Emergent Life Sciences Research

6-15

Authors: Itisha, Rachna Gulati, Anita, Manoj

Tyrophagus putrescentiae Schrank (Acari: Acaridae), is one of the most serious pests of high protein food including mushrooms. It is known to feed and disperse various pathogenic fungi in stored grain and products. It causes economic losses in stored products in addition to allergic disorder in workers handling stored products. Understanding T. putrescentiae multiplication on Agaricus bisporus compost, fruiting bodies, its role in transmission of disease is of paramount importance for the standardization of control measures. Documentation of the population abundance and selection of best compost for white button mushroom farming would open up new scope for farmers. Considering the above facts, efforts have been made to assemble the available literature in this article.

23-25

Authors: Sonali Chaturvedi

Plant RNA viruses play a pivotal role in understanding the biology of viruses. The first virus to be discovered was a plant RNA virus, Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) [1]. Positive sense RNA viruses have a wide host range [2]. Hence it is imperative to investigate their replication [3-6], packaging [5-10], interaction with host proteins (3, 11), competition with satellite RNAs, if they encapsidate any [11-14], and immune response against virus infection [15-17].

32-36

Authors: Ali Khalaf Hmood, Hussein Ali Salim

Present work has been conducted on Withania somnifera commonly known as Ashwagandha to study the influence of different sucrose concentrations on the production of high secondary metabolite compounds. With the addition of different sucrose concentrations 30, 60, 90 g / L to MS medium in in vitro conditions, production of secondary metabolite compounds increased. Ten compounds with different production rates were produced. Production rate of compound 17- hydroxy 27 deoxy withaferin, 27-hydroxy withanolide D and Withanone was maximum and significant under 30 g / L, 60 g / L, and 90 g / L sucrose treatment, respectively. However, MS medium containing 120 g / L sucrose led to burning of shoots and turned it in to brown.

42-49

Authors: Phuong Thi Vu, Yuwalee Unpaprom, Rameshprabu Ramaraj

Bioethanol has attracted more attention as a clean-burning fuel that can benefit both environment and energy sector. Gooseweed and small-flowered nutsedge are abundant in rice fields in form of weeds and considered as a major agricultural problem. Thus, this paper aims to evaluate the possibility of ethanol production from these two weeds by calculating the theoretical ethanol yield from its reducing sugars and cellulose content. Experiment was conducted in rice fields in Chiang Mai province, Thailand and 207 kg/ha and 201 kg/ha biomass yield was obtained from gooseweed and small-flowered nutsedge plants. The theoretical ethanol yield of gooseweed and small-flowered nutsedge were 160 L/Mg and 223 L/Mg, respectively that suggest utilizing these materials as promising feedstocks for bioethanol production.

54-66

Authors: M. S. Sadiq, I. P. Singh

This study applied a non-parametric method in determining the efficiency of farmers, discriminating efficient farmers from inefficient ones, and identifying wasteful uses of energy in order to optimize the energy inputs for broiler production. Furthermore, the effect of energy optimization on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission was investigated and the total amount of GHG emission of efficient units was compared with inefficient units. A total sample size of 55 broiler farmers were selected from Kaduna State viz. multi-stage sampling technique. Total energy used in various operations during broiler production was 77916.14 MJ (500bird)-1. Results revealed that 63% of producers were technically efficient, while 43 producers under PTE were identified efficient (79.6%). Additionally, it was concluded that 1.38 percent [1071.54 MJ (500birds)-1] of overall input energies can be saved if the performance of inefficient farms rose to a high level. Finally, comparative results of GHG emissions revealed that the amount of CO2 emissions in efficient units was less than inefficient farms.

11-17

Authors: Bozhil Peev Peev, Yuliana Rumenova Tasheva, Valentina Lubomirova Christova-Bagdassarian, Teodora Petrova Popova, Julieta Asenova Tishkova, Anton Stoichev Tonev

In this study, a simple and reliable HPLC procedure has been developed for determination of lactic acid (LA) in liquid bacterial cultures. The lactic acid concentration is used as a criterion for strain selection. Eight LAB strains have been isolated from silage inoculants and food grade rice seeds. All strains showed the potential to produce more than 0.1 g/L LA, three strains produced LA above 0.8g/L, and one strain has the potential to produce 2.94g/L LA.

