Dendrimers as a Novel Carrier in Anti-HIV Therapy

The present treatments for HIV transfection include chemical agents and gene therapies. Although many chemical drugs, peptides and genes have been developed for HIV inhibition, a variety of non-ignorable drawbacks limited the efficiency of these materials. Dendrimers has ability to carrier of antiviral drugs due to some properties such as mono-dispersity, defined structure, amenability for functionalization using diverse ligands and its low-nanometer size. In this review, we discuss the application of dendrimers as both therapeutic agents and non-viral vectors of chemical agents and genes for HIV treatment. In one way, dendrimers with functional end groups combine with the gp120 of HIV and CD4 molecule of host cell to suppress the attachment of HIV to the host cell. In another way, dendrimers are also able to transfer chemical drugs and genes into the host cells, which increase the anti-HIV activity of these materials. Dendrimers as therapeutic tools provide a potential treatment for HIV infection. Keywords: Dendrimers, Drug release, Drug targeting, gp120, CD4, Antiviral dru

Implication of Micronutrients in Agriculture and Health with Special Reference to Iron and Zinc

The green revolution fulfilled the food demand of crowded millions. From the time of green revolution to till date high yielding and fertilizer responsive varieties have evolved to increase the production per unit area. To improve the productivity only major nutrients are concentrated almost in all crops. Though the importance of micronutrient realized during past decades in most of the crops but it is not effectively materialized in general crop cultivation practices. The micronutrient deficiencies in soil are not only hamper crop productivity but also deteriorating the produce quality. World health organization (WHO) has estimated that over 3 billion people in the globe suffer from the micronutrient malnutrition and about 2 billion people of these have iron deficiency. Iron is one of the 16 essential elements needed for plant growth. Iron is used for the synthesis of chlorophyll and is essential for the function of chloroplasts. Zinc is involved in membrane integrity, enzyme activation, and gene expression. Rice, sorghum and corn are Zn sensitive and sorghum, sugarcane, groundnut, soyabean, beans, grapes, vegetables and citrus are highly Fe sensitive crops. To overcome these problems foliar spray is being recommended but it is not crop specific or soil specific recommendation. Keeping these problems in the view, recently development of micronutrient efficient genotypes, creating awareness of micronutrient dose, crop specific micronutrient uptake and accumulation are vital to improve productivity and to address human health problems. In this paper we discussed the importance of iron and zinc in agriculture and their role in crop plants and ways to improve the crop productivity as well as human health

Light interception and radiation use efficiency (RUE) in maize (Zea mays. L) intercropping with greengram (Vigna radiata L.)

Intercropping is growing two or more crop species simultaneously, different canopy architectures by row configuration, changing light interception, radiation utilisation, and increased yield. The present study aimed to evaluate different intercropping systems affected light interception per cent and radiation use efficiency in maize (Zea mays L.) intercropping with greengram (Vigna radiata L.) different ratios. Field experiments were conducted for Kharif 2022 and Rabi 2022-2023 seasons, which were laid out in a split-plot design and replicated three times. Three Nitrogen levels viz., N1 - 75 % RDN (Recommended dose of Nitrogen), N2 – 100% RDN, N3-125% RDN had taken as the main plot and three intercropping treatments were taken as subplot viz., M2G2- replacement series (two row of maize and two row of Greengram), M4G2- replacement series (four rows of maize and two row of Greengram), M2G3-paired row system (two rows of maize and three rows of Greengram), and sole maize. Both light interception and radiation use efficiency were significantly affected by intercropping systems. Light interception per cent of the main crop (maize) was significantly higher (69.0, 75.5 and 71.0 % during Kharif and 60.1, 78.1 and 76.6 during rabi) at vegetative, flowering and maturity phases, respectively. The Kharif 2022 and Rabi 2022-2023 maximum Radiation Use Efficiency (RUE) of Maize intercropping with green gram (maize + greengram) was higher in T12 (M2G3 paired row with 125 % Recommended Dose of Nitrogen) recorded as 2.46 (Kharif) and 1.43 (rabi). The outcome might be utilised to optimise the row configuration of intercropping design, explain the mechanism of intercropping on light utilisation, and improve radiation use efficiency

Zinc deficiency in Indian soils with special focus to enrich zinc in peanut

In India, zinc (Zn) is now considered as fourth most important yield limiting nutrient in agricultural crops. Zn deficiency in Indian soils is likely to increase from 49 to 63% by 2025. India is leading in groundnut acreage but behind the China in production due to less productivity. Apart from raindependant cultivation and mineral nutrition play a vital role in groundnut productivity. Among the nutrients, Zn deficiency cause yield loss to the maximum of 40% in groundnut. The average response of groundnut to zinc fertilization ranged from 210 to 470 kg ha-1. Hence, it is ideal to follow suitable crop improvement and agronomic management strategies to enhance the uptake and availability of Zn in peanut. There are reports emerging that genetic variability exists among the peanut genotypes for zinc response and accumulation in kernel. This implies that high zinc dense confectionary peanut genotypes can be exploited for the further breeding programmes. In addition, Zn fertilization strategies viz., soil application of enriched Zn, seed coating and foliar application can be suitably adapted with available sources of Zn fertilizer to enhance Zn availability and uptake by peanut under changing climate. This article attempts to examine the status of Zn deficiency in semiarid tropics and approaches to enhance Zn content in peanut kernel through crop improvement and agronomic manipulation

Tailoring of Abiotic Stress Adaptive Traits to Diminish the Eff ect of Changing Climate on Crop Productivity

