Effects of Farm Yard Manure and Lime on Cadmium Uptake by Rice Grown in Two Contaminated Soils of Chittagong

A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of farm yard manure （FYM） and lime （calcium carbonate） on reducing the uptake of Cd by rice in two Cd contaminated soils of Chittagong. The effects of farm yard manure, lime and farm yard manure mixed with lime （FYM ＋ Lime） on rice （Oryza sativa L.） growth, Cd uptake by rice and 0.1 N HC1 extractable Cd in soil were investigated. Results showed that addition of lime and farm yard manure mixed with lime significantly decreased 0.1 N HCl extractable Cd in the city sewage soil. Application of farm yard manure significantly decreased Cd concentration in rice in the city sewage soil. Lime and farm yard manure mixed with lime significantly reduced Cd concentration in rice m both the contaminated soils. Lime was more efficient than farm yard manure in reducing the uptake of Cd by rice.     

赖氨酸发酵蛋白粉的营养价值评定及其在生长肥育猪上的应用效果研究

本研究分为2个试验,试验I评定赖氨酸发酵蛋白粉在生长猪上的营养价值;试验2研究赖氨酸发酵蛋白粉等蛋白质替代豆粕对生长肥育猪生长、胴体性状和肉品质的影响。试验1：选用（25.0±1.1）妇杜×长×大三元杂交猪12头进行消化代谢试验,随机分为2组,每组6个重复,每个重复1头猪,分别饲喂无氮日粮和以赖氨酸发酵蛋白粉作为唯一蛋白质源的试验日粮,预试期4d,正试期4d。试验2：选用（41.7±3.9）kg杜×长×大三元杂交猪100头进行饲养试验,随机分为4组,每组5个重复,每个重复5头猪。I组为对照组,饲喂基础日粮;Ⅱ、Ⅲ和Ⅳ组分别为饲喂赖氨酸发酵蛋白粉等蛋白质替代10％、25％、50％豆粕的试验日粮,体重达100kg左右结束。消化代谢试验结果表明：赖氨酸发酵蛋白粉消化能为12.85MJ·kg^-1,代谢能为11.80MJ·kg^-1。总氨基酸含量为47.38％,总氨基酸的回肠表观消化率、真消化率分别为66.95％和70.52％,赖氨酸和蛋氨酸的回肠表现消化率、真消化率分别为72.00％、75.14％和59.37％、64.52％。试验结果表明：与对照组相比,在生长期和全期,Ⅳ组平均日增重显著降低（P〈0.05）,料重比显著升高（P〈0.05）;在肥育期,Ⅳ组平均日采食量显著增加（P〈0.05）,料重比显著升高（P〈0.05）,生长期和肥育期,Ⅳ组氮消化率、氮生物学效价显著降低（P〈0.05）。Ⅳ组背膘厚显著增加（P〈0.05）,眼肌面积和肌肉保水能力显著降低（P〈0.05）。由此得出,与豆粕相比,赖氨酸发酵蛋白粉的粗蛋白质和脂肪含量较高,非蛋白氮比例大,氨基酸消化率低。蛋白质替代10％和25％豆粕对40-100kg的生长肥育猪生产性能、胴体性状和肉品质均无影响,可作为饲粮中的新型蛋白质原料。     

塔吉克斯坦苦盏市周边地区夏季鸟类群落多样性

2012-2013年6月至？月份在塔吉克斯坦北部苦盏市周边地区采用点计数法对包括森林草原、荒漠草原、戈壁荒漠、果园、农田等5类有代表性的生境开展鸟类群落多样性调查;同时将涉及的鸟类按食性和捕食区域划分捕食集团研究了不同群落捕食集团的组成特点,结果表明不同生境的鸟类可划分为5类群落,其中农田鸟类种类较丰富香农威纳指数和均匀性指数在5种生境中均最高;森林草原中鸟类种类最少香农威纳指数和均匀度也最低;各种生境条件下群落中杂食性鸟种数比例均为最高,调查结果表明塔吉克斯坦传统的种植制度有利于维持农业生态系统鸟类物种多样性此外捕食集团在温带干旱区也有成为生态环境指标的潜力。     

Comparative Genomics for Gene Isolation in Legumes

The similarity in gene order between closely related taxa suggests that genomic information from model systems should facilitate gene isolation and characterization in target crops. If this is the case, a great deal of effort and investment can be saved by focusing attention on a few model systems that have appropriate applicability. Pea （Pisura sativum） provides a good test case： its genome is large and the insertion sites for repetitive elements, which comprise the bulk of its genome, are highly polymorphic （Jing et al., 2005; Vershinin et al., 2003）, so we expect a great deal of structural polymorphism between the genomes of Pisum lines. Yet the genetic map of Pisum is essentially coUinear with Medicago （Choi et al., 2004; Kalo et al., 2004）.     

