In this study, the in vitro angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory (ACE-I) activity of peptide fractions from different yoghurt batches was assessed. Inhibition of ACE activity resulted in an ...overall antihypertensive effect. Yoghurts were prepared either using a sole yoghurt culture including
Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp
. bulgaricus Lb1466 and
Streptococcus thermophilus St1342, or
L. acidophilus L10,
L. casei L26 and
Bifidobacterium lactis B94 in addition to yoghurt culture. ACE-I activity was determined at weekly intervals during 28 days of cold storage. Peptide fractions showing high ACE-I activity were further purified using multiple-steps of RP-HPLC. All probiotic yoghurts showed appreciable ACE-I activity during initial stages of storage compared with the control yoghurt, with a significant (
p<0.05) decrease afterwards. The ACE-I activity ranged from IC
50 of 103.30–27.79
μg
mL
−1 with the greatest ACE inhibition achieved during first and third week of storage. The in vitro ACE-I activity could be related to the peptide liberation via degradation of caseins. In total, 8 ACE-I peptides were characterized originating from
α
s2-casein (1),
κ-casein (2) and
β-casein, of which two well-known ACE-inhibiting peptides, namely Val–Pro–Pro (VPP) and Ile–Pro–Pro (IPP), were identified. These peptides are already used in commercial products.
Abstract
We report the exotic photoluminescence (PL) behaviour of 3D topological insulator Bi
2
Te
3
single crystals grown by customized self-flux method and mechanically exfoliated few layers (18 ± ...2 nm)/thin flakes obtained by standard scotch tape method from as grown Bi
2
Te
3
crystals. The experimental PL studies on bulk single crystal and mechanically exfoliated few layers of Bi
2
Te
3
evidenced a broad red emission in the visible region from 600–690 nm upon 375 nm excitation wavelength corresponding to optical band gap of 2 eV. These findings are in good agreement with our theoretical results obtained using the
ab initio
density functional theory framework. Interestingly, the observed optical band gap is several times larger than the known electronic band gap of ~0.15 eV. The experimentally observed 2 eV optical band gap in the visible region for bulk as well as for mechanically exfoliated few layers Bi
2
Te
3
single crystals clearly rules out the quantum confinement effects in the investigated samples which are well known in the 2D systems like MoS
2
,WS
2
, WSe
2
, and MoSe
2
for 1–3 layers.
Aerobic rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a climate resilient agro-technology thriving over the threats of looming water scarcity. However, severe crop-weed competition is the crux of the problem affecting N ...use efficiency that could result in drastic grain yield reduction. Thus, what would be the efficient weed management minimizing crop-weed competition for higher grain yield was studied at farmer's fields under ICAR-NRRI, Cuttack and GBPUAT, Pantnagar during 2015-16 and 2016-17. Results showed that maintaining crop-weed competition during initial 75, 60 and 45 days crop growth accelerated N uptakes at 106.0 to 106.6 kg/ha, 105.5 to 105.8 kg/ha and 100.0 to 101.2 kg/ha enhancing grain yield by 5.25 to 5.56 t/ha, 5.0 to 5.4t/ha and 4.7 to 5.15 t/ha respectively. Corresponding weedy crop stands produced 0.90 to 1.35 t/ha, 1.10 to 1.48 t/ha and 2.45 to 2.86 t/ha grain yields only. Thus, average N gain of 0.22 and 0.17% were attributed to initial 75 and 60 days weed-free stands over initial soil N. While, N losses were maximum of 25.36, 24.56 and 22.32% at initial 60 and 75 days weedy stands and initial 15 days weed free stands respectively. Minimum N losses of 1.26 and 1.63% were at initial 15 days weedy crop or initial 45 days weed-free stands respectively. Therefore, on-farm validation at farmer's fields could imply significance of declining crop-weed competition preferably up to initial 30-45 days promoting N use efficiency for higher aerobic rice production.
•Marker-assisted backcross improvement of mega varieties of rice.•QTLs for drought, submergence and salt tolerance.•Foreground and recombinant selection.•Background selection using high density 50K ...SNP chip.
