Effect of edible dyes on value addition and post-harvest life of tuberose spikes

Tuberose is one of the most imperative bulbous crops with white fragrant florets, used for loose as well as cut flowers. All the commercial varieties have white colour flower only which is limiting factor in its popularity and marketing. By using edible dyes this issue may be solved for getting higher price in market as well as consumers satisfaction. An investigation was carried out to study the effect of food dyes on value addition and post harvest life of cut spikes of tuberose cv. Local Double in completely randomized design with factorial concept consisting thirty-six treatment combinations and one absolute control. Different treatments of food dyes and immersion time considerably induced colour in tuberose spikes without affecting postharvest life. The results revealed that 4% lemon yellow food dye with one hour immersion of tuberose cut spikes was found best in improving vase life (6.02 days), floret diameter (3.29 cm), opening of florets (49.66%) and visual appearance with minimum physiological loss in weight (16.91 % and 34.04 % at second and fourth day, respectively). Tinted tuberose cut spikes aids higher net return than white flowers, which will benefit farmers in fetching good prices

Evaluation of performance and stability of new sources for tolerance to post-emergence herbicides in lentil (Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris Medik.)

Yield losses in lentil (Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris Medik.) caused by weeds are estimated at 20–80%. In the absence of effective broad-spectrum herbicides, the menace of weed has emerged as a serious yield constraint in lentil. Aims. Identification of tolerance to two broad-spectrum post emergence herbicides, imazethapyr and metribuzin. Methods. 221 lentil accessions were screened at the experimentalresearch station of the International Centerfor Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, Terbol (Lebanon) over four crop seasons (2014/15–2018/19). During the 2014/15 season, a preliminary screening experiment was conducted with 221 lentil accessions in an alpha lattice design with two replications, where accessions were treated at the pre-flowering stage at 150% of the recommended dose of imazethapyr (112.5 g active ingredient/ha) or metribuzin (315 g active ingredient/ha). Based on the preliminary results, 38 accessions were selected for further evaluation. In subsequent testing, the selected accessions were screened at 100% and 150% of the recommended doses of imazethapyr or metribuzin. Key results. Herbicide treatments delayed the flowering time and maturation of tested lentil accessions. The plant height of selected tolerant accessions was reduced by 15% and 8% in the plots treated by imazethapyr and metribuzin, respectively. Reduction index (RIsy) was an effective tool to select for herbicide tolerance. Stability analysis indicated that two accessions (IG4400 and IG5722) performed under high rainfall environments while two other accessions (IG323 and IG4605) were adapted to low rainfall environments. Conclusions. Four accessions (IG323, IG5722, IG4400, IG4605) were identified as independently tolerant to metribuzin and imazethapyr. Implications. The identified herbicide-tolerant accessions can be used to develop herbicide-tolerant cultivars

First season MWA EoR power spectrum results at redshift 7

The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) has collected hundreds of hours of Epoch of Reionization (EoR) data and now faces the challenge of overcoming foreground and systematic contamination to reduce the data to a cosmological measurement. We introduce several novel analysis techniques, such as cable reflection calibration, hyper-resolution gridding kernels, diffuse foreground model subtraction, and quality control methods. Each change to the analysis pipeline is tested against a two-dimensional power spectrum figure of merit to demonstrate improvement. We incorporate the new techniques into a deep integration of 32 hours of MWA data. This data set is used to place a systematic-limited upper limit on the cosmological power spectrum of ∆2 ≤ 2.7×104 mK2 at k =0.27 h Mpc-1 and z = 7.1, consistent with other published limits, and a modest improvement (factor of 1.4) over previous MWA results. From this deep analysis, we have identified a list of improvements to be made to our EoR data analysis strategies. These improvements will be implemented in the future and detailed in upcoming publications

High T-g fluoranthene-based electron transport materials for organic light-emitting diodes

In this study, fluoranthene-based derivatives with a high thermal stability were synthesized for applications in organic electroluminescent devices. The two derivatives synthesized in this study, bis(4-(7,9,10-triphenylfluoranthen-8-yl)phenyl)sulfane (TPFDPS) and 2,8-bis(7,9,10-triphenylfluoranthen-8-yl)dibenzob,d]thiophene (TPFDBT), were characterized by cyclic voltammetry, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). TPFDPS exhibits a high T-g of 210 degrees C while TPFDBT is crystalline in nature. Both the derivatives are thermally stable up to 500 degrees C. The charge transport studies reveal predominant electron transport properties. Subsequently, we fabricated blue OLEDs with 2-tert-butyl-9,10-bis-(beta-naphthyl)-anthracene (TBADN) as the emitting layer to demonstrate the applications of these molecules as an electron transporting layer

Fluoranthene derivatives as blue fluorescent materials for non-doped organic light-emitting diodes

In this study, we report synthesis of symmetrically and non-symmetrically functionalized fluoranthene-based blue fluorescent molecular materials for non-doped electroluminescent devices. The solid state structure of these fluorophores has been established by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Furthermore, a detailed experimental and theoretical study has been performed to understand the effect of substitution of symmetric and non-symmetric functional groups on optical, thermal and electrochemical properties of fluoranthene. These materials exhibit a deep blue emission and high PLQY in solution and solid state. The vacuum deposited, non-doped electroluminescent devices with the device structure ITO/NPD (15 nm)/CBP (15 nm)/EML (40 nm)/TPBI (30 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al were fabricated and characterized. A systematic shift in the peak position of EL emission was observed from sky blue to bluish-green with EL maxima from 477 nm to 490 nm due to different functional groups on the periphery of fluoranthene. In addition, a high luminance of >= 2000 cd m(-2) and encouraging external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 1.1-1.4% were achieved. A correlation of the molecular structure with device performance has been established

Femtogram Detection of Explosive Nitroaromatics: Fluoranthene-Based Fluorescent Chemosensors

Herein we report a novel fluoranthene-based fluorescent fluorophore 7,10-bis(4-bromophenyl)-8,9-bis4-(hexyloxy)phenyl]fluoranthene (S-3) and its remarkable properties in applications of explosive detection. The sensitivity towards the detection of nitroaromatics (NACs) was evaluated through fluorescence quenching in solution, vapor, and contact mode approaches. The contact mode approach using thin-layer silica chromatograp- hic plates exhibited a femtogram (1.15 fg cm(-2)) detection limit for trinitrotoluene (TNT) and picric acid (PA), whereas the solution-phase quenching showed PA detection at the 2-20 ppb level. Fluorescence lifetime measurements revealed that the quenching is static in nature and the quenching process is fully reversible. Binding energies between model binding sites of the S-3 and analyte compounds reveal that analyte molecules enter into the cavity created by substituted phenyl rings of fluoranthene and are stabilized by strong intermolecular interactions with alkyl chains. It is anticipated that the sensor S-3 could be a promising material for the construction of portable optical devices for the detection of onsite explosive nitroaromatics