Objectives: Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) are among the most common infectious disease. We determined the bacterial etiology of LRTIs among patients attending Nepalgunj Medical College teaching hospital in Banke, western Nepal. Materials and Methods: 426 specimens from patients with suspected LRTIs attending out-patients and in-patients departments were studied. The specimens were collected and processed according to standard methodology in the Central Laboratory of Microbiology at

Knowledge about signs of dehydration and the management approaches of diarrhoea at home was poor. Thus, there is a need for public health educational interventions.

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Twelve actinobacterial strains were isolated from tomato rhizospheric soil from Manipur, a state in North East Indian Himalayan Region and screened for keratinolytic and plant growth promoting traits. Nine promising isolates were identified as Streptomyces species using partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Among the seven isolates showing chicken feather degradation activity, three keratinolytic strains RCM-SSR-2, -6, and -12 were found to be the most efficient feather degrading strains achieving 90% feather weight loss within 48 h of incubation. They also showed maximum keratinase and soluble peptide production. Strain RCM-SSR-2, -5, -6, -8, and -11 showed positive results for all plant growth promoting traits tested. Maximum indole-3-acetic acid production was exhibited by RCM-SSR-6. Strain RCM-SSR-1, -2, -5, -6, -9, and -11 showed antagonistic activity against three important plant pathogens. Feather hydrolysate of RCM-SSR-6 was also evaluated for in vitro seed germination test using garden pea seeds. Higher concentration of feather protein hydrolysate (3 mg ml ) inhibited shoot and root length of the germinating embryo. However, lower concentration (0.01 mg ml ) of feather protein hydrolysate promoted seed germination. Among the 12 strains, four isolates namely RCM-SSR-1, -2, -5, and -6 were found to be promising as multi-traits plant growth promoting rhizobacteria for development of organic fertilizer, phytostimulator, and biocontrol agents.

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14,7, 6 to 26,9,13, respectively, due to repeated interventions. Furthermore, interventions

The complimentary integration of different enterprises recycled farm waste efficiently and increased the food production and eco-efficiency considerably besides reducing the greenhouse gasses intensity (GHGI) over the existing production system.