Processing of vanilla (Vanilla planifolia Andrews) beans - Influence of storing fresh beans, killing temperature and duration of killing on quality parameters

Experiments were conducted at Myladumpara (Kerala) to study the effect of storing freshvanilla (Vanilla planifolia) beans before killing, killing temperature and duration of killingand further curing on quality parameters. The study indicated that storing of fresh beans fora maximum of 3 days after harvest and before killing is advisable and the vanillin content ofsuch beans was the highest (2.51%) when compared to longer duration of storage. Killing ofbeans in hot water maintained at 65°C for 3 min or at 63°C for 5 min was on par. Immediatewrapping of killed beans with woollen cloth and storing in sweating box was the idealmethod for obtaining optimum weight and vanillin content of beans. A higher percentage ofbeans (71 to 84) became ready for conditioning within 15 days of slow drying by this method.Interactions of killing temperature and exposing beans either directly or the next day as wellas killing temperature and duration of killing were significant. &nbsp

Initiation of hairy roots from Canavalia sp. using Agrobacterium rhizogenes 15834 for the co-cultivation of Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Glomus microcarpum

Pratap Chandran, R. and Potty, V.P. (2011). Initiation of hairy roots from Canavalia sp. using Agrobacterium rhizogenes 15834 for the co-cultivation of Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Glomus microcarpum. Journal of Agricultural Technology 7(2): 235-245. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi have symbiotic relationship with plants and which mainly helps the plants for the uptake of phosphorus, other micro nutrients and are fundamental for soil fertility and plant nutrition. The obligate biotrophic nature of AM fungi makes it difficult to grow them in synthetic medium and this prevents large scale inoculum production. In the present investigation, we were successful in raising hairy roots from Canavalia sp. using Agrobacterium rhizogenes ATCC 15834 and successfully co-cultivated AM fungi Glomus microcarpum in hairy roots. The hairy root obtained was confirmed for the presence of rol B genes of Agrobacterium rhizogenes. Different stages of AM fungal colonization were also observed and 60 % of mycorrhizal colonization was observed on the 20 th day of co-cultivation in petri dish. Mycorrhized Canavalia hairy roots were tested for its potential to use as an mycorrhizal inoculum to infect Ipomoea batatas roots were tested and its showed 76% colonization

Induction of hairy roots through the mediation of four strains of <i>Agrobacterium rhizogenes</i> on five host plants

122-128 Induction of hairy roots by four strains of Agrobacterium rhizogenes- ATCC 15834, A4, WC and WR were studied in five plants, Ipomoea batatas, Solenostemon rotundifolius, Vigna vexillata, Pachyrrhizus erosus and Canavalia species. Among the five plants selected for transformation and induction of hairy roots, P. erosus was found resistant to all the four bacterial strains. Similarly, one strain, WR also failed to induce hairy roots in all the plants. However, all the strains exhibited good growth dominated by 15834 grown in YEB medium. Hairy roots were induced from the cotyledons, hypocotyls, stem cuttings and in vitro plants of I. batatas through the transformation of 15834 and A4 strains. S. rotundifolius and V. vexillata were susceptible to the strains of A4, 15834 and WC. Canavalia sp. was resistant to WR and WC strains, but was susceptible to A4 and 15834. It was for the first time that hairy roots were initiated from S. rotundifolius, V. vexillata and Canavalia sp. The variation observed in the time of induction of hairy roots (incubation period) by a single strain (15834) in different plant species, suggests that the plant has also a definite role in determining the incubation period. Among the four strains of A. rhizogenes, 15834 was found to be the most efficient in transformation and initiation of hairy roots, with the shortest minimum incubation period and dominant growth in YEB medium. A. rhizogenes is a well known plant pathogen, which produces “hairy root disease” in susceptible plants. On modified MS medium, cotyledon explants were superior to hypocotyls. The hairy roots transformed by A. rhizogenes strain 15834 on I. batatas, V. vexillata and Canavalia sp. were also morphologically different. </smarttagtype

Processed Foods for Defence Needs-R & D Efforts at CFTRI

The Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, working under the council of Scientific &amp; Industrial Research has developed a number of processes and techniques some of which are relevent to Defence needs. Items like spray dried egg powder and canned drinking water are already in use by the services while others may find application in future

Simulations of severe tropical cyclone Nargis over the Bay of Bengal using RIMES operational system

The Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES), an international, intergovernmental organization based in Thailand is engaged in disaster risk reduction over the Asia–Pacific region through early warning information. In this paper, RIMES’ customized Weather Research Forecast (WRF) model has been used to evaluate the simulations of cyclone Nargis which hit Myanmar on 2 May 2008, the most deadly severe weather event in the history of Myanmar. The model covers a domain of 35ºE to 145ºE in the east—west direction and 12ºS to 40ºN in the north—south direction in order to cover Asia and east Africa with a resolution of 9 km in the horizontal and 28 vertical levels. The initial and boundary conditions for the simulations were provided by the National Center for Environmental Prediction-Global Forecast System (NCEP-GFS) available at 1º lon/lat resolution. An attempt is being made to critically evaluate the simulation of cyclone Nargis by seven set of simulations in terms of track, intensity and landfall time of the cyclone. The seven sets of model simulations were initialized every 12 h starting from 0000 UTC 28 April to 01 May 2008. Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) precipitation (mm) is used to evaluate the performance of the simulations of heavy rainfall associated with the tropical cyclone. The track and intensity of the simulated cyclone are compared by making use of Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) data sets. The results indicate that the landfall time, the distribution and intensity of the rainfall, pressure and wind field are well simulated as compared with the JTWC estimates. The average landfall track error for all seven simulations was 64 km with an average time error of about 5 h. The average intensity error of central pressure in all the simulations were found out to be approximately 6 hPa more than the JTWC estimates and in the case of wind, the simulations under predicted it by an average of 12 m s₋₁

Performance of nested WRF model in typhoon simulations over West Pacific and South China Sea

Forecasting skill of weather research and forecasting (WRF) model in simulating typhoons over the West Pacific and South China Sea with different trajectories has been studied in terms of track direction and intensity. Four distinct types of typhoons are chosen for this study in such a way that one of them turns toward left during its motion and had landfall, while the second took a right turn before landfall. The third typhoon followed almost a straight line path during its course of motion, while the fourth typhoon tracked toward the coast and just before landfall, ceased its motion and travelled in reverse direction. WRF model has been nested in one way with a coarse resolution of 9 km and a fine resolution of 3 km for this study, and the experiments are performed with National Center for Environmental Prediction-Global Forecasting System (NCEP-GFS) analyses and forecast fields. The model has been integrated up to 96 h and the simulation results are compared with observed and analyzed fields. The results show that the WRF model could satisfactorily simulate the typhoons in terms of time and location of landfall, mean sea-level pressure, maximum wind speed, etc. Results also show that the sensitivity of model resolution is less in predicting the track, while the fine-resolution model component predicted slightly better in terms of central pressure drop and maximum wind. In the case of typhoon motion speed, the coarse-resolution component of the model predicted the landfall time ahead of the actual, whereas the finer one produced either very close to the best track or lagging little behind the best track though the difference in forecast between the model components is minimal. The general tendency of track error forecast is that it increases almost linearly up to 48 h of model simulations and then it diverges quickly. The results also show that the salient features of typhoons such as warm central core, radial increase of wind speed, etc. are simulated well by both the coarse and fine domains of the WRF model

Preparation, characterization and dielectric properties of temperature stable SrTiO3/PEEK composites for microwave substrate applications

Poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) is a potential candidate for electronic applications due to its low permittivity, low loss, high melting point, better chemical resistance, excellent insulating properties and easy processibility. Present paper discusses the preparation and characterization of SrTiO3 filled PEEK composite for microwave substrate applications. The dielectric constant, dielectric loss and temperature variation of dielectric constant of the composites have been studied up to 1 MHz using an Impedance Analyzer. Different theoretical approaches have been employed to predict the effective permittivity of composite systems and the results are compared with that of the experimental data. The crystallinity of the bulk composite is studied by X-ray diffraction studies. Scanning electron microscopic technique has been employed to study the dispersion of the particulate filler in PEEK matrix. Vickers hardness of pure and filled PEEK composite has been measured using Microhardness Tester. The effect of particle size on the dielectric as well as mechanical properties of SrTiO3/PEEK composite system is also studied by incorporating micronsize and nanosize fillers. Present study shows that a temperature stable composite can be realized by judiciously selecting appropriate filler concentration in the PEEK matrix.<br /