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Identification of Quantitative Trait Loci for Leaf Blast Resistance of Rice (Oryza sativa L.)
No full textBlast is one of the economically important diseases of rice. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis for partial resistance to leaf blast disease was carried out using 122 RIL population from the cross between Danteshwari (highly susceptible) and Dagad deshi (resistant) in blast endemic area of Ambikapur, north Chhattisgarh, India during wet season, 2013. Analysis indicated that approximately normal distribution of RILs for the trait leaf blast resistance. A linkage map was constructed from 122 RILs using 162 polymorphic SSR markers. Composite interval mapping was employed to identify QTLs. Five QTLs such as “qLB12.1”, “qLB12.2”, “qLB12.3”, “qLB12.4” and “qLB10.1” were identified for leaf blast resistance using RIL population on chromosomes 12 and 10, respectively. The QTLs, “qLB12.2”, “qLB12.3”, “qLB12.4” mapped both seedling and tillering stages of RIL population of rice. The LOD score and phenotypic variation explained by each QTL ranged from 6.898-3.021 and 15.86 - 56.24%, respectively. The qLB12.2 was identified for both stage and found stable across the life of rice for leaf blast resistance. The resistance loci mapped to chromosome 10 specific to second replication. The QTLs identified could be used as a genetic resource in improvement of rice varieties for blast resistance. These findings laid the foundation for the development of a marker-assisted scheme for improving majority of rice varieties that are susceptible to blast and useful for fine mapping studies
Phytochemical and Antimicrobial Screening of Root Extracts of Dacryodes edulis
No full textAims: To screen extracts of Dacryodes edulis phytochemically. To assay the said extracts for antimicrobial activity. To validate or otherwise claims by traditional medicine practitioners on Dacryodes edulis.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of chemistry, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria, from October 2016 to November 2016.
Methodology: Roots of Dacryodes edulis extracted using n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol, were phytochemically screened for presence of secondary metabolites. Anti-microbial assay of extracts was done using Methicillin resist Staph. aureus, vancomycin resist enterococci, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, Candida krusei, and Candida tropicalis.
Results: Results showed presence of steroid/triterpenes, phenols, reducing sugars, cardiac glycosides, alkaloids and flavonoids. Anti-microbial screening of extracts showed sensitivity against six microbes: Staphylococcus aureus; Salmonella typhi; Pseudomonas aeruginosa, methicillin resist, staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and Candida krusei. Ethyl acetate extract exhibited highest zones of inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans (28 mm) and highest growth inhibitory effects (MIC) for the microbes at concentrations of 1.25 mg/mL and 2.5 mg/mL. All other extracts had Minimum Bactericidal/ Fungicidal Concentration (MBC/MFC), values of 2.5 mg/mL, 5 mg/mL and 10 mg/mL respectively.
Conclusion: This study has justified the traditional use of the plant for treatment of various diseases that are caused by these organisms
In vitro Salinity Evaluation Studies in Golden Berry (Physalis peruviana L.)
No full textAim: Present study, therefore, was conducted in in vitro conditions to study effect of NaCl at varied levels on growth and chlorophyll content of golden berry shoot apices grown in in vitro conditions.
Place and Duration: The study was carried out in the Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey, between March-June, 2017.
Methodology: In this study in vitro salinity of golden berry shoot apex culture were studied within the Murashige and Skoog nutrient medium with 1 mg L-1 indole acetic acid (IAA)+ 3% sucrose and 0.7% agar supplemented with NaCl (0; 25; 50; 75 and 100 mM). The explants were incubated at 25±2°C for 4 weeks and related parameters, such as shoot, leaf and root formation, were measured.
Results: Experimental results revealed that different level of salinity treatments in in vitro culture had notable effect on above stated growth parameters. These parameters decreased significantly by increasing salinity level for excluding shoot diameters
Effect of Bacillus subtilis TLO3 Amylase Pre-treatment on Ethanol Production from Raw Starches
No full textBioethanol is currently the most widely used liquid biofuel in the world. Starch rich crops occupy the first place as biomass for bioethanol production. Amylases (EC 3.2.1.1) are enzymes that hydrolyses starch into sugar units, and pre-treating starch with amylolytic bacteria or directly by amylase might have a positive effect on fermentable sugars concentrations and ultimately result in increased ethanol yields.
