Browsing by Author "VIKAS KUMAR"
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ThesisItem Open Access GROSS ANATOMICAL STUDIES ON THE BONES OF SKULL IN BLUE BULL(Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner, 2017) VIKAS KUMAR; Dr. Sanjeev JoshiIn present study the skull of Blue bull (boselaphus tragocamilus) was dolichocephalic in type. The cranial bones included Occipital, Sphenoid, Ethmoid, Interparietal, Parietal, Frontal, Temporal, and facial bones were Maxilla, Premaxilla, Palatine, Pterygoid, Nasal, Lacrimal, Zygomatic, Vomer, Turbinates and Mandible. The occipital was a single bone surrounding the foramen magnum. The foramen magnum was large and roughly oval in shape. The sphenoid resembled the shape of a bat. Foramen orbitorotundum was situated in between the wings of pre and post sphenoid bones. The interparietal was a small quadrilateral bone. The supraorbital foramen was present in the supraorbital groove. The paired incisive bones were placed on the lower part of the face. The infraorbital foramen located above the 1st cheek tooth. Facial tuberosity was placed just above the 3rd cheek tooth. Turbinate bones were delicate, scroll-like, complex bony plates. These were clearly visible in radiographs and CT scan. The CT scan showed three pair of clearly visible sinuses (frontal, maxillary and sphenopalatine sinuses). Cranial cavity was an ovoid cavity being elongated posteriorly, situated on the dorsal aspect of the nasal sinus. The total number of teeth thirty two; upper incisor and canine were absent, premolars and molars were three; lower incisors were four, canine absent, premolars and molars were three. The mandible was a paired bone and made up of two halves, which were united with immovable articulation forming mandibular symphysis. Craniometric measurements for parts of the skulls were made in this study. All investigated features were expressed as Mean±SE. The mean lengths of the skulls were found to be 42.17±0.27 cm, with the cephalic index 36.99±0.56 cm. The cranial index was 61.88±0.30 cm.The facial index were 62.48±0.37 cm. The length of mandible was 35.10±0.19 cm and height 16.80±0.13cm.ThesisItem Open Access Hydrogel Based Formulations of Imazethapyr: Development and Appraisal of Release Behaviour(Division of Agricultural Chemicals Indian Agricultural Research Institute New Delhi –, 2014) VIKAS KUMAR; Anupama)Imazethapyr, a systemic broad spectrum herbicide is recommended for soybean, groundnuts and other leguminous crops. Primarily applied as postemergence, its use is also recommended for pre emergence weed control. In India, its liquid formulation in the form of soluble liquid (SL) is largely used whose preparation involves the use of surfactants, emulsifiers and inorganic salts. This, coupled with fast dissipation in water necessitates the development of controlled release formulations of imazethapyr that are simple to prepare, possess slow release properties and involve minimal or no use of toxic adjuvants. The objective of present thesis was to develop hydrogel based controlled release formulations of imazethapyr for pre and post emergence application, to evaluate their release behaviour in water and bioefficacy against prevalent weeds in a kharif/rabi crop. Guar gum (GG), a galactomannan polysaccharide was employed to prepare novel GG-g-polyacrylate/bentonite superporous hydrogel composites (GG-SPHC) and core shell nanogels (GG-CSH) as carriers. Reaction factors, the backbone-monomer ratio, cross linker, bentonite and porogen contents were optimized w.r.t swelling characteristics. The prepared hydrogels were characterized by FT-IR, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Swelling behaviour of the representative GG-SPHC was evaluated w.r.t. salt and fertilizer solutions, temperature, water quality and pH. GGSPHC exhibited very fast swelling (30 minutes), almost similar to the corresponding clay free hydrogel. Higher absorbency under load as compared to the clay free gel showed improved mechanical strength of the composites. The core-shell nanogels (GG-shell-PNIPAm-core; GG-shell-PVA-core; PNIPAm-shell-GG-PVA-core) exhibited mean particle size in the range of 11 nm to 490 nm. TEM analysis exhibited core shell spherical structures of prepared nanogels. GG-SPHC and GG-CSH carriers with optimized compositions were used to prepare imazethapyr formulations of imazethapyr under ambient conditions. The release of a.i. from the all the test compositions in water followed Fickian mechanism. Release was faster in GG-SPHC formulations (t1/2 =4.4 to 12.6 days). Field appraisal on bioefficacy of prepared formulations vis-a-vis commercial formulations showed very high weed control index of test formulation (96.7- 99.1% on 