<div><strong>Background: </strong>Canine inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes a set of diseases characterized by the presence of recurrent gastrointestinal clinical signs and histologic evidence of intestinal inflammation. Diagnosis can only be made by excluding other possible causes of enteritis. Since the diagnosis of this disease is of great challenge to the veterinarians and currently very little work have been carried out in India, the present study was planned and conducted to study the clinicopathological changes and prognostic indicators of idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in dogs.<br />
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<strong>Methods:</strong> After a detailed clinical, laboratoty and endoscopic examination, 33 IBD dogs with signs of chronic gastrointestinal disorders and histologic evidence of mucosal lymphocytic plasmacytic infiltration were selected for the study.<br />
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<strong>Result:</strong> Moderate to severe form of IBD with haematochezia as a chief complaint was predominantly recorded. Haematobiochemical changes were not remarkable except a rise in serum alkaline phosphatase level. Decreased IgA expression was observed in serum by flowcytometry indicating impaired mucosal immunity in IBD dogs. It was observed that, increased clinical inflammatory bowel disease activity index score (CIBDAI), increased C-Reactive Protein, decreased cobalamin and folate may act as negative predictors in idiopathic IBD.</div>


<div>Clinical Signs, Activity Indices and Prognostic Indicators in Dogs with Idiopathic Inflammatory Bowel Disease</div>


<div><strong>Background: </strong>Under rainfall conditions, grain yield stability is one of the most important objectives of breeding programs, especially in diverse environments. Under such conditions, stability analysis offers the best solution for the relative performance of genotypes over environments. The aims of this study are the selection of adapted and stable bread wheat genotypes based on the using of some parametric and non-parametric index.<br />
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<strong>Methods</strong><strong>:</strong> The experiment was conducted during the four consecutive agricultural seasons (2016/17-2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20) at the level of the experimental station of Setif (ITGC). Eight (08) genotypes of bread wheat were tested in this study. To calculate the parametric and non-parametric indices, we use the STABILITYSOFT program.<br />
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<strong>Result:</strong> The association between Wricke&rsquo;s ecovalence (Wi&sup2;), the mean variance component (&theta;ᵢ) and the Stability variance (&sigma;&sup2;ᵢ) indices with the grain yield proved that the best genotypes for growing under these conditions are G1, G2, Hidhab, Arz, Wifak and Ain Abid. In addition, the selection based on the non-parametric index and the combination selection based on highest grain yield with the parametric and non parametric indices proved that the genotypes G1, G2 and Wifak are the more stable and adapted genotypes under semi-arid conditions. In addition, based on the static and dynamic concepts, the parametric indices bi and CVi are related to the dynamic concept, while the other indices are associated with static stability concept. Overall, the results of this study confirmed that the parametric and Non-parametric methods are the suitable tools to identify the most stable bread wheat genotypes at various environmental conditions.</div>


<p>Efficiency of Parametric and Non Parametric Indices as the Indicators of Grain Yield Stability of Bread Wheat (<em>Triticum aestivum</em> L.) Genotypes under Rainfall Conditions</p>


<p style="text-align: justify;">Mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) genotypes along with two parents were studied to assess the magnitude of genotypic variability, heritability and selection indices among the yield components and their direct and indirect effects on grain yield. On the basis of genetic variability, all the traits exhibited high heritability estimates coupled with high genetic advance as percent of mean (h2&sup3; 60%, GAM&sup3;20 %) except 100 grain weight (h2 = 0.51, GAM= 8.0 %), indicating the preponderance of additive gene action. Biological yield/plant and harvest index had the most positive direct effects (1.448, 1.144, respectively) on grain yield/plant, indicating these traits synergistically affect photosyntates. Based on Smith-Hazel &nbsp;indices the highest genetic advance (17.56%) in grain yield/plant obtained on linear combination of traits such as days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, pod length, grains/pod and biological yield/plant (X2X3X4X7X8X10) accomplished through a completely new selection-index in which economic weight of each traits were equally distributed, suggesting that these parameters may be considered as prime traits during the course of selection to realize higher yield potential in green gram.</p>


