Journal of Applied and Natural Science
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Molecular marker assisted screening for kernel polyphenol oxidase activity in wheat Triticum aestivum L.
Get PDFHigh level of kernel polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity has been found to be the major factor behind time-dependent discolouration of wheat-based products, which ultimately leads to reduced consumers’ preference. Till date, 6 genes belonging in 2 paralogous sets present in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) chromosome 2 homeologues (2A, 2B and 2D) have been reported to govern kernel PPO activity. Among these 6 genes, perfect molecular markers have been developed for 2 genes (PPOA1 and PPOD1) and the major role of PPOA1 gene in governing kernel PPO activity in wheat has been reported. In the present study we have used the molecular markers for the PPOA1 and PPOD1 genes to characterize wheat genotypes for their kernel PPO activity. We have successfully converted the dominant marker assay for the PPOD1 locus into a co-dominant assay using the already reported primers. Our molecular screening strategy could explain the kernel PPO activity of wheat genotypes in rapid, reliable and environment-independent manner. Furthermore, biochemical estimation of kernel PPO activity in wheat genotypes indicated the involvement of other genes in fine-tuning this important trait. Thus, the present study should facilitate the breeders in marker-assisted selection and breeding for developing wheat genotypes with low kernel PPO activity
Comparative study of different exponential smoothing models in simulation of meteorological drought : A study on Purulia district, West Bengal, India
Get PDFDrought is a burning issue in India and hence needs serious attention of researchers to develop rigorous plan and management. Areas that belong to various plateaus, e.g., Chottanagpur plateau, Deccan plateau, etc., are mostly affected by drought in India. In the past decade, Purulia District of West Bengal, which belongs to northeast part of Chottanagpur plateau, faced severe drought several times. But the assessment of drought in this area was far from a decesive proclamation till date. In this research, an attempt was made to compare the Holt-Winter additive and Holt-Winter multiplicative model in simulation (at 1 month lead time) of meteorological drought (using Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) of Purulia District, West Bengal, India. The additive model showed better performance than the multiplicative model with minimized Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and higher correlation coefficient value (R2). The spatial assessment drought at pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon phase indicated that severe drought had occurred in post monsoon and premonsoon phase at the eastern portions of the study area.
A Geo-spatial approach for quantifying rooftop photovoltaic energy potential in Karnal smart city, Haryana - A case study
Get PDFSolar energy is one of the best sustainable forms of renewable energy. India has a cumulative installed capacity of 9.23 GW of grid-connected solar power and set an ambitious target of attaining 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022, including 40 GW of grid-connected rooftop solar installations well. The present study demonstrates the Geospatial technology to estimate the potential of solar photovoltaic on the rooftops of Karnal city. The satellite data of Sentinel -2 and World View-II data was interpreted so as to extract the building footprints. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data derived from ALOS (Advanced Land Observing Satellite) PALSAR (2019) data was used to calculate the Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI). It was calculated that the average annual GHI varied between 0.79-5.9 kWh/m2/day. The study revealed maximum GHI (462 kWh/m2) was recorded during the monsoon season. It was estimated that the seasonal energy generation capacity in urban area was minimum (268.4MWh) in the winter season, while the maximum (2632.4MWh) energy generation capacity was observed during the monsoon season. In the case of the industrial area, the minimum seasonal energy generation capacity was found to be 23.9 MWh in winter while the maximum of 234.8 MWh during the monsoon season. If solar panels installed on the proposed rooftops, an estimated energy potential of 5.9 GWh would be generated in the study area
Growth and physiological potential of Terminalia arjuna under elevated CO2 levels in Open top chamber condition
Get PDFTerminalia arjuna is native to India and occurs naturally along the banks of streams and rivers. The species is characterized to dry deciduous forests. The present study was carried out for the growth and physiological changes of T. arjuna in different elevated CO2 levels. Open top chambers were used to expose plants to ambient and elevated CO2 concentrations (400 and 800 ppm). The experiment was conducted in the month of March to August in 2019 for six months. The results showed that the growth parameters, i.e. plant height, collar diameter, the number of leaves, were found to be increased in elevated CO2 conditions. The percentage increase in physiological parameters like photosynthetic rate (28.82), mesophyll efficiency (60 % more in elevated CO2 condition), CO2 concentration (55 % more in elevated CO2), vapour pressure deficit (4.83 at 800 ppm) and water use efficiency (5.94 at ppm) increased. In contrast, transpiration rate (5.38 at 800 ppm and 10.11 ppm at ambient condition) and stomatal conductance (30% less in 800 ppm) decreased under elevated CO2 compared to ambient conditions. The study concluded that changing climatic conditions and significantly elevated CO2 in future may profoundly influence plant growth and the physiological response of T. arjuna