90 DAS) comparable to that of commercial formulations (98-99.4%). GG-SPHC formulations of imazethapyr applied at pre-emergence stage, exhibited significantly higher weed control as compared to other formulation treatments. All the imazethapyr formulations exhibited acute phytotoxicity in garlic crop (variety G 41) implying that its use in garlic crop and varietal response to imazethapyr and its formulations need further investigations.ThesisItem Open Access Hydrogel Based Formulations of Imazethapyr: Development and Appraisal of Release Behaviour(Division of Agricultural Chemicals Indian Agricultural Research Institute New Delhi, 2014) VIKAS KUMAR; AnupamaImazethapyr, a systemic broad spectrum herbicide is recommended for soybean, groundnuts and other leguminous crops. Primarily applied as postemergence, its use is also recommended for pre emergence weed control. In India, its liquid formulation in the form of soluble liquid (SL) is largely used whose preparation involves the use of surfactants, emulsifiers and inorganic salts. This, coupled with fast dissipation in water necessitates the development of controlled release formulations of imazethapyr that are simple to prepare, possess slow release properties and involve minimal or no use of toxic adjuvants. The objective of present thesis was to develop hydrogel based controlled release formulations of imazethapyr for pre and post emergence application, to evaluate their release behaviour in water and bioefficacy against prevalent weeds in a kharif/rabi crop. Guar gum (GG), a galactomannan polysaccharide was employed to prepare novel GG-g-polyacrylate/bentonite superporous hydrogel composites (GG-SPHC) and core shell nanogels (GG-CSH) as carriers. Reaction factors, the backbone-monomer ratio, cross linker, bentonite and porogen contents were optimized w.r.t swelling characteristics. The prepared hydrogels were characterized by FT-IR, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Swelling behaviour of the representative GG-SPHC was evaluated w.r.t. salt and fertilizer solutions, temperature, water quality and pH. GGSPHC exhibited very fast swelling (30 minutes), almost similar to the corresponding clay free hydrogel. Higher absorbency under load as compared to the clay free gel showed improved mechanical strength of the composites. The core-shell nanogels (GG-shell-PNIPAm-core; GG-shell-PVA-core; PNIPAm-shell-GG-PVA-core) exhibited mean particle size in the range of 11 nm to 490 nm. TEM analysis exhibited core shell spherical structures of prepared nanogels. GG-SPHC and GG-CSH carriers with optimized compositions were used to prepare imazethapyr formulations of imazethapyr under ambient conditions. The release of a.i. from the all the test compositions in water followed Fickian mechanism. Release was faster in GG-SPHC formulations (t1/2 =4.4 to 12.6 days). Field appraisal on bioefficacy of prepared formulations vis-a-vis commercial formulations showed very high weed control index of test formulation (96.7- 99.1% on 90 DAS) comparable to that of commercial formulations (98-99.4%). GG-SPHC formulations of imazethapyr applied at pre-emergence stage, exhibited significantly higher weed control as compared to other formulation treatments. All the imazethapyr formulations exhibited acute phytotoxicity in garlic crop (variety G 41) implying that its use in garlic crop and varietal response to imazethapyr and its formulations need further investigations.ThesisItem Open Access MANAGEMENT OF YELLOW VEIN MOSAIC DISEASE OF OKRA AND STUDY OF VIRUS-VECTOR RELATIONSHIP(Sardar Vallabhbhi Patel Universiy of Agriculture And Technology Meerut (U.P.), 2015) VIKAS KUMAR; Ramesh Singh; Ramji Singh, Prashant Mishra,Hem SinghOkra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) is an important vegetable crop belongs to family Malvaceae. India is the largest producer of okra in the world with total area of 0.52 million hectares and production of 6.26 million tonnes green pods, whereas productivity of the crop is 12.1mt/ ha (Anonymous, 2012). Yellow Vein Mosaic (YVM) is the most important and destructive disease of okra and is a major constraint in okra production. The present investigations were carried out on “Management of yellow vein mosaic disease of okra and study of virus-vector relationship” during 2014-15. In pot experiments different level of vectors (whitefly) such as 1, 5, 9, 12, 15 and 20 were used to study the transmission of OYVMV. The single viruliferous white fly transmitted minimum (18.75% and 15.38%) disease in first and second experiment respectively, whereas maximum transmission (100%) was found with 20 viruliferous whiteflies which significantly increased transmission of OYVMV on test plant. The highest transmission