<div>Background:&nbsp;Ticks are of great importance in transmission of various canine tick borne diseases. Several characteristics of ticks make them outstanding vectors of pathogenic agents, the wide host range and slow feeding habit along with tendency to feed on several hosts during life cycle ensures ample opportunity to acquire and transmit pathogens. 
 
Methods: This study focuses on status of canine tick vectors and molecular detection of haemoparasites in these ticks and their host, in and around Kolkata. The blood and tick samples were collected from Dog Ward, Department of Teaching Veterinary and Clinical Complex; Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, WBUAFS at Belgachia; Veterinary Clinic of Kolkata Police Dog Squad at Alipore; Veterinary Clinic of Barrackpore Police dog Squad and samples from stray dogs were also collected from inside the University campus through a period of one year (August, 2016 to July, 2017).&nbsp; 
 
Result: The tick infestation was recorded at 41% with Rhipicephalus sanguineus, being the only tick. Nine primer sets were used for detection of Babesia spp, Ehrlichia canis, Ehrlichia chaffensis, Babesia gibsoni, Hepatozoon canis, Mycoplasma haemocanis, Anaplasma platys and Theileria annae from the respective tick samples and blood sample of hosts. Tick samples were found positive for Babesia spp, Ehrlichia spp. and H. canis where as the corresponding blood samples were found positive for Babesia spp, Ehrlichia spp., Mycoplasma spp. and H. canis. This study conclusively provides evidence of high rates of incidence of haemoparasitic infection or canine tick borne diseases infection and tick infestation, with at least four haemoparasites infecting the dog population and at least one tick species (Rhipicephalus sanguineus) infesting the dogs in and around Kolkata.</div>

Incidence of Canine Tick Vectors and Molecular Detection of Haemoparasites in Vectors and Hosts

<div>Background: Entomopathogenic fungi are microorganisms that specifically infect and often kill insects and other arthropods. Most are non-pathogenic to plants and relatively non-toxic to humans and animals. Use of fungal entomopathogens can be an alternative to insecticides and could help in bio-intensive pest management. The current study aimed to study the pathogenicity of entomopathogenic fungal isolates against two Spotted Spider Mites, Tetranychus urticae Koch in tomato and broad Mite, Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks) in chilli.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: An extensive survey for the natural occurrence of entomopathogenic fungi on insects and mites was made in different agro climatic regions of Tamil Nadu during 2013 and 2014. Survey revealed the occurrence of two entomopathogenic fungi viz., Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin and Metarhizium flavoviride Gams and Rozsypal var. minus. Laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate the pathogenicity of fourteen isolates of Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae and Lecanicillium lecanii against Tetranychus urticae and Polyphagotarsonemus latus.&nbsp; 
 
Result: In opposition to T. urticae, the Beauveria bassiana isolate Bb 112 showed the highest toxicity of all the other isolates tested, with low LC50 value of 0.6 x106 spores ml-1 and LT50 of 92.60h. Against P. latus, Bb 112 had high virulence with low LC50 value of 0.3x106 spores ml-1 and LT50 value of 92.32h. Hence, there is potential for use of entomopathogenic fungi in the field conditions as an alternate control method in combating the insect pests and other arthropod pests since they are considered natural mortality agents and are environmentally safe.</div>

<div>Entomopathogenic Fungal Screening against Two Spotted Spider Mites, Tetranychus urticae Koch in Tomato and Broad Mite, Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks) in Chilli</div>

<div>A vector is an organism capable of transmitting pathogens from one host to another. Among the plant pathogen transmitting agencies, insect vectors are most important and various plant pathogens in crops are transmitted by insects. Insect vectors are much more hazardous because small population of vector can spread the pathogen in whole of the field or to new areas. These are difficult to manage and hence multi-pronged strategy should be adopted. To effectively manage insect vectors of plant pathogens there is a need to look into the careful timing of application of chemicals, integrated treatment with vector sampling, estimation of threshold level of vectors, assessing infection of pathogen at varying period of the year and combining insecticides with other means of control such as resistant cultivars, natural enemies, inclusion of plant products, cultural practices, biotechnology tools etc. An integration of control measures will be more effective and ecologically sound than any single method to control insect vectors of plant pathogens. The control of insect vectors with the use of various tactics should be used to reduce the severity and to delay appearance of disease.</div>

