Understanding the spatial spreading patterns of plant-available sulphur (S) (AS) and plant-available micronutrients (available zinc (AZn), available iron (AFe), available copper (ACu), available ...manganese (AMn) and available boron (AB)) in soils, especially in coastal agricultural soils subjected to various natural and anthropogenic activities, is vital for sustainable crop production by adopting site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) strategies. We studied the spatial distribution patterns of AS, AZn, AFe, ACu, AMn, and AB in cultivated soils of coastal districts of India using geostatistical approaches. Altogether 39,097 soil samples from surface (0 to 15 cm depth) layers were gathered from farm lands of 68 coastal districts. The analysis of soil samples was carried out for soil pH, electrical conductivity (EC), soil organic carbon (SOC) and AS, AZn, AFe, ACu, AMn, and AB. Soil pH, EC and SOC varied from 3.70 to 9.90, 0.01 to 7.45 dS m.sup.-1 and 0.02 to 3.74%, respectively. The concentrations of AS, AZn, AFe, ACu, AMn, and AB varied widely in the study area with their corresponding mean values were 37.4±29.4, 1.50±1.53, 27.9±35.1, 2.14±1.74, 16.9±18.4 and 1.34±1.52 mg kg.sup.-1, respectively. The coefficient of variation values of analyzed soil parameters varied from 14.6 to 126%. The concentrations of AS, AZn, AFe, ACu, AMn, and AB were negatively and significantly correlated with soil pH and positively and significantly correlated with SOC. The geostatistical analysis indicated stable, Gaussian and exponential best-fit semivariogram models with moderate to strong spatial dependence for available nutrients. The generated spatial spreading maps revealed different distribution patterns for AS, AZn, AFe, ACu, AMn, and AB. There were variations in spatial spreading patterns of AS, AZn, AFe, ACu, AMn, and AB in east- and west-coastal area. About 62, 35, 12, 0.4, 23 and 45% of the study area had deficiency of AS, AZn, AFe, ACu, AMn, and AB, respectively. The spatial spreading maps will be highly useful for SSNM in the cultivated coastal soils of the country. This study could also be used as a base for assessing spatial spreading patterns of soil parameters in cultivated coastal areas of other parts of the world.
•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.
Aerosol emissions from biomass burning are of specific interest over the globe due to their strong radiative impacts and climate implications. The present study examines the impact of paddy crop ...residue burning over northern India during the postmonsoon (October–November) season of 2012 on modification of aerosol properties, as well as the long‐range transport of smoke plumes, altitude characteristics, and affected areas via the synergy of ground‐based measurements and satellite observations. During this period, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images show a thick smoke/hazy aerosol layer below 2–2.5 km in the atmosphere covering nearly the whole Indo‐Gangetic Plains (IGP). The air mass trajectories originating from the biomass‐burning source region over Punjab at 500 m reveal a potential aerosol transport pathway along the Ganges valley from west to east, resulting in a strong aerosol optical depth (AOD) gradient. Sometimes, depending upon the wind direction and meteorological conditions, the plumes also influence central India, the Arabian Sea, and the Bay of Bengal, thus contributing to Asian pollution outflow. The increased number of fire counts (Terra and Aqua MODIS data) is associated with severe aerosol‐laden atmospheres (AOD500 nm > 1.0) over six IGP locations, high values of Ångström exponent (>1.2), high particulate mass 2.5 (PM2.5) concentrations (>100–150 µgm−3), and enhanced Ozone Monitoring Instrument Aerosol Index gradient (~2.5) and NO2 concentrations (~6 × 1015 mol/cm2), indicating the dominance of smoke aerosols from agricultural crop residue burning. The aerosol size distribution is shifted toward the fine‐mode fraction, also exhibiting an increase in the radius of fine aerosols due to coagulation processes in a highly turbid environment. The spectral variation of the single‐scattering albedo reveals enhanced dominance of moderately absorbing aerosols, while the aerosol properties, modification, and mixing atmospheric processes differentiate along the IGP sites depending on the distance from the aerosol source, urban influence, and local characteristics.
