Ameliorating heat stressed conditions in wheat by altering its physiological and phenotypic traits associated with varying nitrogen levels

Currently, more than half of the global nations cultivating wheat crops are facing severe consequences of climate change and its associated heat stress in terms of quantitative and qualitative yield losses. Plants exposed to heat stress need a balanced and adequate amount of mineral nutrients to counter its ill effects. Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate the potential effects of heat stress applied during the vegetative growth period (Zadoks growth scale: ZGS 5-60) on physiological and phenotypic traits of wheat (Triticum aestivum) crop subjected to variable rates of nitrogen (N). In this experiment, wheat plants of cv. ‘Punjab-2011’ were exposed to two levels of temperature i.e. heat stress (HS) and control or non-heat stress (NHS), and three N rates (N50 = 50 kg ha-1, N100= 100 kg ha-1 and N150 = 150 kg ha-1). The experiment was executed under controlled conditions in a completely randomized design (CRD) with six replications. One set of eighteen pots containing wheat seedlings was placed in a compartment of the greenhouse under heat-stressed conditions, while another set was placed in another compartment under non-heated conditions. The greenhouse compartments were equipped with a heating and cooling system to maintain desired ecological conditions. Pots in heated chamber were kept for 60 days from emergence (ZGS = 5-60), and then shifted to non-heated chamber till harvesting. The temperature in heat stress treatment was almost 2 ± 0.47 °C higher than in non-heated treatment. The results indicated that HS significantly reduced the photosynthetic rate by 42.52%, leaf photosynthetic efficiency by 56.82%, chlorophyll scores by 20.11%, relative water contents (RWC) by 12.81%, tillers by 48.21%, grain weight by 21.47% and grain yield by 68.20% relative to NHS conditions. These reductions were more prominent in plants subjected to a limited N dose rate (50 kg N ha-1). Furthermore, the results also revealed higher transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, and membrane ruptures under HS with N50 treatment.  However, N150 treatment compensated for the detrimental effects of HS on wheat plants by improving the photosynthetic rate and efficiencies, higher RWC, more stability of membrane and pigments, more tillers, and higher grain weight, and grain yield of wheat. Additionally, grain yield was negatively correlated with transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, internal CO2 concentration, and membrane leakage. In conclusion, a high dose rate of N under high temperatures during vegetative growth could alleviate the magnitude of penalties to grain yield and enhance the potential of wheat crops to withstand heat-induced detrimental effects

Enhancing crop resilience through thiamine: implications for sustainable agriculture in drought-stressed radish

During 21st century, abiotic stress has adversely affected the agriculture crop production around the globe. Keeping in view the food requirement under water shortage condition, a study was planned to investigate the effect of thiamine application on radish crop under drought stress conditions on plant. For study purpose, two varieties of locally available radish (‘Early-Milo’ and ‘Laal-Pari’) were grown with normal water application as well as thiamine (100 mg L-1) application while maintaining a stress condition (60% field capacity). Increasing water deficit stress linearly reduced plant growth, yield and biomass in both varieties by reducing water use efficiency, while significantly enhanced these attributes with thiamine application. Thiamine application under drought stress exerted significant impacts on physiological attributes in both varieties, including enhanced osmolytic attribute in drought conditions and improvements in superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), H2O2, and malondialdehyde (MDA) activities in plant leaves. Antioxidant and osmoprotectant upregulation positively linked to radish crop's drought tolerance. Moreover, PCA and heatmap analysis revealed a significant interdependence among various traits and interconnected in determining the crop's capacity to sustain growth under conditions of drought stress. In crux, thiamine application conclusively enhances radish growth, yield, biomass, physio-chemical and osmolytic attributes, ionic composition and enzymatic antioxidant potential. Therefore, it is recommended to consider the application of thiamine in commercial agriculture practices to mitigate the negative effects of drought stress on radish crop production

Remediation of wastewater by biosynthesized manganese oxide nanoparticles and its effects on development of wheat seedlings

