Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) is considered a biomarker of ovarian follicular reserve and fertility in humans and farm animals. A study was carried out to evaluate the peripheral AMH concentration in high and low fertile crossbred cows. Vrindavani crossbred cows (n=60) at the institutional dairy farm were used for the study. The age-specific decline in AMH concentration was evident, with the highest concentration at 4-6 years (134.8±17.74 pg/mL) corresponding to second to third parity. Retrospective assessment of fertility using 217 lactation records in crossbred cows revealed that circulatory AMH was higher by 69 pg/mL in the high fertile cows than those of low fertile cows. It was concluded that the serum AMH concentration was influenced by age and parity. Further, serum AMH concentrations were found to be higher in the group of cows that had superior fertility records in comparison to the group with low-performing animals.

Distributed real time system has developed into an outstanding computing platform for parallel, high-efficiency applications. A real time system is a kind of planning where tasks must be completed with accurate results within a predetermined amount of time. It is well known that obtaining an optimal assignment of tasks for more than three processors is an NP-hard problem. This article examines the issue of assigning tasks to processors in heterogeneous distributed systems with a view to reduce cost and response time of the system while maximizing system reliability. The proposed method is carried out in two phases, Phase Ⅰ provides a hybrid HPSOGAK, that is an integration of particle swarm optimization (PSO), genetic algorithm (GA), and k-means technique while Phase Ⅱ is based on GA. By updating cluster centroids with PSO and GA and then using them like initial centroids for the k-means algorithm to generate the task-clusters, HPSOGAK produces 'm' clusters of 'r' tasks, and then their assignment onto the appropriate processor is done by using GA. The performance of GA has been improved in this article by introducing new crossover and mutation operators, and the functionality of traditional PSO has been enhanced by combining it with GA. Numerous examples from various research articles are employed to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed technique, and the numerical results are contrasted with well-known existing models. The proposed method enhances PIR values by 22.64%, efficiency by 6.93%, and response times by 23.8 on average. The experimental results demonstrate that the suggested method outperforms all comparable approaches, leading to the achievement of superior results. The developed mechanism is acceptable for an erratic number of tasks and processors with both types of fuzzy and crisp time.

Abstract The full text of this preprint has been withdrawn by the authors due to author disagreement with the posting of the preprint. Therefore, the authors do not wish this work to be cited as a reference. Questions should be directed to the corresponding author.

An experiment was conducted during October 2022–January 2023 at Defence Institute of Bio-energy Research-Defence Research and Development Organisation, Haldwani, Nainital, Uttarakhand to evaluate the growth, quality production and yield of celery under the hydroponic, soilless and soil conditions. Higher crop productivity of celery crop was found under hydroponic system as compared to other medium. The experiment revealed that there is a better provision for vertical space utilization and protection from soil-borne disease under hydroponic farming as compared to traditional farming. This experiment paved a new way for the need and future perspective of hydroponic technology to achieve the desirable quality of vegetable crop production by using modern farming technology such as hydroponics on a small and medium scale. The present experiment also summarized that this farming plays an important role in crop production to maintain market growth in coming years. In this respect, hydroponics is an emerging technology which play a vital role in urban and pre-urban area and positively effective in the ways to promote healthy and developed future for the planet and its people.

Phytochemicals are those compounds which found naturally in plants.The compounds play an important role in plant metabolic activity and in human health by protecting from many diseases.These compounds provide plant protection from many diseases.Globally, hydroponics technology has been accepted as sustainable technology to tackle all issues being reported in conventional system.Hydroponics not only offers safe food but also ensures vertical utilization of space with higher water use efficiency.Soil is the natural growing media which provide potential support to plant growth and development.Soilless is the growing media without using soil.This experiment was conducted during 2022-23 at DIBER, DRDO, Haldwani, Nainital (Uttarakhand).The objective of this study was to evaluate the Phytochemical properties of different medicinal and aromatic herbs under different growing conditions.Among different growing condition Jambu crop exhibited the tannin and flavonoid content higher (235.42 mg TAE /100g., 10.44 mg QE /g.respectively) under hydroponic growing condition as comparison to other growing condition.Whereas the total phenol compound found higher (623.44 mg GAE /100g.)under soil growing condition.In Mint aromatic plant the total phenol and flavonoid attributes found higher (632.75 mg GAE /100g., 25.34 mg QE /g.respectively) under soilless growing condition whereas the tannin compound determined higher (198.49mg TAE /100g.)under hydroponics growing condition.The quality attributes in sweet basil found that's the tannin and flavonoid recorded higher (301.10 mg TAE/100g., 19.00 mg QE/g., respectively) under soilless growing media as compared to other growing conditions.Whereas the total phenol content found higher (569.13mg GAE/100g) under soil growing media.The ascorbic acid found in Jambu herb (34.81 mg/100g) ascorbic acid under soil growing condition, whereas it is found in mint and sweet basil (11.0g mg/100g, 11.09 mg/100 g, respectively) higher under hydroponics growing condition as compared to other growing condition.