Progression of anorexia nervosa: An insight into neurological and biological mechanisms influencing the personality patterns of anorexics
Get PDFAnorexia nervosa has emerged as a prominent eating disorder affecting young women. This disorder\u27s fundamental characteristic is an abnormally low weight achieved by severe calorie restriction and refusal to maintain body weight at or above the minimally normal weight for age and height. It is a complex disorder with its origins still not explicitly defined. In anorexic individuals, an imbalance in the molecular signalling and hypothalamic neuropeptides is believed to be significantly responsible for alterations in the biological mechanisms associated with body weight, appetite and energy homeostasis. The imbalance between the genetic systems such as serotonin, dopamine, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, estrogen and their interactions are significantly observed in anorexic as well as recovered anorexic individuals. The dopaminergic pathway is involved in reward mechanisms but its dysfunction might cause weight loss, food aversion, hyperactivity, obsessive compulsive behaviours, distorted body image. An abnormal serotonin function reveals personality traits such as rigidity, inhibition, anxiety, inflexibility, perfectionism and harm avoidance. The Met66 variant of brain derived neurotrophic factor is strongly associated with the development of restricting-type anorexia nervosa. The development of anorexia has been linked to estrogen receptor beta gene variants, which also regulate food intake and states of anxiety and depression.This review discusses the neurobiological dysregulations because of which anorexics tend to have a distinct personality profile characterized by behaviour patterns comprising perfectionism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, harm avoidance, alexithymia, anger suppression, anxiety, rigidity, novelty seeking, anhedonia, depression, impulsivity, substance abuse, self harm etc. Heterogeneities in the characteristic profile are observed based on the subdivisions of anorexia nervosa. The impact of malnutrition has also been scrutinized
Differential gene expression and co-regulated expression of genes in leukemia: an in-silico approach to identify potent biomarker
Get PDFA biomarker can be measured, used to diagnose or classify disease, and measure progress as well as the therapeutic response of the disease. Early diagnosis and selection of appropriate treatment can be critical for the successful treatment of diseases. Identification and characterization of potent diagnostic biomarkers, and therapeutic targets rely heavily on traditional in vitro screens which require extensive resources and time. Integration of in silico screens prior to experimental validation can improve the efficiency and potency of biomarkers as well as reduce the cost and time of biomarker discovery. Considering the need, present work was undertaken to identify biomarkers for different classes of leukemia. Differential Gene Expression (DGE) analysis and co-regulated expression analysis were used for in silico identification and characterise a potent biomarker for leukemia. On the basis of in silico screening, the present study proposed seven protein-coding (CD38, TSC22D3, TNFRSF25, AGL, LARGE1, ARHGAP32, and PARM1) genes for the diagnosis of leukemia. The study also proposed a novel three-step lineage-specific model for the diagnosis of leukemia. In the three-step diagnosis model, the first group of biomarkers with an association of clinical and hematological parameters diagnose leukemia. The second group of biomarkers diagnoses acute and chronic form of leukemia. The third group of biomarkers identifies whether it belongs to myeloid lineage or lymphoid lineage
Effect of land configurations and Pongamia mulch on soil moisture content and yield of yellow pericarp sorghum during kharif
Get PDFThe present work aims to determine the effect of land configurations and Pongamia pinnata mulch on soil moisture content and yield of yellow sorghum during kharif, 2018-19 on sandy clay loam soils of Hyderabad. The experiment was conducted at the College of Agriculture, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. The treatments included land configurations (Flatbed, Ridge and furrow, Broad bed and furrow, Flatbed + Mulch, Ridge and Furrow + Mulch, Broad bed and furrow + Mulch) and yellow sorghum genotypes (PYPS 101, PYPS 102, PYPS 103 and PYPS 104). Mulch used in this investigation was Pongamia leaf mulch applied @ 6 t ha-1 uniformly at 20 DAS. Soil moisture played a vital role in increasing crop yields in the rainfed regions of the semi-arid tropics. During most crop growth stages, the availability of soil water was increased by Broad bed and furrow + mulch, resulting in increased grain yield by 37 % (1701 kg ha-1) of yellow sorghum over flatbed. Ridge and furrow + mulch were found to be the next best treatment, with a grain yield of 1590 kg ha-1. Mulched treatments of flatbed, ridge and furrow and broad bed and furrow increased the grain yield by 20%, 28% and 37%, respectively, compared to flatbed without mulch. The present study will help in recognizing profitable moisture conservation practices and the role of Pongamia mulch in soil moisture conservation and yield maximization of yellow sorghum