IntroductionNanoparticles play a vital role in environmental remediation on a global scale. In recent years, there has been an increasing demand to utilize nanoparticles in wastewater treatment due to their remarkable physiochemical properties.MethodsIn the current study, manganese oxide nanoparticles (MnO-NPs) were synthesized from the Bacillus flexus strain and characterized by UV/Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.ResultsThe objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of biosynthesized MnO-NPs to treat wastewater. Results showed the photocatalytic degradation and adsorption potential of MnO-NPs for chemical oxygen demand, sulfate, and phosphate were 79%, 64%, and 64.5%, respectively, depicting the potential of MnO-NPs to effectively reduce pollutants in wastewater. The treated wastewater was further utilized for the cultivation of wheat seedlings through a pot experiment. It was observed that the application of treated wastewater showed a significant increase in growth, physiological, and antioxidant attributes. However, the application of treated wastewater led to a significant decrease in oxidative stress by 40%.DiscussionIt can be concluded that the application of MnO-NPs is a promising choice to treat wastewater as it has the potential to enhance the growth, physiological, and antioxidant activities of wheat seedlings

Mechanistic insight of Staphylococcus aureus associated skin cancer in humans by Santalum album derived phytochemicals: an extensive computational and experimental approaches

An excessive amount of multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is commonly associated with actinic keratosis (AK) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) by secreted virulence products that induced the chronic inflammation leading to skin cancer which is regulated by staphylococcal accessory regulator (SarA). It is worth noting that there is currently no existing published study that reports on the inhibitory activity of phytochemicals derived from Santalum album on the SarA protein through in silico approach. Therefore, our study has been designed to find the potential inhibitors of S. aureus SarA protein from S. album-derived phytochemicals. The molecular docking study was performed targeting the SarA protein of S. aureus, and CID:5280441, CID:162350, and CID: 5281675 compounds showed the highest binding energy with −9.4 kcal/mol, −9.0 kcal/mol, and −8.6 kcal/mol respectively. Further, molecular dynamics simulation revealed that the docked complexes were relatively stable during the 100 ns simulation period whereas the MMPBSA binding free energy proposed that the ligands were sustained with their binding site. All three complexes were found to be similar in distribution with the apoprotein through PCA analysis indicating conformational stability throughout the MD simulation. Moreover, all three compounds’ ADMET profiles revealed positive results, and the AMES test did not show any toxicity whereas the pharmacophore study also indicates a closer match between the pharmacophore model and the compounds. After comprehensive in silico studies we evolved three best compounds, namely, Vitexin, Isovitexin, and Orientin, which were conducted in vitro assay for further confirmation of their inhibitory activity and results exhibited all of these compounds showed strong inhibitory activity against S. aureus. The overall result suggests that these compounds could be used as a natural lead to inhibit the pathogenesis of S. aureus and antibiotic therapy for S. aureus-associated skin cancer in humans as well

A source of resistance against yellow mosaic disease in soybeans correlates with a novel mutation in a resistance gene

Yellow mosaic disease (YMD) is one of the major devastating constraints to soybean production in Pakistan. In the present study, we report the identification of resistant soybean germplasm and a novel mutation linked with disease susceptibility. Diverse soybean germplasm were screened to identify YMD-resistant lines under natural field conditions during 2016-2020. The severity of YMD was recorded based on symptoms and was grouped according to the disease rating scale, which ranges from 0 to 5, and named as highly resistant (HR), moderately resistant (MR), resistant (R), susceptible (S), moderately susceptible (MS), and highly susceptible (HS), respectively. A HR plant named “NBG-SG Soybean” was identified, which showed stable resistance for 5 years (2016-2020) at the experimental field of the National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad, Pakistan, a location that is a hot spot area for virus infection. HS soybean germplasm were also identified as NBG-47 (PI628963), NBG-117 (PI548655), SPS-C1 (PI553045), SPS-C9 (PI639187), and cv. NARC-2021. The YMD adversely affected the yield and a significant difference was found in the potential yield of NBG-SG-soybean (3.46 ± 0.13a t/ha) with HS soybean germplasm NARC-2021 (0.44 ± 0.01c t/ha) and NBG-117 (1.12 ± 0.01d t/ha), respectively. The YMD incidence was also measured each year (2016-2020) and data showed a significant difference in the percent disease incidence in the year 2016 and 2018 and a decrease after 2019 when resistant lines were planted. The resistance in NBG-SG soybean was further confirmed by testing for an already known mutation (SNP at 149th position) for YMD in the Glyma.18G025100 gene of soybean. The susceptible soybean germplasm in the field was found positive for the said mutation. Moreover, an ortholog of the CYR-1 viral resistance gene from black gram was identified in soybean as Glyma.13G194500, which has a novel deletion (28bp/90bp) in the 5`UTR of susceptible germplasm. The characterized soybean lines from this study will assist in starting soybean breeding programs for YMD resistance. This is the first study regarding screening and molecular analysis of soybean germplasm for YMD resistance

