Growth response and nutrient uptake of blue pine (Pinus wallichiana) seedlings inoculated with rhizosphere microorganisms under temperate nursery conditions

Microbial inoculants (Trichoderma harzianum, Pseudomonas fluorescens,Laccaria laccata) inoculated either individually or in combinationsignificantly improved the growth and biomass of blue pine seedlings. The ECM fungus Laccaria laccata, when inoculated individually, showed significantly higher plant growth, followed by Pseudomonas fluorescens and Trichoderma harzianum. The combined inoculation of rhizosphere microorganisms showed synergistic growth promoting action and proved superior in enhancing the growth of blue pine than individual inoculation. Co-inoculation of L. laccata with P. fluorescens resulted in higher ectomycorrhizal root colonization. Uptake of nutrients (N, P, K) was significantly improved by microbial inoculants, tested individually or in combination. Combined inoculation of L. laccata with T. harzianum and P. fluorescens significantly increased in N, P and K contents in blue pine seedlings as compared to control. Acid phosphatase activity in the rhizosphere of blue pine seedlings was also enhanced by these microorganisms. L. laccata exhibited higher acid phosphatase activity followed by P. fluorescens

Breeding climate change resilient maize and wheat for food security

Climate change is affecting agriculture directly or indirectly, worldwide and is an important challenge that threatens the long-term production growth of cereals. Fluctuating temperature, green-house gases, rainfall, and high humidity directly affect the crops, pathogens, insects, and weeds. Several new diseases, weeds, and insect pests have started appearing with the changing climate. Maize and wheat are the two of the most important food crops worldwide with too are getting affected. Predictions suggest that climate change will reduce maize and wheat production this will coincide with a substantial increase in demand for maize and wheat due to rising populations. Maize and wheat research has a crucial role to play in enhancing adaptation to and mitigation of climate change while also enhancing food security. The varieties of agricultural crops with increased tolerance to heat and drought stress and resistance to pests and diseases are serious for handling existing climatic variability and for adaptation to progressive climate change. Numerous climate resilient agricultural technologies such as zero tillage (no tillage), laser land leveling, happy seeder, raised-bed planting, tensiometer, and rotavator have been invented for the conservation of agricul-ture. Further, drip irrigation and fertigation, leaf color chart (LCC) for need-based application of nitrogen, integrated nutrient management (INM) systems, integrated pest management (IPM) systems, integrated disease management (IDM) systems, site-specific management systems using remote sensing, GPS, and GIS, and Web-based decision support systems for controlling diseases and insect pests are being commercialized to mitigate the climate change

Gene action studies in early maturing maize (Zea mays L.) inbred lines

The present investigation was aimed to investigate the gene action in early maturing maize (Zea mays L.) inbred lines. The experimental material comprised of 30 crosses generated by crossing six maize inbred lines in a diallel mating design during Kharif 2013. These 30 crosses along with standard checks viz., SMH-2 and VMH-45 were evaluated in randomized block design in three replications during Kharif 2014 and Kharif 2015. Significant variation was observed for all studied traits during both the seasons. Both additive (D) and dominance (H1 and H2) components of genetic variance were found significant under the study. Preponderance of non-additive gene action was observed for all traits under study. Average degree of dominance was in over dominance range for all characters. The gene distribution was asymmetrical for all traits. The value of KD / KR indicated presence of excess of dominant genes for all traits except 100-grain weight and ear girth. Heritability of most of the traits was low to medium

Transcription factors and plants response to drought stress: Current understanding and future directions

Increasing vulnerability of plants to a variety of stresses such as drought, salt and extreme temperatures poses a global threat to sustained growth and productivity of major crops. Of these stresses, drought represents a considerable threat to plant growth and development. In view of this, developing staple food cultivars with improved drought tolerance emerges as the most sustainable solution toward improving crop productivity in a scenario of climate change. In parallel, unraveling the genetic architecture and the targeted identification of molecular networks using modern “OMICS” analyses, that can underpin drought tolerance mechanisms, is urgently required. Importantly, integrated studies intending to elucidate complex mechanisms can bridge the gap existing in our current knowledge about drought stress tolerance in plants. It is now well established that drought tolerance is regulated by several genes, including transcription factors (TFs) that enable plants to withstand unfavorable conditions, and these remain potential genomic candidates for their wide application in crop breeding. These TFs represent the key molecular switches orchestrating the regulation of plant developmental processes in response to a variety of stresses. The current review aims to offer a deeper understanding of TFs engaged in regulating plant’s response under drought stress and to devise potential strategies to improve plant tolerance against drought

Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU

The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on 10^3 pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype

Soil-transmitted helminths in relation to hemoglobin status among school children of the Kashmir Valley.

Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) remain a major threat to the health of children throughout the world, mostly in developing nations. The aim of the present study was to determine any relationship between STHs and hemoglobin status in school children of Kashmir Valley (India). Stool and blood samples were collected from 382 male and female school children in the age group of 5-15 yr from all 6 school districts of the Kashmir Valley. Finger-prick blood samples were used to collect the hemoglobin, which was then measured on-site by Sahli's acid hematin method; stool samples were processed using both simple smear and zinc sulphate concentration methods. Of the 382 children surveyed, 299 (78.27%) were infected with Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, or both. Children infected by STHs were found to have lower mean values of hemoglobin than uninfected children. The present study reveals that STHs are abundant among school children of Kashmir Valley, creating a negative effect on the hemoglobin values and indicating the necessity of implementing control measures

Heat Stress-Mediated constraints in Maize (Zea mays) production: Challenges and solutions

An increase in temperature and extreme heat stress is responsible for the global reduction in maize yield. Heat stress affects the integrity of the plasma membrane functioning of mitochondria and chloroplast, which further results in the over-accumulation of reactive oxygen species. The activation of a signal cascade subsequently induces the transcription of heat shock proteins. The denaturation and accumulation of misfolded or unfolded proteins generate cell toxicity, leading to death. Therefore, developing maize cultivars with significant heat tolerance is urgently required. Despite the explored molecular mechanism underlying heat stress response in some plant species, the precise genetic engineering of maize is required to develop high heat-tolerant varieties. Several agronomic management practices, such as soil and nutrient management, plantation rate, timing, crop rotation, and irrigation, are beneficial along with the advanced molecular strategies to counter the elevated heat stress experienced by maize. This review summarizes heat stress sensing, induction of signaling cascade, symptoms, heat stress-related genes, the molecular feature of maize response, and approaches used in developing heat-tolerant maize varieties