Integrated Nutrient Management for Natural Grasslands of Mid-Hills of Himalayas

Livestock rearing is an important pursuit in mountain farming in India and plays a crucial role throughout the country. The preponderance of marginal and small landholdings (about 82%) in hilly regions does not allow the farmers to allocate even a small part of their land exclusively for forage production. In Himachal Pradesh state of India about 1.16 m ha (20% of the total area) is under permanent pastures and other grazing lands and none of the natural grasslands are fertilised in any form. Existing grasslands have deteriorated to such an extent that their carrying capacity is only 1.05 ACU (Adult Cattle Unit, with an average body weight of 350 kg)/ha (Vashist et al., 2000). Biofertiliser-based technologies could be appropriate and cost effective approaches that are easy to adopt and eco-friendly. Response may arise from increased populations of phosphate solubilisers in the rhizosphere in P- deficient soils resulting in mobilisation of insoluble phosphorus (Raghu & Mac Rac, 1967). The study was undertaken with the main objectives of assessing the effects of biofertilisers on productivity and quality of natural grassland and the level of N and P substitution by biofertilisers

Calcretes in the Thar desert: genesis, chronology and palaeoenvironment

The calcretes in the Thar desert occur in a variety of settings, including the piedmonts, sheetwash aggraded plains; and this study adds calcretes in regolith and colluvio-alluvial plains to the group of settings in which calcretes occur in the region. Field logs, morphological details and analytical data such as petrographic, cathodoluminescence and geochemical characteristics are described along with a discussion on their implications. Sand dunes and sandy plains dating to <20 ka have weakly developed calcretes. The better-developed calcrete horizons occur in piedmonts, interdunes or in areas that have sufficient groundwater. Deep sections in the region show phases of calcrete development in aeolian sand aggradation at ~150, ~100, ~60 and 27-14 ka. The extensive sheetwash plains have mature calcretes and date to mid-Pleistocene. Our studies indicate that these calcretes represent a hybrid process, where carbonate enrichment of the originally calcareous host occurred due to periodically raised groundwaters, and its differentiation into nodules occurred under subaerial environment i.e., after recession of groundwater. Deep sections also show a stack of discrete calcretes that developed in individual aggradation episodes with hiatuses as indicated by ESR dating results. Nodules display a multiplicity of carbonate precipi tation events and internal reorganization of calcitic groundmass. The process is accompanied by degradation and transformation of unstable minerals, particularly clays and with a neosynthesis of palygorskite. The ancient calcretes are dated from the beginning of the Quaternary to ~600 ka and show more evolved morphologies marked by brecciation, dissolution, laminar growth on brecciated surfaces, pisolites and several generations of re-cementation. Mica/chlorite schists and such other rocks are particularly vulnerable to replacement by carbonate. In an extreme case, replacement of quartzose sandstone was observed also. The presence of stretches of alluvio-colluvial plains in an area presently devoid of drainage bespeaks of occasional high-energy fluvial regime, under a semi-arid climate. The mid-Pleistocene period saw a shift towards more arid climate and this facilitated sheetwash aggradation. Finally, during the late Pleistocene, aggradation of aeolian sands indicated a progressively drier climate. However, this does not find its reflection in stable isotope data. The amount of carbonate in the form of calcretes is substantial. The present studies indicate that aeolian dust or rainwater are minor contributors to the carbonate budget. A more important source was provided by the pre-existing calcretes in the sheetwash aggraded plains and detrital carbonate in the aeolian sediments. The original source of carbonate in the region, however, remains unresolved and will need further investigations. Electron spin resonance protocols for the dating of calcretes were developed as a part of this study and the results accorded well with geological reasoning

Projective simulation for artificial intelligence

We propose a model of a learning agent whose interaction with the environment is governed by a simulation-based projection, which allows the agent to project itself into future situations before it takes real action. Projective simulation is based on a random walk through a network of clips, which are elementary patches of episodic memory. The network of clips changes dynamically, both due to new perceptual input and due to certain compositional principles of the simulation process. During simulation, the clips are screened for specific features which trigger factual action of the agent. The scheme is different from other, computational, notions of simulation, and it provides a new element in an embodied cognitive science approach to intelligent action and learning. Our model provides a natural route for generalization to quantum-mechanical operation and connects the fields of reinforcement learning and quantum computation.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures. Close to published version, with footnotes retaine

