Drying Kinetics and Quality Characteristics of Indian Mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) in Solar–Electrical Hybrid Dryer

The aim of the study was to investigate the drying kinetics and quality characteristics of Indian mackerel dried under solar–electrical hybrid dryer (S-EHD). Fresh Indian mackerel fishes (Rastrelliger kanagurta) were cleaned, cut into butterfly fillets, and salted overnight using a dry salting method (salt-to-fish ratio, 1:3). The salted mackerel was dried in a S-EHD at the air temperature of 45–55°C, relative humidity of 47–62%, and air velocity of 0.60–0.80 m/s. Open sun drying (OSD) of salted Indian mackerel was conducted to compare with S-EHD. The moisture content of the salted mackerel (61.5% w.b.) was reduced to 31.8% (w.b.) under S-EHD and 30.25% (w.b) under OSD in 8 and 32 h, respectively. The drying rate curve showed that mackerel drying occurred under falling-rate drying period in both the drying methods. A drying efficiency of 23.81% was observed for salted Indian mackerel drying under S-EHD. Diffusion approach and two-term models were selected to accurately predict the drying behavior of mackerel under S-EHD and OSD, respectively. Total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N), trimethylamine, and thiobarbituric acid analysis of dried samples revealed that the mackerel dried under S-EHD was better than OSD. In the sensory analysis, samples dried under S-EHD recorded highest overall acceptability score.     

Isolation and characterisation of an Indian strain of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides type LC from a case of caprine arthritis

Isolation and characterisation of an Indian strain of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides LC from a case of caprine arthritis is reported in the study. The isolate was identified based on biochemical, digitonin sensitivity and growth inhibition tests. The virulence of the organism was studied by pathogenicity test in mice and goat. The antigenic and genomic profile of the isolate was compared with that of the standard strain (Y-Goat). Using different sets of primers, polymerase chain reaction was employed for rapid detection of the strain.     

Effect of long-term balanced and imbalanced inorganic fertilizer and FYM application on chemical fraction of DTPA-extractable micronutrients and yields under rice–wheat cropping system in mollisols

The imbalanced use of chemical fertilizers under intensive cultivation practices over a period of years leads to various soil-associated problems particularly nutrient availability. Thus, to examine the effect of long-term application of balanced and imbalanced inorganic fertilizer and farm yard manure (FYM) application on the chemical fraction of DTPA-extractable micronutrients under rice–wheat cropping system after 29 years, the observations were recorded from the ongoing field experiment at Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, India. An application of balanced inorganic fertilizer with FYM in rice, while without FYM in wheat significantly improved the DTPA-extractable Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu after rice and wheat crops in both the surface and sub-surface soil layers. Lowest DTPA-extractable Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu were recorded, in surface and sub-surface soil under rice and wheat crops in control. The highest DTPA-extractable Zn, in both surface and sub-surface layers of rice (3.31, 1.62 mg kg⁻¹, respectively) and wheat (2.96, 0.99 mg kg⁻¹, respectively) was recorded because of application of N₁₈₀+P₈₀+K₄₀+Zn(F) + FYM in rice and N₁₈₀+P₈₀+K₄₀+Zn(F) in wheat. However, the DTPA-extractable Fe, Mn and Cu were highest in rice and wheat because of N₁₂₀+P₄₀+K₄₀+FYM and N₁₂₀+P₄₀+K₄₀ application, respectively. The balanced use of inorganic fertilizer with FYM (N₁₈₀+P₈₀+K₄₀+Zn(F) + FYM) in rice and without FYM [N₁₈₀+P₈₀+K₄₀+Zn(F)] in wheat supported the highest rice (6.74 t ha⁻¹) and wheat (3.50 t ha⁻¹) grain yields, while lowest in control. Based on the study results, long-term application of FYM at 5 tonnes ha⁻¹ in rice crop sustained the availability of DTPA-extractable cationic micronutrients to rice and wheat in Mollisols.     

Integrated multi-enterprise agricultural system for sustaining livelihood,energy use and resource recycling: a case study from semi-arid tropics of central India

Agroforestry Systems - Integrated farming system (IFS) has been the way of life of agrarian people in semi-arid tropics (SAT) of India and other developing countries. However, there has been losing...     

Microsatellite markers: an overview of the recent progress in plants

In recent years, molecular markers have been utilized for a variety of applications including examination of genetic relationships between individuals, mapping of useful genes, construction of linkage maps, marker assisted selections and backcrosses, population genetics and phylogenetic studies. Among the available molecular markers, microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) which are tandem repeats of one to six nucleotide long DNA motifs, have gained considerable importance in plant genetics and breeding owing to many desirable genetic attributes including hypervariability, multiallelic nature, codominant inheritance, reproducibility, relative abundance, extensive genome coverage including organellar genomes, chromosome specific location and amenability to automation and high throughput genotyping. High degree of allelic variation revealed by microsatellite markers results from variation in number of repeat-motifs at a locus caused by replication slippage and/or unequal crossing-over during meiosis. In spite of limited understanding of the functions of the SSR motifs within the plant genes, SSRs are being widely utilized in plant genome analysis. Microsatellites can be developed directly from genomic DNA libraries or from libraries enriched for specific microsatellites. Alternatively, microsatellites can also be found by searching public databases such as GenBank and EMBL or through cross-species transferability. At present, EST databases are an important source of candidate genes, as these can generate markers directly associated with a trait of interest and may be transferable in close relative genera. A large number of SSR based techniques have been developed and a quantum of literature has accumulated regarding the applicability of SSRs in plant genetics and genomics. In this review we discuss the recent developments (last 4–5 years) made in plant genetics using SSR markers.     