<p>Genetic study and selection indices for grain yield of mungbean</p>


<div style="text-align: justify;">Breeding for water stress tolerance is very difficult as the stress conditions created in experimental set up and actual field conditions, invariably, have poor correspondence. Direct selection for yield under stress holds promise but is slow on account of complexity of yield. Screening based on yield suffers from low heritability. Yield has been the primary breeding objective in production breeding and has been improved either by targeting yield per se as well as yield components based on correlated response. Drought stress indices are quantitative measures that characterize water stress response by yield data from one or several environments based on timing, duration and intensity of stress. Such an index is more readily useable than raw yield data. Since drought resistance is a yield based trait, selection could vary depending on which index is chosen by the breeder. A major drawback of using these indices has been lack of correspondence in rankings across indices and their failure to discriminate overlapping responses in terms of yield under stress. There has been substantial effort on part of scientists to develop and validated different indices based on yield per se, index scores, regression analysis as well as various model based approaches. The major focus has been on identifying variables such as phenology, physiological traits, biomass partitioning or other parameters that influence crop performance under stress. The paper appraises the approaches from yield based indices to regression based as well as crop model based that have been used to understand crop response to water stress.</div>

Stress tolerance indices based on yield, phenology and biomass partitioning:&nbsp;A review

<div><strong>Background: </strong>Periparturient mortality in goats have a great economic impact on the livelihood of marginal farmers. Pregnancy toxaemia, a metabolic disease in small ruminants occurs as a result of negative energy balance consequent to enhanced requirement for glucose by the developing fetuses in the last trimester (last 6 to 4 weeks) of gestation. The present study was aimed to identify diagnostic and prognostic indicators of pregnancy toxaemia.<br />
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<strong>Methods:</strong> During the period October 2016 to September 2018, a total of 516 adult non descriptive does were brought to Veterinary University Peripheral Hospital, Madhavaram Milk Colony, Chennai - 51, of which 264 (51.16%) were treated for medical conditions. Among the does treated for various medical conditions, 72 does were in their last six weeks of gestation carrying twins/triplets and presented with the history of off feed. They were subjected to determination of blood &beta;-hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA) level by means of a portable blood ketone and glucose monitoring system and qualitative urinalysis using urine dip stick. Does with BHBA level &gt; 0.8&nbsp; mmol/L and &lt; 1.6 mmol/L were classified as sub-clinical pregnancy toxaemic group (n=12) and BHBA level &gt;1.6 mmol/L were classified as clinical pregnancy toxaemic group (n=12) and subjected to therapy while the remaining 48 does had BHBA levels &lt; 0.8 mmol/L. The control animals were selected from adult Tellicherry does in the age group of 2 to 4 years maintained at Livestock Farm Complex (LFC), Madhavaram Milk Colony, Chennai - 600 051.&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Result:</strong> All the twelve does of sub-clinical pregnancy toxaemic group recovered completely with a cure rate of 100%, while in the clinical pregnancy toxaemic group the cure rate was only 33%. Reliable diagnostic indicators of pregnancy toxaemia include blood &acirc;-hyroxybutyric acid concentration (&sup3; 0.8 mmol/L) and presence of ketone body, glucose and protein in urine, while hypergly&shy;caemia in advanced pregnancy toxaemic does indicate fetal death.</div>


<p>Diagnostic Indicators and Therapeutic Evaluation of Pregnancy Toxaemia in Goats</p>


<div><strong>Background:</strong> Drought and moisture stress is the most limiting factor affecting growth and productivity of crop plants. The genotypes may differ in their ability to withstand drought or moisture stress. Therefore, the research was carried out to identify suitable genotypes in moisture stress environments.&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Methods:</strong> The forty eight genotypes of fenugreek were planted in randomized block design with three replications under two environmental conditions namely, (i) normal irrigation (E<sub>1</sub>) and (ii) staggered irrigation (E<sub>2</sub>) during <em>rabi</em> 2016-2017. Eight stress tolerance indices <em>viz</em>., stress tolerance (TOL), stress susceptibility index (SSI), stress tolerance index (STI), mean production (MP), geometric mean production (GMP), yield index (YI), stress susceptibility percentage index (SSPI) and modified stress tolerance index (MSTI) were calculated based on seed yield under moisture stress (Ys) and non-stress condition (Yp). The correlation coefficient and mean rank of stress indices were calculated to identify the moisture stress tolerant genotypes.&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Result:&nbsp;</strong>The seed yield under non-stress condition (Yp) had significant positive association with TOL, SSI, STI, MP, GMP, SSPI and K1STI. The seed yield under stress condition (Ys) had significant positive association with STI, MP, GMP, YI and K2STI, while significant negative association with TOL, SSI and SSPI. The results showed that MP, GMP and STI indices were more effective in identifying high yielding genotypes in both stress and non-stress conditions while TOL, SSI, YI and SSPI under moisture stress condition. Based upon the mean seed yield and stress tolerance indices, the genotypes UM-124, UM-60, UM-55, UM-28 and UM-4 were found tolerant to staggered irrigation conditions. Hence, these genotypes may be used further in breeding programmes for moisture stress tolerance.</div>


