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HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF DISTRICT GHIZER: A CASE STUDY OF TEHSIL PUNYAL, GILGIT-BALTISTAN
No full textThis research is an attempt to understand the archaeology of District Ghizer, based on the data gathered through investigations in the research area, particularly in Tehsil Punyal. As an outcome, the establishment of an archaeological inventory becomes possible, besides understanding the details of such sites and monuments. Moreover, an indepth and analytical study, based on synchronic and diachronic analysis, in relation to similar archaeological discoveries in the surrounding world, has helped in understanding the cultural profile of the area, on preliminary grounds. More than this, the focus of our learning is on the unique graves, known locally as bumbati or gumbati (mausoleums), dated to the formative phases of Islamic culture.This dissertation, presenting the investigation, is offered in six chapters. The first chapter attempts to introduce District Ghizer with special reference to Tehsil Punyal. The second chapter is specified on the past investigations, conducted on the archaeology of District Ghizer. This portion of dissertation presents a brief review of ancient literature in broader context of Gilgit-Baltistan, besides that of colonial and post colonial attempts towards understanding the history of Ghizer zone. Our third and main chapter let us know the recent archaeological explorations, with the descriptive details of the explored sites of archaeological and historical significance. It includes the details about the selected archaeological sites, including the type sites of rock art, megalithic graves, settlement sites of proto-historic or early historic periods, Buddhist-age sites, structural dumps of medieval-age and monuments of Khuswaqte and Buruse period. The fourth chapter focus to explain the details of the gumbati (mausoleums). This portion also offers the influence of this burial tradition upon our contemporary model of Islamic grave and burial in Punyal, in its adjacent valleys of Yasin, Gupis and Ishkoman, and that in Hunza. The fifth chapter is an attempt towards establishing the cultural history, reconstructed from an analytical study of explored antiquities. It help in understanding the cultural outline of this region, in relation to the archaeological evidences of ancient cultures in and around Gilgit-Baltistan. The last and sixth chapter of this study is our conclusion
GENETICS OF SYNCHRONY IN MATURITY AND INDETERMINATE GROWTH IN MUNGBEAN [ Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek]
No full textThe research studies reported in this dissertation were conducted at the experimental area of Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. The aim of the investigation was to appraise the inheritance pattern of synchrony in pods maturity, indeterminate plant growth and yield related parameters. For the purpose two screening trials were performed in two different seasons. A multivariate statistical and logarithmic technique was applied for the selection of appropriate parents. Two approved varieties (AZRI-2006 and NM-2006) out of fifty mungbean accessions displayed lowest DDd2 and DDh2 values. The other two accessions (97006 and AUM-9) which were selected had demonstrated the highest values for the said parameters. Two cross combinations were made by utilizing the mentioned four parents. Six basic populations (P1, P2, F1, BC1, BC2 and F2) of two crosses were developed. Genetic variance analysis revealed the existence of additive and environmental components only for the inheritance of all the seventeen traits in both the cross combinations, with the pre-pondrance of additive variance only. Similarly the estimates of narrow sense heritability F2 and F? generation were higher for all the traits in both the crosses of mungbean. The results of generation variance and heritability estimates suggested the pre-pondrance of additive component only. Generation mean analysis revealed the pre-pondrance of only additive genetic component for days taken to ninety percent pods maturity, similarly additive and dominance components were important for the inheritance of DDh3 and seed yield per plant in NM-2006 × 97006 cross combination. The involvement of additive, dominance and positive additive × additive digenic interaction was detected for seeds per pod and seed yield per plant in AZRI-2006 × AUM-9 cross and for days to first pod maturity, plant height approaching reproductive phase in NM-2006 × AUM-9. Due to the involvement of fixable genetic components, the proposed breeding methodology for the improvement of mentioned traits could be the use of pedigree, bulk or single seed