An Empirical Study on Compatibility of Sarawak Forest Ordinance and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bidayuh</Emphasis> Native Customary Laws in Forest Management

This study was conducted to examine the compatibility between the Sarawak Forest Ordinance and Bidayuh Native Customary Laws in Sarawak and to gather the community members’ opinions on the compatibility of these laws. This study was carried out using two research methods, viz. a literature review and a survey among the Bidayuh community in Bau, Sarawak. The documents reviewed were the Forest Ordinance Chapter 126 (1958) and the Adat Bidayuh Order, 1994. There are several notable differences between the two laws in terms of, forest ownership, losing of rights to forest or inheritance, and the management of forest. A list of statements with six interval scales was presented and a majority of Bidayuh community members neither disagreed nor agreed with the statement, (1) Forest Ordinance respects the Bumiputera people’s rights (37.5 %; SD = 1.259) and (2) Forest Ordinance protects the Bumiputera people’s rights (37.5 %; SD = 1.281). The community members are also not sure about the consistency between these two laws (28.1 %; SD = 1.182). These results indicated the need for the State to respect the natives’ rights toward the forest land and its resources, recognize the Bidayuh Native Customary Laws and for the native people to learn about the constitutional provisions. Further studies are needed because the knowledge of Native Customary Law itself cannot guarantee the natives’ future in terms of economic, social and environmental aspects and there is also a need to review the current laws to achieve the objective to protect and preserve the natives’ rights.     

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata): Genetics,genomics and breeding

Cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.), is an important grain legume grown in the tropics where it constitutes a valuable source of protein in the diets of millions of people. Some abiotic and biotic stresses adversely affect its productivity. A review of the genetics, genomics and breeding of cowpea is presented in this article. Cowpea breeding programmes have studied intensively qualitative and quantitative genetics of the crop to better enhance its improvement. A number of initiatives including Tropical Legumes projects have contributed to the development of cowpea genomic resources. Recent progress in the development of consensus genetic map containing 37,372 SNPs mapped to 3,280 bins will strengthen cowpea trait discovery pipeline. Several informative markers associated with quantitative trait loci (QTL) related to desirable attributes of cowpea were generated. Cowpea genetic improvement activities aim at the development of drought tolerant, phosphorus use efficient, bacterial blight and virus resistant lines through exploiting available genetic resources as well as deployment of modern breeding tools that will enhance genetic gain when grown by sub‐Saharan Africa farmers.     

Supplementary phosphorus can alleviate boron toxicity in tomato

The effect of supplementary phosphorus on growth and yield of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum cv. Target F1) plants grown at high boron was investigated. The results showed that high B reduced dry matter, fruit yield and chlorophyll content. High B plus 0.5 or 1 mM P increased plant dry matter, fruit yield and chlorophyll concentrations as compared to high B treatments only. Membrane permeability was not increased significantly due to high B application. In the leaves of plants grown at high boron treatments, superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) levels were increased. However, supplementary P to nutrient solution containing high B reduced the activities of the earlier mentioned enzymes in leaves but their levels were still higher than those at the control treatments. The study revealed that B status affects the activities of some antioxidant enzymes examined. Boron (B) concentrations increased in leaves and roots in the highest external B treatment as compared to the control treatment. Concentrations of Ca, P and K were significantly lower in the leaves of plants grown at high B than those in the control plants. Supplemented nutrient solution containing high B with 0.5 or 1 mM P increased the tissue concentrations of nutrients. These results indicate that supplementary P can mitigate the adverse effects of high B on fruit yield and growth in tomato plants.     

Measuring crop status using multivariate analysis of hyperspectral field reflectance with application to disease severity and plant density

Using spectral reflectance to estimate crop status is a method suitable for developing sensors for site-specific agricultural applications. When developing spectral analysis methods, it is important to know the influence of different crop parameters on the spectral reflectance profile. The objective of this report was to present and evaluate a multivariate method for objective hyperspectral analysis in the examination of how different parts of the reflectance spectrum are affected by disease severity and above ground plant density. Data from two field experiments were used; fungal disease severity assessments in wheat 1998 and above ground plant density measurements 2003. The analysis method consisted of two steps: a pre-processing step where the data was normalized and a classification step for estimating the crop variable. Using only 12% of the data as training data, the method resulted in coefficients of determination (R ²) of 94.3% for the disease severity data and 96.9% for the plant density data. The hyperspectral analysis method presented could also be used to extract spectral signatures of disease severity and plant density using the experimental data. In general, two types of spectral signatures for both data sets, with respect to increasing disease severity and decreasing plant density, were observed (1) a flattening of the green reflectance peak together with a general decrease in reflectance in the near infrared region and, (2) a decrease of the shoulder of the near infrared reflectance plateau together with a general increase in the visible region between 550 and 750 nm.     

