Varietal differences to infection of potato stems by the gangrene pathogen,Phoma exigua var.foveata

Summary Thirteen cultivars were tested for presence ofPhoma exigua var.foveata in stems and green leaves. The frequency of segments yielding the pathogen increased with time during the growing season and varied between cultivars from 13 to 36% and their distribution pattern was irregular. There were significant differences between cultivars to this symptomless invasion of the green shoots. The value of such cultivar differences depends on the interpretation of the importance of stem inoculum in carrying the disease to the next tuber generation.

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Zusammenfassung Es wurden 13 Kartoffelsorten auf das Vorhandensein vonPhoma exigua var.foveata in Stengeln und grünen Bl?ttern untersucht. Pflanzknollen, die nach künstlicher Infektion faulten, wurden im Feld ausgepflanzt; nach 5, 12 und 17 Wochen wurden pro Sorte vier Stengel mit Bl?ttern nach dem Zufallsprinzip ausgew?hlt, wobei jeder Stengel eine Pflanze repr?sentierte. Die Stengel wurden gewaschen, getrocknet und in 5 cm-Segmente geteilt. Nach Oberfl?chensterilisation wurden die Segmente und die Blattschnitte in Petrischalen auf ein selektives Agarmedium gebracht, das zur F?rderung der Pyknidienentwicklung Paraquat enthielt.P. exigua var.foveata wurde auf Malzextraktagar bestimmt, der Thiophanatmethyl und Chloramphenicol enthielt. Die Sorten reagierten unterschiedlich auf die Infektion, wie an der Anzahl der Schnitte, die das Pathogen lieferten, zu ersehen ist. Die Nachweish?ufigkeit war am niedrigsten bei der ersten und am h?chsten bei der letzten Probenahme (Tab. 2). Die mittleren Prozentwerte varierten von 13% bis 36%, die Reihenfolge war zwischen den Jahren ?hnlich (Tab. 1). Das Verteilungsmuster der Schnitte, die das Pathogen lieferten, war unregelm?ssig; es wurde überall in Stengelschnitten und Bl?ttchen vom oberirdischen Trieb nachgewiesen und in nur wenigen F?llen auch in Stengelsegmenten unterhalb der Bodenoberfl?che (Tab. 3). Die Werte zeigen, dass die Anf?lligkeit der Sorten zur symptomlosen Invasion der grünen Triebe differiert. Inwieweit in dieser Phase des Lebenszyklus des Pilzes eine Resistenzauslese lohnend ist, h?ngt von der m?glichen Bedeutung des Stengelinokulums als Quelle für die Infektion der Knollennachkommenschaft ab. Es war mit dieser Untersuchung nicht beabsichtigt, Fragen, die sich auf die Ausbreitung des Pilzes beziehen, zu beantworten; ein besseres Verst?ndnis der Biologie dieses Krankheitserregers ist aber entscheidend zur rationalen Anwendung der Ergebnisse in der Pflanzenzüchtung.

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Résumé La présence dePhoma exigua var.foveata dans les tiges et les feuilles vertes est étudiée sur treize variétés de pommes de terre. Des tubercules de semence pourris après contamination artificielle, sont plantés au champ. Après 5, 12 et 17 semaines, 4 tiges avec les feuilles de chaque variété sont prélevées au hasard, chaque tige représentant une plante. Les tiges sont lavées, séchées et coupées en segments de 5 cm. Après une stérilisation de surface les segments et des sections de folioles sont placés en boites de pétri sur un milieu sélectif à base d'agar contenant du paraquat afin de favoriser le développement des pycnides.Phoma exigua var.foveata est identifié sur malt agar contenant du thiophanate-méthyl et chloramphenicol. Les variétés répondent différemment à l'infection, comme le montre le nombre de sections hébergeant le pathogène. La fréquence de détection est la plus faible à la première date d'échantillonnage et la plus élevée à la dernière (tableau 2). Le pourcentage moyen varie entre 13 et 36%, le classement est similaire entre les années (tableau 1). La distribution du pathogène hébergé par les échantillons est irrégulière. Il est détecté sur des sections de tiges et des folioles au dessus du sol et dans quelques cas sur des segments de tiges en dessous de la surface du sol (tableau 3). Les données montrent que la sensibilité des variétés à l'infection des parties aériennes est variable. L'intérêt d'une sélection à la résistance pour cette phase du cycle du champignon dépend de l'importance potentielle de l'inoculum sur tige en temps que source de contamination des tubercules-fils. Cette étude n'a pas pour but d'expliquer la dissémination du champignon, mais une meilleure connaissance de la biologie du pathogène est fondamentale pour une application rationnelle des résultats de la multiplication variétale.

     

Experimental off-axis tensile characterization of multistitched woven nano composites

The aim of this study was to understand the off-axis tensile properties of the developed two dimensional multistitched multilayer E-glass/polyester woven nano composites. It was found that the specific off-axis tensile strength of unstitched structure was higher than that of the machine stitched structure due to stitching caused filament breakages. But it was slightly lower than that of the machine stitched/nano structure. In addition, the specific off-axis tensile strength of machine stitched/nano composite structure was slightly higher than that of the machine stitched structure. When the nano silica material in the unstitched E-glass/polyester composite structure increased, the off-axis specific tensile strength and the modulus of the unstitched/nano structures increased whereas, the off-axis specific tensile strain of the unstitched/nano structures decreased. The damaged areas of the unstitched/nano structures increased, when the nano silica material in the unstitched E-glass/polyester woven composite structures increased. The failures under the off-axis tensile load of the stitched or stitched/nano structures were confined at narrow area due to the multistitching. On the other hand, it was observed that the off-axis failure of unstitched/nano or stitched/nano woven E-glass/polyester composite structures showed more brittle behavior.     