descendent method of selection for producing early maturing, dwarf type plants, with lowest degree of indetermination of plant height (DDh3) escorted with maximum seeds per pod and seed yield. Heterosis in F1 was greatly pronounced for the traits; DDd1, DDd2, DDd3, DDh1, hundred seed weight and seed yield per plant. The same was useless due to the involvement of negative dominance except for the trait seed yield per plant. Due to pervasiveness of heterosis, direct selection for high yielding plants in early segregating generation may be rewarding. The results signified the engagement of epistasis for most of the traits. A negative dominance for the characters indicated that dominance was towards the reducing effect of traits. For those traits in which epistasis was involved, the purposed breeding strategy may be the use of bi-parental approach, diallel selective mating or recurrent cycles (one or two) of selection among the selected segregants in early generation and final selection may be delayed until the elimination of undesired genes. Similarly interrelationships study was also performed to detect the association of traits with seed yield and among themselves. The same analysis pointed out that number of seeds per pod, hundred seed weight, number of pods per \ud
plant, pod clusters per plant, days to first flower, first pod maturity, ninety percent pods maturity, could be utilized as effective criteria for the improvement of seed yield greengram. On the basis of information derived from the above given studies, synchronous maturing, determinate and high yielding mungbean genotypes might be useful in future breeding programmes to increase the crop production, which will ultimately increase the gross domestic product
Analysis, Event and Group Prediction of Terrorist Networks using Computing Techniques
No full textA sharp rise in terrorist activities has motivated many researchers to device techniques of identification, analysis, detection, and prediction of terrorist activities using computing techniques. Terrorists secretly structure themselves in organizations to be more effective. Members in these organizations have to interact and communicate with others in order to plan and carry out haronious acts of terrorism. The pattern of these interactions and communication can reveal the secret structure of these organizations and can also help in predicting their plans of undertaking these activities. The current research proposes to employ techniques for the analysis of social networks to evaluate their applicability on these secretly formed and structured networks. As it can be viewed from the definition of social network which is "A social network is defined as a social collection made up of social actors like persons or organizations and a compound set of links between these actors". This definition entices us to view terrorist networks as social networks to apply social network analysis to extract their inner structure in form of useful knowledge. The inner structure would reveal the importance of each actor in the network and can then be used for suggesting counter actions that can help in easy destabilization of such organizations preventing them to carry out terrorist incidents. Based on our investigation, we could formulate the fact that traditional social network analysis measures are not directly relevant. This is because of their desires of hiding their intentions and links. Keeping such considerations in mind, this thesis proposes a new measure "Relative Degree" for terrorist network analysis. This thesis, builds on to this novel measure and the techniques for the analysis of the network and presents a model to detect active status of the network using outlier detection techniques on the communication/interaction or work patterns of these networks. An active state of a terrorist group or network is defined as the state in which the group is either planning or is already ready for execution on a worked out plan. The other state is passive, where the group is dormant and not executing any activities. The thesis proposes a technique where a percentage of communication is classified as outlier. These cases of outliers contain the active state of the terrorist network if contained. The technique is validated on a privately held record of cyberattacks on an ERP system. To make the novel tool comprehensive for use the thesis further proposes a hybrid classifier for key player detection, This novel classifier has been tested on various publicly available and a privately held dataset. The technique gives an average accuracy\ud
of 91.98% on available datasets. The proposed technique out performed once compared with individual classifiers. \ud