<div>Integrated Management of Insect Vectors of Plant Pathogens</div>

<div>Agriculture is the most important economic activity around the world with its contributions reflected by its share in the gross domestic product of countries. It ensures food security, provides raw materials for many industries and employment opportunities. Today, pest and diseases are among the main challenges plaguing the agricultural sector. More specifically, phytophagous mites are devastating many economically important crops worldwide. Tetranychus urticae Koch (Two-spotted spider mites), Raoiella indica Hirst, (red palm mites), Polyphagotarsonemus latus Banks (broad mites) and Panonychus ulmi Koch (European red mites) are widely known for their extensive damage to crops. To control these mites, farmers have incorporated the use of pesticides into their farming systems. However, chemical control comes with many problems such as insect resistance, detrimental environmental effects and various human health implications. As such biological control is an environmentally friendly alternative that uses bio-control agents such as predators, pathogens and parasitoids to control pests. In this review, it was found that predators and pathogens were the most widely used biocontrol agents, specifically, the Amblyseius spp. Berlese were most effective and widely documented. The available literature also suggests that for successful control of agricultural mites via biological control, there needs to be a clear understanding of the behaviors of these mites and the bio-control agents used. 
&nbsp;</div>

Biological Control Methods for Agricultural Mites: A Review

<div style="text-align: justify;">Goats are economically important animals in the world, and their sex is an important factor in their economic efficiency. Reconstruction of a goat SRY gene expression vector can lay a foundation for studying the immunogenicity and sex determination of SRY protein at the molecular level. In this study, the coding region of the goat SRY gene was used as the target gene fragment for synthesis and optimization, and the cloning vector was used as a template to amplify the target gene and finally ligated to the expression vector pET-SUMO. The recombinant plasmid was then verified by the double restriction enzyme method and transformed into Escherichia coli (DE3). After the induction of expression by Isopropyl &acirc;-D-Thiogalactoside (IPTG), the cells were lysed, and SDS-PAGE electrophoresis was performed to observe the expression of the recombinant protein. Additionally, the immunological activity of the recombinant protein was assessed. The target gene was successfully ligated into the prokaryotic expression vector pET-28a; additionally, the prokaryotic expression plasmid pET-SUMO was successfully constructed, and the SRY antigen protein (42 kDa) was expressed. The titer of the rabbit antiserum (PAI-1608012-1) was more than 1:50000, as measured by ELISA, which demonstrated that the titer and the sensitivity of the rabbit serum reached the expected levels. In this study, the prokaryotic expression vector pET-SUMO was successfully constructed. The recombinant protein has high immunopotency and immunoreactivity, which lays a foundation for the preparation of antibodies and the molecular sexing of goats in the future.</div>

Construction and expression of a prokaryotic expression vector for the goat sry gene

<div style="text-align: justify;">Stored-product mites cause economic loss by feeding on stored grain and imperil the human health by contamination of food by allergens. The present study has been carried out to access the mite fauna associated with warehouses and other grain storage facilities of Punjab. Samples were collected three times a year. The year was divided into three climatic classes i.e. summer CCL I, rainy CCL II and winter CCL III. Mites were found in 146 (83.90%) of 168 analyzed samples. A total of 2400 mites were isolated of which, 1326 (55.25%) mites were found in samples collected during rainy season, 747 (31.12%) during summer and 327 (13.63%) during winter season. A total 2400 mites were isolated of which 1364 (56.83%) mites were from order Astigmata. Among the collected specimens, 11 species of astigmatid mites were identified belonging to 7 genera of 4 families i.e. acaridae, glycyphagidae, pyroglyphidae and saproglyphidae. Tyrophagus putrescentiae (18.3%) was found to be the most abundant mite species followed by Glycyphagus domestics (17.48%).</div>

Seasonal abundance and diversity of astigmatic mites in storage facilities&nbsp;of Punjab, India

The aim of this study was to apply for zero-inflated generalized Poisson regression in the modelling of mite counts that include excess values of zero and overdispersion. The results of, as mean regression, overdispersion and zero-inflated regression, were determined in three stages. It was obtained that 33.33% (120 observations) of the total numbers of mite taken as a dependent variable to model had zero values. The overdispersion parameter range was detected to be quite high. It was determined that zero-inflated data and overdispersion had an important effect on mite counts (P&lt; 0.01). The effects of region, month, year, varieties, temperature and humidity were found to be statistically significant on mite counts (P&lt; 0.01). The number of eggs found in harmful mites (Aculus schlechtendali) in the Starking variety was relatively higher than in the Golden variety. The results displayed that the differences among regions and varieties regarding the number of eggs found in harmful mites were statistically significant (P&lt;0.01). &nbsp; &nbsp;

Modeling the mite counts having overdispersion and excess values of&nbsp;zero using zero-inflated generalized poisson regression

<div>Background: Whitefly is one of the most destructive sucking pest in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world and causing significant crop losses directly by sucking sap from the plants and indirectly through the transmission of viral diseases specifically caused by the genus Begomovirus. The Begomovirus species viz., Mungbean yellow mosaic India virus (MYMIV) and Mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV) are causing yellow mosaic virus disease in soybean, which is transmitted by whiteflies. The disease accounts to 30-70 per cent yield loss and increases up to 80 - 100 per cent during severe incidence. Hence, there is a need for development of integrated pest management strategies against disease and whiteflies, for this the knowledge on virus-vector relationship is required. But, the studies on biological relationship of yellow mosaic virus disease and whitefly in soybean are scarce. At this juncture, considering the importance of disease in soybean, the present investigation was carried out to know the virus -vector relationship of the YMV and whitefly in soybean. 
 
