Evaluation on dry forage yields and nutritional characteristics of introduced herbaceous legumes in Myanmar

The study was carried out to evaluate the forage yields, nutritive values and in vitro fermentation parameters of herbaceous legumes. Five varieties of introduced herbaceous legumes; Stylosanthes guianensis cv. Ubon stylo, Macrotyloma axillare cv. Archer, Centrosema brasilianum cv. Ooloo, Stylosanthes guianensis cv. Stylo 184 and Macroptilum bracteatum cv. Cadarga were evaluated at the research farm, University of Veterinary Science, Yezin, Myanmar. No fertilizer and no irrigation were applied for cultivation to test drought resistance. Dry forage yield, nutritive values and gas production at four harvesting times were measured with 4×5 factorial arrangement (5 legumes and 4 harvesting time) in randomized complete block design. There was no interaction between legumes and harvesting time on forage yield, nutritive values and fermentation parameters but they were affected by the main effects of legume types and harvesting time. Among the legume forages, the highest dry forage yields were found in Ooloo, Ubon stylo, and Stylo 184, and followed by the DM yield of Archer and Cadarga. The DM yield of the second harvest was significantly higher (p<0.05) than those of the first, third and fourth harvest which were not significantly different from each other. As a chemical composition, the DM content of Archer was lower (p<0.05) than those of other varieties. Among the legumes forages, the lower CP content was found in Cadarga. The higher NDF was observed in Ooloo. Ooloo, Ubon stylo and Cadarga showed higher ADF in comparison with the other two varieties. Among the harvesting time, the lowest DM content was found at the first harvest. The highest CP content was found at third harvest. The NDF content was not significantly different. The lowest ADF content was found in fourth harvest. According to the dry forage yield, Ubon stylo and Ooloo had the highest dry forage yield and in term of nutritive values, Stylo 184 and Archer had higher nutritive values. As the main effect of forages, Stylo 184 and Archer had higher gas production in comparison with the other varieties. As the main effect of harvesting time, the fourth harvest had the highest gas production in comparison with other harvesting time. It could be better for cultivation by application of fertilizer and irrigation to get more forage yield and quality. &nbsp

A Field Study Exploring Plant Genetic Resources in Kachin State and Chin State, Myanmar in 2017

