Cancer chemopreventive and antioxidant activities of pterostilbene,a naturally occurring analogue of resveratrol

Pterostilbene, a natural methoxylated analogue of resveratrol, was evaluated for antioxidative potential. The peroxyl-radical scavenging activity of pterostilbene was the same as that of resveratrol, having total reactive antioxidant potentials of 237 +/- 58 and 253 +/- 53 microM, respectively. Both compounds were found to be more effective than Trolox as free radical scavengers. Using a plant system, pterostilbene also was shown to be as effective as resveratrol in inhibiting electrolyte leakage caused by herbicide-induced oxidative damage, and both compounds had the same activity as alpha-tocopherol. Pterostilbene showed moderate inhibition (IC50 = 19.8 microM) of cyclooxygenase (COX)-1, and was weakly active (IC50 = 83.9 microM) against COX-2, whereas resveratrol strongly inhibited both isoforms of the enzyme with IC50 values of approximately 1 microM. Using a mouse mammary organ culture model, carcinogen-induced preneoplastic lesions were, similarly to resveratrol, significantly inhibited by pterostilbene (ED50 = 4.8 microM), suggesting antioxidant activity plays an important role in this process.     

Efficiency of Urea,Nitrification Inhibitor treated Urea and Slow Release Nitrogen Fertilizers for Sugarcane

A field experiment conducted for two crop seasons (1976-77 and 1977-78) showed that the treatment of urea with nitrification inhibitor Nitrapyrin (also refered as ‘N-Serve’) or neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) cake increased its efficiency by preventing N losses and produced significantly more cane. In one of the years sulphur coated urea (Gold N) at lower rate (75 kg N/ha) gave higher sucrose content in juice and significantly more commercial cane sugar (CCS) than uncoated urea. Considering both the cane yield and CCS production mixing or coating of urea with neem cake holds considerable promise and needs wider testing along with and in comparison to nitrification inhibitors and sulphur coated urea and other slow release fertilizers for increasing the efficiency of nitrogen applied to sugarcane.     

Advances in therapeutic and managemental approaches of bovine mastitis: a comprehensive review

Mastitis (intramammary inflammation) caused by infectious pathogens is still considered a devastating condition of dairy animals affecting animal welfare as well as economically incurring huge losses to the dairy industry by means of decreased production performance and increased culling rates. Bovine mastitis is the inflammation of the mammary glands/udder of bovines, caused by bacterial pathogens, in most cases. Routine diagnosis is based on clinical and subclinical forms of the disease. This underlines the significance of early and rapid identification/detection of etiological agents at the farm level, for which several diagnostic techniques have been developed. Therapeutic regimens such as antibiotics, immunotherapy, bacteriocins, bacteriophages, antimicrobial peptides, probiotics, stem cell therapy, native secretory factors, nutritional, dry cow and lactation therapy, genetic selection, herbs, and nanoparticle technology-based therapy have been evaluated for their efficacy in the treatment of mastitis. Even though several strategies have been developed over the years for the purpose of managing both clinical and subclinical forms of mastitis, all of them lacked the efficacy to eliminate the associated etiological agent when used as a monotherapy. Further, research has to be directed towards the development of new therapeutic agents/techniques that can both replace conventional techniques and also solve the problem of emerging antibiotic resistance. The objective of the present review is to describe the etiological agents, pathogenesis, and diagnosis in brief along with an extensive discussion on the advances in the treatment and management of mastitis, which would help safeguard the health of dairy animals.     

Effects of mother tree ages,different rooting mediums,light conditions and auxin treatments on rooting behaviour of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Dalbergia sissoo</Emphasis> branch cuttings

Dalbergia sissoo Roxb. is one of the promising multipurpose tree species of South Asia. Most of the plantations of D. sissoo from seeds are facing severe threats due to the die-back disease, which ultimately causes death of this potential tree-species within a few months. Vegetative propagation could avoid the die-back disease. Thirty mother trees of different age-groups of D. sissoo were selected for evaluating the rooting behaviour of branch cuttings from D. sissoo as influenced by auxins (IAA or IBA at 100, 200, 500 mg·L⁻¹), ages of mother trees (10, 4 and 2 years old) and different environment conditions, i.e., different mediums (soil and sand) or light conditions (in shade and open condition). The results show that application of IAA and IBA induced more numbers of cuttings (collected from 10-year-old mother trees) to root compared to control. Branch cuttings of D. sissoo collected from 10-year-old mother trees and planted in soil bed in open conditions had 100.0% of cuttings to root in IAA (100 mg·L⁻¹) and IBA (200 mg·L⁻¹) treatments. Both rooting medium (Soil and sand) influenced significantly (p<0.05) on rooting response of branch cuttings. Soil medium was found to achieve maximum no. of branch cuttings to root, compared to sand medium.     

