Ornithological importance of artificial ponds: a case study at Kabaklı Pond,south-eastern Anatolia,Turkey

The birds of Kabakl? Pond and its near surrounding were surveyed between October 2014 and December 2015 periods. During the study period, 105 bird species that belong to 12 orders and 34 families were detected and represented. Among these species determined, 17 of them certainly, 19 probably and 11 possibly breed in the area, while 58 of them are wintering or transitory migrating birds for the area. Among the recorded species, seven are globally threatened, while 20 are threatened for Turkey without least concern species. Obtained information suggests that this small artificial area has a great importance for many bird species related to habitat that have. Habitat preferences of species were analysed, and it was determined that the most preferred habitats are pond (water surface), wooded and agricultural zones, respectively. Also, the maximum bird number obtained during April and December, while maximum bird species richness observed during April. Results suggest that artificial ponds can be important for birds as feeding, resting and breeding area due to rapidly decline in natural wetland areas. Effective protection of the area requires the prevention of illegal hunting, fishing, human disturbance and pasturing. Also, in order to extend the existing reed and meadow areas, convenient plantation of natural plants at around of pond has a critic role for waterfowl.     

Investigation of the Potential Health Benefits as Lipase Inhibitor and Antioxidant of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Leopoldia comosa</Emphasis> (L.) Parl.: Variability of Chemical Composition of Wild and Cultivated Bulbs

There is a great interest in the nutritional value of vegetables and fruits and how the habitat affects nutritive and biological properties. In vitro studies here reported were performed to evaluate the inhibitory activity of formulations from edible plant on pancreatic lipase. The aim of this study was also to evaluate the biovariability of L. comosa (L.) Parl. bulbs from Italy. The wild bulbs were compared with the same cultivated species that are commonly commercialized to identify samples with the best quality for a potential therapeutic application. Hydroalcoholic extract and polar fraction of wild bulbs showed a very important pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity, with IC₅₀ values of 0.166 ± 0.005 and 0.153 ± 0.005 mg/mL, respectively. In order to characterize the extracts, gas chromatography associated with mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis was performed, revealing the predominance of palmitic acid. Phenolic and flavonoid composition was also evaluated. L. comosa extract obtained from wild bulbs demonstrated both antioxidant and anti-obesity activities that might be attributed to a wide range of present phenolic compounds.     

Mapping QTLs using a novel source of salinity tolerance from Hasawi and their interaction with environments in rice

Background

Salinity is one of the most severe and widespread abiotic stresses that affect rice production. The identification of major-effect quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for traits related to salinity tolerance and understanding of QTL × environment interactions (QEIs) can help in more precise and faster development of salinity-tolerant rice varieties through marker-assisted breeding. Recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from IR29/Hasawi (a novel source of salinity) were screened for salinity tolerance in the IRRI phytotron in the Philippines (E1) and in two other diverse environments in Senegal (E2) and Tanzania (E3). QTLs were mapped for traits related to salinity tolerance at the seedling stage.

Results

The RILs were genotyped using 194 polymorphic SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms). After removing segregation distortion markers (SDM), a total of 145 and 135 SNPs were used to construct a genetic linkage map with a length of 1655 and 1662 cM, with an average marker density of 11.4 cM in E1 and 12.3 cM in E2 and E3, respectively. A total of 34 QTLs were identified on 10 chromosomes for five traits using ICIM-ADD and segregation distortion locus (SDL) mapping (IM-ADD) under salinity stress across environments. Eight major genomic regions on chromosome 1 between 170 and 175 cM (qSES1.3, qSES1.4, qSL1.2, qSL1.3, qRL1.1, qRL1.2, qFWsht1.2, qDWsht1.2), chromosome 4 at 32 cM (qSES4.1, qFWsht4.2, qDWsht4.2), chromosome 6 at 115 cM (qFWsht6.1, qDWsht6.1), chromosome 8 at 105 cM (qFWsht8.1, qDWsht8.1), and chromosome 12 at 78 cM (qFWsht12.1, qDWsht12.1) have co-localized QTLs for the multiple traits that might be governing seedling stage salinity tolerance through multiple traits in different phenotyping environments, thus suggesting these as hot spots for tolerance of salinity. Forty-nine and 30 significant pair-wise epistatic interactions were detected between QTL-linked and QTL-unlinked regions using single-environment and multi-environment analyses.