Methods: The experiment on virus-vector relationship of yellow mosaic virus and whitefly in soybean was conducted at Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand during 2016-17. The data on number of whiteflies per plant, acquisition and inoculation access feeding period and pre and post starvation period required for effective transmission of virus was recorded. 
 
Result: A single viruliferous whitefly was able to transmit virus and ten viruliferous whiteflies per plant were required for cent per cent transmission of virus. The minimum acquisition access and inoculation access feeding periods required for virus transmission was 0.25h (15 min) each; while the 100 per cent virus transmission was recorded with acquisition and inoculation period of 12h, each. The per cent transmission was increased with the increase of acquisition and inoculation periods. The rate of transmission was positively correlated with pre-acquisition starvation period and negatively correlated with post- acquisition starvation period.</div>

<div>Virus Vector Relationship of Yellow Mosaic Virus and Whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) in Soybean</div>

Garlic (Allium sativum), belonging to the family Amarylidaceae, is a bulbous plant which is widely used as a condiment for its pungent flavour. India holds second position in garlic production after China. It is attacked by many insect pests. The most hazardous pest is Garlic mite (Aceria tulipae). This mite is also known as dry bulb mite or onion mite. It attacks in both field and storage condition. In field condition a typical pig tail appearance is seen in infected plants. In storage condition reddish brown spots appear on the garlic cloves due to the feeding of this mite. This article accrued different aspects of Aceria tulipae, viz., host range and host specificity, invasive history and distribution, morphology, taxonomic confusion, dispersal, biology and relationship with abiotic factors, population dynamics, damage symptoms in field and storage and its management.

Garlic Mite, Aceria tulipae (Acarida: Eriophyidae): A Review

Background: An exploratory survey programme was carried out to know the diversity and community structures of predatory and phytophagous mite fauna associated with pulses crops in West Bengal aiming for the development of a better and ecologically sound mite pest management strategy. 
&nbsp; 
Methods: Mite samples were collected from different agro-climatic zones of West Bengal and the specimens were brought to the AINP on Agricultural Acarology Laboratory, BCKV, Mohanpur for mounting on glass slides by using modified Berlese&rsquo;s medium. The slides were then kept on slide wormer at 35-40oC for 5-7 days to process and then mites were examined with a phase contrast microscope. 
&nbsp; 
Result: Altogether 13 species of Phytoseiid mites namely Amblyseius largoensis, Amblyseius herbicolus, Amblyseius bengalensis, Amblyseius parbatabasii, Amblyseius dahlia, Euseius alstoniae, Euseius ovalis, Paraphytoseius orientalis, Typhlodromips syzygii, Scapulaseius asiaticus, Scapulaseius moraesi, Phytoseius kapuri and Neoseiulus pranadae were recorded. Among them Neoseiulus pranadae was found as a predominant species associated with pulse crops, constituting 35.36% of the total Phytoseiid mite population followed by Amblyseius largoensis and Typhlodromips syzygii accounting 23.04 and 10.87 % of total phytosiid mite population, respectively. Phytoseiid family has been recognized as a beneficial group of mites that could be utilized for controlling harmful phytophagous mites as well as soft-bodied insect pests. Other predatory mites under the families Bdellidae, Ascidae, Stigmaeidae, Cunaxidae and Cheyletida were also recorded during the period of investigation. Tetranychus urticae, Eutetranychus orientalis, Schizotetranychus baltazari and Schizotetranychus cajani were identified as destructive phytophagous mite pests associated with pulse crops in West Bengal.

Incidence of Canine Tick Vectors and Molecular Detection of Haemoparasites in Vectors and Hosts

Entomopathogenic Fungal Screening against Two Spotted Spider Mites, Tetranychus urticae Koch in Tomato and Broad Mite, Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks) in Chilli

Integrated Management of Insect Vectors of Plant Pathogens

Biological Control Methods for Agricultural Mites: A Review

Construction and expression of a prokaryotic expression vector for the goat sry gene

Seasonal abundance and diversity of astigmatic mites in storage facilities of Punjab, India

Modeling the mite counts having overdispersion and excess values of zero using zero-inflated generalized poisson regression

Virus Vector Relationship of Yellow Mosaic Virus and Whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) in Soybean

Garlic Mite, Aceria tulipae (Acarida: Eriophyidae): A Review

Diversity and Community Structure of Mite Fauna Associated with Pulse Crops in West Bengal