Morphological characterization of Horsfield’s treeshrew Tupaia javanica lingual papillae: Light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy studies

The Horsfield's treeshrew (Tupaia javanica) is one of the shrews found on the island of Java that mainly feeds on fruits and occasionally insects. This shrew has an important role in the ecosystem as it spreads plant seeds and controls insects. To this day, there is no available knowledge about the structure of Horsfield's treeshrew's tongue. Therefore, the aim of this study was to provide data on the tongue structure of the Horsfield's treeshrew through two different methods. We investigated the tongue morphology and lingual papillae distribution of Tupaia javanica using 1) scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for microscopic structure and 2) histology for microscopic organization. Our macroscopic results revealed that the tongue of Tupaia javanica can be divided into three parts: apex, corpus and radix. The dorsal surface of the medial corpus is the median groove extending to the radix. Observation using SEM and light microscopy (LM) showed that the apex of the tongue bears three types of papillae: scale-like filiform, small filiform and fungiform. These are rosette filiform papillae, cornflower filiform papillae, conical papillae and fungiform papillae in the corpus. Meanwhile, the radix contains small filiform papillae, scale-like filiform papillae, vallate papillae, conical papillae and fungiform papillae. On the lateral posterior radix, Weber's gland reacts positively to PAS reaction. Taking together, our research shows that there are variations in the papillae on the tongue surface of Horsfield's treeshrew, and the variations of these papillae are very dependent on the pattern, type of food and the function of the tongue.     

Sweet Corn Production and Nutritive Value of Stover with Manure Enriched with Rock Phosphate Fertilizer and Biodecomposer

Zea mays var. saccharata （sweet corn） is an important crops grown for food and feed in the tropics. In Indonesia, most of the land used for crops production is characterized by acid pH and low levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. Phosphorus fertilizers have been widely used to improve soil fertility in Indonesia. Given the high cost of superphosphate （SP）, the focus is now on rock phosphate （RP） fertilizer, which is relatively cheaper than SP and shows high solubility in acid condition. The combination of RP and manure during the decomposing process and the addition of decomposing microbes may be a promising technique to overcome the problem. A field experiment was conducted on a vertisol soil （low pH and low available nitrogen and phosphorus）. The objective of the research is to evaluate the effect of combinations of manure enriched with RP （granular and non-granular） with three different decomposing microbes （EM4, starTmik and stardec） on sweet corn and dry matter production, phosphorus （P） and calcium （Ca） content in above-ground biomass. A completely randomized design with seven treatments and four replicates was used in this experiment. The size of the plots was 3 m x 2.5 m. The treatments were TO （manure）, T1 （manure ＋ EM4）, T2 （manure ＋ starTmik）, T3 （manure ＋ stardec）, T4 （manure granular ~ EM4）, T5 （manure granular ＋ starTmik）, T6 （manure granular ＋ stardec）. The manure was enriched with RP 66 kg P/ha （150 kg P2Os/ha） and inoculated with the biodecomposer according to the assigned treatment. The manure was applied in a rate of 30 t/ha. All plot received 125 kg KC1/ha （150 kg K20/ha） and 200 kg urea/ha as basal fertilization. Sweet corn was harvested 70 d after planting. Sweet corn plants were cut close to the ground and analyzed for dry matter yield （DM） and P and Ca content in the biomass. Result showed that sweet corn and DM yield and P content were not significantly influenced by the treatments. Ca content in the above-gro