Journal of Applied and Natural Science
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Optimization of amylase and lipase enzymes produced by Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis isolated from waste dumpsites
Get PDFThe enzyme amylase is one of the most important in biotechnology, and lipase operates as a catalytic agent for a broad range of hydrolytic and synthetic activities. This study aimed to assess the optimization of amylase and lipase enzyme produced by microorganisms isolated from selected waste or garbage dumpsite in Akure, Ondo State Nigeria. The isolates were identified using biochemical and cultural characteristics. A total of seven bacterial isolates were identified and quantitative production of amylase and lipase by solid-state fermentation was assessed for each bacterial isolate. The optimization of nutritional and environmental parameters on enzymes produced by the isolated organisms was standardized with respect to incubation time, temperature, pH, and carbon and nitrogen sources. The activity of the enzymes generated was determined by spectrophotometric assay. Of the seven organisms isolated, Bacillus cereus LA326 and Bacillus subtilis AU021 had the highest amylase and lipase activity and were therefore chosen for further research. The maximum level of amylase and lipase activity attained by B. subtilis AU021 was 68.0 mmol/min and 16.3 mmol/min after 18 hours of incubation respectively, while the maximum levels of amylase and lipase activity attained by B. cereus LA326 were found to be 76 mmol/min after 12 hours and 16.3mmol/min after 18 hours of incubation, respectively. The study found that B. cereus and B. subtilis isolated from dumpsites could be efficient producers of biotechnology-relevant enzymes and that environmental conditions could influence their enzyme production
Response of Indole 3 butyric acid during air layering on root and shoot induction behavior in Guava (Psidium guajava L) CV Sardar (L-49)
Get PDFAir layering is practiced as it has assured to produce true to type plants and early and better rooting is observed when treated with Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA). A field experiment was conducted to study the Rooting and shooting behaviour in Guava (Psidium guajava L.) air layering under different concentrations of IBA during 2019 in guava orchard located at Maheru, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab. A total of ten treatments with three replications comprising T1 –Control, T2- IBA@ 5 g, T3- IBA@ 6 g, T4- IBA@ 7 g, T5- IBA@ 8 g, T6- IBA@ 9 g, T7- IBA@ 10 g, T8- IBA@ 11 g, T9- IBA@ 12 g, T10- IBA@ 5000 ppm (Liquid) were applied. Thirteen observations of the root and shoot characters were recorded and analyzed in factorial design of RBD. The results indicated that IBA@ 8 g (T5) performed better than control and produced the best results in root parameters and shoot parameters such as the number of days to root (31.7), primary roots (59.30), primary root length (8.74 cm), primary root diameter (0.89 mm), secondary roots (45.57), secondary root length (5.73 cm), fresh root weight (0.93 g) and dry root weight, (0.81g) number of side shoots (6.87), length of side shoots (4.10 cm), length of longest side shoots (6.01 cm) and number of leaves per air layer (33.93). The existing guava production is not able to meet our present demand of guava fruits to the increasing population of the country. It is commonly propagated by seed. However, the seedlings produced are not true to type and they also take much longer to bear fruits than asexually propagated materials as the juvenile phase is eliminated in asexually propagated plants. Therefore, in the present study, guava air layering plants treated with the IBA@ 8 g are true to type and do not take much time to bear fruits, thus contributing to quality guava production.
