Assessment of Variability and Genetic Diversity Study in an Advanced Segregating Population in Rice with Blast Resistance Genes Introgression

Blast disease caused by a pathogenic fungus, Magnaphorthe oryzae, is the most destructive disease and has resulted in more than 50% of crop losses worldwide, including in Malaysia. The present study was conducted to investigate genetic variability among 36 advanced lines of MR264 × PS2 rice with blast resistance genes introduced at the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. Traits such as days of maturity, plant height, grain width, and seed setting rate exhibited negative skewness in this study, indicating a doubling of gene effects. Seed setting rate and 1000 grain weight showed positive kurtosis, indicating gene interactions. The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was slightly higher than the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all traits, indicating that environmental influences affect the expression of these traits. High heritability associated with high genetic advance as a percentage of the mean was observed for filled grains per panicle. In addition, the second-highest value for high heritability and the high genetic advance was observed for the number of tillers. Cluster and principal component analysis revealed that 36 advanced lines were grouped into four clusters based on ten agromorphological traits. Clusters A and C had higher mean values for most of the traits studied than clusters B and D. Desirable recombinants for higher yields with a broad genetic base can be generated by using cross lines from different clusters

Nutritional therapy according to Sheikh Abbas Kuta Karang: early research based on Kitab Al-Rahmah Fi Al-Tib Wa Al-Hikmah

Nutrition is one of the methods of health care as it gives strength to the physical body. Malay community had a highly concerned about nutriotion as they know the type and nature of the food such as hot and cold to suit their body condition. Their main purpose in nutrition is to maintain health and diseases treatment. Among the most prominent scholars in the debate on healthy nutriotion is Sheikh Abbas Kuta Karang who is known as a scholar of various disciplines. He wrote his views on nutriotion based on the Qur'an and the Hadith and some of the scholars' views. Among the books he wrote was the Book of Al-Rahmah Fi Al-Tib Wa Al Hikmah in 1853 which contained health care guidelines and treatment of diseases. The book of Al-Rahmah Fi Al-Tib Wa Al Hikmah is one of guideline for malay medicine practitionar until this day. Method of data collection that be used from this study are library studies, bibliographic data analysis from this book, previous studies and journals to determine the effectiveness of current practice. Therefore, this study will describe some of his views on nutrition based on the Book of Al-Rahmah Fi Al-Tib Wa Al Hikmah. Although this book does not have detail explaination on healthy nutrition, its foundations can be studied and proven scientifically

Identification of Genetic Diversity among Mutant Taro (Colocasia esculenta L. cv WANGI) Using Agro-Morphological Trait and Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) Molecular Markers

Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is one of the traditional crops with enormous sources of dietary fiber, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals contents. Mutation breeding using gamma radiation is one of the most preferred approaches used to induce mutation in taro studies. Molecular markers are widely used to detect such induced mutation and genetic diversity in plants. Therefore, the present study was carried out to evaluate genetic diversity among irradiated taro genotypes in comparison with standard taro variety by using simple sequence repeats (SSR). A total of 200 of M1V4 taro genotypes were used in this study derived from segregating population of chronic-gamma irradiated taro cv Wangi with different ranges of gamma dose. The agro-morphological results revealed that genotype exposure in T6 (120.12 Gy) has the highest plant height (54.53 cm), leaf length (32.24 cm), and leaf width (24.87 cm). Corm's weight was decreased significantly with an increased dose of treatment. All mutants recorded a lower number of corm weight as compared with the control genotype. Out of 10 SSR primers tested, 9 primers have successfully amplified 43 amplicons. The polymorphism information content (PIC) values of SSR markers ranged from 0.20 to 0.80. Cluster analysis classified taro into 3 subgroups mutant and parent genotypes. The results clearly showed that SSR markers are important tools to distinguish mutant genotypes and confirmed their usefulness for phylogenetic studies. Finally, the present investigation indicated that genotypes exposed by T6 (120.12 Gy) are promising high-yielding genotypes that can be recommended as new cultivars and possessed an attractive phenotype appropriate for ornamental use