32-37

Authors: M. G. Ingale, N. V. Phirke

n the basin of river Purna, main crops cultivated are cotton, sorghum, pigeon pea, black gram, green gram, wheat, gram etc. The nitrogen is essential element for growth and development of plants. In soils, organic nitrogen (N2) is converted to ammonia through microbial decomposition. Ammonium already formed in the soil, added as fertilizer or in precipitation is rapidly oxidized to nitrate in the nitrification process carried out by specific bacteria like Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas. This region has with stressed the accountable changes in climate, rise in nitrate content in underground waters and least nitrogenous fertilizers use effectively. The present study involves a review over the existing knowledge of microscopic data and processes that are relevant for the isolation and characterization of nitrifying bacteria from soil, mainly to isolate nitrifying bacteria by a less time consuming method. All the isolates showed morphological and biochemical criterion similar to species of the genera Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter.

48-56

Authors: Yachana Jha, R. B. Subrmanian, Kundan K. Mishra

Heavy metal pollution by industrial, agricultural and municipal wastewater is a frequent phenomenon. Bioremediation is a biological process for cleaning up of pollutants from the environment. In the present study, B. megaterium and P. aeruginosa isolated from a weed Suaeda nudiflora at chemical polluted site from Ankleshwar, Gujarat was used for bioremediation. These isolates were characterized for their ability of metal assimilation like phosphorus and iron, and on the basis of their best assimilation ability, the isolates were selected for heavy metal tolerance like zinc and lead. B. megaterium and P. aeruginosa with highest heavy metal tolerance up to 200 mgl-1 were inoculated in maize plants by test tube inoculation method and analyzed for the growth promotion efficacy in heavy metal polluted soil. The plant inoculated with isolates showed 20% higher plant height, 20% longer root length and 5% greater dry weight as compared to non-inoculated control. Further analyses of leaves were carried out for the accumulation of heavy metal in maize. Results of the study showed positive growth response of maize on heavy metal polluted soil in green house condition and also accumulate a significant amount of zinc (587 mg kg−1) and lead (227 mg kg−1) in plants. The study concluded that the metal mobilizing PGPR could be used as an effective inoculant for improving the phytoremediation in multi-metal polluted soil, as well as for the reclamation of heavy metal polluted soil.

8-12

Authors: Deepak Vakhare, Amit Gupta, Sushama R Chaphalkar

Biophysical tools and its techniques are in high demand for the study of molecular mechanisms underlying cell biology, immunology and biomedical research including several diagnostics techniques. Biophysical tools basically include microscopy and imaging hydrodynamics, electrophysiology, modeling and simulation, single molecule techniques and spectroscopy. Among these, microscopy is one of the streams of optics that not only presents a magnified view of cellular structures of bacteria, germs, organs etc. but also ensures micro to nano elaboration of organisms or their parts. In this regard, confocal microscopy has become an essential technique in all the fields of biomedical research including life sciences that produce optical sections of cells and tissues that are totally free from fluorescence. In this review, we described the importance and applications of confocal microscopy along with its implementation in different biological aspects.

21-25

Authors: Fazila Gasimova, Ibrahim Azizov

The influence of different concentrations of sodium chloride on the growth and development of bread wheat seedlings has been investigated. Seven productive bread wheat (Triticum aestivium L) genotypes (Gobustan, Leyagatli, Murov-2, Sheki-1, Mirbashir-128, Aghali, Bezostaya) were used as the investigation material. To study the effect of salt on bread wheat genotypes and their morphological growth, seeds were germinated in aqueous solutions of NaCl (0, 150, 200 mM) as an experimental variant and distilled water as a control using the paper roll method. Ten seeds of the each sample were kept on wet filter paper, at 20-22°C temperature, in the dark for 3 days and then germinated under 12h/12h (light/dark) photoperiod for 7 days. During 10 days, the response of wheat seedlings to salt stress, growth dynamics of the above- and underground organs (roots and seedlings) were studied and the varieties were compared according to the morphometric parameters. Germination energy and germination percentage were determined in 50 seeds of each variant of the studied genotypes on the 3rd and 7th day after germination, respectively. We found that 150 and 200 mM concentrations of NaCl have an inhibitory effect on the germination of seeds, growth of seedlings and root hairs of the studied bread wheat varieties. Mirbashir-128 was the most salt-tolerant genotype which could be used for developing more tolerant genotypes in breeding programs.

