the course of the trial, observations were recorded for induction of diabetics, blood glucose level, and body weight after 72 hours. Blood glucose level were increased significantly (p<0.05) in all treated groups compared to the control group and the highest induction was recorded in T₂ group treated with alloxan. Body weight was decreased significantly (p<0.05) in all alloxan treated groups and lowest was recorded in group T₂. There was significant decreased in blood glucose level in all bitter melon and mahogany treated group (T₃, T₄, T₅) compared to the T₂ group and lowest glucose level was recorded in T₅ group. The present study reveals that combined treatment with bitter melon and mahogany decreases blood glucose level without affecting health of rabbits. The results of this study show that chronic oral administration of a suspension of bitter melon fruits and mahogany seeds in appropriate dosage may be good alternative as anti-diabetic agent.

This study was conducted to determine the efficacy of tulsi and ginger as a growth promoter in broilers. A total of thirty day old chicks (DOC) were purchased from CP Bangladesh Ltd. and after seven days divided into three groups (A), (B) and (C). No vaccination schedule was practiced and no antibiotics were added in ration. The (A) group was not supplemented with tulsi and ginger solution in drinking water. The (B) group was supplemented with tulsi solution @ 1ml/litre in drinking water and (C) group was supplemented with ginger solution @ 1 ml/litre in drinking water for consecutive 5 weeks started from 7^th day of experiment. Weekly observations were recorded for live body weight gain up to 6^th weeks and routine blood test was performed at 21^st and 42^nd days, to find out hematological changes between control and treatment groups. The FCR value of group (A) was 2.25, in group (B) was 1.99 and in group (C) was 1.90. From this initial study this may be concluded that production of broilers in by using tulsi and ginger was economic than control group. In Bangladesh broilers production is mainly organized by unemployed and its demand is very high because it supports marketing within 35–42 days. Short return of money but major problems is cost of production. The initial body weight (gm) of group (A), (B) and (C) on 7^th  of day experiment were 168±8.54, 166±7.95 and 166±7.90 gm respectively and after 42^nd day of experiment final body weight were 1561±12.10, 1698±12.87 and 1763±13.28 gm respectively. The net body weight gain were 1393±11.07, 1533±11.98 and 1588±12.10 gm respectively and economics of production were analyzed and found that net profit per broiler was 18.82, 36.13 and 42.53 Tk respectively. It is concluded that broiler production by using herbal extract may be profitable and suitable for human consumption.

A total of 100 respondents were randomly selected to assess the socio-economic condition and management practices of goat rearing in Munshiganj district of Bangladesh. Data were collected through interviewing with pre-tested questionnaires from July to December, 2017. The result revealed that most of the goat keepers were middle aged and illiterate. Agricultural crop farming (47.0%) was the main occupation. Majority of the farmers kept their goats on their own land for at least 2 years (44.0%). Sixty percent of the farmers used own capital and rest of them took loan from bank/or NGO’s loan for rearing goats. The highest numbers of goats were found Black Bengal (55.0%) followed by Crossbred (24.0%) and Jamnapari goat (21.0%) reared mainly for meat purpose (80.0%) in semi-intensive farming system. In this study area, the average birth weight of kid was 0.91 kg and market weight 16.5 kg. Weaning and slaughter age were 4 and 18 months, respectively. The average age at 1^st heat, gestation period, post-partum heat period, average prolificacy and kidding interval was 7.4 months, 5.1 months, 45.5 days, 2.1 kids per kidding and 8.5 months, respectively. Fifty four percent of respondents reported that their goats were mated by using a buck belonging to other farmers; the cost was Tk. 20-30 per mating. The farmers fed their goats with locally available roughages and tree leaves in the selected areas. Some goat farmers (5.0%) were practicing to supply concentrate feeds to their goats. The results showed that family member’s especially young women and children (67.0%) are more likely to own and raise small ruminants. They did not follow any vaccination and de-worming programme.

Soybean oil and palm oil are the most preferred vegetable oils in the world. The aim of the study was the correlative and qualitative appraisement of the edible vegetable oils available in Bangladesh. Five brands of soybean and one brand of palm oil were comparatively assessed to select which one was better for edible purpose. In this study the quality of the edible oils was analyzed by evaluating some physicochemical attributes such as specific gravity, color and odor, moisture content, acid value, saponification value, iodine value and peroxide value using standard methods. A significant difference (P<0.05) was found in all characteristic parameters of different oil samples. The study expressed the following properties as ranged values for soybean oils and single value for palm oil: Iodine value (82.34±0.633 –108.63±0.96 g I₂/100 g; 45.68±0.604 g I₂/100 g), Saponification value (182.33±2.670–197.39±1.987 mg KOH/g; 203.68±2.346 mg KOH/g), Acid value (0.33±0.06–0.57±0.03 mg KOH/g; 1.07±0.07 mg KOH/g), Peroxide value (1.13±0.01–1.96±0.006 meq O₂/kg; 1.09±0.02 meq O₂/kg), Moisture content (0.30±0.005–0.63±0.026%; 0.65±0.015%), specific gravity (0.88±0.15–0.94±0.07 g/ml; 0.91±0.03 g/ml). Taking consideration of all parameters the study concluded that Rupchanda and Fresh soybean oil had superior quality than other samples.

The experiment was conducted in the experimental field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207 to find out the yield and yield contributing attributes of rice varieties under different planting times. The experiment comprised of two factors- factor a: Planting time (2): T₁: 24^th January planting; T₂: 23^th February planting and factor b: Rice variety (5): V₁: BRRI dhan29; V₂: BRRI hybrid 2; V₃: Hera 2; V₄: Tia and V₅: Taj 1. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Among the different planting time and varieties, 24^th January planting and Hera 2 were found superior in terms of yield and yield contributing attributes of rice varieties. Irrespective of planting times, the highest panicle length (24.64 cm), number of effective tillers  hill^-1(13.33), filled grains panicle^-1 (83.17), 1000-grain weight (25.14 g), grain yield (4.30 t ha^-1), straw yield (5.21 t ha^-1), biological yield (9.43 t ha^-1) and harvest index (45.89%) were achieved. However, Hera 2 provided the highest grain yield (4.64 t ha^-1) at 24^th January planting compared to other combination. It meant that Hera 2 performed well with 24^th January planting.

This study was undertaken to detect certain bioactive compounds with anthelmintic properties in Azadirachta indica and Clerodendrum viscosum by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). From the HPLC analysis A. indica showed peak retention time which was similar to standard phenolic compounds including tannic acid (A. indica retention time 3.270 min, STD retention time 3.271 min) and pyrogallol (A. indica retention time 3.948 min, STD retention time 3.795 min). Benzoic acid (C. Viscosum retention time 6.092 min, STD retention time 6.067 min), tannic acid (C. Viscosum retention time 3.322 min, STD retention time 3.271 min) and quercetin (C. Viscosum retention time 4.967 min, STD retention time 4.222 min) was detected in leaf part of C. Viscosum. Most of these ingredients have well-known anthelmintic roles. Thus, it can be concluded that Azadirachta indica and Clerodendrum viscosum leaves contain bioactive compounds with anthelmintic properties.