Improving maize growth and development in relation to soil applied elemental sulfur

A field experiment was conducted to ascertain the effect of varying soil applied elemental sulfur (S) levels viz; 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 kg ha, on maize growth and development. Experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Growth and development parameters were computed; included leaf area per plant LAI, LAD, CGR, NAR and TDM and experimental results revealed that increasing S levels were pragmatic in improving maize performance. However, soil applied elemental S @ 30 kg ha proved to be beneficial involved in growth and yield improvement. Maximum CGR (23.44 g m-2 d-1), NAR (6.23 g m-2 d-1) and LAI (4.85) was in plots where S was applied at 30 kg ha while least LAI (4.40), LAD (193.45 days), TDM (1178.13 kg ha) was in control treatment. Therefore, elemental S @ 30 kg ha was noted to be most suitable for sustainable maize production amongst all other treatments

A Cross Sectional Study of Intern’s Willingness to Serve in Rural Primary Health Centres of Andhra Pradesh, India.

The shortage of health professionals in rural areas is a global problem. The urban and rural maldistribution of doctors results in severe problems regarding access to and performance of health care services. Retaining doctors in rural areas is a challenging task for a number of reasons, ranging from personal preferences to difficult work conditions and low remuneration. The objective of the study was to understand the factors influencing medical and dental intern’s choice to work in rural PHC’s as a basis for designing policies to redress geographic imbalances in health professional’s distribution. A total of 385 dental and medical interns in Andhra Pradesh provided a unique contingent valuation data in a cross sectional survey conducted in 4 medical and 4 dental colleges in Andhra Pradesh, using a questionnaire concerning their preferences, related incentives to work in various rural and remote primary health centres of Andhra Pradesh state, India. The response rate of the study was 89 %, (n= 344), with only 24% of interns expressing their willingness to serve in rural/remote primary health centres.Most of the interns stressed for increase in salary, better accommodation and infrastructure of the hospitals as the factors for increasing their retention in remote rural areas. Although most Indian students are motivated to study medicine and dentistry by the desire to help others, this does not translate into willingness to work in rural areas. Efforts from the government to build intrinsic motivation during medical and dental training to serve in these deprived areas should be in focus with addition to improved working and living conditions and better remuneration

Planting Geometry and Herbicides for Weed Control in Rice: Implications and Challenges

Weeds are one of the major biological threats to higher rice productivity worldwide. Various cultural, biological, physical and chemical practices affect the composition and intensity of weeds in rice fields. Generally, weeds can be controlled through herbicides; nevertheless, chemical weed control is not a sustainable option on a long term. Various agronomic practices such as the use of tolerant cultivars, adjusting sowing time, tillage permutations and plant geometry may reduce the weed pressure in rice. Integrated approaches for weed management, emphasizing on the combination of management practices and scientific knowledge, may reduce the economic costs and improve weed control owing to the complexity of the weed community. The present chapter reveals the role of planting geometry and herbicides as weed management strategies in rice, and discusses the issue of herbicide resistance associated with chemical weed control. Moreover, the research and knowledge gaps in rice weed management through planting geometry and herbicides were also highlighted

Gas exchange and morpho-physiological response of soybean to straw mulching under drought conditions

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the morphological, physiological and biochemical straw mulch-induced response of soybean under water-deficit conditions. Soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill) variety “Xidou 7” was treated with varying quantity of wheat straw mulch viz: (control (no straw mulch), 3750, 7500, 11000 and 14750 kg/ha) under water-deficit conditions. The experimental results indicate that the varying quantity of straw mulch significantly improved the plant growth in terms of plant height, leaf area, number of leaves/plant and stem diameter. Mulch treatment also significantly enhanced the photosynthesis (PN), intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci), transpiration rate (E) and stomatal conductance (gs) over the control. The gas exchange parameters were improved depending on the quantity of wheat straw mulch; significantly highPN and E was observed in the treatment where wheat straw was applied at the rate of 11000 kg/ha. Wheat straw mulch treatments led to noticeable reduction in malondialdehyde (MDA) contents, which protected the drought stressed soybean plants from membrane damage. Furthermore, the free proline contents linearly increased with increase in straw mulch quantity. It is evident that wheat straw mulch can considerably modulate growth, photosynthetic and physio-biochemical attributes of soybean under drought. The research will effectively solve seasonal drought problem and can provide technical assistance for sustainable agriculture development.Keywords: Soybean, growth, water-deficit, wheat straw mulchAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(18), pp. 2360-236

Protective role of glycinebetaine in maize against drought-induced lipid peroxidation by enhancing capacity of antioxidative system

