2023

In Bangladesh, a comprehensive study was conducted over one year to compare the reproductive and productive performance of Black Bengal, Jamunapari, and crossbred goats. The study involved a sample size of 226 goats and provided insightful information on the distinctive capabilities of each type of goat breeds. Most of the doe were 21–30 months of age, and their weight was 21–30 kg. The feed supply for the doe was concentrated green grass, whereas the kids got supplementary feed like rice bran. Among the reproductive traits, age at puberty, age of first kidding, and age of the first conception were significantly (P<0.001) higher in Jamunapari goats, whereas aerial kidding intervals were found in 263.77 ± 54.26 days in crossbreeds. Postpartum heat periods were highest at 68.50 ± 5.53 days in Jamunapari goats at 1st and 2nd parity, though at 3rd parity, 22.96 ± 26.66 days were uppermost in Black Bengal. There was no significant effect of parity on lactation length or milk production. Though Jamunapari goats show the highest lactation length at 1st and 2nd parity, at 3rd parity, 2.56 ± 2.89 kg was the largest in Black Bengals. The mortality of kids was high in the second parity in Black Bengal and crossbreeds, whereas in Jamunapari, it was higher in the first and second parities. The mortality rate of kids under 20 days was high, which gradually decreased with the advancement of age. Different periparturient and postpartum diseases, like abortion, dystocia, retained placenta, etc., decreased the reproductive performance of goats. The Black Bengal goat exhibited superior productive and reproductive performance to Jamunapari and crossbred goats. The study's findings suggest that, in the southwestern region of Bangladesh, prioritizing Black Bengal goats for breeding programs could potentially enhance both productive and reproductive traits compared to Jamunapari and crossbred goats.

Recording systems are important to maintain data properly with a view to justifying the merits of productive and reproductive parameter as well as pedigree evaluation, towards any decision making pathway. Considering this, the current research was conducted to assess the computer and mobile software based animal recording system, which have important effect on production and reproduction on Red Chittagong cattle and their graded cattle. For this reason, this survey was conducted at well-developed pre-tested questionnaire through mobile application software under thirteen study areas. The study areas were selected based on the density of Red Chittagong Cattle population in those areas. After data collectionollected data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 software and mean comparisons were estimated by LSD and Duncan method. Numbering (highest-11.32% at Godagari, lowest at Naikhongchari-4.25%), Artificial Insemination (highest 20% at Godagari and lowest at Naikhongchari-1%), service per conception rate (highest at Sylhet-1.37 and lowest at Swandip-1.14), calving rate (highest 12.34% at Anowara and lowest 4.20% at Keshobpur) and birth weight (highest 16.50±0.57 kg at Hathazari and lowest 12.79±0.49 kg at Godagari) were different in each regions. Lactation length, milk yield, and growth rate of two category cattle were found statistically significant (P<0.05) between two groups of cattle. These three productive parameters were higher for Red Chittagong Cattle (230±5.16 days, 3.10±0.13 L/day, 0.197 kg/day) respectively. The software based recording system helps to get proper data which will help for selection of superior sires and dams with high genetic merit as well as data can be restored anytime from this software based recording system.

Bacterial wilt of tobacco caused by Ralstonia solanacearum poses a significant threat to tobacco cultivation in Bangladesh. In this study, fourteen tobacco growing areas of Bangladesh were surveyed to assess the status of bacterial wilt disease in tobacco. The result revealed that the higher level of bacterial wilt incidence and severity was recorded in Bandarban followed by Naikhonchari, Lama, Rangpur, and Lalmonirhat and the lower level was in Chakaria, Kushtia, Meherpur, Chuadanga, and Jhenaidah. However, a moderate level of incidence and severity was recorded in Manikgonj, Khagrachori, and Tangail. After estimating the bacterial population in the soil of respective regions it was observed that the highest bacterial population was counted at 22.4 x 10⁷ CFU/g soil in Chakaria and the lowest was counted at 4.3 x 10⁷ CFU/g soil in Tangail. Among the seed samples, sample no BWT Seed 21 had the highest level of infection (93%), sample no BWT Seed 37 had a medium level (39.46%), and sample no BWT Seed 57 had the lowest level of infection (5.14%) with R. solanacearum as detected by plating tobacco seed samples by TTC agar medium. Biovar and races of R. solanacearum were identified through the sugar oxidation test and pathogenicity test and it was found that R. solanacearum isolates from all the fourteen growing areas were grouped into race 1 and biovar 1, biovar 2, biovar 3. Genetic diversity of R. solanacearum analysis was done by using REP and ERIC primers where both primers showed three clusters (I, II, and III) at 60% similarity.  The results are very crucial for the development of sustainable management of bacterial wilt of tobacco and for future population analyses of R. solanacearum.

Cytochrome C oxidase subunit I (COI), known as DNA barcodes, can be employed for the identification of an unknown specimen at the species level. The present study was aimed at performing COI gene-based identification of butterflies using butterfly caterpillars. Consecutively, ten caterpillars of ten different butterfly species from the families Papilionidae, Nymphalidae, Pieridae, Lycaenidae, and Hesperiidae were taken from respective host plants and used to generate COI gene sequences that were about 650 bp long. After BLAST analysis, the sequenced gene revealed 96–100% similarity to the same species from different regions. Then, sequences were submitted to NCBI's GenBank and obtained ten accession numbers. In order to elucidate genetic diversity and evolutionary relationships among ten species of butterfly caterpillars, pairwise distance analysis and the construction of a phylogenetic tree were performed using MEGA10 and BioEdit software. In the analysis, the interspecific genetic divergence among the caterpillars of butterflies was between 0.101-0.164%. A phylogenetic tree was constructed with the assistance of the Neighbor-Joining (NJ) algorithm, which identified two major clades, A and B, as well as indicated that butterflies caterpillars shared a common ancestor. All the species are included in these two clades, except Catopsilia pomona. This species is under the family Pieridae, and the phylogenetic position of Pieridae compared to other butterfly families is ambiguous, necessitating additional research to resolve this issue. The study demonstrated the general applicability of DNA barcoding for rapidly and accurately distinguishing butterfly species, even when using larval stages, as in the present study. Furthermore, it may disclose a higher taxonomic hierarchy of butterfly families.

The objectives of this study were to determine the farmers’ socio-economic characteristics, livestock population dynamics, and breeding practices followed by the farmers. Out of 1487 farmers, a major proportion (53.12%) of farmers was middle-aged. Most of the farmers (71.22%) were associated with agricultural activities and had low income per month (52.32%). Livestock keeping patterns of farmers were cattle, goats, buffalo, and combinations of these animals. Female animals were inferred to be more prevalent in different districts (cow 85.08%, doe 81.29%) than males (bull 14.92%, buck 18.71%). In case of cattle and goats, the highest number of farmers maintained a medium size herd, whereas buffalo farmers had a large herd size. In terms of breeding practices, the majority of the farmers (75.55%) performed artificial insemination (AI) in cattle and found it convenient to service their cows. When considering buffalo, and goat, the majority of the farmers (94.12% and 98.50%, respectively) practiced natural services. The findings also demonstrated that the majority of the farmers (73.8% and 82%, respectively) raised crossbreed cattle and buffalo, while just a tiny portion (26.18% and 18%, respectively) raised indigenous breeds. However, this situation was vice versa in case of goat. For choice of the breed according to the farmers, 39.17% of farmers preferred Black Bengal goat, 60.83% preferred cross breed.  This study represents a comprehensive overview of livestock status and existing breeding practices employed by the farmers in different districts of Bangladesh, which may be utilized to implement relevant livestock improvement programs in Bangladesh.