Zooplankton fauna

The zooplankton population consists of minute animals living freely in water with limited powers of locomotion and is more or less drifted passively by water currents. Almost every major group of animals, either as adults, larvae or as both has its representatives in planktonic existence. Many of the commercially important prawns, mussels, other shellfishes and finfishes start their life as plankters. The communities of zooplankton form the vital intermediary link in the food chain of the sea both as consumers of the primary producers and as contributors to the higher trophic level. Many species are proven indicators of pollution, water mass, cold, warm, surface or deep waters, upwelling characteristics and of the coastal or estuarine environment depending on the time of their occurrence and the ambient ecological parameters

Responsible Factors of Panic Buying: An Observation From Online Media Reports

Background: Panic buying is an erratic human behavior that has been reported irregularly and episodically. There is a dearth of studies exploring the identifiable factors accounting for it. We aimed to identify the factors responsible for panic buying extracted from online media reports. Methods: We scrutinized the media reports published in English discussing the different aspects of panic buying. We collected data until May 30, 2020, and searched the possible mentioned reasons responsible for panic buying. Results: We analyzed a total of 784 media reports. The majority of the reports were found in Bing (18%), Ecosia (12.6%), Google (26.4%), and Yahoo (12.5%). Panic buying was reported in 93 countries. Among the 784 responses, a total of 171 reports did not explain the responsible factors of panic buying. Therefore, we analyzed the remaining 613 reports to identify the same. A sense of scarcity was reportedly found as the important factor in about 75% of the reports followed by increased demand (66.07%), the importance of the product (45.02%), anticipation of price hike (23.33%), and due to COVID-19 and its related factors (13.21%). Other reported factors were a rumor, psychological factors (safety-seeking behavior, uncertainty, anxiety reduction, and taking control), social learning, lack of trust, government action, and past experience. Conclusions: The study revealed the responsible factors of panic buying extracted from media reports. Further, studies involving the individuals indulging in panic buying behavior are warranted to replicate the findings

Micro algae

The present work pertains to the micro flora of selected mangroves of India. The littoral diatoms are found to occur in the sediment as well as attached to the decaying leaves of mangrove plants. Few of them are true plankton, which are brought to the mangroves during high tide. Altogether 48 genera and 2 general of blue green have been described under which 80 species have been found in the Indian mangroves

Panic buying: An insight from the content analysis of media reports during COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Panic buying is an emerging phenomenon observed during, but not restricted to, pandemic. Aim: We aimed to evaluate the nature, extent, and impact of panic buying as reported in the media. Methods: This study was conducted by collecting the information from the English media reports published till 22nd May 2020. A structured format was developed to collect data. Searching was done by using the keyword “panic buying”. We have excluded the social media posts discussing the panic buying. Results: The majority of media reporting was from the USA (40.7 %), and about 46 % of reports highlighted the scarce item. Approximately 82 % of the reports presented the causes of panic buying whereas almost 80 % report covered the impact of it. About 25.7 % of reports highlighted the rumor about panic buying and only 9.3 % of reports blamed the government. Only 27.1 % reports described the remedial measures, 30.8 % reports conferred the news on the psychology behind panic buying and 67.3 % news displayed the images of empty shelves. Conclusion: A high proportion of reports on panic buying have been found from the developed countries discussing the causes & impact of panic buying on the basis of expert opinion

Breeding Drought-Tolerant Pearl Millet using conventional and genomic approaches: Achievements and prospects

Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] is a C4 crop cultivated for its grain and stover in crop-livestock-based rain-fed farming systems of tropics and subtropics in the Indian subcontinent and sub-Saharan Africa. The intensity of drought is predicted to further exacerbate because of looming climate change, necessitating greater focus on pearl millet breeding for drought tolerance. The nature of drought in different target populations of pearl millet-growing environments (TPEs) is highly variable in its timing, intensity, and duration. Pearl millet response to drought in various growth stages has been studied comprehensively. Dissection of drought tolerance physiology and phenology has helped in understanding the yield formation process under drought conditions. The overall understanding of TPEs and differential sensitivity of various growth stages to water stress helped to identify target traits for manipulation through breeding for drought tolerance. Recent advancement in high-throughput phenotyping platforms has made it more realistic to screen large populations/germplasm for drought-adaptive traits. The role of adapted germplasm has been emphasized for drought breeding, as the measured performance under drought stress is largely an outcome of adaptation to stress environments. Hybridization of adapted landraces with selected elite genetic material has been stated to amalgamate adaptation and productivity. Substantial progress has been made in the development of genomic resources that have been used to explore genetic diversity, linkage mapping (QTLs), marker-trait association (MTA), and genomic selection (GS) in pearl millet. High-throughput genotyping (HTPG) platforms are now available at a low cost, offering enormous opportunities to apply markers assisted selection (MAS) in conventional breeding programs targeting drought tolerance. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, micro-environmental modeling, and pearl millet whole genome re-sequence information covering circa 1,000 wild and cultivated accessions have helped to greater understand germplasm, genomes, candidate genes, and markers. Their application in molecular breeding would lead to the development of high-yielding and drought-tolerant pearl millet cultivars. This review examines how the strategic use of genetic resources, modern genomics, molecular biology, and shuttle breeding can further enhance the development and delivery of drought-tolerant cultivars