Conclusions

The identification of genomic regions for salinity tolerance in the RILs showed that Hasawi possesses alleles that are novel for salinity tolerance. The common regions for the multiple QTLs across environments as co-localized regions on chromosomes 1, 4, 6, 8, and 12 could be due to linkage or pleiotropic effect, which might be helpful for multiple QTL introgression for marker-assisted breeding programs to improve the salinity tolerance of adaptive and popular but otherwise salinity-sensitive rice varieties.

     

Bulk pollen pollination in maize for efficient construction of introgression populations with high genome coverage

Introgression populations consist of a set of introgression lines or families, constructed by continuous backcrossing to the recurrent parent, while carrying a limited number of chromosome segments from a donor parent in their genomes. Increasing the genome coverage is an important aim when constructing introgression population. In this study, we proposed bulk pollen pollination (BPP) method and used it to increase the genome coverage of a maize introgression population. The results showed that the genome coverage of the introgression population constructed using BPP method reached 100% at BC₃ generation, which accorded with the simulation result. The BPP‐based BC₃F_1:2 population could identify most quantitative trait loci (QTL) detected using the F_2:3 population, especially major QTL. Simulation analysis showed that the genome coverage of introgression population increased with the increase of population size and the number of bulked plants, and decreased with the increase of backcross generation. Our results proved the reliability of the BPP‐based introgression population in increasing genome coverage and detecting QTL, and provided references for constructing high‐coverage introgression populations.     

我国牧草种植成本收益变化与比较

本研究以牧草种植户牧草及粮食作物的调研数据为基础,计算出2010-2014年主要牧草和粮食作物的成本收益基本信息,对其变化进行统计分析,并对各作物的成本收益进行比较。分析发现,2014年苜蓿(Medicago sativa)的经济效益有所下降;黑麦草(Lolium perenne)和青贮玉米(Zea mays)的纯收益和收益率有所增长;苜蓿的纯收益和收益率要高于黑麦草和青贮玉米;马铃薯(Solanum tuberosum)和苜蓿的经济效益更具优势,种植小麦(Triticum aestivum)经济效益较差;黑麦草和青贮玉米人工和土地成本更高,苜蓿水电费最高。建议调整农业产业结构,推行"粮+经+饲+草"四元种植结构,全面扶持牧草产业发展,建立健全牧草生产资料补贴制度。     

Investigation of mechanical properties of developed antimicrobial PPsuture/Ag nanocomposite

In order to prevent surgical complications due to microbial infections, we have developed polypropylene suture grafted with silver nanoparticles (PPsuture/Ag nanocomposite) by a simple immersion procedure. Physical and mechanical properties of developed suture are investigated. Suture surface characteristics are examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Silver content on suture surface was determined by Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The mechanical properties of developed antibacterial PP suture/Ag were studied. We note that proposed silver coating method has not affected mechanical performances of suture. Antimicrobial performances of PP suture/Ag nanocomposites against S. aureus and E. coli colonies were also investigated.     

马铃薯AP2/ERF转录因子的克隆及植物表达载体构建

AP2/ERF基因家族转录因子普遍存在于植物中,参与植物体内的各种生物学过程,包括植物的生长发育、生物和非生物胁迫响应等。前期转录组测序的结果发现马铃薯‘加湘1号’一个AP2/ERF家族基因(PGSC0003DMG400012154)在接种晚疫病菌(Phytophthora infestans)24 h后被显著激活。从接种P.infestans 24 h的‘加湘1号’的总RNA中通过RT-PCR获得了该基因CDS序列为885 bp,BLAST分析显示该基因编码一个295个氨基酸残基的蛋白,并且含有1个AP2/ERF结构域,是AP2/ERF转录因子家族中的ERF亚家族的一员。本研究将该基因与XcmⅠ酶切的表达载体pCXSN连接,转化大肠杆菌,通过测序挑选插入正确克隆酶切验证,并成功转化农杆菌。本研究结果为进一步研究该基因的功能提供了帮助。