Cassava Integrated Pest Management: Review on Cassava Mosaic Disease and Mealybug

Cassava mosaic disease and cassava mealybugs are some of the economically important cassava pests. Different scientists report the impacts and possible management practices. Both pests affect cassava growth, yield and quality and being threat to food security and poverty. Most findings stated as integrated pest management is very important in controlling these pests in different cassava growing areas. This might be due to the fact that integrated pest management strategies are economically sound and environmentally friend. Therefore, status and management options of cassava mosaic disease as well as whitefly and mealybugs from different scientific findings have been reviewed in this paper. Keywords: Pest, pest management, Integration, Crop los

Scopoletin: a review of its pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and toxicity

Scopoletin is a coumarin synthesized by diverse medicinal and edible plants, which plays a vital role as a therapeutic and chemopreventive agent in the treatment of a variety of diseases. In this review, an overview of the pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and toxicity of scopoletin is provided. In addition, the prospects and outlook for future studies are appraised. Scopoletin is indicated to have antimicrobial, anticancer, anti-inflammation, anti-angiogenesis, anti-oxidation, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, hepatoprotective, and neuroprotective properties and immunomodulatory effects in both in vitro and in vivo experimental trials. In addition, it is an inhibitor of various enzymes, including choline acetyltransferase, acetylcholinesterase, and monoamine oxidase. Pharmacokinetic studies have demonstrated the low bioavailability, rapid absorption, and extensive metabolism of scopoletin. These properties may be associated with its poor solubility in aqueous media. In addition, toxicity research indicates the non-toxicity of scopoletin to most cell types tested to date, suggesting that scopoletin will neither induce treatment-associated mortality nor abnormal performance with the test dose. Considering its favorable pharmacological activities, scopoletin has the potential to act as a drug candidate in the treatment of cancer, liver disease, diabetes, neurodegenerative disease, and mental disorders. In view of its merits and limitations, scopoletin is a suitable lead compound for the development of new, efficient, and low-toxicity derivatives. Additional studies are needed to explore its molecular mechanisms and targets, verify its toxicity, and promote its oral bioavailability

Estimation of Reference Evapotranspiration using Regionally Calibrated Hargreaves-Samani Equation

Evapotranspiration (ETO) is a significant module in water-balance, irrigation scheduling and estimation of crop water requirement models. ETO can be adequately assessed when meteorological data are accessible to implement robust and strong models such as FAO-56 Penman-Monteith (PM). However, due to data insufficiency, substitute methodologies are essential. In this context, this study aims to calculate ETO from regionally calibrated Hargreaves-Samani (HSCAL), Hargreaves-Samani (HS) and Hargreaves methods which base on Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Solar Radiation (SR). SR was calculated from empirical formulas and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 30m Digital Elevation Model (DEM). HSCAL uses SR which calculated from empirical formulas as an input, whereas HS and Hargreaves uses SR which calculated from the SRTM 30m DEM. LST was calculated from Landsat8 (LS8) thermal band for all three methods. Furthermore, ETO obtained from the HSCAL (ETO,HSCAL) was compared with standard FAO-ETO values and after verification HSCAL treated as standard for the verification of the remaining two methods on various Land Use Land Cover (LULC) types. Results of comparison between ETO,HSCAL and standard FAO-ETO shows that mostly values are within the range but lower side. Comparison also disclose that vegetation and built-up LULC are the best and worst case respectively. Further, ETO,HSCAL values are mostly fall within lower class of the ranges during the monsoon season (August-September). Further, the performance of the HS and Hargreaves are evaluated based on statistical indicators; Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Bias Error (MBE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Correlation Coefficient (R2). ETO values of HS (ETO,HS) and Hargreaves (ETO,H) are underestimated in the sami-arid climate zone. The mean values of all statistical indicators are lower for ETO,HS in comparison to ETO,H when ETO,HSCAL is used to compare ETO,H with ETO,HS. It indicates that, in comparison to ETO,H, ETO,HS is close to ETO,HSCAL

Estimation of Reference Evapotranspiration using Regionally Calibrated Hargreaves-Samani Equation

