Boron Induced Oxidative Stress,Antioxidant Defence Response and Changes in Artemisinin Content in Artemisia annua L.

Boron is an essential plant micronutrient and the range between deficient and toxic levels of boron is narrow for most of the plants. Like other elements, boron becomes toxic to growth at high concentrations. High boron concentrations in soil reduce crop productivity in many areas of the world. The effect of increasing levels of boron (0, 0.50, 1.00, 1.50, 2.00 mm ) on oxidative stress, antioxidant defence response and changes in artemisinin content in Artemisia annua were investigated in the present study. Boron toxicity reduced the growth parameters viz. stem height, fresh weight and dry weight. Treatments induced oxidative stress resulting in lower net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, internal CO₂ and total chlorophyll content. The increased activities of antioxidant enzymes like CAT, POX and SOD were also noted in response to increasing levels of boron stress. However, H₂O₂ and artemisinin content were found to be high up to 1.00 mm concentration of boron compared to control, and on applying higher doses, further reduced contents were obtained. Thus, the results suggest that a mild stress of boron can be utilized for enhanced artemisinin production.     

Comparison of effectiveness of introduced barn owls,Tyto javanica javanica,and rodenticide treatments on rat control in oil palm plantations

Journal of Pest Science - In Peninsular Malaysia, barn owls (Tyto javanica javanica) have been utilized as biological control of rats since the 1960s. In this study, the impact of introduced barn...     

Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic N-Doped TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> for Degradation of Bisphenol A (BPA) and Reactive Black 5 (RB5) Dye

Bisphenol A (BPA) and reactive black 5 (RB5) dye are among the most persistent and non-biodegradable contaminants in water which require an urgent need for the development of effective removal method. The ubiquitous existence of both contaminants could interfere with the human health and aquatic environmental balance. Photocatalytic process as one of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) has shown high performance for degradation of organic compounds to the harmless materials under sensible condition. Therefore, this study aims to develop a visible-light-driven photocatalyst that can efficiently degrade BPA and RB5 present in household water. N-doped TiO₂ were successfully synthesized via simple and direct sol–gel method. The prepared TiO₂ nanoparticles were characterized by field emission scanning microscope (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and Brunauere Emmette Teller (BET) analysis. The incorporation of nitrogen in TiO₂ lattice exhibited excellent optical responses to visible region as revealed by UV–Vis–NIR spectroscopy absorption capability at 400–600 nm. The photocatalytic activity of the N-doped TiO₂ nanoparticles was measured by photocatalytic degradation of BPA and RB5 in an aqueous solution under visible-light irradiations. Degradation of BPA and RB5 was 91.3% and 89.1%, respectively after 360 min illumination. The degradation of BPA and RB5 by N-doped TiO₂ was increased up to 89.8% and 88.4%, respectively under visible-light irradiation as compared to commercial TiO₂ P25. This finding clearly shows that N-doped TiO₂ exhibits excellent photocatalytic degradation of BPA and RB5 under visible irradiation, hence have a promising potential in removing various recalcitrant contaminants for water treatment to fulfill the public need to consume clean water.

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The origin of mangosteen: A review

Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution - Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana var. mangostana) is an obligate apomictic species which does not require a fertilization process to produce seeds. The absence...     

Comparative Studies on the Role of Organic Biostimulant in Resistant and Susceptible Cultivars of Rice Grown under Saline Stress - Organic Biostimulant Alleviate Saline Stress in Tolerant and Susceptible Cultivars of Rice

Plants are sessile organisms that experience various abiotic stresses during their lifespan and try to adapt to these environmental stresses by manipulating their physiological, biochemical, cellular, and molecular mechanisms. Salinity is one of the important abiotic stress that affects the metabolism and physiology of plant cells that leads to serious damage to crops and productivity. We investigated the response of two contrasting (salt susceptible and tolerant) cultivars during saline stress by modulating its effect with the application of an important natural biostimulant panchagavya (PG). The results showed that the salinity stress greatly influenced and negatively affects the plant growth, biochemical attributes, and induces the expression of various genes in both cultivars. Furthermore, we assessed the effect of PG alone and by amending with NaCl to alleviate the saline stress which showed a significant enhancement of biochemical and physiological characteristics in both cultivars. Furthermore, we assessed the response of seven autophagy associated gene (ATG1, ATG3, ATG4, ATG6, ATG7, ATG8, and ATG9), BAX Inhibitor -1 (BI-1), Mitogen activated Protein Kinase–1 (MAPK-1), WRKY53, Catalase -1 (CAT-1), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), and Glutathione Peroxidase (GPX) genes in rice that displayed the differential expression pattern during saline stress in both cultivars. We concluded that saline stress can be manipulated by the application of PG and positively regulate the physiological, biochemical, and gene expression response in salt-susceptible and -tolerant rice cultivars. Furthermore, the current study also suggested that salinity is a mutifactorial and multigenic response. Autophagy and programmed cell death regulated along with salinity and was helpful in adapting the tolerance against the stress condition.     