The performance of the newly designed classifier is found satisfactory and up to the mark.\ud
This thesis also proposes a novel Terrorist Group Prediction model. The model uses data classification of globally available historical data relating to act of terrorism for predicting the responsible terrorist group in a new incident. The classification is performed based on majority vote. The different options for the voting are the outcome of an ensemble of classifiers. The developed model is applied and tested on Global Terrorism Database (GTD), a publicly available dataset containing data of terrorist incidents occurred since 1970 till 2013, constructed by university of Maryland. The performance is calculated based on 10 fold validation that uses 10% of the data for testing and 90% for training in ten different iterations. The model achieves 93% accuracy that is the best accuracy once compared with the accuracies of the individual classifiers in the ensemble. To the best of our knowledge no such classification is performed on the dataset
EFFECT OF SOIL ADDITIVES ON SOIL MOISTURE CONSERVATION AND LEGUME-CEREAL PERFORMANCE UNDER RAINFED CONDITIONS
No full textThe present two years study (2010-11 and 2011-12) was conducted at research\ud
area of PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (AAUR) to test various soil \ud
additives for soil moisture conservation under different cropping systems, 2) find out \ud
an appropriate cropping system for efficient resource utilization and increase \ud
production per unit area and 3) compare the profitability of different soil additives and \ud
cropping systems. The field experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block \ud
Design with split plot arrangements keeping cropping systems in main plots and soil \ud
additives in subplots. The cropping systems included summer fallow-wheat, \ud
mungbean-wheat, sorghum-wheat, and sorghum + Mungbean-Wheat (Mungbean was \ud
intercropped in sorghum). Soil additives i.e. farm yard manure, gypsum, compost and \ud
hydrogel (Qemisoyl) were applied in third week of June 2010 @ 25 t ha-1, 2.5 t ha-1, \ud
0.75 t ha-1 and 15 kg ha-1, respectively about two week before the onset of monsoon. \ud
During the study period data on soil moisture content, bulk density, crop growth, yield \ud
and yield components for all the crops were recorded. Competitive indices, and water \ud
use efficiency was also calculated. The data was subjected to Fisher's Analysis of \ud
Variance Technique (ANOVA) using statistical package STATISTIX 8.1. Least \ud
Significant Difference (LSD) test was used for comparison of treatment means. \ud
Economic analysis was performed using partial budget and dominance analysis \ud
techniques. The data revealed that at the time of wheat sowing after fellow or summer \ud
grown mungbean/sorghum, hydrogel (Qemisoyl) conserved higher moisture content \ud
(16.42%) in the soil profile as compared to control (12.80%). It was followed by \ud
compost, FYM and Gypsum. Among cropping systems, Mungbean-Wheat cropping \ud
system had slightly higher soil moisture content (15.1%) as compared to summer \ud
fellow (14.4%). Minimum soil moisture was recorded in Sorghum-Wheat system \ud
(13.2%). The moisture content in intercropping system was at par with fallow-wheat \ud
system. The values of competitive indices i.e. Land Equivalent Ratio, Relative \ud
Crowding Coefficient, and Competitive Ratio indicated sorghum/mungbean-wheat \ud
intercropping system as the most competitive and resource efficient system. Actual \ud
Yield Loss and Intercropping Advantage indices indicated reduction in yield of crops \ud
as compared to sole but it was compensated by (intercropping) production of two crops \ud
from same piece of land simultaneously. Sorghum-mungbean intercropping system \ud
produced wheat (2424 kg ha-1) at par with other systems implying this system as most \ud
productive in terms of total production per unit area per unit time (one year rotation). \ud
The partial budget analysis revealed sorghum/mungbean-wheat as most profitable \ud
cropping system and Hydrogel as most profitable soil additive. Whereas the hydrogel \ud
was most profitable soil additive in all cropping systems except mungbean-wheat \ud
system where compost was found most profitable
INTERFERENCE AND MANAGEMENT STUDIES OF Parthenium hysterophorus L. IN MAIZE
No full textABSTRACT\ud
Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) is an oncoming threatening weed for field crops including maize, in Pakistan. Scientific investigation regarding allelopathy, competiveness and management of parthenium in maize (Zea mays L.) was carried out through laboratory and field experiments. In laboratory experiments, allelopathic effect of 5% (w/v) aqueous extracts from root, stem, leaves, flowers and whole plant parts; and rhizospheric soil of parthenium growing at various farm's locations were tested against germination and seedling growth of maize. Maximum inhibition in germination (67%) and seedling biomass (106%) of maize was caused by leaf extract of parthenium uprooted from near field border probably due to its higher total phenolic contents (6678.2 mg L-1) and phenolic composition namely gallic, caffeic, 4 hydroxy-3-methoxy benzoic and p-coumaric acids detected in it. However, maize seed sown in parthenium rhizospheric soil near water channel showed maximum reduction in seedling biomass (35%) and seedling vigor index (34%) due to higher total phenolic contents (2549 mg L-1) and presence of m-coumaric, vanillic, syringic and ferulic acids in its 10% (w/v) aqueous extract. The bio-herbicidal potential of aqueous extracts with 5% (w/v) concentration from different plant parts (root, stem, leaves, flowers and whole plant) of four herb species (Achyranthes aspera L., Alternanthera philoxeroides Grisebach, Rumex dentatus L. and Datura metel L.); and with 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5% (w/v) concentrations from leaves of four tree species (Eugenia jambolana Lam., Ricinus communis L., Ziziphus jujuba L. and Ziziphus mauritiana L.) was explored against germination and seedling growth of parthenium by petriplate-based germination and pot-cultured based foliar spray bioassay studies. Maximum suppression in germination (95 and 79%) and seedling biomass (96 and 97%) of parthenium was caused by 5% leaf and whole plant extract of A. aspera, and leaf extract of R. communis, respectively due to their higher total phenolic contents (5778 and 6655 mg L-1) and presence of gallic, caffeic, chromatotropic, p-coumaric, m-coumaric, syringic and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxy benzoic acids. Field experiments were carried out to find out critical density, competition period and chemical control of parthenium. Three field experiments were conducted to study the effect of different density levels (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 plants m-2) and competition periods (0, 5, 6, 7, 8 weeks after crop emergence and for full season) of P. hysterophorus; and various herbicides viz., atrazine @ 360 g a.i. ha-1, atrazine + nicosulfuron @ 385 g a.i. ha-1, atrazine + S-metolachlor @ 720 g a.i. ha-1, bromoxynil + MCPA + metribuzin @ 470 g a.i. ha-1 and dicamba @ 304.5 g a.i. ha-1 on growth and NPK-uptake by weed; yield, yield components and grain quality attributes of maize. Gradual increase in parthenium weed biomass and NPK uptake; whereas decrease in maize plant height, yield and yield components were observed with increasing parthenium density and competition period. Significant reduction in grain yield (20% in each) of maize was observed with parthenium density of 5 plants per m2 and parthenium competition period of 5 weeks after crop emergence, therefore considered to be critical for control of this weed. Economic thresholds of parthenium weed in maize crop were estimated to be 1.2 and 1.3 plants per m2 during year 2012 and 2013, respectively. In comparison with weedy check, all herbicide applications resulted in significant reduction in parthenium dry weight and NPK uptake; while significant increase in plant height, number of grains per cob, grain weight per cob and grain yield of maize was observed during both years of study. Among herbicides, the highest parthenium weed control efficiency (100%) was given by bromoxynil + MCPA + metribuzin @ 470 g a.i. ha-1 followed by dicamba @ 304.5 g a.i. ha-1 (90 and 96.8%) during years 2012 and 2013, respectively. The best performance in terms of grain yield increase over weedy check was shown by the bromoxynil + MCPA + metribuzin @ 470 g a.i. ha-1 (138%) followed by dicamba @ 304.5 g a.i. ha-1 (74%). The highest benefit: cost ratio (6.87 in first year and 7.17 in second year) and MRR (2858 in first year and 2030 in second year) was attained by bromoxynil + MCPA + metribuzin @ 470 g a.i. ha-
ECOLOGY OF GREY GORAL (Naemorhedus goral) IN MACHIARA NATIONAL PARK, AZAD JAMMU & NASRA ASHRAF
No full textGorals belong to family Bovidae and Genus Naemorhedus. Himalayan\ud
goral (Naemorhedus goral) is one of three species of goral, one sub-species, the \ud
Grey goral (Naemorhedus goral goral) occurs in Pakistan. It is classified as Near \ud
Threatened globally (IUCN Red List) and Vulnerable in Pakistan. This subspecies \ud
is threatened primarily by illegal hunting and competition with livestock, resulting \ud
in small and fragmented populations in its current distribution range in Pakistan. \ud
Machiara National Park (MNP) falls under distribution range of grey goral in Azad \ud
