New gingerdione from the rhizomes of Zingiber officinale

A new gingerdione has been isolated from the rhizomes of Zingiber officinale and identified as 1-dehydrogingerdione (1).     

Effect of rumen-protected nutrients on feed intake,body weights,milk yield,and composition in Murrah buffaloes during early lactation

The effect of rumen-protected nutrients (bypass fat, BPF; bypass protein, BPP; or their combination, BPPF) was investigated in Murrah buffaloes during the early stage of lactation. Forty Murrah buffaloes (BW 531.92?±?10.85 kg) just after parturition were randomly distributed into four groups according to parity and milk production. Buffaloes individually fed ration from day 0 to 90 postpartum according to feeding group and nutrient requirement. Control and BPF fed groups received a concentrate mixture, CM1 with 25% rumen-protected protein (using barley, wheat bran, and mustard oil cake), BPP and BPPF groups received a second concentrate mixture, CM2 with 40% rumen-protected protein (using barley, de-oiled rice bran, and cottonseed cake). Bypass fat fed groups (BPF and BPPF) additionally were supplemented with 15 g BPF (Ca salt of long-chain fatty acids) per kg milk yield in their respective concentrate mixtures. Dry matter intake, body weights, body condition score, and total milk yield were similar between groups (P?>?0.05). Fat-corrected milk (FCM) production was improved (14.5%, P?>?0.05) in groups fed BPP and BPPF, while significant (19.45%, P?<?0.05) improvement was observed in BPF-fed group. Overall mean values of milk fat, solid not fat, protein, lactose, and total solids were found to be high (P?<?0.05) in treatment groups as compared with control values. It may be concluded that supplementation with BPP or BPF either alone or in combination positively influences the quality of milk produced in Murrah buffaloes during early lactation and BPF additionally had improvement on the quantitative trait of milk as well.

     

The effect of long-term exposure to phosphamidon on the ruminal microorganisms and circulating carboxylesterase ofBubalus bubalis

The effect of long-term exposure to the organophosphate insecticide phosphamidon on the ruminal microorganisms and serum carboxylesterase of buffalo calves was investigated. Oral administration of phosphamidon in doses of 0.25 and 0.5 mg/kg per day for 120 days caused significant inactivation of carboxylesterase activity (16–32%) without eliciting any intoxicating signs apart from mild intermittent diarrhoea in the animals receiving the higher dose. The higher dose also produced a significant reduction in the total number of rumen protozoa (16–24%). However, the insecticide had no discernible effect on the total bacterial count or pH of the rumen liquor.     

Biochemical Composition of Pulp and Seed of Wild Jack (Artocarpus hirsutus Lam.) Fruit

Plant Foods for Human Nutrition - Wild jack (Artocarpus hirsutus Lam.) is an endemic perennial tree of Western Ghats of India. Wild jack, a timber purpose tree, is distributed in several Kaan...     

Organic glasses with exceptional thermodynamic and kinetic stability

Vapor deposition has been used to create glassy materials with extraordinary thermodynamic and kinetic stability and high density. For glasses prepared from indomethacin or 1,3-bis-(1-naphthyl)-5-(2-naphthyl)benzene, stability is optimized when deposition occurs on substrates at a temperature of 50 K below the conventional glass transition temperature. We attribute the substantial improvement in thermodynamic and kinetic properties to enhanced mobility within a few nanometers of the glass surface during deposition. This technique provides an efficient means of producing glassy materials that are low on the energy landscape and could affect technologies such as amorphous pharmaceuticals.     

Physicochemical and structural properties of maize and potato starches as a function of granule size

Chemical composition, molecular structure and organization, and thermal and pasting properties of maize and potato starches fractionated on the basis of granule size were investigated to understand heterogeneity within granule populations. For both starches, lipid, protein, and mineral contents decreased and apparent amylose contents increased with granule size. Fully branched (whole) and debranched molecular size distributions in maize starch fractions were invariant with granule size. Higher amylose contents and amylopectin hydrodynamic sizes were found for larger potato starch granules, although debranched molecular size distributions did not vary. Larger granules had higher degrees of crystallinity and greater amounts of double and single helical structures. Systematic differences in pasting and thermal properties were observed with granule size. Results suggest that branch length distributions in both amylose and amylopectin fractions are under tighter biosynthetic control in potato starch than either molecular size or amylose/amylopectin ratio, whereas all three parameters are controlled during the biosynthesis of maize starch.     