Evaluation of complete blood count, c-reactive protein, and lactate dehydrogenase in culturable and unculturable bacteremia for early diagnosis of sepsis
Get PDFBacteremia is a bacterial infection that enters the bloodstream. This study was designed to investigate if culture methods could detect the bacterial infection of the bloodstream and to assess certain criteria for bacterial sepsis in culturable and non-culturable blood samples from hospitalized patients, like C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and complete blood count (CBC). A total of 100 blood samples from patients with symptoms of sepsis who resided in the Hilla City hospital were collected as well as 25 samples as a healthy control group without disease or inflammation. Each sample was divided into three containers; 2ml in an EDTA tube for the CBC test, 3ml in a centrifuged tube for the CRP and LDH test, and 3-7ml in brain heart infusion broth for blood culture. The study result showed that 65 (65%) of 100 samples had abnormal tests, whereas only 25 (25%) of 100 were culture positive. There was a statistically significant difference between patients and control regarding all parameters CRP, LDH, white blood cell (WBC), lymphocyte (LYM) and granulocyte (GRA) (P= 0.000). No significant association in studied parameters was observed between culture-positive and culture-negative patients. Significant strong positive correlation was observed between WBC and LDH (r= 0.332) (p= 0.007), LYM and GR) (r= -0.983) (p= 0.000), LYM and CRP (r= 0.257) (p= 0.03), and between GRA and LDH (r= 0.254) (p= 0.04). Therefore, the estimation of WBC, granulocytes, lymphocytes count, CRP and LDH values and blood culture results may help in the early identification of the causative agent of sepsis
Performance evaluation of Satellite-based actual evapotranspiration technique
Get PDFEstimating crop evapotranspiration is vital for the calculation of irrigation water requirements. Remote sensing data have proven to be a valuable and efficient tool for estimating evapotranspiration. It has been used intensively over the past decade due to free, high temporal and spectral resolution data availability. The main aim of this study was to estimate the evapotranspiration (ET) over a selected area in El-Beheira governorate, Egypt based on the Simplified Surface Energy Balance Index (S-SEBI) using nine Landsat-8 images acquired from January to December 2020. The performance of the studied method was compared with the CROPWAT-8 model. The results revealed the acceptable accuracy of the ET estimated from S-SEBI algorithms with Landsat 8 images according to the coefficient of determination (r2 = 0.82) and root mean square error (RMSE = 0.53 mm/day). Therefore, it is recommended to use the S-SEBI to calculate the spatial evapotranspiration distribution using Landsat-8 images to provide the required information for determining irrigation water requirements and suggesting an efficient water management strategy
Effect of air pollutants on physiological parameters and yield attributes of paddy and wheat crops in Faridabad region, India
Get PDFAir pollution is one of the major problems in the Delhi NCR region due to industrial emissions, traffic congestion, population growth and rapid development. Air pollutants deteriorate the environment, human health, plants and crops. This study focuses on the physiological parameters and yield attributes of paddy and wheat crops in the vicinity of a gas-based national thermal power plant (NTPC) located in Faridabad. Ten sites were selected, including the control site within a 10 km aerial distance from the exhaust chimney stack of the power plant. Major air pollutants, such as NOx, SOx, O3, and PM10, were monitored using Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guidelines. The air quality index (AQI) was moderately polluted at the sampling site, while good air quality was observed at the control site. The results showed that the photosynthetic rates were reduced