Thermostable Vaccines: Past, Present and Future Perspectives Thermostable Vaccines

Vaccines stability has a major role in the success of immunization programs and saves millions of lives every year. To stabilize vaccines cold chains are developed for storage and transport, as efficiency of vaccines is hampered if they are not kept under proper temperature. Aluminum is used for making vaccine thermostable. The development of vaccine formulation is a critical part of overall development cycle of approving, testing and producing new vaccines. However, Liquid vaccine formulation is still preferred over dry formulation because of ease in using, packaging and manufacturing. Other approaches have been used to make vaccine thermostable. This study demonstrates those processes, used to develop thermo-sensitive vaccines into thermostable vaccine and also describes vaccine formulation designing and use of heat shock protein including mHSP70 and mHSP65 to generate innate and adaptive immune response.

Integrated Pest Management in Organic Cotton and its Impact on Yield and Lint Quality Characteristics

Cultivation of organic cotton has increased in recent years due to the adverse impacts of synthetic chemical use. However, the main barrier to adoption of organic cotton farming in Pakistan, and especially in Sindh province, is its lower yield as compared to conventional cultivation. Therefore, this study was undertaken during 2014 and 2015 to compare the effect of various organic soil amendments relative to conventional integrated pest management (IPM) on the occurrence of cotton pests and their predators as well as influence on various plant growth parameters, yield and lint quality. The study was conducted at Latif Farm, Sindh Agriculture University, and Tandojam. The organic soil amendment treatments evaluated in this study included farmyard manure (FYM), poultry manure (PM), and the green manures Dhancha (Sesbania bispinosa Wight.) and Berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.). These treatments were compared to plots under conventional integrated pest management and a no treatment control. Results of the study indicated that among pests, only populations of thrips S. dorsalis (Hood), leafhoppers Amrassca biguttula biguttula (Ishida), whitefly Bemesia tabaci (Gennadus), and cotton mite Tetranchycus urticae (Koch) were observed in the various organic and conventional IPM treatments. During both years of the study, negligible populations of bollworms (Helicoverpa armigera) were recorded in all treatments. The predators recorded during this study included green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea, (Stephens), minute pirate bug Orius spp. (Fieber), big-eyed bug Geocoris punctipes (Say), and Menochilus sexmaculatus (F.), Coccinella semtempunctata (L.). In general, pest populations in the plots with organic soil amendment treatments during both years of the study were either lower or not significantly different from conventional IPM plots. Among the organic treatments, relatively low populations of S. dorsalis and A. bigutula bigutula were recorded in both of the green manure treatments, whereas poultry and farmyard manure plots harboured lower populations of B. tabaci. There was no difference in mite populations between the organic and IPM treatments. Among predators, the highest populations of Orius spp. and G. punctipes were recorded in poultry and farmyard manure treatments, whereas Dhancha plots supported the maximum population of C. carnea. The population of coccinellid predators was only recorded during 2015, with higher populations observed in green manure (Berseem clover) and farmyard manure treatments. Generally, higher pest and predator populations were recorded during 2015 in comparison to 2014, with the exception of Orius spp., which was highest in 2014. A significant correlation was recorded between the populations of various pests and their key predators. In both years of the study, temperature and relative humidity had an effect on populations of sucking pests and their predators as well. The application of various organic treatments also showed positive effect on various plant growth characteristics (i.e. plant height, total number of leaves, number of sympodial branches, total chlorophyll content, total number of bolls, boll weight and maturity percentage). In both years, the highest cotton yield was recorded in plots with poultry manure followed by farmyard manure and conventional IPM treatments. Comparatively higher lint quality was recorded in green manure treatments (Dhancha and Berseem clover). The economic analysis of different IPM treatments showed that the green manure had the most potential among the various organic treatments since the net profit obtained was higher due to the additional revenue generated by sale of green manure as fodder.