Rice is a staple cereal of India cultivated in about 43.5Mha area but with relatively low average productivity. Abiotic factors like drought, flood and salinity affect rice production adversely in more than 50% of this area. Breeding rice varieties with inbuilt tolerance to these stresses offers an economically viable and sustainable option to improve rice productivity. Availability of high quality reference genome sequence of rice, knowledge of exact position of genes/QTLs governing tolerance to abiotic stresses and availability of DNA markers linked to these traits has opened up opportunities for breeders to transfer the favorable alleles into widely grown rice varieties through marker-assisted backcross breeding (MABB). A large multi-institutional project, “From QTL to variety: marker-assisted breeding of abiotic stress tolerant rice varieties with major QTLs for drought, submergence and salt tolerance” was initiated in 2010 with funding support from Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, in collaboration with International Rice Research Institute, Philippines. The main focus of this project is to improve rice productivity in the fragile ecosystems of eastern, northeastern and southern part of the country, which bear the brunt of one or the other abiotic stresses frequently. Seven consistent QTLs for grain yield under drought, namely, qDTY1.1, qDTY2.1, qDTY2.2, qDTY3.1, qDTY3.2, qDTY9.1 and qDTY12.1 are being transferred into submergence tolerant versions of three high yielding mega rice varieties, Swarna-Sub1, Samba Mahsuri-Sub1 and IR 64-Sub1. To address the problem of complete submergence due to flash floods in the major river basins, the Sub1 gene is being transferred into ten highly popular locally adapted rice varieties namely, ADT 39, ADT 46, Bahadur, HUR 105, MTU 1075, Pooja, Pratikshya, Rajendra Mahsuri, Ranjit, and Sarjoo 52. Further, to address the problem of soil salinity, Saltol, a major QTL for salt tolerance is being transferred into seven popular locally adapted rice varieties, namely, ADT 45, CR 1009, Gayatri, MTU 1010, PR 114, Pusa 44 and Sarjoo 52. Genotypic background selection is being done after BC2F2 stage using an in-house designed 50K SNP chip on a set of twenty lines for each combination, identified with phenotypic similarity in the field to the recipient parent. Near-isogenic lines with more than 90% similarity to the recipient parent are now in advanced generation field trials. These climate smart varieties are expected to improve rice productivity in the adverse ecologies and contribute to the farmer’s livelihood.
A field experiment was conducted to assess the effect of herbicides and integrated nutrient managements on weed dynamics, NPK removal and yield of French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) at Banaras Hindu ...University, Varanasi during 2009 and 2010. The results revealed that the pendimethalin fb quizalofop-p-ethyl had significantly marked potential to minimize the weed dynamics of Chenopodium album, Melilotus alba, Melilotus indica and Cyperus rotundus significantly, resulted in marked reduction on total weed density (41.48 and 41.11 nos/m), weed dry weight (45.62 and 44.68 g/m) and weed index at all stages of crop growth during 2009 and 2010, respectively and showed higher weed control efficiency over the alone application of pendimethalin. Recommended dose + 200 kg Wellgro Soil (Dust) minimized broad leaves weeds (BLWs) over rest of the fertility levels but at par with RD + 300 kg Wellgro Soil (Dust) in respect of BLWs weed density that resulted in enhanced weed index due to higher weed control efficiency over rest of the fertility levels during both the years of study. Significantly lower NPK removal by weeds at harvest recorded with pendimethalin fb quizalofop-p-ethyl under recommended dose + 200 kg Wellgro Soil (Dust), though remained at par with recommended dose + 300 kg Wellgro Soil (Dust).
In present paper, different sizes of CeO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by ball milling and their effect on the absorption kinetics and decomposition temperature of MgH2 was studied. It was found ...that a small amount of admixing of the above said catalysts with MgH2 exhibits improved hydrogen storage properties. Among these different sizes of CeO2 nanoparticles, 2 weight % admixed CeO2 with a particle size of ∼10–15 nm led to decrease in desorption temperature by ∼50 K. Moreover, it also shows 1.5 times better absorption kinetics with respect to pure MgH2. The samples were characterized using SEM, TEM and XRD techniques. The hydrogenation/dehydrogenation properties were measured by gas reaction controller.
► Effect of different sized CeO2 NP on the hydrogenation behaviour of nano MgH2. ► The suitable mechanism based on morphology of catalyst particles has been provided. ► Improvement in hydrogenation due to the 10–15 nm nanoparticles of CeO2 catalyst.
► GSs and GSs-ZnO multipod nanocomposite have been synthesized. ► Solvothermal and hydrothermal methods have been employed for above synthesis. ► The PL emission peak was quenched completely for ...GSs-ZnO multipod anocomposite. ► It would be intriguing to explore the origin of this fluorescence quenching property.
In this paper, attention is focused on the synthesis of graphene sheets-ZnO (GSs-ZnO) multipod nanocomposite. Graphene-based composites are emerging as a new class of materials that hold promise for many curious applications in different areas. In this section, we report a suitable approach for the formation of GSs-ZnO composites through two-step processes. Initially, graphene nanosheets are synthesized by solvothermal method and in the second-stage GSs-ZnO composite is synthesized by hydrothermal method using water as solvent. It was observed that ZnO multipods were randomly dispersed on the surfaces of graphene sheets (GSs). We have also carried out the structural and optical characterizations of GSs-ZnO nanocomposites. The hybridized structure of ZnO and graphene nanosheets has been further investigated by HRTEM. The 2-D graphene nanosheets and ZnO multipod are clearly observed in the TEM microstructures indicating the formation of nanocomposite structure. Raman and FTIR investigations of GSs-ZnO nanocomposite have also shown the signature of nanocomposite formation. In addition, a photoluminescence spectrum of GSs-ZnO multipod nanocomposites displays the fluorescence quenching property.
