Synthetic Brassica napus L.: Development and Studies on Morphological Characters, Yield Attributes, and Yield

Brassica napus was synthesized by hybridization between its diploid progenitor species B. rapa and B. oleracea followed by chromosome doubling. Cross with B. rapa as a female parent was only successful. Among three colchicine treatments (0.10, 0.15, and 0.20%), 0.15% gave the highest success (86%) of chromosome doubling in the hybrids (AC; 2n = 19). Synthetic B. napus (AACC, 2n = 38) was identified with bigger petals, fertile pollens and seed setting. Synthetic B. napus had increased growth over parents and exhibited wider ranges with higher coefficients of variations than parents for morphological and yield contributing characters, and yield per plant. Siliqua length as well as beak length in synthetic B. napus was longer than those of the parents. Number of seeds per siliqua, 1000-seed weight and seed yield per plant in synthetic B. napus were higher than those of the parents. Although flowering time in synthetic B. napus was earlier than both parents, however the days to maturity was little higher over early maturing B. rapa parent. The synthesized B. napus has great potential to produce higher seed yield. Further screening and evaluation is needed for selection of desirable genotypes having improved yield contributing characters and higher seed yield

Combining Ability Analysis in Complete Diallel Cross of Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai)

The experiments were carried out in two research stations (MARDI Bukit Tangga, Kedah, and MARDI Seberang Perai, Penang) in Malaysia. The crossings were performed using the four inbred lines in complete diallel cross including selfs and reciprocals. We evaluated the yield components and fruit characters such as fruit yield per plant, vine length, days to fruit maturity, fruit weight, total soluble solid content, and rind thickness over a period of two planting seasons. General combining ability and its interaction with locations were statistically significant for all characteristics except number of fruits per plant across the environments. Results indicated that the additive genetic effects were important to the inheritance of these traits and the expression of additive genes was influenced greatly by environments. In addition, specific combining ability effect was statistically evident for fruit yield per plant, vine length, days to first female flower, and fruit weight. Most of the characters are simultaneously controlled by additive and nonadditive gene effects. This study demonstrated that the highest potential and promising among the crosses was cross P2 (BL-14) × P3 (6372-4), which possessed prolific plants, with early maturity, medium fruit weight and high soluble solid contents. Therefore this hybrid might be utilized for developing high yielding watermelon cultivars and may be recommended for commercial cultivation

Effect of drought stress on growth, proline and antioxidant enzyme activities of upland rice

Responses of eight upland rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties subjected to different drought levels were investigated in laboratory to evaluate eight local upland rice varieties against five drought levels (0, -2, -4, -6, and -8 bars) at germination and early seedling growth stage of plant development. Data were analyzed statistically for growth parameters; shoot length, root length, and dry matter yield, and biochemical parameters; proline and antioxidant enzymes activity (catalase, superoxide dismutase and peroxidase), were measured. Experiment units were arranged factorial completely randomized design with four replications. The drought-tolerant variety, Pulot Wangi tolerated PEG at the highest drought level (-8 bar) and showed no significantly difference relation to control. However, drought-sensitive variety, Kusam was markedly affected even at the lowest drought level used. Concomitantly, the activity of antioxidant enzymes catalase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase in the drought-tolerant varieties increased markedly during drought stress, while decreased by drought stress in the drought sensitive variety. Consequently, this led to a marked difference in the accumulation of proline in the upland rice varieties. It may be concluded that the activities of antioxidant enzymes and proline accumulation were associated with the dry mass production and consequently with the drought tolerance of the upland rice varieties

Genetic Performance and General Combining Ability of Oil Palm Deli dura x AVROS pisifera Tested on Inland Soils

The performance of 11 oil palm AVROS (Algemene Vereniging van Rubberplanters ter Oostkust van Sumatra) pisiferas was evaluated based on their 40 dura x pisifera (DxP) progenies tested on inland soils, predominantly of Serdang Series. Fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yield of each pisiferas ranged from 121.93 to 143.9 kg palm−1 yr−1 with trial mean of 131.62 kg palm−1 yr−1. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed low genetic variability among pisifera parents for most of the characters indicating uniformity of the pisifera population. This was anticipated as the AVROS pisiferas were derived from small population and were inbred materials. However, some of the pisiferas have shown good general combining ability (GCA) for certain important economic traits. Three pisiferas (P1 (0.174/247), P3 (0.174/498), P11 (0.182/308)) were identified of having good GCA for FFB yield while pisiferas P1 (0.174/247), P10 (0.182/348), and P11 (0.182/308) were good combiners for oil-to-bunch ratio (O/B). The narrow genetic base of these materials was the main obstacle in breeding and population improvement. However, efforts have been made to introgress this material with the vast oil palm germplasm collections of MPOB for rectifying the problem

