Physico-chemical Characteristics as Indicators of Starch Availability from Milled Rice

The hypothesis was tested that certain physico-chemical characteristics might be used as indicators of total starch availability and rate of starch availability of milled rice. Milled unparboiled (uPB) and parboiled (PB) rice samples (n=93) were characterized using standardized methods of physical tests and chemical analyses and anin vitromethod was used for measuring the rate of starch digestion on a subsample of rice (n=26). The rice varieties were dominated by medium long, bold rice grain with high amylose rice and intermediate gelatinization temperature (GT), but a wide range in all characteristics was measured. Small amounts of resistant starch (RS) were measured in the cooked rice, indicating virtually complete starch availability. The RS of PB rice (0·4 g/100 g rice as eaten) was significantly (P<0·004) higher than the RS of uPB rice (0·1 g/100 g) however. The rate of starch digestion was significantly affected by both variety and parboiling. The starch digestion index (SDI) values of the PB samples (mean value 73·7) were significantly (P<0·001) lower than those of the uPB samples (mean value 79·0). The apparent amylose content (AC) was the strongest determinant for SDI in both uPB and PB rice. The widths and shapes of the raw grains and the elongation after cooking were correlated significantly with SDI values for the uPB rice, while the relatively mild parboiling procedure followed in this study eliminated this correlation. The minimum cooking times were correlated significantly with the SDI values in the uPB samples.     

The Cytological Status of Plants Regenerated from Shoot-Meristem Culture of Pisum sativum L

The cytological status of plantlets regenerated from shoot apical meristems of Pisum sativum was investigated. Chromosome counts in root apices of in vitro regenerated plants showed a preponderance of diploid cells. Moreover, the karyotypes of root-tips from plants derived from culture and from normal plants were basically the same. Topics such as the treatment of chromosomal armlength data, simple statistical comparison of samples derived from normal and regenerated plants are discussed.     

Comparison of leaf and pod disease reactions of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) inoculated by different methods with strains of Xanthomonas campestris pv. Phaseoli (Smith) dye

Summary Common blight disease in beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. phaseoli, reduces crop yield and seed quality. Information is needed on the variation of leaves and pods disease reaction to strains of the bacterium after different inoculation methods. Phaseolus vulgaris cultivars Red Kidney Charlevoix, GN Harris, GN 1140, and GN Emerson were inoculated with three different strains of Xanthomonas campestris pv. phaseoli at two inoculum concentrations (10⁸ and 10⁶ bacterial cells/ml) using water soaking, multiple needle, and razor blade inoculation on leaves, and razor blade scratch, dissecting needle, and razor blade cut inoculation on pods. Differential cultivar disease reactions of leaves, pods, or both to the bacterial strains were observed in some cases. Significant interactions among cultivars, inoculation methods, strains, and inoculum concentrations (leaves) were found. A rapid leaf chlorosis developed 6 to 7 days after inoculation. Strains of bacteria did not show specificity in inducing this reaction, but rapid leaf chlorosis was associated with high inoculum concentration and with the water soaking and multiple needle methods. Another experiment was conducted to count the number of living bacterial cells deposited in the leaf tissue after inoculation by different methods. The number of bacteria deposited by water soaking or multiple needle was higher than that deposited by razor blade.Published as Paper No. 8584, Journal Series, Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station. Research was conducted under Project No. 20–36.     

Selection of diverse parents of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) by multivariate analysis and the degree of heterosis of their F1 hybrids

Summary Studies on genetic diversity in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) indicated the existence of considerable amount of variation for grain yield and its components in the material. One hundred and thirty two genotypes fell into eight clusters. The covariation structure studied by means of factor analysis indicated the possibility of obtaining, through hybridization, genotypes physiologically and morphologically more efficient. Multivariate analysis of data from 7 parents and 21 F1 hybrids indicated weak correspondence between D²-analysis and canonical variate analysis. As there was no relationship between heterosis over midparent and genetic distance between the parents, so the traditional approach of making a large number of crosses is being suggested.     

