Cultivating continuity and creating change: Women's home garden practices in northeastern Thailand

The tradition of planting and maintaining home gardens is an expression of culture and represents an intense interaction between humans and plants. Forty-nine home gardens in northeastern Thailand were surveyed and found to be quite rich and diverse. The gardens contained domesticated plants, species that are not native to the area, and local non-domesticates. We focused on women's gardening practices as behaviors that create an intensive interaction with the physical and social environment and found that women are increasing their management and manipulation of non-domesticated resources. Home gardens, maintained primarily by women, are part of a continuum of resource areas that are constructed and utilized. The maintenance of specific plants in the gardens provide a source of stability in the rapidly changing cultural, social, and economic environment.     

Inheritance of seed phytate in mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek)

Phytic acid (PA) is the main storage organic form of phosphorus (P) in seeds of cereals and legumes. It is a strong inhibitor against the absorption of nutrients in monogastric animals. The objective of this study was to determine the variation of total P (TP) in seeds of mungbean germplasm and investigate the inheritance of seed P compound and phytate contents. TP content in seeds of 250 accessions were found to range from 2.34 to 5.75 mg/g. The inheritance was studied in the F₂ population derived from a cross between 2 accessions with the lowest and highest PA contents, viz. V1658BBR and V1141BG. Broad-sense heritability estimates of TP, inorganic P (IP), and phytate P (PhyP) contents were 80.8, 78.6 and 80.7%, respectively. The 9:7 segregation ratio of F₂ population in this study indicated that high TP and PhyP were controlled by dominant alleles at 2 independent loci of major genes showing duplicated recessive epistasis.     

Isolation and characterisation of crocosin,an antibacterial compound from crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) plasma

An antibacterial compound from crocodile blood was partially purified and functionally characterised. The freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) plasma with antibacterial activity was partially purified by using a centrifugal concentrator and reverse phase high powered liquid chromatography, and designated as crocosin. Crocosin exhibits antibacterial activity toward Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus. Crocosin is thermostable and resistant to pronase digestion. The structure of crocosin analyzed by mass spectrometry contains repeating units of 94 and 136 m/z. Scanning electron microscopy indicates that crocosin probably penetrates progressively into cytoplasm space, perturbing and damaging bacterial membranes. Crocosin may provide an early defense mechanism toward bacterial infection in freshwater.     

Mapping of quantitative trait loci for phytic acid and phosphorus contents in seed and seedling of mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek)

Phytic acid (PA) is the storage form of phosphorus (P) in seeds and plays an important role in the nutritional quality of food crops. There is little information on the genetics of seed and seedling PA in mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek]. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) were identified for phytic acid P (PAP), total P (TP), and inorganic P (IP) in mungbean seeds and seedlings, and for flowering, maturity and seed weight, in an F₂ population developed from a cross between low PAP cultivated mungbean (V1725BG) and high PAP wild mungbean (AusTRCF321925). Seven QTLs were detected for P compounds in seed; two for PAP, four for IP and one for TP. Six QTLs were identified for P compounds in seedling; three for PAP, two for TP and one for IP. Only one QTL co-localized between P compounds in seed and seedling suggesting that low PAP seed and low PAP seedling must be selected for at different QTLs. Seed PAP and TP were positively correlated with days to flowering and maturity, indicating the importance of plant phenology to seed P content.     

Genetic diversity of the black gram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] gene pool as revealed by SSR markers

In this study, 520 cultivated and 14 wild accessions of black gram (Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper) were assessed for diversity using 22 SSR markers. Totally, 199 alleles were detected with a mean of 9.05 alleles per locus. Wild black gram showed higher gene diversity than cultivated black gram. Gene diversity of cultivated accessions among regions was comparable, while allelic richness of South Asia was higher than that of other regions. 78.67% of the wild gene diversity presented in cultivated accessions, indicating that the domestication bottleneck effect in black gram is relatively low. Genetic distance analysis revealed that cultivated black gram was more closely related to wild black gram from South Asia than that from Southeast Asia. STRUCTURE, principal coordinate and neighbor-joining analyses consistently revealed that 534 black gram accessions were grouped into three major subpopulations. The analyses also revealed that cultivated black gram from South Asia was genetically distinct from that from West Asia. Comparison by SSR analysis with other closely related Vigna species, including mungbean, azuki bean, and rice bean, revealed that level of gene diversity of black gram is comparable to that of mungbean and rice bean but lower than that of azuki bean.     

