Somchit Youpensuk^{1, 2*}, Suwimon Wanwaen¹

 ¹Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand

²Center of Excellence in Bioresources for Agriculture, Industry and Medicine, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand

Abstract

Castanopsis tribuloides and Pinus kesiya are ectomycorrhizal (ECM) host plants. They are used for reforestation in degraded forestlands in northern Thailand. Objective of this research was to compare the effects of mycelial inoculation of Russula alboareolata and Amanita princeps, edible ECM mushrooms, on C. tribuloides and P. kesiya seedlings by evaluating ECM formation, growth response and nutrient accumulation. The study period was from 2018 to 2020. Two-month old seedlings of C. tribuloides and P. kesiya were inoculated with mycelium slurries of R. alboareolata and A. princeps. The effects of the ECM fungi on the host plants were evaluated at six months after inoculation. ECM roots of C. tribuloides associated with R. alboareolata and A. princeps were irregularly pinnate, whereas ECM roots of P. kesiya inoculated with the fungi were dichotomous branching patterns. Survivals of C. tribuloides seedlings in the uninoculated, R. alboareolata and A. princeps treatments were 66.7, 76.7 and 97.2% respectively. Survivals of P. kesiya seedlings in both the uninoculated and inoculated treatments were about 95%. Inoculation with the ECM fungi significantly increased the growth and nutrient accumulations of C. tribuloides and P. kesiya seedlings. The increase in dry weight was greater for inoculated plants of C. tribuloides than for those of P. kesiya. For C. tribuloides, the increase was significantly greater for plants inoculated with R. alboareolata than for those inoculated with A. princeps. For P. kesiya, there was no difference in the increase in dry weight between plants inoculated with each of the fungal species. Seedlings of C. tribuloides and P. kesiya associated with the edible ECM fungi may be beneficial for reforestation.

Keywords: Ectomycorrhizas, Edible mushrooms, Fagaceae, Pinaceae

Yuli Siti Fatma¹, Iman Rusmana²*, Aris Tri Wahyudi², Hamim²

¹Study Program of Microbiology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia

²Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia

Abstract

Rice fields are a source of methane emission. Urea fertilization is considered to increase methane emission in rice field. Reduction in amount of urea applied with addition of biofertilizer, consisting of methanotrophic and N₂O-reducing bacteria, is presumably to become an innovative fertilization technique to decrease methane emission from rice field. This current work aimed to investigate the community structure of total bacteria and methane emission-related prokaryotes in rice field soil treated with urea and biofertilizer at the vegetative and generative of rice stage. Two treatments were set up in the field experiment, i.e., 100% urea (250 kg/ha) without biofertilizer (B0) and 50% urea (125 kg/ha) with biofertilizer (B1). We used Illumina-based sequencing to investigate the soil microbial community in each treatment. Results showed that the soil bacterial community had minor changes in the two treatments throughout the rice growing period. Application of 50% urea with biofertilizer (B1) did not change the dominant bacterial phyla in rice field soil, i.e., Proteobacteria. However, there were differences in bacterial composition among the two treatments. Bacterial communities were partitioned into two clusters by the treatments (B0 and B1) rather than the rice growth phase. In addition, methanogens:methanotrophs ratio in the B1 treatment was lower than that of the B0 treatment.

Keywords: Bacterial application, Metagenome, Methanotroph, Rice plants, Soil microbiom

