International Journal of Applied Sciences and Biotechnology

143-150

Authors: Yehia A. Osman, Ahmed Abd Elrazak, Wesam Khater, EL-Shahat Nashy, Attia Mohamadeen

Bacterial poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a natural, biodegradable polymer, which is accumulated in the cells as an energy reserve materialdue to depletion of nitrogen or phosphorous in the presence of excess carbon source. This polymer is foreseen to possess high industrialpotentiality and excellent alternative to the non-degradable petroleum-based plastics. In this study, we isolated and characterized a localbacterial strain WA81 which accumulated 18mg/L PHB after 72 h growth in mineral salt medium under nitrogen deficiency. The PHB granuleswere detected in the cells using TEM and the genes encode for this polymer were detected by oligonucleotide primers using PCR technology.The 16S rRNA gene nucleotide sequence for this isolate was used to construct a phylogentic tree against all available sequences in the GenBank.The phylogenetic tree data suggested that the closest type strain to the local bacterium is the Microbacterium paraoxydans CF36T and hencewe named it Microbacterium sp. strain WA81. Moreover, the set of enzymes responsible for the PHB biosynthetic pathway and their controllingelements were detected in this local isolate using PCR. The genes encode for the biosynthesis enzymes are phbA (β-ketothiolase), phbB(acetoacetly CoA reductase), phbC (PHB polymerase), while the genes encode for the controlling elements are phbP (phasin), phbZ (PHBdepolymerase). The novelty of this local bacterium lies in its ability to accumulate huge amounts of PHB in its cytoplasm and the presence ofa whole set of genes encode for the PHB biosynthetic and catabolic pathways of this polymer.

162-166

Authors: M. R. A. Mollah, M. A. Ali, M. Ahmad, M. K. Hassan, M. Z. H. Prodhan

The present study was stimulated by the problem of onion seed production where seed production is possibly only winter period after which rapid increase in temperature as well as early shower adversely affect the quality of seed. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications to determine optimum doses of manures and fertilizers for maximizing quality true seeds of onion. Six treatments viz. T1= Only inorganic fertilizer recommended by Spices Research Centre (SRC), T2 = T1 + Cowdung manure 7.5 t/ha, T3= T1 + Poultry manure 5 t/ha, T4= T1 + Mustard oil cake 5 t/ha, T5= T1 + Dhaincha 5 t/ha and T6= Control (No manures and fertilizer application)were consisted to achieve the objective. The research work was done at On-Farm Research Division, BARI, Bogra during September, 2010 to June, 2011. The results revealed that the growth parameters, seed yield components, health and quality of harvested seeds were significantly influenced by the different treatments. Results showed that among different treatments, inorganic fertilizer Urea, TSP, MoP, Gypsum, Zinc oxide and Boric acid @ 250, 275, 150, 110, 3 and 5 kg/ha, respectively along with Cowdung 7.5 t/ha was the best for true seed production of onion at Bogra region in Bangladesh.

170-178

Authors: Ashraf A. El-Badawi

This study was designed to determine the effects of acute toxicity of NeemAzal T/S on Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and to investigate the antioxidant effect of Lupine seeds on the gills and erythrocytes(EC) oxidative stress induced by NeemAzal T/S in Nile tilapia .Two doses of NeemAzal; 1/10 LC50:16 PPM (NA1) and 1/5 LC50:32 PPM (NA2) and three periods of 10, 20 and 30 days were used. Oxidative stress parameter, total peroxide (TP) and antioxidant enzyme activities, catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) as well as glycemia were measured. NA2 markedly decreased CAT and SOD activities in gills and erythrocytes at most periods, but NA1 had less effect. In turn, both doses significantly enhanced TP levels in gills and EC. Moreover, hyperglycemia was detected 30 days after control (NA) exposure. LS significantly curtailed or abolished the adverse effect of NA exposure on oxidative and antioxidant parameters in gills and EC. This may be attributed to the hypoglycemic effect of LS as well as its antioxidant efficiency. In conclusion, Lupine seed exerts a potent antioxidant activity against oxidative damages induced by NeemAzal T/S in Nil tilapia fish.