Pulmonary Edema Due to Oral Gavage in a Toxicological Study Related to Aquaporin-1, -4 and -5 Expression

A one-time oral gavage can be enough to cause of alveologenic edema with higher expression of AQP-1 and -4 than that with repeated-dose oral gavage, which caused both profound perivascular edema and hydrostatic pressure edema, while AQP-5 was similarly expressed. The alteration of AQPs expression was probably related to alveolar fluid clearance across the alveolar and bronchiolar epithelium in different stages of lung injury. The results clarified the type of lung edema in acute and sub-chronic toxicity studies without treatment related effect of tested material. The pathogenesis of pulmonary edema due to oral gavage toxicological study is associated with the cellular immune response to the reflux materials. Mast cell and leukocyte accumulation may contribute to increase vascular permeability leading to permeability edema. The increase in alveolar septum epithelium, perivascular and peribronchial cuffing, accumulation alveolar lipid containing macrophage and medial hyperplasia of the pulmonary artery might have been caused to increase airway resistance, which resulted in hydrostatic pressure edema.     

New sources of rice blast resistance obtained from Thai indigenous upland rice germplasm

Upland rice production plays an important role in both household consumption and crop rotation. Until now, a blast resistant upland variety has not been released in Thailand. The bimodal pattern of rain distribution in Thailand’s upland rice production areas create a favorable environment for the outbreak of leaf blast when seedling-tillering, and neck blast within the heading stage. The use of genetically resistant cultivars has proven to be an effective way to cope with this problem. In this study, 256 indigenous upland rice plants were screened for blast resistance under greenhouse and field conditions. Ten indigenous upland rice varieties, ULR292, ULR242, ULR219, ULR162, ULR161, ULR134, ULR109, ULR098, ULR081, and ULR066, were identified as resistant to leaf blast disease in both natural infection and artificial inoculation, under greenhouse conditions. Additionally, six of the ten varieties, ULR162, ULR161, ULR134, ULR109, ULR098, and ULR081, were found to be resistant to neck blast under field conditions. These new sources of blast resistance identified from indigenous upland rice varieties proved more resistant than the check varieties, depicting their potential for further use in Thailand’s rice blast resistance improvement program.     

Agricultural wastes as dairy feed in Chiang Mai

Dairy farming in Chiang Mai was established in 1965 by the Thai–German Dairy Project and was subsequently taken over by Department of Livestock development in 1970. Starting from 1979, the Dairy Farming Promotion Organization of Thailand also supports the development of dairy farming in northern Thailand. However, dairy farming in Chiang Mai still faces numerous problems. At present, farm sizes are relatively medium, with an average of 23.75 cattle/farm (cows, heifers and calves). Almost all dairy farmers are member of a dairy co‐operative that provides them with an artificial insemination service, supplies of concentrated feed, loans and a center for collecting milk. The average pasture area is 0.3 ha/farm. The main feed resources are green forage from the farm pasture, public areas and roadside pastures, which are abundant only in the rainy season. The farmers are forced to use crop by‐products as roughage in the dry season, especially rice straw, even though its nutritive value is limited due to its low digestibility, low nitrogen and low mineral and vitamin content. To improve the nutritional value of crop by‐products, physical and chemical treatments are implemented. Agro‐industrial wastes such as pineapple waste, sugarcane molasses, the peel, husk or silk of sweet corn and baby corn are also used as dairy feed.     

Detection of nifH Sequences in Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) and Pineapple (Ananas comosus [L.] Merr.)

To detect N₂-fixing bacteria in a plant without using culture methods, nifH gene segments were amplified with degenerate primers from DNA extracted from stems of sugarcane ( Saccharum officinarum L.) and leaves of pineapple ( Ananas comosus [L.] Merr.). Sequences of the nifH clones were homologous to those of bacteria in the genera Bradyrhizobium, Serratia , and Klebsiella. The bacteria with nifH sequences homologous to those of the three genera may be promising candidates for predominant endophytic diazotrophs in sugarcane and pineapple, because these sequences were commonly detected in samples from different host plants, which were collected at different locations. On the other hand, no nifH sequence related to Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus , which is an endophytic N₂-fixing bacterium and had been previously isolated from sugarcane, was detected in sugarcane. This indicates the absence or the presence of few G. diazotrophicus in the stems of the sugarcane plants used in the current study.     

Evaluation of stability and yield potential of upland rice genotypes in North and Northeast Thailand

The planting of upland rice is one cropping option in area with limited water availability and low soil fertility in North and Northeast Thailand.The varietal selection was determined by grain yield potential,wide adaptation,and good stability.This study was aimed at evaluation of indigenous upland rice germplasm for yield and yield stability in multi-locations.Thirty-six upland rice genotypes collected from six provinces of the North and Northeast Thailand and one check variety(Sewmaejan) were assessed under five locations in the rainy seasons of 2009 and 2010.The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications.The genotype grain yield was highly affected by location(59.90%),followed by genotypes(G)×location(L) interaction(12.80%) and genotype(6.79%).The most suitable location for the genotype evaluation was L3(Khon Kaen-KKU10) which associated with stability of grain yield for all genotypes.Furthermore,biplot and regression analysis indicated that genotype numbers 6(Jaowmong 1),10(Neawmong 1),18(Neawdum 1),19(Leamna),20(Prayaleamkang),32(Kunwang 2),and 33(Kunwang 3) showed great yield stability over five locations.The genotypes will be applicant for upland rice production area and parental base in breeding program.