Assessing forest understory biomass in northwest Florida (USA) and its potential to meet the state energy needs

A stratified random sampling approach was employed to quantify total biomass across prevalent non-commercial forest understory species found in six counties of northwest Florida, USA. The moisture content (wet basis) and calorific values of these species were also measured. Total green biomass from forest understory species was estimated to be around 12 million metric tons, mostly comprised of Cliftonia monophylla (titi, buckwheat tree) and Cyrilla racemiflora (white titi, swamp titi). This understory forest biomass would be sufficient to generate about 28.8 million GJ of electricity or 1589.25 million liters of ethanol. A need was identified to determine the inventory of forest understory biomass at the state level and assess the overall sustainability of utilizing forest understory biomass for bioenergy.     

Phylogenetic relationships as in Ocimum revealed by RAPD markers

Genetic relationships were examined among thirty germplasm accessions belonging to five Ocimum species using RAPD markers. A very high degree of polymorphism (98.20%) was observed. UPGMA cluster analysis of genetic similarity indices grouped all the accessions into two major clusters corresponding to previously reported botanical sections. Intra-clustering within the two clusters precisely grouped the accessions belonging to one species in one sub-cluster as expected from their genetic background. Our results show that RAPD technique is a sensitive, precise and efficient tool for genomic analysis in Ocimum species, that may be useful in future studies, by assigning new unclassified germplasm accessions to specific taxonomic groups and reclassifying previously classified accessions of other Ocimum species by traditional criteria on a more objective basis. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Legume genetic resources: management, diversity assessment, and utilization in crop improvement

Grain legumes contribute significantly to total world food production. Legumes are the primary source of dietary proteins in many developing countries, where protein hunger and malnutrition are widespread. Grain legumes germplasm constitute ~15% of the 7.4 M accessions preserved globally. Nearly, 78% of the CGIAR??s, 0.217 M accessions, have been characterized, compared to 34% of national genebank collections. Interestingly, limited data on grain quality are available as the primary focus has been on morpho-agronomic traits. Clearly, more resources should be targeted on biochemical evaluation to identify nutritionally rich and genetically diverse germplasm. The formation of core and mini core collections has provided crop breeders with a systematic yet manageable entry point into global germplasm resources. These subsets have been reported for most legumes and have proved useful in identifying new sources of variation. They may however not eliminate the need to evaluate entire collections, particularly for very rare traits. Molecular characterization and association mapping will further aid to insights into the structure of legume diversity and facilitate greater use of collections. The use of high resolution elevational climate models has greatly improved our capacity to characterize plant habitats and species?? adaptive responses to stresses. Evidence suggests that there has been increased use of wild relatives as well as new resources resulting from mutagenesis to enhance the genetic base of legume cultigens.     

Economic feasibility of and vegetation responses to biomass harvest in managed loblolly pine plantations

We evaluated two biomass harvest methods, (1) Whole Tree Thinning (WTT; third-row thinning), and (2) Whole Tree Thinning with Fuelchips (WTTF; third-row thinning plus remove all accessible hardwood stems >2.5 cm diameter at breast height and understory shrubs in thinned area of stand) in a 21-year-old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation in northwest Florida for their harvesting yields and productivities, costs, and effects on groundcover. Both WTT and WTTF produced similar quantities of roundwood (~70 Mg ha^?1) and chips (8.43–13.12 Mg ha^?1) without significantly added operational time (15.77–28.12 Mg h^?1). On-board costs of chip production (US$6.93 to 10.60 Mg^?1) and total cost of roundwood and chip production (~22.5 US$ Mg^?1) of the two harvest methods also did not differ significantly. Following either WTT or WTTF, overall percent groundcover recovered within 6 months. While shrub and grass cover were similar, forb cover in WTT increased significantly following six months of harvests. Importantly, the study suggests that biomass removal is an attractive option that could be integrated with traditional silvicultural thinning methods to manage vegetation and alleviate hazardous fuel and wildfire conditions, leading to improved forest health.     

Physiological Mechanism and Nutrient Management Strategies for Flood Tolerance in Rice Grown in Lowland Flood Prone Ecosystem

Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology - In flood-prone areas, rice must have flood tolerance characteristics either through genotypic selections or by nutrient application management...     

Ploidy dependent expression of apomixis and its components in guinea grass (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Panicum maximum</Emphasis> Jacq.)

Panicum maximum (guinea grass) is a model crop for apomixis and polyploidy studies. It is predominantly tetraploid (2n?=?32) and is characterized by gametophytic apomixis, Panicum-type apospory and pseudogamous endosperm development. The three components of apomixis, viz. apomeiosis, parthenogenesis and functional endosperm development, can be uncoupled in this crop. An exhaustive single progenitor-derived ploidy series comprising of 32 accessions representing 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x, 9x and 11x cytotypes was utilized in present study to understand ploidy effects on expression of apospory as well on uncoupled components in two phases of progeny formation i.e. in matured ovules (using embryo-sac analysis) and in matured self-pollinated seeds (using Flow Cytometric Seed Screen method). Rise in ploidy enhanced the formation of sexual embryo-sacs (ES) thereby increasing the frequency of facultative accessions at higher ploidy level. Our results suggested that the eventual phenotype depends on relative doses of apospory and sexual factors in the genome. Ploidy level was also found affecting the penetrance and expressivity of uncoupled apomixis components. Formation of B_III hybrids (3n) appeared to be more stabilised and less affected by the ploidy change, however, formation of M₁ (1n) progenies increased with the rise in ploidy. Ploidy effects on traits such as occurrence of multiple ES, autonomous endosperm development, and twin embryos were also studied. Flexibility of guinea grass to tolerate excessive genome burden and successful formation of seeds overcoming endosperm balance number and endosperm imprinting constraints is also discussed.     

First report of Fusarium solani causing wilt of Melia dubia

Melia dubia, a multipurpose tree species, is gaining importance to meet the demand supply gap of timber, plywood and pulpwood . In June 2016, a serious outbreak of wilt disease was observed in M. dubia seedlings planted in the Central Nursery of Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, India. The disease led to the destruction of one hundred thousand (100,000) seedlings. Earlier in June 2012, serious wilting of M. dubia seedlings was observed in Haryana, India. The pathogen was identified as Fusarium solani following standard laboratory procedures and sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA). The pathogenicity of three isolates has been proved under greenhouse conditions. This is the first report of F. solani causing wilt of M. dubia.     

Comparative diagnostic evaluation of OMP31 gene based TaqMan® real-time PCR assay with visual LAMP assay and indirect ELISA for caprine brucellosis

Tropical Animal Health and Production - Brucellosis is one of the leading causes of abortion in domestic animals that imposes costs on both economy and society. The disease is highly zoonotic and...