Geostatistics-based spatial distribution of soil moisture and temperature regime classes in Mazandaran province,northern Iran

Soil moisture regime (SMR) and soil temperature regime (STR) classes as soil classification criterions are required by US Soil Taxonomy because they affect genesis, use, and management of soils. The lack of sufficient soil moisture and temperature data requires the characterization of the pedoclimate on the basis of climatic data processed by simulation models. This research was conducted to consider the new approach for SMR and STR mapping. The objectives of this study were to compare the four interpolation schemes including ordinary kriging (OK), cokriging (Co-K), inverse distance weighting, and conditional simulation for interpolating the monthly mean total precipitation (MMTP) and monthly mean air temperature (MMAT) and to apply the Java Newhall simulation model for the MMTP and MMAT predictive values at each node of 1 km² grids across the Mazandaran province, northern Iran, for delineating the SMR and STR classes. The semivariogram analyses showed moderate to strong spatial dependence of data sets. The accuracy of interpolators varied within months for both MMTP and MMAT data sets. In most cases, OK and Co-K methods had the highest accuracy with lower mean error, root mean square error, and higher concordance correlation coefficient. The predictive maps show high diversity of SMR classes including Aridic, Ustic, Udic, and Xeric. The STR classes comprise Mesic, Thermic, and Cryic regimes. Results herein indicated that geostatistical approaches can potentially provide the opportunity for mapping of SMR and STR classes in data scarce regions.     

Application of near infrared spectroscopy for authentication of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Picea abies</Emphasis> seed provenance

Authentication of seed provenance is an importance issue to avoid the negative impact of poor adaptation of progenies when planted outside their natural environmental conditions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as rapid and non-destructive method for authentication of Picea abies L. Karst seed provenances. For this purpose, five seed lots from Sweden, Finland, Poland and Lithuania each were used. NIR reflectance spectra were recorded on individual seeds (n = 150 seeds × 5 seed lots × 4 provenances = 3000 seeds) using XDS Rapid Content Analyzer from 780 to 2500 nm with a resolution of 0.5 nm. Classification model was developed by orthogonal projection to latent structures-discriminant analysis. The performance of the computed classification model was validated using two test sets—internal (the same seed lots as the model but excluded during model development; n = 600 seeds) and external (seed lots not included in the model; n = 1158 seeds). For the internal test, the model correctly recognized 99% of Swedish, Finnish and Polish samples and 97% of Lithuanian seeds. For the external test samples, the model correctly assigned 81% of Swedish, 96% of Finnish, 98% of Lithuanian and 93% of Polish seeds to their respective classes. The mean classification accuracy was 99 and 95% for internal and external test set, respectively. The spectral differences among seed lots were attributed to differences in chemical composition of seeds, presumably fatty acids and proteins, which are the dominant storage reserves in P. abies seeds. In conclusion, the results demonstrate that NIR spectroscopy is a very promising method for monitoring putative seed provenances and in seed certification.     

Use of cis-atracurium to maintain moderate neuromuscular blockade in experimental pigs

Objective

To determine the dose of cis-atracurium needed to produce a moderate neuromuscular blockade (NMB) in pigs.

Potential habitat modeling for reintroduction of three native plant species in central Iran

Potential habitat modeling of endemic species is an appropriate method to maintain biodiversity,ecosystem function and rehabilitation of rangeland ecosystems.Astragalus caragana,A.cyclophyllon and A.podolobus are endemic in Iran's rangelands and some neighboring countries.The three native species could endure environmental stresses due to their distinctive ecophysiological characteristics.They play important roles in sustainable pastures production,recreation and improvement.They suffer severe threat from many factors including;grazing,agriculture and invasive exotic species.We analyzed the potential habitat of three native plant species in central Iran basing on the grid map with the resolution of 1-km.We used inventory records from field surveys,herbarium collections and 22 environmental factors to explore the environmental influences on given species distribution by Maximum entropy(Maxent) model.Maxent is a species distribution model that uses species occurrence and environmental data for predicting potential species.The results of our study indicated species occurrence has strong correlation with environmental factors such as mean temperature of wettest season,elevation and precipitation of coldest season.We evaluated the model accuracy by AUC(area under the receiver operating characteristic curve) based on an independent test data set.AUC values indicated the high power of Maxent to create potential habitat map(AUCA.caragana=0.988,AUCA.cyclophyllon=0.927,AUCA.podolobus=0.923).It is important to consider that AUC values tend to be lower for species that have broad distribution scope,such as A.podolobus distribution.Most suitable potential habitat distributions of the three species were predicted in the western and southwestern parts of rangelands in Isfahan province.Visual comparisons of the actual distribution map of the three species with produced Maxent maps represent a good agreement.In general,the model demonstrated that the occurrence of the given species is highly probable when the elevation is between 2,200 and 3,000 m and mean temperature of wettest season less than 3°C.This model,therefore,can be applied to recognize potential sites for rangeland reclamation projects.     

Effect of shifting cultivation on distribution of nutrient elements and carbohydrates within water-stable aggregates in northern Iran

This study attempts to evaluate the nutrient element and carbohydrate distribution within Water-Stable Aggregates (WSA) of two natural ecosystems, native forest and pasturelands, under different land uses. Soil samples were collected from depths of (0-20) cm in Typic Haploxeroll soils. The overall pattern indicated that Mean Weight Diameter (MWD) and WSA were greater in the pasture and forest soils compared with the adjacent cultivated soils and aggregates of > 1.0 mm size were dominant in the uncultivated soils, whereas the cultivated soils comprised aggregates of the size < or = 0.5 mm. Distribution of organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and carbohydrates within the WSA showed preferential enrichment of these parameters in the macroaggregate fraction (4.75-1.0 mm) for the uncultivated soils and microaggregate fraction (> 0.25 mm) for the cultivated soils. Average distribution of total exchangeable bases within WSA showed that cultivation of forest pastureland soils significantly led to reduce in these nutrient in the 4.75-2.0 mm fraction and increase in concentration of these cations in < 0.25 mm fraction. Since smaller aggregates are preferentially removed by erosion, this study emphasizes the need for sustainable soil management practices that they will minimize nutrient loss when forest or pastures lands are converted to cropland.     