Seed pre-treatment with electromagnetic field (EMF) differentially enhances germination kinetics and seedling growth of maize (Zea mays L.)

Pre-sowing treatment of seeds with different intensities and exposure times to electromagnetic fields (EMF) has proved to be beneficial in increasing the productivity of crops. The purpose of the recent study was to evaluate the effects of electromagnetic fields applied prior to cultivation to seeds of two maize genotypes namely FH-1046 and YH-5427. Sterilized seeds were exposed to three doses of EMF and sown in six treatments levels i.e. T0 (as control), T1 (60mT for 3 min.), T2 (120mT for 3 min.), T3 (180mT for 3 min.), T4 (60mT for 6 min.), T5 (120mT for 6 min.), and T6 (180mT for 6 min.). There were three replicates in each treatment. Results showed EMF exposure as an augmenting factor as it caused up to 50 % improvement in seed germination performance. The EMF exposure increased germination kinetics and triggered enhancement in morphological characteristics i.e., higher leaf area, plant height, more fresh and dry weight; higher concentration of physiological pigments like chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoids; upregulated antioxidative enzymatic activities; and, higher mineral ions concentration such as Na+, K+, and Ca2+. A growth promotory effect of all doses of electromagnetic field was observed on crop performance, however, T3 (180mT for 3 min.) and T5 (120mT for 6 min.) resulted in the highest germination indices, vegetative proliferations and biochemical assays. Of the two genotypes of maize, FH-1046 proved to be more sensitive the EMF as compared to YH-5427. It was concluded that maize growth and grain yield might be directly enhanced through the useful aspects of EMF by its analytical and sustainable utilization at the large scale of agricultural farming

Morphological and biochemical variations caused by salinity stress in some varieties of Pennisetum glaucum L.

The salinity of the soil is a severe challenge to the sustainability of agricultural production. It causes significant loss in the productivity of crop plants. To overcome this problem, one of the possible solutions could be the identification and cultivation of salinity tolerant crop plants in salt affected land. Therefore, this study was designed to screen some varieties of Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum L. Family Poaceae), an equally important cereal crop for food and forage, for salinity tolerance in a pot experiment. Some eighteen varieties of Pearl Millet were utilized to investigate the morphometric and biochemical variations induced by saline stress. The plants were grown for three weeks under normal conditions in sand culture in disposable PVP cups with three inches diameter. Afterwards, the plants were challenged with salinity stress (aqueous solution of NaCl applied in successive steps of 50, 100, 150 and 200 mM with Hoagland’s nutrients). The plants adopted salinity stress after one week and harvested for various physio-biochemical attributes. The results showed that the varieties YBS-93, YBS-94, YBS-95 and YDR-8-1 exhibited tolerance toward salinity stress as their shoot length, root length, biomass production and K+ was maintained under salt stress. The levels of proline contents and free amino acids in their leaves were relatively higher under salt stress as compared with other varieties. The accumulation of Na+ in theses varieties was lower as compared to other varieties under saline stress. These findings indicated their potential strategy to cope with salinity stress. While theYBS-83, YBS-98, YCMP-19 and YCMP-34 varieties among the subjected eighteen varieties of Pearl Millet were screened as most sensitive varieties to salinity stress in these experimental conditions. Because these varieties had reduction in shoot length, root length biomass production and K+. Other varieties did not show any significant success in salinity stress management. This study has provided significant preliminary screening data of morphological and biochemical aspects of eighteen varieties of Pearl Millet for their capability of salinity tolerance. Further molecular investigations are underway which will be helpful in revealing insights of the salt tolerance mechanism and signaling pathways in the screened salt tolerant varieties

