Pigeonpea improvement: An amalgam of breeding and genomic research

In the past five decades, constant research has been directed towards yield improvement in pigeonpea resulting in the deployment of several commercially acceptable cultivars in India. Though, the genesis of hybrid technology, the biggest breakthrough, enigma of stagnant productivity still remains unsolved. To sort this productivity disparity, genomic research along with conventional breeding was successfully initiated at ICRISAT. It endowed ample genomic resource providing insight in the pigeonpea genome combating production constraints in a precise and speedy manner. The availability of the draft genome sequence with a large‐scale marker resource, oriented the research towards trait mapping for flowering time, determinacy, fertility restoration, yield attributing traits and photo‐insensitivity. Defined core and mini‐core collection, still eased the pigeonpea breeding being accessible for existing genetic diversity and developing stress resistance. Modern genomic tools like next‐generation sequencing, genome‐wide selection helping in the appraisal of selection efficiency is leading towards next‐generation breeding, an awaited milestone in pigeonpea genetic enhancement. This paper emphasizes the ongoing genetic improvement in pigeonpea with an amalgam of conventional breeding as well as genomic research.     

Barriers to Open Government Data (OGD) initiative in Tanzania: Stakeholders’ perspectives

Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives are picking up across the globe with their emphasis upon the tenets of transparency, collaboration, and participation. While much of the research has remained confined at unraveling the theoretical and conceptual dimensions of OGD, empirical investigations are visibly lacking, especially in the African context. Using a qualitative research methodology, we analyze the responses received from relevant stakeholders—representatives from public and private sector—regarding their views about the OGD initiative in Tanzania. Our findings show that the OGD initiative in Tanzania is in an emerging stage and there are barriers (organizational, social, legal, and technical) toward instituting a robust OGD initiative in the country. Further, we find that there is inertia among the government departments in terms of publishing data sets. Our findings provide a sounding board for further research on the sustainability of OGD initiatives in Tanzania and the other African countries, by and large.     

Reciprocal recurrent selection for multitrait indices in maize

Summary Reciprocal recurrent selection was carried out with two populations of maize (Zea mays L.) having good combining ability. We selected for higher grain yield, early maturity, shorter plant height and lodging resistance. Two cycles were completed in two years (four seasons), by resorting to late planting of S1 lines for recombination in the main season in which top-cross families were assessed. Top-crosses and selfings were made in the off-season. The original and improved versions of the populations and their crosses were evaluated in multilocation trials. The superiority of the population hybrid was 10.3% for grain yield, 5.5% for plant height and 1.8 days to silk. The improved hybrid had delayed leaf senescence and better resistance to lodging and post-flowering stalk rots. Among the yield components, only ear girth showed improvement. Syn 2 of the improved population cross showed a yield reduction of 6.2% in comparison to Syn 1. Intrapopulation gains were not significant except for lodging resistance in one population.     

Constituents of Carapa granatum fruits

The isolation of 6alpha,11beta-diacetoxygedunin (1) and other minor constituents from Carapa granatum fruits is reported.     

Crop productivity under differently lopped canopies of multipurpose trees in Central Himalaya, India

Ficus species are multipurpose trees well known by rural populations in Sahelian and Sudanian zones of Africa. Their uses are well documented but their amenability for vegetative propagation has not been extensively studied. This paper compares the rooting ability of stem and aerial root cuttings from thirteen Ficus species found in West Africa. It highlights the differences between species belonging to the sub-genera Sycomorus and Urostigma. The former show no capacity to propagate from cuttings whereas the latter, with epiphytic development, can be propagated by cuttings, although this capacity varies among species. Thus, F. thonningii, F. leprieurii and F. ovata are easily propagated, while F. platyphylla and F. elasticoides are propagated with difficulty. The rooting capacity also varies depending on the cutting material used. It decreases in the following order: long leafless hardwood cuttings (pole) > nodal cuttings > apical cuttings. Rooting potential increases when the cuttings are harvested towards the end of the dry season(March to May). Aerial root can be used for cuttings in all species of the sub-genus Urostigma. The capacity of root cuttings to regenerate is greatest when cuttings are collected at the beginning of the dry season (November). In this case, wound-induced adventitious roots arise at the basal end of the cutting while de novo buds are developed from the cambium at the distal end. The subsequent morphological development is identical to that of a stem cutting. These results clarify and allow the optimal use of the knowledge and methods developed by the indigenous people of the Sahel and could assist and promote fig tree (Ficus sp.) domestication in the dry tropics.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Marketing constraints for Eucalyptus from farm lands in India