The transpiration rate sensitivity to increasing evaporative demand differs between soil textures, even in wet soil

Many efforts to improve crop yields in water-limited environments have been directed towards identifying genotypes capable of restricting their transpiration rate (TR) at high vapor pressure deficit (VPD). This has proven challenging due to the dependence of the TR-VPD relationship on environmental conditions. In this context, however, the impact of edaphic properties on the TR response to VPD has largely been overlooked as experiments investigating the TR-VPD relationship are usually performed in wet soil conditions. Hence, the soil is not expected to be limiting the water supply to the canopy at high VPD. Nonetheless, soil (hydraulic) properties are known to shape plant growth and the development of the plant hydraulic system. Thereby, they might indirectly affect plant water use during rising VPD, even in wet soils. To test the soil dependency of the TR-VPD relation, we measured the TR response of genotypes of three important C4 cereals - maize, sorghum, and pearl millet - to increasing VPD in two soil textural classes (sandy loam vs. clay loam). We show that the TR response to rising VPD differed among soil textures in wet conditions. Plants grown in sandy loam exhibited a higher initial slope in TR during increasing VPD (slope1), a restriction in TR at lower VPD (VPDBP), and a greater difference in TR before and after the VPDBP (slopediff. ), compared to plants grown in clay loam. Additionally, plants grown in more conductive soils (i.e., sandy loam) systematically exhibited higher maximum canopy conductance (i.e., slope1) and restricted their transpiration rate at lower VPD levels (VPDBP), resulting in a greater reduction in transpiration. This aligns with a hydraulic mechanism underpinning TR response to VPD. We advocate that considering soil texture is valuable in breeding for water conservation based on TR restriction under increasing VPD

Exploring genotypic diversity in sorghum breeding lines for water-saving traits to enhance drought adaptation during the post-rainy season

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], a crucial staple crop in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, faces challenges amid increasing climate variability. Post-rainy sorghum serves as a dominant food and fodder crop in India. Aligned with International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics's post-rainy sorghum product profile, this research extensively characterizes sorghum lines, emphasizing the traits vital for post-rainy drought adaptation in hybrid parents. We examined genotypic differences and trait correlations in 25 sorghum hybrid parents and varieties (B line for seed parent, R line for restorer, and check for varieties) through atmospheric and soil drought experiments. Results from atmospheric drought experiments revealed significant variation in transpiration rate (TR) under high vapor pressure deficit (VPD), with certain lines showing limited TR (BTX623 and ICSR 21002), while others exhibited high TR. In soil drought experiments, transpiration decline occurred at fractions of transpirable soil water ranging between 0.38 (ICSR 174) and 0.65 (40162 and ICSR 21005). R lines consistently displayed superior plant growth, water use, and biomass compared to B lines. Transpiration efficiency (TE) and total biomass showed positive correlations (r2 = 0.69) in well-watered and (r2 = 0.45) in water-stressed conditions. Most R lines displayed higher biomass and TE. Genotypes exhibiting enhanced vigor and limited TR in high VPD conditions and high TE hold potential for enhancing drought adaptation in post-rainy sorghum. Notably, genotypes with higher biomass, lower TR, and increased TE within both R and B line groups represent valuable genetic resources for enhancing sorghum crops, post-rainy sorghum adaptation to water deficit

Functional dissection of the chickpea (Cicer arietinum l.) stay-green phenotype associated with molecular variation at an ortholog of mendel’s i gene for cotyledon color: Implications for crop production and carotenoid biofortification