to 46% in paddies and 48% in wheat crops. In the vegetative growth stage of paddies and wheat crops, the stomatal conductance of paddies decreased to 0.11 mmol m-2s-1 compared to 0.19 mmol m-2s-1 at the control site. The transpiration rate ranged from 0.6 to 7.7 μmol/m2/s in paddies and 1.2 to 9.8 μmol/m2/s in wheat crops. The R2 value ranged from 0.702 to 0.985, which shows a strong impact of the air quality index on the physiological parameters of crops. The yield reduction due to air pollution in paddies was 11.6%, and in wheat crops, it was 14.8%. This study also provides an inventory of air pollutants in Faridabad region and their subsequent impacts on crops
Evaluation of whey protein concentrate as a functional ingredient on quality of goat milk rasogolla - an Indian dessert
Get PDFIn the literature, a variety of dairy products are made from goat milk; however, information related to the manufacture of rasogolla from goat milk is very scant. During preliminary trials, it was observed that chhena prepared from goat milk was not suitable for the preparation of rasogolla because it has a very soft and sticky body that is difficult to handle. Therefore, this investigation was conducted to formulate an acceptable quality goat milk rasogolla using whey protein concentrate (WPC) as a functional ingredient. Chhena (also known as Indian cottage cheese, a heat- and acid-coagulated indigenous dairy product) was prepared from fresh Surati goat milk (3.5% fat/8.5% milk solids-not-fat (MSNF). Twelve batches of rasogolla were prepared from chhena coagulated at three temperatures viz. 75, 80 and 85⁰C containing WPC at 4 levels (i.e., 0, 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75% w/w of milk). Rasogolla prepared from chhena containing 0.50% WPC in milk and coagulated at 80°C was preferred the most with respect to all the sensory attributes evaluated. It had significantly (P<0.05) highest sucrose content, i.e., 35.73% and a higher sugar absorption ratio, i.e., 2.63, compared to all the other experimental samples. The composition of drained samples of goat milk rasogolla was as follows: moisture 50.07%; protein 7.04%; fat 6.44%; ash 0.45% and sucrose 35.73%. The pH was 6.34 and acidity was 0.76% lactic acid. Based on the results obtained in this study, a method was developed for the preparation of acceptable quality goat milk chhena and rasogolla
Rice cv. HUR105 response to zinc fertilizer combined with microbial consortia and cow dung grown in the eastern plain of Uttar Pradesh, India: Zn solubilizing bacteria
No full textThe solubility and bioavailability of zinc in the soil determinethe efficiency of Zn fertilizers. A two-year (2018 and 2019) field experiment was performed to study the effectiveness of Zn sources combined with Zn solubilizing microorganisms, ZSM (Acinetobacter calcoaceticus + Pantoea agglomerans) and cow dung, in rice cv. HUR105 in alluvial soil at the Agriculture Research Farm, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Among various treatments, the treatment (T8) 9.8 kg ZnO ha-1 with ZSM showed better grain and straw yields. However, 25.0 kg ZnSHH ha-1+ ZSM (T6) was found to be statistically comparable to the treatment (T8). The addition of cow dung (CD) decreased the grain yield in T11 ( 9.8 kg ZnO ha-1 + ZSM + 200 kg CD ha-1) and T12 (14.6 kg ZnO ha-1 + ZSM + 200 kg CD ha-1), except the treatment (T10) 4.9 kg ZnO + ZSM + 200 kg CD ha-1. Partial factor productivity of applied Zn varied from 347.2 to 1762.2 and 369.6 to 1855.6 kg grain kg-1 Zn, physiological Zn efficiency varied from 487.4 to 2075.3 and 775.5 and 2035.2 kg grain kg-1 Zn absorbed, agronomic use efficiency of Zn ranged from 20.1 to 189.6 and 28.7 to 180 kg grain kg-1 Zn, the recovery efficiency of Zn fertilizer varied from 3.58 to 11.9% and 3.57 to 11.8% among the treatments in both seasons, respectively. The maximum gross and net return were documented by T8- 9.8 kg ZnO ha-1 + ZSM, and 23.9% and 28.5% over the control due to higher grain yields.
