Abstract The effect of three independent variables i.e. blanching time (3- 7 minutes), L-ascorbic acid (25-75 mg) and lemon juice (2.5-7.5 mL) was studied on the quality of spinach- lemon- tulsi ready-to-serve (RTS) beverage. The process was optimized using BBD- RSM methodology and the linear effect of the independent variables on the quality parameter was studied using Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA). A total of 15 runs including 3 centre points per block were obtained in BBD RSM and each run was analysed for different quality parameters i.e. total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity, reducing sugars, total sugars, ascorbic acid, antioxidant activity and overall acceptability. TSS, titratable acidity, reducing sugars, total sugars, ascorbic acid, DPPH free radical scavenging activity and overall acceptability ranged from 10.60 to 13.20°B, 0.37 to 0.50 % as citric acid, 1.70 to 3.10%, 6.30 to 8.20%, 42.30 to 64.90 mg/100 gm, 64.00 to 80.20%, and 6.6-8.3 (on a 9-point hedonic scale), respectively. The results analysed by BBD-RSM suggested a blanching time of 5.47 minutes, 75 mg L-ascorbic acid and 6.24 mL lemon juice are the optimum conditions for the preparation of spinach-lemon-tulsi RTS beverage. As per the CCA, the total variance of the independent variables on the dependent variables was 79%. L-ascorbic acid and lemon juice were found to have a positive effect on dependent variables. The model also suggested that an increase in blanching time could harm the quality of the beverage.

ABSTRACT This communication reports full genome sequencing of the bluetongue virus-1 (BTV-1) isolate MKD20/08/Ind from goat in northern India. The total BTV-1 genome size was found to be 19,190 bp. A comparison study between the Indian isolate and other global isolates revealed that it belongs to the 'Eastern' BTV topotype. The full genome sequence of BTV-1 will provide vital information on its geographical origin and it will also be proved useful for comparing the Indian isolate with global isolates from other host species.

Oxidimetric quantitative determination of arsenic(III) in organic arsines and their complexes with tin(IV) and mercury(II) has been attempted visually, potentiometrically and conductometrically. In each method, standard potassium bromate and potassium iodate oxidants were used in absolute alcohol medium. In these methods, known weight of organic arsines was dissolved in a mixture of absolute alcohol and concentrated hydrochloric acid. The resulting solution was titrated with standard potassium bromate/iodate solutions as oxidants using CCl4 as indicator in visual method. In case of conductometric and potentiometric titrations using potassium iodate/bromated, the results obtained were comparable to visual method. The percentage of arsenic for 1/10 mol L-1 KIO3 and 1/10 mol L-1 KBrO3 were found to be 11.73% and 11.71%, respectively. It led to the authenticity of the results obtained by visual method. 10 mg to 20 mg of the compound under test gave the results within the standard deviation error. The estimation of arsenic (III) was achieved within half an hour.