“Stay-green” crop phenotypes have been shown to impact drought tolerance and nutritional content of several crops. We aimed to genetically describe and functionally dissect the particular stay-green phenomenon found in chickpeas with a green cotyledon color of mature dry seed and investigate its potential use for improvement of chickpea environmental adaptations and nutritional value. We examined 40 stay-green accessions and a set of 29 BC2F4-5 stay-green introgression lines using a stay-green donor parent ICC 16340 and two Indian elite cultivars (KAK2, JGK1) as recurrent parents. Genetic studies of segregating populations indicated that the green cotyledon trait is controlled by a single recessive gene that is invariantly associated with the delayed degreening (extended chlorophyll retention). We found that the chickpea ortholog of Mendel’s I locus of garden pea, encoding a SGR protein as very likely to underlie the persistently green cotyledon color phenotype of chickpea. Further sequence characterization of this chickpea ortholog CaStGR1 (CaStGR1, for carietinum stay-green gene 1) revealed the presence of five different molecular variants (alleles), each of which is likely a loss-of-function of the chickpea protein (CaStGR1) involved in chlorophyll catabolism. We tested the wild type and green cotyledon lines for components of adaptations to dry environments and traits linked to agronomic performance in different experimental systems and different levels of water availability. We found that the plant processes linked to disrupted CaStGR1 gene did not functionality affect transpiration efficiency or water usage. Photosynthetic pigments in grains, including provitaminogenic carotenoids important for human nutrition, were 2–3-fold higher in the stay-green type. Agronomic performance did not appear to be correlated with the presence/absence of the stay-green allele. We conclude that allelic variation in chickpea CaStGR1 does not compromise traits linked to environmental adaptation and agronomic performance, and is a promising genetic technology for biofortification of provitaminogenic carotenoids in chickpea

Media portrayal of panic buying: A content analysis of online news portals

Objectives: Media reporting has an influential role in panic buying (PB). We aimed to evaluate the media portrayal of PB during this COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We searched, collected, and analysed the news reports from the English media discussing the PB events. The search was done between 23 and 30 May 2020. Results: A total of 525 news reports were analysed. Approximately half (49.3%) discussed the government action to handle the situation, 36.4% discussed the expert opinion regarding PB, 20.6% discussed the psychology of PB, 21.5% discussed the rumours, and 18.5% suggested remedial measures. Concerning the negative aspects, 96.6% of the titles mentioned panic buying, 75.4% mentioned the cause, and 62.3% mentioned the photos of empty shelves. The media in low–middle-income countries are 1.5 times more likely to include expert opinion (p = 0.03), 2.1 times more likely to discuss rumours regarding PB (p = 0.001), almost thrice more likely to report the cause of PB (p = 0.001), and thrice more likely to mention its impact (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Media has been portraying more negative aspects of PB. Further, there are variations in reporting patterns between highincome and low–middle-income countries

Breeding Drought-Tolerant Pearl Millet Using Conventional and Genomic Approaches: Achievements and Prospects

Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] is a C4 crop cultivated for its grain and stover in crop-livestock-based rain-fed farming systems of tropics and subtropics in the Indian subcontinent and sub-Saharan Africa. The intensity of drought is predicted to further exacerbate because of looming climate change, necessitating greater focus on pearl millet breeding for drought tolerance. The nature of drought in different target populations of pearl millet-growing environments (TPEs) is highly variable in its timing, intensity, and duration. Pearl millet response to drought in various growth stages has been studied comprehensively. Dissection of drought tolerance physiology and phenology has helped in understanding the yield formation process under drought conditions. The overall understanding of TPEs and differential sensitivity of various growth stages to water stress helped to identify target traits for manipulation through breeding for drought tolerance. Recent advancement in high-throughput phenotyping platforms has made it more realistic to screen large populations/germplasm for droughtadaptive traits. The role of adapted germplasm has been emphasized for drought breeding, as the measured performance under drought stress is largely an outcome of adaptation to stress environments. Hybridization of adapted landraces with selected elite genetic material has been stated to amalgamate adaptation and productivity. Substantial progress has been made in the development of genomic resources that have been used to explore genetic diversity, linkage mapping (QTLs), markertrait association (MTA), and genomic selection (GS) in pearl millet. High-throughput genotyping (HTPG) platforms are now available at a low cost, offering enormous opportunities to apply markers assisted selection (MAS) in conventional breeding programs targeting drought tolerance. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, micro-environmental modeling, and pearl millet whole genome re-sequence information covering circa 1,000 wild and cultivated accessions have helped to greater understand germplasm, genomes, candidate genes, and markers. Their application in molecular breeding would lead to the development of high-yielding and drought-tolerant pearl millet cultivars. This review examines how the strategic use of genetic resources, modern genomics, molecular biology, and shuttle breeding can further enhance the development and delivery of drought-tolerant cultivars