percentage of OYVMV (75.00% and 76.96%) was found to be with 6 hrs acquisition feeding period on test plants in first and second experiment respectively. The lowest transmission percentage of OYVMV was recorded with 15 minutes acquisition feeding period. The highest susceptibility to virus was recorded (100%) in the 15 and 20 days old plants in both experiments and remaining plants were also found susceptible to OYVMV. In another experiment, the effect of plant leaf extracts (2.0%), bio agent (1.0%) and chemicals (0.1%) were found to be effective for reducing whiteflies population. The maximum number of decrease in whiteflies population were recorded after 7 and 14 days of spray using combination of Azadirachtin 0.03% + Imidacloprid 70 WG + Beuveria bassiana (5.33 and 5.67) and (3.67 and 4.00) in both experiments. The minimum number of whitefly decrease by Bhang extract (11.33 and 11.67) and (8.33 and 8.67) in both experiments, whereas untreated control was recorded with (17.00 and 18.00) white fly at 7 and 14 days after first spray and (18.67 and19.33) white fly at 7 and 14 days after second spray.ThesisItem Open Access PREPARATION AND EVALUATION OF TEA CIDER(2014) VIKAS KUMAR; JOSHI, V.K.ABSTRACT Apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) is one of the most important temperate fruit crops of the world, whereas, tea (Camellia sinensis L.) is the most important non-alcoholic beverage worldwide gaining further popularity as a “health drink”. It is consumed as morning drink by 2/3rd of world population. Black tea is a rich source of tannins, which are a group of astringent polyphenolic compounds such as flavonoids (theaflavin and thearubigin) and others derivatives of polyphenols. Cider is a low alcoholic beverage prepared and consumed all over the world. The polyphenols of tea can be utilized to improve the phenolics composition of cider by fermenting the tea leaf extracts alongwith apple juice. Present investigations were carried out to prepare tea cider. Musts prepared from different tea leaf extracts were fermented with two types of fermentation (with Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus and natural fermentation). Fermentability and rate of fermentation was higher in apple tea wine having herbal tea than other tea, whereas, among the different concentrations of tea, rate of fermentation was the highest in apple tea wine having 5 g tea. On the basis of physico-chemical, antimicrobial and sensory quality characteristics, apple tea wine having 4 g CTC tea (fermented with Saccharomyces cerevisiae var ellipsoideus) was the best. A preliminary experiment prior to conducting the response surface methodology (RSM) was carried out to standardize the types of sugar sources, nitrogen sources and inocula. Apple tea wine prepared by ameliorating the apple tea must with apple juice concentrate as a sugar source, DAHP as a nitrogen source and inoculated with Saccharomyces cerevisiae var ellipsoideus was rated the best on the basis of physicochemical and sensory quality characteristics. Standardization of tea concentration, initial TSS, DAHP and sulphur dioxide concentration and inoculum size was done by applying central composite design (CCD) of RSM for preparation of apple tea wine. On the basis of physico-chemical and sensory characteristics, runs having 4 g CTC tea, 20 oB TSS, 0.2 % DAHP, 100 ppm SO2 and 5 % inoculum were rated as the best. Further, the maturation was carried out for six months with three different wood chips i.e. Quercus spp., Bombax spp. and Acacia. spp. Based on physico-chemical, antimicrobial and sensory quality characteristics, apple tea wine matured with Quercus spp. wood chips was rated the best. The 6 month matured (with different wood chips) apple tea wine was blended with different proportions of apple juice (30, 40 and 50 per cent). Tea cider prepared with 40 per cent apple juice was rated as best on the basis of physico-chemical, antimicrobial and sensory quality characteristics. Tea ciders so prepared was a good source of phenolics, proteins and amino acids have moderate alcohol content, lower caffeine content with good antioxidant properties.ThesisItem Open Access STUDIES ON FERMENTATION OF CUSTARD APPLE PULP WITH Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus AT DIFFERENT DILUTIONS FOR WINE PREPARATION(ANDHRA PRADESH HORTICULTURAL UNIVERSITY, 2010-05) VIKAS KUMAR; Dr. P. VEERANNA GOUDAn experiment entitled “Studies on Fermentation of Custard apple Pulp with Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus at Different Dilutions for Wine Preparation” was conducted at College of Horticulture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad from November 2009 to February 2010. It consisted of