Abstract Seed priming is a technique which used to induce metabolic germination processes. Among plant growth regulators salicylic or gibberellic acids play a vital role in the aspects of biochemical processes during maturation (germination) and plant growth and development. The aim of present experiment was to find out the effect of GA3 on growth and yield attributes of radish (Raphanus sativus) under soil less cultivation. An experiment was conducted during September to November 2020 at DIBER, DRDO, Haldwani, Nainital (Uttarakhand). under present experiment the results found that maximum plant height (62.27cm), leaf length (38.33cm), Root length (29.27cm), Root width (6.80cm), Girth of root (8.93cm), Edible length of root (13.57cm), Total yield of /plant (342.00g), Yield of root /plant (234.00g), yield of leaf/plant(112.00g), Dry wt. of root (45.37g), dry wt. of leaf 10.69(g), TSS(9.00), and Chlorophyll content(50.93) found in GA3 concentration and time duration (10ppm and 1 hours) while highest No. of leaf (11.67), Germination %(84) was observed in GA3 (30ppm and 1 hours).

A Cu-catalysed cascade strategy has been developed to synthesize benzoxazole-2-acrylic acid and benzoxazole-2‑propanoic acid derivatives in one pot by reacting 2-bromoaniline with maleic anhydride or succinic anhydride. The cascade cyclic anhydride ring opening followed by O-arylation reaction afforded the products in very good yields.

Tasks allocation problem in heterogeneous and distributed-multiprocessing computing environments is a nonlinear multi-objective NP-hard problem and from a research perspective, it is considereda major issue. The underlying objective of any allocation mechanism to execute the specified tasks set and enumerating processors is to minimize the overall cost. To solve the tasks allocation problems numerous meta-heuristic techniques have been tried and tested but still, plenty of scopes are there for optimal strategies. In the presented article, a comprehensive task assignment model based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) is developed, which optimizes response time, flowtime, and cost of the distributed computing system. In the present technique, the ‘n’ number of cluster centroids of ‘r’ tasks, is updated by the PSO technique to form the ‘n’ task clusters to minimize the communication costs then their allocation is made by the newly proposed heuristic method. Considering the fact, in the given model objective functions conflict with each other and the good thing about the PSO algorithm are its accuracy and speed. And to come up with the most favorable solution, authors have developed PSO based algorithm.The PSO-based technique that is proposed in this article to solve a given assignment problem in a distributed computing system is able to give better results in a manner of convergence rate as thePSO method integrates local and global search methods in an attempt to strike a balance between research and utilization. To examine the functioning of the developed technique, the well-demonstrated scheduling policies based on different techniques have been compared and obtained finer outcomes. The developed mechanism is acceptable for an erratic number of tasks and processors.

