Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the highly contagious diseases of domestic animals. Effective control of this disease needs sensitive, specific, and quick diagnostic tools at each tier of control strategy. In this paper we have outlined various diagnostic approaches from old to new generation in a nutshell. Presently FMD diagnosis is being carried out using techniques such as Virus Isolation (VI), Sandwich-ELISA (S-ELISA), Liquid-Phase Blocking ELISA (LPBE), Multiplex-PCR (m-PCR), and indirect ELISA (DIVA), and real time-PCR can be used for detection of antibody against nonstructural proteins. Nucleotide sequencing for serotyping, microarray as well as recombinant antigen-based detection, biosensor, phage display, and nucleic-acid-based diagnostic are on the way for rapid and specific detection of FMDV. Various pen side tests, namely, lateral flow, RT-LAMP, Immunostrip tests, and so forth. are also developed for detection of the virus in field condition.

The growth and development of single plants of oil seed rape, variety Zollerngold, are described quantitatively and particular attention paid to the sequence and pattern of flower and pod production on the different inflorescences. The period of flower opening over the whole plant spanned an average of 26 days and more than 75 % of the pods which were retained to maturity were formed from flowers which opened within 14 days of anthesis. Most of these flowers were found on the terminal raceme and on the basal and middle regions of the axillary inflorescences arising from the uppermost three nodes.

Experiments were carried out on oil-seed rape, variety Zollerngold, to determine the effects on flower and pod development when (1) the supply of carbon assimilates was reduced by shading or leaf removal at different stages of development or (2) the supply of assimilates to the more apically positioned flowers or pods on the terminal raceme was increased by removing 15 of the most basal flowers or pods.A decrease in the production of carbon assimilates led to fewer flowers and pods developing to maturity and when the stress continued over most of the period of pod development the pods were smaller and had fewer seeds which were also lighter in weight.Removal of the 15 basal flowers or pods led to more of the apically positioned flowers developing into mature pods and the other pods becoming heavier with bigger husks, heavier seeds and sometimes a greater number of seeds.The results of a shading experiment in a controlled environment cabinet suggest that stresses in the supply of carbon assimilates around the time of anthesis are particularly harmful since in addition to reducing the number of pods which develop they appear to restrict the capacity for compensatory growth in the pods that remain when the supply returns to normal.

Hermetic cold storage without previous drying (wet-cold storage) was experimented for the preservation of yam pollen grains. Pollens collected from white yam D. rotundata and a wild relative, D. praehensilis, were stored at k80, k20, 5, and 15 mC in sealed packs for 2 years. Pollen samples were drawn for in vitro germination tests after 100 and 700 days, and hand pollination was conducted after 365 and 730 days in storage. Pollen germination responses were not significantly different among the two species. Though pollen maintained germination capacity at all the storage temperature regimes, there was a significant loss in the viability of pollen stored at 5 and 15 mC after 100 days of storage. After 700 days in storage, pollens stored at 5 and 15 mC had lost germination capacity while there were no significant differences in the germination of fresh pollen and pollen frozen at k80 and k20 mC. Hand pollination with pollen of D. rotundata frozen at k80 mC for 365 days gave 69n5% fruit set and 50 % fruit set after 730 days in storage. From these results, the wet-freeze procedure appears promising to execute the establishment of pollen gene banks for yam breeding and for conservation of haploid gene pool of yams in base collections. A pollen storage protocol based on the procedure is recommended.

SummaryAll flowers were removed daily on soya-bean plants (cv. Hampton) for 1, 2, or 3 weeks and all pods developed on the plant were removed after 1, 2 or 3 weeks of pod development, in two field trials, in order to evaluate the effects of removing flowers or pods on the growth, development and yield of the cultivar. Removal of flowers or pods led to less dry-matter accumulation, longer leaf area duration and delayed maturity of the plants and these became more pronounced with the severity of the removal.Number of mature pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, pod yield per plant and seed yield both per plant and per hectare, were significantly reduced when flowers were removed for 1 week or pods removed after 2 or 3 weeks of development in the early season crop. Yield was reduced by 27%, 35% and 40% respectively both per plant and per hectare. In the late season crop, removing flowers for 3 weeks or removing pods after 3 weeks of development led to significant reduction in number of mature pods per plant, number of seeds per plant, number of seeds per pod, pod yield per plant and seed yield both per plant and per hectare. The magnitudes of yield reduction were 40% and 49% respectively.The ability of the variety of soya bean used in this study to prevent significant reduction in seed yield by compensatory development, following flower or pod removal, depends on the severity of the removal vis-d-vis the stage of development of the plant and its vigour.