Outbreak of cucumber mosaic virus on musa sp. in Tamil Nadu,India

Cucumber Mosaic Virus, or Infectious Chlorosis, was found in alarming proportions in all the districts of Tamil Nadu on the ‘Robusta’ (Dwarf Cavendish) and ‘Poovan’ (Mysore) cultivais. The disease was transmitted only through suckers from the diseased gardens. Among the genotypes screened, the clones with ABB genomes showed complete field resistance.     

Effect of probiotic supplementation on serum/yolk cholesterol and on egg shell thickness in layers

1. The effect of probiotic supplementation on egg production, on serum and yolk cholesterol and on egg shell thickness in 24 White Leghorn layers was studied from 28–38 weeks of age.

2. In 3 treatments the diet was supplemented with 0, 100 and 150 mg probiotic/kg food.

3. In the 100 mg probiotic group, egg production improved by 5%, and shell thickness improved slightly, with fewer thin‐shelled eggs than in the control (8.6% compared to 18.6%).

4. The initial serum cholesterol concentration of 170.2 mg/dl in control birds remained similar throughout the 10‐week experimental period, whereas in the 150 mg group the initial value of 176.5 mg/dl decreased to 114.3 mg by week 10.

5. Yolk cholesterol concentration was 14.69 mg in the control group and 11.28 and 11.37 mg/g in the 100 and 150 mg probiotic groups respectively. Overall mean total egg cholesterol was thus reduced by probiotic supplementation.     

Prediction of irrigation return flows through a hierarchical modeling approach

The quantity of water available for irrigation is getting scarce in many countries and it assumes great importance for assured crop production, especially in view of the erratic behavior of the monsoon. Thus, there is a pressing need to improve the water efficiency of irrigation systems. One-way of improving the efficiency of the irrigation system is reusing the return flow from the irrigation system. This task requires quantification of return flow, which still remains as a grey area in irrigation water management. The estimation of return flow from the irrigation system is usually obtained using thumb rules depending upon the site-specific conditions like command area conditions and soil properties. In this paper, a hierarchical modeling technique, namely, regression tree is developed for return flow estimation. Regression tree is built through binary recursive partitioning. The effective rainfall, inflow, consumptive water demand, and percolation loss are taken as predictor variables and return flow is treated as the target variable. The applicability of the hierarchical model is demonstrated through a case study of Periyar-Vaigai Irrigation System in Tamil Nadu, India. The model performance shows a good match between the simulated and the field measured return flow values. Results of statistical analysis indicated that the correlation coefficients are high for both single as well as double crop seasons.     

Soil Organic Carbon and Soil Physical Characteristics as Affected by Land Uses under Semiarid Irrigated Conditions

ABSTRACT

Rice-Wheat rotation is the dominant land use in the state of Punjab, resulting in over exploitation of ground water resources. Thus, it is necessary to evaluate other land uses that requires less water and are sustainable. The present investigation was planned with four land uses viz., fallow (FLU), rice-wheat (ALU), grasses (GLU) and pear (PLU) with respect to their effect on soil organic carbon and soil physical characteristics in surface and subsurface depth in district Ludhiana, Punjab. The soil organic carbon (SOC) content was higher by 10, 30.9 and 24.9% under rice-wheat, grasses, and pear than that under fallow. The grasses showed higher soil moisture characteristics curve (SMCC) and lower bulk density (Db) than that under rice-wheat. The larger mean weight diameter (MWD) were observed under pear, grasses and fallow than that under rice-wheat by 0.21, 0.51 and 0.41 mm, respectively. The saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_s) was higher in magnitude by 56.1, 55.4 and 28%, respectively under PLU, GLU and FLU over ALU. Of the evaluated land uses, pear and grasses proved to be more sustainable by retaining more moisture, maintaining better soil physical characteristics and SOC under semiarid irrigated conditions in the state on long term gradual response.     

Effect of tillage and mode of straw mulch application on soil erosion in the submontaneous tract of Punjab, India

The submontaneous tract of Punjab comprising 10% of the state, is prone to soil erosion by water. Soils of the area are coarse in texture, low in organic matter and poor in fertility. High intensity rains during the monsoon season result in fertile topsoil removal. There is an urgent need to control soil erosion in this region so as to improve soil productivity. A field study was conducted to estimate the effect of tillage and different modes of mulch application on soil erosion losses. Treatments comprised two levels of tillage, viz. minimum (T_m) and conventional (T_c) in the main plots and five modes of straw mulch application, viz. mulch spread over whole plot (M_w), mulch spread on lower one-third of plot (M_1/3), mulch applied in strips (M_s), vertical mulching (M_v) and unmulched control (M_o), in subplots in a replicated split plot design. Rate of mulch application was 6 t ha⁻¹ in all modes. Compared with M_o, M_w reduced runoff by 33%. Runoff and soil loss were 5 and 40% higher under T_c than under T_m. Though other modes of straw mulch application (M_1/3, M_s and M_v) controlled soil loss better than M_o, their effectiveness was less than M_w. T_m was more effective in conserving soil moisture than T_c. Compared with M_o, M_w had 3–7% higher soil moisture content in the 0–30 cm soil depth under T_m. Minimum soil temperature of the surface layer was 1.4–2.4 °C lower under M_w than under M_o. Straw mulching reduced maximum soil temperature and helped in conserving soil moisture. Minimum tillage coupled with M_w was highly effective in reducing soil erosion losses, decreasing soil temperature and increasing moisture content by providing maximum surface cover.     