Contribution to the quantification of humic acids by thin layer chromatography

Increasing amounts from 2.5 to 45 μg of one synthetic and seven natural humic acids were chromatographed on silica gel thin layers using ammonia 25% and propanol in the ratio 70:30 v/v as mobile phase. The fragments of humic acids produced under the influence of the alkaline mobile phase were separated in three band-shaped chromatographic fractions, whose lengths were transverse to the direction of the mobile phase. Since the fragments were not formed in constant ratios from different quantities of the same humic acid, the length of a fraction could only reflect its content of humic substance, whereas the sum of lengths of the three fractions (F) reflected quantities of the humic acid (x) at starting points. Similar F-x curves were obtained from humic acids extracted from similar origins, even when the locations of the samples, particle weights of the humic acids or the pH values at which they were extracted were different. The mathematical relation between F and x for quantities of humic acids up to 15–20 μg possessed high correlation coefficients and may be thus applied for the estimation of unknown concentrations of humic acids extracted from similar origins.     

Rapid and high-precision marker assisted backcrossing to introgress the <Emphasis Type="Italic">SUB1</Emphasis> QTL into BR11, the rainfed lowland rice mega variety of Bangladesh

Flooding is one of the major hazards of rice production for the rainfed lowland rice ecosystem, and tolerant cultivars are urgently needed to help protect farmers from submergence damage. A quick and efficient strategy was implemented to introgress SUB1, a major QTL for submergence tolerance, into a rainfed lowland mega variety BR11 of Bangladesh by only two backcrosses and one selfing generation. In marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC), one tightly-linked simple sequence repeat (SSR) and two gene-based markers, four flanking SSR and 116 background SSR markers were used for foreground, recombinant and background selection, respectively, in backcrosses between a SUB1 donor IR40931-33-1-3-2 and BR11. BR11-Sub1, identified in a BC₂F₂ plant, possessed BR11 type SSR alleles on all fragments analyzed except the SUB1 QTL. The introgression size in BR11-Sub1 was 800 Kb indicating approximately 99.8% identity to BR11. BR11-Sub1 along with other introgression lines showed submergence tolerance similar to the tolerant parent. Yield, yield-component parameters and grain physico-chemical properties showed successful recovery of the BR11 traits in BR11-Sub1, with yield potential ranging from 5.2 to 5.6 t/ha, not significantly different from the recurrent parent mega variety BR11. Producing a large number (~1000) of backcross F₁ plants was considered essential to achieve recombination on both sides of the gene, limiting linkage drag with only two backcrosses. A large number of background markers ensured proper recovery of the recurrent parent genome in the BC₂F₂ generation. The study demonstrates a rapid and highly precise strategy to introgress a major QTL by BC₂F₂ generation into a modern rice variety using an unadapted donor. The variety can replace BR11 on more than 2 million of ha in Bangladesh and provide major increases in rice production.     

Analysis of the Offspring Sex Ratio of Chicken by Using Molecular Sexing

The overall sex ratio of offspring （dead embryos and hatch chicks） from all the fertilized eggs of 140 hens collected for 30 days was studied using duplex PCR of certain fragments of sex chromosomes. Additional 894 dead embryos over a period of 21 days of incubation were also investigated to verify the sex ratio of the dead embryos. The sex of the early dead embryos was identified using this molecular sexing technique. The sex ratio of the hatch chicks and the total offspring of the hens investigated in this experiment did not differ from the expected sex ratio （i.e., 1：1）., However, the number of female dead embryos was significantly more than that of males. The data indicated that the different physiologic function of males and females contributed to female-biased mortality during incubation. It was also found by further analysis that the sex ratios of the offspring of some hens were significantly biased to female or male over the period investigated, which suggested that the sex ratio of offspring might be influenced by the maternal condition to some degrees.