Bangladesh Medical Research Council

Developing agricultural manpower, for the scientists in 13 research institutes within the National Agricultural Research and Extension System (NARES) of Bangladesh together with associated agencies under the supporting ministries is essential for sustainable technology generation and adoption. They often operate with limited skills and expertise. In order to address the issue, the Government of Bangladesh undertook a signature PhD program under the National Agricultural Technology Program Phase II (NATP-2) awarding 140 fellowships, 80 in-country and 60 overseas. The NATP-2 PhD program started in 2018 and passed through the COVID-19 pandemic facing severe academic disruptions. A survey was conducted via email among the awardees during January-March 2021 to assess the impact of the pandemic on academic courses research, as well as the measures undertaken to adapt to the unprecedented stress. The results indicate that awardees at both in-country studied and international overseas universities faced disruptions in their mandatory academic courses and research. Most of the fellows required extension of the PhD program duration up to 6 months. In addition to change in schedule, extra funding also required which was allocated case-by-case. Through those coping mechanisms, on one hand, the NATP-2 PhD program successfully completed, on the other, agencies of the awardees lost access to their services. SAARC J. Agric., 23(2): 191-202 (2025)

Soft skills are essential for career success and maintaining positive social connections. Employers place high importance on these traits when employing young graduates. The primary purpose of this research is to analyze how university students value soft skills in terms of their academic and professional success. This study followed the survey method. The study population is students of Khulna University, Bangladesh. The survey was completed by 250 students from Khulna University’s undergraduate and graduate programs. In this study, all the data are collected through a questionnaire with open-ended and close-ended questions. The majority of respondents agreed that soft skills help one’s social life and one’s career. However, they did not believe these abilities significantly boosted their social interaction skills. Students ranked teamwork and collaboration, problem-solving, time management, decision-making, and a hunger for knowledge as the top five most important soft skills. This study provides several suggestions for enhancing students’ soft skills, which may increase their employability. Respondents were asked how universities could improve students’ soft skills. Over 72.4% of students supported adding curriculum-based soft skills development activities. Respondents were then asked to suggest soft skill-building strategies for students. Most respondents advised sending students to professional development classes to improve soft skills. 77.2% also advised students to attend student union-organized soft-skill development events. FENI UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, 2024, 3(1), ISSN [2518-3869], PP. (167-188)

Abstract not available The Bangladesh Veterinarian (2025) 42(1 – 2): 1 - 10

Since geese (Anser anser) are herbivorous waterfowl, their gizzards are larger and stronger, Allowing them to break down high-fiber roughages with greater force and consume enormous volumes of forages. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) in identifying the water-holding capacity, meat nutrient composition, pH, drip loss, cooking loss, slaughter and carcass characteristics and meat colour of local Bangladeshi white and grey geese varieties supplemented with varying amounts of water spinach. A semi-intensive production system was used to raise 36 adult geese of both white and grey kinds, which were slaughtered at 28 weeks of age. They were split into four groups at random, each consisting of three replicates with three geese each. Maize soya-based diet was considered as control diet (CL) (2700ME/Kcal, 16% CP) where T1 & T3 group were given 180g of CL diets in white and grey variety respectively and other diets included T2 (White variety)-80g of water spinach + 140g of CL diet, T4 (Grey variety)- 80g of water spinach + 140g of CL diet. Following rearing, each bird was weighed separately. Treatments significantly affected the redness value (a*) (p < 0.05). A statistical analysis was performed on 12 slaughter traits, which were separated into two groups: measured traits and calculated traits. For slaughter traits, results suggested that beneficial trails were not significantly varied but tented to be higher in the supplemented group. pH value for T3 group was higher than other groups. Additionally, supplemented group showed lowest drip loss and cooking loss and best water holding capacity, but these parameters were not significantly veried. Notably, the supplemented groups had exhibited the highest dressing percentage, desirable slaughter and carcass traits as well as favourable meat quality parameters. Taking these factors into account, we can say that adding water spinach to geese improved their slaughter and carcass characteristics, meat colour, pH, drip loss, cooking loss, water-holding capacity and meat nutritional content. Bang. J. Livs. Res. Vol. 30 (1&2), 2023: P. 23-35

Considering current and future climate possible variations Screening of resistant germplasm is fundamental for continuous and sustainable production. Plant Genetic Resource Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur, Bangladesh, maintained 484 hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus L.) accessions. Considering a core collection strategy, the accessions were stratified into two groups based on vine colors: green and purple. The maximum genotypes of the collection were of green vine. Each of the two subgroups was divided into three groups according to colors of pod i.e., green, white and red. Each group again divided itself into two according to beak position as central and marginal of pod. Strategically, a core subset consisting of 36 accessions out of 484 accessions was determined. Analysis of these 36 accessions showed a distribution of vine colors, flower and pod colors, pod curvature and beak position on pod with substantial variation in the collection. Shannon Diversity Index also revealed high phenotypic diversity in vine and pod characters. High diversities were found for pod curvature and beak position. They were estimated in quantitative characters of inflorescence and pod characters. Diversity Indices of different characters of the core accessions were of equal or higher magnitudes to the respective characters of the base collection indicating the better representation of the core to the original collection.