Abdul Rehman¹, Farwa Hassan¹,Rafi Qamar^1*, Atique-ur-Rehman²

¹Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Pakistan

²Department of Agronomy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan

Abstract

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) budchip technology is a viable alternative of conventional sett planting, where excised auxiliary buds are used as planting material. Plant growth promoters (PGPs) have ability to enhance growth of plants and thus applied to improve production. The objective of this study was to enhance the sprouting and early growth of sugarcane budchips through exogenous application of plant growth promoters and CaCl₂. It was hypothesized that application of growth regulators on budchips will improve the growth and yield of sugarcane. Keeping in view, a pot study was planned to elaborate priming effects of PGPs on sprouting and growth of sugarcane budchips, prepared by budchip scooping machine. The study was executed at Agronomic Research Area, College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha for two consecutive years during spring 2015 and 2016. Experiment was arranged under completely randomized design (CRD) having four treatments i.e. Control, NAA 1 mM, CaCl₂ 1 mM, NAA 1 mM + CaCl₂ 1 mM. It was observed that sugarcane budchips treated with NAA 1 mM + CaCl₂ 1 mM gave higher sprouting establishment percentage, produced taller and thicker plants, exhibited higher leaf area index and chlorophyll contents as compared to all other treatments during each year of study. Similarly, more root length, root fresh weight, root dry weight, shoot length, shoot fresh weight and shoot dry weight was achieved with application of treatment combination; NAA 1 mM + CaCl₂ 1 mM over all others including control during both years. Among all PGPs treatments, CaCl₂ 1 mM had minimum effect on all studied parameters of sugarcane but it was statistically at par with NAA 1 mM. The results of this study led to the conclusion that soaking of sugarcane budchips in NAA 1 mM + CaCl₂ 1 mM solution proved to be superior than all other PGPs treatments and control as it promotes early growth, better establishment of seedlings and improve its other characteristics.

Keywords: Sugarcane, Budchip scooping machine, Budchips, Plant growth promoters, Soaking

Frans Grovy Naibaho^1*, Adrian Hartanto², Maria Bintang³, It Jamilah², Nunuk Priyani², Ebrry Dwi Putra¹

¹Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Palangka Raya, Palangka Raya 73111, Indonesia

²Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan 20155, Indonesia

³Department of Biochemistry, Bogor Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Bogor 16880, Indonesia

Abstract

Chemical constituents of the aqueous extract of the Chinese shallot, Allium chinense G. Don. grown in North Sumatra, Indonesia was determined through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The aqueous extract was obtained from maceration in distilled water and concentrated using rotavapor (yield: 38%, w/v). The antimicrobial activity of the aqueous extract displayed broad-spectrum inhibition against Bacillus subtilis, Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The most potential bioactivity was its antifungal activity against Candida albicans with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 62.5 µg/mL. The results also displayed a distinct composition in North Sumatran cultivar, Allium chinense,  which previously reported to be dominated by organosulfur compounds in the Chinese shallot. Furan compounds and their derivatives dominated the composition of aqueous extract. The major components identified were 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furancarboxaldehyde (26.65%), 2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one (14.64%), lactic acid (12.70%), 3,5-dihydroxy-2-methyl-5,6-dihydropyran (10.42%) and other furan derivatives (<2%) which may be responsible for its antimicrobial activity due to its furan cocktails in the extract. The major compound, 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furancarboxaldehyde is then revealed as a potential antioxidant based on literature reviews.

Keywords: Allium chinense, Antimicrobial, Candida albicans, Furan, Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry

Angela B. Austria¹, Rich Milton R. Dulay²*, Raquel C. Pambid¹

¹School of Advanced Studies, Pangasinan State University, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan, Philippines

²Bioassay Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, Central Luzon State University, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, 3120 Philippines

Abstract

Lentinus swartzii is a new record of successfully domesticated Philippine basidiomycetous mushroom. This paper highlights the chemical compositions, antioxidant and anti-diabetic properties of mycelia and fruiting body extracts of L. swartzii. The compounds present in the ethanolic extracts were determined using thin layer chromatography (TLC), and the biological properties were assessed using stable 2,2-diphenyl-1-1picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and unstable nitric oxide scavenging activity assays and α-amylase inhibition assay. Mycelia had essential oil, triterpenes, sugars, tannins, flavonoids, fatty acids and phenols, while the fruiting body had the same except fatty acids and sugars. Mycelia ethanolic extract at 1000 µg/mL exhibited scavenging effects against DPPH (35.29%) and nitric oxide (36.04%), contained 20.25 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g sample and showed high inhibitory activity against α-amylase (81.98%). On the other hand, the fruiting body ethanolic extract at 1000 µg/mL scavenged 43.69% of DPPH and 31.75% of nitric oxide, contained 16.92 mg GAE/g sample and exhibited high inhibitory activity against α-amylase (71.08%). Therefore, L. swartzii mycelia and fruiting body could be valuable sources of bioactive compounds with antioxidant and anti-diabetic activities.

