Evaluation of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) advanced breeding lines for resistance to cercospora leaf spots and rust diseases in Kano State, Nigeria

Cercospora leaf spots and rust diseases are among the biotic factors that cause yield reduction in groundnut. However, screening groundnut breeding lines that are tolerant to these diseases and having higher yield potentials would help farmers and breeders to make the right choice for cultivation or for further improvement. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate 18 groundnuts advanced breeding lines and 2 improved/local varieties against these diseases, during July-October 2016 rainy season in a field designated as endemic to Cercospora leaf spots and rust diseases, at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Research Farm at Minjibir, Kano, Nigeria. Significant differences (p<0.01) were observed in all the traits studied (viz., days to 50% flowering, normalised difference vegetation index, pod yield (Kg/ha), fodder yield (Kg/ha), 100 seed weight (g), disease incidence (%) and disease severity) except chlorophyll content. The top nine (9) high yielding breeding lines (ICGV's-IS 13980, 07947, 07828, 09011, ICGX-IS's 11003, 11057, 13011, ICGV-SM 07539 and ICG 5891) were all resistant to early leaf spot, moderately resistant to late leaf spot and rust except ICGV's-IS 07828, 09011 and ICGX-IS 13011 which were susceptible to rust.Keywords: Cercospora, Rust, Groundnut, Resistance, Yiel

Assessment of the Treatment of Textile Mill Effluent Using UASB Reactor

This study was designed to evaluate the feasibility of the treatment of actual textile mill effluent using a upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. The main objective of this study was to generate design aids; in terms of organic loading rate (OLR), hydraulic retention time (HRT) versus chemical oxygen demand (COD) and colour removal in the textile effluent using a UASB reactor at neutral pH and constant mesophilic temperature. The COD, colour and total suspended solids concentration of the textile wastes used in the study were analyzed as 5440 mg/l, 3280 mg/l, 2320 units and 955 mg/l, respectively. The UASB reactor was started up by gradually increasing the OLR from 0.2 kg-COD/m3-day to 2.6 kg-COD/m3-day in order to prevent an organic shock to the reactor. Similarly, the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was slowly reduced from 58 h to 8 h to prevent the wash-out of sludge from the reactor. It was observed that more than 80% of COD and colour could be effectively removed at an OLR of 2.2 kg-m3/d and HRT of 20 h. At optimum operating conditions, the effluent volatile fatty acid concentration was observed to be 430 mg/l. The average biogas production observed during this study was 0.34 l/g-CODremoved and it was composed of 58% methane. During the course of maturity of granular sludge, its effective size and settling velocity were observed to increase exponentially as 0.261e0.051x and 1.91e0.017x respectively. The overall observed biomass yield (Yobs) for the experimental period was calculated as 0.049 g-VSS/g-CODrem. This study suggests that the use of a UASB reactor for textile mill effluent is a fairly feasible and viable option

Assessment of the Treatment of Textile Mill Effluent Using UASB Reactor

This study was designed to evaluate the feasibility of the treatment of actual textile mill effluent using a upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. The main objective of this study was to generate design aids; in terms of organic loading rate (OLR), hydraulic retention time (HRT) versus chemical oxygen demand (COD) and colour removal in the textile effluent using a UASB reactor at neutral pH and constant mesophilic temperature. The COD, colour and total suspended solids concentration of the textile wastes used in the study were analyzed as 5440 mg/l, 3280 mg/l, 2320 units and 955 mg/l, respectively. The UASB reactor was started up by gradually increasing the OLR from 0.2 kg-COD/m3-day to 2.6 kg-COD/m3-day in order to prevent an organic shock to the reactor. Similarly, the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was slowly reduced from 58 h to 8 h to prevent the wash-out of sludge from the reactor. It was observed that more than 80% of COD and colour could be effectively removed at an OLR of 2.2 kg-m3/d and HRT of 20 h. At optimum operating conditions, the effluent volatile fatty acid concentration was observed to be 430 mg/l. The average biogas production observed during this study was 0.34 l/g-CODremoved and it was composed of 58% methane. During the course of maturity of granular sludge, its effective size and settling velocity were observed to increase exponentially as 0.261e0.051x and 1.91e0.017x respectively. The overall observed biomass yield (Yobs) for the experimental period was calculated as 0.049 g-VSS/g-CODrem. This study suggests that the use of a UASB reactor for textile mill effluent is a fairly feasible and viable option

Prospects for precise predictions of aμa_\mu in the Standard Model

International audienceWe discuss the prospects for improving the precision on the hadronic corrections to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, and the plans of the Muon $g-2$ Theory Initiative to update the Standard Model prediction

Prospects for precise predictions of aμa_\mu in the Standard Model

We discuss the prospects for improving the precision on the hadronic corrections to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, and the plans of the Muon $g-2$ Theory Initiative to update the Standard Model prediction