Effect of different levels of raw and heated grass pea seed (Lathyrus sativus) on nutrient digestibility,intestinal villus morphology and growth performance of broiler chicks

This study aimed to investigate chemical composition and effect of different levels (0%, 10% and 20%) of raw grass pea (RGP) and heat‐treated (120 °C for 30 min) grass pea seed (HGP) on nutrient digestibility, dressing percentage, relative internal organ weights, intestinal villous morphology and broiler chicks' performance. A total number of 200 day‐old male chicks were raised under similar condition for 10 days. On day 11, chicks were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments and four replicates of 10 birds each. The result of chemical analysis indicated that Iranian grass pea seed has low levels of total and condensed tannin, and it may be considered as a good source of protein (36.1%) and energy (17.09 kJ GE/g). Heat treatment reduced (p < 0.05) the total and condensed tannin to 21% and 78% respectively. Grass peas seed had higher levels of nitrogen‐free extract, P, Na, Mg and Zn than soya bean meal. The apparent digestibility of gross energy and lipid was affected (p < 0.01) by the treatment diets, and it was the lowest after feeding 20% of HGP (p < 0.05). The relative weight of breast and pancreas (p < 0.05) was affected by treatments. Percentage weight of breast and pancreas increased (p < 0.05) after feeding high levels (20%) of RGP and HGP. Substitution of 20% of RGP and HGP increased the duodenal crypt depth (p < 0.05); however, it had no suppressive effect on villus height as the absorptive surface of intestine. The feed conversion ratio was not affected by the treatments in the total experimental period. This study showed that, although the high level of grass pea seed caused a remarkable increase in the relative weight of pancreas and decreased the apparent digestibility of gross energy and lipid, it had beneficial effect on breast relative weight. It seems that heat processing is not effective method for improving quality of Iranian grass pea seed.     

Biodiversity in a germplasm collection of durum wheat

Summary Over 7,600 durum wheat accessions belonging to 22 country gene pools were evaluated in Syria, during the seasons 1985–86 through 1987–88 under semi-arid Mediterranean climatic conditions. Data on seven agronomic traits are presented to assess the distinctiveness and the phenotypic diversity of these pools. Univariate statistical analysis revealed differences among materials of diverse origins for all traits. Mean phenotypic diversity within countries was highest in the germplasm from India, lowest in that from Bulgaria. In a canonical variate analysis, the first three canonical variables explained 77.7% of the total variance. A cluster analysis was performed to supplement the generated information by the canonical analysis. The multivariate analyses evidenced the distinctiveness of the Ethiopian germplasm. The gene pools from Syria and Jordan, closely resembling each other, appeared separate from all others. A certain peculiarity was also shown by the germplasms from Greece, Morocco and France, while the remaining countries clustered into four groups. The results of the present evaluation could provide useful information for breeding activities, germplasm collection, and establishment of core collections. Evidence is presented that environment played a major role in creating the overall variation for the considered traits, although germplasm exchange seemed also an important factor.     

Sampling variation in genetic resources of seed crops: a review

Summary The first explorations for the collection of genetic resources of crop plants took place in areas designated as centers of origin. Later, important characters were found to be present in areas other than those indicated by Vavilov. Hence collection missions were extended to cover other areas in addition to the centers of diversity with different ecogeography and agromorphological features. Collecting activities were aimed not only at providing germplasm for immediate use in breeding but also at conserving genetic variation for future contingencies. The analysis of the collected material has revealed the complex nature, amount and distribution of genetic variation present in natural populations as well as in landraces, old varieties and primitive forms. The study of variation for characters from different regions indicated that it is possible to select certain characters for detecting variability in the populations and establishing the minimum number of genotypes to be sampled. A minimum number of 20–130 plants per sample, depending on the crop, is recommended in order to capture 95% of the total variation in the field. However, it has been emphasized that the number of different populations sampled rather than the sample size per population determines the overall efficiency of a collection. The findings reported allow better utilization of the collected material and formulation of optimal and cost-effective sampling strategies for the future.     

Production of an Antibody Fragment (scFv) Targeting PcrV Protein of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Fed-Batch Cultivation Mode

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the opportunistic pathogens causing frequent hospital-acquired life-threatening infections in mechanically ventilated patients. The most significant virulence factor of P. aeruginosa is T3SS. PcrV is an important structural protein of the T3SS. Methods:In the current investigation, a recombinant scFv mAb against the PcrV protein was expressed in EnBase® (fed-batch) cultivation mode. The pETiteTM N-His SUMO Kan vector, including anti-PcrV scFv gene, was transformed into Escherichia coli (BL21) cells. The expression and solubility of anti-PcrV scFv protein were investigated at two different temperatures (25 °C and 30 °C) and at different induction times (4, 6, 8, 12, and 24 hours). Results:Increased efficiency was achieved by EnBase® compared to LB broth; owing to the slow release of glucose, the maximum level of solubility and total protein expression was observed in EnBase® cultivation system at 30 °C and 24 h post induction. Furthermore, IC₅₀ for anti-PcrV scFv protein was determined to be approximately 7 μg/mL. Conclusion:Anti-PcrV scFv produced in this study showed promising in vitro results, protecting RBC from lysis by P. aeruginosa (exoU+). Key Words: Fed Batch, recombinant protein, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, scFv     

Effects of nitrogen forms and calcium amounts on growth and elemental concentration in Rosa hybrida cv. ‘Vendentta’

