Genetic Analysis of Some Morphological Traits in Egyptian Clover (\u3cem\u3eTrifolium alexandrinum\u3c/em\u3e L.)

Trifolium alexandrinum, commonly known as Berseem or Egyptian clover (2n=2x=16) is an important winter forage legume in India, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Mediterranean region. It is characterized by three ecotypes viz; Mescavi, Fahli and Saidi. Amongst these, Mescavi type is most popular. In India it is cultivated in about 2 million hectare area. The major impediment in genetic improvement of berseem is the lack of appreciable genetic variability (Verma and Mishra, 1995; Roy et al., 2004; Malaviya et al., 2005). Although limited, variability for desirable traits at intraspecific (T. alexandrinum var Fahli and var Saidi) has been reported, considerable variability exists at interspecific level. Affinity of T. alexandrinum was tested with different wild Trifolium species (Malaviya et al., 2005) and was successfully hybridized with T. apertum for transfer of desirable traits such as late maturity and root rot resistance (Malaviya et al., 2004). In the segregating population of the cross, novel morphological traits such as black seed coat colour were also observed (Malaviya et al., 2012). T. alexandrinum var Fahli is single cut type and has several desirable characteristics like self compatibility (even not requiring tripping), good plant height, better seed yield, apical branching, etc. For incorporation of desirable genes in the improved genepool of beseem, the study of inheritance pattern of traits under consideration is a prerequisite. Therefore, present study was undertaken to study the inheritance pattern of pentafoliate leaf, dark green colour of leaf, black seed coat colour and regeneration capacity

Non-Conventional Silage for Arid Region

Thar is one of the most heavily populated desert areas in the world and the main occupations of the people living here are agriculture and livestock production. Agriculture is not a dependable proposition in this area due to erratic rains and occurrence of frequent droughts. A large number of farmers in Thar Desert depend on animal husbandry for their livelihood. Animal husbandry, trees and grasses, intercropped with vegetables or fruit trees, is the most viable farming system for arid, drought-prone regions (Anonymous, 2012a,b). Further, livestock sector is expected to emerge as an engine of agricultural growth in the 12th plan and beyond, in view of rapid growth for the demand of animal food products. Achieving growth rate of 5-6 %, however, would require addressing challenges of shortage of feed and fodder (Anonymous, 2012a,b). According to the ministry of agriculture assessment, there is a large gap between demand and supply of feed and fodder for the livestock in the country. The shortage of dry fodder, green fodder and concentrate is as high as 40% (Pawar, 2012). The problem is compounded by the lack of reliable data regarding fodder availability. The scenario appears alarming in case of availability of quality fodder. With the existing shortages of fodder, it would be difficult for India to achieve the target of 160 MT of milk production by 2020. For increasing milk production from the current level of 40 MT to 160 MT by 2020, 494 MT of dry fodder, 825 MT of green fodder and 54 MT concentrates will be required (Das, 2012). There are several crop products potentially used after enriching their quality for animal feeding, but are being wasted. All such bye-products needs to be ensiled and suitable mechanism for their enrichment and ensiling need to be developed. Keeping this in view efforts were made to ensile the dry fodder after enriching their quality by modified process

Breeding Strategies to Improve Fodder Legumes with Special Emphasis on Clover and Medics

In India, Forage has a unique integration of agriculture and animal industry in diversified rich cultural environment. Greater part of rural economy in India relies much upon mixed farming system, a well-knit combination of crop production and livestock rearing. In India, grazing-based livestock husbandry plays an important role in the rural economy as around 50% of animals depend on grazing. Pasturelands over an area of 12 Mha constitute the main grazing resources that are available. Nearly 30 pastoral communities in hilly or arid/semi-arid regions in northern and western parts of India, depend on grazing-based livestock production. Nomadic pastoralism, a traditional form of human-livestock-grassland interaction, is still predominant in the drylands of western India, the Deccan Plateau, and in the mountainous reaches of the Himalayas. (Roy and Singh, 2013)

Rejuvenation of Rangelands – Role of Diversity and Improvement Strategies of Range Grasses