Genetic Dissection of Sympatric Populations of Brown Planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål), Using DALP-PCR Molecular Markers

Direct amplified length polymorphism (DALP) combines the advantages of a high-resolution fingerprint method and also characterizing the genetic polymorphisms. This molecular method was also found to be useful in brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens species complex for the analysis of genetic polymorphisms. A total of 11 populations of Nilaparvata spp. were collected from 6 locations from Malaysia. Two sympatric populations of brown planthopper, N. lugens, one from rice and the other from a weed grass (Leersia hexandra), were collected from each of five locations. N. bakeri was used as an out group. Three oligonucleotide primer pairs, DALP231/DALPR′5, DALP234/DALPR′5, and DALP235/DALPR′5 were applied in this study. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) dendrogram based on genetic distances for the 11 populations of Nilaparvata spp. revealed that populations belonging to the same species and the same host type clustered together irrespective of their geographical localities of capture. The populations of N. lugens formed into two distinct clusters, one was insects with high esterase activities usually captured from rice and the other was with low esterase activities usually captured from L. hexandra. N. bakeri, an out group, was the most isolated group. Analyses of principal components, molecular variance, and robustness also supported greatly to the findings of cluster analysis

Morphological Characterization and Assessment of Genetic Variability, Character Association, and Divergence in Soybean Mutants

Genetic diversity is important for crop improvement. An experiment was conducted during 2011 to study genetic variability, character association, and genetic diversity among 27 soybean mutants and four mother genotypes. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the mutants and mothers for nine morphological traits. Eighteen mutants performed superiorly to their mothers in respect to seed yield and some morphological traits including yield attributes. Narrow differences between phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation (PCV and GCV) for most of the characters revealed less environmental influence on their expression. High values of heritability and genetic advance with high GCV for branch number, plant height, pod number, and seed weight can be considered as favorable attributes for soybean improvement through phenotypic selection and high expected genetic gain can be achieved. Pod and seed number and maturity period appeared to be the first order traits for higher yield and priority should be given in selection due to their strong associations and high magnitudes of direct effects on yield. Cluster analysis grouped 31 genotypes into five groups at the coefficient value of 235. The mutants/genotypes from cluster I and cluster II could be used for hybridization program with the mutants of clusters IV and V in order to develop high yielding mutant-derived soybean varieties for further improvement

Combining Ability of Pod Yield and Related Traits of Groundnut ( Arachis hypogaea

A study was performed using 6×6 F1 diallel population without reciprocals to assess the mode of inheritance of pod yield and related traits in groundnut with imposed salinity stress. Heterosis was found for pod number and yield. Data on general and specific combining ability (gca and sca) indicated additive and nonadditive gene actions. The gca: sca ratios were much less than unity suggesting predominant role of nonadditive gene effects. Cultivars “Binachinabadam-2” and “Dacca-1” and mutant M6/25/64-82 had the highest, second highest, and third highest pod number, as well as gca values, respectively. These two cultivars and another mutant M6/15/70-19 also had the highest, second highest, and third highest pod yield, as well as gca values, respectively. Therefore, “Dacca-1”, “Binachinabadam-2”, M6/25/64-82, and M6/15/70-19 could be used as source of salinity tolerance. Cross combinations showing high sca effects arising from parents with high and low gca values for any trait indicate the influence of nonadditive genes on their expression. Parents of these crosses can be used for biparental mating or reciprocal recurrent selection for developing high yielding varieties. Crosses with high sca effects having both parents with good gca effects could be exploited by pedigree breeding to get transgressive segregants

XRCC2 R188H (rs3218536), XRCC3 T241M (rs861539) and R243H (rs77381814) single nucleotide polymorphisms in cervical cancer risk