Jammu and Kashmir where the present study was conducted. The objectives of the \ud
study were to determine distribution range of grey goral in the park in order to \ud
assess habitat use, population density, diet composition and grazing pressure in \ud
grey goral habitat in MNP, so that its current population status and the extent \ud
adverse impacts of grazing pressure could be assessed. Grey goral was found \ud
distributed in two sites of MNP, Machiara and Sarli Sacha on the basis of \ud
reconnaissance survey and secondary information from park staff and local people. \ud
I conducted vegetation survey in which 42 plant species were recorded in grey \ud
goral habitat in MNP. At Machiara, by vegetation sampling 40 plant species were \ud
identified, whereas at Serli Sacha only 17 plant species were recorded. At \ud
Machiara, grey goral inhabited areas between 1970 m and 2600 m elevation during \ud
winter and 2400 m and 2900 m in summer. At Serli Sacha, it occupied areas \ud
between 1970 m and 2200 m during winter and 2600 m and 2800 m during \ud
summer. During both seasons, south and southeast-facing slopes at Machiara and at \ud
Serli Sacha were used by goral relatively more frequently than other aspects. Both \ud
at Machiara and Serli Sacha, grey goral were most commonly found on moderate \ud
(30-40°) slopes during winter but on steeper (40-60°) slopes during summer. The \ud
vegetation type most preferred by grey goral was herbs and grasses (Ivlev \ud
Electivity Index (IEI) = 0.14), followed by shrubs (IEI = 0.03), while trees were \ud
avoided (IEI= -0.54). The overall mean population density of grey goral in MNP \ud
was 2.66 individuals / km² based on visual scans. The range of encounter rate \ud
(No./Scan) was 0.00 to 2.9. The population density of grey goral in Machiara site \ud
was higher (4.57/ km²) than Serli Sacha site (0.76/km²). The minimum herd size \ud
recorded was two while maximum herd size was six. Mean herd size was 4 animals \ud
where larger groups were frequent in less disturbed areas (38%) in contrast to \ud
highly disturbed areas (12%). Number of fawns / female was highest during May \ud
(1.12) and June (0.71). Diet composition of grey goral was determined through \ud
microhistological analysis of fecal pellets. A total of 145 pellet groups, 105 from \ud
Machiara (summer=52, winter=53) and 40 from Serli Sacha (summer=19, \ud
winter=21) were collected from study area. A wider range of dietary items were \ud
utilized by grey goral in Machiara (21) as compared to Serli Sacha (15). Average \ud
diet breadth was lower during the winter season in both study sites. Livestock \ud
grazing pressure in grey goral habitat was assessed through field sampling and \ud
questionnaire survey. Based on Adult Cattle Units (ACU), Serli Sacha had higher \ud
density of grazing livestock in grey goral habitat (105/ km2) than Machiara (81/ \ud
km2). At Machiara, a total of 295 livestock heads (cattle, sheep and goats) while in \ud
Serli Sacha, 413 livestock heads were recorded during grazing in grey goral \ud
habitat. There was a significant negative correlation between number of grey goral \ud
individuals observed and livestock units recorded both at Machiara and Serli \ud
Sacha. Future management of Park would require protection of core habitat of grey \ud
goral ranging from 1950 m to 2900 m elevation in MNP. Preferred forage species \ud
of grey goral, Geranium wallichianum, Poa annua, Themeda anathera, \ud
Cymbopogan martini, Persicaria nepalensis and Plectranthes rugosis need to be \ud
conserved and enhanced in its habitat in the park. Park management should initiate \ud
measures to reduce livestock population in areas identified as core habitat of grey \ud
goral for its conservation. Effective measures are particularly required for limiting \ud
the livestock grazing and wood cutting activities in MNP through awareness raising \ud
campaigns and cooperation of local communities
GENETIC ASSOCIATION STUDIES OF ASTHMA IN PAKISTANI POPULATION
No full textAsthma is an inflammatory chronic disorder of airways of lungs. In world,\ud
asthma is recognized as one of the most chronic diseases, which affects above 300 \ud
million people all round the world. In Pakistan, approximately 5-8% of adults are \ud
suffering from asthma. Both environmental and genetic factors contribute towards \ud
the development of disease. It is a multigenic disorder, and is due to different \ud
genetic factors, which also determine immune responses. The purpose of the \ud
present study is to identify and investigate polymorphisms in major asthma genes. \ud
In present study, 34 SNPs of 28 genes were genotyped by iPLEX and Taqman \ud
assay. HLA class II association was done by sequence specific PCR. It is found \ud