Cystic endometrial hyperplasia (CEH)-pyometra (CEH-P) is one of the most common reproductive dis-orders in bitches, posing a risk to both future fertility and life. The aims of the current study were to elucidate the differential expression patterns of inflammatory mediators at transcript and protein levels in the endometrium and to assess the concentrations of key inflammatory mediators in the peripheral circulation of bitches with different graded CEH-P. A total of 25 client-owned intact mixed breed bitches of 3-10 years presented to the outpatient department of RVP-TVCC of the institute were considered for the study. Of which, 22 cases suggestive of pyometra and 3 cases of CEH obtained during routine elective ovariohysterectomy were subjected to histopathological examination. Uteri were categorized into CEH (n 1/4 3), moderate CEH-P (mCEH-P, n 1/4 9), severe CEH-P (sCEH-P, n 1/4 6) and atrophic pyometra (AT-P, n 1/4 7). A group of age matched (n 1/4 12) bitches without pyometra served as control. Endometrial transcripts such as IL6, IL8, PTGS2, PGFS, and SLPI were expressed differentially in the CEH and CEH-P bitch. In addition, a strong immunoreactivity (IR) of IL6, IL8, PTGS2, and mPGES1 was recorded in the sCEH-P uterus, while expression of IL10 was noticed in AT-P. In circulation, serum IL6 was the most relevant marker with high sensitivity of 96.2% and specificity of 84.6% at a cut off concentration 8.5 pg/ mL followed by SLPI with 95.2% sensitivity, and 84.6% specificity at cut off concentration of 1.3 ng/mL. Serum IL10, PGFM and SLPI concentration in the peripheral circulation were 1.5-2.23 fold higher in mCEH-P, 0.87-2.5 fold higher in sCEH-P and 2.9-3.5 fold higher in AT-P than that of control. It is concluded that monitoring the serum concentration of IL6, IL10 and SLPI would be useful adjunct to the established hematobiochemical parameters in the management of pyometra in the bitch with critical illness. (c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

As onset of sepsis adversely affects the prognosis of canine pyometra, finding biomarkers that would distinguish sepsis status would be useful in the clinical management. Accordingly, we hypothesized that differential expression of endometrial transcripts and circulating concentration of certain inflammatory mediators would discriminate pyometra-led sepsis (P-sepsis+) from those of pyometra without sepsis (P-sepsis-). Bitches with pyometra (n = 52) were classified into P-sepsis+ (n = 28) and P-sepsis- (n = 24) based on vital clinical score and total leukocyte count. A group of non-pyometra bitches (n = 12) served as control. The relative fold changes in the transcripts of IL6, IL8, TNFα, IL10, PTGS2, mPGES1 and PGFS, SLPI, S100A8, S100A12 and eNOS were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Furthermore, the serum concentrations of IL6, IL8, IL10, SLPI and prostaglandin F2α metabolite (PGFM) were assayed by ELISA. The relative fold changes in S100A12 and SLPI and mean concentrations of IL6 and SLPI were significantly (p < .05) higher in P-sepsis+ than that of P-sepsis- group. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that serum IL6 had a diagnostic sensitivity of 78.6% and a positive likelihood ratio (LR+) of 2.09, at a cut-off value of 15.7 pg/mL to diagnose P-sepsis+ cases. Similarly, serum SLPI had a sensitivity of 84.6% and an LR+ of 2.23, at a cut-off value of 2.0 pg/mL. It was concluded that SLPI and IL6 would serve as putative biomarkers for pyometra-led sepsis in bitches. Monitoring SLPI and IL6 would be a useful adjunct to the established haemato-biochemical parameters in customizing the treatment strategies and arriving at the decision for management of pyometra bitches with critical illness.

Pyometra is a potentially life-threatening condition that affects intact female dogs in their middle to advance age. Timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment are critical for the survival of patients, especially when pyometra advances to sepsis. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic potential of certain haematology, serum biochemical and inflammatory biomarker, secretory leucocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) for pyometra in bitches (n = 41). Blood samples were collected after clinical diagnosis of pyometra for haematology and serum biochemistry. Based on the prognosis following medical/surgical treatment, animals were retrospectively categorized into survivor (n = 29) and dead (n = 12). Endometrial tissue sections were obtained from the bitches undergoing ovariohysterectomy (n = 21). Serum concentration of SLPI was quantified using sandwich ELISA and its expression in the endometrium was investigated using RT-qPCR. A marked increase in the total leucocyte count (TLC), neutrophils, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine was observed in the female dogs that did not survive. Significant elevation in the serum SLPI concentration (3.49 ± 0.44 vs. 2.38 ± 0.13 ng/mL) was observed in the bitches those died after the treatment, in comparison to those survived (p < .01). Additionally, there was a notable upregulation of SLPI in the endometrium in the bitches those died due to pyometra. Based on the ROC analysis results, it was observed that a cut-off concentration of 2.93 ng/mL for SLPI, 27.77 mg/dL for BUN and 16.3 × 103 /μL for TLC could effectively distinguish the prognosis of pyometra-affected dogs. From this study, it can be concluded that upregulation of SLPI in the endometrium and its elevated concentration in peripheral circulation along with TLC and BUN concentration could serve as valuable indicators for predicting the prognosis of pyometra in bitches.

