Industrial Hemp Forage Potential

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) has been a valuable species for humans throughout history due to its adaptability and diverse uses. Farmers are interested in hemp as a forage and feedstuff due to its unique nutritional properties and fast summer production. Moreover, the presence of cannabinoids in leaf and bud tissues may provide pharmacological benefits to animal health, productivity, and product quality under different regulatory frameworks. This study examined two hemp cultivars, Grandi and Joey, solely as forage crops, and samples were taken at different growth stages in Blacksburg, VA, USA, in 2021. The highest biomass production of 1.41 tons per acre for Grandi and Joey was recorded two months after establishment. The samples taken at different growth stages of Grandi and Joey contained 20 to 31% CP, 24 to 44% NDF, 22 to 38% ADF, and 4 to 9% lignin. These preliminary results suggest that hemp has the potential to be used as a forage crop. However, more research is needed to address hemp management, including field establishment and production management, harvest timing for optimum tonnage and forage quality, and animal intake and performance studies

The Creation of Defects with Core Condensation

Defects in superfluid 3He, high-Tc superconductors, QCD colour superfluids and cosmic vortons can possess (anti)ferromagnetic cores, and their generalisations. In each case there is a second order parameter whose value is zero in the bulk which does not vanish in the core. We examine the production of defects in the simplest 1+1 dimensional scalar theory in which a second order parameter can take non-zero values in a defect core. We study in detail the effects of core condensation on the defect production mechanism.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, small corrections, 2 references added, final version to be published in PR

Environmental, developmental, and genetic factors controlling root system architecture

A better understanding of the development and architecture of roots is essential to develop strategies to increase crop yield and optimize agricultural land use. Roots control nutrient and water uptake, provide anchoring and mechanical support and can serve as important storage organs. Root growth and development is under tight genetic control and modulated by developmental cues including plant hormones and the environment. This review focuses on root architecture and its diversity and the role of environment, nutrient, and water as well as plant hormones and their interactions in shaping root architecture

Dietary carotenoid availability, sexual signalling and functional fertility in sticklebacks

In species where males express carotenoid-based sexual signals, more intensely coloured males may be signalling their enhanced ability to combat oxidative stress. This may include mitigating deleterious oxidative damage to their sperm, and so be directly related to their functional fertility. Using a split-clutch in vitro fertilization technique and dietary carotenoid manipulation, we demonstrate that in non-competitive fertilization assays, male three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) that are fed higher (but biologically relevant) levels of carotenoids had a significantly increased fertilization success, irrespective of maternal carotenoid intake. Furthermore, within diet groups, a male's fertilization success was positively related to the expression of his carotenoid-based nuptial coloration, with more intensely coloured males having higher functional fertility. These data provide, to our knowledge, the first demonstration that dietary access to carotenoids influences fertilization success, and suggest that females could use a male's nuptial coloration as an indicator of his functional fertility

HI aperture synthesis and optical observations of the pair of galaxies NGC 6907 and 6908

NGC 6908, a S0 galaxy situated in direction of NGC 6907, was only recently recognized as a distinct galaxy, instead of only a part of NGC 6907. We present 21 cm radio synthesis observations obtained with the GMRT and optical images and spectroscopy obtained with the Gemini North telescope of this pair of interacting galaxies. From the radio observations we obtained the velocity field and the HI column density map of the whole region containing the NGC 6907/8 pair, and by means of the Gemini multi-object spectroscopy we obtained high quality photometric images and $5 {\AA}$ resolution spectra sampling the two galaxies. By comparing the rotation curve of NGC 6907 obtained from the two opposite sides around the main kinematic axis, we were able to distinguish the normal rotational velocity field from the velocity components produced by the interaction between the two galaxies. Taking into account the rotational velocity of NGC 6907 and the velocity derived from the absorption lines for NGC 6908, we verified that the relative velocity between these systems is lower than 60 km s$^{-1}$. The emission lines observed in the direction of NGC 6908, not typical of S0 galaxies, have the same velocity expected for the NGC 6907 rotation curve. Some of them, superimposed on the absorption profiles, which reinforces the idea that they were not formed in NGC 6908. Finally, the HI profile exhibits details of the interaction, showing three components: one for NGC 6908, another for the excited gas in the NGC 6907 disk and a last one for the gas with higher relative velocities left behind NGC 6908 by dynamical friction, used to estimate the time when the interaction started in $(3.4 \pm 0.6)\times10^7$ years ago.Comment: 11 pages, 5 tables, 13 figures. Corrected typos. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. The definitive version will be available at http://www.blackwell-synergy.co