30-33

Authors: Aswathy Asok, Smitha Asok V., Rajesh Reghunath

Metropolitanization is one of the main causes behind the transformations of the coastal segments of Kerala, where new urban settlements have evolved during last decades. Depending on the monetary and administrative roles, various cities speedily changed to territorial junctions. Urbanization causes land use/land cover changes which can lead to deeper social, economic and environmental changes. Remote sensing technology has great potential for acquisition of detailed and accurate land use information for management and planning of urban regions. Our study area was located between 80 22’ 45’’ North latitude to 760 59’ 29’’ East longitude (Vizhinjam) and 120 6’ 77’’ North latitude to 750 24’ 38’’ East longitude (Kinfra). The main objective of the study was to assess the temporal changes in the landscape spatial pattern to define the growth trends in the area and moreover, to evolve a land use map constructed according to the unsupervised classification technique.

39-42

Authors: Aditya S. K., Smitha Asok V., Rajesh Reghunath

Land cover and land use change is an important component in understanding the reciprocal action of human activities with the environment. Tropical forests of Western Ghats have undergone swift land cover changes in the last few decades due to several anthropogenic factors. The present study assessed the land cover change in the Shendurney wildlife sanctuary, a mega biodiversity hot spot of Western Ghats, Kerala over a period of fifteen years using GIS and Remote sensing techniques. The study intended to develop a land use map of the experimental area based on the unsupervised classification method and to assess the rate of land degradation. The results revealed that there was a great spatial variability in the pattern of forest loss and land use change throughout the region which in turn affected the species diversity.

50-53

Authors: Sudha Hariharan, Smitha Asok V., Rajesh Reghunath

The study intended to evaluate the landslide susceptibility in sub-watershed area with contrasting structural elements in the southern Western Ghats, Kerala India, using remote sensing and GIS techniques. In order to model landslide susceptibility, data from various sources, such as, topographical maps, geological data and satellite images were collected and processed to generate a spatial database in a GIS platform. As landslides are influenced by several environmental determinants, different factors, such as slope, distance from drainage segments, lithology, distance from lineaments, land use/land cover, and precipitation distribution, should be considered for the analysis. Further, landslide locations of the study area could be identified from satellite images and field survey. The main objective of the study was to describe the association between landslide and landslide conditioning factors for Thenmala sub-watershed regions using the weights-of-evidence method and to create landslide susceptibility map of the study area. Landslide locations were used to validate the results of the landslide susceptibility map. Hence, the study has special significance with respect to the planning and management of mountainous landscapes in the State of Kerala.

59-62

Authors: Vijayasoorya A., Smitha Asok V., Rajesh Reghunath

The Western Ghats is one of the world's 18 hotspots of biodiversity and forest communities that have a vital role in maintaining a balanced eco-system of the world. The Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary located on the Western slopes of the Western Ghats along the South East corner of Kerala in India was selected as the study area owing to its diversified wealth of floral characteristics specifically at the landscape level. The present study was carried out using an integrated approach employing Remote Sensing and GIS techniques for land cover change analysis. The aim of the study was to quantify and map forest cover change in term of land use change during 2001-2015. Land sat 8 images (8 bands), Survey of India toposheets and Google earth images were used for visual interpretation of the land cover classes. The most notable land use categories obtained were evergreen forest, water body, mixed jungle, scrub land and barren land/rocky areas. The study revealed that there is a net decrease in the forest cover during 2001 to 2015.

66-72

Authors: M. I. Camargo Mathias, G. O. Chierice, P. D. Brienza, A. Arnosti, I. B. Calligaris, B. R. Sampieri, E. F. Nodari, A. R. F. Ferreira

The medical-veterinary importance of ticks has long been recognized and studies on the internal morphology and histology of the organs and systems in these ectoparasites have been considered of great relevance. The tick Riphicephalus sanguineus sensu lato (s.l.) is particularly important, considering its proximity to the human being. The present study investigated that how ricinoleic acid esters from castor oil interfere with the secretory cycle of the salivary glands in R. sanguineus s.l. females fed for a period of 1 to 6 days. To accomplish the objectives, females were fed on both, the rabbits fed with the food enriched in esters and on the rabbits fed with regular rabbit commercial food. The results showed that the salivary glands had changes in its secretory cycle, varying according to the considered acinus, leading to a precocious degeneration of the gland caused by the exposure of the hosts to the esters. Another important data obtained was that the esters did not interfere in the metabolism of the hosts (rabbits) and thus, the results signalize the perspective of a new strategy to effectively control these ectoparasites.