that the minor alleles of IL10 (rs1800896) and IL13 (rs1800925) are related to \ud
increased asthma risk in our population. It is also seen that the minor alleles of \ud
ADAM33 (rs2280091) are showing significant association with protection in \ud
Pakistani asthmatic population. ADAM33 minor allele is having protective effect \ud
in females. ACE homozygous insertion is reported to be associated with asthma \ud
risk in Pakistani population. HLA class II DRB1*07 and DQB1*03 are found to be \ud
important in asthma pathogenesis and DQB1*06 is showing statistically signi?cant \ud
association with protection against the disease
COMPARATIVE REFERENCE VALUES OF SOMATIC CELLS, ENZYMES AND SOME BIOCHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS IN THE MILK FROM UNINFECTED MAMMARY GLANDS OF NILI-RAVI BUFFALOES, SAHIWAL AND CROSS-BRED COWS
No full textPakistan is among the top milk producing countries of the world. However, the quality control standards for milk have not as yet been established. The present study was conducted to establish the normal reference values of milk somatic cell counts (SCC), different milk enzymes and other important milk constituents in non-infected milk of Nili-Ravi buffaloes, Sahiwal and cross-bred cows. The milk samples from 30 animals (in the first two months of first to 5th lactation) of each group were collected from Livestock Experimental Station, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad and commercial dairy farms and tested for mastitis using Surf Field Mastitis test and microbiological examination and negative samples were used to establish the reference values. Milk samples were analyzed for different parameters like pH, electrical conductivity (EC), SCC, milk enzymes i.e. lacto-peroxidase (LPO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), guaiacol peroxidase (GPO), catalase (CAT), protease, amylase, ?-esterase, NAGase, total phenolic contents (TPC), proteins and malondialdehyde (MDA) content and reference values were established. Total protein (81.6±2.0 mg mL-1), casein (71.4±1.2 mg mL-1), TPC (2381.6±71.85 µM mL-1), total oxidant status (TOS) (61.25±0.59 µM mL-1), protease (81.3±3.35 U/mL), CAT (97.45±4.8 U/mL), LPO (1.75±0.06 U/mL), NAGase (56.07±2.33 U/mL) and SCC (178645.83±2324.0 mL-1) were the highest in milk of crossbred cows. Whey protein (28.8±1.25 mg mL-1), GPO (110.74±8.64 U/mL), SOD (17.15±0.56 U/mL), amylase (89.44±2.51U/mL), EC (5.7±0.04) and MDA (2.27±0.07 µM mL-1) was the highest in Sahiwal cow's milk. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) (3.296±0.005 mM L-1) and ?-esterase (361.19±13.63 U/mL) activity were the highest in milk of Nili-Ravi buffaloes. The SCC negatively correlated with TOS, TAC, Lacto-serum protein and ?-esterase activity while NAGase with lacto-serum protein and amylase, therefore, their higher values can be used as indicators of good milk quality. SCC and NAGase positively correlated with TPC, CAT and LPO. As such their lower values seem to be associated with better udder health and good milk quality. GPO and SOD negatively correlated with TOS, TAC, total protein, casein and ?-esterase activity but positively correlated with amylase, EC, SCC, MDA and lacto-serum protein therefore, their lower values in milk may be desirable. Milk quality of Nili-Ravi was comparatively superior based on lower values of SCC, EC, NAGase, CAT, GPO, SOD, TPC, protease and higher TAC. Protein profiling through SDS-PAGE clearly resolved the major milk peptides. In high molecular weight (M. wt.) zone, proteins of ~208 kDa and ~190 kDa were detected in all tested samples. In medium M. wt. zone, three peptides i.e. lactoferrin (78.2kDa), serum albumin (66.2kDa) and heavy chain of immunoglobulin (IgG) (54 kDa) were detected in all samples while a prominent band of ovalbumin (45kDa) was also detected mainly in cow milk samples. In low M. wt. zone, clear bands of milk caseins were detected. All four casein (CN) bands i.e. ?S2 - CN (29 kDa), ?S1 - CN (27 kDa), ? - CN (24 kDa) and ?- CN (22 kDa) were detected in Sahiwal and cross-bred cows. However, in milk of Nili-Ravi buffaloes, three casein protein i.e. ?S2 - CN (29 kDa), ? - CN (25 kDa) and ?- CN (22 kDa) were detected. In milk of Nili-Ravi buffaloes, ?S1 - CN (27 kDa) was not detected. Moreover, a band of ?-lactoglobulin (~18 kDa) was detected in milk of cross-bred cows and not in other samples especially those of Nili-Ravi buffaloes. As the ?S1-casein and ?-lactoglobulin are the major allergens, milk of NiliRavi buffaloes that lacks these peptides can be used for development of hypoallergenic or non-allergic dairy products. Deferential peptides may also help to differentiate the milk from different tested dairy species/cow types
Genetics of low temperature tolerance in maize (Zea mays L.)
