Abstract:The Sundarbans mangrove forest is an important resource for the people of the Ganges Delta. It plays an important role in the local as well as global ecosystem by absorbing carbon dioxide and other pollutants from air and water, offering protection to millions of people in the Ganges Delta against cyclone and water surges, stabilizing the shore line, trapping sediment and nutrients, purifying water, and providing services for human beings, such as fuel wood, medicine, food, and construction materials. However, this mangrove ecosystem is under threat, mainly due to climate change and anthropogenic factors. Anthropogenic and climate change-induced degradation, such as over-exploitation of timber and pollution, sea level rise, coastal erosion, increasing salinity, effects of increasing number of cyclones and higher levels of storm surges function as recurrent threats to mangroves in the Sundarbans. In this situation, regular and detailed information on mangrove species composition, their spatial distribution and the changes taking place over time is very important for a thorough understanding of mangrove biodiversity, and this information can also lead to the adoption of management practices designed for the maximum sustainable yield of the Sundarbans forest resources. We employed a maximum likelihood classifier technique to classify images recorded by the Landsat satellite series and used post classification comparison techniques to detect changes at the species level. The image classification resulted in overall accuracies of 72%, 83%, 79% and 89% for the images of 1977, 1989, 2000 and 2015, respectively. We identified five major mangrove species and detected changes over the 38-year (1977-2015) study period. During this period, both Heritiera fomes and Excoecaria agallocha decreased by 9.9%, while Ceriops decandra, Sonneratia apelatala, and Xylocarpus mekongensis increased by 12.9%, 380.4% and 57.3%, respectively.
This experiment was conducted with the aim to study the effect of replacing egg yolk with soybean lecithin (SL) for cryopreservation of Black Bengal buck semen. Sexually matured Black Bengal buck (n = 5) were used and the ejaculates were obtained using an artificial vagina method. The semen samples were pooled and diluted in Tris extender with 5% Glycerol containing either 15% egg yolk (control group) or SL at different concentrations (1% SL, 1.5% SL and 2% SL). The semen samples were filled in straws and cooled gradually to 5 °C. Semen straws were equilibrated for 3 hours at 5°C and were frozen in static liquid nitrogen vapor and stored in liquid nitrogen. Semen samples were evaluated after initial dilution, after completion of equilibration and after freeze thawing for in vitro sperm characters such as sperm motility, functional membrane integrity and malondioldehyde (MDA) concentration. Semen samples preserved in extender containing 1% SL was able to maintain in vitro sperm characters similar to the extender containing egg yolk. However, significant (P<0.05) reduction in all semen parameters was observed as the concentration of soybean lecithin increased above 1% level. It is concluded that an extender containing soybean lecithin @ 1% with 5% Glycerol can be used for replacing egg yolk for cryopreservation of Black Bengal buck semen.
Aim: This study aimed to study the electrophoretic properties of seminal plasma and sperm proteins of Black Bengal buck semen and their correlation with in vitro sperm characters and freezability. Materials and Methods: Semen ejaculates from nine Black Bengal bucks were collected by artificial vagina (n=20/buck). Ejaculates were evaluated for in vitro sperm characters and electrophoretic profile of seminal protein. In vitro sperm characters were evaluated immediately after collection, after completion of equilibration period, and after freeze-thawing. For seminal protein studies, seminal plasma proteins were precipitated by ice-cold ethanol method, and sperm proteins were extracted by Triton X detergent extraction method. Discontinuous sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was performed to assess the molecular weight of seminal proteins. Correlation between in vitro sperm characters and protein bands was determined by Pearson's correlation coefficient, and two-way ANOVA was applied to find the individual buck differences. Results: Significant difference (p<0.01) among the bucks was noticed in the in vitro sperm characters evaluated at all the three stages of semen evaluation such as immediately after collection, after completion of equilibration period, and post-freeze thawing. Progressive loss of sperm motility, membrane integrity, and other in vitro sperm characters were noticed during cryopreservation. A total of ten protein bands in the molecular weight ranging from 17 to 180 kDa were found in the SDS-PAGE of seminal plasma proteins, while nine bands of 17-134 kDa were observed in sperm proteins. Seminal plasma proteins of molecular weight 75, 62-49, 20, and 17 kDa and sperm proteins of 75, 20, and 17 kDa were present in all the nine bucks (100%) screened, and variation among the bucks was noticed for the presence of other proteins. Seminal plasma protein of 180-134 kDa showed a negative correlation with individual motility (−0.716) and functional membrane integrity of sperm cells (−0.724) in post-freeze-thaw analysis and 48 kDa protein had a positive correlation with individual motility (0.649) and functional membrane integrity of sperm cells (0.664) in post-thaw analysis. Sperm proteins of 63 kDa had a negative correlation (−0.616) with sperm concentration in neat semen. Conclusion: Variation among the bucks was noticed in the in vitro sperm characters and semen freezability. Correlation between seminal proteins and in vitro sperm characters and semen freezability had been found which might be useful as a tool to select breeding bucks.
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