Evapotranspiration (ETO) is a significant module in water-balance, irrigation scheduling and estimation of crop water requirement models. ETO can be adequately assessed when meteorological data are accessible to implement robust and strong models such as FAO-56 Penman-Monteith (PM). However, due to data insufficiency, substitute methodologies are essential. In this context, this study aims to calculate ETO from regionally calibrated Hargreaves-Samani (HSCAL), Hargreaves-Samani (HS) and Hargreaves methods which base on Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Solar Radiation (SR). SR was calculated from empirical formulas and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 30m Digital Elevation Model (DEM). HSCAL uses SR which calculated from empirical formulas as an input, whereas HS and Hargreaves uses SR which calculated from the SRTM 30m DEM. LST was calculated from Landsat8 (LS8) thermal band for all three methods. Furthermore, ETO obtained from the HSCAL (ETO,HSCAL) was compared with standard FAO-ETO values and after verification HSCAL treated as standard for the verification of the remaining two methods on various Land Use Land Cover (LULC) types. Results of comparison between ETO,HSCAL and standard FAO-ETO shows that mostly values are within the range but lower side. Comparison also disclose that vegetation and built-up LULC are the best and worst case respectively. Further, ETO,HSCAL values are mostly fall within lower class of the ranges during the monsoon season (August-September). Further, the performance of the HS and Hargreaves are evaluated based on statistical indicators; Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Bias Error (MBE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Correlation Coefficient (R2). ETO values of HS (ETO,HS) and Hargreaves (ETO,H) are underestimated in the sami-arid climate zone. The mean values of all statistical indicators are lower for ETO,HS in comparison to ETO,H when ETO,HSCAL is used to compare ETO,H with ETO,HS. It indicates that, in comparison to ETO,H, ETO,HS is close to ETO,HSCAL

Detecting Aphid Concentration in Wheat Leaf Using Remote Sensing and GIS

Wheat lies among the most prominent cereal crop of Pakistan which has a significant role in the stability of Pakistan’s economy. Certain biotic and a biotic factors including agro-climatic conditions, rainfall, lack of irrigation infrastructure and conventional agricultural methods are raising the risk of aphid attacks. The current study utilized satellite imagery for obtaining thermal datasets of complete wheat growth. Results revealed that rainfall is a significant parameter for the determination of aphid growth on wheat plant. A region receiving 0-10 mm rainfall, supported the growth of aphid. Moreover, the aphid survival was highly supported at a moderate temperature ranging between 20-25 oC with relative humidity ranging from 70-75 %. The study also revealed the production of weed in wheat crop acted as a moistrizing agent which consequently provided favorable conditions to the aphid population for growth. Inapropriate usage of fertilizers increased the nitrogen content in soil which turned to be favourable for the aphid attack. Thus, the study concludes that agro-climatic conditions must be considered before the aplication of pesticides. Full Tex

Detecting Aphid Concentration in Wheat Leaf Using Remote Sensing and GIS

Wheat lies among the most prominent cereal crop of Pakistan which has a significant role in the stability of Pakistan’s economy. Certain biotic and a biotic factors including agro-climatic conditions, rainfall, lack of irrigation infrastructure and conventional agricultural methods are raising the risk of aphid attacks. The current study utilized satellite imagery for obtaining thermal datasets of complete wheat growth. Results revealed that rainfall is a significant parameter for the determination of aphid growth on wheat plant. A region receiving 0-10 mm rainfall, supported the growth of aphid. Moreover, the aphid survival was highly supported at a moderate temperature ranging between 20-25 oC with relative humidity ranging from 70-75 %. The study also revealed the production of weed in wheat crop acted as a moistrizing agent which consequently provided favorable conditions to the aphid population for growth. Inapropriate usage of fertilizers increased the nitrogen content in soil which turned to be favourable for the aphid attack. Thus, the study concludes that agro-climatic conditions must be considered before the aplication of pesticides. Full Tex

Anti-Diabetic and Cytotoxic Evaluation of Phlomis stewartii Plant Phytochemicals on Cigarette Smoke Inhalation and Alloxan-Induced Diabetes in Wistar Rats

