Suppression of superphosphate-phosphorus fixation by farmyard manure I. High phosphorus uptake from superphosphate

Pot and field experiments were conducted on alkaline calcareous soils of Pakistan to determine the effect of premixing superphosphate (SUP) with farmyard manure (FYM) on the fraction of plant phosphorus derived from the ³⁰P labelled SUP (y value). Premixing (SUP with FYM) before their addition to soil, markedly increased the uptake of SUP-P by plants. The premixed treatment also increased crop yield on phosphorus deficient soli. Optimum quantity of FYM required was twice that of SUP. Higher quantities of FYM had no additional effect on phosphorus availability from SUP.

The possible mechanism of this effect and the implications of these observations in phosphorus nutrition of plants have been discussed.     

Distinct functions of <Emphasis Type="Italic">S. pombe</Emphasis>Rec12 (Spo11) protein and Rec12-dependent crossover recombination (chiasmata) in meiosis I; and a requirement for Rec12 in meiosis II

BACKGROUND: In most organisms proper reductional chromosome segregation during meiosis I is strongly correlated with the presence of crossover recombination structures (chiasmata); recombination deficient mutants lack crossovers and suffer meiosis I nondisjunction. We report that these functions are separable in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. RESULTS: Intron mapping and expression studies confirmed that Rec12 is a member of the Spo11/Top6A topoisomerase family required for the formation of meiotic dsDNA breaks and recombination. rec12-117, rec12-D15 (null), and rec12-Y98F (active site) mutants lacked most crossover recombination and chromosomes segregated abnormally to generate aneuploid meiotic products. Since S. pombe contains only three chromosome pairs, many of those aneuploid products were viable. The types of aberrant chromosome segregation were inferred from the inheritance patterns of centromere linked markers in diploid meiotic products. The rec12-117 and rec12-D15 mutants manifest segregation errors during both meiosis I and meiosis II. Remarkably, the rec12-Y98F (active site) mutant exhibited essentially normal meiosis I segregation patterns, but still exhibited meiosis II segregation errors. CONCLUSIONS: Rec12 is a 345 amino acid protein required for most crossover recombination and for chiasmatic segregation of chromosomes during meiosis I. Rec12 also participates in a backup distributive (achiasmatic) system of chromosome segregation during meiosis I. In addition, catalytically-active Rec12 mediates some signal that is required for faithful equational segregation of chromosomes during meiosis II.     

Optimization of Ram Semen Cryopreservation Using a Chemically Defined Soybean Lecithin‐Based Extender

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of a chemically defined soybean lecithin‐based semen extender as a substitute for egg yolk‐based extenders in ram semen cryopreservation. In this study, 28 ejaculates were collected from four Zandi rams in the breeding season and then pooled together. The pooled semen was divided into six equal aliquots and diluted with six different extenders: (i) Tris‐based extender (TE) containing 0.5% (w/v) soybean lecithin (SL0.5), (ii) TE containing 1% (w/v) soybean lecithin (SL1), (iii) TE containing 1.5% (w/v) soybean lecithin (SL1.5), (iv) TE containing 2% (w/v) soybean lecithin (SL2), (v) TE containing 2.5% (w/v) soybean lecithin (SL2.5) and (vi) TE containing 20% (v/v) egg yolk (EYT). After thawing, sperm motility and motion parameters, plasma membrane and acrosome integrity, apoptosis status and mitochondrial activity were evaluated. The results shown that total and progressive motility (54.43 ± 1.33% and 25.43 ± 0.96%, respectively) were significantly higher in SL1.5 when compared to other semen extenders. Sperm motion parameters (VAP, VSL, VCL, ALH and STR) were significantly higher in SL1.5 compared to other extender, with the exception of SL1 extender. Plasma membrane integrity (48.86 ± 1.38%) was significantly higher in SL1.5 when compared to other semen extenders. Also, percentage of spermatozoa with intact acrosome in SL1.5 (85.35 ± 2.19%) extender was significantly higher than that in SL0.5, SL2.5 and EYT extenders. The results showed that the proportion of live post‐thawed sperm was significantly increased in SL1.5 extender compared to SL0.5, SL2 and EYT extenders. In addition, SL1, SL1.5 and SL2.5 extenders resulted in significantly lower percentage of early‐apoptotic sperm than that in EYT extender. There were no significant differences in different semen extenders for percentage of post‐thawed necrotic and late‐apoptotic spermatozoa. Also, the results indicated that there are slight differences for percentage of live spermatozoa with active mitochondria between extenders. In conclusion, SL1.5 extender was better than other extenders in most in vitro evaluated sperm parameters.     

Inhibition of plant pathogens in vitro and in vivo with essential oil and organic extracts of Cestrum nocturnum L.

The efficacy of the essential oil and various organic extracts from flowers of Cestrum nocturnum L. was evaluated for controlling the growth of some important phytopathogenic fungi. The oil (1000 ppm) and the organic extracts (1500 μg/disc) revealed antifungal effects against Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum capsici, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, Phytophthora capsici, Rhizoctonia solani and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in the growth inhibition range of 59.2-80.6% and 46.6-78.9%, respectively, and their MIC values were ranged from 62.5 to 500 and 125 to 1000 μg/mL. The essential oil had a remarkable effect on spore germination of all the plant pathogens with concentration and time-dependent kinetic inhibition of P. capsici. Further, the oil displayed remarkable in vivo antifungal effect up to 82.4-100% disease suppression efficacy on greenhouse-grown pepper plants. The results obtained from this study may contribute to the development of new antifungal agents to protect the crops from fungal diseases.     

