A VON LIEBIG MODEL FOR WATER AND NITROGEN CROP RESPONSE

The century-old “law of the minimum” proposed by von Liebig was tested using five independent sets of crop response data on wheat, corn, cotton, silage, and sugar beets. The rival models were polynomial functions reported in the literature as the most suitable models for interpreting those data. Overall, the von Liebig model performed very well. While the nonnested hypothesis test was inconclusive with regard to silage and sugar beets, the von Liebig model rejected the polynomial specifications for wheat, corn and cotton.Crop Production/Industries,

Serum IgG2 levels are specifically associated with whole-body insulin-mediated glucose disposal in non-diabetic offspring of type 2 diabetic individuals. a cross-sectional study

.Preclinical studies suggested that IgG2c isotype may specifically impair skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity in mice. In this study we investigated the association between serum levels of the four IgG subclasses and insulin sensitivity in non-diabetic individuals. Total IgG, IgG1, IgG2, IgG3 and IgG4 levels were measured in 262 subjects. Whole-body insulin sensitivity was assessed by euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp. IgG2 levels were positively correlated with BMI, waist circumference, 2-h postload glucose levels and complement C3. Serum IgG2, but not IgG1, IgG3 and IgG4 levels were negatively correlated with whole-body insulin sensitivity (r = −0.17; P = 0.003) and muscle insulin sensitivity index (r = −0.16; P = 0.03) after adjustment for age and gender. No significant correlation was found between IgG2 levels and hepatic insulin resistance assessed by HOMA-IR and liver IR index. In a multivariable regression analysis including variables known to affect insulin sensitivity such as age, gender, BMI, smoking, lipids, inflammatory markers, fasting and 2-h post-load glucose levels, IgG2 levels were independently associated with insulin-stimulated glucose disposal (β = −0.115, 95% CI: −0.541 to −0.024; P = 0.03). These data demonstrate the independent association between higher levels of IgG2 and decreased whole-body insulin sensitivity, thus confirming in humans the animal-based evidence indicating the pathogenic role of IgG2 in insulin resistance

Assessment of the Potential of an Organizational Enterprise for Coco Coir Production and Marketing in Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao, Philippines

An assessment identifying the needs on technology and facilities of Sugbongcogon Agrarian Reform Benefi ciaries Multipurpose Cooperative (SARBEMCO) in Sugbongcogon, Misamis Oriental to implement an enterprise on Coco Coir Production and Marketing was conducted in order to strategize and recommend feasible plan for capacity development efforts and empower members of the identified organization. Through a purposive sampling technique, a total of 58 members answered the TNA questionnaires and results were validated through FGD and site reconnaissance. Findings were then categorized according to the existing condition of the organization, environmental scan and SWOT analysis of the organization and financial capacities. The study revealed that Coco Coir Production and Marketing for SARBEMCO as an organization, is a very promising enterprise due to abundant supply of raw materials, labor and presence of market. Implementation of the said enterprise in the area would address the needs of its members and other farmers since farming in the locality is coco based. Conducting an in-depth training for coco coir production and marketing, and the provision of village level machineries to complete the cycle of production from fiber to coco net products is one potential enterprise that could contribute to the increase of household incomes of its members, as well as job generation within the community. With constant monitoring of these Agrarian Reform Communities by DAR, the strong organizational structure of SARBEMCO plus the positive support from the Local Government Unit of Sugbongcogon who is willing to assist the project by providing an initial funding assistance will contribute favorably to the sustainability of the project

Bats and hawkmoths form mixed modules with flowering plants in a nocturnal interaction network

Based on the conceptual framework of pollination syndromes, pollination networks should be composed of well-delimited subgroups formed by plants that diverge in floral phenotypes and are visited by taxonomically different pollinators. Nevertheless, floral traits are not always accurate in predicting floral visitors. For instance, flowers adapted to bat-pollination are larger and wider, enabling the exploitation by other nocturnal animals, such as hawkmoths. Thus, should an interaction network comprising bats and hawkmoths, the most important nocturnal pollinators in the tropics, be formed of mixed-taxon modules due to cross-syndrome interactions? Here, we analyzed such a network to test whether resource plants are shared between the two taxa, and how modules differ in terms of species morphologies. We sampled interactions through pollen grains collected from floral visitors in a Caatinga dry forest in northeastern Brazil. The network was modular yet interwoven by cross-syndrome interactions. Hawkmoths showed no restriction to visit the wider chiropterophilous flowers. Furthermore, bats represented a subset of a hawkmoth-dominated network, as they were restricted to chiropterophilous flowers due to constraints in accessing narrower sphingophilous flowers. As such, the bat-dominated module encompassed relatively wider flowers, but hawkmoths, especially long-tongued ones, were unrestricted by floral width or length. Thus, pollination of flowers with open architectures must be investigated with caution, as they are accessible to a wide array of floral visitors, which may result in mixed-pollination systems. Future research should continue to integrate different syndromes and pollinator groups in order to reach a better understanding of how pollination-related functions emerge from community-level interactions. Abstract in Portuguese is available with online material.Fil: Queiroz, Joel A.. Universidade Estadual da Paraiba; BrasilFil: Diniz, Ugo M.. Universidade do Brasília; BrasilFil: Vazquez, Diego P.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Quirino, Zelma M.. Universidade Estadual da Paraiba; BrasilFil: Santos, Francisco A. R.. Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana; BrasilFil: Mello, Marco A. R.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Machado, Isabel. Universidade Federal de Pernambuco; Brasi