In this study, an amylase producer strain Bacillus subtilis TLO3 newly isolated from rhizospheric soil was used for amylase production; after investigating the best combination of physico-chemical parameters. The crude enzyme was used for the pre-treatment of raw corn and wheat starches. Immediately afterwards, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was inoculated into the saccharified starch solutions for fermentation. Measures were done for total reducing sugars and ethanol production all along the fermentation process.
Thus, the best amylase production was obtained using 0.5% starch; 0.5% xylose; 0.25% urea; 2.5% NaCl; 3% bacterial inoculum; pH 7; Temperature 50°C and 24h incubation time.
Amounts of reducing sugars of 70% and 91% were obtained after saccharification of wheat and corn starch, respectively, by crude amylase. The fermentation process monitoring showed a continuous decrease in the total sugars, concurrently with an increase in ethanol production that reached 0.92 g/l (2%) for wheat flour and 1.1 g/l (2.4%) for corn flour after 24 h
Comparative Analysis of DNA Extraction Methods in Two Popular Varieties of Finger Millet (Eleusine coracana) from Ethiopia
No full textAims: The aim of this investigation was to standardize the genomic DNA isolation protocol to obtain high quality and quantity DNA for genomic analysis. To accomplish this task, dry leaves of finger millet which are rich in polysaccharides and polyphenols and seeds were utilized as study group.
Methodology: Two popular finger millet varieties of Ethiopia (Tadesse and Degu) were selected and obtained from Hawassa Agricultural Research Institute, Hawassa, Ethiopia. DNA isolation was carried out by two most popular and reliable methods i.e. Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) and Dodecyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (DTAB) method with little modifications. The quality of DNA obtained through the two methods was comparatively evaluated.
Results: The CTAB method proved its superiority over DTAB. The purity of extracted DNA was excellent as evident by A260/A280 ratio ranging from 1.76 to 1.78, which also suggested that the preparations were sufficiently free of proteins and polyphenolics/polysaccharide compounds. However, the DTAB method failed to extract sufficient quantity and quality of genomic DNA for further genomic analysis.
Conclusions: Based on our study, our protocol can be useful for other difficult cereal crops in the future
Characterization of Bacillus cereus Symbiotic to Hemi-parasitic Plant Santalum album L.
No full textAims: Santalum album L., known as sandalwood plant (white sandal) belongs to the family Santalaceae, is characteristically a hemi-parasite that requires host plant in the early stages for the better growth and development. Besides its extreme economic importance, significant work has not been done to reveal the relationship of beneficial microorganisms with these plants for their better growth and development. Present investigation is an attempt to isolate and characterize the rhizospheric soil bacteria of Santalum album L. occurring in some areas of Bankura district of West Bengal, India.
Methodology: The microbial colonies in the soils were estimated as colony forming units (cfu/g dr.soil) from plates prepared by different medium. Phenotypic, biochemical and molecular characters of the bacteria were studied following standard methods. The physico-chemical parameters, and microbial population was determined on the rhizospheric soil of the hemiparasitic sandalwood plant Santalum album Linn. occurring at four locations of Bankura district in West Bengal, India.
Results: The population diversity of cultivable heterotrophic, Gram negative, nitrifying, phosphate solubilizing, starch hydrolyzing, spore forming bacteria were higher at Hirbandh with higher organic carbon level than other three locations. Bacterial population was comparatively lower in Basudevpur due to lower water holding capacity. One spore forming bacterium (SW1) was isolated from Hirbandh soil. The isolate (SW1) was characterized by phenotypic properties, scanning electron microscopy, biochemical properties, analysis of fatty acid methyl esters and 16S rRNA gene sequence and identified as Bacillus cereus (KT626448) which branched with Bacillus cereus BSFN12r (KM405329) with 100% bootstrap support.
Conclusion: Present investigation is an attempt to isolate and characterize the rhizospheric soil bacteria from economically important plant Santalum album L. Further studies may find out the positive role of the symbiotic association of Bacillus cereus (SW1) with the root of S. album as a key factor for the better growth and development of this economically important plant occurring in Bankura district, West Bengal, India
Phytochemical Components and Antibacterial Activity of Tamarindus indica Linn. Extracts against Some Pathogens
No full textAim: To determine the phytochemical composition and antimicrobial properties of tamarind extracts on some aquatic pathogenic bacteria.
