RESPONSE OF TWO SUNFLOWER (HELIANTHUS ANNUUS L.) GENOTYPES TO VA-MYCORRHIZAL INOCULATION AND PHOSPHORUS LEVELS

The performance of two sunflower genotypes (Morden and MSFH-8) with and without VA-mycorrhizal fungi at three P levels (38, 56 and 75 kg P2O5 ha-1) in vertisol of Dharwad was studied to determine the effect of mycorrhizal inoculation on plant growth, yield and P uptake. The results showed that the VAM inoculation increased  sunflower  yield  (14%),  total  biomass  (16%),  oil  content  (3.1%)  and  P  uptake  (30.5%)  over uninoculated  control.  The  percent  root  colonization  and  chlamydo-spore  count  decreased with  increasing  P levels. The total biomass production, seed yield and P uptake of mycorrhizal plants at 38 kg P2O5 ha-1 more than the non-mycorrhizal plants at 75 kg P2O5 ha-1. The biomass and seed yield of mycorrhizal plants at same P level were more than the non-mycorrhizal plants. Mycorrhizal plants of Morden at 38 kg P2O5 ha-1 and MSFH-8 at 56 kg P2O5 ha-1 produced higher seed yield, oil content and total biomass than non-mycorrhizal plants supplied with 75 kg P2O5 ha-1.  The results indicated that, VA-mycorrhizal inoculation helps in saving 25 and 50 percent of recommended dose of phosphatic  fertilizer (75 kg P2O5 ha-1) in MSFH-8 (single cross hybrid) and Morden (open pollinated variety), respectively.                                 Key words: Mycorrhizas/Plant nutrition/Inoculum/Glomus fasciculatum/Helianthus annuus/Phosphorus fertilizers/Metabolism

Effects of Salinity and Mycorrhizal Inoculation (Glomus fasciculatum) on Growth Responses of Grape Rootstocks (Vitis spp.)

A pilot experiment was conducted to determine the effects of soil salinity and inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizalfungus (Glomus fasciculatum) on growth (shoot length, leaf number, internode length, and total dry weight), sporecount and root colonisation of grape rootstocks (Salt Creek, St. George, Dogridge and 1613). Analysis of varianceresults revealed that increasing salinity reduces growth, spore count and root colonisation, with St. George rootstockshowing the highest reduction. Although all rootstocks responded positively to mycorrhizal inoculation, the extentof host preference varied significantly. Dogridge was the least preferred, while the 1613 rootstock was the mostpreferred. The arbuscular fungal symbiosis increased vegetative growth, with 1613 attaining the highest growthunder saline conditions. All the inoculated rootstocks exhibited longer internodes, indicating the beneficial roleof mycorrhizal inoculation for improving plant growth and salt tolerance. Based on overall growth and total drymatter accumulation, the salt tolerance ranking of the four rootstocks, in decreasing order, was Dogridge, SaltCreek, 1613 and St. George

RESPONSE OF TWO SUNFLOWER (HELIANTHUS ANNUUS L.) GENOTYPES TO VA-MYCORRHIZAL INOCULATION AND PHOSPHORUS LEVELS

The performance of two sunflower genotypes (Morden and MSFH-8) with and without VA-mycorrhizal fungi at three P levels (38, 56 and 75 kg P2O5 ha -1 ) in vertisol of Dharwad was studied to determine the effect of mycorrhizal inoculation on plant growth, yield and P uptake. The results showed that the VAM inoculation increased  sunflower  yield  (14%),  total  biomass  (16%),  oil  content  (3.1%)  and  P  uptake  (30.5%)  over uninoculated  control.  The  percent  root  colonization  and  chlamydo-spore  count  decreased with  increasing  P levels. The total biomass production, seed yield and P uptake of mycorrhizal plants at 38 kg P2O5 ha -1  more than the non-mycorrhizal plants at 75 kg P2O5 ha -1 . The biomass and seed yield of mycorrhizal plants at same P level were more than the non-mycorrhizal plants. Mycorrhizal plants of Morden at 38 kg P2O5 ha -1  and MSFH-8 at 56 kg P2O5 ha -1  produced higher seed yield, oil content and total biomass than non-mycorrhizal plants supplied with 75 kg P2O5 ha -1 .  The results indicated that, VA-mycorrhizal inoculation helps in saving 25 and 50 percent of recommended dose of phosphatic  fertilizer (75 kg P2O5 ha -1 ) in MSFH-8 (single cross hybrid) and Morden (open pollinated variety), respectively.                                 Key words: Mycorrhizas/Plant nutrition/Inoculum/Glomus fasciculatum/Helianthus annuus/Phosphorus fertilizers/Metabolism