Keywords: Lentinus swartzii, mushroom biomass, anti-diabetic, antioxidant, bioactive compounds

Fatima Noor¹, Rahma Alshamrani ², Munazza Gull ³, Muhammad Aamer Mehmood ¹, Sidra Aslam ¹*

 ¹ Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan

² Department of Biological Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddha, Saudi Arabia

³ Biochemistry Department, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddha, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules, involved in the post-transcriptional gene expression of countless metabolic pathways including plant biomass production. The current work was focused on identification of miRNAs involved in the growth metabolism of Glycine max, Oryza sativa, Zea mays, Sorghum bicolor, Brassica napus, Triticum aestivum. In order to identify conserved miRNA clusters, the miRNA data were collected from miRBase database. Overall, 756, 738, 325, 241, 92, and 125 datasets of the mature miRNA sequences of Glycine max, Oryza sativa, Zea mays, Sorghum bicolor, Brassica napus, Triticum aestivum were collected from miRbase. Using MEGA software, a total of 6, 6, 5, 6, and 3 conserved miRNA clusters were examined in aforementioned crops, respectively, with the aim of studying the conserved miRNA clusters belonging to same gene families. The conserved miRNA clusters were shown to belong to miR166, miR399, miR156, miR171, miR164, miR167, and miR394 families in the selected crops. This study may lead to elucidate the role of these miRNAs and their subsequent exploitation to enhance the biomass production via metabolic pathway engineering.

Keywords: Micro-RNA, Molecular phylogenetics, Biomass production, Crop improvement

Most Mottakina Akter¹, Keum Theary¹, Ekwipoo Kalkornsurapranee², Chandra Shekhar Prabhakar³, Narit Thaochan^{1, *}

 ¹Agricultural Innovation and Management Division, Faculty of Natural Resources, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand

²Department of Materials Science and Technology, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand

³Department of Entomology, Veer Kunwar Singh College of Agriculture, Bihar Agriculture University, Dumraon-802136, Buxar, Bihar, India

Abstract

Bactrocera dorsalis and Zeugodacus cucurbitae are the most economically important pests of fruits and vegetables production. Male lures like, methyl eugenol (ME) and cue lure (CL) in conjunction with insecticides are commercially used to attract and kill these pests. We investigated, herein, the application of plant essential oils (basil, clove, citronella, and eucalyptus) with ME and CL for both toxicity and attraction. Through the use of rubber foam as a base, basil oil (BO) was found to be highly toxic to B. dorsalis and Z. cucurbitae, and was evaluated for potency with ME and CL as effective attraction mechanisms. Our results found 15.7-20.3 % of attraction for B. dorsalis using ME, separately or mixed with basil oil. The separate CL found 20.3 % while the ME+CL mixture provided 21.5 % attraction for Z. cucurbitae. In field tests, a greater number of B. dorsalis were trapped with ME alone (20.4 fly/trap/day, FTD), whereas the attraction of the ME and BO mixture was relatively low. For Z. cucurbitae, ME+CL (0.1-0.7 FTD) and CL (0.2-0.6 FTD) trapped more flies than mixtures combining BO, suggesting that combinations of BO with ME in rubber foam bases may be a viable alternative for the control B. dorsalis but not for Z. cucurbitae.

Keywords: Para-pheromone, Mixed lure, Plant essential oils, Rubber foam, Attract and kill, Tephritid fruit fly

Adnan Ahmad^1*, Muhammad Naveed Aslam¹, Fasiha Qurashi², Waqas Ashraf¹, Muhammad Raheel¹, Qaiser Shakeel¹, Ambreen Maqsood¹, Kamran Saleem³

1 Department of Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan

2 Department of Forestry, Range and Wild Life Managements, University College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur

3 Plant Protection Division, NIAB, Faisalabad, Pakistan

Abstract

 Pepper mild mottle virus is a lethal tobamovirus infecting capsicum around the globe. Molecular diversity of capsid protein gene (CP) of Pakistani Pepper mild mottle virus isolates was investigated. From symptomatic pepper leaves collected from farmer’s fields, the CP gene of PMMoV RNA was amplified by specific primers designed in this study. The nucleotides sequences of Pakistani PMMoV isolates were 98.2% to 99.3% similar to each other and 97.2% to 99.3% with other isolates. Highest identities were observed with Indian (NC-3) and Chines (C27084) isolates. In phylogenetic reconstruction, Pakistani isolates grouped with Turkish and South Korean isolates. Few single nucleotide polymorphism were detected in Pakistani isolates and no insertions or deletions were observed. There was 0.0020 to 0.0063 evolutionary distance among Pakistani isolates and 0.0021 to 0.018 between Pakistani and world isolates (highest with Indian and German, and lowest with Spanish, Chines and Brazilian isolates). A frequent gene flow (Fst = 0.07103 i.e. <0.33) was observed between Pakistani and world isolates. In investigation of genetic differentiation, the figures of permutation-based statistical tests viz; Z (296.07432), Snn (0.083571) and Ks* (1.36036) were significant. In statistical analysis the values of Fu & Li’s D* and F* and Tajima’s D, were negative, exhibiting the low polymorphism frequency in studied populations.

