---

Three species of the genus Dicranosepsis (Duda, 1926) are taxonomically treated in this paper. Dicranosepsis bicolor (Wiedemann, 1830),D. crinita (Duda, 1926) and D. olfactoria (Iwasa, 1984) are recorded for the first time from the Narowal region of the Punjab, Pakistan. Dicranosepsis crinita (Duda, 1926) is recorded for the first time in Pakistan. Illustrated keys and local distribution data for these three known species of the genus are also provided.

---

---

The objectives of this study were to identify a suitable mathematical model for describing the growth curve of Baluchi sheep based on monthly records of live weight from birth to yearling; and to evaluate the efficacies of nonlinear mixed effect model (NLMM) and the nonlinear fixed effect model (NLM) methodologies. Growth models were fitted to a total of 16,650 weight–age data belonging to 2071 lambs. Five nonlinear growth functions of von Bertalanffy, Gompertz, Brody, Logistic, and Richards and two linear polynomial functions were applied. The growth models were compared by using the Akaike’s information criterion (AIC) and residual mean square (MSE). Among all nonlinear fixed effect models, the Brody function had the smallest AIC and MSE values, indicating the best fit for both sexes. The Brody fixed effect model compared with NLMM including one random effect of asymptotic mature weight. The model evaluation criteria indicated that the Brody mixed effect model fitted the data better than the corresponding fixed effect model. It can be concluded that, among the linear models, the polynomial of the third order and, among nonlinear models, Brody mixed model were found to best fit the Baluchi sheep growth data.

---

The efficiency of Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC) based Chickpea Hull Polysaccharides (CHPS) edible coating with regards to shelf life and physicochemical properties of cherry tomatoes were determined. Cherry tomatoes were coated with various CHPS concentrations (0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00%) to preserve cherry tomatoes during storage at 20^◦C. The CMC-incorporated CHPS coatings were found effective to reduce the respiration rate, weight loss, firmness, lycopene content, total soluble solid, vitamin C, total polyphenols, and to improve the overall likeness of fruit compared with the control. All these effects were noted to be dose-dependent. Taken together, using CMC-incorporated CHPS coatings could prolong the shelf life of cherry tomatoes.