<div>Background: Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria. They are obligate intracellular infective agents requiring specific bacterial organism as a host cell for their replication. They are most widely distributed and diverse entities in the biosphere and ubiquitously present in all reservoirs populated by bacterial hosts, such as soil and the intestine of animals. Bacteriophages are very specific in nature selectively replicate in particular bacteria.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 
Methods: In present study we have isolated the bacteriophages from sewage of various livestock farms. Sewage samples (n=150) were collected from different depths of the sewage collection tank from different species viz. cow, buffalo, goat and pig. All the samples were subjected primarily to isolation bacteriophage against S. aureus. Recovered bacteriophages were identified with transmission electron microscopy (TM).&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 
Result: Total of twenty seven sewage samples were showing plaque formation by producing lytic activity against S. aureus in double agar overlay method. The recovery percentage of bacteriophages was maximum from cattle farm sewage (30%), followed by buffalo farm sewage (20%) and pig farm sewage (17.50%). The result indicated that recovered Bacteriophage had icosahedral symmetry and head size 52.20 nm with 109 nm tail. Bacteriophage selectively infected S. aureus with a narrow host range. Results indicated that the recovered isolates of bacteriophage remained viable at 50&deg;C for one and two min and no viable survivors were seen at the 5 min exposure. They remained viable at 60&deg;C for 1 min only and did not show viability for 2 and 5 min exposure at 60&deg;C. None of the bacteriophages survived at 70&deg;C for 1, 2 and 5 min. Bacteriophage isolates were completely inactivated below pH 3 and above 11; they remained viable only in pH range of 5 to 9.</div>

​Isolation and Identification of Novel Staphylococcus Phage as a Novel Therapeutic Agent from Sewage of Livestock Farms

Background: Researchers remain captivated by the impact of heavy metal ions, commonly found in sewage, on arginase synthesis. Objective: The study examines the presence and characteristics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in 24 sewage samples, identifying 18 isolates (75%). It assesses DNA concentration and purity, utilizes PCR-based methods for subtype analysis and investigates the inhibitory effects of heavy metals on purified enzymes.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: Between November 2022 and April 2023, 52 samples were collected from various sewage sites in Baghdad, Iraq. These samples were cultured in brain heart infusion broth and on nutrient agar plates. The isolates were then subjected to laboratory procedures, including biochemical tests, analysis with the Vitek2 system and PCR to identify Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Biochemical testing specifically focused on Pseudomonas aeruginosa. DNA extraction was performed on P.aeruginosa isolates from sewage, which had already been identified through morphological and biochemical tests as P.aeruginosa. This was accomplished by screening for the presence of the 16SrRNA gene using PCR.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Metal ion effects on L-arginase were tested at various concentrations (100mM, 50mM, 25mM, 12.5 mM). Metal ions were obtained via the cutting method and added 15 minutes before the substrate. Enzyme activity was measured and the activity ratio (enzyme activity with and without metal ions) calculated. Activity was assessed in the absence of 100% metal ions.Arginase isolated and purified from Pseudomonas aeruginosa from sewage, heavy metals (mercury, cadmium, cobalt) has effect on arginase, mercuric chloride and cadmium chloride inhibit and decrease enzyme activity, while Cobalt chloride increases enzyme activity.

The Impact of Heavy Metal Ions on Arginase Produced from Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolated from Sewage

<div style="text-align: justify;">The pot culture experiment for two consecutive years was conducted at Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, MPKV, Rahuri to study the influence of various soil amendments on concentrations of heavy metals viz. Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb in berseem fodder crop. The pots were filled with soil irrigated with sewage water for more than thirty five years. The soil was treated with different amendments viz. FYM, gypsum, fly ash and their combinations. All the pots were supplied with recommended dose of chemical fertilizers by maintaining five plants per pot. The experiment was laid out in CRD with eight treatments and three replications. Initial soil properties were pHe 8.38, ECe 4.1 dSm-1, organic carbon 7.6 g kg-1, calcium carbonate 83.8 g kg-1, heavy metals viz. Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb were 0.35, 2.60, 2.23, 10.34 mg kg-1, respectively. Total four cuttings of berseem in each year were taken and analyzed for heavy metal concentrations. Two years pooled mean showed that, there was significant effect of different soil amendments on decreasing concentration of cadmium, chromium and lead as compared to control. Pooled mean of both years showed that the combined application of FYM + gypsum + fly ash each @ 10 g kg-1 soil (T8) registered significantly lower concentration of Cd, Cr and Pb in berseem as compared to rest of the treatments, but found at par with treatment (T5) FYM + gypsum each @ 10 g kg-1 soil. The reduction in concentrations of these heavy metals were higher in treatments where FYM was applied either alone or in combination with other amendments followed by gypsum and fly ash. Pooled mean values of two years showed significantly higher crude protein content due to application of FYM + gypsum + fly ash each @10 gkg-1 soil (T8) and at par with treatment T5. Pooled mean of two years showed numerically higher crude fiber&nbsp; due to treatment T8 (application of FYM + gypsum + fly ash each @ 10 g kg-1 soil) followed by T5 (application of FYM + gypsum each @ 10 g kg-1 soil). Significantly higher Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF) was recorded in T2 (application of FYM @10 g kg-1 soil) followed by T3 (application of gypsum @ 10 g kg-1 soil) treatment.&nbsp;</div>