<p>​​Assessment of Multiple Tolerance Indices for Moisture Stress in Fenugreek (<em>Trigonella foenum-graecum</em> L.)</p>


<div style="text-align: justify;">This study is a part of the valorization of extract from three most commonly used Algerian spices, namely; caraway and cumin seeds and cinnamon bark. On the one hand, it aims at characterizing the chemical indices of extracted essential oils and evaluating the antibacterial activity of each essential oil by titration and disc diffusion method respectively. On the other hand, it attempts at evaluating the combined action of essential oils against four reference pathogenic bacterial strains, namely Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterococcus faecalis by well and Chabbert-type diffusion method. The essential oils obtained by the hydrodistillation method have a relatively average extraction about 1.43, 2.3 and 2.5%, respectively for caraway, cumin, and cinnamon. The acid index indicates the behavior and amount of free acids present in the essential oil, in which the acid and saponification indices of cinnamon essential oil indicate a value of 4.48 and 168.56 respectively. It can also inform us about the susceptibility of the oil to undergo alterations. The antibacterial activity results showed that cinnamon essential oil (EO) proved to be the most active against the tested bacterial strains; caraway EO was active against Enterococcus faecalis, and the antibacterial action of cumin EO was the lowest. However, the association of the extracted essential oils has a higher synergistic effect than the independent effect of each essential oil, in which the MIC value found was estimated at 10 to 20 (V/V), 40 to 50 (V/V) and 50 to 70 (V/V) respectively for cinnamon, cumin and caraway. The obtained results show that the response to the antibacterial activity varies according to the plant species used and the extract tested alone or in combination.</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">Chemical Indices and Antibacterial Properties of Some Essential Oils of Apiaceae and Lauraceae Spices in Southwest of Algeria</div>

<div><strong>Background:</strong> Heat stress is a major restrain in chickpea (<em>Cicer arietinum&nbsp;</em>L.) productivity. Developing tolerant chickpea genotypes contributes breeding materials for hybridization programme. Stress indices related to abiotic stresses are found effective in screening of genotypes for high temperature tolerance in chickpea.&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Methods:</strong> An experiment with 24 genotypes under two different environments <em>i.e</em>., timely and late sown conditions was planned to identify the chickpea genotypes tolerant to heat stress, using thirteen stress indices. Stress Susceptibility Index (SSI) is the cardinal index to group genotypes based on their tolerance level. Stress indices Mean Productivity (MP), Geometric Mean Productivity (GMP), Harmonic Mean (HM) Index, Heat Resistant Index (HRI) and Modified Heat Tolerance Index (MHTI) are very effective in identifying stress tolerant genotypes.&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Result:</strong> The result indicated that genotypes H 04-75, H 08-75, H 12-26, H 09-96, ICCV 92944, DCP 92-3 and GNG 2226 are tolerant to heat stress. The identified genotypes can be used as parents in hybridization programme for breeding chickpea cultivars tolerant to high temperature environments.</div>


<p>Assessment of Chickpea (<em>Cicer arietinum</em> L.) Genotypes under Normal and Late Sown Environments using Stress Indices</p>