Modeling analysis of potential carbon sequestration under existing agroforestry systems in three districts of Indo-gangetic plains in India

The Indo-gangetic plains (IGP) in India occupies 13 % of the total geographical area and produces 50 % of total food grain to feed 40 % population of the country. Dynamic CO2FIX model v3.1 has been used to assess the baseline (2011) carbon and to estimate the carbon sequestration potential (CSP) of agroforestry systems (AFS) for a simulation period of 30 years in three districts viz. Ludhiana (upper IGP in Punjab), Sultanpur (middle IGP in Uttar Pradesh) and Uttar Dinajpur (lower IGP in West Bengal) respectively. The estimated numbers of trees existing in farmer’s field on per hectare basis in these districts were 37.95, 6.14 and 6.20, respectively. The baseline standing biomass in the tree components varied from 2.45 to 2.88 Mg DM ha^?1 and the total biomass (tree + crop) from 11.14 to 25.97 Mg DM ha^?1 in the three districts. The soil organic carbon in the baseline ranged from 8.13 to 9.12 Mg C ha^?1 and is expected to increase from 8.63 to 24.51 Mg C ha^?1. The CSP of existing AFS (for 30 years simulation) has been estimated to the tune of 0.111, 0.126 and 0.551 Mg C ha^?1 year^?1 for Sultanpur, Dinajpur and Ludhiana districts, respectively. CSP of AFS increases with increasing tree density per hectare. Site specific climatic parameters like monthly temperature, annual precipitation and evapotranspiration also moderates the CSP of AFS. The preliminary estimates of the area under AFS’s were 2.06 % (3,256 ha), 2.08 % (6,440 ha) and 12.69 % (38,860 ha) in Sultanpur, Dinajpur and Ludhiana respectively.     

Identification of causal agent and management of grain discolouration in rice

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - Grain discolouration has been noticed in rice over the years in Guyana. The disease has been a serious problem in affecting quality and yield of rice. A...     

Identification of sorghum genotypes with resistance to the sugarcane aphid Melanaphis sacchari under natural and artificial infestation

Sugarcane aphid, Melanaphis sacchari is an endemic pest of sorghum during postrainy season, and there is a need to develop cultivars with resistance to this pest. Evaluation of a diverse array of sorghum genotypes under natural and artificial infestation resulted in identification of seven lines (ICSB 215, ICSB 323, ICSB 724, ICSR 165, ICSV 12001, ICSV 12004 and IS 40615) with moderate levels of resistance to aphid damage. Under artificial infestation, 10 lines suffered <20% loss in grain yield as compared to 72.4% grain loss in the susceptible check, Swarna. The genotypes ICSR 165, ICSB 724, IS 40615, DSV 5 and ICSB 323 exhibited moderate levels of resistance to aphid damage (damage rating, DR <5.0) and also had high grain yield potential (>30 q/ha). In another experiment, ICSB 215, ICSB 695, ICSR 161, Line 61510, ICSV 12004, Parbhani Moti and IS 40618 exhibited high grain yield potential (>25 q/ha) and exhibited <50% variation in grain yield as compared to more than 80% in the susceptible check, in CK 60 B. The genotypes RSV 1211, RS 29, RSV 1338, EC 8‐2, PU 10‐1, IS 40617 and ICSB 695 though showed a susceptible reaction to aphid damage, but suffered relatively low loss in grain yield, suggesting that these lines have tolerance to aphid damage. Principal coordinate analysis suggested that the genotypes with aphid resistance are quite diverse and can be used to breed for aphid resistance and high grain yield potential and also in breeding for aphid resistance in sorghum with adaptation to the postrainy season.     

