Morphological Traits Associated with Drought Stress Tolerance in Six Moroccan Durum Wheat Varieties Released Between 1984 and 2007

Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology - Drought is one of the main environmental factors affecting grain yield and plant architecture in durum wheat. The present work was conducted to evaluate...     

Marek's disease vaccination, with turkey herpesvirus, and enrofloxacin modulate the activities of hepatic microsomal enzymes in broiler chickens

Chickens were vaccinated against Marek's disease intramuscularly at one day of age. Enrofloxacin was given ad libitum in the drinking water at concentrations of 50, 100 and 250 mg/L from 8 days to 13 days of age when the animals were killed and the activities of cytochrome P-450 enzymes in the liver were measured. Vaccinated non-treated chickens served as a positive control. A negative control group was neither vaccinated nor treated. Vaccination decreased the activity of aniline hydroxylase and ethylmorphine N-demethylase in the positive control group. Subsequent application of enrofloxacin in the lowest concentration (50 mg/L) decreased, while that given at the highest level (250 mg/L) significantly increased the activity of the same microsomal enzymes. Relative liver weights and concentrations of proteins in 9000 x g supernatant were not affected by vaccination or treatment.     

Frost Susceptibility of Five Almond [Prunus dulcis (mill.) D.A. Webb] Cultivars Grown in North-Eastern Morocco as Revealed by Chlorophyll Fluorescence

Almond [Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb] is one of the most important nut crops worldwide. It requires chilling during winter to break dormancy and develop fruiting buds. However, late winter chilling and early spring frosts may damage the reproductive tissues leading to productivity reduction. In the present work, we evaluated the frost susceptibility by means of chlorophyll fluorescence in flower buds of almonds cultivated in two different sites in Morocco: Aknoul in the north and Sidi Bouhria in the east. Five widely grown almond cultivars, namely Marcona, Fournat de Brézenaud, Ferragnès, Ferraduel, and Tuono, were involved in this study. Flower buds were incubated in temperatures of –3, –2, –1, 0, and 25 °C during 24 h and thereafter the Fv/Fm ratio was measured at the ovary zone. Combined analysis of variance showed that cultivar was the major source of variability, while site and cultivar by site interaction effects were of lesser extent and explained together less than 20%. At 25 °C, all cultivars displayed higher scores of Fv/Fm ratio. By decreasing temperature of incubation, this ratio decreased proportionally. Kinetics of chlorophyll fluorescence in response to the frost treatment followed two patterns: A linear decrease translated by frost susceptibility for late-flowering cultivars Ferragnès and Ferraduel, and quadratic curve with an inflection point at –1 °C indicating a chilling tolerance for Tuono and the early-flowering cultivars Marcona and Fournat de Brézenaud. However, Ferragnès and Ferraduel (with later flowering date) are not likely to be affected by low temperatures at the end of spring when there is no risk of frost.     

The Investigation of Relationships Between Some Fruit and Kernel Traits with Canonical Correlation Analysis in Ankara Region Walnuts

Canonical correlation analysis is a multivariate technique, which is employed to examine relationships between two variable sets, each of that consist of two or more variables. In the analysis, by maximizing the relationships between two sets, it is aimed to obtain new variables called as canonical variates that formed by linear combinations of the original variables for each sets. In this study, it is aimed to examine the relationships between some fruit and kernel characteristics of Ankara region walnuts. Thus, the following eight traits Fruit Length (mm), Fruit Width (mm) Fruit Height (mm) Fruit Weight (g), Shell Thickness (mm), Kernel Weight (g), Kernel Ratio (%) and Filled-firm Kernel Ratio (%) of 364 walnut samples were measured. First five of these characteristics were grouped as X variable and the rest of as Y variable. As a result, the correlation between the first canonical variable pair was found as 0.979 (p?<?0.01).     

Effects of two infectious bursal disease vaccine virus strains on hepatic microsomal enzyme activities in chickens

The influence of two infectious bursal disease vaccines on the activities of hepatic microsomal enzymes aniline hydroxylase, ethylmorphine N-demethylase, NADPH-cytochrome c reductase, aryl sulphotransferase and p-nitrophenol UDP-glucuronyltransferase was investigated in chickens. The vaccines contained attenuated Winterfield 2512 and VMG-91 strains, respectively. The activities of enzymes were determined on postvaccination days 0, 2, 5 and 7. At the same time, post-mitochondrial supernatant, cytosolic and microsomal pellet protein concentrations were determined. As expected, the antibody titres against infectious bursal disease virus in the serum were increased in both tested groups in relation to each administered vaccine. Using RT-PCR, the presence of the VP2 gene fragment of virus in the liver of chicken was demonstrated 4 and 6 h after vaccination. The results of this study suggest that the two commercial vaccines modulate the activities of five enzymes tested, and that the two attenuated vaccines applied triggered induction and/or inhibition of phases I and II of biotransformation enzyme activities.     

Determination of Pomological and Morphological Characteristics with Fatty Acid Composition of High Kernel Ratio Walnut Genotypes

In this selection survey that was performed to select the types with superior properties among the population of seedling walnut trees in Çank?r? location, fruit samples were collected individually from 67 trees. Than these types were evaluated for fruit and tree properties and eight walnut types with fruit weight between 11.90 and 15.83 g, interior weight between 6.66 and 8.82 g, the interior ratio between 53.06 and 60.41?%, shell thickness between 1.21 and 1.50 mm were selected as promising. For these types the shell color was determined as dark in two types and tawny in six types. The inner color was found to be light yellow in four types and dark yellow in four types. The selected types were in a good condition for full and sound interior ratio. Seven types gave 100?% full and sound inner. Whereas one type gave 20?% empty fruit. Four types showed homogamous blooming, one types showed protandrous blooming and three types displayed protogynous blooming. The total oil content of selected types varied from 43.16 to 58.68?%. The range of fatty acid contents in the fruits of these types were also determined between 50.83 and 60.77?% for linoleic acid, between 16.14 and 26.44?% for oleic acid, between 5.42 and 7.29?% for palmitic acid, between 11.08 and 14.25?% for linolenic acid and between 1.70 and 2.55?% for stearic acid.     

Comparative efficacy of triclabendazole, nitroxynil and rafoxanide against immature and mature Fasciola hepatica in naturally infected cattle

In two trials the fasciolicidal activities of triclabendazole, nitroxynil and rafoxanide were assessed in cattle naturally infected with predominantly immature stages of Fasciola hepatica. Tablets containing 900 mg triclabendazole were administered orally at a dose rate of 12 mg/kg bodyweight. Rafoxanide and nitroxynil were used at a dose rate of 10 mg/kg, rafoxanide being given orally and nitroxynil by subcutaneous injection. Based on faecal egg counts nine weeks after treatment the efficacies were calculated to be 100 per cent for triclabendazole and 95.0 per cent for nitroxynil in the first trial and 98.4 per cent for triclabendazole and 52.9 per cent for rafoxanide 15 weeks after treatment in the second trial. In the first trial five animals from each of the three groups were slaughtered and their fluke burdens counted. Compared with the untreated control group the reductions in the fluke burdens were 96.9 per cent in triclabendazole treated cattle and 76.4 per cent in the nitroxynil treated group.