<div><strong>Background:</strong> Detection and quantification of variability among germplasm accessions/segregating populations/advance breeding lines is a pre-requisite (among others) for breeding crop plants for drought tolerance. Indices that integrate yield under moisture stress free (MSF) and moisture stress (MS) have been developed and used for screening and selection of moisture stress tolerant genotypes in several crops. The present study was aimed at identifying desirable indices from among those reported for screening and selection of terminal moisture stress (TMS) tolerant genotypes.&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Methods:</strong> Two experiments were conducted at experimental fields of Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, University of Agricultural Sciences Bengaluru during 2017 post rainy season. The first experiment consisted of 33 genotypes which included 31 selected genotypes from F<sub>3</sub> populations and two released varieties. The second experiment consisted of 13 genotypes which included 5 advanced breeding lines, 2 released varieties and 6 land races. The genotypes of both the experiments were evaluated for dry seed yield under two moisture regimes (MR), namely, MSF and TMS environments in separate trials following Randomized Block Design.&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Conclusion: </strong>Based on the criterion of significant correlation of indices with dry seed yield under both MSF and TMS environments, two indices namely, mean productivity (MP) and geometric mean productivity (GMP) were found desirable to identify TMS tolerant genotypes of both the experiments. Based on rank mean of the two indices, two F<sub>3</sub> selections and one released variety from first experiment; four landraces, one advanced breeding line and one released variety from second experiment were found TMS tolerant.</div>


<div>Identification of Indices for Empirical Selection of Dolichos Bean [<em>Lablab purpureus</em> (L.) Var. Lignosus] Genotypes for Tolerance to Terminal Moisture Stress</div>


<div><strong>Background:</strong> The exposure of field pea crop to high-temperature stress during the anthesis and pod development stage led to poor pollination, development of shriveled pods and poor performance that results in reduced seed yield. The study aims to screen and identify heat-tolerant genotypes based on stress tolerance indices. One hundred forty-three field pea genotypes, including three checks evaluated in augmented block design for seed yield per plant under normal and late sown conditions to identify terminal heat-tolerant genotypes of field pea.&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Methods: </strong>Stress indices were computed based on seed yield per plant under normal (Yp) and late (Ys) sown conditions. The stress indices for seed yield are calculated as per the suggested method <em>i.e.</em> tolerance index (Hossain <em>et al</em>., 1990), heat susceptibility index (<a href="#fischer_1978">Fischer and Maurer, 1978</a>), yield stability index (<a href="#bouslama_1984">Bouslama and Schapaugh, 1984</a>), mean productivity (Hossain<em> et al.</em>, 1990), geometric mean productivity (Fernandez, 1992), stress tolerance index (<a href="#fernandez_1992">Fernandez, 1992</a>). Correlation coefficient and principal component analysis were done by using R (version 4.1.1) statistical software.&nbsp;<br />
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<strong>Result:&nbsp;</strong>Correlation coefficient analysis reveals that seed yield under stress conditions was positively correlated with the indices <em>viz</em>., MP, GMP, STI and YSI whereas, it was negatively correlated with HSI, signifying that higher estimates of MP, GMP, STI and YSI and lower of HSI correspond to heat tolerance. The seed yield under both environments had a positive and significant association with MP, GMP and STI. Genotypes <em>viz</em>., EC-341743, P-1679, P-1384-3, P-179 and P-781 were found with high indices scores and showing their suitability for the breeding program for heat tolerance. The first two principal components (PCs) accounted for 97.46% of the total variation present in the genotype.</div>


Clinical Signs, Activity Indices and Prognostic Indicators in Dogs with Idiopathic Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Efficiency of Parametric and Non Parametric Indices as the Indicators of Grain Yield Stability of Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genotypes under Rainfall Conditions

Genetic study and selection indices for grain yield of mungbean

Stress tolerance indices based on yield, phenology and biomass partitioning: A review

Diagnostic Indicators and Therapeutic Evaluation of Pregnancy Toxaemia in Goats

Assessment of Multiple Tolerance Indices for Moisture Stress in Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.)

Chemical Indices and Antibacterial Properties of Some Essential Oils of Apiaceae and Lauraceae Spices in Southwest of Algeria

Assessment of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Genotypes under Normal and Late Sown Environments using Stress Indices

Identification of Indices for Empirical Selection of Dolichos Bean [Lablab purpureus (L.) Var. Lignosus] Genotypes for Tolerance to Terminal Moisture Stress

Application of Stress Indices to Identify Terminal Heat Tolerance Genotype in Field Pea (Pisum sativum var. arvense)