​Effects of Application of Soil Amendments on Concentrations of Heavy Metals and Quality of Berseem Grown on Soil Irrigated with Sewage Water

Background: Fodder cowpea is an important leguminous, short duration, warm season crop widely cultivated. Though India ranks first in livestock population, the productivity is found lesser than the world average due to deficiency in availability of green fodders. As fresh water application usage is increasing for the cultivation of field crops and high value crops, fodder crops are found negligible crops but responds well to water and nutrients. Leaf area index is one of the determinative parameters for the increased yield, an attempt was made to determine the relationship between the growth and yield of fodder cowpea with the application of domestic sewage water and nutrients.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 
Methods: studies were conducted during 2019 and 2020 to study the relationship between different sources of irrigation water and nutrients on the growth and yield of fodder cowpea. Treatments in main plot consists of irrigation with water using well water (I1), domestic sewage water (I2) and well water and domestic sewage water alternatively (I3). Treatments in sub plot consists of no nutrient (N1), Farm Yard manure alone (N2), Farm Yard manure + NPK (N3) and NPK alone (N4), in split plot design and replicated thrice. The leaf constant was determined graphically plotted in regression and used for calculation of leaf area. The relationship between leaf area index and the growth and yield parameters of fodder cowpea were determined.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Our investigation concluded that the application of domestic sewage water along with farmyard manure + NPK significantly increased plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area and leaf area index of fodder cowpea. The data also reveals that leaf area index correlated positively with plant height, number of leaves per plant, biomass per plant and yield of fodder cowpea.

Assessment of Leaf Area Index and its Relationship with Growth and Yield of Fodder Cowpea as Influenced by Sources of Irrigation and Nutrients

Background: Azolla is a nature&rsquo;s gift and regenerates within 24 hours and has tremendous uses like supplementary feed to livestock. It is one of the most nutritive animal feeds and also can be used by livestock farming communities. Azolla has several times higher levels of crude protein than other forage crops and is also rich in minerals. The aim of the current study is to study growth in various water sources and their quality as supplementary feed to livestock. 
 
Methods: A study was conducted in a randomized block design (RBD) with five different treatments and replicated five times to minimize the error. The study was carried out to explore the yield and nutritive value of Azolla pinnata cultivated under different water sources like well water, river water, bore well water, sewage water and drainage water. The duration of the study was three years from Jan 2019 to March 2022. The silpauline plastic bed having dimensions 12 &times; 4 ft size was used. Every alternate day, the fresh Azolla was harvested and recorded the weight. 
 
Result: The pooled data for three years (2019 to 2022) showed a higher yield of 0.31 kg/day of fresh Azolla pinnata in Mula Mutha river water (T2) and 0.30 kg in well water (T1) and sewage water (T4) crude protein content was highest (28.07 %) in sewage water (T4).

Fodder Yield and Quality of Azolla pinnata Cultivated under the Different Water Sources

<div style="text-align:justify">The use of wastewater in fish culture depends on supplement reusing, which improves essential usefulness, planktonic biomass, macrophytes, what&rsquo;s more, benthic living beings that determine fish creation. The creation of fishes could be improved to 10 tons/ha through wastewater reusing by legal stock control and the board. The decrepit grounds around a sewage fish ranch could be used for agrihorticultural creation by reusing both muck and sewage water, bringing about an absolute agro creation of around 110 ton/ha through rotational vegetable trimming. The potential for extra creation of vegetables not just improves income yet additionally makes business.</div>

​Incorporated Wastewater Aquaculture

<div>Background: Overuse of antibiotics is a major problem in the treatment of chronic infections. The antibiotic treatment is frequently non-curative due to emergence of antibiotic resistance, thus alternative treatment is necessary. The natural ability of pathogens to develop resistance is not only a threat to animal health but also leads to accumulation of antibiotic resistance determinants or resistant bacteria livestock products. Phage therapy has been developed as an alternative therapeutic approach against antibiotic resistance microorganisms. 
 