Study Design: Completely Randomized Design (CRD).
Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Animal Production, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria, between August 2014 and April, 2015.
Methodology: The phytochemical constituents in ordinary, warm and hot water as well as ethanol extracts of tamarind seed coat, pulp and leaves were screened. The Zone of Inhibition (ZOI) diameter (mm), Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) against some aquatic pathogenic bacteria were determined. Data were analyzed using ANOVA at P = .05.
Results: The result revealed presence of reducing sugar, flavonoid, saponin and terpenoids in all tamarind extracts. The synthetic antibiotics used had significantly higher ZOI than the tamarind extracts for all the test organisms. Tamarind pulp hot water extract significantly inhibited Aeromonas hydrophila and Hafnia alvei than other extracts while the leaf warm water extracts had significantly higher zone of inhibition against Pseudomonas putida. The best MIC was obtained for oxytetracycline and erythromycin against Enterobacter gergovia and Escherichia coli respectively. Pulp extracts and erythromycin exhibited the same MIC, 2.56 mg/ml, for Bacillus subtilis and H. alvei while the former had lower MIC (2.56 mg/ml) against Salmonella typhi than the MIC (5.12 mg/ml) of the later. Oxytetracycline and tamarind extracts also demonstrated the same MIC (2.56 mg/ml) against S. typhi. Pulp extracts exhibited MBC for most of the test organisms.
Conclusion: Warm tamarind leaf and hot tamarind pulp aqueous extracts demonstrated better antimicrobial activities against some bacteria used in this study and hence the extracts could be used to control such microbes associated with the aquatic environment and fish products
Co-production of Coprinus cinereus (Schaeff.) S. Gray. s. lato Mushrooms and Biogas from Palm Oil Wastes in Tanzania
No full textAims: The aim of this study was to investigate on the effect of: (a) mixed fractions of palm oil wastes on Coprinus cinereus edible and medicinal mushroom yield using solid state fermentation plastic bioreactor and (b) of spent mushrooms substrate (SMS) on the extent of methane yield in batch anaerobic bioreactors using cow dung manure as an inoculum. Only one research reported on pre-treatment of palm oil wastes and biogas production in Tanzania.
Study Design: Palm oil wastes were obtained from Bagamoyo district, Pwani Region, in Tanzania. Coprinus cinereus mushroom production was performed in solid state fermentation plastic bioreactor while biogas production was carried out in batch anaerobic bioreactors.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Dar es Salaam, between September 2012 and July 2013.
Methodology: Completely randomized design was used for this study where by nine different fractions of blended palm oil wastes were prepared, Spawn rate (mushroom seed of Coprinus cinereus) employed was 7% based on wet weight of the substrate (about 35 g per 500 g moist weight substrate), then placed in solid state fermentation plastic bioreactor and incubated in mushroom house. Time was recorded in days for the completion of growth of mycelium on substrates (/spawn running/vegetative growth), appearance of pinheads (pinning) and fruiting bodies (fructification). The data for the yield number, fresh weight of fruiting bodies and biological efficiency worked out against the dry weight of each substrate were also recorded. The substrates for biogas production used were biological treated palm oil wastes i.e. the spent mushroom substrates obtained after harvesting mushrooms and cow dung manure was as an inoculum. Anaerobic digestion of spent palm oil wastes mushroom substrates for biogas production was carried out in batch scale (500 ml E-Flask) under anaerobic condition at ambient temperature ranged from 28-30°C and at various mixing palm oil wastes composition fraction in triplicates. Determining both biogas volume and methane content monitored the performance of the anaerobic digestion process in the batch anaerobic bioreactors.