188-192

Authors: N Anjali, Sowmya S Dharan, F Nadiya, K K Sabu

Elettaria cardamomum Maton is one of the most ancient and valuable spice crops. Cardamom is cultivated following intensive pesticide usage where alleles present in the wild cardamom genotypes could positively contribute towards genetic improvement of the cultivars. However, the genetic map or whole-genome sequence of E. cardamomum is not available and very limited information on simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers are publicly available. We have tested whether SSRs from Curcuma longa can be used to analyze genetic diversity E. cardamomum.

197-201

Authors: Mahendraperumal Guruvaiah, Madhuri Narra, Garima Dixit, Punit Karawadia, Deval Shah

Water and soil samples were collected from gulf of Khambhat region, Gujarat. The cations and anions like calcium, chloride, fluoride, magnesium, sulphate and total hardness as calcium carbonate were analyzed. Collected estuarine samples were cultured in three different media under standard laboratory conditions. These enrichments were then used to isolate pure unialgal culture by conventional method. Thirty four isolates belonging to twelve species of Cyanobacteria, twenty species of Chlorophyta and two taxa of Bacillariophyta were identified and are maintained at SPRERI centre. The Chlorophyta were found better accumulators of lipids than the cyanobacterial species. Five promising strains (SBC 7, SBC 9, SBC 17, SBC 18 and SBC 19) have been selected. In-house isolates SBC19 and SBC 17 showed highest acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACCase) of 55.2 (U/ml) and 51.2 (U/ml) respectively, with 0.375 g l-1 nitrogen concentration in 24 days. Biomass production was highest for 2.4 g/l, (SBC 19) and 2.7 g/l (SBC 17) with 1.5 g l-1 nitrogen concentration. The highest lipid content was 52% and 48% in SBC19 and SBC 17, respectively, with 0.375 g l-1 nitrogen concentration of solvent extraction method. Lipid accumulation was found enhanced by more than 50% on dry mass basis under nitrogen starvation.

210-217

Authors: Siraj Osman Omer, Eltayeb Hassan Slafab, Abhishek Rathore

In multiple environmental trials (METs) most of the data, balanced or unbalanced, are normally tested over a wide range of environments (locations, years, growing seasons, etc.) and the basic statistical method used to obtain reliable statistical information. A case study is presented here to demonstrate the usefulness of Bayesian approach in genotype-by environment data analysis, in comparison with frequentist approach and GGE biplot assessment classification with missing value. Particular emphasis was given to Bayesian application that exploits pedigree information and to the analysis of GEI data for estimation of heritability, genetic gain and means prediction. A Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method has been considered to perform Bayesian inference using R2WinBUGS. The study recently done in sorghum variety trials show investigation can be applied for multi environmental trial data. Results shows that the Bayesian estimation of variance components was accurate compared to the frequentist. The two principal components in GGEbiplot analysis were significant, explaining 95.13% (85.17% PC1 and 9.9.% PC2) for frequentist approach and explaining 97.36% (84.06% PC1 and 13.3% PC2) for Bayesian approach of interaction variation. Bayesian analysis indicates GGE-biplot gave the best results in contributing to the GEI. Bayesian approach for analysis GEI data is highly suitable with missing values.

223-226

Authors: Md. Salehur Rahman, Shahanaz Parveen, Md.Harun -Ur- Rashid, Runa Akter, Abu Yousuf Hossin, Md. Golam Robbani

Forty eight genotypes of tomato were evaluated for yield contributing characters to observe their associations and direct and indirect effect on yield. Character association analysis among yield and yield contributing characters revealed that in most of cases the genotypic correlation coefficient was higher than the respective phenotypic correlation coefficients. This indicated that the suppressive effect of the environment modified the phenotypic expression of these characters by reducing phenotypic correlation values. Also, narrow difference between phenotypic and genotypic correlation coefficient was noticed for almost all the pairs of characters studied showing that masking or modifying effects of the environment was little indicating the presence of an inherent association among these characters. Fruit/cluster showed non-significant positive association with yield/plant at genotypic and phenotypic level but individual weight of fruit had significant negative association at phenotypic level with yield/plant. Path coefficient analysis revealed that no. of fruit/cluster had the highest positive direct effects on fruit yield/plant suggesting their importance while imposing selection for correlation of yield in tomato.