Here, we report a Myanmar-Japan cooperative field study exploring plant genetic resources (PGRs) mainly in northern Kachin State and southern Chin State, Myanmar in November 2017. The field study was conducted in the above-mentioned areas where small exploration missions were dispatched, even though crop diversity was expected. Crop diversity has previously been observed in hilly and mountainous areas in Sagaing Region, which border Kachin State and Chin State. There were four objectives of this field study. First, we planned to survey cultivated and useful plants by visiting villages and marketplaces in Putao district of Kachin State. We visited a large basin and the surrounding hills at altitudes of 370 ? 530 m. The major crop in the basin was rice and various legumes, cereals, spices, herbs, medicinal plants, and vegetables were grown in cultivated fields, backyard garden, and in local marketplaces. Second, we intended to visit local villages at higher altitudes of 900 ? 1,540 m crossing higher passes in Mindat district of the southern Chin State and vicinity for survey. Although rice was also an important crop in those regions, its cultivation was limited to terraces in the valleys or small basins where irrigation water was available. There were small sloping cultivation fields near farmers’ houses where various crops were grown, as observed in Putao district. Cultivation of elephant foot yam was recently introduced as a cash crop, which might have led to the loss of traditionally grown crops, such as foxtail millet and finger millet. The third objective was to collect PGRs for food and agriculture. We collected 245 plant samples in Putao district of Kachin State (147 samples), Mindat district of Chin State (89) and neighboring Magway Region (8), and Yangon Region (1) of Myanmar, which included legumes (46), cereals (75), spices, herbs and medicinal plants (28), various vegetables (92), and others (4). The fourth objective was to collect the vernacular names and confirm the utilization methods of the crops and useful plants from an ethnobotanical perspective. Shan, Rawang, Jinghpaw, and Lisu people often used similar crop names within their respective languages in Putao district of Kachin State. Although they live close to other people in the district, they have maintained their own vernacular names for a variety of cultivated crops. Conversely, Chin people use various words for each crop among villages in Mindat district of Chin State. Consequently, we observed a diversity of cultivated and useful plants in Putao district of Kachin State and Mindat district of Chin State. These were collected as potential PGRs to be conserved at DAR Seed Bank in Myanmar and at the Genetic Resources Center (GRC) of the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), which implements the NARO Genebank Project (NARO GBP) in Japan. We observed the recent introduction of some cash crops, such as elephant foot yam and coffee trees, into the mountainous areas of Chin State, which might have led to the loss of traditionally grown crops, such as foxtail millet and finger millet. Further studies are needed on several wild and/or semi-domesticated Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae plants used by local people both in Kachin State and Chin State for accurate taxonomic identification and analysis of diversity. It is important to consider introducing cash crops and the possible utilization of traditional cultivated and useful plants in order to develop agriculture in hilly and mountainous peripheral areas of Myanmar such as Putao and Mindat districts.本報告は，2017年11月にミャンマーのカチン北部およびチン州南部で日本とミャンマーが共同で実施した植物遺伝資源に関するフィールド研究の報告である．本フィールド研究は隣接するザガイン地方域における先行研究による知見に基づいて，作物の多様性が期待されるが探索があまりなされていない上記の地域を対象に計画，実行された．4つの目的があった．第一に，カチン州のプタオ県（district）の村や市場を訪れ，栽培された有用植物を調査する．私たちは標高370 ~ 530 mの広い盆地と周辺の丘陵部を訪れ，主要な作物は盆地のイネであるが，畑，バックヤードガーデン，地元の市場などでさまざまなマメ類，穀類，スパイス，ハーブ，薬草や野菜を確認した．第二に，私たちはチン州南部のミンダッ県及びその近傍の900 ~ 1,540 mのより高い標高の村々をさらに高い峠を越えながら訪問し調査することを計画した．イネはここでも重要な作物であったが，その栽培は灌漑用水が利用できる谷または小さな盆地のテラスに限られていた．プタオ県と同様に様々な作物が農家の近くの小さな傾斜畑に栽培されていた．近年，新しい換金作物であるコンニャク等の栽培がチン州に導入されアワやシコクビエなど伝統的作物が失われているようある．第三の目的は農業食糧遺伝資源を収集することであった．ミャンマーのカチン州プタオ県で147点，チン州ミンダッ地区で89点，近接するマグエ地方域で8点，ヤンゴン地方域で1点の計245点を収集した．それにはマメ科植物（46点），穀類（75点），スパイス・ハーブ・薬草（28点），野菜（92点），その他（4点）が含まれていた．四番目の目的は，民族植物学的視点から，作物や有用植物の方名（現地語での呼称）と利用方法を収集することであった．作物の名前に関しては，カチン州プタオ県のシャン人，ラワン人，ジンポー人，リス人は異なる村でもそれぞれの言語内では共通性のある作物名を使用する．彼らは地区内で互いに近くに住んでいるにもかかわらず，様々な栽培作物の呼称は独自の方名を維持している．一方，チン人は，チン州のミンダッ地区の調査で各作物について村ごとにある程度異なる呼称を使用している．本研究の結果，私たちはカチン州プタオ県とチン州ミンダット県に多様な栽培植物や有用植物を観察し，それらをミャンマーの農業研究局のシードバンクとわが国の農業生物資源ジーンバンクに保存される植物遺伝資源として収集した．近年チン州の山岳地帯にコンニャクやコーヒーノキなどの換金作物の導入を確認した．これによって伝統的に栽培されていたアワやシコクビエのような伝統作物が失われた可能性がある．カチン州とチン州の地元住民が利用している野生ないしは半栽培のウリ科植物やナス科植物は，専門家による正確な分類学的同定や多様性分析などさらに研究が必要である．プタオ県やミンダッ県のようなミャンマー周縁部の丘陵・山間地域の農業を発展させるためには，現金作物の導入だけでなく，伝統的な栽培された有用植物の活用の検討も重要と思われる

Late Frontal Negativity Discriminates Outcomes and Intentions in Trust-Repayment Behavior

Altruism (a costly action that benefits others) and reciprocity (the repayment of acts in kind) differ in that the former expresses preferences about the outcome of a social interaction, whereas the latter requires, in addition, ascribing intentions to others. Interestingly, an individual\u2019s behavior and neurophysiological activity under outcome- versus intention-based interactions has not been compared directly using different endowments in the same subject and during the same session. Here, we used a mixed version of the Dictator and the Investment games, together with electroencephalography, to uncover a subject\u2019s behavior and brain activity when challenged with endowments of different sizes in contexts that call for an altruistic (outcome-based) versus a reciprocal (intention-based) response. We found that subjects displayed positive or negative reciprocity (reciprocal responses greater or smaller than that for altruism, respectively) depending on the amount of trust they received. Furthermore, a subject\u2019s late frontal negativity differed between conditions, predicting responses to trust in intentions-based trials. Finally, brain regions related with mentalizing and cognitive control were the cortical sources of this activity. Thus, our work disentangles the behavioral components present in the repayment of trust, and sheds light on the neural activity underlying the integration of outcomes and perceived intentions in human economic interactions