The generation of free radicals in body causes oxidative stress and consequently different metabolic disorders. There are numerous environmental and emotional factors that trigger free radical generation, cigarette smoke (CS) is one of them. In addition to free radical production, it also increases the risk of developing type II diabetes, cancer, and has adverse effects on other organs such as liver and kidneys. In the present study, extracts of leaves, flower, and whole plant of P. stewartii Hf. in methanol were analyzed using LC-ESI-MS and investigated for their cytotoxic properties against HepG2 cell line and CS alloxan-induced diabetes in Wistar albino rats model. A total of 24 rats were kept in aerated cage for eight weeks and exposed to CS following the administration of single dose of alloxan@140 mg/kg body weight at the end of six weeks to induce diabetes mellitus (DM). The cytotoxic activity of extracts against HepG2 was recorded in the order; leaves methanol (LM) > flower methanol (FM) and whole plant methanol (WPM). The IC50(1/4) values were in the order of 187 (LM) > 280 (FM) > 312 (WPM) µg/mL against HepG2. In positive control group, CS- and alloxan-induced diabetes significantly increased (p < 0.05) the level of alanine alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), low density lipoprotein (LDL), bilirubin, total protein, creatinine, uric acid, blood urea, globulin, total oxidant status (TOS), and malondialdehyde (MDA), as compared to negative control group. In conclusion, according to the results of this study, P. Stewartii methanol extracts showed good antioxidant, anticancer activity and worked well to recover the tested clinical parameters in CS/alloxan-induced diabetes animals, which indicated the extracts also possess good antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, and nephroprotective potential

Phytochemicals, Health-Promoting Effects, and Enzyme Inhibition Traits of <i>Phlomis stewartii</i> Extracts

Phlomis stewartii is a wild, perennial woody plant used for diverse therapeutic targets. The present work evaluated the influence of independent variables such as extraction time, solvent concentration, and speed in the range of (100 mL, 150 mL, and 200 mL), (2 h, 5 h, and 8 h), and (100 rpm, 150 rpm, and 200 rpm), respectively, on extraction yields, phytochemical components, total phenolic contents (TPC), and total flavonoid contents (TFC) of P. stewartii extract. In the present work, response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to optimize the extraction yield. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was performed to detect the bioactive constituents of the extracts. The potent extracts were analyzed to study α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities. Under the optimized conditions of solvent concentration (200 mL), extraction time (8 h), and speed (150 rpm), the whole plant methanol extract (WPME) showed a maximum extraction yield of 13.5%, while the leaves methanol extract (LME) showed a maximum TPC of 19.5 ± 44 mg of gallic acid equivalent (GAE) per gram of extract and a maximum TFC of 4.78 ± 0.34 mg of quercetin equivalent (QE) per gram of extract. HPLC analysis showed the presence of p-coumaric, gallic acid, quercetin, salicylic acid, sinapic acid, and vanillic acid. LME showed the highest α-amylase inhibitory activity (IC50 = 46.86 ± 0.21 µg/mL) and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (IC50 value of 45.81 ± 0.17 µg/mL). Therefore, in conclusion, LME could be considered to fix the α-amylase and α-glucosidase-mediated disorders in the human body to develop herbal phytomedicine

Evolution of NLR genes in genus Arachis reveals asymmetric expansion of NLRome in wild and domesticated tetraploid species

Abstract Arachis hypogaea is an allotetraploid crop widely grown in the world. Wild relatives of genus Arachis are the rich source of genetic diversity and high levels of resistance to combat pathogens and climate change. The accurate identification and characterization of plant resistance gene, nucleotide binding site leucine rich repeat receptor (NLRs) substantially contribute to the repertoire of resistances and improve production. In the current study, we have studied the evolution of NLR genes in genus Arachis and performed their comparative genomics among four diploids (A. duranensis, A. ipaensis, A. cardenasii, A. stenosperma) and two tetraploid (wild: A. monticola and domesticated: A. hypogaea) species. In total 521, 354, 284, 794, 654, 290 NLR genes were identified from A. cardenasii, A. stenosperma and A. duranensis, A. hypogaea, A. monticola and A. ipaensis respectively. Phylogenetic analysis and classification of NLRs revealed that they belong to 7 subgroups and specific subgroups have expanded in each genome leading towards divergent evolution. Gene gain and loss, duplication assay reveals that wild and domesticated tetraploids species have shown asymmetric expansion of NLRome in both sub-genome (AA and BB). A-subgenome of A. monticola exhibited significant contraction of NLRome while B-subgenome shows expansion and vice versa in case of A. hypogaea probably due to distinct natural and artificial selection pressure. In addition, diploid species A. cardenasii revealed the largest repertoire of NLR genes due to higher frequency of gene duplication and selection pressure. A. cardenasii and A. monticola can be regarded as putative resistance resources for peanut breeding program for introgression of novel resistance genes. Findings of this study also emphasize the application neo-diploids and polyploids due to higher quantitative expression of NLR genes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that studied the effect of domestication and polyploidy on the evolution of NLR genes in genus Arachis to identify genomic resources for improving resistance of polyploid crop with global importance on economy and food security