232-235

Authors: Prasenjit Talukdar, Ranjan Das, Rishiraj Goswami

The rapid industrialization and growing energy needs have put a great stress on the conventional energy resources. This is even more concerning for a country like India which is a net importer of oil. To meet the ever increasing need for energy, it is essential that the search for unconventional energy is intensified. This paper deals with the estimation of coal bed methane potential of the Margherita Coal Field of Assam, India. For this purpose, eight coal samples were collected from Tirap O.C.P., Ledo UG Incline and Tikak O.C.P collieries of the Margherita coal field. Proximate analysis, megascopic study and finally qualitative analysis of these eight samples was undertaken. After analysis, the inferred reserves of CBM at Margherita Coalfield, was found to be in the range of 42.5-49.04 Billion Cubic Meter.

243-247

Authors: Varsha Dawande, Rajaram Gurav

Asymbiotic seed germination of Eulophia nuda Lindl. was observed on Knudson C medium. About 90% seeds germinated within 8-10 weeks and formed green protocorms in 11-12 weeks. Effect of BA and IBA was studied on plantlet development from protocorms. BA shows the best results with respect to number and length of shoots. Maximum number (6.45±1.36) and length (3.90±0.99) was observed on MS medium supplemented with 4.44μM.BA. Maximum root growth was also observed on same medium (4.8±0.99 number of roots and 1.43±0.13cm length). The regenerated plantlets were successfully acclimatized and transferred to earthen pots. The results presented here show that in vitro seed germination and plantlet development in Eulophia nuda Lindl., an endangered orchid, can be achieved at a higher rate by this method.

256-260

Authors: Shiva Shankar Bhattarai, Sunil Aryal, Resham Bahadur Thapa

The lab persistence of Phthorimaea opercullela granulovirus (PhopGV) with and without lignin for egg bioassay with different five virus concentrations (lab experiment- 60, 10, 1.67, 0.28 and 0.046 LE/l 20- 0.015432 LE/l ) to determine the inactivation curve under artificial UVlight, assess the effect and verify the protective capacity of lignin with PhopGV for virus preparations suspensions of raw PhopGV alone and mixed with lignin (1%) used as UV protectants was conducted in simply completely randomised design in the laboratory condition. The LC50 value for PhopGV in lab condition was 1x10-3 LE/l with the slope of the probit regression line 0.51. Similarly, half inactivation speed with lignin was 4.58 days compared to 0.559 days without lignin in lab condition. Inactivation speed was decreased by 87.8 % in case of lignin applied in lab condition. So, the suppression of PTM with virus combined with lignin gave cost effective measures through the use of low dosages. In lab experiment, the control mortality of 19.6 % was probable for all the controls of lignin present and absent. This revealed that there was no effect of lignin alone on target insects’ survival.

267-271

Authors: Richa Sharma, Sushma Dave

Electrochemical oxidation of methyl substituted aniline (anisidine) has been done on both gold and platinum electrode using cyclic voltammetry. The results were compared in different supporting electrolytes such as KCl, KNO3, H2SO4, HCl. Effect of pH was observed on electrochemical oxidation of o- & p- anisidine at gold and platinum electrode. During various scan single oxidation peak during first forward scan with no corresponding cathodic peak was obtained while a new anodic cathodic couple peak appears in subsequent scan obtained. Kinetic parameters like heterogeneous rate constant, transfer co-efficient and diffusion co-efficient were also calculated. A sensitive method was developed for estimation of micro quantities of anisidine by linear sweep voltammetry and hydrodynamic voltammetry.

