Allelopathic potential of mustard crop residues on weed management and performance of transplant Aman rice

Crop allelopathy may be useful to minimize serious problems in the present agricultural production such as environmental pollution, unsafe production, human health concerns, depletion of crop diversity, soil sickness and reduction of crop productivity. In this phenomenon an experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh to evaluate the effect of crop residues of mustard on weed management and crop performance of T. aman rice. The experiment consisted of three cultivars of T. aman rice viz., BR11, BR23 and BRRI dhan49 and five different level of mustard crop residues such as no crop residues, mustard crop residues @ 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 t ha–1. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Five weed species belonging to three families infested the experimental plots. Weed population, weed dry weight and percent inhibition of weed were significantly influenced by mustard crop residues and cultivar. The maximum weed growth was noticed with the cultivar BR23 and the minimum was found in the cultivar BR11. The grain yield as well as the other yield contributing characters produced by BR11 was the highest among the studied varieties. The highest percent inhibition of 71.17, 69.19, 80.88, 70.48 and 86.97 was in Shama (Echinochlo acrusgalli), Panishapla (Nymphaea nouchali), Panichaise (Scirpus juncoides), Panikachu (Monochoria vaginalis) and Susnishak (Marsilea quadrifolia), respectively which was caused by the application of mustard crop residues @ 2 t ha–1. The highest loss of grain yield was obtained where no crop residues were incorporated. The highest numbers of tillers hill-1, numbers of grains panicle–1, 1000-grain weight, grain yield, straw yield were observed where mustard crop residues were incorporated @ 2.0 t ha–1. BR11 cultivar with all treatments produced the highest grain and straw yield among the treatment combination. The results of this study indicate that different amount of mustard crop residues showed potential activity to suppress weed growth

Soy protein–gum karaya conjugate: emulsifying activity and rheological behavior in aqueous system and oil in water emulsion

The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of mixing and conjugation of soy protein isolate (SPI) with gum karaya on the characteristics of the hybrid polymer (protein–gum) in both aqueous systems and oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions. It was hypothesized that the covalent linkage of gum karaya with SPI would improve the emulsifying activity and rheological properties of both polymers. Conjugation occurred under controlled conditions (i.e., 60 °C and 75 % relative humidity, 3 days). The conjugated hybrid polymer produced smaller droplet with better uniformity, higher viscosity and stronger emulsifying activity than native gum karaya, suggesting the conjugated polymer provided a bulkier secondary layer with more efficient coverage around oil droplets, thereby inducing stronger resistance against droplet aggregation and flocculation. Emulsions containing the native gum karaya produced the largest droplet size among all prepared emulsions (D 3,2 = 8.6 μm; D 4,3 = 22.4 μm); while the emulsion containing protein–gum conjugate (1:1 g/g) had the smallest droplet size (D 3,2 = 0.2 μm; D 4,3 = 0.7 μm) with lower polydispersity. The protein–gum conjugate (1:1 g/g) also showed the highest elastic and viscous modulus, the lowest polydispersity (span) and the highest emulsifying activity among all native, mixed and conjugated polymers. Therefore, the percentage of gum karaya used for production of O/W emulsion can be decreased by partially replacing it with the conjugated gum

Nitric Oxide Induces Cell Death by Regulating Anti-Apoptotic BCL-2 Family Members

Nitric oxide (NO) activates the intrinsic apoptotic pathway to induce cell death. However, the mechanism by which this pathway is activated in cells exposed to NO is not known. Here we report that BAX and BAK are activated by NO and that cytochrome c is released from the mitochondria. Cells deficient in Bax and Bak or Caspase-9 are completely protected from NO-induced cell death. The individual loss of the BH3-only proteins, Bim, Bid, Puma, Bad or Noxa, or Bid knockdown in Bim−/−/Puma−/− MEFs, does not prevent NO-induced cell death. Our data show that the anti-apoptotic protein MCL-1 undergoes ASK1-JNK1 mediated degradation upon exposure to NO, and that cells deficient in either Ask1 or Jnk1 are protected against NO-induced cell death. NO can inhibit the mitochondrial electron transport chain resulting in an increase in superoxide generation and peroxynitrite formation. However, scavengers of ROS or peroxynitrite do not prevent NO-induced cell death. Collectively, these data indicate that NO degrades MCL-1 through the ASK1-JNK1 axis to induce BAX/BAK-dependent cell death