Measurement of genetic dissimilarity in fieldpea (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pisum sativum</Emphasis> L.) genotypes using RAPD markers

The present investigation was carried out on fifteen germplasm lines of Pisum sativum L. were used for characterization using Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. While 12 random primers were taken, out of them 11 primers gave amplification. These primers gave a total of 133 bands out of which 106 were polymorphic. Genetic similarities of the RAPD profiles were estimated by using Jaccard’s coefficient with NTSYSpc 2.0 software. The similarity index values ranged from 0.263 to 0.793 indicating the presence of enormous genetic diversity at molecular level. A dendrogram generated by cluster analysis divided fifteen fieldpea genotypes into two Groups A and B. Major Group A have five genotypes and major Group B have nine genotypes.     

Potential,constraints and applications of in vitro methods in improving grain legumes

Grain legumes, the important constituents of sustainability‐based cropping systems and energy‐limited vegetarian diets have long been the subject of scientific research. Tremendous technological strides were made in the so‐called orphan crops, in terms of both varietal improvement and generation of basic information. Despite recalcitrancy and high genotype dependency, in vitro culture techniques such as organogenesis, in vitro mutagenesis, embryo rescue and in vitro gene transfer have been deployed for improvement of several grain legumes and these played an important role in introgression of desirable genes from related and distant species and creation of additional genetic variability. Stable and reproducible regeneration protocols resulted in the development of genetically modified chickpea, pigeon pea, cowpea, mungbean, etc., while embryo rescue was deployed successfully for recovery of interspecific recombinants, a few of them exploited for the development of commercial cultivars. Nevertheless, doubled haploidy witnessed limited success and protoplast regeneration and in vitro mutagenesis remained of academic interest. The present review focuses on the progress, achievements, constraints and perspectives of using in vitro technology in grain legume improvement.     

Short-term effects of aglime on inorganic- and organic-derived CO2 emissions from two acid soils amended with an ammonium-based fertiliser

Purpose

Aglime application can promote carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from acid soils. However, the controlling mechanisms are still poorly understood, particularly the role of fertiliser-ammonium oxidation. This study therefore assessed the effects of aglime on soil inorganic C (SIC)– and soil organic C (SOC)–derived CO₂ emissions from acid soils amended with ammonium.

Materials and methods

Ammonium at three N rates [0% (A0), 0.005% (A1), and 0.2% (A2) w/w] and labelled aglime (Ca¹³CO_3,¹³C 5.94% aa) at three rates [0% (L1), 0.067% (L1), and 0.392% (L2) w/w] were applied to two contrasting acid soils (Nariva series, Mollic Fluvaquents; and Piarco series, Typic Kanhaplaquults) and incubated in 1-l media bottles for 23 days. A calcareous soil (Princes Town series, Aquentic Eutrudepts, carbonate δ¹³C of ??4.79‰) was included as a control that only received ammonium at the three rates.

Results and discussion

The application of ammonium at the A2 rate significantly (p?<?0.05) increased cumulative SIC-CO₂ emissions by 15.8 and 27.1% in comparison to the A0 rate for the Nariva and Piarco soils, respectively, when they were limed at the L2 rate. The lower rate of ammonium (A1), however, had no effect on these emissions, which suggests that enough acidity may not have been generated at this rate to significantly enhance the release of SIC-CO₂. Furthermore, no effect of ammonium rates was observed on SIC-CO₂ emissions from the calcareous soil, which refutes the hypothesis that this amendment plays a greater role in regulating these emissions from calcareous soils compared with acid soils. Also, in contradiction to another hypothesis, the aglime-induced priming effect on SOC decomposition was more apparent in the low-C Piarco soil. This effect was also significantly (p?<?0.05) greater at the L2 rate (above the lime requirement for Piarco), which demonstrates the negative impact that over-liming could have on the sequestration of C in this soil. Our results also showed that ammonium addition may also help to reduce the magnitude of the aglime-induced priming effect in the Piarco soil when it is not over-limed.

Conclusions

Overall, the findings of this study suggest that ammonium fertiliser broadcast at conventional rates may not serve as a significant regulator of SIC-CO₂ emissions from highly to moderately acidic soils amended with aglime. Our findings also indicate a need to consider nitrogen management as an important factor regulating the effects of aglime on SOC-CO₂ emissions.

     

The Prospects of Tissue Culture and Genetic Engineering for Strawberry Improvement

Abstract

Strawberry shoot meristem cultures have been used for producing virus-free strawberry plants. Plantlet regneration from leaf mesophyll protoplasts, and Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated genetic transformation, mark the beginning of strawberry improvement with biotechnologies. The use of biotechnological tools has a greater potential in producing strawberry plants with traits such as early maturation, frost and disease resistance, mite and nematode resistance, high yield, better quality, suitability for mechanical harvesting, shipping ability, ellgaic acid content, aroma compounds and cost-effective micropropagation. Gene identification and mapping with RFLPs or RAPDs would be desirable. Transgenic strawberries should be tested for their quality before releasing to the consumers.