High-quality binary protein interaction map of the yeast interactome network

Current yeast interactome network maps contain several hundred molecular complexes with limited and somewhat controversial representation of direct binary interactions. We carried out a comparative quality assessment of current yeast interactome data sets, demonstrating that high-throughput yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) screening provides high-quality binary interaction information. Because a large fraction of the yeast binary interactome remains to be mapped, we developed an empirically controlled mapping framework to produce a "second-generation" high-quality, high-throughput Y2H data set covering approximately 20% of all yeast binary interactions. Both Y2H and affinity purification followed by mass spectrometry (AP/MS) data are of equally high quality but of a fundamentally different and complementary nature, resulting in networks with different topological and biological properties. Compared to co-complex interactome models, this binary map is enriched for transient signaling interactions and intercomplex connections with a highly significant clustering between essential proteins. Rather than correlating with essentiality, protein connectivity correlates with genetic pleiotropy.     

A genome-wide analysis of cardiac lesions of pigs that die during transport: Is heart failure of in-transit-loss pigs associated with a heritable cardiomyopathy?

While heart failure is a primary cause of death for many in-transit-loss (ITL) pigs, the underlying cause of these deaths is not known. Cardiomyopathies are considered a common cause of heart failure in humans and often have a genetic component. The objective of this study was to determine if genes associated with cardiomyopathies could be identified in ITL pigs. Samples from the hearts of pigs that died during transport to an abattoir in Ontario, Canada were collected and genotyped along with samples from pigs that did not die during transport (ILT hearts: n = 149; non-ITL/control hearts: n = 387). Genome-wide analyses were carried out on each of the determined phenotypes (gross cardiac lesions) using a medium density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) chip and 500 kb windows/regions for analysis, with 250 kb regions of overlap. The distribution derived by a multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis of all phenotypes demonstrated a lack of complete separation between phenotypes of affected and unaffected animals, which made diagnosis difficult. Although genetic differences were small, a few genes associated with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVM) were identified. In addition, multiple genes associated with cardiac arrhythmias and ventricular hypertrophy were identified that can possibly result in heart failure. The results of this preliminary study did not provide convincing evidence that a single, heritable cardiomyopathy is the cause of heart failure in ITL pigs.     

Induction of ovulation in ornamental common carp (Koi, Cyprinus carpio L.) using LHRHa ([d-Ser(tBu)6, Pro9-NEt]-LHRH) combined with haloperidol and carp pituitary extract

The effects of a single injection of mammalian superactive analogue [d ‐Ser(tBu)⁶,Pro⁹‐NEt]‐LHRHa (20 μg/ kg^?1) combined with the dopamine antagonist, haloperidol (HAL, 0.5 mg kg^?1), for induction of ovulation in the koi carp broodstocks were determined under routine hatchery conditions. The results were compared with classic carp pituitary extract (CPE, double injection) application (water temperature 22 °C). Physiological saline (0.7% NaCl)‐injected fish were used as a control group and no ovulation occurred in this group. The spawning ratio was high in the LHRHa+HAL treatment group and in the CPE treatment group (6/7 and 5/7 respectively). The latency period was 14–16 h in the LHRHa+HAL treatment group and 12–14 h in the CPE treatment group (after the second injection). There was no difference between the two ovulating groups with respect to the spawning index (the weight of eggs as a percentage of female body weight) and fertilization rate of eggs (P>0.05). As a result, ovulation can be induced successfully in koi carp broodstocks with 20 μg kg^?1 [d ‐Ser(tBu)⁶,Pro⁹‐NEt]‐LHRHa+0.5 mg kg^?1 HAL treatment in a single injection without decreasing the egg quality. Application of this combination can be useful for hatchery and broodstock management in koi carp culture.     

Detection of antibodies to Mycobacterium johnei by counterimmunoelectrophoresis.

Counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE) was applied in the detection of antibodies to Mycobacterium johnei in 110 sheep, 11 goat and 31 cattle sera and compared to immunodiffusion (ID) test. One per cent Noble agar, 7 ml per slide of 5 cm x 10 cm; barbitone-tris buffer, mu = 0.03, pH 8.6; a constant current of 5 mA per slide and M johnei protoplasmic antigen at 4 mg per ml were found to impart high sensitivity to CIE and give rapid results. CIE detected 97 sheep, 11 goat and 31 cattle positive sera, a total of 139, as compared to 44, 11, 28 and 83 respectively, detected by ID. Strongly positive sera could be demonstrated within 30 minutes by CIE and the test was run for only 90 minutes while earliest reactions were not observed before 18 hours and some reactions took 144 hours to develop in ID test.     

Unrevealing metabolomics for abiotic stress adaptation and tolerance in plants

Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology - The post-genomic era has witnessed several new possibilities to understand diverse functional aspects of plants quite precisely. From genomics to...