Comparison of spatial interpolation techniques for mapping soil pH and salinity in agricultural coastal areas,northern Iran

This study attempted to characterize the spatial distributions of soil pH and electrical conductivity (EC_e) of coastal fields in the Miyandoroud region, northern Iran, for three soil layer depths by assessing spatial variability and comparing different interpolation techniques such as inverse distance weighting (IDW), ordinary kriging (OK), and conditional simulations (CS). Three soil composite samples were collected from 0–50, 50–100, and 100–150 cm depths at 105 sampling sites. At all three soil depths, pH and EC_e were best fitted by exponential and spherical models, respectively. Nugget effects were higher for soil EC_e data sets compared with soil pH at all three soil depths showing soil EC_e had a spatial variability in small distances. The prediction accuracy of the interpolation methods indicated that the minimum error for all data sets was achieved with the OK method, except for pH at 50–100 cm depth, and the CS technique revealed the largest error. The effect of different numbers of simulations (100, 500 and 1000) in the CS interpolation method resulted not in a realistic mapping for the soil EC_e and pH. Considering the high importance of irrigated agriculture in the Caspian Sea coastal areas, more subsoil salinity build-up and groundwater salinity monitoring plans are needed as a prerequisite for sustainable agricultural production systems of the future.     

Enhanced resistance to a lepidopteran pest in transgenic sugar beet plants expressing synthetic <Emphasis Type="Italic">cry1Ab</Emphasis> gene

Two diploid sugar beet genotypes of agronomical importance were transformed using Agrobactrium tumefaciens harboring pBI35Scry containing a synthetic cry1Ab gene. Leaf blade with attached shoot bases, a highly regenerative tissue, were used as explant substratum for transformation. PCR screening with cry1Ab-specific primers showed the presence of transgene in more than 50% of the regenerated kanamycin-resistant plants after treatment with the antibiotic. A transformation rate of 8.8–12.2% (depending on genotype) was achieved as revealed by genomic DNA dot blotting. The intact integration of transgene cassette into the genome was furthermore confirmed by Southern blot analysis. The expression of the cry1Ab gene encoding a truncated endotoxin (67 kDa) at about 0.1% of total soluble protein was achieved in the leaves of transgenic plants as shown by Western blot analysis. Bioassays under in vitro conditions with Spodoptera littoralis, one of the most important pests in sugar beet fields, demonstrated enhanced resistance against this pest. The inheritance of the inserted transgene was confirmed in F₁ plants obtained through crossing of T₀ plants with a cytoplasmic male sterile line. Transgenic plants are currently grown in a greenhouse and will be subjected to further bioassay analyses against other lepidopteran pests of sugar beet.     

Maternal induced haploids in rye (Secale cereale L.)

Summary An inbred line of rye named P8 was found to possess haploid plants in their diploid stock. Phenomenon of spontaneous haploidy was examined in this line. Fifty families derived from this inbred line were screened to determine their ploidy level by mitotic chromosome count taking root tips. Seven families were found to contain haploid plants. Among these seven families, plants from two families which were diploid were crossed reciprocally with the standard out breeding cultivar Conrah. As all of the tested plants of P8 were found aa allele for 6-Phosphogluconic dehydrogenase (6-PGD) isozyme, therefore, only those Conrah plants which have bb alleles for the same isozyme were used in crossing programme.F1 seedlings were screened with the same isozyme marker and out of 1741 F1 seedlings tested, 51 were found to be non-hybrid phenotype for 6-PGD enzyme. Among these, only five plants were found haploid and the rest were diploid. Haploid plants were obtained only from those crosses where P8 was female which indicates that haploids in this line was maternally induced.     

Erythrocytic oxidative damage in crossbred cattle naturally infected with Babesia bigemina

This study aimed to determine the erythrocytic lipid peroxidation and haemoglobin oxidation as contributory factors causing anaemia in cattle (Friesian × Egyptian native breed) infected with Babesia bigemina. Blood was collected from 32 cows infected with B. bigemina along with 18 healthy cows as controls for determination of erythrocytic malondialdehyde (MDA), blood methaemoglobin (MetHb), plasma free haemoglobin (PHb), corpuscular osmotic fragility (COF), red blood cell count (RBC), total haemoglobin (Hb) and packed cell volume (PCV). Percentage of parasitaemia varied from 14% to 36%. MDA, MetHb, COF and PHb were significantly increased (P < 0.001) in infected cows versus controls. Parasitaemia was positively correlated (P < 0.001) with MDA, MetHb, COF and PHb. MDA was positively correlated (P < 0.001) with COF and PHb and negatively correlated (P < 0.001) with RBC, Hb and PCV. MetHb was negatively correlated (P < 0.001) with RBC, Hb and PCV and positively correlated (P < 0.001) with COF. In conclusion, B. bigemina infection in cattle is associated with a parasitic burden-dependent corpuscular oxidative damage as indicated by membrane lipid peroxidation and methaemoglobin formation, which are contributed to COF and intravascular haemolysis.