six treatments where in custard apple pulp was diluted to 1 : 2, 1 : 3 and 1 : 4 dilutions with and without 0.1% DAHP. It replicated thrice with Completely Randomized Design with factorial concept. The objective of experiment was to standardise the dilution of Custard apple pulp for wine preparation, to study the effect of DAHP on the rate of fermentation and to study the compositional changes of must during fermentation and aging of wine. The fermentation of must was completed on 12th day in 1 : 2 and 1 : 3 dilution with DAHP. The treatment 1 : 4 dilution with DAHP recorded higher alcohol production (8.14%) during the fermentation. The treatments 1 : 4 dilution with DAHP recorded low of reducing sugars(1.91%), total sugars (5.53%), less of titrable acidity (0.56%), minimum of phenols (231.66 µg/ml) and lower pH (3.72) during fermentation. During aging there was decrease in alcohol content (10.96% to 10.72%) because of auto-oxidation of ethyl alcohol to aldehydes and/or combination with volatile acids to form esters. The other compositional changes like decrease of TSS, reducing sugars, total sugars, titrable acidity, phenols and tannins was noticed. The overall acceptability of wine was recorded maximum with 1 : 4 dilution with DAHP scoring to a scale of good. On comparison of custard apple wine with that of standard (grape) wine, it recorded to a scale of “good” as against a scale of “excellent” for standard (grape) wine. The calculated cost of custard apple wine was about Rs. 21.00 for 200ml of bottle.ThesisItem Open Access STUDIES ON OVERALL IMPROVEMENT OF QUALITY AND ACCEPTABILITY OF FROZEN SQUID FOR EXPORT(Fisheries College and Research Institute, Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu Fisheries University, 2014-07-21) VIKAS KUMAR; Dr. Sukumar, D; Dr. Jeyasekaran, G; Dr. Shanmugam, S.AThe studies on overall improvement of quality and acceptability of frozen squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana) upon the treatment with the imported food grade chemicals (Hidratech_4A and Whitech_3) were carried out. Raw squid was preprocessed and treated with Hidratech_4A (0.4%) and Whitech_3 (0.25%). Chemical treatments were done in fresh water, salt water along with control (without chemicals in ice). Treated squids were quick frozen at -40 ºC in contact plate freezer at an EU approved seafood freezing plant (M/s. Edhyam Frozen Foods Pvt. Ltd., Thoothukudi) and then stored at -20±1ºC. The quality of squids was evaluated for sensory, biochemical and microbiological characteristics. Samples were tested after preprocessing, treatments, freezing and during storage at monthly intervals for 7 months. The overall sensory scores revealed marked variation between treatments as well as between months of storage. There was a significant (P<0.01) decrease in sensory scores with the progression of storage for all samples. Chemical treatments showed significant (P<0.01) improvement in preserving the sensory quality and better acceptability of samples, especially the samples treated with chemicals in fresh water than that of control. Variation in proximate composition was highly significant (P<0.01). The moisture, protein, fat and ash contents varied significantly (P<0.01) between treatments at every stage of processing and months of storage. The chemicals were effective in preserving the nutritional quality of treated samples than that of control. The results favour the application of fresh water than salt water for treatments. Biochemical evaluation such as pH, trimethylamine nitrogen (TMA-N) and total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N) also revealed a better quality status of treated samples than control. Low level of pH, TMA-N and TVB-N was observed in samples treated in fresh water than that of samples treated in salt water and control at each stage of processing and also during storage. Thus, the biochemical quality indices indicate the application of fresh water to be advantageous in maintaining the quality. The microbiological quality of treated samples indicated the lower TPC for squid undergone treatment in salt water. A marked difference in E.coli counts after treatment was noticed. Human pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella and Vibrio cholerae were not found during processing and storage. Thus, it is concluded that there was an overall improvement in quality and acceptability of frozen squid upon the treatment of chemicals (Hidratech_4A and Whitech_3). Moreover, fresh water was found to be more effective in maintaining the sensory and biochemical quality of squids than salt water However, salt water was found to be relatively better than fresh water in respect of microbiological quality of frozen squid.