Drying Enhancement of Rough Rice by an Electric Field

Corona discharge produced by a multiple point-to-plate high-voltage electric field (HVEF) was used to investigate the enhancement of rough rice drying and its effect on rice fissuring and germination. The HVEF consisted of a 16 needle point cathode with a direct current power supply, and a grounded stainless steel plate anode. The drying rate of the treated rough rice was notably greater than that of the control, and the drying rate was described by an exponential model. There was a good agreement between the predicted and experimental results (coefficient of determination R²=0·98). The electric field treatment significantly enhanced drying but had no effect on rice fissuring at a lower temperature. The average drying rate of the treated rice increased 2·83, 1·59 and 1·63 times at 25, 40 and 50°C, respectively, compared to the corresponding control. The drying rate also increased with increasing electric field strength. The electric field treatment did not have significant effects on the percentage of kernels having heavy fissures or the germination rate of rough rice (probability P>0·05). The total number of fissured kernels in the treated sample was increased compared to the control.     

BUILDING CLIMATE-RESILIENT FOOD SYSTEMS IN EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA: VULNERABILITIES,RESPONSES AND FINANCING

Food system resilience to climate change is uniquely imperative for bringing Sustainable Development Goals within reach and leaving no one behind. Food systems in East and Southeast Asia are interacting with planetary boundaries and are adversely affected by extreme weather-related events. A practical question for East and Southeast Asian stakeholders is how to foster climateresilient food systems in the face of lingering food system vulnerabilities and policy gaps. This paper reviews food syste...     

Occurrence of prophage and historical perspectives associated with the dissemination of huanglongbing in mainland China

Huanglongbing (HLB), associated with a non-culturable bacterium ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (CLas), is a highly destructive citrus disease with a long but poorly documented history in China. No effective treatment for HLB is available. The identification of new prophages in abundant CLas genomic sequence data provides new insights into both the diversity of CLas strains and HLB management. In this study, CLas populations from nine provinces were surveyed for the presence of prophage. Two major prophage typing groups (PTGs) were discovered to be associated with two different altitude regions: strains of CLas in PTG1 from high altitude regions (HAR) mainly contained prophage Type 1 only or Types 1 and 3, whereas strains of CLas in PTG2 from low altitude regions (LAR) mainly contained prophage Type 2. The discovery of these CLas population patterns provides evidence for independent origins of HLB in HAR and LAR. Guangdong province is the generally recognized domestic region of origin for HLB and is primarily responsible for the dissemination of HLB in LAR through transport of seedlings. Both Yunnan and Sichuan provinces are the probable regions of origin for HLB in HAR. PTG2 was further divided into two subgroups: PTG2-1, found in Guangdong, Fujian and Guangxi and PTG2-2, found in Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Hunan. These regions and prophage types are correlated with early and late introductions of HLB in LAR. These molecular analyses were supported by studying the history of the dissemination of HLB in historical documents.     

Paraphoma root rot of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) in Inner Mongolia,China

Root rot symptoms were observed in fields of alfalfa in Chifeng city, Inner Mongolia, China in 2016. Disease incidences of seven alfalfa varieties planted in 2014 ranged from 56% to 95%, while incidence of Gongnong No. 1 planted in 2016 was 8%, 31% and 76% in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. Paraphoma isolates were consistently recovered from black necrotic root tissues of diseased plants with a frequency of 77.1%. Based on morphological characters and phylogenetic analysis of rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS), elongation factor 1-α (EF1-α) and β-tubulin (TUB), this fungus was identified as Paraphoma radicina. Glasshouse pathogenicity experiments showed that P. radicina significantly reduced above- and below-ground biomass of alfalfa plants 2 months after inoculation. Paraphoma radicina infected 70% of the plants inoculated with a root dip in conidia, and these symptoms were consistent with the symptoms in the field. Paraphoma radicina was successfully reisolated from disease roots of the inoculated alfalfa plants. This is the first report of P. radicina as the causal agent of alfalfa root rot in China.     

Isolation of Mycoplasma salivarium from swine

Mycoplasma salivarium, a common human oropharyngeal mycoplasma, was isolated from nasal and pharyngeal secretions of 14 of 284 swine in a barrier-maintained, disease-free herd. M. salivarium was recovered from one boar 6 times over a 26-month period and one time only from 13 other swine. Human isolates of M. salivarium were compared with the swine isolates by DNA-DNA hybridization and SDS-PAGE of the cell proteins and the strains were shown to be closely related. One of eight of the swine from which M. salivarium was isolated had complement-fixing antibodies and another culture-positive animal had metabolic-inhibiting antibodies to M. salivarium. Overt disease was not associated with the organism. These results support previous findings that mycoplasmas closely related to M. salivarium may be isolated from the nasopharynges of swine and they further indicate that the organism can establish persistently in swine without evidence of overt disease.     