During the early eighties farmers in north-west India planted Eucalyptus on a massive scale for sale as poles and pulpwood. However, after 1986 farmers in this region have almost stopped growing Eucalyptus, as their experience with its marketing was not a happy one. The pole market got saturated, paper mills did not pay a remunerative price, and fuelwood prices were low and uneconomical. More important, because of legal restrictions on the transport and sale of wood, and other institutional factors, the gap in the farmgate price and the consumer price remained very wide. Wood markets have, on the whole, exploited the farmers, rather than helped them. Due to this, the short period of flirtation with tree crops seems to be over for at least resident farmers in those very areas in north-west India where they had so enthusiastically planted Eucalyptus in the early 1980s.Abbreviations BDO Block Development Officer - Headloaders poor people who collect firewood on their heads from forest lands for consumption and sale - m ha million hectares - Rs Indian Rupee 16 Rs = 1 US Dollar in 1989 - panchayat elected village organisation - pradhan village chief On study leave from the Government of India to the Oxford Forestry Institute, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3RB, U.K. Present address: 17 Ponnappa Road, Allahabad 211001, India     

Bioconcentration of HCH isomers by the ciliate protozoan,Tetrahymena pyriformis under laboratory conditions

Tetrahymena pyriformis, a common freshwater ciliate concentrated the four common HCH (Hexachlorocyclohexane) isomers viz., α, β, δ, and γ to varied extent. Bioconcentration factor [as expressed by the ratio of cellular insecticide in ng mg^?1 (dry weight) to supernatant in ng μL^?1 ranged from 342 to 2260 for α-HCH, 37 to 831 for β-HCH, 326 to 2806 for δ-HCH and from 106 to 1214 ppm for γ-HCH.     

Differential responses of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) — Rhizobium combinations to saline soil conditions

Summary Chickpea cultivars (Cicer arietinum L.) and their symbiosis with specific strains of Rhizobium spp. were examined under salt stress. The growth of rhizobia declined with NaCl concentrations increasing from 0.01 to 2% (w : v). Two Rhizobium spp. strains (F-75 and KG 31) tolerated 1.5% NaCl. Of the 10 chickpea cultivars examined, only three (Pusa 312, Pusa 212, and Pusa 240) germinated at 1.5% NaCl. The chickpea — Rhizobium spp. symbiosis was examined in the field, with soil varying in salinity from electrical conductivity (EC) 4.5 to EC 5.2 dSm^-1, to identify combinations giving satisfactory yields. Significant interactions between strains and cultivars caused differential yields of nodules, dry matter, and grain. Four chickpea — Rhizobium spp. combinations, Pusa 240 and F-75 (660 kg ha^-1), Pusa 240 and IC 76 (440 kg ha^-1), Pusa 240 and KG 31 (390 kg ha^-1), and Pusa 312 and KG 31 (380 kg ha^-1), produced significantly higher grain yields in saline soil.     

Technological infusion and the change in private,urban green spaces

Despite the fact that the multifaceted values of urban green spaces in the public and private domain constitute the core of urban sustainability, their importance is not adequately investigated in the context of developing countries. We undertook a survey of homegardens on private properties in Kozhikode, a city located in the state of Kerala, India. Our investigation reveals a substantial loss of private green spaces, defined in terms of the added economic value homegardens provided to households during the last decade. We hypothesise and validate empirically that this loss, over time, is negatively associated with technological infusion at the household level, which we measure by assessing the increase in the number of personal computer(s) possessed by households. We provide an economic framework to discuss the implications of our proposition. We conclude that the nature of positive externalities associated with private, urban green spaces demands policy intervention by the State.