285-290

Authors: Biswash Raj Bastola, M.P. Pandey, B.R. Ojha, S.K. Ghimire, K. Baral

An experiment was conducted at Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Rampur, Nepal during July 2011 to September 2011 with an objectine to determine phenotypic variability of Nepalese finger millet landraces using descriptive statistics, cluster analysis and principal component analysis. F- Value of REML procedure of mixed model analysis revealed that highly significant variation was observed in all studied 17 traits. Grain yield per plant was positive and highly significant correlated with grain yield per ear (0.769**) followed by plant height (0.529**), productive tillers number (0.473**), days to maturity (0.471**), days to heading (0.460**), days to flowering (0.457**), straw yield per plant (0.348**), finger number per ear (0.320**), thousand kernel weight (0.281**), flag leaf sheath width (0.230**) and finger length (0.211**). The ear shape (H’= 3.42) followed by grain color (H’= 3.35) showed high genetic diversity after estimated by using Shannon- Weaver index. 46% open type ear shape, 40% light brown grain color, 66% non-pigmentation, 70% absence of inflorescence branch and 54% absence of finger branch were found dominant to other on studied accessions. The distribution pattern was observed by using Ward’s minimumvariance method into five clusters. The number of accessions in a cluster was ranged from 18 in cluster IV to 1 in cluster V. The cluster V (accession no. 10996) and III (accessions no. 431 and 11024) showed early phenological traits, lowest in finger length, finger width, finger number per ear, thousand kernel weight, grain yield per ear and grain yield per plant. The cluster II and IV showed late maturity type, long finger length and width, high in finger number per ear, grain yield per ear, grain yield per plant and plant height. The first five principal components accounted for 74.9% of total variance among 50 accessions. Most of variation was contributed from phenological characters, plant height, grain yield per ear, finger length, finger width, finger number per ear and productive tillers number. These traits were positively correlated with grain yield and can be used in selection for breeding programs.

301-307

Authors: Gbenga Olorunshola Alege, Daniel Ojima Shaibu

This study was undertaken at the Botanical Garden of Biological Sciences Department, Kogi State University, Anyigba with the aim of assessing the systematic and phylogenetic relevance of leaf epidermal attributes in the 10 selected species of Fabaceae. Stomata, trichomes and epidermal cell attributes were taken from adaxial and abaxial leaf surfaces. Results obtained in this study revealed that all the 10 plant species considered possess hypo-amphistomatic leaf condition, paracytic stomata type, polygon and irregular shape epidermal cells(on the abaxial surface) which points to their common ancestry. All the analyzed leaf epidermal traits considered on the adaxial and abaxial surfaces showed significant variations among the 10 studied plant species which indicates that genetic diversity exists among members of Fabaceae for their delimitation. It was also observed that all the plants with tree habit considered in this study (i.e Delonix regia, Parkia biglobosa, Senna siamea, Daniella oliveri and Caesalpinia pulcherrima) lack stomata on the adaxial surfaces which strongly suggest that absence of stomata on the adaxial surface may be peculiar to Legumes with such habit. Cluster analysis revealed 2 major clusters and 2 sub-clusters with the first cluster comprising only Senna siamea and Caesalpinia pulcherrima which confirms their close phylogenetic relationship. Variations in trichomes, stomata and epidermal attributes were obvious and could be used to resolve systematic and phylogenetic problems in this family.

314-321

Authors: Kamal A. Attia, Ashraf A. El-Badawi

In the current study the effects of acute or chronic exposure of dithiopyr herbicide (weed controllers) in Catfish (Clarias garipinus) was studied. LC50 was determined, and recorded as 460 μgl-1. Acute and chronic effects on certain blood, growth and tissue biochemical parameters were studied as a function of exposure time. Exposure of Clarias garipinus to acute or chronic toxicity of the herbicide resulted in significant increase in glucose, total cholesterol, creatinine, uric acid and Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the herbicide-treated group, while aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) showed a fluctuating activities in both exposures. In contrast, there was significantly (P<0.01) lower values for liver and muscle glycogen in acute toxicity as compared with the control group. Also, in herbicide exposed fish a significant reduction in growth parameters was recorded. These alterations could be attributed to the changes in the metabolic pathways of the studied fish that meight be takes place as a secondary response in the fish to provide energy for the "fight-or-flight" reaction and to compensate the high energy demand. This study implies the importance of previous knowledge about the susceptibility of cultured fish species before using herbicides.

