Science Heritage Journal | Galeri Warisan Sains (GWS)

Mungbean (Vigna radiata) has gained increasing significance as a crucial grain legume in Nepal’s tropical and sub-tropical regions due to its short growth cycle and soil fertility enhancement properties. This research was conducted at Agronomy farm of Lamjung campus, to assess how mungbean performs under varying row spacing and Npk fertilizer levels. The study employed two-factorial Randomized Complete Block Design with three row spacing levels (20 cm, 25 cm, and 30 cm) and three NPK fertilizer doses (10:10:10, 20:20:20, and 30:30:30 kg NPK/ha) as treatments. The investigation explored phenological and yield attributing parameters. Interestingly, the outcomes showed that row spacing had negligible impact on root growth attributes, including root length and nodule formation. However, root nodule number increased with higher NPK fertilizer levels, particularly notable with the application of (30:30:30) kg NPK/ha, resulting in the highest nodules per plant (140.40), while the lowest nodules (91.35) were observed with (10:10:10) kg NPK/ha. Vital traits like plant height, branch and leaf counts, pod set, pod length, and seed weight were unresponsive to both NPK doses and row spacing levels. In contrast, grain yield exhibited a substantial increase with NPK fertilizer application, with the highest yield (1263.55 kg/ha) achieved with (30:30:30) kg NPK/ha and the lowest (929.27 kg/ha) with (10:10:10) kg NPK/ha. Therefore, this study shows strong correlations, especially between root nodules and grain yield, emphasized key links. NPK doses impacted vital root nodules for nitrogen fixation and suggests dense planting of Pratikshya mung beans with increased NPK fertilizer.

This study describes the new Paleocene Rotaliid genus Bolivinoidesella of sample ODP 198-drilled on the Southern High of Shatsky Rise, Site 1210A- 24H-4(30–32), 219.70, Pacific Ocean, which located at tropical latitudes (~10oN) around the K/Pg boundary from lower bathyal–upper abyssal environment (1500–2000 m). It is characterized by finely perforate calcareous wall with elongate large biserial test, nearly globular chambers increasing rapidly as added, surface ornamented with wrinkles, sutures obscured in the lower part of the test, but slightly depressed in the upper part, narrow opening basal aperture. The new genus Bolivinoidesella differs from the genus Bolivinoides by elongate test, wrinkled rugose ornamented surface than rhomboidal test with longitudinal costae may bifurcated distally.

Bridelia ferruguinea bark is investigated for its phytochemical composition and bioactivity to explore its therapeutic potential. The phytochemical analysis reveals significant quantities of alkaloids (62.95 mg/g), saponins (64.31 mg/g), flavonoids (100.19 mg/g), tannins (78.08 mg/g), and phenols (253.62 mg/g). The nitrogen-free extract dominates at 53.23%, followed by crude fiber at 24.44%. Additionally, the moisture, crude protein, crude fat, and ash content in Bridelia ferruguinea bark powder are reported at 7.63%, 2.15%, 8.72%, and 3.83%, respectively. Assessment of bioactivity indicates a lipid inhibition percentage of 23.88% and a vitamin C content of 55.97%. Moreover, the bark exhibits Fe chelation (13.44%) and DPPH radical scavenging activity (83.54%). Furthermore, it demonstrates inhibition of albumin denaturation (62.71%) and antiproteinase activity (69.534%). Importantly, it shows promising α-amylase inhibition (37.60%) and α-glucosidase inhibition (58.07%). These diverse bioactivities suggest potential applications in pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, warranting further studies for formulation development targeting both human and animal health. Bridelia ferruguinea bark emerges as a valuable natural resource with multifaceted therapeutic prospects, inviting extensive exploration for practical utilization.

Weather derivatives pricing is one of the central issues in the study of this type of financial product, and there is no uniform methodology. To price the temperature option with Shanghai temperature as the underlying and explore how to improve the accuracy of option pricing, firstly, the time-varying O-U model is combined with Monte Carlo simulation to obtain the Shanghai-based temperature option pricing, and then Shanghai and its neighboring Dongtai, Quxian, and Dinghai are selected to constitute an option portfolio and priced using the same method. The results are obtained: 1) the predicted price of each unit of Shanghai temperature option is 1732.33 yuan, and the actual price is 1557.84 yuan, with a relative error of 9.1%; 2) the predicted price of each unit of option portfolio is 1598.12 yuan, and the actual price is 1500.72 yuan, with a relative error of 6.5%; and 3) the same pricing steps are repeated several times, with a very robust relative error. It can be seen that the pricing method has stability and higher prediction accuracy and can be used in practice. At the same time, pricing after selecting multiple cities to form a weather derivative portfolio has higher accuracy i.e. less risk than pricing only for a single city.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles are versatile materials with broad applications due to their unique properties. This review examines the synthesis methods of ZnO nanoparticles, including sol-gel, microwave-assisted, and green synthesis. The sol-gel method allows precise control over particle size and morphology, while microwave-assisted synthesis offers rapid, uniform particle formation. Green synthesis uses plant extracts for eco-friendly production. Characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) reveal the structural and morphological properties of the synthesized nanoparticles. Applications of ZnO nanoparticles in antifouling coatings, biomedical fields (antibacterial and anticancer), and energy systems are discussed. The review evaluates each synthesis method’s efficiency, scalability, and environmental impact, highlighting their potential for sustainable applications.