Automorphisms of graphs of cyclic splittings of free groups

We prove that any isometry of the graph of cyclic splittings of a finitely generated free group $F_N$ of rank $N\ge 3$ is induced by an outer automorphism of $F_N$. The same statement also applies to the graphs of maximally-cyclic splittings, and of very small splittings.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures. Small modifications. To appear in Geometriae Dedicat

SU(6), Triquark states, and the pentaquark

The purported observation of a state $\Theta^+$ with strangeness S = +1 led to its quark model interpretation in terms of a pentaquark combination involving a triquark-diquark structure -- the Karliner-Lipkin model. In this work, the proper colour-spin symmetry properties for the $q q \bar{q}$ triquark are elucidated by calculating the SU(6) unitary scalar factors and Racah coefficients. Using these results, the colour-spin hyperfine interactions, including flavour symmetry breaking therein, become straight-forward to incorporate and the pentaquark masses are readily obtained. We examine the effect on the pentaquark mass of (a) deviations from the flavour symmetric limit and (b) different strengths of the doublet and triplet hyperfine interactions. Reference values of these parameters yield a $\Theta^+$ mass prediction of 1601 MeV but it can comfortably accommodate 1540 MeV for alternate choices. In the same framework, other pentaquark states $\Xi$ (S=--2) and $\Theta^c$ (with charm C=--1) are expected at 1783 MeV and 2757 MeV, respectively.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure. accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Phosphite treatment can improve root biomass and nutrition use efficiency in wheat

Phosphite represents a reduced form of phosphate that belongs to a class of crop growth-promoting chemicals termed biostimulants. Previous research has shown that phosphite application can enhance root growth, but its underlying mechanism, especially during environmental stresses, remains elusive. To uncover this, we undertook a series of morphological and physiological analyses under nutrient, water and heat stresses following a foliar application in wheat. Non-invasive 3D imaging of root system architecture directly in soil using X-ray Computed Tomography revealed that phosphite treatment improves root architectural traits and increased root biomass. Biochemical and physiological assays identified that phosphite treatment significantly increases Nitrate Reductase (NR) activity, leaf photosynthesis and stomatal conductance, suggesting improved Nitrogen and Carbon assimilation, respectively. These differences were more pronounced under heat or drought treatment (photosynthesis and photosystem II stability) and nutrient deficiency (root traits and NR). Overall our results suggest that phosphite treatment improves the ability of plants to tolerate abiotic stresses through improved Nitrogen and Carbon assimilation, combined with improved root growth which may improve biomass and yield

GMRT Detection of HI 21 cm-line Absorption from the Peculiar Galaxy in Abell 2125

Using the recently completed Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope, we have detected the HI 21 cm-line absorption from the peculiar galaxy C153 in the galaxy cluster Abell 2125. The HI absorption is at a redshift of 0.2533, with a peak optical depth of 0.36. The full width at half minimum of the absorption line is 100 km/s. The estimated column density of atomic Hydrogen is 0.7e22(Ts/100K) per sq. cm. The HI absorption is redshifted by ~ 400 km/s compared to the [OIII] emission line from this system. We attribute this to an in-falling cold gas, or to an out-flowing ionised gas, or to a combination of both as a consequence of tidal interactions of C153 with either a cluster galaxy or the cluster potential.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, uses jaa.sty (included

GMRT detection of HI 21 cm associated absorption towards the z=1.2 red quasar 3C 190

We report the GMRT detection of associated HI 21 cm-line absorption in the z=1.1946 red quasar 3C 190. Most of the absorption is blue-shifted with respect to the systemic redshift. The absorption, at $\sim$ 647.7 MHz, is broad and complex, spanning a velocity width of $\sim$ 600 \kms. Since the core is self-absorbed at this frequency, the absorption is most likely towards the hotspots. Comparison of the radio and deep optical images reveal linear filaments in the optical which overlap with the brighter radio jet towards the south-west. We therefore suggest that most of the HI 21 cm-line absorption could be occurring in the atomic gas shocked by the south-west jet.Comment: 8 pages, 1 fugure. To appear in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronom