Effects of potassium silicate and nanosilica on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of a commercial strawberry (fragaria × ananassa cv. ‘camarosa’)

Silicon (Si) is considered as a beneficial element to higher plants especially under stress conditions. A factorial experiment, in a completely randomized design with four replications, was used to investigate the effects of two application methods (spraying and soil drenching) and eight levels of Si compounds including 0, 5, 10 and 15 mM of potassium silicate (K₂SiO₃) and 0, 5, 10 and 15 mM of nanosilica (SiO₂). The results indicated that Si application (all or some treatments) decreased transpiration, specific leaf area, petiole length, and promoted the flowering, fruit firmness, leaf/crown number, fresh and dry weight of shoot and root, water use efficiency. They also showed it did not affect the fruit set percentage, yield, chlorophyll index, total soluble solid, leaf area, fresh and dry weight of crown, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, internal carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration and mesophyll efficiency of strawberry. The results suggest the beneficial effects of Si on growth and development of strawberry.     

Interaction of water and nitrogen on maize grown for silage

Water scarcity and environmental pollution due to excessive nitrogen (N) applications are important environmental concerns. The Varamin region, which is located in the central part of Iran, is one of the locations where farmers apply 250-350 kg N ha⁻¹ for silage maize without any concerns with respect to the available water for irrigation. The objective of this study was to quantify the response of the silage maize (Zea mays L.) to variable irrigation and N fertilizer applications under arid and semi-arid conditions and to determine the optimum amount of N fertilizer as a function of irrigation. The maize Hybrid 704 single-cross was planted on 3 August 2003 and on 25 June 2004. The experimental treatments consisted of three N rates (0, 150, and 200 kg N ha⁻¹) and four levels of irrigation, including two deficit irrigation levels 0.70 SWD (soil water depletion) and 0.85 SWD, a full-irrigation level (1.0 SWD) and an over-irrigation level (1.13 SWD). Twelve treatments were arranged in a strip-plot design in a randomized complete block with three replicates. Gravimetric soil samples were collected in 2003 and a neutron probe was used in 2004 to measure soil water content. Leaf area index, total aboveground biomass (TB), plant height, stem diameter, and leaf, stem, and ear dry weight were measured during the growing seasons and at final harvest. Total aboveground biomass was affected by irrigation (P < 0.0001) during both years and was also affected by N fertilizer in 2003 (P = 0.0001) and 2004 (P < 0.0001). However, there was no irrigation and N fertilizer interaction for both years (P > 0.5). Total aboveground biomass and biomass of the crop components increased as a function of the amount of water and N applied. For each of the irrigation levels, there was an associated optimum amount of N, which increased as the amount of irrigation water that was applied increased. Among the four irrigation levels that were studied, 0.85 SWD was the optimum level of irrigation for the conditions at the experimental site. The results also indicated that an increase in N applications is not a good strategy to compensate for a decrease of TB under drought stress conditions. We concluded that the effect of N fertilizer on TB depends on the availability of water in the soil, and that the amount of N fertilizer applied should be decreased under drought stress conditions. Further research will combine these results with a crop simulation model to help optimize nitrogen and water management for silage maize.     

Application of bio-desalinization for reclamation of salt-affected soil under composted cow manure and deficit irrigation with saline water

Paddy and Water Environment - Application of common leaching and flushing methods is often impractical due to freshwater scarcity, groundwater pollution and a lack of suitable drainage systems. To...     

Cloning and expression of coxsakievirus B3 viral protein-1 in E. coli

BACKGROUND: Viral protein-1 (VP1) is a major capsid protein of Coxsakievirus B3 (CVB3) that plays an important role in directing viruses towards permissive cells and acts as a main antigenic site of the virus in eliciting of host immune response, hence it seems VP1 can be considered as a vaccine candidate against CVB3 infection. In this study, cDNA of VP1 was prepared, cloned into pET expression vector and the recombinant protein (VP1) was over expressed in E. coli. METHODS: The viruses were grown in suspension cultures of Vero cells with an input virus multiplicity of 10-50 plaque-forming units/cell. After observing complete cytopathic effect, the total RNA (cells and virus) was prepared for RT-PCR and by using specific primers, VP1 cDNA was amplified and ligated into pET vectors (32 a and 28 a). The recombinant vector was transferred into competent E. coli (BL-21) and after selection of proper colony, which carried correct cDNA within the vector; cells were cultured and induced with isopropyl B-D-thiogalactopyranoside, in order to express protein (VP1). The cultures were tested for presence of VP1 by SDS-PAGE and Western-Blotting analysis. RESULTS: Molecular techniques such as PCR which showed exact defined size of the VP1 (819 bp), restriction digestion and finally immunoblot analysis of over expressed protein; all confirmed the correct cloning and expression of VP1 in this research. CONCLUSION: In this research, full length of VP1 as major capsid protein of CVB3 was over expressed in E. coli which, can be used for further studies, including neutralizing antibody production against CVB3.     