The caudal regeneration blastema is an accumulation of rapidly proliferating stem cells in the flatworm Macrostomum lignano

Background: Macrostomum lignano is a small free-living flatworm capable of regenerating all body parts posterior of the pharynx and anterior to the brain. We quantified the cellular composition of the caudal-most body region, the tail plate, and investigated regeneration of the tail plate in vivo and in semithin sections labeled with bromodeoxyuridine, a marker for stem cells (neoblasts) in S-phase. Results: The tail plate accomodates the male genital apparatus and consists of about 3,100 cells, about half of which are epidermal cells. A distinct regeneration blastema, characterized by a local accumulation of rapidly proliferating neoblasts and consisting of about 420 cells (excluding epidermal cells), was formed 24 hours after amputation. Differentiated cells in the blastema were observed two days after amputation (with about 920 blastema cells), while the male genital apparatus required four to five days for full differentiation. At all time points, mitoses were found within the blastema. At the place of organ differentiation, neoblasts did not replicate or divide. After three days, the blastema was made of about 1420 cells and gradually transformed into organ primordia, while the proliferation rate decreased. The cell number of the tail plate, including about 960 epidermal cells, was restored to 75% at this time point. Conclusion: Regeneration after artificial amputation of the tail plate of adult specimens of Macrostomum lignano involves wound healing and the formation of a regeneration blastema. Neoblasts undergo extensive proliferation within the blastema. Proliferation patterns of S-phase neoblasts indicate that neoblasts are either determined to follow a specific cell fate not before, but after going through S-phase, or that they can be redetermined after S-phase. In pulse-chase experiments, dispersed distribution of label suggests that S-phase labeled progenitor cells of the male genital apparatus undergo further proliferation before differentiation, in contrast to progenitor cells of epidermal cells. Mitotic activity and proliferation within the blastema is a feature of M. lignano shared with many other regenerating animals

Generating and repairing genetically programmed DNA breaks during immunoglobulin class switch recombination

Adaptive immune responses require the generation of a diverse repertoire of immunoglobulins (Igs) that can recognize and neutralize a seemingly infinite number of antigens. V(D)J recombination creates the primary Ig repertoire, which subsequently is modified by somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR). SHM promotes Ig affinity maturation whereas CSR alters the effector function of the Ig. Both SHM and CSR require activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) to produce dU:dG mismatches in the Ig locus that are transformed into untemplated mutations in variable coding segments during SHM or DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in switch regions during CSR. Within the Ig locus, DNA repair pathways are diverted from their canonical role in maintaining genomic integrity to permit AID-directed mutation and deletion of gene coding segments. Recently identified proteins, genes, and regulatory networks have provided new insights into the temporally and spatially coordinated molecular interactions that control the formation and repair of DSBs within the Ig locus. Unravelling the genetic program that allows B cells to selectively alter the Ig coding regions while protecting non-Ig genes from DNA damage advances our understanding of the molecular processes that maintain genomic integrity as well as humoral immunity

A Study of the Relationship between School Climate and Teachers’ Performance in High School

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between school climate and teachers’ performance in high schools. Descriptive survey method was applied for this study. There are nine Basic Education High Schools in Pale Township. In this study, the samples were (9) principals, (236) teachers and (712) students from all Basic Education High Schools. The questionnaires were used as instruments to collect the appropriate data. There is one instrument for principals and students and two instruments for teachers. The first instrument for teachers (Q1) includes Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire (OCDQ) developed by Haplin and Croft (1963, cited in Chen, 1990). The second instrument for principals, students and teachers (Q2) is to measure teachers’ performance developed by Raza (2010) in order to obtain information for the study. In order to analyze the data obtained, Pearson-product moment correlation coefficient and descriptive statistics were computed. The result of the study indicated that the perception of the teachers on school climate was at high level. With regard to teachers’ performance, the perception of principals, students and teachers were also high level. According to ANOVA result, there was significant difference between principals, students and teachers’ perception on teachers’ performance. It was found that there was significant relationship between school climate and teachers’ performance with Pearson r of .658 at 0.001 level. The effect size of r = .658 was considered large effect size. According to simple linear regression, it can be concluded that 43% of teachers’ performance can be predicted from school climate. These results indicate that school climate is one factor that increases teachers’ performance in high schools