Mathematical modeling on the transmission of COVID-19 and its reproduction numbers in SAARC countries
Get PDFIn the middle of December 2019, a virus known as coronavirus (COVID-19) generated by severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARC-CoV-2) was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. As of the 9th of March, 2022, spread to over 212 countries, causing 429 million confirmed cases and 6 million people to lose their lives worldwide. In developing countries like the South Asian area, alarming dynamic variations in the pattern of confirmed cases and death tolls were displayed. During epidemics, accurate assessment of the characteristics that characterize infectious disease transmission is critical for optimizing control actions, planning, and adapting public health interventions. The reproductive number, or the typical number of secondary cases caused by an infected individual, can be employed to determine transmissibility. Several statistical and mathematical techniques have been presented to calculate across the duration of an epidemic. A technique is provided for calculating epidemic reproduction numbers. It is a MATLAB version of the EpiEstim package\u27s R function estimate R, version 2.2-3. in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries. The three methodologies supported are \u27parametric SI,\u27 \u27non-parametric SI,\u27 and \u27uncertain SI.\u27 The present study indicated that the highest reproduction number was 12.123 and 11.861 on 5th and 14th March 2020 in India and Sri_Lanka, whereas the lowest reproduction number was the lowest was 0.300 and 0.315 in Sri_Lanka and India. The Maximum and minimum reproductive number of Bangladesh was 3.752 and 0.725. In this study, we have tried to point out the worst, best and current situation of SAARC countries
Investigation of blaIMP-1, blaVIM-1, blaOXA-48 and blaNDM-1 carbapenemase encoding genes among MBL-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Get PDFPseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) places among major opportunistic nosocomial pathogen which has developed extensive drug resistance. Due to uncontrolled consumption of antibiotics, multidrug-resistant (MDR) P. aeruginosa species are increasingly isolated from various settings of hospitals globally. This research aimed to determine the genes reproducing blaOXA-48, blaIMP-1, blaVIM-1 and blaNDM-1 metallo beta lactamase (MBL) genes from MDR P. aeruginosa isolates. Herein, the isolates of 200 P. aeruginosa have been obtained from microbiology laboratory of burn ward. The antibiotic susceptibility profile was using Disc Diffusion Method (DDM and in compliance with CLSI (Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute) advice. Study of MBL-bearing strains and the existence of encoding genes was specified by means of polymerase chain reaction. In addition, pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) is performed for typing. In this study, 124 (62%) were extended spectrum β-lactamase producer and 51 (25.5%) were MBL producers. Moreover, 148 (74%) isolates were MDR-P. aeruginosa. Additionally, 42 (21%), 21 (10%), 10 (5%) and 2 (1%) isolates carried the blaIMP-1, blaOXA-48, blaVIM-1 and blaNDM-1 genes, respectively. The PFGE showed no genetic relationships among isolates. The study observed high rate of MDR P. aeruginosa in hospital settings, though not being outbreak, which nearly half of them carried carbapenemase enzymes. Therefore, the proper control of related infections and appropriate prescription and consumption of antibiotics is essential
Seed priming with different levels and sources of zinc on the seed germination and seedling growth of barnyard millet (Echinocola frumentacea)
Get PDFSeed priming with zinc increases the seed germination and seedling growth of many crops. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of seed priming with different levels and sources of zinc on seed germination and seedling growth of barnyard millet variety MDU1. A germination experiment was conducted with various Zn sources and concentrations viz., T1- Non-primed seeds (control); T2-water priming; T3-GA3 priming; T4-T6: seed priming with 0.10%, 0.25% & 0.50% ZnSO4 ; T7- T9: seed priming with 0.10%, 0.25% & 0.50% Zn EDTA; T10-T12: seed priming with 0.10%, 0.25% & 0.50% Zn citrate and the experimental design was a completely randomized design (CRD) which were replicated five times. The seeds of MDU1 variety were treated with different sources and levels of Zn for 12h and the seed germination study was carried out for 15 days. After 15 days, the germination percentage, speed of germination, germination energy, germination index and the seedling growth parameters such as, root length, shoot length, vigour index and seedling dry weight were recorded. Seed priming with 0.50% ZnSO4 performed better in increasing the germination percentage (99%), speed of germination (76.2%), germination energy (69.4%), germination index (3.91) and seedlings growth parameters like shoot length (14.7cm), root length (16.5cm), seedlings dry weight (0.44g), vigour index I (3099) and II (44.6), Zn content (21.9 mg kg-1) & its uptake (5.54 mg g-1). This was closely followed by seed priming of Zn EDTA at 0.25% and Zn citrate at 0.50%. From this study, it can be concluded that seed priming with 0.50% ZnSO4 could be used to improve the germination and seedling growth of barnyard millet which was also economical.