The Effects of Season and Site of Catch on Morphometric Characteristics,Mineral Content,and Fatty Acids of Sardines (Sardina pilchardus) Caught on the Algerian Coast

The variation of morphometrics, mineral content, and fatty acid composition of sardines was determined in relation to season and site of catch in the Mediterranean Sea. Sardines were caught in two regions of the Algerian coast: Mostaganem and Béni-Saf. In both sites, the contents of phosphorus (223 and 211 mg 100 g^?1) and sodium (95 and 10 mg 100 g^?1) were higher in June than in February. Total lipid content was related to the season, being low in winter (2.9%) and high in summer (11.3%). The fatty acid composition shows a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) dominated by n-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA C20:5 n-3; 10%) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA C22:6n-3; 25%). However, the content of n-6 fatty acids was relatively low both in winter (3.4%) and summer (4.7%). The saturated fatty acid (SFA) content was appreciable in sardines, which range from 34% to 37% according to season. This is in agreement with the literature related to the Mediterranean sardine.     

Phylogeny of Egyptian isolates of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cucumber mosaic virus</Emphasis> (CMV) and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tomato mosaic virus</Emphasis> (ToMV) infecting <Emphasis Type="Italic">Solanum lycopersicum</Emphasis>

Four Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) (CMV-HM 1–4) and nine Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) (ToMV AH 1–9) isolates detected in tomato samples collected from different governorates in Egypt during 2014, were here characterized. According to the coat protein gene sequence and to the complete nucleotide sequence of total genomic RNA1, RNA2 and RNA3 of CMV-HM3 the new Egyptian isolates are related to members of the CMV subgroup IB. The nine ToMV Egyptian isolates were characterized by sequence analysis of the coat protein and the movement protein genes. All isolates were grouped within the same branch and showed high relatedness to all considered isolates (98–99%). Complete nucleotide sequence of total genomic RNA of ToMV AH4 isolate was obtained and its comparison showed a closer degree of relatedness to isolate 99–1 from the USA (99%). To our knowledge, this is the first report of CMV isolates from subgroup IB in Egypt and the first full length sequencing of an ToMV Egyptian isolate.     

Roughness models for sanded wood surfaces

The understanding of the effects of variables is crucial to achieve the desired sanded surface quality at optimum condition. In wood surface evaluation, it is known that anatomies on wood surface could distort the roughness value and cause a misinterpretation of the processing performance. In this study, statistical approaches were taken to characterize the influence of sanding variables as well as to analyze the anatomical noises that were inherited from intra- and inter-species of woods. Four available roughness parameters (R _a , R _q , R _k and R _ap) were used to examine the surface of three distinct wood species, viz. kembang semangkok, red oak and spruce in wide-belt sanding. Based on the mean values, analysis of variance showed that species (anatomy) was significant to all conventional parameters except R _ap which was filtered by monitoring the second derivative of Abbott-curve. In spite of this, R _ap recorded a more widely dispersed deviation of random measurement values than R _k and R _a . The effects of grit size and feed rate were found to be significant. Empirical roughness models were established using response surface methodology, and the errors were calculated by comparing the model values to all the randomly measured values. Although exhibiting slight species-dependant effect by nature, R _k showed reliable consistency by recording the lowest error values (<10%) for both intra- and inter-species measurements. Experimental results also suggested that three random measurements at each run could be sufficient. The method of constructing machinability models can be readily applied in the industry as a quality control tool for wide-belt sander.     

Cellular and cytokine responses associated with dinitrofluorobenzene-induced contact hypersensitivity in the chicken

The objective of the study was to determine the cellular and cytokine responses associated with dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB)-induced skin contact hypersensitivity (SCH), as an indicator of cell-mediated immune response, in the chicken. The thickness of the DNFB-treated foot web was increased by 6h.p.i. (hours post-induction), peaked by 24h.p.i. and then declined gradually until the lowest measurements were observed at 72h.p.i. Infiltration of eosinophils was the highest at 6 and 12h.p.i. and gradually declined by 48h.p.i. The degree of infiltration of both CD8+ and CD4+ T cells varied with mild infiltration observed at 6h.p.i., moderate to heavy infiltration observed at 12h.p.i. that persisted through 24 and 48h.p.i. and declined by 72h.p.i. Infiltration of macrophages during the study period was prominent, yet less remarkable differences were recorded between observations. Expression of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-6, IL-10 and interferon (IFN)-gamma in skin tissue was at its highest at 6h.p.i. compared to other observed time points, yet only the expression of IFN-gamma and IL-10 genes turned out to be significantly higher at 6h.p.i. compared to all other time points. In conclusion, DNFB-induced SCH in chicken was associated with an early up-regulation of cytokine genes, and infiltration of eosinophils along with macrophages, CD8+, and CD4+ T cells at the site of induction.