Background: The Xieqiao River Endemic Fish National Aquatic Germplasm Resources Reserve located in Tongren City, Guizhou Province, China, has abundant fish resources. Accurate monitoring of the composition and diversity of fish communities is of vital importance for assessing the health of ecosystems, protecting biodiversity and endangered species, ensuring the sustainable utilization of fishery resources and managing invasive species. 
 
Methods: We examined the distribution and abundance of fishes in water and sediments of the upstream, midstream and downstream of Xieqiao River using eDNA (environmental DNA) metabarcoding. 
 
Result: We recognized 112 fish species belonging to 16 orders, 28 families and 73 genera. The most abundant fishes in Xieqiao River at order, family, genus and species level were Cypriniformes, Xenocyprididae, Opsariichthys and Opsariichthys bidens, which varied in different habitats. Forty-three dominant fish species were identified, including 3 species of specially protected fish in China, 26 endangered species of China Red List of Biodiversity&middot;Freshwater fish, 17 species with extremely high relative sequence abundance in Guizhou Province and 7 species of endemic fish of the upper Yangtze River and 14 alien species. The Chao1 index of water samples are higher than that of sediments (P&lt;0.05). In addition, the fish communities of water in river were different from those in reservoir. In conclusion, the Xieqiao river is rich in fish resources and diversity, but the invasion of alien species should be vigilant. This study assessed fish resources and provides reference for subsequent management of Xieqiao river endemic fish national aquatic germplasm resources reserve.

Fish Diversity in Xieqiao River Endemic Fish National Aquatic Germplasm Resources Reserve based on eDNA Metabarcoding

<div>Background: In view of abundant availability of Spilanthes paniculata in flora of Jharkhand and widely reported benefits of its dried flowers, the current study aimed to explore the possibility and to quantify the effect of use of flowers of S. paniculata as feed additives in stimulating body growth in poultry birds.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: A four week experiment consisting of 60 numbers of poultry birds (Divyan Red) of five months old subjected to four treatments consisting of 15 birds in each treatment distributed equally with 5 replications, was undertaken during 2016-19 following randomized block design to observe the effect of feeding dried flowers of S. paniculata on body weight increase in poultry birds.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Feeding of dried flowers of S. paniculata @ 10 g/bird/day resulted in a gradual increase in rate of weight gain up to 14 days of feeding, whereas feeding @ 15 g and 20 g/bird/day resulted in increase in body weight gain up to 7 days. Feeding @ 10 g/bird/day resulted in highest body weight increase after feeding for four weeks and improved in the feed conversion ratio (FCR) significantly (P ˂ 0.05) than the other 3 treatments. It is advisable for poultry owners to incorporate dried flowers of S. paniculata at a dose of 10 grams per bird per day for three weeks for attaining maximum growth in body weight in poultry birds.</div>

Fish Diversity in Xieqiao River Endemic Fish National Aquatic Germplasm Resources Reserve based on eDNA Metabarcoding

Use of Flower of Spilanthes paniculata Wall. ex DC as Growth Promoter in Divyan Red Poultry Birds