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer and its precursor lesions. Transformation may be induced by several mechanisms, including oncogene activation and genome instability. Individual differences in DNA damage recognition and repair have been hypothesized to influence cervical cancer risk. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the double strand break gene polymorphisms XRCC2 R188H G>A (rs3218536), XRCC3 T241M C>T (rs861539) and R243H G>A (rs77381814) are associated to cervical cancer in Argentine women. A case control study consisting of 322 samples (205 cases and 117 controls) was carried out. HPV DNA detection was performed by PCR and genotyping of positive samples by EIA (enzyme immunoassay). XRCC2 and 3 polymorphisms were determined by pyrosequencing. The HPV-adjusted odds ratio (OR) of XRCC2 188 GG/AG genotypes was OR = 2.4 (CI = 1.1-4.9, p = 0.02) for cervical cancer. In contrast, there was no increased risk for cervical cancer with XRCC3 241 TT/CC genotypes (OR = 0.48; CI = 0.2-1; p = 0.1) or XRCC3 241 CT/CC (OR = 0.87; CI = 0.52-1.4; p = 0.6). Regarding XRCC3 R243H, the G allele was almost fixed in the population studied. In conclusion, although the sample size was modest, the present data indicate a statistical association between cervical cancer and XRCC2 R188H polymorphism. Future studies are needed to confirm these findings.Fil: Perez, Luis Orlando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Crivaro, Andrea Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Barbisan, Gisela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Poleri, Lucía Belén. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Golijow, Carlos Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; Argentin

Retracted: Effect of Salinity on Biomass Yield and Physiological and Stem-Root Anatomical Characteristics of Purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) Accessions

13 selected purslane accessions were subjected to five salinity levels 0, 8, 16, 24, and 32 dS m⁻¹. Salinity effect was evaluated on the basis of biomass yield reduction, physiological attributes, and stem-root anatomical changes. Aggravated salinity stress caused significant () reduction in all measured parameters and the highest salinity showed more detrimental effect compared to control as well as lower salinity levels. The fresh and dry matter production was found to increase in Ac1, Ac9, and Ac13 from lower to higher salinity levels but others were badly affected. Considering salinity effect on purslane physiology, increase in chlorophyll content was seen in Ac2, Ac4, Ac6, and Ac8 at 16 dS m⁻¹ salinity, whereas Ac4, Ac9, and Ac12 showed increased photosynthesis at the same salinity levels compared to control. Anatomically, stem cortical tissues of Ac5, Ac9, and Ac12 were unaffected at control and 8 dS m⁻¹ salinity, but root cortical tissues did not show any significant damage except a bit enlargement in Ac12 and Ac13. A dendrogram was constructed by UPGMA based on biomass yield and physiological traits where all 13 accessions were grouped into 5 clusters proving greater diversity among them. The 3-dimensional principal component analysis (PCA) has also confirmed the output of grouping from cluster analysis. Overall, salinity stressed among all 13 purslane accessions considering biomass production, physiological growth, and anatomical development Ac9 was the best salt-tolerant purslane accession and Ac13 was the most affected accession

Collection and identification of different Purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) accessions available in Western Peninsular Malaysia

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) is widely distributed around the globe and is popular as a beneficial herb in many areas of Europe, Asia, and the Mediterranean region. It is already very well known for its nutritional as well as medicinal values for both human and animal feeds. It is a rich source of potassium, magnesium, calcium and possesses the potential to be used as vegetable source of omega-3 and 6 fatty acids. It is very good source of alpha linolenic acid and gamma-linolenic acid of any green leafy vegetable. It also contains high amount of α-tocopherol and ascorbic acid. The antioxidant content and nutritional value of purslane are important for human consumption. It revealed tremendous nutritional potential and has indicated the potential use of this herb for the future. Purslane is a very fast-growing plant and can reproduce vegetatively from stem cuttings by forming adventitious roots from the cut end of the stem. Recently many plant species are threatened with extinction through human activity and the force of globalization. Plant collections are a valuable tool both in research and as a valid means of providing students at many educational levels with knowledge of and appreciation for the wonder, diversity, and beauty of plant life. Collection of diverse accessions, identification, preservation and proper management of such beneficial plants is very important for their diversity analysis which is essential for present and future human well-being. The identification of representative and manageable subset of accessions would facilitate access to the diversity available in large collections. Giving importance on the above matters a total of 45 different purslane samples were collected from different locations of Western Peninsular Malaysia, properly identified and subjected for future detailed analysis of morpho-physiological and nutritional variations among the collections