Issue 04

Effect of potting mixture on plant growth, yield and oil quality of vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides L

2025-05-23T06:02:20Z

Effect of potting mixture on plant growth, yield and oil quality of vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides L Priyadarshani, N.D.N.; Amarasinghe, M.K.T.K.; Subasinghe, S.; Palihakkara, I.R.; Kumarasinghe, H.K.M.S. Vetiver is an economically important plant used in ayurvedic medicine and for extraction of some essential oils. The present study was undertaken to determine the effect of potting mixture on plant growth, root yield, oil con tent and oil quality of Vetiver. Plants grown in top soil : sand mixture (at 1:2) showed higher plant growth, oil content and quality as compared to other treatments.

Effect of dietary chilli powder on growth performance and serum cholesterol contents of broiler chicken

2025-05-22T10:09:43Z

Effect of dietary chilli powder on growth performance and serum cholesterol contents of broiler chicken Atapattu, N.S.B.M.; Belpagodagamage, U.D. With the ban on the use of antibiotic growth promotants (AGP) in animal industry, search for alternatives to AGP has received a renewed scientific attention. Herbal extracts such as capsaicin have found to improve the growth performance of broiler chicken. Chilli (Capsicum annum) is a good source of natural capsaicin. Objective of this study was to determine the effects of dietary chilli powder (CHPW) on growth performance and serum cholesterol levels of broiler chicken. One hundred broiler chicks in 20 cages received one of the four experimental diets containing either 0 (control), 1, 3 or 5% of CHPW from day 30-49. Serum cholesterol contents were determined on day 47. Mortality rates, feed and water intake were not affected by the dietary CHPW. The birds fed 5% CHPW gave higher (p<0.05) live weight on day 49 and weight gain from day 30-49, compared to control group. Though not significant, feed conversion ratio (FCR) of the bids fed 5% CHPW (2.14) was 6% better than that of the control birds (2.28). Visceral organ weights, abdominal fat pad percentage and the litter parameters were also not affected by the dietary CHPW. Serum cholesterol levels of the birds fed 1% CHPW were significantly lower than those of the birds fed either 0 or 5% dietary CHPW. Results of this experiment conclude that 5% dietary CHPW had growth promotant effect while 1% CHPW had hypocholesterolaemic effect in broiler chicken.

Effect of dietary chilli powder on growth performance and serum cholesterol contents of broiler chicken

2025-05-22T09:59:17Z

Effect of dietary chilli powder on growth performance and serum cholesterol contents of broiler chicken Atapattu, N.S.B.M.; Belpagodagamage, U.D.

Use of RAPD-PCR and Phage display techniques to study variation in Colleto trichum gloeosporioides isolated from Papaya (Carica papaya L)

2025-05-22T09:00:10Z

Use of RAPD-PCR and Phage display techniques to study variation in Colleto trichum gloeosporioides isolated from Papaya (Carica papaya L) Wasantha Kumara, K.L.; Akella, V.; Rawal, R.D. ScFv monoclonal antibodies were raised against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz.) Penz. and Sacc. isolates of papaya using phage display technology. Phages obtained after fourth round of biopanning were used to generate monoclonal antibodies against the pathogen. Four monoclonals were identified having the highest binding affinity to C. gloeosporioides and were selected to differentiate isolates of C. gloeosporioides along with isolates of C. capsici, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense and Alternaria spp. Cetyle trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) method with some modifications was followed to isolate total genomic DNA in another experiment. Initially, DNA samples were amplified with 20 different OPA random primers and two of them were selected to amplify individual DNA samples from the eight papaya isolates and C. capsici, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense and Alternaria spp . All monoclones found to have high binding affinity towards different isolates of C. gloeosporioides compared to three other species, indicating their specificity towards C. gloeosporioides. There was a greater variation ob served among isolates according to band patterns when amplified with OPA 3 and OPA 14 primers se lected. However, with both these primers, there were common bands(1200 bp with OPA 3 and 965 bp with OPA 14) that may be specific to C. gloeosporioides.