Key Points
Satellite and ground‐based monitoring of agriculture fires in northern India
Transport pathways, smoke plume characteristics, and affected areas
Variation of aerosol loading as a function of distance from the source
: Since introduction of functional foods, commercialization of the traditionally used probiotics has ushered in more followers into the new fraternity of sophisticated, health‐conscious consumers. ...In 1995, this was followed by the first introduction of prebiotics. Prebiotics are defined as “a non‐digestible feed supplement, beneficially affecting the host by selectively stimulating growth and/or activity in one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon.” The number of new product introductions with prebiotics has steeply increased over the last few years. Paradoxically, probiotics have limited applications as these cannot be used in wide range of food products because of their viability issue. Fortunately, prebiotics do not suffer from any such constraint and can be used in a wide range of food products. Probiotics do not have a long shelf life in their active form. In most cases, refrigeration is required to maintain the shelf life. While probiotics are predominantly used in fermented dairy products, the use of prebiotics has expanded into other food categories. Prebiotics have successfully been incorporated in a wide variety of human food products such as baked goods, sweeteners, yoghurts, nutrition bars, and meal replacement shakes. For instance, the introduction of galacto‐oligosaccharides (GOS) into baby foods has been very successful. GOS, which are identical to the human milk oligosaccharides, has emerged with strong clinical support for both digestive and immune health. Various aspects related to GOS such as types and functions of functional food constituents with special reference to GOS, their role as prebiotics, and enhanced industrial production through microbial intervention are dealt in this review.
The efficient (site-specific) management of soil nutrients is possible by understanding the spatial variability in distribution of phyto-available nutrients (here after called available nutrients) ...and identifying the soil management zones (MZs) of agricultural landscapes. There is need for delineating soil MZs of agricultural landscapes of the world for efficient management of soil nutrients in order to obtain sustainability in crop yield. The present study was, therefore, undertaken to understand the spatial distribution pattern of available micronutrients (zinc (Zn), boron (B), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and copper (Cu)), available sulphur (S), and soil properties (soil acidity (pH), electrical conductivity (EC) and organic carbon (SOC) content) in soils of intensively cultivated Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) of India and to delineate soil MZs for efficient management of soil nutrients. Totally, 55101 soil samples from 0-15 cm depth were obtained from 167 districts of IGP during 2014 to 2017 and were analysed for different soil parameters. Soil pH, EC and SOC content varied from 4.44 to 9.80, 0.02 to 2.13 dS m.sup.-1 and 0.10 to 1.99%, respectively. The concentration of available Zn, B, Fe, Mn, Cu and S varied from 0.01 to 3.27, 0.01 to 3.51, 0.19 to 55.7, 0.05 to 49.0, 0.01 to 5.29 and 1.01 to 108 mg kg.sup.-1, respectively. Geostatistical analysis resulted in varied distribution pattern of studied soil parameters with moderate to strong spatial dependence. The extent (% area) of nutrient deficiencies in IGP followed the order: S > Zn > B > Mn > Cu > Fe. Principal component analysis and fuzzy c-means clustering produced six distinctly different soil MZs of IGP for implementation of zone-specific soil nutrient management strategies for attaining sustainability in crop yield. The developed MZ maps could also be utilized for prioritization and rationalization of nutrients supply in IGP of India.
Leaf rust (Puccinia triticina Eriks.) is a fungal disease of wheat (Triticum spp.), which causes considerable yield loss. Adult plant resistance (APR) is one of the most sustainable approaches to ...control leaf rust. In this study, field-testing was carried out across ten different locations, followed by molecular screening, to detect the presence of APR genes, Lr34+, Lr46+, Lr67+ and Lr68 in Indian wheat germplasm. In field screening, 190 wheat accessions were selected from 6,319 accessions based on leaf tip necrosis (LTN), disease severity and the average coefficient of infection. Molecular screening revealed that 73% of the accessions possessed known APR genes either as single or as a combination of two or three genes. The occurrence of increased LTN intensity, decreased leaf rust severity and greater expression of APR genes were more in relatively cooler locations. In 52 lines, although the presence of the APR genes was not detected, it still displayed high levels of resistance. Furthermore, 49 accessions possessing either two or three APR genes were evaluated for stability across locations for grain yield. It emerged that eight accessions had wider adaptability. Resistance based on APR genes, in the background of high yielding cultivars, is expected to provide a high level of race non-specific resistance, which is durable.
The health and wellness of human beings is largely dictated by the consumption of nutritious foods. Various studies have linked foods as helpful in combating a number of degenerative diseases; as ...such, a lot of research on functional attributes linked directly to the health benefits of various plant and animal foods have been witnessed in recent years. Although vast number of naturally occurring health-enhancing substances are of plant origin, there are a number of physiologically active components in animal products as well that deserve attention for their potential role in optimal health. Consumption of biologically active ingredients in fruits and vegetables has been linked to help combat diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and gastrointestinal tract disorders. Lot of research is required to substantiate the potential health benefits of those foods for which the diet-health relationships are not sufficiently validated, and create a strong scientific knowledge base for proper application of naturally present foods in combating various diseases and disorders.
