Effect of Drought Stress and Plant Density on Yield and Some Physiological Characteristics of Pinto Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in Yasouj Region

In order to investigate the effects of drought stress and plant density on yield and some physiological characteristics of pinto bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. C.O.S16), a field experiment was conducted in split plot arrangement based on randomized complete blocks design with three replications at Research Farm of Yasouj University, Yasouj, Iran, in 2010. Treatments were conventional irrigation, drought stress at growth stage and drought stress at reproductive stage as main plots and plant density at four levels (15, 25, 35 and 45 plants/m2) as subplots. In this experiment, mean grain and biological yield, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, proline, carotenoid and protein content were measured. Result showed that there was significant interaction between drought stress and plant density on biological yield, grain yield and harvest index. Maximum biological yield and grain yield (11235 and 3368 kg/ha, respectively) was recorded at 35 plants/m2 density in conventional irrigation treatment, which had no significant difference with 45 plants/m2 density. The highest grain yield due to drought stress in growth and reproductive stages (2520 and 2260 kg/ha, respectively) was observed at 35 plants/m2 density and the lowest yield (2066 and 1953 kg/ha, respectively) was obtained at 15 plants/m2. Drought stress at growth and reproductive stages reduced grain yield and chlorophyll a content, and increased carotenoid content, chlorophyll b, proline and protein content of seeds. In general, density of 35 plants/m2, without any drought stress, and density of 25 plants/m2 at all drought-stress levels, is recommended for pinto bean (cultivar C.O.S.16) in similar environmental conditions to this experiment

Isolation, purification and characterization of a new gum from Acanthophyllum bracteatum roots

A new gum was isolated from the roots of Acanthophyllum bracteatum (ABG) by warm-water extraction. Purification was carried out by barium complexing to give a yield of 12.4% of pure air-dried or 5.8% of freeze-dried gum. The ABG contained 13.2% moisture, 84.3% carbohydrate, 0.9% protein and 1.5% ash. Its mineral content was comparable to commercial hydrocolloids. Monosaccharide analysis by HPLC showed the presence of galactose, glucose, arabinose, rhamnose and uronic acids in the ratio 16.0:7.2:3.0:1.0:3.1 respectively. The viscosity and pH value of 1% ABG solution at 25C were 51.5 mPa s and 6.85 respectively. ABG solutions (5e30 wt%) showed shear-thinning flow behavior at shear rates < 10 s 1. The viscosity decreased as temperature increased, and was highest at the neutral state. ABG had low surface and emulsification properties but moderate foaming capacity and relatively high foaming stability, which suggests that ABG could potentially be used in food systems to improve foaming propertie

Isolation, structural characterization and antioxidant activity of a new water-soluble polysaccharide from Acanthophyllum bracteatum roots

ABPS-1, a new water-soluble polysaccharide with molecular weight of 26 kDa and a specific optical rotation of +170◦ (c 1.0, H2O), was extracted from the roots of Acanthophyllum bracteatum by warm water and further successively purified through DEAE-cellulose A52 and Sephadex G-100 columns. Monosaccharide analysis revealed that the ABPS-1 was composed of Glc, Gal and Ara with a relative molar ratio of 1.4:5.2:1.0. Its structural features were elucidated by a combination of FT-IR, methylation and GC–MS analysis, periodate oxidation and Smith degradation, partial acid hydrolysis and 13C and 1H NMR spectroscopy. The data obtained indicate that ABPS-1 possessed a backbone of -(1 → 6)-linked Gal with branches attached to O-2 by -1 → linked Glc and at O-3 by -1 → linked Gal and by -(1 → 3)-linked Ara. The in vitro antioxidant activity showed that ABPS-1 possesses DPPH radical-scavenging activity in a concentration-dependent manner with an EC50 value of 2.6 mg/ml

THREE DIMENSIONAL FACE RECOGNITION USING WAVELET DECOMPOSITION OF RANGE IMAGES

Interest in face recognition systems has increased significantly due to the emergence of significant commercial opportunities in surveillance and security applications. In this paper we propose a novel technique to extract features from 3D face representations. In this technique, first the nose tip is automatically located on the range image, then the range data from a hexagonal region of interest around this landmark is decomposed using Barycentric wavelet kernels. The dimensionality of the extracted coefficients at each resolution level is reduced using principal component analysis (PCA). These new features are tested on 206 range images, and a high classification accuracy is achieved using a small number of features. The obtained accuracy is competitive to that of other techniques in literature. Index Terms — 3D face recognition, Triangular B-spline wavelets, Biometry 1