SummaryNorth Bengal Grey (NBG) cattle are an important indigenous cattle genetic resource found mainly in the northern part of Bangladesh. The study was undertaken at Bogra Sadar, Shibgonj and Kahalu Upazila (sub-district) in the Bogra district. The physical and morphological characteristics, and the productive and reproductive performances of NBG cattle were studied. The coat colour of these animals is deep grey to white. The coat colour of the neck region in adult bulls was found to be generally ashy with a range of shades.The body is small, compact and less fleshy. Ear length and ear width were 18.0±0.17 and 11.0±0.21 cm, respectively. The head length average was 38.0±0.56 cm, the head width 16.0±0.17 cm, the foreleg length average 65.0±0.64 cm, the hind leg length 71.0±0.64 cm, the tail length average 71.0±0.67 cm, the horn length average 9.0±0.39 cm, the horn diameter 10.0±0.37 cm, the average teat length 5.0±0.18 cm, the teat diameter 6.0±0.22 cm, the distance betweenthe front teats 7.0±0.13 cm and the distance between the rear teats 7.0±0.13 cm. Body length, height at wither and heart girth in adult cows were 105.0il.20, 94.0+1.12 and 127.0±1.52 cm, respectively.The recorded highest peak milk production per day was 3.5±0.18 kg, lactation length was 219±6.1 days, and the dry period was 180±6.8 days. The average birth weight of calves was 18.4±0.52 kg and mature live weight of cows 241.0±4.0 kg. The age at first heat was 869±29.6 days, age at first calving 1191±19.7 days, gestation length 281±1.3 days, calving interval 442±7.4 days, postpartum heat period 110±4.2 days and the number of services per conception 1.4±0.6. About 54% of total cattle population was NBG cattle in the surveyed area of Bangladesh. The results indicated that the productive and reproductive performance of NBG cattle was better than other non-descript indigenous cattle of Bangladesh. The study further revealed an obvious need for more in-depth and objective information on wider samples of this type of indigenous cattle in order to assess the future need for conservation and improvement programs to be undertaken.

This study was carried out to determine the incidence of mastitis in lactating she-camel in North Kordofan State, Sudan. Furthermore, the causative bacterial agents were identified. Sixty lactating she-camels were examined clinically for mastitis. Thereafter milk samples (n= 216 samples) were collected from each quarter of the udders of the she-camels. The samples were subjected to white side test (WST), somatic cell count test (SCC) and bacteriological examination. The results of the clinical examination revealed that the incidence of mastitis was 25% (n=15 she-camels) while upon the WST and SCC were15% (n= 9 she-camels) and 13.33% (n= 8 she-camels), respectively. However, the incidence of mastitis (41.66%) was significantly high (p<0.001) when the milk samples were bacteriological examined (n=25 she-camel).The bacterial examination revealed that the predominant cause is Staphylococcus spp. (80.30%) followed by Bacillus spp. (9.09%), Pasteurella spp. (6.06%), Corynebacteria spp. (3.03%), and Streptococcus spp. (1.52). It is concluded that the mastitis prevails in lactating she-camels in North Kordofan State and the most predominant cause of mastitis are Staphylococcus species. Mastitis emerges as a serious hazard and problem that affect a resource essential for many nomadic tribes that lives in the desert and semi desert areas. A national program to diagnose and compact this disease should be launched.

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of pre-treatments (0.1%KMS, 0.2%KMS, 0.3%KMS and blanching) and drying methods (mechanical drying and solar drying) on the dehydration and rehydration characteristics of carrot. The two drying methods yielded dehydrated products with different dehydration ratio, rehydration ratio, coefficient of reconstitution and moisture content in both the dehydrated and rehydrated materials. It was seen that the drying time has been influenced by pre-treatments and drying methods. Pre-treatments increased drying time (for 0.3%KMS) and higher drying time (for 0.3%KMS) was required in solar drying. Pre-treatment, drying methods and boiling time affected the various rehydration properties. Highest rehydration ratio (3.70) and coefficient of reconstitution (0.48) values were found for 0.1% KMS pre-treated mechanically dried and 0.2% KMS pre-treated solar dried carrots, respectively. Mechanical drying method was found better both for dehydration and rehydration properties for all the pre-treatments for example, 0.1%KMS pre-treated carrot gave coefficient of reconstitution 0.48, while this value was 0.45 for same pre-treatment in solar drying.