This investigation was applied to isolate and identify bacteria in three different restaurants order to predict their effects on people. Power plate method for isolation of bacteria the samples were inoculated into nutrient agar media by streak plate technique to obtain well isolated colonies. The results show the identity and the total colony forming units (CFU) for bacteria. The most frequently isolated bacteria were the bacterial species: Bacillus cereus, Clostridium botulinum, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Shigella dysenteriae, Staphylococcus aureus and Lactobacillus subtilus (11.12, 8.24, 20.11,17.32, 17.01, 10.31 and 8.27) % respectively. According to the bacteria the higher numbers of bacteria were isolated on menu and containers.

Algae are a diverse group of unicellular autotropic microorganisms. It is a free-floating and filament-shaped organism, in which the blade is the main site for photosynthesis. Hence, called a photosynthetic organism. Different types of algae are found in different types of climatic conditions. Algae are found in almost all adverse climates. Due to its vast chemical composition and content of bioactive substances attention of different industries like food, cosmetic pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, etc. are caught by it. Algae food products contain a high amount of nutrients, and cosmetic products protect from UV radiation and prevention of rough texture wrinkles of the skin, as they carry out both photosynthesis as well as nitrogen fixation, add organic matter (20 -30kg/ha/year)and maintain texture porosity, the structure of soil and can play an important role for reducing the problem of petrol, diesel. This review has been prepared to shed light on the wide uses of algae as food, fuel, cosmetic product biofertilizer and also to provide knowledge about different types of algae found in different geographical zones of Nepal.

Five phylogenetic lineages were observed by present author in the eleven Tethyan Maastrichtian planktic foraminiferal species of the genus Plummerita. These lineages help to define the major faunal changes from the species throughout of three groups of the Plummerita. The first group (P. haggagae group) belongs to the four-chambered volition (4-ch) with axially pointed spine-like prolongation evolved to another species of five-chambered volition (5-ch) (P. hantkeninoides group), to another species of six-chambered volition (6-ch) (P. reicheli group). The five lineages are: (1) The Plummerita elkefensis (4-ch) to P. hantkeninoides (5-ch), (2) P. haggagae (4-ch) to P. costata (5-ch) to P. spainica (6-ch), (3) P. inflata (5-ch) to P. tunisica (6-ch) (4) P. kellerae (5-ch) to P. caribbeanica (6-ch), (5) P. premolisilvae (5-ch) to P. reicheli (6-ch). Unfortunately, most of these lineage are uncompleted from four to five to six-chamber volution, while only one of them is completed (no. 2). In spite of this uncompleted lineages situation, it seems that we must await further study to complete these lineages by another unknown taxa.

In order to forecast the effects of the fungi on humans, this study was conducted to isolate and identify the fungi in three distinct samples in the college of science cafeteria. In order to obtain well-isolated colonies, the power plate method with Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) was used to isolate and identify various fungal species. The results show the identity and the total colony forming units (CFU) for fungi. The most frequently isolated fungi were Cladosporium, Rhizopus sp., Aspergillus Sp, Alternaria, Yeast, Penicillium, . While the less frequently detected fungi species were Trichocladium, Drecheslera sp.and Botrytis sp. According to the fungi the higher numbers of fungi were isolated on menu and containers.

The research was carried on “Incidence of the seed borne infection and management of Alternaria species in wheat cultivars” at Laboratory of Bright Mid-West Agriculture and Forestry Campus, Birendranagar, Surkhet, Nepal from December 2019 to March 2020. The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomize Design (CRD). In the present investigation, seed samples of seven different varieties of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seeds viz. Gautam, Virkuti, Aaaditya, Wk1204, NL1172, NL1177 and NL297 were collected from National Wheat Research Program (NWRP) Bhairahawa, Rupandehi, Nepal and Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC), Botany division, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal. Seed samples were categorized by different varieties and treatment in different day’s interval. Seed treatment with, Dhanuka M-45, Acmes tin, Trichoderma viridae and control (without treatment) was done to see their effect on seed borne infection of Alternaria in wheat. The recorded parameters among the sampled plants were germination percentage, disease incidence percentage and incidence of Alternaria on the seeds. The variety ‘Aditya’ germinated maximum (97.00%) and variety NL-297 germinated minimum (0.25%) without treatments. However, Variety ‘Virkuti’ germinated maximum (95.5%) after treatment. Whereas, Variety NL-297 showed no seed-borne infection (0.00%) and variety ‘NL-1177’ showed the maximum disease severity (12.75% at 5DAI, 24.75% at 7DAI and 32.25% at 9DAI respectively) without treatment. Similarly, in treated seeds variety NL-1177 showed the maximum disease incidence percentage (6.75%) at 5DAI, variety Gautam (9.37%) at 7DAI and variety NL-1177 (9.87%) at 9DAI. whereas variety Gautam showed the minimum disease incidence (3.50%) after 9DAI, Variety ‘Virkuti’ (6.62%) at 7DAI and Variety ‘Gautam’ (8.0%) at 9DAI respectively. With the treatment variety Gautam could reduce the disease incidence by 60% at 5DAT, 50.02% at 7DAT and 68.93% at 9DAT.Similarly, variety Virkuti reduce in disease incidence by 13.53% at 5DAT, 15.12% at 7DAT and 10.41% at 9DAT. The Variety NL-1177 reduced disease incidence by 47.05% at 5DAT, 70.22% at 7DAT and 69.39% at 9DAT respectively. The results also showed that the control measure of Trichoderma viridae found significant performance (99.84%) in controlling seed borne pathogens and increasing germination of wheat seeds and the Variety Aditya was found as best in germination (97%) with lower seed borne Alternaria and the variety NL-297 was found non-disease severity (0.00%).