Improving Drought Tolerance of Rice by Designed QTL Pyramiding

Drought is the most important factor limiting rice yields in the rainfed areas of Asia. To overcome the problem, we developed a new strategy ＇designed QTL pyramiding＇ to more efficiently develop drought tolerant （DT） rice cultivars. In the first phase of this strategy, we developed large numbers of introgression lines （ILs） in elite backgrounds using backcross （BC） breeding, each of which carries multiple genomic segments for improved DT from a known donor. Then, we genotyped all ILs with SSR markers to track the genomewide pattern of introgression in the DT ILs of 16 BC populations derived from crosses between 2 recipients （IR64 and Teqing） and four different donors. X^2 tests and linkage disequilibrium analyses of introgression in the DT ILs revealed significant frequency shifts at many loci across the genome and non-random associations at the multilocus level as a result of selection for DT in the ILs, which led us to the discovery of putative genetic networks underlying DT in the ILs. The networks each containing all DT loci detected in ILs from a BC population showed some interesting features.     

Microsatellite Marker Based Assessment of Genetic Diversity among Cultivars, Landraces and Wild Relatives in Rice

India being the primary center of origin for rice had a very large treasure of local land races, most of which are out of cultivation today. The exact genetic potential and their differences from commercial varieties and the magnitude of heterogeneity still present in them are not well catalogued. Hence the need to characterize the available land races has become imminent in the modem day concept of crop improvement （Rezai and Frey, 1990）. The present study addresses the utility of SSR markers in divulging the genetic relationships at molecular level among the major component factions office gennplasm viz., local cultivars, land races and wild species collected from a wide range of agro-geographical regions of Indian subcontinent.     

Aurasperone A Inhibits SARS CoV-2 In Vitro: An Integrated In Vitro and In Silico Study

Several natural products recovered from a marine-derived Aspergillus niger were tested for their inhibitory activity against SARS CoV-2 in vitro. Aurasperone A (3) was found to inhibit SARS CoV-2 efficiently (IC₅₀ = 12.25 µM) with comparable activity with the positive control remdesivir (IC₅₀ = 10.11 µM). Aurasperone A exerted minimal cytotoxicity on Vero E6 cells (CC₅₀ = 32.36 mM, SI = 2641.5) and it was found to be much safer than remdesivir (CC₅₀ = 415.22 µM, SI = 41.07). To putatively highlight its molecular target, aurasperone A was subjected to molecular docking against several key-viral protein targets followed by a series of molecular dynamics-based in silico experiments that suggested M^pro to be its primary viral protein target. More potent anti-SARS CoV-2 M^pro inhibitors can be developed according to our findings presented in the present investigation.     

Neural network prediction of performance parameters of an inclined plate seed metering device and its reverse mapping for the determination of optimum design and operational parameters

Seed planting equipment with inclined plate seed metering devices is the most commonly used equipment for planting of peanut crop in India. For obtaining the high yield, it is very essential to drop the peanut seeds in rows maintaining accurate seed rate and seed spacing with minimum damage to seeds during metering. This mainly depends on forward speed of the planting equipment, rotary speed of the metering plate and area of cells on the plate. The relationship between these factors and the performance parameters viz., seed rate, seed spacing and percent seed damage can be established using regression analysis. But they may not be very accurate and may pose difficulty in the determination of inputs for a set of desired outputs (reverse mapping). Hence, an attempt has been made in this paper to develop the feed forward artificial neural network (ANN) models for the prediction of the performance parameters of an inclined plate seed metering device. The data were generated in the laboratory by conducting experiments on a sticky belt test stand provided with a seed metering device and an opto-electronic seed counter. The generated data was used to develop both statistical and neural network models. The performance of the developed models was compared among themselves for 4 randomly generated test cases. The results show that the ANN model predicted the performance parameters of the seed metering device better than the statistical models. In order to determine the optimum forward speed of the planting equipment, peripheral speed of the metering plate and the area of cells on the plate to obtain the recommended seed rate of 33.33 seeds/m², seed spacing of 100 mm and percent seed damage of 0.2% with 100% fill of the cells, a novel technique of reverse mapping using ANN model was followed. It was observed that the optimum forward speed of the planting equipment and optimum area of cells on the metering plate had good correlation with size of seed. Linear regression equations were developed to predict the optimum forward speed of the planting equipment and optimum area of cells on the metering plate using the size of seeds as independent parameter. The peripheral speed of the metering plate of 0.237 m/s was found to be optimum for the size of seeds in the range of 95.42-123.01 mm². However, the results need to be verified by conducting planting operation under actual field conditions.