In the modern era, there is a sudden rise in data due to the wide use of the web, social networks and so on. Now, it becomes difficult to explore desired data from such fused complex data. For mining the data, many clustering algorithms have been proposed, and it is very difficult to find a clustering method which is suitable for all types of datasets. The present study proposes a hybrid fuzzy clustering technique based on the fusion of intuitionistic modified fuzzy c-means and improved genetic algorithm. This study overcomes the problem of high sensitivity toward initial centroids by using an improved genetic algorithm with developed normalized crossover and mutation operator. The proposed algorithm reduces the effect of noise by developing a metric and resolve uncertainty in assigning membership value by using two negation functions. The strength of the proposed algorithm over existing methods in the literature is revealed by testing it on 11 benchmark real-world and three artificial datasets. The experiment results state the admirable achievement of the proposed algorithm over other tested algorithms.

Abstract Background In the recent past, the antral follicle count (AFC), of an ovary, has been indicated as an important phenotypic characteristic related to female fertility and closely correlated to the performance of in vivo and in vitro embryo production. However, most of the follicles undergo degeneration at the early antral stage rather than the preantral and preovulatory stages. FSH has been considered a follicle survival factor. Therefore, the present study aimed to find the effect of superovulatory dose of FSH on follicular development, atresia rate, endocrine changes, and super ovulatory estrus characteristics in Sahiwal cows. Methods A total of 24 Sahiwal cows were divided into two groups. Simulated and non-stimulated groups. In the stimulated group, Sahiwal donors (n = 12) were superstimulated using pFSH during the mid-luteal phase and the same number of cyclic Sahiwal cows (n = 12) were monitored through trans-rectal ultrasonography for comparative follicular-endocrine changes in the stimulated and non-stimulated group. Results At the initiation of FSH administration (10th day), on the day of prostaglandin (PG) injection (12th day), and at super ovulatory estrus (SOE/14th day) significantly greater number of small, medium, and large follicles were recorded, respectively. However, similar changes were not found on the respective days of the oestrus cycle in non-stimulated cows. The number of surface follicles undergoing atresia was significantly higher (P < 0.01) in the non-stimulated than in the stimulated group. On the day of SOE, the greater number of preovulatory follicles (POF) was positively correlated with the number of small follicles in the ovary at the initiation of superovulatory (SO) treatment and ovarian dimension at SOE. Conclusions The administration of pFSH increased the total number of the large follicle population by preventing the atresia of the small follicle and propelling the cohort of the follicle in a continuous growth phase thereby the significantly higher number of POF recorded on the day of SOE and contributing to increased peripheral E2 concentration. Thus, the majority of SO animals exhibited high estrus intensity for a prolonged period than normal cycling Sahiwal cows.

