Alteration in important quality traits and antioxidant activities in Brassica oleracea with Ogura cybrid cytoplasm

In vegetable brassicas, cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) system is the most preferred mechanism for hybrid seed production and Ogura cybrid cytoplasm is the only source used widely. Effects of the alien cybrid cytoplasm on important quality traits need to be understood for their effective use in breeding programme. In analysing 38 Ogura cybrid cytoplasm‐based cauliflower CMS lines, it was revealed that introgression of Ogura cytoplasm resulted in significant alteration in important quality traits. Cupric reducing antioxidant activity and ferric reducing ability of plasma values were increased up to 5–10 times in different genotypes. Among 38 analysed CMS lines, concentration of plant pigments such as anthocyanin, total chlorophylls and ascorbic acid was reduced in 21, 17 and 32 genotypes, respectively. However, the concentration of total carotenoids and β‐carotene was elevated in most of the CMS lines and total carotenoid was increased up to 20 times in the CMS line, Ogu13‐85‐2A. The results indicate the role of nuclear–cytoplasmic interaction and mitochondrial genome in determining concentration of different quality traits.     

Isolation, characterization and antifungal activity of major constituents of the Himalayan lichen Parmelia reticulata Tayl

Antifungal activity of hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of Parmelia reticulata was evaluated against soilborne pathogenic fungi, namely, Sclerotium rolfsii, Rhizoctonia solani, R. bataticola, Fusarium udum, Pythium aphanidermatum and P. debaryanum by poisoned food technique. Maximum antifungal activity was exhibited by hexane and ethyl acetate extracts against most of the test pathogens. Secondary metabolites, namely, (±)-isousnic acid, (±)-protolichesterinic acid, atranorin, evernyl, ethyl hematommate, ethyl orsellinate, methyl hematommate (3-formyl-2,4-dihydroxy-6-methylbenzoic acid methyl ester), 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-3,6-dimethylbenzoic acid, 1-hydroxy-3,6-dimethoxy-8-methyl-xanthen-9-one, baeomycesic acid and salazinic acid, were isolated from the above extracts and identified by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and mass spectroscopic methods. When these metabolites were tested for antifungal activity against test pathogens, maximum antifungal activity was exhibited by (±)-protolichesterinic acid against R. solani (ED50=23.09 μg mL(-1)) and P. debaryanum (ED50=16.07 μg mL(-1)) and by atranorin against S. rolfsii (ED50=39.70 μg mL(-1)). The antifungal activity of protolichesterinic acid was found to be comparable to that of hexaconazole, a commercial fungicide.     

Effect of field levelling quality on irrigation efficiency and crop yield

Proper land levelling in areas irrigated by canals is an essential pre-requisite for judicious use of scarce irrigation water. The concept of land levelling index, which is different from land uniformity coefficient used hitherto, has been adopted to evaluate quantitatively the precision or quality of land levelling work. Using this concept the quality of land levelling work being done in newly canal commanded areas has been assessed and it is demonstrated that the prevalent deficiency in levelling quality ranges from 21.4 to 42.2%. Field investigations have been carried out to assess quantitatively the effect of land levelling quality on irrigation and water-use efficiencies and crop yield. The study comprised five levelling indices viz., 1.2, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 and 3.7 cm and two irrigation treatments, i.e., fixed depth and complete irrigation. The results show that irrigation application, distribution, and water-use efficiency are appreciably reduced with increase in levelling index or deterioration in levelling quality. The wheat grain yield is also similarly reduced and it is significantly less for levelling index values higher than 2.5 cm. The fixed irrigation depth treatment gives better results from the point of water economy than does the complete irrigation treatment. From this study, it can be inferred that to obtain reasonably high yield and judicious use of water at a reasonable cost the field levelling index should not have a value greater than 3.0 cm.     

Molecular expression of caprine estrogen receptor gene 1 in reproductive and non‐reproductive tissues

During the last decades, physiological effects of oestrogens have been increasingly explored by scientists and biotechnologists. Estrogens exert a wide range of effects on a large variety of cell types. Oestrogen and its receptors are essential for sexual development and reproduction. Estrogen receptor alpha is a nuclear receptor activated by the hormone oestrogen. In male, ERα is encoded by the gene estrogen receptor gene 1 (ESR1), responsible for better fertility. The ESR1 is involved in the reabsorption of luminal fluid during the transit of spermatozoa from the testis to the head of the epididymis which is important for their survival and maturation during epididymal storage. The absence of ESR1 leads to reduced epididymal sperm content, reduced sperm motility and fertilizing ability. Therefore, this is a good startby to study the expression pattern of estrogen receptor 1 gene in high‐fertile (G1) and low‐fertile (G2) bucks of Jamunapari and Barbari breeds identified on the basis of seminal quality traits and fertility trials. RNA was extracted from the tissues by TRIzol method. The identification and expression pattern of caprine ESR1 gene was analysed by real‐time PCR (Roche LC‐480). Our work shows that the relative quantification by RT‐PCR indicates more fold in head of epididymis as compared to spleen of caprine ESR1 gene. Furthermore, the RT‐PCR indicated that fertile bucks of Jamunapari breed have more fold value as compared to Barbari breed in respect of reproductive organ.     