Methods: In present study 150 samples of sewage were collected from livestock farm, NDVSU, Jabalpur (M.P.). Bacteriophages were isolated and characterized from the collected sewage samples. &ldquo;Cocktail&rdquo; of the recovered phage lysate isolates (&Oslash;VS1, &Oslash;VS5, &Oslash;VS9 and &Oslash;VS27) was prepared for assessment of therapeutic utility of S. aureus phages in chronic septic infections. Therapeutic trial was performed in large animals (cattle and buffalo) at livestock farm, Adhartal, NDVSU, Jabalpur (MP.). Pathogens isolated from chronic septic wounds were showing antibiotic resistance but the bacteria were sensitive to phage lysate. Phage &lsquo;cocktail&rsquo; was applied topically over the chronic septic wounds as single dose. Follow up of the cases was done at regular intervals (0, 5 and 10 days) which included clinical examination of wound by appearance, status of discharge and formation of granulation tissue. 
 
Result: Six animals showed complete recovery (60%) out of 10 animals from wounds as predicted by progressive healing status of wounds till the formation of granulation tissue within 10 days after phage application. Thus, recovery was much higher than the conventional antibiotic therapy normally used for the treatment of chronic septic wound infections in animals.</div>

<div>Bacteriophages: A Potential New Therapeutic Alternate to Antibiotics to Treat Chronic Septic Wounds in Large Animals</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">At present, India is facing the worst water shortage in its history. According to a report&nbsp;by Niti Aayog, about 600 peoples are suffering with high to extreme water shortage and also states that around 200,000 lives of Indians are losing every year owing to the contamination of water or inadequate water supply. Here comes, the need for the safeguard of water resources in our country. But the fact is that Indian rivers are polluting at an alarming rate of 80% due to untreated wastewater flowing into water bodies have almost doubled in recent years. To reduce the contamination level of water resources, wastewater treatment will play a predominant role. Conventional wastewater treatment technique, i.e., activated sludge, were used to reduce the concentration of the pollutants in sewage water. However, there are still some confines especially that they operate at a higher cost. The objective of this review paper is to elaborate on how the reed bed system can act as a better alternative technology to conventional system for wastewater treatment.</div>

Reed Bed System: An Option for Reclamation of Polluted Water Resources: A Review

<div>Kolleru lake is one of Asia&rsquo;s largest freshwater lakes, which has undergone tremendous changes in the water quality due to the sewage, pollution and development of aquaculture in its surrounding area. This study is undertaken to evaluate the present water quality scenario existing in Kolleru lake, which has been affected seriously due to the anthropogenic disturbances since long. &nbsp;Water samples were collected from ten sampling locations within the lake during pre and post-monsoon seasons of 2017-18. A total of 11 water quality parameters were analysed such as pH, temperature, EC, TDS, TSS, total alkalinity, total hardness, dissolved oxygen, salinity, COD, and nitrates. Parameters were estimated by using a standard protocol of APHA 2012. The spatial distribution maps of water quality were generated from pre and post monsoon data using Arc GIS software. Spatio-temporal variation of all parameters indicated that the water quality found was unsatisfactory within the Kolleru lake. The present study shows the better water quality in the post-monsoon season. The Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation spatial mapping was also used for water quality mapping to observe the environmental variation for protecting the important freshwater ecosystem-Kolleru lake. The outcome of GIS analysis demonstrated the spatial visualization of the lodging evolution and geographical distribution trends of water quality parameters within the study area.&nbsp;</div>

<div>Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Water Quality Parameters in Ramsar Site-Kolleru Lake</div>

<div style="text-align:justify">Background: Lactic acid bacteria are regarded the most important bacteria concerning food fermentation, pharmaceutical and special dietary applications. Strains have been isolated from environments rich in available carbohydrate substrates, such as food and feed, but also in human and animal cavities and in sewage and plant material. Besides lactic acid, other side products include acetate, ethanol, CO2, formate and succinate. The most important advantage of Lactic acid bacteria making them suitable for the use in food biotechnology, is that they are generally recognized as safe (GRAS). Studies on Lactic acid bacteria isolated from aerial parts of plants are scarce. Bacteria that colonize plant roots and promote plant growth are referred to as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria. Several substances produced by antagonistic rhizobacteria have been related to pathogen control and indirect promotion of growth in many plants. The present work explores the potential use of Lactic acid bacteria in promotion of plant growth.&nbsp; 
Methods: Three isolates were obtained from aerial parts of pomegranate plant and confirmed by 16S rRNA sequencing to belong to Leuconostoc sp. The isolates were checked for plant growth promoting traits viz. antifungal activity, production of plant growth hormones, enzymes and 1-amino cyclopropane carboxylate deaminase activity.&nbsp; 
Result: As LAB showed plant growth promoting traits, they can be suitably used for plant growth promotion.</div>