Energy based diet supplementation is responsible for body growth and plays a significant role to improve spermatogenesis, semen quality, fertility and influence livestock production. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of dietary flaxseed and coconut oil supplementation on semen profile, hormone level, testicular biometry, antioxidant enzyme activity and seminal plasma protein in adult rams. A total number of nine rams (Bannur crossbred rams, aged 20-23 months) were divided into three groups and each group consisted of three rams. The sheep of the control were fed a diet consisting of concentrate mixture and ragi straw in a ratio of 50:50, respectively as per ICAR 2013 standard. The sheep of the coconut oil supplemented group were fed the same basal diet as that of the control group; additionally they were supplemented with coconut oil @ 5 g/100 g concentrate mixture. The sheep of flaxseed oil supplemented group were fed the same basal diet as that of the control group, additionally they were supplemented with flaxseed oil @ 5 g/100 g concentrate mixture. A total of 45 semen samples (5 collections from each ram), were collected through electro-ejaculator method (twice in a week and in 3 days interval). The volume, initial motility, mass motility, live and dead percentage, concentration, acrosome intactness and functional membrane integrity were assessed in fresh semen. Sperm velocity and motility parameters were assessed using CASA. Antioxidant enzyme activities, LPO and seminal plasma protein profiling were estimated in seminal plasma. The results indicated that rams fed with oils (treatment groups) produced semen with higher volume, sperm concentrations, with improved membrane and acrosome integrities. The antioxidant enzyme activities were increased and the oxidative stress reduced as indicated by lowered MDA level in the treatment groups. However, the motility and velocity of spermatozoa did not improve although testosterone increased. Testicular biometric measurements did not differ between control and treatment groups. Marked changes were observed in the seminal plasma protein profile due to feeding of oils. The MALDI-TOF/TOF analysis revealed that the differentially expressed protein spots in the coconut oil group were Interleukin-2, Endothelin-1, Secreted phosphoprotein 24, Caveoilin-I, Interferon gamma and in flaxseed oil group were SRY protein. This study indicated that supplementation of flaxseed and coconut oil at 5% level to the rams improved the protective role against oxidative stress and induced over expression of certain seminal plasma proteins depending upon the oil fed.

Recently, we reported the differential expression of kisspeptinergic system in the bubaline hypothalamus and corpus luteum. Here, we document the expression of kisspeptin (Kp) and its receptor (Kiss1r) in the ovarian follicles of the buffalo with respect to the functional status. Follicles of >= 10 to <= 13 mm diameter (n = 45) were retrospectively categorized into active (n = 18), intermediate (n = 16) and atretic (n = 11) follicles based on the concentrations of intrafollicular progesterone (P-4) and estradiol (E-2). The P-4:E-2 ratio was significantly lower in the active follicle (0.43 +/- 0.08) than that of the intermediate (3.46 +/- 0.53) and atretic (28.4 +/- 10.6) follicles (P < 0.05). Relative fold change in the transcripts of kisspeptin (Kissl ), Kissl r, gonadotrophin receptors, steroid acute regulatory protein (StAR), cytochrome P450 family 11 subfamily A member 1 (CYP11A1), cytochrome P450 Family 19 subfamily A member 1 (CYP19A1), insulin like growth factor -1 (IGF-1), apoptotic factors (caspase 3 and B-cell lymphoma 2, BCL2) was calculated using qPCR in the follicular wall of the three categories of follicle (n = 8/group). In another experiment, histological sections of the ovary (n = 41) were used to group the follicles as described above and immunostaining of Kp, Kisslr and aromatase was done. A significant upregulation of StAR, CYP11A1 and CYP19A1 in the active follicles supported the endocrine basis of follicular classification. The transcripts of Kiss1 and Kiss1r were upregulated by 19.45 fold and 4.25 fold, respectively in the active follicle as compared to other groups. Immunolocalization studies revealed that Kp and Kiss1r were localized to the basal and antral granulosa cells (GC) of the active and intermediate follicles; however, the staining intensity was stronger in the former group. Strong expression of CYP19A1 in the GC layer of active follicle supported the histological basis of defining the functional status of the follicle. It is concluded that the follicular compartment of the bubaline ovary expressed the constituents of kisspeptinergic system. The expression of Kp and Kiss1r was influenced by the functional status of the follicle with intense localization in the GC layer of the active follicles. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has become a global pandemic as announced by World Health Organisation. As India has already met the two waves, named first and second wave, it is assumed that COVID-19 will again strike in India in the form of third wave. The peak during the upcoming third wave and determination of the approximated maximum number of COVID-19 infected cases and deaths at a particular day becomes crucial for India. To determine the peak of infectious curve, this article proposed a hybrid fuzzy time series forecasting model based on particle swarm optimization and fuzzy c-mean technique, named as fuzzy time series particle swarm optimization extended fuzzy c-mean technique. The proposed model works in two phases. In phase-I, particle swarm optimization extended fuzzy c-mean method is used to form initial intervals with the help of centroids, while in phase-II, these intervals are updated to form subintervals. In the present article, a fitness function is developed for particle swarm optimization to increase its convergence speed and basic fuzzy c-mean is extended by using an exponential function to tolerate the effect of outliers, named as extended fuzzy c-mean technique. The effectiveness of the proposed model has been tested based on mean square error and root mean square error on first and second wave COVID-19 data, and the obtained results are very close to the existing data of COVID-19 with less error rate. Thus, the proposed model is suitable to forecast a better approximation value of COVID-19 infected cases and deaths in India during the upcoming third wave. This study demonstrates that third wave of COVID-19 could occur in India, while also illustrating that it is unlikely for any such resurgence to be as large as the second wave. The proposed model predicts that the peak of third wave will occur approximately after 40–70 days from the mid of December. Furthermore, the impact of vaccination on infected cases and deaths during the upcoming third wave in India is also studied. With the implementation of the vaccine on the Indian people, the peak of COVID-19 infected during third wave will be shifted in forward direction. On the basis of the proposed model, government authorities will be enabling to know expected required resources such as hospital patient beds, ICU beds, and oxygen concentrators during the upcoming outspread of COVID-19 like disease in future.

