Modern Genomic Tools for Pigeonpea Improvement: Status and Prospects

Pigeonpea owing to its ability to sustain harsh environment and limited input/water requirement remains an excellent remunerative crop in the face of increasing climatic adversities. With nearly 70% share in global pigeonpea production, India is the leading pigeonpea producing country. Since the mid-1900s, constant research efforts directed to improve yield and resistance levels of pigeonpea have resulted in the development and deployment of several commercially accepted cultivars in India, accommodating into diverse agro-climatic zones. However, the crop productivity needs incremental improvements in order to meet the growing nutritional demands, especially in developing countries like India where pigeonpea forms a dominant part of vegetarian diet. Empowering crop improvement strategies with genomic tool kit is imperative to attain the project gains in crop yield. In the context, adoption of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology has helped establish a wide range of genomic resources to support pigeonpea breeding, and the existing molecular tool kit includes genome-wide genetic markers, transcriptome/genome assemblies, and candidate genes/QTLs for target traits. Similarly, availability of whole mitochondrial genome sequence and derived DNA markers is immensely relevant in order to furthering the understanding of cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) system and hybrid breeding. This chapter covers the progress of developing modern genomic resources in pigeonpea and highlights their vital role in designing future crop breeding schemes

Design Of Rocker-bogie With Suspension System

The Rocker-Bogie system was designed forslow speeds. It is capable of overcoming obstacles that are of double the sizeof a wheel. The primary mechanical feature of the rocker bogie designis its drive train simplicity, which is accomplished by using six motors for mobility. All motors are locatedat each wheelwhere thermal variation is kept to a minimum, increasing reliability and efficiency. Sixwheels areused because there are many obstacles on natural terrain that require both front wheels of the rover to climbsimultaneously. A series of mobility experiments in the agriculture land, rough roads, inclined, stairs and obstacles surfacesconcluded that rocker bogie can achieve some distance traverses on field

Design And Manufacturing Of Valve Cleaning Machine

The proposed concept in this project is to reduce the time for conventional valve lapping process and manual work in manually valves cleaning process by semi-automated system. Traditional method of valve cleaning is by brush and Kerosene or by stick and power tool to remove the carbon deposited on valve and valve seat surfaces. Whereasthis method is not correctly suitable to remove all the deposit material to ensure the contact between the valve seat and valve. To overcome the problem and to save the time forlapping, “Design &Manufacturing of Valve Lapping machine” is needed. Our proposed project uses a special abrasive tool for cleaning the carbon deposition on valve, valve seat and cylinder head, D.C motor (high torque less rpm), D.C motor (less torque high rpm), tension spring, Helical spring, C channel and base plate and mounting Fasteners

Transcriptional Regulation of Aluminum-Tolerance Genes in Higher Plants: Clarifying the Underlying Molecular Mechanisms

Aluminum (Al) rhizotoxicity is one of the major environmental stresses that decrease global food production. Clarifying the molecular mechanisms underlying Al tolerance may contribute to the breeding of Al-tolerant crops. Recent studies identified various Al-tolerance genes. The expression of these genes is inducible by Al. Studies of the major Arabidopsis thaliana Al-tolerance gene, ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA ALUMINUM-ACTIVATED MALATE TRANSPORTER 1 (AtALMT1), which encodes an Al-activated malate transporter, revealed that the Al-inducible expression is regulated by a SENSITIVE TO PROTON RHIXOTOXICITY 1 (STOP1) zinc-finger transcription factor. This system, which involves STOP1 and organic acid transporters, is conserved in diverse plant species. The expression of AtALMT1 is also upregulated by several phytohormones and hydrogen peroxide, suggesting there is crosstalk among the signals involved in the transcriptional regulation of AtALMT1. Additionally, phytohormones and reactive oxygen species (ROS) activate various transcriptional responses, including the expression of genes related to increased Al tolerance or the suppression of root growth under Al stress conditions. For example, Al suppressed root growth due to abnormal accumulation of auxin and cytokinin. It activates transcription of TRYPTOPHAN AMINOTRANSFERASE OF ARABIDOPSIS 1 and other phytohormone responsive genes in distal transition zone, which causes suppression of root elongation. On the other hand, overexpression of Al inducible genes for ROS-detoxifying enzymes such as GLUTATHIONE–S-TRANSFERASE, PEROXIDASE, SUPEROXIDE DISMUTASE enhances Al resistance in several plant species. We herein summarize the complex transcriptional regulation of an Al-inducible genes affected by STOP1, phytohormones, and ROS