Substitution of mineral fertilizers with biofertilizer: an alternate to improve the growth,yield and functional biochemical properties of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) cv. Camarosa

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to substitute mineral fertilizers with biofertilizers in strawberry to work out the yield, quality of strawberry and soil fertility. A 25% substitution of mineral fertilizer with biofertilizer increased the number of fruits/plant along with improving Juice content (89.55%), Total soluble solids (10.35°B), total sugar (6.69%), ascorbic acid (43.80?mg 100?g^?1), anthocyanin content (81.05?mg 100?g^?1), total phenol (5.97?mg Gallic acid equiv. g^?1), flavonoids (0.12?mg g^?1) and antioxidant capacity (2.13?µmol. Trolox equiv. 100?g^?1). The available N and K content in post-harvest soils were improved significantly with 75% RDF + Azospirillium @ 2?g plant^?1 + PSB @ 2?g plant^?1 + topdressing of 25% K treatments (200.10 and 211.70?kg ha^?1, respectively). Viable count of soil microorganisms (Bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi) was also estimated maximum (4066, 190 and 11.33?×?10⁴ cfu g^?1?dry soil, respectively) with substitution of 25% of mineral fertilizer either with Azotobacter or Azospirillum.     

Delineation of management zones and optimization of irrigation scheduling to improve irrigation water productivity and revenue in a farmland of Northwest China

Precision Agriculture - Precision agriculture has been increasingly practised in recent years. Under precision management, farmland is divided into several management zones to implement different...     

基于RAPD—PCR标记的印度亚麻品种遗传多样性和指纹图谱分析

栽培的亚麻（L.usitatissimum）通常为亚麻籽,以其油分和纤维而被认为是具有较高经济价值的作物之一。开发亚麻遗传资源并进一步进行遗传改良,须了解其遗传变异的范围和结构。位于坎普尔的C．S．农业科技大学种质管理单位保存有广泛收集而来的2772份栽培和野生亚麻资源。从中选出23份不同基因型栽培亚麻品种包括5份两用品种、4份种用品种、14份具有不同形态和经济特性的引进种用品种以及1份野生品系（L．grandiflorum）,采用RAPD标记进行遗传多样性分析。20条随机引物共产生242条带,每条引物扩增带数为1—20条,平均为10．95条。所有基因型和位点的RAPD多态性比例为90．49％。DICE系数相似矩阵分析揭示其遗传相似性为0．63～0．97,平均相似系数为82％,说明这些亚麻品种（系）的遗传背景较窄。采用UPGMA法以及NTSYS-pc软件的SAHN聚类分析模型对遗传相似矩阵进行聚类分析,发现属于L．uitatisimums的所有栽培品种在X轴上可聚为一类,而L．granditlomm野生种单独在Y轴上聚为一类。主成分分析结果表明,除了Shekhar（优良种用品种）和野生种Lgrandiflorum广泛分布外,其他所有种用品种、两用品种和外来品种聚类很近。由于亚麻栽培品种的遗传关系相近,须对亚麻种质的各种基因型进行鉴定,以拓宽今后育种计划中的遗传基础。     

RAPD markers in the analysis of genetic diversity among common bean germplasm from Central Himalaya

A set of 99 common bean germplasm collected from central Himalaya was investigated for their genetic variability using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Ten oligonucleotide primers, selected from 60 initially screened, generated 123 amplicon products. Of these, two amplicons were shared by all the accessions whereas 112 were polymorphic at least in two pair wise comparison. Nine unique bands identified were as low as 0.32 kb M.W. to as high as 3.5 kb and were confined to eight collections. All primers produced polymorphic amplicons though the extent of polymorphism varied with each primer. The primer OPF-17 was found to be most powerful and efficient as it generated a total of 17 bands of which 15 were polymorphic. RAPD markers data were analysed statistically using NTSYSpc.2.02e software and a dendrogram was generated using Jaccard’s similarity coefficient. The similarity coefficient values varied from 0.19 to 0.91. Grouping analysis revealed the categorization of 99 germplasm into 12 major branches with different level of similarity. Three branches namely branch 2, 3 and 5 out of 12 had only one accession. Branch 1 which consisted of three accessions was the most divergent as revealed by Jaccard’s similarity coefficient. Branching pattern of the accessions did not show any correlation with morphological data or altitudinal alignment of the accessions.