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of
UBSTH-501- and methyl jasmonate-induced systemic resistance and their integration on the spot blotch pathogen,
through enhanced ...phenylpropanoid activities in bread wheat (
L.). It was found that the application of MeJA (>100 mg L
) inhibits the germination of
spores under controlled laboratory conditions. To assess the effect of MeJA (150 mg L
) in combination with the biocontrol agent
UBSTH-501
, a green house experiment was conducted. For this, biocontrol agent
UBSTH-501 was applied as seed treatment, whereas MeJA (150 mg L
) was applied 5 days prior to pathogen inoculation. Results indicated that application of MeJA (150 mg L
) did not affect the root colonization of wheat by
UBSTH-501 in the rhizosphere. The combined application of
UBSTH-501 and MeJA also enhanced indole acetic acid production in the rhizosphere (4.92 μg g
of soil) which in turn helps in plant growth and development. Further, the combined application found to enhance the activities of defense related enzymes
catalase (5.92 EU min
g
fresh wt.), ascorbate peroxidase μmol ascorbate oxidized (mg prot)
min
, phenylalanine ammonia lyase (102.25 μmol cinnamic acid h
mg
fresh wt.) and peroxidase (6.95 Unit mg
min
fresh wt.) significantly in the plants under treatment which was further confirmed by assessing the transcript level of
and
genes using semi-quantitative PCR approach. The results showed manifold increase in salicylic acid (SA) along with enhanced accumulation of total free phenolics, ferulic acid, caffeic acid, coumaric acid, and chlorogenic acid in the leaves of the plants treated with the biocontrol agent alone or in combination with MeJA. A significant decrease in the disease severity (17.46%) and area under disease progress curve (630.32) were also observed in the treatments with biocontrol agent and MeJA in combination as compared to
alone treated plant (56.95% and 945.50, respectively). Up-regulation of phenylpropanoid cascades in response to exogenous application of MeJA and the biocontrol agent was observed. It was depicted from the results that PAL is the primary route for lignin production in wheat which reduces cell wall disruption and tissue disintegration and increases suberization and lignification of the plant cell as seen by Scanning Electron microphotographs. These results clearly indicated that exogenous application of MeJA with
inducing JA- and/or SA-dependent defense signaling after pathogen challenge may increase the resistance to spot blotch by stimulating enzymatic activities and the accumulation of phenolic compounds in a cooperative manner. This study apparently provides the evidence of biochemical cross-talk and physiological responses in wheat following MeJA and biocontrol agent treatment during the bio-trophic infection.
► Piz-5 and Pi54 from non-Basmati donors transferred into a Basmati restorer, PRR78. ► Marker-assisted backcross strategy employing foreground and background selection. ► Developed improved ...restorers, Pusa1602 (with Piz-5) and Pusa1603 (with Pi54). ► Improved restorers and derived hybrids with good performance and blast resistance. ► Improved lines are valuable donors for blast resistance in Basmati breeding.
Pusa RH10, a popular high yielding superfine grain aromatic rice hybrid and its parents Pusa6A and PRR78 are highly susceptibility to blast disease. Marker assisted backcross breeding (MABB) approach was employed to incorporate blast resistance genes viz., Piz-5 and Pi54, from the donor lines C101A51 and Tetep into the genetic background of PRR78 to develop Pusa1602 (PRR78+Piz5) and Pusa1603 (PRR78+Pi54), respectively. Foreground selection for the genes Piz-5 and Pi54 was effected using tightly linked molecular markers, AP5930 and RM206, respectively in two independent backcross series. Further, foreground selection was coupled with stringent phenotypic selection for agronomic, grain and cooking quality traits, to accelerate recurrent parent phenome recovery. Five superior BC2F2 plants homozygous from each of the backcross series were selected and advanced to BC2F5 generation through pedigree selection to develop improved versions of PRR78 with blast resistance. Background analysis revealed the recurrent parent genome recovery up to 89.01% and 87.88% in Pusa1602 and Pusa1603 lines, respectively. The hybrids produced by crossing Pusa6A with improved lines of PRR78, were on par with original Pusa RH10 in terms of yield, grain and cooking quality traits with an added advantage of blast resistance.
The field of biomaterials has become a vital area, as these materials can enhance the quality and longevity of human life and the science and technology associated with this field has now led to ...multi-million dollar business. The paper focuses its attention mainly on titanium-based alloys, even though there exists biomaterials made up of ceramics, polymers and composite materials. The paper discusses the biomechanical compatibility of many metallic materials and it brings out the overall superiority of Ti based alloys, even though it is costlier. As it is well known that a good biomaterial should possess the fundamental properties such as better mechanical and biological compatibility and enhanced wear and corrosion resistance in biological environment, the paper discusses the influence of alloy chemistry, thermomechanical processing and surface condition on these properties. In addition, this paper also discusses in detail the various surface modification techniques to achieve superior biocompatibility, higher wear and corrosion resistance. Overall, an attempt has been made to bring out the current scenario of Ti based materials for biomedical applications.
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