RESPONSE OF WHEAT TO INOCULATION WITH MYCORRHIZAE ALONE AND COMBINED WITH SELECTED RHIZOBACTERIA INCLUDING FLAVOBACTERIUM SP. AS A POTENTIAL BIOINOCULANT

A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate different arbuscular mycorrhiza sps. (AM) for their effect on plant growth, yield and nutrient uptake by wheat. All the AM fungal sps. significantly enhanced all the plant parameters and nutrient uptake by the plant. A positive correlation was observed between percent root colonization by AM fungi and most of the plant parameters studied. Glomus macrocarpum giving best results was selected for studying interactive effect with Azotobacter, Azospirillum (well-known PGPRs), and Flavobacterium and Proteus vulgaris (less studied PGPRs). All the PGPRs significantly increased most of the plant parameters studied and their combination with AMF had a synergistic effect. Amongst PGPRs, Flavobacterium gave best response both singly and in combination with AMF and thus, is a potential new bioinoculant for wheat. Application of 120 kg nitrogen (N) ha^?1was the best treatment. Inoculation with most of the PGPRs gave better response than 60 kg N ha^?1.     

Effects of Bt-cotton on biological properties of Vertisols in central India

Growing areas under transgenic crops have created a concern over their possible adverse impact on the soil ecosystem. This study evaluated the effect of Bt-cotton based cropping systems on soil microbial and biochemical activities and their functional relationships with active soil carbon pools in Vertisols of central India (Nagpur, Maharastra, during 2012–2013). Culturable groups of soil microflora, enzymatic activities and active pools of soil carbon were measured under different Bt-cotton based cropping systems (e.g. cotton-soybean, cotton-redgram, cotton-wheat, cotton-vegetables and cotton-fallow). Significantly higher counts of soil heterotrophs (5.7–7.9 log cfu g^?1 soil), aerobic N-fixer (3.9–5.4 log cfu g^?1 soil) and P-solubilizer (2.5?3.0 log cfu g^?1 soil) were recorded in Bt-cotton soils. Similarly, soil enzymatic activities, viz. dehydrogenase (16.6–22.67 µg TPF g^?1 h^?1), alkaline phosphatase (240–253 µg PNP g^?1 h^?1) and fluorescein di-acetate hydrolysis (14.6–18.0 µg fluorescein g^?1 h^?1), were significantly higher under Bt-cotton-soybean system than other Bt- and non-Bt-cotton based systems in all crop growth stages. The growth stage-wise order of soil microbiological activities were: boll development > harvest > vegetative stage. Significant correlations were observed between microbiological activities and active carbon pools in the rhizosphere soil. The findings indicated no adverse effect of Bt-cotton on soil biological properties.     

Visceral receptors and their afferents in the caudal mesenteric nerve of the duck

1. The behaviour and reactivities of visceral receptors to different mechanical and chemical stimuli in single unit preparations from the caudal mesenteric nerve of adult ducks were studied to examine the physiological roles of such receptors.

2. In total, 83 single unit activities were recorded from the caudal mesenteric nerve.

3. Receptors were grouped according to their locations in different layers of the rectum as (i) over the branching points of the blood vessel or in the serosal layer, (ii) in the muscle layer or (iii) in the mucous membrane of the rectum.

4. All the receptors, both spontaneous and non‐spontaneous, responded to mechanical probing. Receptors of the muscle layer responded to distension also and showed a slowly‐adapting nature. Most of the receptors of the other two groups were of the rapidly‐adapting type.

5. Conduction velocity ranged from 0.76 to 34.6 m/s.

6. Sympathetic afferent fibres from the hind gut ascend along the intestinal nerve and join the caudal mesenteric nerve via the colonic ganglion.     

Effect of thidiazuron (TDZ) on in vitro regeneration of blackgram (Vigna mungo L.) embryonic axes

Regeneration has been achieved in blackgram (Vigna mungo) using thidiazuron (TDZ) in the culture medium. The explanted cotyledon with wounded embryonic axes produced the highest number (9.75–10.45) of healthy, elongated shoots when cultured on shoot bud regeneration medium (SRI) composed of 2 μM BAP, 2 μM KIN, 2 μM TDZ, and 0.5 μM NAA followed by multiple shoot regeneration (SRII) medium containing 2 μM BAP, 2 μM KIN, and multiple shoot elongation (SE) medium (0.5 μM of BAP + 0.5 μM of KIN). The presence of TDZ in combination with BAP and NAA in the SRI medium for one sub-culture cycle (10–14 days) significantly increases formation of multiple shoot buds per explant. Independent, healthy shoots obtained were selected for both in vitro rooting and grafting. Establishment of plantlets in the soil was highest (80–100%) in the case of in vitro rooted compared to grafted shoots (40%). The protocol appears to be competent to Agrobacterium-meditated transformation with ‘gus’ as a reporter gene. PCR analysis of the T₀ and T₁ progenies showed the presence and transmission of the transgene. We document here the regeneration and transformation of blackgram using cotyledons with wounded embryonic axes and the protocol appears to be suitable for genetic transformation of blackgram.     