Keywords: Tobamoviruses, Pepper mild mottle virus, Molecular diversity, CP gene

Muhammad Riaz Gondal^1*, Muhammad Yasir Saleem², Sultan Ahmad Rizvi¹, Aaqib Riaz³, Waqas Naseem¹, Ghulam Muhammad¹, ⁴Sikandar Hayat, ⁵Mazher Iqbal

 ¹Soil and Water Conservation Research Institute, Chakwal, Pakistan

²University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan

³Hussain Park Military Farm Road, Sargodha, Pakistan

⁴Fodder Research Institute, Sargodha, Pakistan

⁵Barani Agricultural Research Institute, Chakwal, Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan’s agriculture, especially the cotton area is facing serious threat of water shortage, which is negatively affecting the sizeable foreign reserves. Besides other irrigation management practices, selection of drought tolerant varieties can support to tackle the issue. The current study was aimed at the assessment of drought tolerance potential of various Bt cultivars of Gossypium hirsutum L. Under the current study, sixteen cotton cultivars were placed for germination in petri dishes under distinct osmotic potentials with seven different concentrations of PEG-6000 (i.e., 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 27 percent, having osmotic potential of 0.0, -0.05, -0.148, -0.295, -0.491, -0.735 and -0.846 MPa respectively). The results revealed significant differences among various traits of all genotypes. It was observed that seed germination and root length was increasing until the concentration level of 25% PEG-6000 (at -0.735 MPa) whereas increment in shoot length stopped further. Root/shoot ratio increased until PEG concentration of 20% and then ceased. NIBGE-8 was the best performer under all simulated osmotic adjustments with maximum mean germination percentage of 62.86 %. The growth parameters of NIBGE-8 recorded on 12^th and 18^th days after sowing were noted as root length (6.87 and 9.9) cm, shoot length (5.9 and 6.37) cm, root/shoot ratio (1.03 and 1.23), root length-index (597 and 843) and shoot-vigor index (539 and 576) respectively. The results of study revealed that the genotypes NIBGE-8, NIBGE-9, BH-201 and RH-668 were found osmotic stress tolerant while Mubarak, CEMB-88 and DEEBEL were found highly sensitive to drought conditions.

Keywords: Bt Cotton, PEG-6000, Osmotic potential, Drought resistance

Reyna C. Tiniola¹, Raquel C. Pambid¹, Adonis S. Bautista¹, Rich Milton R. Dulay²*

¹School of Advanced Studies, Pangasinan State University, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan, Philippines

²Bioassay Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, Central Luzon State University, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, 3120 Philippines

Abstract

Lentinus swartzii is a basidiomycetous fungus that usually grows on fallen logs during rainy season. In this study, the effects of color light-emitting diode (LED) on the mycelial biomass, fruiting body production, and antioxidant properties of L. swartzii were evaluated. The inoculated culture bottles and fruiting bags were incubated under the three-color LEDs (red, green, and blue), and dark condition (control) in a chamber. Phenolic content and scavenging activity mycelia and fruiting bodies ethanol extracts were also analyzed. In liquid culture, red LED cultures produced the highest mycelial dry weight (0.464 g), while green LED cultures registered the highest number of primordia (6.0). The initiation of primordia was not stimulated under red LED and dark condition. However, in fruiting body production, fruiting bags exposed under red LED showed the shortest period of incubation for mycelial ramification (21.20 days), produced the maximum yield of fruiting body (35.73 g) and biological efficiency (7.14%). All LED mycelial extracts exhibited higher radical scavenging activities (RSA) than catechin, and green LED mycelial extract registered the highest phenolic content (PC) (34.21 mg GAE g^-1 sample). The red LED fruiting body extract recorded the highest RSA (28.06%) and PC (26.08 mg GAE g^-1 sample). Therefore, cultivation of L. swartzii in red LED chamber is a practical technique for enhancing biomass production and antioxidant properties.

Keywords: Lentinus swartzii, Light-emitting diode, Mycelial and fruiting body biomass, Radical scavenging activity, Phenolic content