The experiment was conducted at Horticulture Farm at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Bangladesh during the period December, 2014 to March 2015 to evaluate the effect of different levels of nitrogen and phosphorous on the growth and yield of bush bean. The two factor experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The treatment was comprised of two factors-Factor A: levels of nitrogen i) 0 kg/ha, ii) 20 kg/ha, iii) 40 kg/ha and Factor B: levels of phosphorous (P 2 O 5 ) -i) 0 kg/ha, ii) 50 kg/ha, iii) 75 kg/ha, iv) 100 kg/ha. The results revealed that most of the growth and yield contributing parameters were significantly influenced by the different levels of nitrogen and phosphorous application. The maximum promotive effect on growth and yield of bush bean was associated with 40 kg N/ha and Nasrin et al.; AJRCS, 4(2): 1-8, 2019; Article no.AJRCS.50148 2 75 kg P 2 O 5 /ha. Again their combined application enhanced maximum vegetative growth and with higher pod yield and seed yield. Therefore, application of 40 kg N/ha with 75 kg P 2 O 5 /ha can be conductive for bush bean cultivation in Bangladesh with higher yield. Original Research Article

Twenty eight rice germplasms were used for identification of salt tolerant rice genotypes at the seedling stage at the experimental farm and Biotechnology laboratory of the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), Mymensingh during February 2009 to October 2009. Phenotyping for salinity screening of the rice genotypes was done using salinized (EC level 12 dS m -1 ) nutrient solution in hydroponic system. Genotypes were evaluated for salinity tolerance on 1-9 scale based on seedling growth parameters following modified Standard Evaluation Scoring (SES) of IRRI. Phenotypically, on the basis of SES and % total dry matter (TDM) reduction of the genotypes viz. PBSAL-614, PBSAL-613, PBSAL-730, Horkuch, S-478/3 Pokkali and PBSAL (STL)-15 were found to be salt tolerant; on the other hand Iratom-24, S-653/32, S-612/32, S-604/32, S-633/32, Charnock (DA6), BINA Dhan-6 and S-608/32 were identified as salt susceptible. For genotyping, ten SSR markers were used for polymorphism, where 3 primers (RM127, RM443 and RM140) were selected for evaluation of salt tolerance. In respect of Primer RM127, 7 lines were found salt tolerant and 11 lines were moderately tolerant and 10 lines were susceptible. Nine tolerant, 9 moderately tolerant and 10 susceptible lines were found when the primer RM140 was used and primer RM443 identified 8 lines as tolerant, 9 lines as moderately tolerant and 11 lines as susceptible. Thus, the salt tolerant lines can be used in further evaluation for salinity tolerance and the SSR markers used in this study are proving valuable for identifying salt tolerant genes in marker assisted breeding.

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Some chemical compositions of mango harvested at 24, 18, 12, 6 days before optimum maturity and at optimum maturity were analyzed. The amount of ascorbic acid, β-carotene and sugars of the harvested mangoes were significantly influenced by the stages of harvest and period of storage. Amount of ascorbic acid of the harvested mango fruits was the highest just after harvest. It was sharply declined with the elapse of time in storage. Fruits harvested before optimum maturity showed the highest amount of ascorbic acid, which decreased in delay of harvest. β-carotene was quite low at harvest but rapidly increased in storage. Fruits harvested before optimum maturity showed minimum β-carotene and it rapidly increased in late harvested fruits. Total sugar, reducing sugar and non reducing sugar were sharply increased at optimum ripe stage, while slightly declined at last edible stage. All the sugars were the lowest at earliest harvests, which increased gradually with delay in harvest.

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