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of calcium and nitrogen on quality and quantity of Rosa hybrida in hydroponic culture, using factorial complete randomized design with different levels of ammonium-N (0, 2.5, and 5 mM) and calcium (1.6 and 4.8 mM). The results indicated that ammonium-N concentration of 2 mM increased the number of flowers, length of pedicles, and fresh weight of flower stem per plant. 5 mM of ammonium-N caused a significant decrease in most of the measured characteristics. Increase in calcium concentration enhanced nitrogen, calcium, manganese, and boron; while, potassium, zinc, and copper decreased in the leaf. Flower diameter and fresh weight of flower stems per plant increased significantly. With application of ammonium in the nutrient solution, calcium and potassium concentration in the leaf decreased, whereas phosphorus, zinc, manganese, iron, and boron significantly increased. Therefore, application of 2.5 mM ammonium-N and 4.8 mM calcium are recommended.     

Combined Removal of Zinc (II) and Cadmium (II) from Aqueous Solutions by Adsorption onto High-Calcium Turkish Fly Ash

The aim of this work is the investigation of possible use of flyash in the removal of zinc (Zn²⁺) and cadmium (Cd²⁺) contained in aqueous solutions. Batch adsorption experiments wereperformed in order to evaluate the removal efficiency oflignite-based fly ash. The parameters studied include contact time, pH,temperature, initial concentration of the adsorbate and fly ashdosage. The contact time necessary to attain equilibrium was found to be two hours. Maximum adsorption occurred in the pH range of 7.0 to 7.5. The percent adsorption of Zn²⁺ and Cd²⁺ increased with an increase in concentration of Zn²⁺ and Cd²⁺, dosage of fly ash and temperature. Theapplicability of Langmuir isotherm suggests the formation ofmonolayer coverage Zn²⁺ and Cd²⁺ ions at the outer surface of the adsorbent. Thermodynamic parameters suggested the endothermic nature of the adsorption process. The fly ashwas found to be an metal adsorbent as effective as activated carbon.     

Geographic variation in tetraploid wheat (Triticum turgidum spp. turgidum convar. durum) landraces from two provinces in Ethiopia

There is considerable wealth of genetical and morphological variation in tetraploid wheat collected from Ethiopia by past expeditions. Several authors have speculated on the reasons for this concentration of diversity so far removed from the centre of origin of wheats in West Asia. The present study reports results of evaluation carried out on material collected in the early 1970's from Ethiopia. The landraces from the two provinces Shewa and Tigray were found to be distinctly different. This divergence was attributed to the differences in environmental conditions between them. Wide differentiation among landraces within each province was also present. The Ethiopian farmer's practice of growing composite cultivars in the field has resulted in bulk samples of Ethiopian landraces containing several agrotypes. The proportion of total variance due to differences among agrotypes within landraces was by far the greatest found in this study, followed in most cases by the variation among landrace populations within provinces which exceeded, in turn, the variation between province gene pools. The optimal strategy for further germplasm collections and implications for improvement and conservation in locally-based community gene banks are discussed.     

Estimation of soil saturated hydraulic conductivity by artificial neural networks ensemble in smectitic soils

The saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_s) of the soil is one of the main soil physical properties. Indirect estimation of this parameter using pedo-transfer functions (PTFs) has received considerable attention. The Purpose of this study was to improve the estimation of K_s using fractal parameters of particle and micro-aggregate size distributions in smectitic soils. In this study 260 disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were collected from Guilan province, the north of Iran. The fractal model of Bird and Perrier was used to compute the fractal parameters of particle and micro-aggregate size distributions. The PTFs were developed by artificial neural networks (ANNs) ensemble to estimate K_s by using available soil data and fractal parameters. There were found significant correlations between K_s and fractal parameters of particles and microaggregates. Estimation of K_s was improved significantly by using fractal parameters of soil micro-aggregates as predictors. But using geometric mean and geometric standard deviation of particles diameter did not improve K_s estimations significantly. Using fractal parameters of particles and micro-aggregates simultaneously, had the most effect in the estimation of K_s. Generally, fractal parameters can be successfully used as input parameters to improve the estimation of K_s in the PTFs in smectitic soils. As a result, ANNs ensemble successfully correlated the fractal parameters of particles and micro-aggregates to K_s.     

Improvement in estimation of soil water retention using fractal parameters and multiobjective group method of data handling

Soil water retention characteristic is required for modeling of water and substance movement in unsaturated soils and need to be estimated using indirect methods. Point pedotransfer functions (PTFs) for prediction of soil water content at matric suctions of 1, 5, 25, 50, and 1500 kPa were developed and validated using a data-set of 148 soil samples from Hamedan and Guilan provinces, Iran, by multiobjective group method of data handling (mGMDH). In addition to textural and structural properties, fractal parameters of the power-law fractal models for both particles and aggregates distributions were also included as predictors. Their inclusion significantly improved the PTFs’ accuracy and reliability. The aggregate size distribution fractal parameters ranked next to the particle size distribution (PSD) in terms of prediction accuracy. The mGMDH-derived PTFs were significantly more reliable than those by artificial neural networks but their accuracies were practically the same. Similarity between the fractal behavior of particle and void size distributions may contribute to the improvement of the derived PTFs using PSD fractal parameters. It means that both distributions of the pore and particle size represent the fractal behavior and can be described by fractal models.