No full textMaize (Zea mays L.) is a crop of tropical and subtropical origin. Therefore is more sensitive to low temperature stress as compared to crops of temperate origin. Spring season maize is facing the problem of low temperature stress at early growth stages. To search for tolerance among available maize germplasm, to determine the mode of gene action involved in the control of different parameters related to low temperature stress tolerance and to assess the extent of association of different parameters with grain yield, the current study was planned. Maize genotypes were screened under controlled conditions of screenhouse and natural stress conditions of field by following completely randomized design and triplicated split plot design respectively. In screenhouse experiment, the genotypes were evaluated under normal and low temperature stress environment. The temperature was adjusted at 11/9 °C (day/night). Whereas, in field conditions, natural low temperature stress was managed by early sowing (1st week of January) and normal set was sown in 1st week of February. In screenhouse conditions, seedlings were uprooted to study phenological and biochemical traits like mean emergence time, time to 50% emergence, final emergence percentage, emergence index, shoot length, root length, root-shoot ratio, root shoot fresh and dry weights, ? carotenoid contents, chlorophyll a and b contents, proline contents and ascorbic acid contents to screen out tolerant and susceptible genotypes in screenhouse. Under field conditions, in addition to all above traits, data were recorded for plant height, leaf fresh weight, stomata conductance, leaf temperature, transpiration rate and photosynthetic active radiation. Yield attributing traits like days to tasseling, days to silking, anthesissilking interval, number of grains per cob, 100 grain weight along with grain yield per plant were recorded. On the basis of performance in both the experiments genotype 014888 was ranked as most tolerant and E-326 as most susceptible. Both, most tolerant and most susceptible genotypes were used as parents in hybridization program of generation mean analysis. Generations P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1 and BC2 were raised and evaluated in screenhouse and field under both low temperature stress and normal conditions to find gene expression involved in the control of low temperature stress related traits. Generation means analysis showed that all three types of genetic effects (additive, dominance and interactions) contributed in inheritance of traits for low temperature stress. Association among yield contributing traits was computed to know the interrelationship among them. On the basis of information drawn from experiments done in screening phase, computation of correlation and genetic effects, it is concluded that genetic diversity among maize germplasm is quite evident at allelic level and there is available genetic potential to improve low temperature stress tolerance in maize. The additive and epistatic effects in the control of different low temperature stress related traits can be exploited in different breeding programs to improve maize genetic potential against chilling stress
GENETICS OF HEAVY METAL TOLERANCE IN SOLANUM LYCOPERSICUM L.
No full textThe present study was conducted to assess the genetics of heavy metal tolerance in 100 Solanum lycopersicum L. genotypes under simulated stress conditions of lead and cadmium along with control. Two levels of each, lead (300 ppm, 600 ppm) and cadmium (3 ppm, 6 ppm) were used to contaminate the soil. The results of analysis of variance for lead and cadmium tolerance revealed significant genotypic differences at P < 0.01 for leaf, root, shoot and fruit metal contents along-with yield per plant. Significant differences were found for all the traits studied under all levels of lead and cadmium stress. On the basis of fruit metal contents and high yield, thirteen genotypes, eight tolerant (9086, Roma, Sitara TS-01, Pak0010990, Picdeneato, CLN-2123A, 006231, 7035) and five non tolerant (42-07, 17883, BL-1176-Riostone-1-1, 17882) were selected. The selected genotypes were crossed in line × tester mating design to assess GCA, SCA and heterotic effects in breeding material. The genotype × metal interaction was found significant for metal contents (leaf, root, shoot, and fruit) and yield per plant indicating that all genotypes responded differently to increasing levels of lead and cadmium. Analysis of variance for F1 showed highly significant differences among all the genotypes including parents and hybrids for different morpho-physiological and quality traits i.e. days to first picking (DFP), number of clusters per plant (NC/P), number of flowers per cluster (NFL/C), number of fruits per cluster (NF/C), fruit setting percentage (FS%),plant height (PH), fruit yield per plant (Y/Pl), leaf metal contents, root metal contents, shoot metal contents, fruit metal contents, total soluble solids (TSS), ascorbic acid contents (AaC) and lycopene contents (LC). The mean squares or differences among treatments were found significant for all the traits under control and two levels of each lead and cadmium. Under control conditions, variances due to treatments, parents, crosses, testers, parents vs. crosses and line vs. tester were found significant for all the traits under study. On the basis of GCA results the line Picdeneato and tester 17882 were found best general combiners while SCA results indicated that cross combinations Roma × 17883 and Picdeneato × Marmande were found good specific combiners. Variances due to SCA were found more than the variances due to GCA indicating that non additive type of gene action is controlling all the traits in all environments (lead, cadmium & control). Heterosis results indicated that cross combinations Sitara TS-01 × 17882, 7035 × 17882 and Roma × 17882 performed well for most of the traits under study in terms of significant heterosis. Cross combinations 006231 × 42-07 and Roma × 17883 performed well under all metal stress conditions. As non-additive type of gene action was found for most of the traits studied therefore, hybrid breeding is recommended for developing heavy metal tolerant tomato plant