Fabrication and performance evaluation of vertical farming structures
Get PDFThis study was undertaken to fabricate Vertical Farming Structures (VFS) suitable for homestead and evaluate the performance of fabricated vertical farming structures. The experiment was conducted in Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology (KCAET), Tavanur, in Malappuram district, Kerala. Two vertical farming structures DVFS 1 (Developed vertical farming structure 1) and DVFS 2 (Developed vertical farming structure 2) were designed and fabricated. The drip irrigation system was adopted to irrigate the plants to reduce the wastage of water. Amaranthus seedlings of variety ‘Kannara local’ was taken for the trial. Climatic parameters and biometric observations were analyzed to compare and evaluate the performances of vertical farming structures. Correlation analysis was done using IBM SPSS statistics 25 software. The analysis of trials revealed that DVFS 1 showed better performance in every aspect compared to DVFS 2. The biometric observations like plant height and number of leaves were more in T1 at the right side and followed by T3 at the right side of DVFS 1. The plant characteristics are highly correlated with the light intensity. This was the reason for more growth was observed on the right side of DVFS 1. The maximum yield was obtained from the DVFS 1 (58%) than DVFS 2 (42%). The study recommended that usage of the platform like structure with triangular cross-section was more advantageous than the structure with tiers one over the other with Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) splits
Draft measurement of five tyne duck foot plough in clay soil
Get PDFIn the present study, the draft requirement of five tyne duck foot plough was studied on clay soil for different soil moisture content, depth of operation and forward speed of tractor using a specially designed three-point hitch dynamometer. The designed dynamometer was matched with the tractors having category II or III hitch systems. The data acquisition system adopted for the dynamometer had NI WSN-3214 Strain Nodes, NI 9792 WSN real-time Gateway and NI LAB View 2013 software. A data logger program was developed for the three-point hitch dynamometer. The investigation was carried out at that three levels soil moisture content (10-13%, 14-16% and 17-20%), at three different depth of operation (15, 20 and 25 cm) and three levels of the forward speed of tractor (3, 5 and 7 km h-1). The designed dynamometer performed well in all the levels of the experiment. The results showed that draft force required for five tyne duck foot plough was increased (408 kg) with an increase in soil moisture content (17-20%), whereas it was increased (408 kg) with an increase in depth of operation (25 cm) and forward speed of tractor (7 km h-1). The suitable sweep, the forward speed of operation, depth of operation and soil moisture content that influenced the draft force and energy consumption for tillage operation of duck foot type plough were identified and developed duck foot plough was better coverage with better soil operation.
Effect of composition and depth of filter-bed on the efficiency of Sand-intermittent-filter treating the Industrial wastewater at Haridwar, India
Get PDFSand Intermittent Filtration (SIF) is an established technology of wastewater treatment and in recent years it gains renewed interest due to its simplicity and less energy requirement. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the modified filter-bed Reactor using Sand-intermittent-filtration (SIF) for the removal of physicochemical parameters viz dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total hardness (TH), calcium hardness (CaH), chloride (Cl), turbidity, total solids (TS), total dissolved solids (TDS), and total suspended solids (TSS) of the Industrial wastewater of State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (SIDCUL) at Haridwar. The experiments were performed with the composition of the filter-bed having sand and gravel in the ratio of 1:1 (Reactor I); 1:2 (Reactor II) and 2:1 (Reactor III) at the room temperature 300C. Each Reactor was categorized into A, B and C type based on depth of filter-bed (A=10 cm, B=15 cm, C=30 cm). The maximum removal of TS (52.21%), TDS (50.66%), TSS (57.20%), turbidity (67.36%), chloride (28.81%), BOD (39.18%), COD (38.66%), TH (53.40%), and CaH (62.57%) was observed in Reactor II C (soil and gravel- 2:1 and 30 cm depth of bed) using 0.49 mm effective size and 0.49 uniformity coefficient (UC) of the sand. A mixture of sand and gravel in the Reactor II with a ratio of 2:1 yielded better efficiency in comparison to the Reactor I and Reactor III. Thus, SIF technology could be environment-friendly and economically cost-effective for removing various physicochemical parameters from Industrial wastewater