Reducing fiber content of sunflower oil meal through treatment of enzymes produced from Arachnoitus sp.

A multi‐enzyme mixture containing cellulases and hemicellulase activity, produced from Arachniotus sp., a white rot fungus, were applied on sunflower oil meal (SFOM) to degrade its fiber content. SFOM was treated with different concentrations of enzyme solution at variable pH, and incubated at temperatures ranging from 25 to 60°C, for different time periods ranging from 3 to 48 h to determine the maximum increase in metabolizable energy content by saccharification of fiber into sugars through enzymatic degradation. Maximum saccharification of SFOM fiber was obtained at a 1:1 enzyme substrate ratio, pH 4.0 and incubation for 36 h at 40°C. A reduction of 47.27% in crude fiber contents of sunflower oil meal was observed after enzyme treatment at optimized conditions. Enzyme treatment resulted in reduction of 41.53 and 31.87% in acid detergent fiber and neutral detergent fiber contents, respectively. An increase of 28.09% in nitrogen free extract contents of SFOM was found after enzyme treatment. True metabolizable energy contents of SFOM, after enzyme treatment, were increased from 1898.4 to 2314.9 kCal/kg.     

Organic Nitrogen Source Addition for Improving the Physicochemical Properties of Sandy Loam Soil and Maize Performance

Poor quality of sandy loam soils ?is the main reason for low crop yield. Improvement of physicochemical properties of these soils is very challenging. Addition of organic sources may improve the soil properties. Therefore, this study investigated the adequacy of poultry-manure-compost (PMC) and pressmud-compost (PrMC) at 0 (control), 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 t ha^?1 for improving the physicochemical properties of sandy loam soil and maize performance. An increasing trend in most soil and crop traits was seen with increasing compost levels. For 10 t PMC ha^?1, soil inorganic-N (512%), organic-carbon (78%), and water-holding capacity (65.36%) improved maximum. This resulted in the maximum mean crop growth rate (43.85%), stover yield (94%), grain protein (21%), and nitrogen use efficiency (30.6 kg kg^?1). Contrarily, grain oil (?7%) was lowest at 10 t PMC ha^?1. Consequently, 10 t PMC ha^?1 could be much effective to improve the physicochemical properties of sandy loam soils and maize performance.     

Glyphosate hormesis in broad-leaved weeds: a challenge for weed management

Little is known of glyphosate-induced hormesis in weeds and how this might influence weed management. To test the hormetic effect of low doses of glyphosate on broad-leaved weeds, two experiments were conducted, in the laboratory and the screenhouse. The hormetic effects of glyphosate solution in growth media (0, 65, 130, 250, and 500 g acid equivalent (a.e) ha^?1) and foliar spray (0, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 g a.e. ha^?1) were tested on four broad-leaved weeds (Coronopus didymus, Chenopodium album, Rumex dentatus, and Lathyrus aphaca). Glyphosate solution in the range 65–250 g a.e. ha^?1 stimulated the germination and seedling growth of all tested weeds. However, at 500 g a.e. ha^?1 inhibition of germination and growth was observed. Foliarly applied glyphosate in the range 4–32 g a.e. ha^?1 increased root and shoot length, dry biomass, and seed production ability of all four weeds species; however, the stimulatory response was species dependent. These results indicate that glyphosate hormesis could play a significant role in altering crop/weed competition and might influence weed management.     

Toxicity of butene-fipronil,in comparison with seven other insecticides,in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Leptinotarsa decemlineata</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Drosophila melanogaster</Emphasis>

The speed of toxic action of an insecticide is an indicator for control efficacy and has considerable practical importance. For agricultural pest control, fast-acting is an important feature for an insecticide to consistently reduce the amount of feeding damage. Butene-fipronil is a novel compound obtained via the structural modification of fipronil. However, information about the toxicity and speed of toxic action is still limited. In the present paper, we compared the toxic feature of butene-fipronil with seven other insecticides, of which imidacloprid and abamectin are slow-acting insecticides, and acephate, endosulfan, methomyl, α-cypermethrin and spinosad are fast-acting insecticides. We found that the contact and stomach toxicities of butene-fipronil were among the highest ever estimated to Leptinotarsa decemlineata and Drosophila melanogaster. The speed of toxic action of butene-fipronil was determined using median lethal time (LT₅₀) at a dose (concentration) equivalent to LD₈₀ values. For L. decemlineata, the values for butene-fipronil, imidacloprid, abamectin, acephate, endosulfan, methomyl, cypermethrin and spinosad were calculated to be 39.9, 36.5, 37.5, 20.2, 22.4, 23.8, 16.4 and 23.1 h, respectively. Those for D. melanogaster were 29.8, 31.5, 29.4, 14.0, 20.3, 18.1, 13.5, and 20.1 h, respectively. ANOVA analysis showed that butene-fipronil, imidacloprid, abamectin had similar LT₅₀ values, whereas acephate, endosulfan, methomyl, spinosad and cypermethrin had comparable LT₅₀ values. Thus, butene-fipronil belongs to slow-acting insecticides. Our results provide more empirical information for butene-fipronil potential application.     