Long-Term Organic Amendment Application Improves Influence on Soil Aggregation,Aggregate Associated Carbon and Carbon Pools under Scented Rice-Potato-Onion Cropping System after the 9th Crop Cycle

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the influence of long-term application of organic manures on aggregate stability, associated carbon concentrations and carbon pools as an important soil-quality parameter under a scented rice-potato-onion cropping system in silt-loam textured soil in Eastern Bihar, India (subtropical climatic condition). Five treatments were used: 1) nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) – 100% recommended dose of NPK; 2) NPK+FYM (farmyard manure) – 50%NPK+50% N as FYM; 3) FYM+VC (vermicompost)+ NC (neem cake) – different organic sources each equivalent to 1/3 of the recommended N (FYM +VC +NC); 4) FYM+VC+NC+PSB (phosphate-solubilizing bacteria – different organic sources each equivalent to 1/3 of the recommended N (FYM +VC+NC)+biofertilizers containing N and P carriers (PSB) and 5) FYM+BFN+BM+PSB – 50% N as FYM + biofertilizer for N +Bone meal to substitute P requirement of crops + PSB. The aggregate size distribution (>250 μm) at different soil depths is higher in treatment FYM+VC+NC+PSB and is at par with FYM+VC+NC, followed by FYM+BFN+BM+PSB and NPK+FYM, and the lowest in treatment receiving 100% NPK. The mean carbon concentration in each soil fraction was higher in soil depth 0–10 cm, followed by 10–20 cm and 20–30 cm. The trend of mean weight diameter (MWD) in different treatments was FYM+VC+NC+PSB ≥ FYM+VC+NC > NPK+FYM > FYM+BFN+BM+PSB > NPK. The trend of carbon concentrations in different treatments was FYM+VC+NC+PSB ≥ FYM+VC+NC > FYM+BFN+BM+PSB ≥ NPK+FYM > NPK. Non-labile pool of carbon forms the major portion (60.14%) of the total soil organic carbon (SOC) irrespective of all depths. Bulk density (BD) has a significant role in stabilizing soil aggregates as well as increasing the SOC content in soil. SOC was negatively correlated with BD (r = ?0.870, p = 0.05), MWD (r = ?0.911, p = 0.01) and geometric mean diameter (GMD) (r = ?0.958, p = 0.05) irrespective of depth. This study took further steps toward understanding the enhancing of aggregate stability on organic manures addition for soil quality improvement.     

Development of a land suitability model for saffron (Crocus sativus L.) cultivation in Khost Province of Afghanistan using GIS and AHP techniques

In this study, we have attempted to develop a land suitability model for saffron, an agronomic crop, which is economically viable, environmentally bearable and socially equitable at Khost Province of Afghanistan. The objective was to determine different land suitability classes for saffron cultivation using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Geographic Information System (GIS). A decision tree was developed encompassing the physical, economic and social criteria. We used the secondary data (meteorological, remote sensing) from available sources and also substantial primary data generated from soil survey, interviews and experts’ opinion. A total of 30 physical and socio-economic factors were included in the analysis. The final land suitability result showed that out of the total land area of Khost Province, 1.5, 4.5, 8.6 and 85.4% areas were highly suitable, moderately suitable, marginally suitable and not suitable, respectively. This modelling approach can be applied to determine the suitability of land for other crops covering a wider geographical region of Afghanistan.     

Extraction of natural cellulosic fibers from cornhusk and its physico-chemical properties

A natural long staple ligno-cellulosic fibers have been extracted from the cornhusks using an alkali treatment. Physico-chemical properties such as chemical composition, length, fineness, crystallinity, surface properties, etc. measured by standard methods are reported in this paper. The physico-chemical and morphological properties of the extracted cornhusk fibers are discussed in detail and compared with other cellulosic like cotton and ligno-cellulosic fibers such as jute. Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the morphological and cross-sectional view and energy dispersive X-ray and FTIR were used for the identification and quantification of elements, groups present in the cornhusk and other cellulosic and lignocellulosic fibers. In addition, fibers are characterized by thermo-gravimetric analysis. Results showed that morphological and physico-chemical behavior is more or less similar to other multicellular ligno-cellulosic fibers like jute.