Improved Design of Energy Dissipators for Pipe Outlets

This paper presents an experimental study on thedevelopment of an efficient energy dissipator ascompared to Garde's energy dissipator (Garde et al.1986) for pipe outlets. The recommended designs werelaboratory tested on scale models with pipe outletdiameter of 10 cm and 7.5 cm for Froude number rangingfrom 1.70 to 5.50. The performance of the newdissipator improved tremendously by using new shapes,sizes and locations of the appurtenances for the samelength of stilling basin. This was possible due tobetter spreading of efflux jet by using a propersplitter block. The formation of a strong vortexinfront of the solid impact wall, in place of a grid,and an additional horizontal shear at the bottomproduced more fine grained eddies and turbulence,which finally reduced the energy of the outgoing flow. The low bottom velocities at the end of the basinresulted in reduction of the scour. The performanceof various models has been compared by estimating thescour index based on maximum depth of scour and itslocation at the end of run time.     

Effect of Immunization with Plasmid DNA Encoding for Rinderpest Virus Matrix Protein on Systemic Rinderpest Virus Infection in Rabbits

Plasmid vaccine pBK-CMVMP1LC113 expressing the matrix (M) gene of rinderpest virus was assessed for its potential to protect rabbits against a lethal viral challenge. Rabbits immunized with plasmids expressing the M gene were not protected when challenged with lapinized rinderpest virus, despite the production of anti-M antibodies, while rabbits immunized with rinderpest tissue culture vaccine were completely protected from a lethal challenge with lapinized rinderpest virus. The plasmid vaccine also had no significant effect on the lymphopenia in challenged rabbits. The results indicate that rinderpest M protein does not have a protective role in rinderpest infection.     

Effect of progesterone on the magnum proteins during primary stimulation of chick oviduct

1. The effect of progesterone on the secretion of protein by the magnum of 5‐d‐old, female chicks was determined.

2. The supernatant prepared by centrifuging an homogenate of the magnum at 105 000g was found, by immunodiffusion, to contain an antigenic component which precipitated the antisera for conalbumin 1, conalbumin 2 and ovalbumin after 5 d treatment with progesterone: there was no reaction to ovomucoid, lysozyme and avidin antisera.

3. Disc‐electrophoresis of the homogenate revealed two bands at the site of ovalbumin.

4. Incorporation of ³H‐lysine into the magnum proteins of progesterone‐treated chicks did not differ from that of controls.

5. The secretion available in the magnum may be only a transudate from the serum and not a true secretory product. Progesterone behaved qualitatively as oestrogen in this study although the action is much less pronounced and was delayed.     

Kinematic Motion Patterns of the Cranial and Caudal Canine Cervical Spine

Objective: To define the kinematic motion patterns of the canine cervical spine, with a particular emphasis on identifying differences between the cranial (C₂–C₄) and caudal (C₅–C₇) segments, and to determine the significance of coupled motions (CM) in the canine cervical spine. Study Design: Cadaveric biomechanical study. Sample Population: Cervical spines of 8 Foxhounds. Methods: Spinal specimens were considered free of pathology based on radiographic, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging examinations. All musculature was removed without damaging ligaments or joint capsules. Spines were mounted in a customized pure‐moment spine testing jig, and data were collected using an optoelectronic motion capture system. Range of motion, neutral zone and CM in flexion/extension, left/right lateral bending and left/right axial rotation were established. Data were analyzed using mixed‐effects maximum likelihood regression models. Results: Total flexion/extension did not change across the 4 levels. There was no difference between flexion and extension, and no CM was identified. Lateral bending was not different across levels, but tended to be greater in the cranial spine. Axial rotation was ～2.6 times greater in the caudal segments. Lateral bending and axial rotation were coupled. Conclusions: Kinematics of the cranial and caudal cervical spine differed markedly with greater mobility in the caudal cervical spine.     

Genetics of Fe,Zn, β-carotene,GPC and yield traits in bread wheat (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Triticum aestivum</Emphasis> L.) using multi-locus and multi-traits GWAS

The present study was conducted to study the genetic architecture of grain micronutrients (Zn, Fe and β-carotene contents), grain protein content and four yield traits in a spring wheat reference set comprising 246 genotypes. Phenotypic data on these traits recorded at two locations and the genotyping data for 17,937 SNP markers (obtained through outsourcing) were used for genome wide association study, which gave following results after Bonferroni correction using four methods: (1) single locus single trait analysis gave 136 marker-trait associations; (2) multi-locus mixed model gave 587 MTAs; (3) multi-trait mixed model gave 28 MTAs and (4) matrix-variate linear mixed model gave 33 MTAs. As many as 73 epistatic interactions were also detected. Keeping all the results in mind, nine most important MTAs were selected for biofortification. These markers were associated with three traits (GPC, GFeC and GYPP). These MTAs can be used in wheat improvement programs either using marker-assisted recurrent selection or pseudo-backcrossing method.