Foliar application of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) is a promising strategy in modern agriculture. This method has shown significant potential in enhancing tomato yields, improving fruit quality, and increasing nutrient uptake. An experiment was conducted in cocopeat media under glasshouse conditions at Ladang 15, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in 2020 to evaluate the effectiveness of various doses of ZnO-NPs on plant growth, yield, nutrient uptake, and fruit quality in terms of profitability. A total of ten treatments were evaluated, consisting of five levels of ZnO-NPs (0 ppm, 25 ppm, 50 ppm, 75 ppm, and 100 ppm) and two tomato varieties (MARDI Tomato 1 and MARDI Tomato 3). The experiment utilized a split-plot design with four replications. The results indicated that the application of 100 ppm ZnO-NPs produced the maximum measures of plant growth and fruit quality, including the highest number of primary branches per plant (27.75), leaf area (27.80 cm²), photosynthetic rate (33.05 µmol/m²/s), stomatal conductance (1.01 mol/m²/s), fruit length (4.55 cm), fruit diameter (4.33 cm), number of fruits per plant (52.75), fruit yield (53.85 t/ha), ascorbic acid content (26.13 mg/100 g), zinc content in fruits (52.25 mg/kg), total zinc uptake (102.34 mg/plant), and a benefit-cost ratio of 3.39. Moreover, among the tested varieties, MT3 outperformed MT1. Therefore, a foliar application of 100 ppm ZnO-NPs is recommended as the optimal dose for tomato cultivation. This approach promotes healthier plants and superior fruit quality and supports more sustainable and productive agricultural practices while minimizing environmental harm. Additionally, further research is necessary to explore higher dosages of ZnO-NPs in tomato production to establish the best dose for optimizing output.

This was descriptive type of cross sectional study. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were applied to explore current situation of bullying among undergraduate medical students of Bangladesh. Study was designed to find out categories of bullying occurred, persons involved in bullying, factors contributing for the occurrence of bullying, effects of bullying on the students and steps to be taken against the bullying. The study was carried out in eight (five government and three non government) medical colleges in Bangladesh over a period from July 2023 to June 2024. Undergraduate medical students and teachers of medical colleges were the study population. Sample size was 632 for administering questionnaire to the students, 16 for focus group discussion to the students and 16 for in-depth interview of the teachers. Convenience sampling technique was adopted to enroll the respondents and to select medical colleges. Data was collected from those who were present at the time of data collection and respondents willing to participate in the study as respondents. One self administered semi structured questionnaire was used for data collection. A schedule for focus group discussion was used to collect data from two groups of undergraduate medical students and a schedule for in-depth interview was used to collect data from the teachers of medical colleges. Prior informed consent from the respondents was taken. Study revealed that verbal bullying was most common type of bullying. Other types of bullying were physical, political, economical and cyber bullying. According to gender, male, students are more involved in bullying than female students. According to residence status, majority of the students involved in bullying behavior were residing in the hostel. According to economical status, students belongs to middle class family were involved more in bullying activities. Senior students were involved more in bullying, other persons were peer students, teachers, staff of medical college and hospitals administrators of medical colleges and hospitals, was also involved to some extent. Study also revealed that environment of college campus and hostels play important roles in occurrence of bullying. Other factors involved in bullying are weak administration, student politics, teachers politics and lack of monitoring by the authority. Anxiety, depression, academic regression were common effects of bullying on the students. Other effects were physical illness, leave hostel, leave medical colleges and suicidal tendency. Several steps to be taken to prevent bullying in medical colleges. Most important steps are staying of super in the hostel, taking appropriate action by local authority, and counseling and motivation to the students, opportunity of the students to inform local and higher authority and action taken to prevent recurrence of bullying. Study recommend supporting undergraduate medical students by preventing bullying. This could be achieved by launching educational program, establishing students support system, increasing cultural program among medical students, developing awareness among medical students, teachers and ensuring punishment of liable individual as per policy. BJME, Volume-16, Issue-01, January 2025: 2-14