Characterising variation in wheat traits under hostile soil conditions in India

Intensive crop breeding has increased wheat yields and production in India. Wheat improvement in India typically involves selecting yield and component traits under non-hostile soil conditions at regional scales. The aim of this study is to quantify G*E interactions on yield and component traits to further explore site-specific trait selection for hostile soils. Field experiments were conducted at six sites (pH range 4.5-9.5) in 2013-14 and 2014-15, in three agro-climatic regions of India. At each site, yield and component traits were measured on 36 genotypes, representing elite varieties from a wide genetic background developed for different regions. Mean grain yields ranged from 1.0 to 5.5 t ha⁻¹ at hostile and non-hostile sites, respectively. Site (E) had the largest effect on yield and component traits, however, interactions between genotype and site (G*E) affected most traits to a greater extent than genotype alone. Within each agro-climatic region, yield and component traits correlated positively between hostile and non-hostile sites. However, some genotypes performed better under hostile soils, with site-specific relationships between yield and component traits, which supports the value of ongoing site-specific selection activities

A putative heat-responsive transcription factor (TaHD97) and its targets in wheat (Triticum aestivum) providing thermotolerance

214-223Transcription factors (TFs) are protein, which perform their role at transcriptional level by affecting the expression of various genes associated with metabolic pathways, growth and stress-associated genes (SAGs) at different developmental stages. Here, we identified 38 novel heat-responsive transcription factor genes from wheat cv. HD2985 by mining the de novo transcriptome data derived from heat shock (HS) treated wheat. Based on digital gene expression (DGE), a putative transcript (TaHD97) of ~1.1 kbas amplified and cloned from wheat cv. HD2985. The presence of heat stress transcription factor (HSF) DNA binding domain was observed in the amino acid sequence. Differential expression of TaHD97 was observed in HD2985 (thermotolerant) and HD2329 (thermosensitive) under heat stress. Tissue specific expression analysis showed up-regulation of TaHD97 in leaves, stem and endospermic tissues and down-regulation in root under HS. A positive correlation was established between the expression of TaHD97 and its target gene (HSP17 and HSP90) in wheat under heat stress. HSP17 transcripts were observed more in leaves of HD2985, as compared to HD2329. Thermotolerance related biochemical enzymes (SOD, CAT, GPX and TBARS) were observed higher in wheat cv. HD2985 showing maximum expression of TaHD97 under heat stress. There is a need for the functional validation of the gene TaHD97 in order to use it for the regulation of sHSP (catalytic chaperone) - a novel approach towards augmenting thermotolerance in wheat under heat stress

Mapping the specific pathways to early-onset mental health disorders : the "Watch Me Grow for REAL" study protocol

Background: From birth, the human propensity to selectively attend and respond to critical super-stimuli forms the basis of future socio-emotional development and health. In particular, the first super-stimuli to preferentially engage and elicit responses in the healthy newborn are the physical touch, voice and face/eyes of caregivers. From this grows selective attention and responsiveness to emotional expression, scaffolding the development of empathy, social cognition, and other higher human capacities. In this paper, the protocol for a longitudinal, prospective birth-cohort study is presented. The major aim of this study is to map the emergence of individual differences and disturbances in the system of social-Responsiveness, Emotional Attention, and Learning (REAL) through the first 3 years of life to predict the specific emergence of the major childhood mental health problems, as well as social adjustment and impairment more generally. A further aim of this study is to examine how the REAL variables interact with the quality of environment/caregiver interactions. Methods/Design: A prospective, longitudinal birth-cohort study will be conducted. Data will be collected from four assessments and mothers' electronic medical records. Discussion: This study will be the first to test a clear developmental map of both the unique and specific causes of childhood psychopathology and will identify more precise early intervention targets for children with complex comorbid conditions

Identification of wheat cultivars for low nitrogen tolerance using multivariable screening approaches

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). A set of thirty-six wheat cultivars were grown for two consecutive years under low and high nitrogen conditions. The interactions of cultivars with different environmental factors were shown to be highly significant for most of the studied traits, suggesting the presence of wider genetic variability which may be utilized for the genetic improvement of desired trait(s). Three cultivars, i.e., RAJ 4037, DBW 39 and GW 322, were selected based on three selection indices, i.e., tolerance index (TOL), stress susceptibility index (SSI), and yield stability index (YSI), while two cultivars, HD 2967 and MACS 6478, were selected based on all four selection indices which were common in both of the study years. According to Kendall’s concordance coefficient, the consistency of geometric mean productivity (GMP) was found to be highest (0.778), followed by YSI (0.556), SSI (0.472), and TOL (0.200). Due to the high consistency of GMP followed by YSI and SSI, the three selection indices could be utilized as a selection tool in the identification of high-yielding genotypes under low nitrogen conditions. The GMP and YSI selection indices had a positive and significant correlation with grain yield, whereas TOL and SSI exhibited a significant but negative correlation with grain yield under both high and low nitrogen conditions in both years. The common tolerant genotypes identified through different selection indices could be utilized as potential donors in active breeding programs to incorporate the low nitrogen tolerant genes to develop high-yielding wheat varieties for low nitrogen conditions. The study also helps in understanding the physiological basis of tolerance in high-yielding wheat genotypes under low nitrogen conditions