In India, a major part of the rural economy is dependent on the grazing-based livestock husbandry which is unique integration of agriculture and livestock coupled with rich traditional knowledge. Ecosystems of common property resources had been a mainstay in rural economy and livelihood. The traditional grazing forage resources in arid and semi-arid regions have deteriorated a lot due to various factors including heavy grazing pressure, climate change and dominance of invasive species, thus, needs rejuvenation. Additionally, these are causing serious economic and ecological problems such as poor productivity, soil and water erosion and reduced carbon sequestration. The genetic improvement of these grasses encounters various problems such as polyploidy, apomixis, seed shedding and shattering and poor seed to ovule ratio. Transfer of desirable traits from donor germplasm becomes difficult due to the existence of apomixis. The breeding objectives are also multifold including herbage yield, forage nutritional quality, abiotic stress tolerance etc. Identification of sexual lines is prerequisite for transfer of traits. Mutation attempts are also not effective due to polyploidy. ICAR- Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi has collected rich genetic diversity in these range grasses especially Dichanthium-Bothriochloa complex, Heteropogon, Chrysopogon, Sehima, Panicum, Cenchrus, Pennisetum etc. from different parts of the country as well as procurement from gene banks of the world. These germplasm were evaluated for morphological traits which indicated the existence of wide variation for various morpho-agronomic traits. The paper deals with reporting the extent of variability among the potential range grasses; with prospects of utilizing the diversity in rejuvenating the degraded rangelands of India and other places with isoclimatic conditions

Conservation of Grassland Plant Genetic Resources through People Participation

Agrobiodiversity provides the foundation of all food and feed production. Hence, need of the time is to collect, evaluate and utilize the biodiversity globally available. Indian sub-continent is one of the world’s mega centers of crop origins. India possesses 166 species of agri-horticultural crops and 324 species of wild relatives. India is reported to have five grass covers identified. There have been almost nil human interference in terms of selection pressure; hence, the biodiversity is well conserved in these grazing lands. There is need of a system approach to understanding biodiversity that moves significantly beyond taxonomy and species observations. In addition to forage value, many grasses hold the medicinal value. Duplication in the collected germplasm is a serious issue. Hence, molecular tools need to be employed. Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi is maintaining \u3e 8500 germplasm of many fodder crops. For thousands of years farmers have been domesticating plant species thereby developing a wide range of crop varieties adapted to specific needs and environmental conditions and their rights have been protected through Indian Plant Variety Protection and Farmer’s Right Act. The use of diverse species and varieties by farmers enhances their adaptability and resilience capacity to changing environmental and economic conditions. Farmers in Manipur are conserving the biodiversity of the state by farming around 100 traditional varieties of paddy and rare medicinal plants. Old grasslands are very good place of conservation. Southern India forms the important genetic resource centre for many grass crops which includes cereals, millets, sugarcane, lemon grass, ginger grass etc. farmers in Maharastra are also conserving PGR and maintaining Biodiversity Register of the grassland species under guidance of Samvedana. “Community based conservation” and “peoples’ participation” have become part of the conventional rhetoric. Wealth of segregating breeding population also need to be conserved. The grasses or other species in grasslands are growing in highly diverse and harsh condition. These are harbouring genes for tolerance to many abiotic stresses such as light, heat and salinity/alkalinity. Hence, this wide variability, if conserved suitably, can prove to be resource to address climate change issue

Potential of C4 Tropical Grasses to Contribute in Carbon Sequestration, Environmental Security and Livelihood Opportunities through Increased Fodder Availability

The world grasslands/rangeland ecosystems comprise 26% of earth’s surface and have immense ecological and economic significance. Diversity of grasslands had been a key element for their sustainability. Grasslands in India have existed as natural ecosystems for millions of years. It is a major source of income, employment and livelihood to the rural families. Owing to heavy grazing pressure, coupled with other social/anthropogenic factors, the grazing resources have fast deteriorated. The country has many old and natural grasslands with ethnic and economic value. Comprehensive ecological studies including floristic compositions, dominant species, grazing pressure and the climax/sub-climax stages of ecological succession will surely provide prescriptions for developing and rejuvenating these grazing resources. Grasslands face challenges in arid, semiarid and the moist lowlands with trees, shrubs and many invasive species including alien trees and shrubs introduced intentionally or unintentionally. Fast degrading rangelands in dry areas is causing a threat to huge amount of carbon stored in the top soil on earth in addition to threat to global hotspots for biodiversity. In the context of fast changing climate, the grazing lands can play a significant role. High water use efficiency and productivity of most C4 tropical grasses make them suitable for coping with climate change along with quality fodder

Growth regulation of primary human keratinocytes by prostaglandin E receptor EP2 and EP3 subtypes

