Tropical Forage Legumes in India: Status and Scope for Sustaining Livestock Production

Livestock contributes enormously in food and nutritional security apart from livelihood security to rural population all over the world. India has the largest number of livestock, representing over 17% of world population. Availability of forage legumes is essential for better animal health, production and increasing the nutritive value of forage-based rations, besides providing a source of biological nitrogen fixation for enriching soil, reducing land degradation and mitigating climate change. However, supply of quality green fodder in India is extremely precarious, and the gap is huge against demand. The major fodder legume crops cultivated in India are Medicago sativa, Trifolium alexandrinum, Vigna unguiculata, Vigna umbellate and range legumes are Stylosanthes spp., Desmanthus virgatus, and Clitoria ternatea. Indian subcontinent represents wide spectrum of eco-climates and reported diversity of 21 forage legumes genera viz., Desmodium, Lablab, Stylosanthes, Vigna, Macroptelium, Centrosema and browse plants Leucaena, Sesbania, Albizia, Bauhinia, Cassia, Grewia, etc. Diversity of forage legumes were collected (>3200 accessions), evaluated and sources for different biotic and abiotic stress tolerance were identified, apart from >50 cultivars developed. Considering these aspects, tropical legumes for livestock production, soil health and ecosystem services, diversity, evaluation and breeding for improved varieties are discussed in this chapter

Forage from Trees and Grasses of Silvipasture System in Degraded Land of Semiarid India

Rainfed agro-ecosystem has a distinct place in Indian Agriculture, occupying 67% of the cultivated area and supporting 65% of the livestock population (Venkateswarlu, 2005). The silvipasture systems involving suitable multi-purpose trees specially fodder trees and range grass species provide resilience by ensuring continued and multiple outputs such as, forage, fuelwood, fodder, fibre and industrial raw material, besides other positive environmental effects. Incorporation of fodder trees with grasses is perceived as a climate change-resilient cropping system for farmers linking climate change mitigation with adaptation (Mbow et al., 2014). The synergies of tree-grass association need to be explored and exploited by evaluating different fodder tree species with combination of grass species under degraded land and climatic condition. In many low input agro-ecosystems grasses are intercropped with legumes since legumes have an importance as a primary source of nitrogen (Thomsen and Haugaard-Nielsen, 2008). This study was planned to develop a silvipasture system with suitable tree and grass species on degraded land of semi arid condition to ensure the availability of quality fodder round the year

Development of New, High Yielding Tropical Grass Varieties for Increasing Productivity of Semi-Arid Grasslands in India

Indian agriculture has traditionally been a mixed farming system since ancient times with integration of arable crops and livestock. It provides employment and livelihood to 70% of the rural population. Livestock are predominantly cattle and small ruminants that graze extensively on rangelands/pasturelands and common property resources (CPRs). CPRs occupy approximately 54 million ha area including permanent pastures in the alpine and temperate parts as well as seasonal grazing lands and wastelands. The productivity and carrying capacity of tropical degraded grasslands is very low, the average carrying capacity being 1.0, 0.7, 0.7 Adult Cattle Unit (ACU)/ha in semi-arid, arid and hill areas respectively. One of the options to increase livestock productivity is to grow more pasture by introducing higher yielding tropical grass varieties. Sehima nervosum, Heteropogon contortus and Chrysopogon fulvus are major species components of semi-arid tropical grasslands. These peren-nial grasses dominate two of the five major grassland covers, viz. Sehima-Dichanthium cover and Dichanthium-Lasiurus-Cenchrus cover

Transcriptome Analysis of Differentially Expressed Genes at Pre-Meiotic Developmental Stage in Pennisetum Hybrids with Contrasting Modes of Reproduction