The effects of age, environmental temperature and relative humidity on the bacterial flora of the upper respiratory tract in calves

The effects of age, environmental temperature and relative humidity on the bacterial flora of the nose and trachea of calves were investigated by sequential sampling of three groups each of eight Friesian-Holstein male calves kept in three different environmental conditions. All calves were vaccinated with a live attenuated vaccine against infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) when they were 12 weeks old. Nasal and tracheal swabs were collected at 14-day intervals for bacteriological examinations. The upper respiratory tract of calves started to be colonized by various species of bacteria within the first day of life. Although they were born at different periods of the year, the calves in all three groups had similar bacterial loads in their noses and tracheas when they were 1 day old (P greater than 0.05). The total bacterial colony forming units (BCFU) were highly variable from calf to calf and from one time of sampling to another. Despite these variations, there were age-related increases in the total BCFU in nasal and tracheal swabs in all experiments. These increases were influenced by environmental temperature. Vaccination of the calves with a live IBR vaccine appeared to enhance the bacterial colonization of the upper respiratory tract.     

水稻对稻瘟病抗性的分子生物学研究进展

 介绍了水稻对稻瘟病抗性的分子生物学研究进展,主要包括：用于定位作图的分子标记的种类和特点、稻瘟病抗性基因的分子标记定位、稻瘟病抗性基因的等位性比较研究、稻瘟病菌生理小种无毒基因的克隆以及稻瘟病抗性基因克隆研究进展等。     

Dietary α‐linolenic acid affects lipid metabolism and tissue fatty acid profile and induces apoptosis in intraperitoneal adipose tissue of juvenile grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella)

A 56‐day feeding trial was conducted to elucidate the effects and mechanism action of dietary α‐linolenic acid (ALA, 18:3n‐3) on lipid accumulation and fatty acid profile of muscle, hepatopancreas and intraperitoneal fat (IPF) in juvenile grass carp using three isonitrogenous and isoenergetic semi‐purified diets containing 0.0% (control group), 1.0% and 2.0% ALA, respectively. The lowest intraperitoneal fat (IPF) ratio was found in 2.0% group. In the muscle, hepatopancreas and IPF, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n‐3) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n‐3) contents increased with the increase in dietary ALA. In the IPF, caspase 3, caspase 8 and caspase 9 showed the highest activities in 2.0% group, while the value of Bcl‐2/Bax (B‐cell leukaemia 2/Bcl‐2‐associated X protein) reached the lowest. Meanwhile, swelling of the IPF mitochondria was observed in 2.0% group. The gene expressions of fatty acid desaturase (FAD) and fatty acid elongase (ELO) in the hepatopancreas and muscle showed significantly higher levels in the treatment groups, whereas an opposite trend was existed in the IPF. Fatty acid synthase (FAS), sterol regulatory element binding protein‐1c (SREBP‐1c) in the IPF and hepatopancreas reached the lowest in 2.0% group. Overall, dietary ALA could promote n‐3 highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs) synthesis and suppress the accumulation of lipid by decreasing the expression of related genes and promoting the apoptosis in IPF.     

Gene Expression in Black Tiger Prawns Following Intramuscular Injection of β-gal Plasmid

Gene expression in black tiger prawns (Penaeus monodon) was studied following intra-muscular injection of CMVGal plasmid into the second abdominal segment. We used an in situ staining technique to detect -gal expression in one- and three-month-old injected prawns. We found that only one of the three-month-old prawns expressed the marker gene (2 days after injection), and the site of expression was confined to the sixth abdominal segment away from the injection site. We repeated the experiment on a new batch of three-month-old prawns, but using fluorometric determination technique. This time we found that -gal expression was detected (6/42) at the site of injection after 2, 7, and 14 days. In two other test samples, transgene expression was detected in the sixth abdominal segment only, further confirming the possibility of injected DNA dispersal. The results of the study also suggest that direct gene transfer is a feasible technique in black tiger prawns.     

Habitat utilization and vertical movements of white marlin (Tetrapturus albidus) released from commercial and recreational fishing gears in the western North Atlantic Ocean: inferences from short duration pop-up archival satellite tags

Researchers have applied numerous techniques to improve billfish stock assessments, including habitat‐based models that incorporate behavioral and oceanographic parameters to standardize historical catch‐per‐unit‐effort time‐series data. These methods have allowed researchers to account for significant changes in the depths of pelagic longline (PLL) gear deployments over time. This study presents habitat‐use data recovered from high‐resolution 5‐ and 10‐day pop‐up satellite archival tags (PSATs) attached to 47 surviving white marlin released from commercial and recreational fishing gears offshore of the U.S. East Coast, the northern Caribbean, and Venezuela between 2002 and 2004. Data recovered from transmitting tags indicated that white marlin spent nearly half of their time associated with warm, near‐surface waters (<10 m). All fish displayed frequent short duration (mean: 39.8 min) vertical excursions from surface waters to depths averaging 51 m. Qualitative and multivariate classifications of data from completely transmitted movements of surviving white marlin revealed two major types of descents: one pattern was characterized by deep ‘V’‐shaped excursions of relatively short duration (mean: 23.4 min) while the other featured descents that were more broadly ‘U’‐shaped and confined to a specific depth range for an extended period of time (mean: 75.8 min). Based on the frequency, persistence, and patterns of these vertical movements, white marlin appear to direct a considerable proportion of foraging effort well below surface waters, a behavior that may account for relatively high catch rates of white marlin on some deep‐set PLL deployments.