Antioxidant System Response and cDNA-SCoT Marker Profiling in Phoenix dactylifera L. Plant under Salinity Stress

Many Phoenix dactylifera (date palm) cultivars are grown in the arid and semiarid regions of the world, including Saudi Arabia. P. dactylifera is highly tolerant to salinity stress. To investigate the response of Khalas cultivar of P. dactylifera, two-month-old plants were treated with sodium chloride (50, 100, and 150 mM NaCl) for three months. Our result showed that proline content was higher in all treated plants compared to control plants. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were increased at 100 and 150 mM NaCl treatments; however, the result was found nonsignificant between control and plants treated at 50 mM NaCl. Similarly, enzyme activities of catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were 0.805 and 0.722 U/mg protein/min, respectively, and were greater at 100 and 150 mM NaCl treatments compared to the control plants. Total chlorophyll content and fresh weight of shoots and roots decreased substantially with the increase of salinity. A cDNA start codon-targeted (cDNA-SCoT) marker showed a variation in different gene expressions profiling between treated and untreated plants under various NaCl concentrations

Synthesis of anthraquinone-connected coumarin derivatives via grindstone method and their evaluation of antibacterial, antioxidant, tyrosinase inhibitory activities with molecular docking, and DFT calculation studies

Anthraquinones and coumarins have excellent pharmacological activities and are an important class of natural plant metabolites with various biological activities. In this study, anthraquinone-9,10-dione and coumarin derivatives were combined to develop a novel anthraquinone-connected coumarin-derivative sequence. The synthesised novel anthraquinone-connected coumarin derivatives (1a-t) were screened for in vitro antibacterial, antioxidant, and tyrosinase inhibitory activities. The antibacterial activities of the synthesised compounds (1a–t) were tested against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Specifically, compound 1t was more active against E. aerogenes than ciprofloxacin. With regard to antioxidant activity, compound 1o (50.68 % at 100 μg/mL) was highly active compared to the other compounds, whereas it was less active than the standard BHT (76.74 % at 100 μg/mL). In terms of compound 1r (9.31 ± 0.45 μg/mL) was highly active against tyrosinase inhibitory activity compared with kojic acid (10.42 ± 0.98 μg/mL). In the molecular docking study, compound 1r had a higher docking score (−8.8 kcal mol−1) than kojic acid (−1.7 kcal mol−1). DFT calculations were performed to determine the energy gap of highly active compound 1r (ΔE = 0.11) and weakly active compound 1a (ΔE = 0.12). In this study, we found that every molecule displayed significant antibacterial, antioxidant, and tyrosinase inhibitory properties. Based on these reports, compounds 1r and 1t may act as multi-target agents

Molecular Identification of Sex in Phoenix dactylifera Using Inter Simple Sequence Repeat Markers

Early sex identification of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) at seedling stage is an economically desirable objective, which will significantly increase the profits of seed based cultivation. The utilization of molecular markers at this stage for early and rapid identification of sex is important due to the lack of morphological markers. In this study, a total of two hundred Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) primers were screened among male and female Date palm plants to identify putative sex-specific marker, out of which only two primers (IS_A02 and IS_A71) were found to be associated with sex. The primer IS_A02 produced a unique band of size 390 bp and was found clearly in all female plants, while it was absent in all male plants. Contrary to this, the primer IS_A71 produced a unique band of size 380 bp and was clearly found in all male plants, whereas it was absent in all the female plants. Subsequently, these specific fragments were excised, purified, and sequenced for the development of sequence specific markers further in future for the implementation on dioecious Date Palm for sex determination. These markers are efficient, highly reliable, and reproducible for sex identification at the early stage of seedling