Apomixis is an asexual reproduction through seeds where embryo develops without meiosis and fertilization. It is widely distributed throughout plant kingdom, but is more prevalent in families like Asteraceae, Rosaceae and Poaceae (Carman, 1997). This trait is highly desirable for fixing heterosis in F1 hybrids with significant implications for crop improvement (Dwivedi et al., 2007). Therefore it is necessary to unravel the molecular and genetic basis of apomixis to tap its potential. Pennisetum is an important genus of the Poaceae family which contains a wide range of species exhibiting wide variability in morphological, molecular, and reproductive traits (Jauhar, 1998). It includes many apomictic wild relatives of cultivated pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), some of them used extensively for introgression and molecular studies on apomixis, such as P. squamulatum, P. ciliare, and P. orientale (Ozias-Akins and Van Dijk, 2007; Kaushal et al., 2010). In order to identify putative genes involved in expression of apomixis, the genes showing differential expression across sexual and apomictic genotypes may be identified and characterized. A variety of methods are available for such molecular differential screening. These include differential display, fingerprinting techniques like cDNA AFLP, Subtractive hybridization, Micro array and Gene Chip technologies. These methods are employed for different purposes based on their convenience, sensitivity, automation and throughput. Texa with contrasting modes of reproduction are resources to identify genes involved in apomixis phenomenon. Broadly, the differentiation in reproduction pathway between apomictic and sexual lines is at three steps viz. pre-meiotic (including genes involved in preparing of ovule to enter into apomeiotic pathway), meiotic (genes involved in apomeiosis and embryo-sac development) and post-meiotic (genes involved in embryo-sac maturation and preparing for parthenogenesis). The present study was aimed to carry out a comprehensive transcriptome survey to identify differentially expressed transcripts in ovules of aposporous Pennisetum hybrid during the pre-meiotic stage of apomictic reproduction

Quality Seed Production of Range Grasses--A Major Constraint in Revitalising Tropical Pastures

Only 4% of India’s geographical area of 326.82 M ha is under pastures. Socioeconomic and ecological consequ-ences of land degradation are affecting 85 M ha of rangelands/grasslands. To provide sufficient milk for the ever-growing population, current milk production of 128 M t must increase to 160 M t by 2020. To make this possible, an additional 825 M t of green fodder is required. Increasing the area producing green fodder is difficult because of severe competition from food crops. Revitalising the denuded grasslands is the most plausible means for improving the availability of green fodder. This needs mission mode programs with participation of the people

Ploidy Dependent Expression of Apomixis Components in Guinea Grass (\u3cem\u3ePanicum maximum\u3c/em\u3e Jacq.)

Apomixis is an asexual method of reproduction through seeds. The potential of apomixis has been envisaged as “asexual revolution” by virtue of its capacity to fix hybrid vigour, a much desirable feature in breeding of agricultural crops. The genetic mechanism of apomixis regulation is complex and is believed to be largely affected by polyploidy (Nogler 1984). Expression of apomixis essentially contains three components, viz. apomeiosis (formation of unreduced egg cell), parthenogenesis (fertilization independent embryo development) and functional endosperm development (autonomous or psuedogamous). In contrast to previous reports, the evidence has now gathered that these three components can be functionally uncoupled and recombination is possible between these components (Kaushal, et al., 2008). Such recombinations lead to diversity in seed development pathways and also provide a mechanism to modify the ploidy levels. Uncoupling of apomeiosis from parthenogenesis may yield high frequency of triploids and haploids. Utilizing this partitioning principle we have generated a ploidy series following a Hybridization–supplemented Apomixis-components Partitioning Approach (HAPA) in guinea grass, a model crop for polyploidy and apomixis research, (Kaushal et al., 2009). From a single 4x (2n=32) progenitor, a ploidy series has been developed represented by 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x, 9x and 11x cytotypes. This ploidy series offers advantage of studying ploidy regulated gene expression. There have been sporadic reports on effect of polyploidy in expression of apomixis per se; however information on effect of polyploidy on individual apomixis components is not available. The guinea grass ploidy series with sequentially added monoploid genome doses has been used in present study to understand the effect of ploidy levels on phenotypic expression of partitioned apomixis components

Partitioning Apomixis Components to Understand and Utilize Gametophytic Apomixis

Apomixis is a method of reproduction to generate clonal seeds and offers tremendous potential to fix heterozygosity and hybrid vigor. The process of apomictic seed development is complex and comprises three distinct components, viz., apomeiosis (leading to formation of unreduced egg cell), parthenogenesis (development of embryo without fertilization) and functional endosperm development. Recently, in many crops, these three components are reported to be uncoupled leading to their partitioning. This review provides insight into the recent status of our understanding surrounding partitioning apomixis components in gametophytic apomictic plants and research avenues that it offers to help understand the biology of apomixis. Possible consequences leading to diversity in seed developmental pathways, resources to understand apomixis, inheritance and identification of candidate gene(s) for partitioned components, as well as contribution towards creation of variability are all discussed. The potential of Panicum maximum, an aposporous crop, is also discussed as a model crop to study partitioning principle and effects. Modifications in cytogenetic status, as well as endosperm imprinting effects arising due to partitioning effects, opens up new opportunities to understand and utilize apomixis components, especially towards synthesizing apomixis in crops

Remaining life assessment of service exposed reheater and superheater tubes in a boiler of a thermal power plant

This paper presents the high temperature tensile and the stress rupture properties of 150,000 hours service-exposed superheater and reheater tubes made of 2.25Cr-1 Mo steels in a 120 MW boiler of a thermal power plant. These were used to estimate the remaining life for safety. Experimentally determined yield strength and ultimate tensile strength as well as estimated 10,000 hours - 100000 hours rupture strength as obtained from experimental data in the temperature range of 793 to 853K exhibit a decreasing trend with increasing temperature. Microstructural study did not reveal any significant degradation in terms of creep cavities, cracks, graphitization etc. In general, analysis of tensile and stress rupture data reveal that the service exposed superheater and reheater tubes can remain in service for a length of more than ten years at the operating hoop stress level 40 MPa / 813K, provided no localised damage in the form of cracks or dents has been developed. It is recommended that a similar health check should be carried out after 50,000 hours of service exposure at 813K

The Bangladesh Risk of Acute Vascular Events (BRAVE) Study: objectives and design.

