Seed storage studies in Mesua ferrea L. a medicinal tree of Indo-Malayan region

This paper, deals with testing the storage and viability of the seeds of Mesua ferrea L. in 5 different storage conditions. Seeds of M. ferrea are recalcitrant in nature and lose viability with a short span 8-15 days. Of the different conventional methods tried using the polycarbonate bottle and bags, M. ferrea seeds retained viability for 150 days with a slow moisture loss from the seeds stored in closed polycarbonate bottles at 10 °C. Here, we have standardised a conventional technique whereby the viability of the seeds can be extended to 150-180 days by storing the seeds in polycarbonate bottles at 10 °C

INDICATIONS FOR SIGNALLING THE PRESENCE OF A PRIVATE 5G NETWORK

Private 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) fifth-generation (5G), or Private 5G (P5G), networks are local networks or local area networks (LANs) that are built using 3GPP 5G wireless technology to carry traffic within a specified area, such as within an organization, on a campus, or within an industrial space. A growing number of enterprise and public sector companies are considering building their own P5G networks to address their need for clean spectrum, high bandwidth, low latency, higher availability, and increased visibility. With the introduction of P5G networks, there may be scenarios where both Wi-Fi and P5G networks are present in the same area. When both technologies are available in the same location, current User Equipments (UEs) are designed and configured to prefer the Wi-Fi network for data connectivity. However, there are circumstances that would benefit from the use of P5G connectivity instead of a Wi-Fi network. Techniques are presented herein that support three new mechanisms to inform a UE about the presence of a P5G network and list the services that could benefit from using such media access instead of Wi-Fi when the UE enters the P5G network coverage area. The first mechanism is based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons broadcasted by Wi-Fi access points (APs), the second mechanism leverages stand-alone BLE tags, while the third mechanism employs Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) router advertisement (RA) options. The different mechanisms require minimal changes to existing devices, as the underlying technologies that are used are already implemented on both commercially available access points (APs) and UEs. In addition, such mechanisms provide several benefits in terms of power savings and the possibility of immediately transitioning to a P5G network when coverage is available

Fishers in Post-harvest Fisheries Sector in India : An Assessment of Socio-economic Status

This paper presents the results of study carried out during 2009-11, to assess literacy, health and income status of fishers in India with reference to postharvest sector which covered fishers in marketing and processing. The study covered five states and one union territory, covering 11 districts reaching 548 households. About 52.19% of the respondents fell in the age group of 36-55. The average male- female ratio was 1.03 and 66.61% of the families were in the small family category of 2-4 members. It was observed that the literacy rates among fishers in post-harvest sector in different states ranged from 63.74 to 95.81%. In general, the literacy rates were comparable to the national average. Maternal and child mortality were low in the sample studied and the average birth weight of infants was 2.68 kg. The average monthly income was Rs. 7027.45 with a daily income of Rs. 234.25. About 44.70% of the households had no savings and 47.81% of households were in debt

Seed endophytic bacterial profiling from wheat varieties of contrasting heat sensitivity

Wheat yield can be limited by many biotic and abiotic factors. Heat stress at the grain filling stage is a factor that reduces wheat production tremendously. The potential role of endophytic microorganisms in mitigating plant stress through various biomolecules like enzymes and growth hormones and also by improving plant nutrition has led to a more in-depth exploration of the plant microbiome for such functions. Hence, we devised this study to investigate the abundance and diversity of wheat seed endophytic bacteria (WSEB) from heatS (heat susceptible, GW322) and heatT (heat tolerant, HD3298 and HD3271) varieties by culturable and unculturable approaches. The results evidenced that the culturable diversity was higher in the heatS variety than in the heatT variety and Bacillus was found to be dominant among the 10 different bacterial genera identified. Though the WSEB population was higher in the heatS variety, a greater number of isolates from the heatT variety showed tolerance to higher temperatures (up to 55°C) along with PGP activities such as indole acetic acid (IAA) production and nutrient acquisition. Additionally, the metagenomic analysis of seed microbiota unveiled higher bacterial diversity, with a predominance of the phyla Proteobacteria covering >50% of OTUs, followed by Firmicutes and Actinobacteria. There were considerable variations in the abundance and diversity between heat sensitivity contrasting varieties, where notably more thermophilic bacterial OTUs were observed in the heatT samples, which could be attributed to conferring tolerance against heat stress. Furthermore, exploring the functional characteristics of culturable and unculturable microbiomes would provide more comprehensive information on improving plant growth and productivity for sustainable agriculture

Identification and validation of a key genomic region on chromosome 6 for resistance to Fusarium stalk rot in tropical maize

Fusarium stalk rot (FSR) of maize is an economically important post-flowering stalk rot (PFSR) disease caused by Fusarium verticillioides. The pathogen invades the plant individually, or in combination with other stalk rot pathogens or secondary colonizers, thereby making it difficult to make accurate selection for resistance. For identification and validation of genomic regions associated with FSR resistance, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted with 342 maize lines. The panel was screened for FSR in three environments using standard artificial inoculation methodology. GWAS using the mixed linear model corrected for population structure and kinship was done, in which 290,626 SNPs from genotyping-by-sequencing were used. A total of 7 SNPs, five on chromosome 6 showing strong LD at 168 Mb, were identified to be associated with FSR. Haplotype regression analysis identified 32 haplotypes with a significant effect on the trait. In a QTL mapping experiment in two populations for validating the identified variants, QTLs were identified with confidence intervals having overlapped physical coordinates in both the populations on chromosome 6, which was closely located to the GWAS-identified variants on chromosome 6. It makes this genomic region a crucial one to further investigate the possibility of developing trait markers for deployment in breeding pipelines. It was noted that previously reported QTLs for other stalk rots in maize mapped within the same physical intervals of several haplotypes identified for FSR resistance in this study. The possibility of QTLs controlling broad-spectrum resistance for PFSR in general requires further investigation