基于优化SIFT算法的无人机遥感作物影像拼接

针对作物遥感影像因对比度低所导致的使用尺度不变特征变换算法(scale-invariant feature transform,SIFT)提取特征点数目少,拼接效果不理想的情况,提出了一种基于图像锐化的自适应修改采样步长的非极小值抑制拼接算法,该算法在图像预处理中引入锐化滤波器对平滑后的图像进行卷积,增强图像细节,增加特征点提取数目,同时通过基于尺度的自适应修改采样步长,使图像特征点分布更加均匀,根据低对比度作物遥感影像的成像特性,采用非极小值抑制,提高图像匹配效率。在查找匹配点的过程中,引入最优节点优先算法(best-bin-first,BBF)查找最近邻与次近邻,采用随机抽样一致算法(random sample consensus,RANSAC)优选特征点。通过试验验证,该文改进后的算法相比于标准SIFT算法,在处理低空作物遥感影像时,特征点提取数目平均增加77.5%,特征点匹配对数平均增加15对,对于标准SIFT算法无法匹配的低对比度作物遥感影像,提取到了8对以上的匹配点对,满足了拼接条件。该改进算法相对于标准SIFT算法更适于低对比度遥感影像的拼接。     

Influence of biochar amendment and foliar application of iron oxide nanoparticles on growth,photosynthesis, and cadmium accumulation in rice biomass

Journal of Soils and Sediments - The majority studies used the biochar or nanoparticles alone in metal-contaminated soils while less is known about the combined use of these amendments in...     

Identification and partial characterization of potential probiotic lactic acid bacteria in freshwater Labeo rohita and Cirrhinus mrigala

Carps are the most diversified freshwater fish belonging to family Cyprinidae. Numerous probiotic and pathogenic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been characterized from carps. However, the diversity of these ecologically important bacteria is entirely unknown in freshwater fish of Pakistan. The present study aimed to characterize and identify the lactic acid bacteria from two carps viz. Laboe rohita and Cirrhinus mrigala and determine their antagonistic activity. Seventeen bacterial isolates were purified from the gastrointestinal tract and gills of these fish and characterized morphologically. Initially, seven isolates were screened as LAB using agar supplemented with CaCO₃. Subsequently, only two isolates CILB2 and RIL10 were selected as LAB after high‐performance liquid chromatography analysis for lactic acid production. Isolates CILB2 and RIL10 were genetically identified as Enterococcus faecalis and Weissella sp., respectively after 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Both strains exhibited significant antagonistic activity against common fish pathogens Streptococcus agalactiae, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Enterococcus faecalis CILB2 and Weissella sp. RIL10 were also found negative for haemolysis and gelatinase activities and were sensitive to ampicillin, amoxicillin, doxycycline, erythromycin, chloramphenicol and co‐trimoxazole antibiotics. The identified LAB strains may further be investigated for their potential probiotic application in fish feed and food preservation techniques.     

Boron Application Improves Growth,Yield and Net Economic Return of Rice

A field trial was conducted to evaluate the role of boron (B) application at different growth stages in improving the growth,yield and net economic return of rice at farmer’s fields during summer season,2009.Boron was soil applied (1.5 kg/hm2) at the transplanting,tillering,flowering and grain formation stages of rice;foliar applied (1.5% B solution) at the tillering,flowering and grain formation stages of rice,and dipped seedling roots in 1.5% B solution before transplanting;while control plots did not apply any B.Boron application (except dipping of seedling roots in B solution,which caused toxicity and reduced the number of tillers and straw yield than control) substantially improved the rice growth and yield.However,soil application was better in improving the number of grains per panicle,1000-grain weight,grain yield,harvest index,net economic income and ratio of benefit to cost compared with the rest of treatments.Overall,for improving rice performance and maximizing the net economic returns,B might be applied as soil application at flowering.     

Effect of emamectin benzoate on life history traits and relative fitness of Spodoptera litura (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Emamectin benzoate, a semisynthetic bioinsecticide, has been used frequently for the management of lepidopteran pests of cotton worldwide. To assess the resistance risk and design strategy for resistance management, life history traits were established for emamectin benzoate-resistant, unselected and susceptible S. litura strains based on the laboratory observations. Bioassay results showed that the emamectin benzoate-selected strain developed a resistance ratio of 911-fold compared with that of the susceptible strain. The emamectin-selected strain had a relative fitness of 0.37 and lower prepupal and pupal weights, prolonged larval duration and development time, lower fecundity and hatchability compared with the susceptible strain. Mean population growth rates, such as intrinsic rate of population increase and biotic potential, were lower for the emamectin-selected strain compared with the susceptible strain. Development of resistance can cost considerable fitness for the emamectin-selected strain. The present study provided useful information for determining potential management strategies to overcome development of resistance.     

Detection of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mycobacterium avium</Emphasis> subsp. <Emphasis Type="Italic">paratuberculosis</Emphasis> in tissue samples of cattle and buffaloes

Tissue samples were collected at random from cattle (Bos taurus) and buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) from an abattoir of the district of Lahore and were analyzed for the presence of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis through acid-fast staining and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Body condition of animals and diarrhea were recorded. Most of the animals were emaciated. Diarrhea was noticed in 15.6% of buffaloes and 19.2% of cattle. Intestinal pathology was observed in 29% of buffaloes and 32.8% of cattle. Number of mesenteric lymph node (MLN) showing gross lesions was a bit higher (35.6%) in cattle than buffalo (31.2%). Acid-fast staining of tissue scraping smears revealed the presence of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) in 17.4% intestinal and 16.4% MLN tissue samples in buffalo, while in cattle 19.2% intestinal and 17.8% MLN were found positive for AFB. In buffaloes, PCR confirmed 12.8% intestinal and 12.4% MLN positive samples for M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis. However, in cattle, PCR analysis demonstrated 14.2% positive results for M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis in both MLN and intestinal tissue samples. PCR also confirmed M. bovis in 5.8% of cattle and 5% of buffalo MLN and intestinal tissues. PCR positive tissue samples for M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis were from those animals which were emaciated, having diarrhea, and severe gross lesions. AFB were also detected in tissue scraping smears of these animals. It is concluded that infection by various mycobacterium species can be differentiated by PCR, which is not possible by acid-fast staining technique.