AbstractWe examined the contribution of specific EP receptors in regulating cell growth. By RT–PCR and northern hybridization, adult human keratinocytes express mRNA for three PGE2 receptor subtypes associated with cAMP signaling (EP2, EP3, and small amounts of EP4). In actively growing, non-confluent primary keratinocyte cultures, the EP2 and EP4 selective agonists, 11-deoxy PGE1 and 1-OH PGE1, caused complete reversal of indomethacin-induced growth inhibition. The EP3/EP2 agonist (misoprostol), and the EP1/EP2 agonist (17-phenyl trinor PGE2), showed less activity. Similar results were obtained with agonist-induced cAMP formation. The ability of exogenous dibutyryl cAMP to completely reverse indomethacin-induced growth inhibition support the conclusion that growth stimulation occurs via an EP2 and/or EP4 receptor-adenylyl cyclase coupled response. In contrast, activation of EP3 receptors by sulprostone, which is virtually devoid of agonist activity at EP2 or EP4 receptors, inhibited bromodeoxyuridine uptake in indomethacin-treated cells up to 30%. Although human EP3 receptor variants have been shown in other cell types to markedly inhibit cAMP formation via a pertussis toxin sensitive mechanism, EP3 receptor activation and presumably growth inhibition was independent of adenylyl cyclase, suggesting activation of other signaling pathways

Performance of Dual Purpose Maize Line for Grain, Green Fodder, Stover Yield under the Semi-Arid Condition

Maize is the third most important cereal crop of the world and so also in India (Nadagoud et al., 2012). The diverse use of maize is rapidly increasing the demand of the crop and is replacing crops such as rice, sorghum, legumes and wheat in some areas (CIMMYT, 2013). Maize is largely treated as a single-purpose crop grown for grain, ignoring its potential for stover. Utilization of maize as dual purpose can meet the demand of both the poultry industry for grain and good quality stover for cattle feed. Maize stover the part of the crop left over after grain harvest, provides a promising option for feeding livestock in India (CIMMYT, 2013). The performance of line may not be same under different environments or years. But, a line may be said to be good if its performance is consistence. The newer maize lines/ hybrids have higher buffering capacity as well as disease tolerance than the older one. Keeping this in view, the present investigation was carried out to evaluate the maize lines for dual purpose

Stability Analysis in Dual Purpose Maize Line

Utilization of maize as dual purpose has increased the economic value of the crop. Dual purpose maize not only meets the demand of grain but also the stover for cattle. The genetic improvement in dual purpose maize should combine breeding for grain with specific needs of forage [Barrière et al., 2005]. Stability in dual purpose maize production is an essential component for sustainable production. The selection of dual type maize should be based on the genotype × environment interaction (GEI) and stability/ adaptability. Parametric models, such as Eberhart and Russell (1966) based on simple linear regression analysis are among cultivars, which explain the variance of the regression deviations as to detect cultivar stability and the linear regression coefficient to detect cultivar adaptability. Genotype × environment interactions (GEI) are of major importance for identification and development of superior cultivars. Keeping this in mind, the present study was undertaken with the objective to (i) to quantify the effects of the environmental and genetic variation for grain yield, green fodder yield and stover yield (ii) to identify the consistence performing lines under environmental changes

Development of New, High Yielding Tropical Grass Varieties for Increasing Productivity of Semi-Arid Grasslands in India

Indian agriculture has traditionally been a mixed farming system since ancient times with integration of arable crops and livestock. It provides employment and livelihood to 70% of the rural population. Livestock are predominantly cattle and small ruminants that graze extensively on rangelands/pasturelands and common property resources (CPRs). CPRs occupy approximately 54 million ha area including permanent pastures in the alpine and temperate parts as well as seasonal grazing lands and wastelands. The productivity and carrying capacity of tropical degraded grasslands is very low, the average carrying capacity being 1.0, 0.7, 0.7 Adult Cattle Unit (ACU)/ha in semi-arid, arid and hill areas respectively. One of the options to increase livestock productivity is to grow more pasture by introducing higher yielding tropical grass varieties. Sehima nervosum, Heteropogon contortus and Chrysopogon fulvus are major species components of semi-arid tropical grasslands. These peren-nial grasses dominate two of the five major grassland covers, viz. Sehima-Dichanthium cover and Dichanthium-Lasiurus-Cenchrus cover