Tag Archives: 2021-1

Aneeq¹, Tahir Iqbal^1,2*, Zulfiqar Ali³, Syed Jawad Ali Shah⁴, Adnan Abbas⁵, Arslan Afzal¹, Muhammad Jehanzeb Masud Cheema^1,2

¹Faculty of Agricultural Engineering & Technology, PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan

²National Center of Industrial Biotechnology, PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan

³School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Xian Jiaotong University, 710000, P.R China

⁴National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructure, Material Science, & Engineering Department, Nanjing University, 210093, P.R China

⁵College of Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, P.R China

Abstract

Ever since global warming, largely caused by consumption of fossil fuels, has alarmed the scientists and policy makers, biomass has been gaining acceptance and currency as a means of sustainable energy generation. Biogas generation through anaerobic digestion of biomass is a promising technique of converting carbonaceous material into methane and carbon dioxide i.e major components of biogas. This work aims at determination of methane production rate based on kinetic study while taking into consideration temperature, total solids, volatile solids, residence time, and bacterial growth. We used banana waste including stem, fruit stem, peel and leaves as waste material and applied Chen & Hashimoto kinetic model to measure the methane potential. The wet anaerobic digestion process digested the banana waste inside the bioreactor for 15 days of hydraulic retention time on mesophilic temperature regime 35-40°C and 10 days for thermophilic temperature regime 55-60°C. The methane production was 14.6 m³/day using 100 kg/day of banana waste. This showed a close accord to the already observed and published data based on total solid, volatile solid, carbon to nitrogen ratio and temperature.

Keywords: Agricultural Residue, Anaerobic Digestion, Banana Waste, Biogas, Kinetic Model

Zeeshan Bhatti¹, Agha Mushtaque Ahmed^1*, Imran Khatri¹, Qurban Rattar², Shahjahan Rajput³, Mehvish Tofique¹, Harrison Younas¹

¹Department of Entomology, Faculty of Crop Protection, Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam, Pakistan

²Hubei Key Laboratory of Plant Pathology, Huazhong Agricultural University, 430070 Wuhan, Hubei, P.R. China

³Department of Entomology, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Agricultural College (SZABAC) Dokri, Pakistan

Abstract

Invasive species always pose a serious threat to agriculture and cost billions of dollars in terms of reduced production and productivity. The recent preliminary survey in a few districts of southern Sindh, Pakistan showed an apprehension of the entry of one more new invasive pest belonging to genus Spodoptera is known as Fall Armyworm (FAW), S. frugiperda (J.E. Smith) in April 2019. The identification for confirming this alien pest was made employing morphological characters. The males were dissected to study genitalia. The microscopic study revealed that male genitalia of the collected species had a single lobe of coremata which is the main identification of FAW. The wing characteristics showed that the males had dark gray and brown shaded mottled forewings with conspicuous triangular white spots at the tip of the wings. The forewings of females were less distinctly marked except few faint grayish brown markings. There were six larval instars and the best identifying feature of the FAW in mature larval stage (5^th-6^th instar) was a set of four large rectangular spots on the upper surface of the second last segment of body and the face of larvae with obvious mark of inverted white colored “Y” shape. In morphometric, we measured the head capsule of each larval instar ranging 0.3-2.6mm in length and the larvae about 2-33.08mm. The pupa was reddish brown in color, 14-18mm in length and about 4.5mm in width. The present study confirmed the presence of S. frugiperda which requires an immense attention to make an integrated pest management strategy against it.

Keywords: Fall armyworm, Invasive species, Male genitalia, Maize, Sindh

Sepideh Kazemi¹, Abdolrasool Zakerin², Vahid Abdossi^3*, Pezhman Moradi⁴

1Ph.D Student of Horticultural Science, Science and Research University of Tehran, Iran

2Assistant Professor of Islamic Azad University, Jahrom Branch, Iran

3Assistant Professor of Science and Research University of Tehran, Iran

4Assistant Professor of Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture Science, Islamic Azad University, Saveh Branch, Iran

 Abstract

This study was evaluated the effect of different rootstocks, scion, and drought stress levels on yield, yield components and biochemical characteristics of four commercial tomato cultivars. In this regard, the combinations of three rootstocks (Dashtestan, Dorahe, and Mond) and four scions (Ra’ad, Matine, Super chief, and Rockstone) were investigated under three drought stress treatments, including 50, 75 and 100 % water requirement. After grafting, grafting success rate (percent) and some vegetative and reproductive parameters were measured. Considering the main effect of rootstock, the highest percentage of success in grafting unit (up to 50%) was obtained by the Dashtestan rootstock, while the lowest (40%) was obtained by the Mond rootstock. The results showed that drought stress and different rootstocks had significant effects on plant height (p<0.05), average fruit weight, flower and fruit numbers, protein and lycopene contents (p<0.01). On the other hand, there were significant interactions between drought stress, rootstock and scion in respect of average fruit weight, flower and fruit number, TSS, firmness, protein, lycopene, and superoxide dismutase(SOD). So that, in the conditions of the experiment, drought stress caused an increase in some parameters such as fruit TSS and firmness, the contents of carotenoids, flower number, protein content and activities of catalase(CAT), peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase enzymes. It could be concluded that the best combinations of rootstock and scion were Ra’ad and Super Chief scions, respectively on Dashtestan rootstock. So that, in many evaluated parameters these rootstock-scion combinations were better than others.