Genetic variability and association studies in pod and seed traits of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pongamia pinnata</Emphasis> (L.) Pierre in Haryana,India

Forty Candidate Plus Trees (CPTs) of Pongamia pinnata were selected based on the morphometric traits to identify suitable seed sources with high oil content and for production of quality seedlings for mass afforestation in different forestry and agroforestry programmes. Significant genetic variability and association were recorded among 40 CPTs for pod and seed traits. Maximum 100-seed weight (186.80 g) and pod-weight (403.94 g) was recorded in CPT-33, while CPT-18 showed maximum oil content (44.07%). In general, phenotypic coefficient of variation was higher than genotypic coefficient of variation indicating the predominant role of environment. High heritability (broad sense) and genetic gain observed for pod–seed ratio (99.00%, 87.78%), 100-seed weight (100.00%, 66.99%) and 100-pod weight (98.00%, 57.38%), respectively indicate additive gene action. Seed weight and pod weight showed positive and significant correlation with oil content. CPTs 18, 20, 33, 13 and 29 were found to be the best on the basis of oil content and pod–seed characters.     

Extended holding period and yeast hydrolysate in pre-release diet increase abundance of mature sterile Queensland fruit fly males in the field

Journal of Pest Science - Queensland fruit fly (Q-fly), Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt), is a significant pest of horticultural crops in Australia. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is currently...     

Assessment of genetic relationships in Mentha species

A set of 60 random primers was used to analyse 11accessions from six taxa of Mentha developed byCIMAP. These accessions were maintained in the nationalgene bank for medicinal and aromatic plants at CIMAP.A total of 630 bands could be detected as amplifiedproducts upon PCR amplification, out of which 589 werepolymorphic (93.5%). Further analysis of these RAPDprofiles for band similarity indices clearlydifferentiated five of the Mentha arvensis L.accessions from the rest. Among two accessions of Mentha spicata L. CIMAP/C33 could bedistinguished from CIMAP/C32. Mentha × gracilis Sole cv. cardiaca showed a muchhigher similarity with Mentha spicata L. as wellas Mentha arvensis L. which amongst themselvesshowed rather a greater distance indicating that Mentha × gracilis Sole cv. cardiaca might have evolved as a natural hybridbetween M arvensis L. and M. spicataL. In terms of uniqueness of amplified bands fordeveloping RAPD markers, it was observed that at taxalevel 298 bands were unique to one of the six taxa,singly amounting to 47.3% of total amplifiedfragments. Primers MAP 10 and 17 produced polymorphismonly in case of M. spicata L. and Menthaspicata L. cv. viridis while MAP 08 producedpolymorphic bands in all 4 other species than thesetwo. Similarly unique patterns were observeddifferentiating all six species and could be used asRAPD markers for differentiating Mentha species.     

Influence of soil hydrothermal environment,irrigation regime,and different mulches on the growth and fruit quality of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa L.) plants in a sub-temperate climate

Summary

The present study was undertaken over two consecutive years under sub-temperate climatic conditions in the mid-hill region of Himachal Pradesh (30°52'N, 77°11'E; 1,175 m asl) on loamy sand Inceptisols. The aim was to investigate the effects of irrigation and mulch material on the growth, flowering, fruiting behaviour, relative leaf water content (RLWC), yield, and quality of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa L. ‘Chandler’). The drip irrigation treatments included irrigation with 100, 80, or 60% (coded 1.0, 0.8, and 0.6 V) of the total water requirement. Both mulches increased the minimum soil temperature to a depth of 5 cm. The drip and surface irrigation treatments raised the minimum soil temperature by 3.0º – 5.4ºC, and lowered the maximum temperature by 2.2º – 5.8ºC compared to the rainfed control. Hay mulch was more effective in raising the minimum temperature and lowering the maximum soil temperature than black polyethylene mulch. Moisture conservation increased by 2.8 – 12.8% under the black polyethylene mulch compared to the no-mulch treatment. Drip and surface irrigation methods, as well as mulching, were found to be effective for enhancing the growth, irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE), fruit yield, and quality of strawberry plants. However, the number of crowns per plant, the percentage berry set, the RLWC, root length density (RLD), and fruit yield were highest under treatment M3I3 [i.e., black polyethylene mulch plus drip irrigation (1.0 V)] by 565.5%, 94.5%, 32.8%, 394.5%, and 549.6%,respectively, compared to the no mulch plus rainfed control. The maximum IWUE values for plant biomass [1.39 metric tonnes (MT) ha^–1 m^–1] and fruit yield (2.79 MT ha^–1 m^–1) were recorded under treatment M3I5 [i.e., black polyethylene mulch plus drip irrigation (0.6 V)]; whereas, the lowest values (0.39 and 0.68 MT ha^–1 m^–1, respectively) were observed using treatment M1I2 (i.e., without mulch, plus surface irrigation). Fruit size, weight, sugar content, and anthocyanin content increased significantly under treatment M2I3 [i.e., hay mulch, plus drip irrigation (1.0 V)] compared with all other treatments. Total soluble solids (TSS) contents and total acidity (TA) were highest under treatment M1I1 (i.e., no mulch, plus rainfed). A linear regression model could describe the variations in quality parameters of strawberry plants grown under sub-temperate climatic conditions. Root density was found to be the best indicator with which estimate fruit quality.