Fuzzy clustering is a well-established technique among the well-known clustering techniques in several real-world applications due to easy implementation and produces satisfactory clustering result. However, it has some deficiency such as sensitive to outliers, result dependency on choosing initial centroid, etc. To eradicate the shortcoming of FCM algorithm, this article introduces a robust clustering technique, particle swarm optimization improved fuzzy c-means is developed by the hybridization of particle swarm optimization and improved fuzzy c-means techniques, to deal with noisy data and initialization problem. In this article, a fuzzy clustering technique is developed to increase the convergence performance of clustering techniques. Fuzzy c-means is improved by developing a new metric to tolerate the noisy environment. Particle swarm optimization has an inbuilt guidance strategy which leads the solution in particle swarm optimization to obtain useful information from the better solution and thereby helping them improve their own solution. To handle the initialization problem of fuzzy c-means, particle swarm optimization technique is used. PSO effectively enhance the performance of improved FCM to increase the effectiveness of clustering. The effectiveness of the proposed clustering technique over existing techniques in literature has been illustrated by adopting eight real worlds and three artificial data sets. The results show that the proposed algorithm generates encouraging results as compared to the established clustering technique in literature.

Evidence for extra-hypothalamic expression of kisspeptinergic system is emerging. The present study documents the imuunolocalization of the kisspeptin and its receptor in the placentome of buffalo. Gravid uterus was collected from the abattoir and gestational age was estimated by crown-rump length of the fetus. A section of placentome containing the caruncle and cotyledon was used for immunohistochemistry. The expression of Kp and its receptor was evident in the feto-maternal junctions with prominent localization in the mononucleate and binucleate cells. In conclusion, the present study supports possible role of placental kisspeptin during pregnancy in the ruminants

Background: In field situations often failure to breed timely leads to delay in conception causing significant losses to the dairy farmers. ICAR-IVRI, Izatnagar has developed ‘ICAR-IVRI Crystoscope’ for detection of right-time for breeding.In Indian context, literature on reproduction economics, documenting the costs delayed conception, is scant. Further, in spite of the potential inherent in the above-mentioned technology, no systematic attempt has been made to ascertain its economic impact. The present study assessed the economic impact of use of ‘ICAR-IVRI Crystoscope’ in terms of losses avoided in dairy animals. Methods: The study is based on field survey covering 628 cattle from sample 117 households, selected from Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir state of India. The approach to identifying incidence of delayed conception comprised interview with Para-veterinarians/Inseminators by visiting each case of delayed conception with them; crosschecking with the records kept by the Para-veterinarians/Inseminators and validation by holding focused group discussions with Government Veterinary Officers, Para-veterinarians, inseminators and the farmers. Primary data were collected through personal interview of head of sample households with the help of a well-structured, comprehensive and pretested interview schedule. Result: Overall incidence of delayed conception, due to failure to detect optimum breeding time, ranged between 22-29%. Average number of services required per conception and days delayed in conception were less in treatment villages than in control ones. The study revealed that one extra day delayed in conception increases the total loss per animal due to delayed conception by INR 138.0, while use of ‘ICAR-IVRI Crystoscope’, reduces loss due to delayed conception per animal by INR 2965.55. The study thus provides definite indications that use of the technology has significant impact on reduction in total loss due to delayed conception on account of failure to detect optimum breeding time.