Electrical conductivity and chromic behavior of poly (3-methylthiophene) — coated polyester fabrics

Electrically conductive substrates with chromic behavior are prepared using conductive polymer coating of the substrate. Poly (3-methylthiophene) (P3MT) — coated polyester fabric with specific electrical and chromic properties, for instance electrochromic and piezochromic behavior, was successfully obtained by chemical polymerization with the help of continuous and speed stirring technique. The effect of polymerization time, temperature and oxidant concentration on conductivity of the P3MT-coated fabric was studied. The presence of P3MT particles on the surface of the coated substrate was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and UV-Vis spectroscopy, electrical surface resistivity, pressure and applied voltage dependence visible reflectance spectrophotometer measurements, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The blue shift of c95 nm in wavelength of maximum absorption observed in the reflectance spectra of coated polyester fabric. Under high pressure, the P3MT-coated polyester fabric demonstrated piezochromism. The coated substrate also showed electrochromic behavior under an electrical applied voltage of 12 V.     

A scanner based neural network technique for color matching of dyed cotton with reactive dye

Conventional theory for color matching is Kubelka-Munk, but it fails in some situations. New intelligent procedures such as neural networks could learn the behavior of a complex system and produce accurate prediction. This paper investigates the ability of MLP (multiple layer perceptron) neural network for color matching of cotton fabric. Three reactive dyes, namely Levafix Red CA, Levafix Yellow CA and Levafix Blue CA were used for experiments. The dyed samples were scanned and L * a * b * histogram were extracted. Different neural networks were trained and tested using L * a * b * histogram of fabric’s images and also L * a * b * values (D65, 10°) of fabrics. The results were encouraging. For neural networks including the L * a * b * histogram in input vector, colorants and their concentration were predicted with a mean square error (MSE) less than 10^?5 and an average value of color difference (CMC (1:2)) less than 1.5 for approximately 80 % of testing data.     

Compatibility of Natural Dyes on Aluminum Pre-Mordanted Woolen Yarns by Determination of Diffusion Coefficient

In the present research, a method of assessing relative compatibility rating of single and binary mixtures of walnut green shell, cochineal, and weld natural dyes on aluminum pre-mordanted woolen yarns was proposed, where a proportion of the calculated diffusion coefficients of dyes was postulated. To calculate the diffusion coefficient values, the uptake behavior of dyes was derived as the K/S and the exhaustion curves by dyeing the woolen yarn samples with the individual dye as well as with the mixtures of dyes obtained from practical conditions of dyeing. A typical method was employed to dye the samples at two temperatures of 80 and 95 oC. The method proposed for determination of the compatibility of dyes was more verified at higher temperature, that is, 95 oC, against a conventional method of solution analysis. The results of compatibility showed that the selected binary mixtures of cochineal-weld have an excellent compatibility. The other mixtures, that is, walnut green shell-cochineal and walnut green shell-weld showed weak-moderate and very weak compatibility, respectively.     

Silver nitrate and adenine sulphate induced high regeneration frequency in the recalcitrant plant Cosmos bipinnatus using cotyledon explants

Plant regeneration ability was studied in the medicinal-ornamental plant, Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Sonata white’, which is a dicotyledonous recalcitrant plant to shoot induction. Cotyledons were used as sources of explants to investigate plant regeneration. High frequency of direct shoot induction was obtained when BA (5 mg/l) and AgNO₃ (5 mg/l) were used in combination with 20 mg/l adenine sulphate (73.8%) in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. The highest shoot number per explant (5.7) was induced on MS medium supplemented with 5 mg/l BA, 5 mg/l AgNO₃, and 40 mg/l adenine. Eight week-old shoots were transferred to root induction media containing MS and half-strength MS medium with different concentration of IBA. The highest rate of root induction (70.8%) was obtained on half-strength MS medium with 1.5 mg/l IBA within four weeks. The plantlets were transferred to pot and kept in the greenhouse condition. Seventy percent of the plantlets successfully acclimatised.

Abbreviations: BA, 6-benzylaminopurine; IBA, Indole-3-butyric acid; MS, Murashige and Skoog; PGRs, plant growth regulators.     

The effect of feeding rations with different ratios of concentrate to alfalfa hay on blood hematological and biochemical parameters of farmed ostriches (Struthio camelus)

A two-month trial was conducted to investigate the effects of pelleting rations with 70:30, 65:35, and 60:40 concentrate to high-quality roughage (alfalfa hay) ratios on hematological and biochemical parameters of ostriches. A total of 18 seven-month-old male ostrich chicks, initially weighing an average of 60–70 kg, were distributed into three different outdoor paddocks at a stocking density of six birds per paddock. In the morning, blood collection was made from the wing vein after about 12 h of fasting. All rations resulted in no significant change in hematological parameters. However, with increasing alfalfa inclusion rate, the heterophil/lymphocyte ratio tended to be lower (P?=?0.089); whereas the values of hemoglobin, packed cell volume (PCV), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) tended to be higher (P values 0.069, 0.072 and 0.094, respectively). In terms of plasma biochemical parameters, increasing the ratio of concentrate to alfalfa hay in ostrich diets resulted in significant (P?<?0.05) depression in the values of glucose (up to 20.2 %), total cholesterol (up to 19.2 %), creatine kinase (up to 27.9 %), and aspartate aminotransferase (up to 29.9 %). Additionally, the 65:35 or 60:40 rations caused a decrease in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level (27.9 and 42 %, respectively; P?=?0.008) compared to the 70:40 ration. Without exception, no rations affected the values of leukocyte subsets, total protein, albumin, globulin, uric acid, alanine aminotransferase, gamma glutamyl transferase, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and very low density lipoprotein. Based on our results, the concentrate to alfalfa ratio of 60:40 could be suggested as optimum ratio for good health conditions of juvenile ostriches.