An on-farm study was conducted in Odisha during 2014-2016 growing kharif rice (Oryza sativa L.) and chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) at rainfed lowland ecology. Impacts of improved tillage and nutrient ...management was studied along with supplementary irrigation in chickpea. Rice producing comparable grain yields (3.45-3.72 t/ha) at minimum and conventional tillage (3.50-3.75 t/ha) was significantly higher than that (2.52-2.65 t/ha) at zero tillage. Chickpea produced comparable seed yields at zero (14.4-14.9 q/ha), minimum (14.4-14.8 q/ha) or conventional tillage (14.5- 14.8 q/ha) also. Rice with state recommended dose of fertilizers (SRDF) or INM produced comparable grain yields (3.10-3.20 t/ha and 3.08-319 t/ha). Chickpea also with SRDF or INM produced comparable seed yields (15.20-15.50 q/ha and 15.00-15.40 q/ha). Irrigation in chickpea either at pod development stage alone or also at pre-flowering stage enhanced seed yields (15.50-16.20 q/ha and 14.80-15.60 q/ha respectively), significantly higher than that (8.80-9.20 t/ha) at residual soil moisture situations. Thus, the study ensured maximum profitability of around ` ₹ 100000.0/ha while growing rice with improved nutrient management at conventional or minimum tillage followed by chickpea at conventional, minimum or zero tillage management. Therefore, the study could suggest the prospect of system based improved rainfed lowland rice fallow management in a rice-chickpea cropping system.
Drought is the predominant cause of yield reduction in rainfed rice production systems, but until recently, little systematic effort has been made to breed drought-tolerant cultivars. The complex ...nature of drought tolerance, genotype
×
environment interaction, and the difficulty of effective drought tolerance screening complicate the development of drought tolerant varieties. This study reports on progress made by a collaborative network of Indian rice breeding programs, in partnership with International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), to develop lines combining high yield potential with drought tolerance by employing direct selection for grain yield under drought stress, and testing their performance in rainy season managed-drought screenings (RSMDS) of different stress severity levels at several locations during the main season in rainfed rice production areas in India. Advanced-generation breeding lines of less than 100 days, 100–120 days, and greater than 120 days duration generated at eight national institutes and IRRI using diverse drought tolerant donors were evaluated in 2005–2007 under RSMDS. Stress was imposed at the reproductive stage, either by draining paddies shortly after transplanting for lowland trials, or by stopping irrigation before flowering for upland trials. Yield reduction of 34–53% under moderate stress and 65–88% under severe stress was achieved in comparison to irrigated controls. Several varieties that have been widely grown in rainfed environments in India for many years, including IR 36, IR 64, Mahamaya, Sambha Mahsuri, and Swarna, were shown to be highly susceptible. Breeding lines were identified that perform consistently better than these and other widely grown rainfed varieties under both moderate and severe drought stress without any yield penalty under fully irrigated conditions. In the combined analysis over locations and years, these promising breeding lines outyielded the widely grown controls by about 0.5
t
ha
−1 under moderate stress and 0.7–1.0
t
ha
−1 under severe stress. IRRI breeding lines contributed to the network were developed using a selection protocol involving replicated dry season managed-drought screening (DSMDS) in dry season at Los Banos, Philippines. For a subset of lines extensively tested both at IRRI and in India, correlations between yield under DSMDS in the Philippine and yield in RSMDS in India were moderately high, indicating the efficacy of dry-season MS screening at IRRI in identifying tolerant lines for India. Drought tolerant lines developed by the network members have been released in several Indian states and in the Philippines. Overall, these results indicate that managed stress screening for drought tolerance, with a focus on selection for yield under stress, is effective in generating drought-tolerant cultivars.
In the present investigation, synthesis, characterizations and the tuning of the optical band gap (
E
g
) of ZnO nanowires (NWs) has been successfully achieved by introducing Mg as an intentional ...impurity with varying concentrations Zn
1
x
Mg
x
O (
x
= 0, 5, 10 and 20 at. %). Although the ionic radius of Mg
2+
(0.57 Å) is close to that of Zn
2+
(0.60 Å) the crystal structure difference and large lattice mismatch between ZnO (wurtzite, 3.25 Å) and MgO (rock salt, 4.22 Å) causes phase segregation in Zn
1
x
Mg
x
O with Mg compositions between 37% <
x
< 62%. Optical measurements of the as grown and Mg doped ZnO NWs shows the optical bandgap tunability from 3.35 eV to 3.65 eV as a function of the Mg content. Rietveld refinement of XRD data for the Mg doped ZnO nanowires confirm the wurtzite structure and a continuous compaction of the lattice (in particular, the
c
-axis parameter) with increasing Mg content. Strong UV with weak visible emission by PL studies establishes the sensitivity of the nanostructures yield, size and band gap to the intentional impurity. This tunability of the band gap of ZnO NWs with an intentional impurity could eventually be useful for optoelectronic applications.
Band-gap tuning and optical investigations of Mg
x
Zn
1
x
O (0
x
20) nanowires synthesized by thermal evaporation of metal zinc powder at 900 °C followed by solid state reaction methods at 500 °C.
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