Prospective impact of Corona virus disease (COVID-19) related lockdown on shrimp aquaculture sector in India - a sectoral assessment.

The lockdown on account of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) adversely impacted the food production sector including aquaculture, globally. Unfortunately, it coincided with the major shrimp farming season in India which contributes 60% of the national annual shrimp production hence the impact was substantial. An on-line survey was carried out among the stakeholders of the shrimp farming sector to evaluate the prospective impact of COVID-19 related lockdown across the shrimp supply chain. The study estimated an economic loss of 1.50 billion USD to the shrimp aquaculture sector during the current year. It is expected that shrimp production and its export performance may be declining by 40% in the current season. The Garret ranking and Rank Based Quotient analyses projected severe constraints in shrimp seed production and supply, disruptions in the supply chain, logistics, farming, processing, marketing and loss of employment and income for the workers due to the pandemic. To mitigate the impact, the Government of India declared fisheries and aquaculture as an essential activity, facilitated the movement of inputs and services. Further, a major Fisheries Development Scheme(PMMSY) with a financial outlay of 267 million USD has been announced to usher in a blue revolution by strengthening the value chain, doubling the fisher/farmer income, employment generation, economic and social security for fishers/fish farmers adhering to the sustainability principles. Short and medium-term technical and policy measures are suggested to tide over the impact of COVID-19 related lockdown and related restrictions.

Effect of orally administered vibrio bacterin on immunity, survival and growth in tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) grow-out culture ponds.

Vibriosis is one of the important diseases causing economic loss to the shrimp industry worldwide. The present study reports field observations on the immune stimulatory effect of vibrio bacterin in commercial tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) grow-out culture ponds (n = 62) which were grouped under three stocking densities; low (6-8 nos per m2 ), medium (9-11 nos per m2 ) and high (12-14 nos per m2 ). The bacterin was administered in feed as a top dressing at final concentration equivalent to 2 × 108 CFU per kilogram feed twice a week throughout the culture period. In 20 representative ponds, total haemocyte count and prophenoloxidase activity in shrimp were significantly (P < 0·05) higher and anatomical deformities like, antennae cut (5·02 ± 2·42), tail rot (5·10 ± 1·74), rostrum cut (4·49 ± 2·19) and soft shell (10·05 ± 5·77) were significantly lower compared to controls in all the studied stocking densities. Significant (P < 0·05) improvement in production parameters like survival and production (kg ha1 ) was observed in all treatment ponds while similar improvement in average daily gain and feed conversion ratio could be observed in groups with low and medium stocking densities. Results of the study suggest that, oral administration of vibrio bacterin improves the immunity, reduces anatomical deformities and enhances the production in commercial shrimp culture operations. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Administration of vibrio bacterin in feed as a top dressing induced immune stimulation as indicated by higher levels of total haemocyte count and prophenoloxidase. Further reduction in percentage of animals with anatomical deformities suggests the protection against subclinical bacterial infections. The overall improvement in the production parameters like, average daily gain, survival, feed conversation ratio and production in different shrimp stocking densities under commercial farming conditions suggested the possible development of an immune stimulant product based on the inactivated vibrio bacteria for improved health and production in Penaeus monodon shrimp farming.

Estimating inter-annual diversity of seasonal agricultural area using multi-temporal resourcesat data.

The present study aims at analysis of spatial and temporal variability in agricultural land cover during 2005-6 and 2011-12 from an ongoing program of annual land use mapping using multidate Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) data aboard Resourcesat-1 and 2. About 640-690 multi-temporal AWiFS quadrant data products per year (depending on cloud cover) were co-registered and radiometrically normalized to prepare state (administrative unit) mosaics. An 18-fold classification was adopted in this project. Rule-based techniques along with maximum-likelihood algorithm were employed to deriving land cover information as well as changes within agricultural land cover classes. The agricultural land cover classes include - kharif (June-October), rabi (November-April), zaid (April-June), area sown more than once, fallow lands and plantation crops. Mean kappa accuracy of these estimates varied from 0.87 to 0.96 for various classes. Standard error of estimate has been computed for each class annually and the area estimates were corrected using standard error of estimate. The corrected estimates range between 99 and 116 Mha for kharif and 77-91 Mha for rabi. The kharif, rabi and net sown area were aggregated at 10 km × 10 km grid on annual basis for entire India and CV was computed at each grid cell using temporal spatially-aggregated area as input. This spatial variability of agricultural land cover classes was analyzed across meteorological zones, irrigated command areas and administrative boundaries. The results indicate that out of various states/meteorological zones, Punjab was consistently cropped during kharif as well as rabi seasons. Out of all irrigated commands, Tawa irrigated command was consistently cropped during rabi season.

Legal medicine--what general practitioners should know?

General practitioners are the nearest to the community who can render the need of the patient both clinically and physiologically. A general practitioner is to develop the art of communication to avoid litigation and be aware of all the legal issues entangling the profession so that his practice is not interfered by the law enforcing authority. A general practitioner does not have the time to update his knowledge on legal issues involved in practice and this articles lends a few input for them.