Growth and Yield Performance of Hybrid Hot Pepper, Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) as Influenced by Fertigation and Polyethylene Mulching

A field experiment was conducted at Bengaluru during 2015 to study the effect of fertigation on performance of hybrid chilli (Capsicum annuum L.). The trial included nine treatments comprising varying rates and sources of fertilizers, tested with or without mulching. Application of recommended dose of fertilizer (180:120:180 kg NPK/ha) through fertigation using water-soluble fertilizers resulted in higher values for plant height (104.27 cm), number of branches per plant (16.71), leaf area per plant (89.44 dm2), dry matter per plant (185.49 g), number of fruits per plant (142.7), fruit length (11.13 cm), fruit girth (4.75 cm), fruit weight (1.29 g), yield per plant (184.11 g) and fruit yield (5.03 t/ha) which remained on par with same amount of fertilizer applied using conventional means along with polyethylene mulching. In general, treatments that received fertilizers through fertigation took less number of days to flowering over conventional soil-application of fertilizers. All fertigation treatments recorded higher dry-chilli fruit yield over the conventional soil-application of fertilizers, to a tune of 27.87% to 52.4% over the control

Impact of protists on a hydrocarbon-degrading bacterial community from deep-sea Gulf of Mexico sediments: A microcosm study

In spite of significant advancements towards understanding the dynamics of petroleum hydrocarbon degrading microbial consortia, the impacts (direct or indirect via grazing activities) of bacterivorous protists remain largely unknown. Microcosm experiments were used to examine whether protistan grazing affects the petroleum hydrocarbon degradation capacity of a deep-sea sediment microbial community from an active Gulf of Mexico cold seep. Differences in n-alkane content between native sediment microcosms and those treated with inhibitors of eukaryotes were assessed by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography following 30-90 day incubations and analysis of shifts in microbial community composition using small subunit ribosomal RNA gene clone libraries. More biodegradation was observed in microcosms supplemented with eukaryotic inhibitors. SSU rRNA gene clone libraries from oil-amended treatments revealed an increase in the number of proteobacterial clones (particularly γ-proteobacteria) after spiking sediments with diesel oil. Bacterial community composition shifted, and degradation rates increased, in treatments where protists were inhibited, suggesting protists affect the hydrocarbon degrading capacity of microbial communities in sediments collected at this Gulf of Mexico site

Percolation thresholds in chemical disordered excitable media

The behavior of chemical waves advancing through a disordered excitable medium is investigated in terms of percolation theory and autowave properties in the framework of the light-sensitive Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. By controlling the number of sites with a given illumination, different percolation thresholds for propagation are observed, which depend on the relative wave transmittances of the two-state medium considered

The selective Cox-2 inhibitor Celecoxib suppresses angiogenesis and growth of secondary bone tumors: An intravital microscopy study in mice

BACKGROUND: The inhibition of angiogenesis is a promising strategy for the treatment of malignant primary and secondary tumors in addition to established therapies such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. There is strong experimental evidence in primary tumors that Cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) inhibition is a potent mechanism to reduce angiogenesis. For bone metastases which occur in up to 85% of the most frequent malignant primary tumors, the effects of Cox-2 inhibition on angiogenesis and tumor growth remain still unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Celecoxib, a selective Cox-2 inhibitor, on angiogenesis, microcirculation and growth of secondary bone tumors. METHODS: In 10 male severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice, pieces of A549 lung carcinomas were implanted into a newly developed cranial window preparation where the calvaria serves as the site for orthotopic implantation of the tumors. From day 8 after tumor implantation, five animals (Celecoxib) were treated daily with Celecoxib (30 mg/kg body weight, s.c.), and five animals (Control) with the equivalent amount of the CMC-based vehicle. Angiogenesis, microcirculation, and growth of A549 tumors were analyzed by means of intravital microscopy. Apoptosis was quantified using the TUNEL assay. RESULTS: Treatment with Celecoxib reduced both microvessel density and tumor growth. TUNEL reaction showed an increase in apoptotic cell death of tumor cells after treatment with Celecoxib as compared to Controls. CONCLUSION: Celecoxib is a potent inhibitor of tumor growth of secondary bone tumors in vivo which can be explained by its anti-angiogenic and pro-apoptotic effects. The results indicate that a combination of established therapy regimes with Cox-2 inhibition represents a possible application for the treatment of bone metastases

Neutrino Cooling of Neutron Stars. Medium effects

This review demonstrates that neutrino emission from dense hadronic component in neutron stars is subject of strong modifications due to collective effects in the nuclear matter. With the most important in-medium processes incorporated in the cooling code an overall agreement with available soft X ray data can be easily achieved. With these findings so called "standard" and "non-standard" cooling scenarios are replaced by one general "nuclear medium cooling scenario" which relates slow and rapid neutron star coolings to the star masses (interior densities). In-medium effects take important part also at early hot stage of neutron star evolution decreasing the neutrino opacity for less massive and increasing for more massive neutron stars. A formalism for calculation of neutrino radiation from nuclear matter is presented that treats on equal footing one-nucleon and multiple-nucleon processes as well as reactions with resonance bosons and condensates. Cooling history of neutron stars with quark cores is also discussed.Comment: To be published in "Physics of Neutron Star Interiors", Eds. D. Blaschke, N.K. Glendenning, A. Sedrakian, Springer, Heidelberg (2001