In vivo anthelmintic activity of Butea monosperma against Trichostrongylid nematodes in sheep

Seeds of Butea monosperma administered as crude powder (CP) at doses of 1, 2 and 3 g/kg to sheep naturally infected with mixed species of gastrointestinal nematodes exhibited a dose and a time-dependent anthelmintic effect. The maximum reduction of 78.4% in eggs per gram of feces (EPG) was recorded on day 10 after treatment with 3 g/kg. Levamisole (7.5 mg/kg), a standard anthelmintic agent, exhibited 99.1% reduction in EPG.     

The importance of demographic niches to tree diversity

Most ecological hypotheses about species coexistence hinge on species differences, but quantifying trait differences across species in diverse communities is often unfeasible. We examined the variation of demographic traits using a global tropical forest data set covering 4500 species in 10 large-scale tree inventories. With a hierarchical Bayesian approach, we quantified the distribution of mortality and growth rates of all tree species at each site. This allowed us to test the prediction that demographic differences facilitate species richness, as suggested by the theory that a tradeoff between high growth and high survival allows species to coexist. Contrary to the prediction, the most diverse forests had the least demographic variation. Although demographic differences may foster coexistence, they do not explain any of the 16-fold variation in tree species richness observed across the tropics.     

Prevalence of antibodies to Neospora caninum in the serum of camels (Camelus dromedarius) from central Punjab,Pakistan

Tropical Animal Health and Production - Infection with the Apicomplexan parasite Neospora caninum occurs in domestic and wild animals worldwide. This parasite causes significant economic losses in...     

Water stress effects on biochemical traits and antioxidant activities of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under In vitro conditions

Water stress is one of the major environmental stresses that affect agricultural production worldwide, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. This research investigated the effect of water deficit, induced by PEG-6000 on wheat genotypes (GA-2002, Chakwal-97, Uqab-2000, Chakwal-50 and Wafaq-2001) grown in modified MS medium solution. Osmotic stress caused a more pronounced inhibition in leaf relative water content and leaf membrane stability more sensitive (index in Wafaq-2001 and Uqab-2000) genotypes compared with the tolerant (Chakwal-50, GA-2002 and Chakwal-97) genotypes. Upon dehydration, an incline in proline, total soluble sugar, total soluble protein, superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, catalase and malondialdehyde activity content were evident in all genotypes, especially at osmotic stress of ?8 bars. The observed data showed that status of biochemical attributes and antioxidant enzymes could provide a meaningful tool for depicting drought tolerance of wheat genotypes. The present study shows that genotypic differences in drought tolerance could be likely attributed to the ability of wheat plants to induce antioxidant defense under drought conditions. In order to develop genotypes with stable, higher yields in dry farming conditions, it is necessary to characterise genetic resources based on drought adaptation, determine suitable genotypes, and then use them in breeding programmes.     

Soil-plant micronutrients dynamics in response to integrated fertilization under wheat–soybean cropping system at Rawalakot,Pakistan

This study provided an insight on improving soil-plant micronutrients availability in response to poultry manure (PM), wheat milling residues (WMR) and urea N (UN) and their integration in wheat–soybean cropping system. The treatments were: control; poultry manure full, PM₁₀₀; wheat milling residues full, WMR₁₀₀; urea N full, UN₁₀₀; PM half and WMR half, PM₅₀+WMR₅₀; UN₅₀+PM₅₀; UN₅₀+WMR₅₀; UN₅₀+PM₂₅+WMR₂₅. All amendments were added at the rate or equivalent to 100 kg total N ha^–1. Results indicated that the integrated treatments increased Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn uptake of wheat by 35.7–103%, 48.4–111.1%, 85.2–267.0% and 33.8–128.2%, respectively over control. In soybean the corresponding increase in micronutrient uptake (Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn) was 18.3–60.3%, 27.5–87.4%, 14.1–54.6% and 13.2–58.0% in integrated treatments. The post-harvest soil analysis indicated 2 to 3-fold increase in micronutrient content with highest values in PM₁₀₀ i.e., 2.66 mg kg^?1 for Cu, 14.41 mg kg^?1 for Fe, 18.58 mg kg^?1 for Mn and 2.44 mg kg^?1 for Zn, respectively. The results showed that the PM either alone or in integrated with WMR and UN can be an effective management strategy for improving micronutrient content of soil–plant.     

15N-labelled fertiliser recovery by maize (Zea mays L.) and leaching of nutrients as influenced by oil palm empty fruit bunch biochar in a mini-lysimeter under controlled tropical environment

Converting oil palm empty fruit bunches into biochar is an alternative waste management method and has strong potential to improve N fertiliser use efficiency in agriculture. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of oil palm empty fruit bunch biochar (EFBB) in improving recovery of ¹⁵N-labelled nitrogen fertiliser by maize (Zea mays L.) and leaching of mineral N and K. An experiment was conducted in a mini-lysimeter system with randomised complete block design layout and six replications under controlled environment in a rain shelter. Each mini-lysimeter was filled with 20 kg of sandy loam soil before adding EFBB (0, 5, 10 and 20 Mg ha^?1). The N source used was (¹⁵NH₄)₂SO₄ at 80 kg N ha^?1 (2 at% ¹⁵N excess). Maize was irrigated to induce leaching every 4 days. Maize plant and soils were sampled 58 days after sowing (tasselling stage). Application of EFBB significantly reduced cumulative leachate volume and mineral N leaching. Soils applied with EFBB significantly improved ¹⁵N fertiliser recovery in maize and dry matter weight. This study shows that EFBB has the potential to be applied on highly weathered acidic soil as an amendment to improve fertiliser efficiency and crop growth.