A REVIEW OF PRODUCTION FRONTIER RESEARCH IN AQUACULTURE (2001–2011)

Most research works on the production frontier in aquaculture focus on efficiency measurement using either Stochastic Production Frontier (SPF) or Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The studies on productivity growth in aquaculture were limited, perhaps due to lack of time-series data. Nevertheless, total factor productivity analysis (TFP) in fish farms has started gaining popularity in recent years. In addition, the majority of the efficiency studies have centered on technical efficiency analysis but substantial increases in the output levels can be fully realized through improving overall economic efficiency. Therefore, this review suggests that future research should estimate all three efficiency indices (i.e., technical, allocative and economic efficiencies).     

Treatment of Cotton by β-Cyclodextrin/Triclosan Inclusion Complex and Factors Affecting Antimicrobial Properties

The efficacy of antimicrobial treatment of cotton fabrics depends on various parameters of the coating process, such as the chemical nature and concentration of the antimicrobial agent, the composition of the crosslinking formulation, and the curing temperature. The inclusion complex of triclosan with β-cyclodextrin (βCD) was synthesized and characterized by FTIR, XRD, NMR, Raman, SEM, and TGA. The minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration of the complex against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus were compared to those of its precursor. A multifactorial study included an evaluation of the effects of triclosan complexation with β-cyclodextrin, a comparison between the glyoxal and tetracarboxylic acid as crosslinkers, an investigation of the effect of crosslinker and catalyst concentrations, and a comparison of curing at 120°C and 180°C. The cotton was characterized by FTIR-ATR, the micrographs of treated samples were obtained by SEM and the weight add-on was calculated. The bactericidal properties were determined according to AATCC-147. The correlation between the coating process parameters and the antimicrobial efficacy was determined. The optimal combination leading to the highest weight add-on and the antimicrobial coating that was most durable to multiple detergent washes at an elevated temperature was the use of complexed triclosan grafted onto the cotton in the presence of tetracarboxylic acid, followed by curing at 180°C. The curing temperatures were 120°C (P=0.002) and 180°C (P=0.008), catalysts were 1 % and 2 % aluminium sulfate and sodium hypophosphite (P<0.001), and the crosslinkers were 5 % and 10 % glyoxal and butanetetracarboxylic acid (P<0.001); these parameters significantly enhanced the antimicrobial properties of the treated fabrics. The study showed that βCD did not have antimicrobial activity, while the βCD/triclosan-treated textile exhibited potential antimicrobial properties. Overall, the bactericidal activity of fabrics can be enhanced by using βCD/triclosan with 10 % butanetetracarboxylic acid as a cross-linker and 5 % sodium hypophosphite as a catalyst at a curing temperature of 180°C.     

Assessment of molecular genetic diversity of 384 chickpea genotypes and development of core set of 192 genotypes for chickpea improvement programs

Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution - Cicer arietinum L. (chickpea) is one of the most significant legume crops domesticated in the Fertile Crescent. This study was aimed to characterize a diverse...     

Assessment of Water Quality Status for the Selangor River in Malaysia

Water quality degradation in the Selangor River will still be present in the years to come since pollutant loads from poultry farms, municipal wastewaters, and industrial wastewaters are not envisaged to be handled effectively. This will be facing the problems of water quality status to use for multiple purposes and to provide its aquatic environment continuously. The water quality evaluation system is used to assess the water quality condition in the river. This system distinguishes two categories of water condition i.e., the water quality index and water quality aptitude. The assessment of water quality for the Selangor River from nine stations along the main stream, which concludes that water has been highly polluted (index 5) immediately downstream of station 02 Selangor River before confluence with Kubu River due to high concentration of microorganisms and immediately downstream of station 06 Selangor River before confluence with Batang Kali River due to high concentrations of microorganisms and suspended particles, was verified. Mineral micropollutants were found to gradually pollute the stream water, ranging from the unpolluted water (index 1) in the upstream to the bad quality (index 4) in the downstream area.