330-336

Authors: Bharat Gami, Bakhtiyar Alam Syed, Beena Patel

Bamboo is an important grass with wide scale applications in paper industries, medicines, constructions industries. It is potential feedstock for advanced biofuel production due to its favourable characteristics, natural abundance, rapid growth, perennial nature and higher CO2 sequestration. The objective of this study is to understand genetic diversity between the bamboo accessions with respect to geographical origin to correlate molecular information with feedstock characterization and adaptation to abiotic stress. In this study, genomic DNA was extracted from twenty bamboo accessions collected from different regions of India and genetic variations were assessed by inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) based molecular marker approach using 8 primers. Maximum genetic distance was observed between Bambusa wamin-Itanagar & B. ventricosa-Durg (0.48221) & minimum genetic distance between Bambusa balcooa-Modasa & Bambusa balcooa-Tripura (0.00787). Bambusa balcooa and Bambusa vulgaris were genetically similar as compared to other accessions. The genetic distance is independent of geographical distance for the bamboo accessions considered in this study. The findings of this study will help to understand the degree of differences between bamboo accessions under the same environmental conditions and to identify the representative accessions that can be used for abiotic stress resistance studies. The information can be explored for screening of closely related bamboo accessions for abiotic stress resistance screening trials.

342-346

Authors: Muhammad Zohaib Nawaz, Muhammad Bilal, Muhammad Aamer Mehmood, Muhammad Asgher

Pakistan has a high magnitude of cancer from its independence. The burden of lymphoma cancer continues to increase in Pakistan. The low socioeconomic districts of Punjab such as those in Faisalabad most severely affected by lymphoma. The objective of this study was to analyze the lymphoma cancer registry record of patients from the districts in Faisalabad in order to achieve a net lymphoma incidence for use in raising future health program against cancer. The medical records of 110 patients registered at the Punjab Institute of Nuclear Medicine in Faisalabad were investigated. Information regarding age, gender, socioeconomic status, affected sites and cancer type were obtained. Among 110 cases of lymphoma cancer, the male: female ratio was 3:1, with an age range of 5-85 years. Of the 110 patients, 74% were male and 26% were female. Similar to the subtype distribution of lymphoma in the different areas of Faisalabad and its surroundings, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) was more frequent, 74 cases (67%) than Hodgkin’s disease (HD), 36 cases (33%).The leading cancers were breast 36% (n=248), lymphoma 16% (n=110), and prostate cancer 10% (n=68). The growing burden of cancer especially lymphoma in Faisalabad is extremely alarming. Since the current work was an initial investigation, it could play a leading role in prevention and future planning regarding the battle against lymphoma in Pakistan.

352-358

Authors: M. Asafuddaullah, M.M. Uddin, K.S. Islam, M.T.H. Howlader, M.M. Rahman

A series of experiments were carried out at the field and laboratory of the Department of Entomology, Bangladesh Agricultural University to determine the host preference of Epilachna beetle, Epilachna dodecastigma (Wied.) among four cucurbitaceous crops viz. cucumber, bottle Gourd, sweet Gourd and bitter Gourd. Three varieties of each crop were tested. Data on insect incidence, infestation, food consumption and fecundity of E. dodecastigma were collected. The highest number of Epilachna beetle was recorded on cucumber and the lowest was on bottle Gourd both in open field and in net cage condition. Among the varieties, the highest insect incidence was recorded on Sitol Sosa and the lowest was on BARI Lau-4 both in open field and in net cage. The highest leaf and twig infestation was found on cucumber crop and its’ Sitol Sosa variety, while the lowest was on bottle Gourd crop and its' BARI Lau-4 variety in both open field and in net cage. The Epilachna beetle showed the similar host preference in case of daily food consumption and oviposition rate both in net cage and laboratory condition. Thus, considering the insect incidence, infestation, food consumption and fecundity, the crop cucumber and the tested Sitol Sosa variety appeared to be the most preferred host for Epilachna beetle.