Study on Food Security Status and Coping Strategies of Rural Households in Myingyan Township, Dry Zone Area

This study was emphasized to estimate the food security status and coping strategies employed to food insecurity and better understanding of major determinants of per capita food expenditure at household level in Myingyan Township. The sample of 120 farm households and 77 landless households were interviewed in 6 villages by using simple random sampling method. Households’ daily calorie availability based on minimum capita daily food requirement 2100 kcal/person/day, food poverty line method and coping strategies method were used to fulfill the research objectives. There were 48% of landless and 45% of farm households in food insecure group. Landless and farm households used 90% and 72% of their total income for food consumption respectively. In terms of average capita calorie intake per day, landless and farm households took 2127 kcal and 2181 kcal, respectively. Landless consumed 508 MMK whereas farm households consume 596 MMK as per capita daily food expenditure. Food secure households group was characterized by smaller family size, higher annual income, higher rice and meat consumption and lower migration rate compared to the food insecure group. About half of the landless and farm households were found in low level of coping strategies for food insecurity

A Field Study to Explore Plant Genetic Resourcesin the Sagaing Region and Shan State of Myanmar in 2016

This is the report of a Myanmar-Japan joint field study carried out in the hilly and mountainous areas of Myanmar in October of 2016. Earlier studies in Naga Self-Administered Zone (Naga SAZ) in the Sagaing Region, Kachin State, indicated that the people living in the scattered villages of the hilly and mountainous areas have been growing a diversity of traditional crops and varieties, mainly in a slash-and-burn traditional cultivation scheme, as well as in backyard gardens (home gardens) and in terrace; additionally, these people collect useful plants from their surrounding environments (Domon et al. 2015a, 2015b; Min San Thein et al. 2017; Kawase et al. 2011; Yamamoto et al. 2011; Watanabe et al. 2007). The present study was planned because an observation on our last visit implied that Layshee township of NAGA SAZ might be characterized by terrace cultivation of rice compared with Lahe township, another township in NAGA SAZ (Min San Thein et al. 2017).We pursued four basic objectives in the study. First, we targeted Layshee township to explore and collect crop seeds as plant genetic resources (PGRs), and understand their traditional uses by interviewing local people from an ethnobotanical point of view. Collected PGRs could help future crop improvement and should be conserved in gene banks. Second, we wished to elucidate how traditional crops and their local landraces in the area have been influenced by socio-economical changes brought about by recent democratization in Myanmar. Influence could also be expected from neighboring India, since the township is near Nagaland State of India. Additionally, we paid special attention to locally cultivated and useful vegetables, including cucurbitaceous plants in the Layshee township of Sagaing Region, and the hilly areas in Taunggyi district of Shan State. Lastly, wild Vigna species were targeted as CWRs during the visit to the aspects, and collected crop wild relatives (CWRs), such as Vigna species. Slash-and-burn cultivation is commonly practiced on mountain slopes in the Sagaing Region, where rice, other cereals, food legume, roots and tuber crops, various vegetables, and miscellaneous herbs and spices are often planted in mixed cropping systems. We confirmed that rice-terrace farming is common where enough mountain stream water is available for irrigation in Layshee township.Second, we ran a preliminary survey mainly of vegetables and CWRs in the Taunggyi district of Shan State. A total of 177 seed samples were collected in the Sagaing Region, which included cereal crops (42 samples), leguminous crops (43), various vegetables (46), herbs and spices (19), tea plant (1), and CWRs (26). Five and three samples of CWRs were collected during the survey in Taunggyi district of Shan State and during a short visit to Yangon/Bago area, respectively. The collected plant materials were divided into two subsets, one to be maintained at the Seed Bank of Myanmar, and the other at NIAS Genetic Resources Center (NIAS GRC, now NARO GRC) in Japan after transfer in accordance with national and international legislation and operative procedures. Various vernacular names were noted from interviews with local people in the Sagaing Region. Different names were used for each crop among Naga people, while similar names were given within a particular Naga tribe, for example within Para Naga or within Thunkle Naga. The present field study explored the agrobiodiversity in Layshee township of the Sagaing Region and successfully collected some components of such diversity as plant genetic resources. Detailed studies should be carried out by specialists in semi-domesticated cucurbitaceous species and some of the CWRs