5-9

Authors: Bidhya Maharjan, Dipak Khanal

An experiment was conducted in Horticulture field of Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Paklihawa, Nepal to know the status of Scarabaeid beetle species and population by using light trap. Weekly monitoring of scarabaeid beetles adults with 85 watt vapor lights run from dawn to dusk during April, May, June and July in a field with multiple crops in 2014 showed that beetle populations were higher in May and June than in April and July. Overall, 227 specimens of Scarabaeid beetles were collected and 36% were Coprius indicus (Blanchard), 18% were Anomala mongiloca (Faldermann), 11% were Holotrichia spp., 9% were Cyclocephala spp., 8% were Phyllophaga spp., 6% were Heteronuchus lioderes (Redtenbachen), 5% were Onthophagus madoqua (Arrow), 5% were Alissonotum binodulum (Fairmaire), 2% were Maladera castanea (Arrow), and 0.5% (1 beetle) was Popillia birmaniaca (Arrow).

46-51

Authors: Sajitha V., Smitha Asok Vijayamma

This study was designed to assess the quality of pond water in Athiyannoor panchayath, Thiruvananthapuram District, Kerala, with respect to the physico-chemical parameters including Temperature, pH, EC (Electrical Conductivity), TDS (Total Dissolved Solids), TA (Total Alkalinity), DO (Dissolved oxygen), TH (Total Hardness), NaCl (Salinity), Ca (Calcium), Mg (Magnesium), Cl (Chloride), Na (Sodium) and K (Potassium). The results were evaluated and compared with WHO and BIS water quality standards. From the data obtained, the water quality index was calculated to quantify overall pond water quality status of the area. It is found that based on the WQI results the samples are falling under excellent category and hence suitable for domestic purposes.

59-63

Authors: Sandra Yesudasan Miranda, Vineetha P., Smitha Asok Vijayamma

Sacred groves are small forest patches or remnants of forests that are biodiversity-rich areas and revered in the name of God. Rapid urbanization and the concomitant development of infrastructure have taken a heavy toll on these unique ecosystems. The present study has identified and mapped seven selected Sacred groves in Thiruvananthapuram district and also analyzed the land use in the area using Remote Sensing data. The accuracy of unsupervised classification-based image and supervised classification-based predicted land use was compared and Kappa accuracy was assessed. The results showed moderate classification accuracy. The area-wise details of different land use categories were also obtained as part of the study

67-72

Authors: Amit Gupta, Sushama R Chaphalkar

Biotechnology covers a broad spectrum of scientific applications that are applied in many sectors including health and agriculture. It involves the usage of living organisms, or its parts in order to deliver innovative methods of production and create new products e.g. new vaccine production (through disease diagnosis) to avoid disease-attack; genetically modified plants (to develop resistance against various pests); bacteria having the ability to cleaning up oil spills etc. All these features are related to biotechnology that is totally applicable to human health care. In other words, biotechnology related to human healthcare has a tremendous impact on the necessity of patients and their families as it not only revolves around medicines and diagnostics that are produced employing a biotechnological process, but also involve gene and cell therapies, recombinant DNA products, tissue engineered products and controlling environment pollution. Today, the majorities of innovative medicines either produced using biotechnology or through diagnostic products, are made readily available to the society by applying modern biotechnology in their development and/or expansion processes

