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Gene flow, genetic structure and differentiation of Kutchi, Mehsana and Sirohi breeds of goat from North-Western India were evaluated based on 25 microsatellite markers so as to support breed conservation and improvement decisions. The microsatellite genotyping was carried out using an automated DNA sequencer. The gene diversity across the studied loci for the Kutchi breed varied from 0.57 (ILST 065) to 0.93 (OarFCB 304, OMHC 1, ILSTS 058) with an overall mean of 0.79±0.02. The corresponding values for Mehsana and Sirohi breeds were 0.16 (ILST 008) to 0.93 (OMHC 1, ILSTS 058) with an average of 0.76±0.04, and 0.50 (ILSTS 029) to 0.94 (ILSTS 058) with an average of 0.78±0.02, respectively. The Mehsana breed had lowest gene diversity among the 3 breeds studied. All the populations showed an overall significant heterozygote deficit (F is ). The F is values were 0.26, 0.14 and 0.36 for Kutchi, Mehsana and Sirohi goat breeds, respectively. Kutchi and Mehsana were more differentiated (16%) followed by Mehsana and Sirohi (13%).The measures of standard genetic distance between pairs of breeds indicated that the lowest genetic distance was between Kutchi and Sirohi breeds (0.73) and the largest genetic distance was between Mehsana and Kutchi (1.0) followed by Sirohi and Mehsana (0.75) breeds. Mehsana and Kutchi are distinct breeds and this was revealed by the estimated genetic distance between them. All measures of genetic variation revealed substantial genetic variation in each of the populations studied, thereby showing good scope for their further improvement.

Rice bean (Vigna umbellata) is a neglected legume regarded as a minor food and fodder crop in Nepal and northern India, and grown in a range of cropping systems with maize during summer, as a sole crop in the uplands, on rice bunds or in home gardens. It is mainly grown for human consumption, though it is also used for fodder and green manure. There has been very little research or development support for this crop and farmers mainly grow landraces. There is relatively very less published literature on rice bean regarding its area coverage, production, productivity, utilisation and marketing. It is grown by subsistence farmers in a very limited scale and most of the produce is consumed at home although, there is a limited market for a short period each year. The crop contributes to household food security as several food items are prepared from rice bean and also it is culturally important and is thought to have important nutritional values. Rice bean foliage and dry straw are valuable livestock feed and when used as a green manure it improves soil fertility. Thus, rice bean is a vibrant potential fodder legume crop which has capacity to provide balance diet to the livestock and to sustain under wide range of climatic condition. But, there is need to focus on the crop for more popularity as a potential legume crop.

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Present study was conducted to examine the cost and revenues along the live sheep value chain in Sudan besides the determination of marketing indicators and value addition for the sheep as economic performance among the main actors of the chain covering the locations of Elkhwei, Elnhud locality in West Kordofan state and Omdurman locality in Khartoum state. The data were collected through a field survey conducted during July- September 2018 using questionnaires, stratified random sampling representing the live sheep value chain actors of producers, wholesalers, retailers, processors, and exporters with a total sample size of 300 respondents. The study was following the descriptive statistics methods. The results showed that the producers, exporters, and processors bear the major cost in the live sheep value chain compared to retailers and wholesalers. The cost items of transporting, loading, and veterinary care were the major cost items after the certificate of origin and feed items for they comprised the main value activities performed along the chain of exporters. Also, the revenues of live sheep marketing increase along the value chain to reach its highest value for exporters. That is the same for the marketing indicators "GMM, NMM, and GPM as they increase along with the value chain actors. The producers' share in the sheep marketing value chain in Sudan owns 29% of the sheep market and the sheep (MER) in Sudan is considered as very good registering 71%. Exporters get the most value of sheep marketing as a commodity moving along the value chain reaching 67% compared to value-added for the other factors

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From this study we can conclude that significantly increase the yield of maize due to integrated nitrogen management could be further attributed to increased growth and vigour of plant as evident from increased growth attributes. So, the treatment combinations (T10) of 125 kg/ ha Nitrogen through inorganics plus 10 t/ha poultry manure through organics were having significant difference as compared to all other. This might be due to ready supply of nutrients through inorganic in the initial stages of crop growth and slow release of nitrogen and steady supply of other nutrients over an extended period of crop growth by organics. Organics have a priming effect on the release of nitrogen from inorganic fertilizer. Moreover, thoroughly decomposed organics were used in these treatments which might have mobilized native nutrients from soils. Poultry manure showed higher yield and yield attributing characters due to faster mineralization of nitrogen with its narrow C:N ratio (15:1-20:1) as evident by its chemical composition. The proper dose of poultry manure can be used as a source of organic manure for sustainable maize production.

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