Objective: To assess rates of initiation of breast-feeding and exclusive breast-feeding within 2 months after delivery and to determine the factors influencing exclusive breast-feeding. Design: A health worker-administered questionnaire survey was carried out during the time period 1 August-30 September 2005. Setting: Immunisation clinics of Pokhara, a submetropolitan city in western Nepal. Subjects: Three hundred and eighty-five mothers who had delivered a child within the previous 2 months. Results: The rates of initiation within 1 h and within 24 h of delivery were 72.7 and 84.4%, respectively. Within 2 months after delivery, exclusive breast-feeding was practised by 82.3% of the mothers. Breast milk/colostrum was given as the first feed to 332 (86.2%) babies but 17.2% of them were either given expressed breast milk or were put to the breast of another lactating mother. Pre-lacteal feeds were given to 14% of the babies. The common pre-lacteal feeds given were formula feeds (6.2%), sugar water (5.9%) and cow's milk (2.8%). Complementary feeds were introduced by 12.7% of the mothers. By logistic regression analysis, friends' feeding practices, type of delivery and baby's first feed were the factors influencing exclusive breast-feeding practice of the mothers. Conclusions: Despite the higher rates of initiation and exclusive breast-feeding, practices such as pre-lacteal feeds and premature introduction of complementary feeds are of great concern in this urban population. There is a need for promotion of good breast-feeding practices among expectant mothers and also the community, especially the families, taking into account the local traditions and customs.

This study was conducted to find out the relationship among different aspects of cattle fattening and use of anabolic steroids and feed additives. The data were collected through an interview schedule from 150 respondents of 6 upazila of 3 districts who were involved in small scale cattle fattening. Parameters were studied in relation to socio-economic conditions of farmers and use of anabolic steroids and feed additives and their effects on animals and environment. In this study 72% farmers' were involved in agriculture, followed by 23.3% in livestock business. About 46% farmers had primary education, 10.7% had higher secondary school certificates, 5% obtained above higher secondary education and the rest of them were illiterate. Irrespective of literacy only 9.3% of the farmer had training. About 89.3% respondents used their own labors, 7.3% dependent on hired labor and the rest 3.3% get labour from both sources. Results showed that about 58% respondents used anabolic steroids for the duration of 3 to 6 months long cattle fattening (P<0.001) program. The chi-square (14.09) value of annual income indicates that with increase of annual income, use of anabolic steroids have decreased. The significant (P<0.01) association was observed in case of anabolic steroids and source of money, annual income, number of cattle fattening, breeds, fattening period, starting and finishing age. The r s value of annual income, source of money, starting and finishing age were positively correlated with feed additives. About 78% respondents used feed additives for cattle fattening from own resources (P<0.001) and most of cattle fattened for 3 to 6 months (P<0.01). The result demonstrated that respondents of low annual income used more anabolic steroid and feed additives as a growth promoter for cattle fattening and they prefer in powder form.

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The potential of a crop to favorably respond to breeding programs depends on its existing nature and magnitude of genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance. An experiment was conducted with eighteen Brassica genotypes following Randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications at the field of the department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh to estimate genetic divergence, variability ranges and contribution of each trait towards genetic diversity. Analysis of variance showed significant variation among the genotypes for all the studied yield and yield contributing characters. The phenotypic co-efficient of variation (PCV) was higher than the genotypic co-efficient of variation (GCV) for all the characters measured, indicated that the traits were influenced by environment. All traits showed high heritability (61.54% to 98.64%) which indicated possible improvement through selection. High heritability values (>60%) along with high genetic advance and genetic advance in percentage of mean indicated prevalence of additive gene action, which provides good scope for further improvement by selection. The genotypes were grouped into four clusters, most of the genotypes were grouped into Custer I (8 genotypes), while cluster IV contained only one genotype. Considering the mean value, the cluster IV and Cluster II were ranked as the top groups in terms of yield and early maturity. High Heritability with high genetic advance in percentage of mean was observed for number of branches/plant, number of pod/plant, number of seeds/pod and yield/plant and selection focused   on these traits could be useful for future breeding program of Brassica. The genotype BD-7114 was the best performer considering all the studied traits especially yield and days to maturity which could be used as an important breeding material for the improvement of Brassica. J Bangladesh Agril Univ 17(3): 295–300, 2019

The experiment was conducted to determine the effect of artificial insemination (AI) on different production parameter in Hubbard Classic Broiler breeder parent stock. A total number of 300 female and 30 male Hubbard Classic broiler breeder parent stock birds were used as experimental animals and parameter recorded are: Health condition and body weight of birds, % of Production, % Hatchability,% Uniformity, grade A chicks, mortality % , hatching egg % & effect of diluents use, birth weight of day old chick (DOC). Significant variation (p<0.01) was observed in number of hatched birds, % of hatchability, production of total no of Grade A chicks, total number of damaged chicks and average chick weight. In the study, hatchability (%), production (%), growth and puberty weight (g) were significantly higher during post insemination compared to pre insemination stage, where as mortality (%) and uniformity (%) were significantly lower in case of post insemination stage. Body weight and uniformity (%) of birds either both sexes were significantly (p<0.01) different in birds at pre insemination stage compared to the birds at insemination. To be mentioned that body weight of birds was negatively correlated to the uniformity. Finally it could be concluded that AI may be better in all the parameters observed in this study than natural mating. So, AI can be practiced in Hubbard Classic broiler breeder parent stock.

The study was c o n d u c t e d to standardize t h e desire level of papaya (Carica papaya) latex on quality of cottage cheese prepared from buffalo milk. Cheese sample was prepared using whole milk collected from Lal Teer Livestock Development (BD) Ltd. Dairy farm. This experiment was conducted on five treatments named as sample BC2: buffalo control; A2: 5 drops (0.16g); B2: 6 drops (0.18g); C2: 7 drops (0.21g); and D2: 8 drop (0.24g). Overall score of cheese samples, B2 was highest (91.67±0.58) and A2 was lowest (77.67±9.29). Chemical analysis showed that, highest protein value 24.00±1.00 was found in B2 and lowest value 21.00±1.00 was in C2. On the other hand C2 content the maximum fat percent18.00±1.00 and A2 content the minimum fat percent 12.00±1.00. Results indicate that carbohydrate, ash and acidity have significant differences (p<0.01) but non-significant difference was found in total solids and moisture. Cheese from buffalo milk on coagulation time significantly different (p<0.01) but non-significant differences was found in yield.

This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Author MAH designed the study, wrote the protocol, managed the experimental process and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Authors MMR, KA, MUH and MAUC managed the literature searches, analyses of the study and performed the spectroscopy analysis. Authors MAUI and MAUC identified the species of plant. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

A field experiment was conducted at subtropical region in Bangladesh to assess the contribution of morphological traits to variability in some NERICA mutant rice lines. The experiment was conducted following RCBD with three replications. Thirty-one NERICA rice genotypes (twenty-eight mutant lines along with three parents) of advanced generations were used. Data were collected on twelve morphological traits. The results of the principal component analysis showed that the first four components account for 80% of total variation giving a clear idea of the structure underlying the variables analyzed. This result was also supported by scree test. Cluster analysis using Ward's method classified the thirty-one genotypes into five distinct groups. The maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between clusters indicating the possibility of high heterosis if individuals from these clusters are cross-bred. The results of PCA were closely in line with those of the cluster analysis. These results can now be used by breeders to develop drought tolerant high yielding rice varieties and new breeding protocols for rice improvement. Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 7(3): 327-334