Light-absorbing secondary organic material formed by glyoxal in aqueous aerosol mimics

Light-absorbing and high-molecular-weight secondary organic products were observed to result from the reaction of glyoxal in mildly acidic (pH=4) aqueous inorganic salt solutions mimicking aqueous tropospheric aerosol particles. High-molecular-weight (500–600 amu) products were observed when ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4) or sodium chloride (NaCl) was present in the aqueous phase. The products formed in (NH4)2SO4 or ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) solutions absorb light at UV and visible wavelengths. Substantial absorption at 300–400 nm develops within two hours, and absorption between 400–600 nm develops within days. Pendant drop tensiometry measurements show that the products are not surface-active. The experimental results along with ab initio predictions of the UV/Vis absorption of potential products suggest a mechanism involving the participation of the ammonium ion. If similar products are formed in atmospheric aerosol particles, they could change the optical properties of the seed aerosol over its lifetime

Flavivirus-induced antibody cross-reactivity

Dengue viruses (DENV) cause countless human deaths each year, whilst West Nile virus (WNV) has re-emerged as an important human pathogen. There are currently no WNV or DENV vaccines licensed for human use, yet vaccines exist against other flaviviruses. To investigate flavivirus cross-reactivity, sera from a human cohort with a history of vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and yellow fever virus (YFV) were tested for antibodies by plaque reduction neutralization test. Neutralization of louping ill virus (LIV) occurred, but no significant neutralization of Murray Valley encephalitis virus was observed. Sera from some individuals vaccinated against TBEV and JEV neutralized WNV, which was enhanced by YFV vaccination in some recipients. Similarly, some individuals neutralized DENV-2, but this was not significantly influenced by YFV vaccination. Antigenic cartography techniques were used to generate a geometric illustration of the neutralization titres of selected sera against WNV, TBEV, JEV, LIV, YFV and DENV-2. This demonstrated the individual variation in antibody responses. Most sera had detectable titres against LIV and some had titres against WNV and DENV-2. Generally, LIV titres were similar to titres against TBEV, confirming the close antigenic relationship between TBEV and LIV. JEV was also antigenically closer to TBEV than WNV, using these sera. The use of sera from individuals vaccinated against multiple pathogens is unique relative to previous applications of antigenic cartography techniques. It is evident from these data that notable differences exist between amino acid sequence identity and mapped antigenic relationships within the family Flaviviridae

Novel sources of variation in grain yield, components and mineral traits identified in wheat amphidiploids derived from thinopyrum bessarabicum (Savul. & rayss) Á. löve (poaceae) under saline soils in India

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Salt-affected soils constrain wheat production globally. A wild wheat species, Thinopyrum bessarabicum (Savul. & Rayss) Á. Löve (Poaceae), and its derivatives are tolerant of high external NaCl concentrations but have not been tested yet in field conditions. The aim of this study was to study the performance of amphidiploids derived from T. bessarabicum for grain yield (GYD), yield components and grain mineral composition traits under normal and saline soil conditions. Field experiments were conducted at Karnal (pH(water) = 7.3) and Hisar (pH(water) = 8.3) sites in 2014–2015 and 2015–2016 in India. Grain samples were analysed using inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Yield and yield component traits of amphidiploids were typically greater at Karnal than Hisar. The GYD was greater at Karnal (1.6 t ha−1) than Hisar (1.2 t ha−1) in 2014–2015. However, GYD was greater at Hisar (1.7 t ha−1) than Karnal (1.1 t ha−1) in 2015–2016. Mean grain zinc (Zn) concentration of eight amphidiploids, averaged across sites and years, varied from 36 to 43 mg kg−1. Some amphidiploids derived from T. bessarabicum showed greater GYD and grain Zn concentration under saline soils (Hisar) than normal soils (Karnal). These might be potential new sources for the development of salt-tolerant wheat varieties with increased grain Zn concentration under salt-affected soils