Abstract A pot-culture study was performed to investigate the efficacy of glycinebetaine (GB) for drought tolerance in two contrasting maize cultivars. Progressive drought stress noticeably reduced the relative leaf water content (RLWC) but increased protein and proline concentrations in both cultivars. The reduction in RLWC in DD-60 was lower than ND-95, whereas, the accumulation of protein and proline was substantially higher in DD-60 over ND-95 during experimental period. Nonetheless, GB-treatment led to increase in RLWC, protein and proline accumulation in DD-60 than ND-95. Prolonged drought stress induced the membrane lipid peroxidation, which was more severe in ND-95 than DD-60. GB-treatment substantially ameliorated the lipid peroxidation in DD-60 over ND-95 under drought stress. The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) were substantially enhanced in DD-60 than ND-95 with the prolongation of drought stress at beginning and then declined subsequently. These results possibly suggest that the DD-60 showed a better protection mechanism against water-induced lipid peroxidation by maintaining higher constitutive activities of antioxidant enzymes than ND-95. Nevertheless, GB-treated plants maintained higher antioxidant enzymes activity during drought stress than non-GB treated plants, which ultimately enhanced the growth, yield and yield components. The foliar application of glycinebetaine only considered advantageous when applied under drought and exhibit pronounced effects when applied at flowering. Drought tolerance can be improved in maize by the foliar GB-treatment through enhancing the antioxidants capacity

Exogenous Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid Application Induced Modulations in the Performance of Aromatic Rice Under Lead Toxicity

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a non-protein amino acid and has a multi-functional role in abiotic stress tolerance. A pot experiment was conducted to assess the role of exogenous gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) application to modulate the growth, yield, and related physio-biochemical mechanisms in two aromatic rice cultivars, that is, Guixiangzhan (GXZ) and Nongxiang 18 (NX-18), under Pb toxic and normal conditions. The experimental treatments were comprised of Ck: without Pb and GABA (control), GABA: 1 mM GABA is applied under normal conditions (without Pb), Pb + GABA: 1 mM GABA is applied under Pb toxicity (800 mg kg−1 of soil), and Pb= only Pb (800 mg kg−1 of soil) is applied (no GABA). The required concentrations of GABA were applied as a foliar spray. Results revealed that Pb stress induced oxidative damage in terms of enhanced malondialdehyde (MDA), electrolyte leakage (EL), and H2O2 contents, while exogenous GABA application improved leaf chlorophyll, proline, protein and GABA contents, photosynthesis and gas exchange, and antioxidant defense under Pb toxicity in both rice cultivars. Moreover, glutamine synthetase (GS) and nitrate reductase (NR) activities were variably affected due to GABA application under Pb stress. The yield and related traits, that is, productive tillers/pot, grains/panicle, filled grain %, 1,000-grain weight, and grain yield were 13.64 and 10.29, 0.37% and 2.26%, 3.89 and 19.06%, 7.35 and 12.84%, and 17.92 and 40.56 lower under Pb treatment than Pb + GABA for GXZ and NX-18, respectively. Furthermore, exogenous GABA application in rice reduced Pb contents in shoot, leaves, panicle, and grains compared with Pb-exposed plants without GABA. Overall, GXZ performed better than NX-18 under Pb toxic conditions

Foliar application of liquiritin protects Chinese flowering cabbage against cucumber mosaic virus and increases health-promoting compounds

Decades of research have revealed notable similarities between the immune systems of the plant and animal kingdoms. Liquiritin has long been used to stimulate the body immunity in animals against an array of diseases. Considering the homology of some induced immune responses between animals and plants, we examined the effects of exogenously applied liquiritin to stimulate defense responses in Chinese flowering cabbage plants against cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) infection under greenhouse and field conditions. Foliar application of liquiritin (200 ppm) effectively suppressed the development of CMV symptoms by not less than 40% compared with the control in cabbage plants in both greenhouse and field trials along with the significant increases in the marketable yield and nutritional quality of cabbage. Liquiritin application enhanced the production of phenolic compounds and different defense-related enzymes in treated plants. Moreover, quantitative real-time PCR analysis revealed that liquiritin significantly up-regulated the expression of different defense-related genes upon pathogen inoculation, indicating an induction of the salicylic acid-mediated defense system. Collectively, the findings of this study indicate that liquiritin can effectively control CMV in cabbage plants.This study was supported by funding from the Science and Technology Foundation of Guangdong Province (Project No: 2020B0202090002); Guangdong Agriculture Department of China (2020KJ122) and Science and Technology Foundation of China (Project No: QN2020013006).Peer reviewe