Evaluation of fipronil nanoformulations for effective management of brown plant hopper (Nilaparvata lugens) in rice

In this paper, we report the development, characterization and bioefficacy evaluation of fipronil nanoformulations against brown plant hopper (BPH); Nilaparvata lugens in rice. Nanoformulations were characterized for nanosizing and stability under variable conditions. Bioefficacy of nanoformulations were evaluated under field condition at farms of Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi during Kharif 2015. At milking stage BPH populations were above economic threshold level; followed by foliar application of fipronil nanoformulations at four doses (viz., 30, 45, 60 and 90 g a.i./ha) along with commercial formulation of fipronil. The mean mortality clearly indicated that all the insecticidal treatments were significantly superior over untreated control where, highest mortalities were observed in nanodispersions followed by monolithic dispersion and commercial formulation of fipronil. Treated plots 7 days after application @ 60 g a.i./ha has shown 93.47%, 86.89% and 80.47% reduction BPH population in nanodispersion, encapsulated monolithic dispersion and commercial formulation treated plots respectively. In comparison to commercial formulation @ 60 g a.i./ha yield has increased by 0.56 t ha^?1 (28.76%) and 0.26 t ha^?1 (14.04%) in nanodispersion and monolithic dispersion.     

Preparation of ferulic acid from agricultural wastes: its improved extraction and purification

Ferulic acid (FA) is a phenolic antioxidant present in plants, which is widely used in the food and cosmetic industry. In the present study, various agricultural wastes such as maize bran, rice bran, wheat bran, wheat straw, sugar cane baggasse, pineapple peels, orange peels, and pomegranate peels were screened for the presence of esterified FA (EFA). Among the sources screened, maize bran was found to contain the highest amount of EFA. Pineapple peels, orange peels, and pomegranate peels were also found to contain traces of EFA. Alkaline extraction of EFA from maize bran was carried out using 2 M NaOH. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used for optimization of EFA extraction, which resulted in a 1.3-fold increase as compared to the unoptimized conventional extraction technique. FA was analyzed by means of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Purification was carried out by adsorption chromatography using Amberlite XAD-16 followed by preparative high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC). The recovery of Amberlite XAD-16 purified FA was up to 57.97% with HPLC purity 50.89%. The fold purity achieved was 1.35. After preparative HPTLC, the maximum HPLC purity obtained was 95.35% along with an increase in fold purity up to 2.53.     

Electrospinning of PHBV/ZnO membranes: Structure and properties

Polyhydroxy butyrate-co-valerate (PHBV) ?? Zinc oxide (ZnO) nano composite fibers were prepared using electrospinning. The structural and optical properties were studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Xray diffraction (XRD) and photoluminescence study (PL). The morphology observed with scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed no significant changes in the nano composite fibers as compared to bare polymer. The low concentration of ZnO nanoparticles resulted in an increase in overall crystallinity of the polymer matrix which was confirmed from FT-IR and XRD results. The photoluminescence (PL) study indicated the quenching of visible emission in the composite fibers. The ratio of UV to visible emission (I_uv/I_vis) intensity was found to be 12.8 times enhanced in the composite fibers compared to bare ZnO nanoparticles. The nanofibrous mats are self supported and hence offer potential applications in optoelectronic devices and the biomedical imaging.     

Identification and characterization of SSRs in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Clarias batrachus</Emphasis> and their application in population study

Magur Clarias batrachus is an indigenous catfish, commonly found in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Presently, the populations of magur have declined rapidly in their natural habitat mainly due to overexploitation and habitat degradation. Understanding the population genetic structure of the species has significance in improvement of stocks and in conservation of the species. In the present study, simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to differentiate the populations of magur, collected from three geographic locations. For this, a total of 31,814 SSRs were mined from the de novo assembled pooled of whole genome sequence data of C. batrachus. A bioinformatics pipeline with stringent criteria was applied to analyze the data which resulted in selection of 30,142 microsatellite loci falling in the intergenic region. Out of the 25 loci selected for primer development, 16 loci were successfully amplified and 9 loci were found to be polymorphic in this species. The average observed as well as expected heterozygosity in the loci across different stocks varied from 0.652 to 0.688 and 0.864 to 0.873, respectively. These three populations were further segregated into two clusters based on the NJ genetic distance. The Lucknow population formed one cluster, while the Bhubaneswar and Kolkata populations constituted another cluster. A comparable finding was also deduced from the STRUCTURE analyses. The results revealed significant variation among the populations of C. batrachus under study.     

Aboveground biomass and carbon stock in the largest sacred grove of Manipur,Northeast India

Aboveground biomass and carbon stock in the largest sacred grove of Manipur was estimated for trees with diameter [10 cm at 1.37 m height.The aboveground biomass,carbon stock,tree density and basal area of the sacred grove ranged from 962.94 to 1130.79 Mg ha~(-1),481.47 to 565.40 Mg ha~(-1) C,1240 to 1320 stem ha~(-1) and79.43 to 90.64 m~2 ha~(-1),respectively.Trees in diameter class of 30–40 cm contributed the highest proportion of aboveground biomass(22.50–33.73%).The aboveground biomass and carbon stock in research area were higher than reported for many tropical and temperate forests,suggesting a role of spiritual forest conservation for carbon sink management.