Mosquito larvicidal and silver nanoparticles synthesis potential of plant latex

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized from the latex of the medicinally important plants Euphorbia milii, Euphorbia hirta, Ficus racemosa and Jatropha curcas. Synthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV-Vis spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, particle size, and zeta potential analysis. Potency of latex and latex-synthesized AgNPs was evaluated against the 2nd and 4th instar larvae of Aedes aegypti and Anopheles stephensi. The lowest lethal concentration 50 (LC50) value among the different types of plant latex studied was observed for latex of E. milii (281.28±23.30 and 178.97±37.82 ppm, respectively) against 2nd instar larvae of Ae. aegypti and An. stephensi. E. milii latex-synthesised AgNPs showed a high reduction in LC50 compared with its latex; i.e., 8.76±0.46 and 8.67±0.47 ppm, respectively, for 2nd instars of Ae. aegypti and An. stephensi. LC50 values of AgNPs synthesized using the latex of E. hirta, F. racemosa and J. curcas were lower than those of the latex of the respective plants; i.e., 10.77±0.53, 9.81±0.52, 12.06±0.60 and 8.79±0.51, 9.83±0.52, 9.60±0.51 ppm, respectively, for 2nd instars of An. stephensi and Ae. aegypti. Similarly, as compared with the plant latex, lower LC50 values were reported for latex-synthesized AgNPs against 4th instars of Ae. aegypt and An. stephensi. Results showed that all the types of plant latex investigated have the potential to convert silver nitrate into AgNPs showing a spectrum of potent mosquito larvicidal effects, indicating the possibility of further exploration of the bioefficacy of latex and latex-synthesized AgNPs against vectors of public health concerns

Nano-​cuprous oxide catalyzed one-​pot synthesis of a carbazole-​based STAT3 inhibitor: a facile approach via intramolecular C-​N bond formation reactions

In this study, we report the one-​pot synthesis of substituted carbazole derivs. using nano cuprous oxide as a catalyst via intramol. C-​N bond forming reactions. Among the synthesized carbazoles, 3'-​((3-​acetyl-​6-​chloro-​9H-​carbazol-​9-​yl)​methyl)​-​[1,​1'-​biphenyl]​-​2-​carbonitrile (ACB) was identified as a lead antiproliferative agent against lung cancer cell lines A549 and LLC with an IC50 of 13.6 and 16.4 μM resp. Furthermore, we found that the lead compd. suppresses the constitutive phosphorylation of STAT3 (Tyr-​705) in A549, HCC-​2279 and H1975 cells. We analyzed the levels of phospho-​STAT3 and LSD1 in the nuclear ext. of ACB treated HCC-​2279 cells to evaluate the transcriptional activity of STAT3. We found the downregulation of phospho-​STAT3 without any change in the expression of LSD1 indicating that ACB downregulates the transcriptional activity of STAT3. Mol. docking anal. revealed that ACB makes a favorable interaction with Arg-​609 and Ser-​613 in the pTyr site of the SH2 domain of STAT3

Features of heavy physics in the CMB power spectrum

The computation of the primordial power spectrum in multi-field inflation models requires us to correctly account for all relevant interactions between adiabatic and non-adiabatic modes around and after horizon crossing. One specific complication arises from derivative interactions induced by the curvilinear trajectory of the inflaton in a multi-dimensional field space. In this work we compute the power spectrum in general multi-field models and show that certain inflaton trajectories may lead to observationally significant imprints of `heavy' physics in the primordial power spectrum if the inflaton trajectory turns, that is, traverses a bend, sufficiently fast (without interrupting slow roll), even in cases where the normal modes have masses approaching the cutoff of our theory. We emphasise that turning is defined with respect to the geodesics of the sigma model metric, irrespective of whether this is canonical or non-trivial. The imprints generically take the form of damped superimposed oscillations on the power spectrum. In the particular case of two-field models, if one of the fields is sufficiently massive compared to the scale of inflation, we are able to compute an effective low energy theory for the adiabatic mode encapsulating certain relevant operators of the full multi-field dynamics. As expected, a particular characteristic of this effective theory is a modified speed of sound for the adiabatic mode which is a functional of the background inflaton trajectory and the turns traversed during inflation. Hence in addition, we expect non-Gaussian signatures directly related to the features imprinted in the power spectrum.Comment: 41 pages, 6 figures, references updated, minor modifications. Version to appear in JCAP. v4: Equations (4.28) and (4.30) and Figures 5 and 6 correcte

Unconventional Cosmology

I review two cosmological paradigms which are alternative to the current inflationary scenario. The first alternative is the "matter bounce", a non-singular bouncing cosmology with a matter-dominated phase of contraction. The second is an "emergent" scenario, which can be implemented in the context of "string gas cosmology". I will compare these scenarios with the inflationary one and demonstrate that all three lead to an approximately scale-invariant spectrum of cosmological perturbations.Comment: 45 pages, 10 figures; invited lectures at the 6th Aegean Summer School "Quantum Gravity and Quantum Cosmology", Chora, Naxos, Greece, Sept. 12 - 17 2012, to be publ. in the proceedings; these lecture notes form an updated version of arXiv:1003.1745 and arXiv:1103.227

Complexity and neutron stars structure

We apply the statistical measure of complexity introduced by Lopez-Ruiz, Mancini and Calbet to neutron stars structure. Neutron stars is a classical example where the gravitational field and quantum behavior are combined and produce a macroscopic dense object. Actually, we continue the recent application of Sanudo and Pacheco to white dwarfs structure. We concentrate our study on the connection between complexity and neutron star properties, like maximum mass and the corresponding radius, applying a specific set of realistic equation of states. Moreover, the effect of the strength of the gravitational field on the neutron star structure and consequently on the complexity measure is also investigated. It is seen that neutron stars, consistent with astronomical observations so far, are ordered systems (low complexity), which cannot grow in complexity as their mass increases. This is a result of the interplay of gravity, the short-range nuclear force and the very short-range weak interaction.Comment: Preprint, 23 pages, 28 figure