The world population is likely to exceed 10 billion by 2050, thereby increasing food, feed and fuel production demand. On the other hand, global climate change (drought, heat, salinity, elevated CO2 and extreme cold) hostile the global agricultural productions. The changes in climatic factors perhaps influence the crop distribution, affect the crop growth and yield, and increase the risks of farming and human health consequences in developing countries. Crop breeding is one of the approaches to fight environmental challenges in agriculture. Available literatures imply that genotypes of different crop species are expressing greater phenotypic variability to tolerate abiotic stresses by inherent constitutional. Hence, there is an opportunity for utilizing the existing variability in abiotic stress tolerance traits. The gene sources for abiotic tolerance are available in germplasm collection, landraces, or wild relatives, if not, with less frequency it can be created as transgenes, so moclones or mutants. However, to make significant advancement in abiotic stress breeding requires accurate and reproducible phenotyping under well-imposed stress environment. The targeted trait for abiotic stress tolerance should have high positive correlation with yield attributes and be amenable for scoring in given environment. The traits introgressed for abiotic stress tolerance vary with stress scenario, timing and intensity of stress encountered by the crop species. Most of the traits that confer abiotic stress tolerance are quantitative in nature. The conventional crop improvement strategy followed to transfer abiotic stress tolerance is by recurrent selection and backcross breeding, which delivered limited success. The recent advancement through rapid and high-throughput phenotyping and genotyping have given much hope for tailoring desirable traits to evolve climate-resilient cultivars. The gene pyramiding strategy is useful to accumulate desirable abiotic tolerant traits into a commercially preferred cultivar. Further, transgenic and double haploid approaches will help in accelerating the trait pyramiding strategy. The climate-resilient cultivars with climate-smart farming will offer sustainable and cost-effective solution to the changing agro-climatic situations

Estimates of genetic parameters for yield and yield attributes in elite lines and popular cultivars of India’s pearl millet

Estimation of genetic parameters would be useful in developing appropriate selection strategies. Heritability is a measure of possible genetic advancement under selection. The research work pertaining to the study of genetic variability, heritability, and genetic advance for yield and yield contributing characters in twenty one diverse elite lines and cultivars of pearl millet was conducted during 2007 at the Millet Breeding Station, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. Analysis of variance manifested highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the traits except number of productive tillers and days to maturity. Variability for genetic potential of twenty one genotypes for different traits was recorded and the highest variability were recorded for plant height (two folds), number of productive tillers (two fold) and for grain yield (four fold). The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was higher than the genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV). Low, medium and high estimates of broad sense heritability were found in different plant characters under the study. High estimates of broad sense heritability were recorded for grain yield per plant followed by panicle girth. Greater magnitude of broad sense heritability coupled with higher genetic advance in grain yield per plant and panicle length revealed that the simple selection should lead to a fast genetic improvement of the genotypes used in this study

Reselection within population for high grain iron density and its effects on agronomic traits in pearl millet

This study aimed to assess whether intra-population selection and its derived lines inter-mating for grain iron (Fe) has any associated changes in grain yield and other agronomic traits in two Open-Pollinated Varieties (OPVs) in pearl millet. The original (C0) and improved bulks (C1) were evaluated in two contrast seasons (referred to as environments). Result showed non-significant differences between C0 and C1 bulks for all the traits except 1000-grain mass in both the populations. This implied that the selection for higher Fe level did not cause any significant changes on grain yield and other agronomic traits. The S1-based random mated bulks are generally more heterozygous as F2 populations, thus, S2-based population improvement would assemble large number of favorable additive allele to elevate Fe and Zn density which did happen marginally in this study. Interestingly, selection for high Fe significantly increased the 1000-grain mass by 4.8% and 14.2% in the AIMP 92901 and ICMR 312, respectively. One cycle of recurrent selection showed marginal improvement for grain Fe and Zn in C1 over C0 bulks of AIMP 92901 (2.4% more Fe and 7.9% more Zn) and ICMR 312 (8% more Fe and 5.4% more Zn). Nevertheless, these micronutrients are being additively controlled so population improvement is possible with increased cycle of selection and subsequent recombination to assemble more favorable alleles for significant difference from its original bulks. Thus, reselection was effective in improving the target traits with no correlated response on the yield traits

Gene effects and heterosis for grain Fe and Zn content in barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea (Roxb.) link)

Barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea) is an unexplored nutri-rich crop that thrives well in harsh environments and supports many small farmers in Southern and Eastern Asia. Although it has rich sources of micronutrients, the genetic studies are very limited which further impedes in its genetic improvement. Therefore, we attempted to assess the genetic diversity for Fe and Zn content in 40 barnyard millet germplasm and to evaluate the combining ability and heterosis in sixteen F1 cross combinations through line × tester model. The Mahalanobis D2 analysis grouped the 40 genotypes into nine different clusters. Cluster III and I were the largest groups containing 22 and 6 genotypes, respectively and the rest of seven clusters were the lowest group containing one or two genotypes. Positive correlation was observed between Fe and Zn content though both had a non-significant association with grain yield. This indicate that there would not be any compromise on increase or decrease of grain yield while breeding for varieties high in micronutrient content. Combining ability analysis revealed that lines, testers, and their interaction components are significant. The predictability ratio indicated the predominance of additive variance for Fe and Zn content and non-additive variance in the inheritance of yield components. Genotypes, ACM 331, ACM 333, ACM 335 and MA 10 exhibited positive gca effects for Fe and Zn content and grain yield. Two cross combinations, ACM 331 × ACM 335 and ACM 331 × MA 10 involved one or both the parents with good gca effects exhibited, high mean, positive mid-parent heterosis and sca effects for Fe, Zn content and yield components. Thus, the present investigation provided a significant understanding of the gene action and the possibility of utilizing the selected parents and cross combination for exploiting micronutrient traits in barnyard millet crop