A characteristic study of humic acids isolated from Arctic fjord sediments

Humic substances are ubiquitous natural materials found in sediments as a product of biochemical transformation reactions representing a significant proportion of organic carbon cycle on earth. This study involves the analysis of humic substances with special emphasis on humic acids (HAs) in sediments collected from the Kongsfjorden System of Arctic region in June, 2017. The characterization of the isolated HAs were done using various spectroscopic techniques viz. UV-visible, Fluorescence, FTIR and NMR. Isolated HAs were also undergone for elemental analysis along with other characterization. The UV spectral analysis results with a lower E4/E6 ratio suggesting the presence of HAs with high degree of aromaticity and condensation. Indications for the presence of hydroxyl, methyl, methylene, carbonyl, carboxyl, phenol, alcohol and amide groups were obtained from the FTIR spectrums of HAs. NMR spectral characteristics also confirm the presence of OH group as well as the presence of CH protons adjacent to C=X, were X can be any electronegative element. This also confirms the presence of carbonyl group which is also evident in the FTIR spectral studies. Presence of aliphatic regions slightly more dominated with long chain and/or alicyclic moieties rather than methyl groups was also inferred from the results of NMR

Human Genome-Wide RNAi Screen Identifies an Essential Role for Inositol Pyrophosphates in Type-I Interferon Response

The pattern recognition receptor RIG-I is critical for Type-I interferon production. However, the global regulation of RIG-I signaling is only partially understood. Using a human genome-wide RNAi-screen, we identified 226 novel regulatory proteins of RIG-I mediated interferon-β production. Furthermore, the screen identified a metabolic pathway that synthesizes the inositol pyrophosphate 1-IP7 as a previously unrecognized positive regulator of interferon production. Detailed genetic and biochemical experiments demonstrated that the kinase activities of IPPK, PPIP5K1 and PPIP5K2 (which convert IP5 to1-IP7) were critical for both interferon induction, and the control of cellular infection by Sendai and influenza A viruses. Conversely, ectopically expressed inositol pyrophosphate-hydrolases DIPPs attenuated interferon transcription. Mechanistic experiments in intact cells revealed that the expression of IPPK, PPIP5K1 and PPIP5K2 was needed for the phosphorylation and activation of IRF3, a transcription factor for interferon. The addition of purified individual inositol pyrophosphates to a cell free reconstituted RIG-I signaling assay further identified 1-IP7 as an essential component required for IRF3 activation. The inositol pyrophosphate may act by β-phosphoryl transfer, since its action was not recapitulated by a synthetic phosphonoacetate analogue of 1-IP7. This study thus identified several novel regulators of RIG-I, and a new role for inositol pyrophosphates in augmenting innate immune responses to viral infection that may have therapeutic applications

Freshwater Aquaculture

Indian aquaculture has grown at a faster pace of almost 5.5 per cent per year consistently since last 50 years. In some of the years the growth rate in the aquaculture was recorded as high as 9 per cent. Indian aquaculture has demonstrated a six and half fold growth over the last two decades, with fresh water aquaculture contributing over 95 per cent of the total aquaculture production and more than half of the national fish production. The three Indian major carps, namely catla (Catla catla), rohu (Labeo rohita) and mrigal (Cirrhinus mrigala) contribute the bulk of production with over 1.8 million tonnes (FAO, 2003) Average national production from fresh water ponds has increased from 0.6 tonnes/ha/year in 1974 to 2.9 tonnes/ha/year by 2009–2010 (DAHDF, 2010), with several farmers even demonstrating production levels as high as 8–12 tonnes/ha/year. For the newly introduced fishes like Pangus the production recorded was as high as 25 tonnes/ha/yr. At the national level as well as in state level, the production and productivity has been on the rise over a period of time. Backed by new policies like Fish Farmers Development Agencies (FFDA), National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) and state initiatives, there are enough incentives to increase the productivity of fish per unit water areas

Inland Fisheries

The Indian fisheries date back to time immemorial, but, the saga of success has been related to early post independence years. With renewed accent on optimum utilization of country’s aquatic wealth for fisheries, the Government of India earmarked an ambitious programme of mechanization and modernization through upgradation of technology during early fifties. Therefore, Indian fisheries witnessed impressive transformation from a highly traditional rural activity to technologically sound well developed industry. Indian fisheries sector has growing steadily from the first plan onwards with the annual fish production of 0.754 million tonnes during 1950-51 to the level of 9.57 million tonnes during 2012-13

Marketing and Processing

India is the third largest fish producing country in the world. The sector has high potentials for rural development, domestic nutritional security, employment generation as well as export earnings. Indian fisheries sector has been witnessing a steady growth, and the annual fish production has risen to 7.85 million tonnes during 2009-10. The rate of growth of the inland sector has been high and the inland fish production is 4.87 million tonnes and has almost doubled in the last decade. It is estimated that fishing, aquaculture and allied activities provide employment to over 14 million people