During recent decades, Bangladesh has experienced a rapid epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases. Coronary heart disease (CHD), with myocardial infarction (MI) as its main manifestation, is a major cause of death in the country. However, there is limited reliable evidence about its determinants in this population. The Bangladesh Risk of Acute Vascular Events (BRAVE) study is an epidemiological bioresource established to examine environmental, genetic, lifestyle and biochemical determinants of CHD among the Bangladeshi population. By early 2015, the ongoing BRAVE study had recruited over 5000 confirmed first-ever MI cases, and over 5000 controls "frequency-matched" by age and sex. For each participant, information has been recorded on demographic factors, lifestyle, socioeconomic, clinical, and anthropometric characteristics. A 12-lead electrocardiogram has been recorded. Biological samples have been collected and stored, including extracted DNA, plasma, serum and whole blood. Additionally, for the 3000 cases and 3000 controls initially recruited, genotyping has been done using the CardioMetabochip+ and the Exome+ arrays. The mean age (standard deviation) of MI cases is 53 (10) years, with 88 % of cases being male and 46 % aged 50 years or younger. The median interval between reported onset of symptoms and hospital admission is 5 h. Initial analyses indicate that Bangladeshis are genetically distinct from major non-South Asian ethnicities, as well as distinct from other South Asian ethnicities. The BRAVE study is well-placed to serve as a powerful resource to investigate current and future hypotheses relating to environmental, biochemical and genetic causes of CHD in an important but under-studied South Asian population.The Gates Cambridge Trust has supported Dr Chowdhury. Epidemiological fieldwork in BRAVE has been supported by grants to investigators at the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge. The Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit is underpinned by programme grants from the British Heart Foundation (RG/13/13/30194), the UK Medical Research Council (MR/L003120/1), and the UK National Institute of Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. BRAVE has received support for genetic assays from the European Research Council (ERC-2010-AdG-20100317), European Commission Framework 7 (Grant Agreement number: 279233), and the Cambridge British Heart Foundation Centre for Excellence in Cardiovascular Science; We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following individuals: Cardiology Research Group in Bangladesh Mohammad Afzalur Rahman, Mohammad Abdul Kader Akanda, M Atahar Ali, Mir Jamal Uddin, SM Siddiqur Rahman, Amal Kumar Choudhury, Md. Mamunur Rashid, Nazir Ahmed Chowdhury, Mohammad Abdullahel Baqui, Kajal Kumar Karmoker, Mohammad Golam Azam; Setting up/implementation of fieldwork in Bangladesh Abbas Bhuiya, Susmita Chowdhury, Kamrun Nahar, Neelima Das, Proshon Roy, Sumona Ferdous, Taposh Kumar Biswas, Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayed Sharif, Ranjit Shingha, Rose Jinnath Tomas, Babulal Parshei, Mabubur Rahman, Mohammad Emon Hossain, Akhirunnesa Mily, AK Mottashir Ahmed, Sati Chowdhury, Sushila Roy, Dipak Kanti Chowdhury, Swapan Kumar Roy; Epidemiological/statistical support in Cambridge Stephen Kaptoge, Simon Thompson, Angela Wood, Narinder Bansal, Anna Ramond, Clare Oliver-Williams, Marinka Steur, Linda O’Keeffe, Eleni Sofianopoulou, Setor Kunutsor, Donal Gorman, Oscar H Franco, Malcolm Legget, Pinal Patel, Marc Suhrcke, Sylvaine Bruggraber, Jonathan Powell; Data management Matthew Walker, Steve Ellis, Shawkat Jahangir, Habibur Rahman, Rifat Hasan Shammi, Shafqat Ullah, Mohammad Abdul Matin and Administration Beth Collins, Hannah Lombardi, Binder Kaur, Rachel Henry, Marilena Papanikolaou, Robert Smith, Abdul Wazed, Robert Williams, Julie Jenkins, Keith Hoddy.This is the final published version of the article. It was originally published in the European Journal of Epidemiology (Chowdhury R, et al., European Journal of Epidemiology, 2015, doi:10.1007/s10654-015-0037-2). The final version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10654-015-0037-

Overexpression of Prothymosin Alpha Predicts Poor Disease Outcome in Head and Neck Cancer

In our recent study, tissue proteomic analysis of oral pre-malignant lesions (OPLs) and normal oral mucosa led to the identification of a panel of biomarkers, including prothymosin alpha (PTMA), to distinguish OPLs from histologically normal oral tissues. This study aimed to determine the clinical significance of PTMA overexpression in oral squamous cell hyperplasia, dysplasia and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).Immunohistochemistry of PTMA protein was performed in HNSCCs (n = 100), squamous cell hyperplasia (n = 116), dysplasia (n = 50) and histologically normal oral tissues (n = 100). Statistical analysis was carried out to determine the association of PTMA overexpression with clinicopathological parameters and disease prognosis over 7 years for HNSCC patients.<0.001). Chi-square analysis showed significant association of nuclear PTMA with advanced tumor stages (III+IV). Kaplan Meier survival analysis indicated reduced disease free survival (DFS) in HNSCC patients (p<0.001; median survival 11 months). Notably, Cox-multivariate analysis revealed nuclear PTMA as an independent predictor of poor prognosis of HNSCC patients (p<0.001, Hazard's ratio, HR = 5.2, 95% CI = 2.3–11.8) in comparison with the histological grade, T-stage, nodal status and tumor stage.Nuclear PTMA may serve as prognostic marker in HNSCC to determine the subset of patients that are likely to show recurrence of the disease