Keywords: Cleft grafting, Gillette razor, Rootstock, Scion, Tomato

Patrick N Rakau^1*, Khuliso E Ravhuhali², Mpho Nzeru¹

¹Agricultural Research Council, Cedara, Animal Production Institute, Forage Breeding, P.O. Box 1055, Hilton 3245, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa

²School of Agriculture Sciences, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Private Bag X2046 Mmabatho, 2735, South Africa

 Abstract

Plant dry matter (DM) is one of the most limiting factors on the rumen fill. Due to variation in seasons, forages are prone to different stresses ranging from abiotic and biotic factors. The study was done to assess the effect of cutting stage on dry matter yield r and total non-structural carbohydrates of Italian ryegrass varieties (14 varieties). Diploid varieties namely: Supercharge, Sukari, Kigezi, Bartrento, ARC-148 BQX, Maximus and 14 LMD 43 and Tetraploid varieties namely: Green-Spirit, Barmulta II, ARC-214 GQX, Supreme Q, Agriton, AgriBoost and Mona. The trial was run at the Cedara research station in KwaZulu-Natal province (KZN). All 14 varieties were planted in rows which were 150mm apart (at the population rate of 30 kg/ha for both diploid and tetraploid) replicated three times in a laid out and fitted into randomized complete block design (RCBD). Dry matter yield and non-structural carbohydrates were analysed. A consistent effect of cutting stage on DM yield and TNC was not observed on average mean values. The cutting interval did not influence the DM yield and TNC concentration of both on diploid and tetraploid Lolium multiflorum varieties. The cutting stages can be reduced to four or five to allow the plant to regain its vigour after cutting /defoliation in order to and enforce the source-sink relationships.

 Keywords: Rumen fill, ruminant, dairy cattle, carbohydrates, linear regression.

Essam Darwish^1,2, Shoaib Ur Rehman^2,3, Xinguo Mao^2*, Ruilian Jing²

¹Plant Physiology Section, Agricultural Botany Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, 12613 El Gamma Street, Giza, Egypt

²National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China

³Institute of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture, Multan, Pakistan

Abstract

WRKY transcription factors group play a significant role in stress signalling pathway. In this study, a WRKY member of bread wheat, TaWRKY, was cloned and its function in response to water stress conditions was studied. Expression analysis revealed that TaWRKY32 mainly expressed when plants were subjected to PEG, NaCl, and cold and probably participate in ABA dependent signalling pathways. This study was done to elucidate the role in transgenic breeding, TaWRK32 was transferred to rice plants under CaMV-35S promoter. Overexpression of TaWRK32 lead to enhanced fresh shoot and root weight at seedling stage when compared to wild type (WT). Moreover, transgenic rice lines under water stress, showed greater recovery rate when compared to WT. Higher values of cell membrane stability and lower Chl a/b ratio of transgenic rice lines under water stress conditions markedly indicated the importance of TaWRKY32 under water stress conditions. These results suggested that TaWRK32 has multifunctional and might be an instrumental tool in breeding for transgenic plants for improved water stress tolerance in wheat.

Keywords: WRKY transcription factor, Drought stress, Cell membrane stability, Chlorophyll contents

Rich Milton R. Dulay^1,2*, Abegail A. Alcazar¹, Sofronio P. Kalaw¹, Renato G. Reyes¹,

Esperanza C. Cabrera²

¹Center for Tropical Mushroom Research and Development, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, Central Luzon State University, Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija, 3120 Philippines

²Department of Biology, College of Science, De La Salle University, Taft Avenue, Manila, Philippines

Abstract

This paper highlights the rescue and optimal cultural conditions of the naturally-occurring Trametes elegans. This mushroom has white fan-like leathery fruiting body that commonly grows singly on deadwood. The secondary mycelial culture has off-white, velvety texture, and aerial hyphae. Rice bran broth agar with pH ranging from 5.5 to 6.5, incubated in either lighted or dark, at 30°C, and sealed conditions were the optimum nutritional and physical factors for growth. Both cracked corn and sorghum seeds registered as the best substrates for grain spawn production. Four parts of sawdust + six parts of rice straw significantly produced the highest yield (12.03 g) and biological efficiency (2.41%). Enriched cultivation study using supplemented substrates is currently under investigation with the aim to increase the production.

Keywords: Trametes spp., Secondary mycelia, Basidiocarp, Philippine wild mushrooms, Optimized culture conditions