8-12

Authors: Ibrahim Ali Altayyar, Alsadig Mohammed Abdalla

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of Salmonella serogroups isolated from patients attending Saad Specialist Hospital in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. A total of 222 Salmonella strains were isolated from different clinical specimens (Blood, Stool, Urine and Abscess) collected from children and adults, males and females. All specimens were collected from both in-patients and out-patients hospitalized in different wards at Saad Specialist Hospital in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Microbiological analysis of all clinical specimens was carried out by using standard methods. Slide agglutination tests were performed by using Salmonella anti sera (ProLab Diagnostic, UK) to determine serogroups of all the isolated and identified colonies of Salmonella. Antibiotic susceptibility patterns of all isolated Salmonella were determined by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method against 5 antibiotics. Results revealed that 123 (55%) Salmonella species were isolated from males and 99 (45%) from female patients of different ages, with no significant differences (P-Value = 0.188) and Stool specimens were the major source of Salmonella species 214 isolates (96.4%). A high percentage of Salmonella species, 136 (61.3%) was isolated from children aged between 1 to 15 years. The number and percentages were decreased gradually according to age with significant differences for isolates between different age groups. The highest number 104 (46.9%) was isolated from children of the age group 1-3 years old. All isolated Salmonella species belong to 8 serogroups (A 1.35%, B 18.9%, C 24.35, D 43.7%, E 9.5%, F 0.45, G 1.35% and R 0.45%). Serogroups B, C and D were isolated in higher percentages. All Salmonella isolates were tested for sensitivity against 5 antibiotics. Results revealed that all Salmonella species isolates were highly sensitive (>90%) to Ceftriaxone, Ciprofloxacin and Levofloxacin. Sensitivity to Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole and Ampicillin was 88.3% and 81.5%, respectively.

20-25

Authors: Oluwakemi Yetunde Kolade

Fish meat possesses high nutritional value and is therefore a particularly recommended dietary component. Fish tissue is known as the main source for long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) supply, which positively influence human health. These PUFAs favorably improve lipid profiles and reduce the risk of coronary heart diseases (CHD). Thus, this study was carried out to determine the fatty acid composition in the flesh of Blue whiting fish (Micromesistius poutassou) brought from Badagry market, Lagos west, Nigeria using gas chromatographic method. A total of twelve different fatty acids were obtained in the muscle of Blue whiting fish. The composition of saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) was found to be 18.8%, 38.2% and 21.5%, respectively. Palmitic acid (C16:0) and erucic acid (C22:1w9) were identified as the major SFA and MUFA respectively. Docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6w3) and eicopentaenoic acid (C20:5w3) had the highest levels amongst the PUFAs. Results show that blue whiting fish is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids.

35-40

Authors: Asha M.S. Nair, J.K. Reshma, Anu Mathew and Aswathy Ashok J.A

The present study was carried out to analyze the plankton diversity of 36 selected ponds in Nedumangad Block Panchayat. It is crucial to observe the physico-chemical features of a water body for different term investigations as the survival and activity of organisms depends on the environmental characteristics of that water body. Plankton analysis showed the presence of phytoplankton belonging to the class Cyanophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Bacillariophyceae and zooplanktons found are Zoea larvae and Mysis larvae of prawn. Moreover, phytoplankton reflects the water environmental condition at the time of growing and sampling.Phytoplanktons are greatly affected by ecological conditions like salt stress, temperature, pH, biological oxygen demand and other environmental factors. The plankton abundance was calculated for 10 selected ponds. Carl Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated for abundance with pH, EC, DO and temperature. Abundance depends on the temperature variations and levels of DO as they are positively correlated while abundance does not have any interdependence on both the EC and pH as they are negatively correlated. Results of plankton abundance of various ponds at Nedumangad as studied in the present investigation clearly shows that the water is not good for human consumption and also struggling for their existence. Algal analysis thus showed that water quality of the pond has reached at threshold level and therefore, it needs some corrective measures to maintain the water chemistry of the pond and this will help the society to get an awareness of the quality of the water they are using for daily consumption and thereby rectify the present condition.

47-52

Authors: Aswathy Ashok J.A, Reshma John, Anu Mathew, Rajesh Raghunath, Asha M.S. Nair

The present study was carried out in 37 ponds of 5 panchayaths within Athiyannoor Block in Thiruvananthapuram dist., Kerala, India. Water samples were collected from the ponds for the analysis of physico-chemical parameters. The physico-chemical factors have great importance in defining the trophic status of aquatic habitats. The gathering of different types of pollutants and nutrients through the municipal effluents, and agricultural activities in to the ponds makes alterations in the physico-chemical features of fresh water. Present work was conducted to examine water quality of Athiyannoor pond due of its prominence in ground water recharging, irrigation and drinking purposes. The temperature varied between 26.5 and 29.6˚C, EC between 49.19 and 517.70μS, the value of pH ranges between 4.51 and 7.7. The values observed were not within the acceptable range (6.5-8.5) of WHO for natural waters, DO was found to be between 10.96mg/L and 0.62mg/L. Outcomes of physico-chemical factors of numerous ponds studied in the present investigation clearly showed that the water is not good for human consumption. So there is an immediate need of restoration, improvement and proper management of these underground water bodies for the human and environment.