Results: Mushrooms grew well in different composition of palm oil wastes and days for completion of spawn running to fruiting body formation ranged from 13 to 23 days; the best substrate formulation was 98% EFB (Empty Fruit Bunches) +1% S (Sediment)+1% P (Pome) which had highest mushroom yield (189 g fresh mushrooms/kg moist substrate) and maximum biological efficiency (35%). When the Spent Mushroom Substrates (SMS) were employed in batch anaerobic bioreactors for biogas production. The best results 0.43 and 0.49 CH4 m3/kg Volatile Solids (VS) added was obtained from pretreated (SMS) 98% EFB+1% S+1% and 39% MF (Mesocarp Fibers)+39% EFB+ (20% PK (Palm Kernel )+ 1% P+1% S palm wastes substrates formulation, respectively. The highest methane yield were 1.3-1.4 fold higher compared to methane yields 0.33-0.34 CH4 m3/kg VS registered from corresponding non-pre-treated palm oil wastes substrates formulations, mean methane content of the biogas obtained from treated SMS was 82%, which was slightly higher than 79% recorded from untreated palm oil wastes substrates formulations.
Conclusion: In conclusion it is technically feasible to co-produce both food in the form of Coprinus cinereus edible and medicinal mushrooms and bio-energy in the form biogas rich methane from palm oil wastes while at the same time reducing environmental pollution
Isolation and Identification of Endophyte Microorganisms from Bauhinia monandra Leaves, Mainly Actinobacteria
No full textThe present work aimed the prospection of microorganisms from Bauhinia monandra leaves, with the purpose to identify endophytics to obtain strains with possible biotechnological applications. B. monandra leaves, disinfected with hypochlorite solution, were macerated in phosphate buffered saline and seeded in ten culture media containing antibacterial or antifungal agents. The endophytic filamentous fungus strains detected belonged to the genera Penicillium, Curvullaria and Aspergillus. Non-filamentous endophyte bacteria were grouped in the genera Bacillus, Burkholderia, Enterobacter and strains of endophytic Actinobacteria were classified as Streptomyces and Nocardiopsis. The isolation of endophytic microorganisms with nine culture media revealed better bacteria development with L-arginine agar; inorganic salt starch agar and potato dextrose agar were superior to Actinobacteria and fungus strains, respectively. The present study revealed the predominance of the genus Penicillium in leaves of B. monandra. This work introduces the first data of identification from endophyte Actinobacteria in the leaves of B. monandra
In vitro Evaluation of the Effect of Inorganic Fertilizer on Rhizosphere Soil Microbial Populations during Early Growth of Zea mays and Phaseolus vulgaris
No full textAims: The study assessed the effects of different regimen of inorganic fertilizers on the microbial community structure in the rhizosphere soil of Zea mays and Phaseolus vulgaris during early growth.
Study Design: Seeds of Zea mays and Phaseolus vulgaris were planted and Inorganic fertilizers were added to the soil after two weeks of planting to determine their effects on the microbial structure as well as the microbial succession pattern in the rhizosphere soils of Zea mays and Phaseolus vulgaris during early growth. Statistical analysis were carried out using a two-way ANOVA.
Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out at the farmland of School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri Nigeria for a period of five weeks.
Methodology: Seeds of Zea mays and Phaseoulus vulgaris were planted in a soil under laboratory condition and different regimen of inorganic fertilizers added after two weeks using the placement method of fertilizer application, and a control experiment maintained without addition of fertilizers. Rhizosphere soil from Zea mays and Phaseolus vulgaris were collected every week for the remaining weeks for microbiological analysis to determine the microbial community and microbial populations present in the soil.
Results: In this study the presence of Bacillus sp, Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus, Enterococcus faecalis, and Rhizobium sp, were evident in the rhizosphere soil of both Zea mays and Phaseolus vulgaris all through the five week period of study. The fungal community structure revealed the presence of Saccharomyces sp, Fusarium and Penicilium notatum for Zea mays rhizosphere soil, while Phaseolus vulgaris rhizosphere soil had Saccharomyces sp, Streptomyces sp, Fusarium and Penicilium notatum. The microbial succession pattern revealed that Bacillus sp, Staphylococcus aureus, Rhizobium sp and Saccharomyces sp were mostly predominant in the rhizosphere soil of Zea mays and Phaseolus vulgaris all through the period of study.
Conclusion: The results from this study revealed that inorganic fertilizers had significant effect on the microbial community structure present in the rhizosphere soil of Zea mays and Phaseolus vulgaris during early growth when compared to the control without inorganic fertilizer. This result suggests that the increased microbial community in rhizosphere soil of Zea mays and Phaseolus vulgaris resulted from increased biological interaction in the soils between the roots of plants, microorganisms and the inorganic fertilizer