Mapping inequalities in exclusive breastfeeding in low- and middle-income countries, 2000–2018

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF)-giving infants only breast-milk for the first 6 months of life-is a component of optimal breastfeeding practices effective in preventing child morbidity and mortality. EBF practices are known to vary by population and comparable subnational estimates of prevalence and progress across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are required for planning policy and interventions. Here we present a geospatial analysis of EBF prevalence estimates from 2000 to 2018 across 94 LMICs mapped to policy-relevant administrative units (for example, districts), quantify subnational inequalities and their changes over time, and estimate probabilities of meeting the World Health Organization's Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) of ≥70% EBF prevalence by 2030. While six LMICs are projected to meet the WHO GNT of ≥70% EBF prevalence at a national scale, only three are predicted to meet the target in all their district-level units by 2030.This work was primarily supported by grant no. OPP1132415 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Co-authors used by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (E.G.P. and R.R.3) provided feedback on initial maps and drafts of this manuscript. L.G.A. has received support from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brasil (CAPES), Código de Financiamento 001 and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (grant nos. 404710/2018-2 and 310797/2019-5). O.O.Adetokunboh acknowledges the National Research Foundation, Department of Science and Innovation and South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis. M.Ausloos, A.Pana and C.H. are partially supported by a grant from the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNDS-UEFISCDI, project no. PN-III-P4-ID-PCCF-2016-0084. P.C.B. would like to acknowledge the support of F. Alam and A. Hussain. T.W.B. was supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through the Alexander von Humboldt Professor award, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. K.Deribe is supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant no. 201900/Z/16/Z) as part of his international intermediate fellowship. C.H. and A.Pana are partially supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNDS-UEFISCDI, project no. PN-III-P2-2.1-SOL-2020-2-0351. B.Hwang is partially supported by China Medical University (CMU109-MF-63), Taichung, Taiwan. M.Khan acknowledges Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University for their support. A.M.K. acknowledges the other collaborators and the corresponding author. Y.K. was supported by the Research Management Centre, Xiamen University Malaysia (grant no. XMUMRF/2020-C6/ITM/0004). K.Krishan is supported by a DST PURSE grant and UGC Centre of Advanced Study (CAS II) awarded to the Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. M.Kumar would like to acknowledge FIC/NIH K43 TW010716-03. I.L. is a member of the Sistema Nacional de Investigación (SNI), which is supported by the Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SENACYT), Panamá. M.L. was supported by China Medical University, Taiwan (CMU109-N-22 and CMU109-MF-118). W.M. is currently a programme analyst in Population and Development at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Office in Peru, which does not necessarily endorses this study. D.E.N. acknowledges Cochrane South Africa, South African Medical Research Council. G.C.P. is supported by an NHMRC research fellowship. P.Rathi acknowledges support from Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India. Ramu Rawat acknowledges the support of the GBD Secretariat for supporting the reviewing and collaboration of this paper. B.R. acknowledges support from Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal. A.Ribeiro was supported by National Funds through FCT, under the programme of ‘Stimulus of Scientific Employment—Individual Support’ within the contract no. info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/CEEC IND 2018/CEECIND/02386/2018/CP1538/CT0001/PT. S.Sajadi acknowledges colleagues at Global Burden of Diseases and Local Burden of Disease. A.M.S. acknowledges the support from the Egyptian Fulbright Mission Program. F.S. was supported by the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (grant no. KQTD20190929172835662). A.Sheikh is supported by Health Data Research UK. B.K.S. acknowledges Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal for all the academic support. B.U. acknowledges support from Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal. C.S.W. is supported by the South African Medical Research Council. Y.Z. was supported by Science and Technology Research Project of Hubei Provincial Department of Education (grant no. Q20201104) and Outstanding Young and Middle-aged Technology Innovation Team Project of Hubei Provincial Department of Education (grant no. T2020003). The funders of the study had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. The corresponding author had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication. All maps presented in this study are generated by the authors and no permissions are required to publish them

Effect of age of seedlings at staggered planting and nitrogen rate on the growth and yield of transplant Aman rice

An experiment was conducted at the Agronomy Field Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during July to December 2015 to find out the effect of age of seedlings at staggered planting and nitrogen rate on the growth and yield of transplant Aman rice (cv. BRRI dhan46). The experiment comprised three ages of seedlings viz. 30, 45 and 60-day old and six nitrogen rate viz. 0, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120k kg N ha1. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The effect of age of seedlings and nitrogen rates and their interaction were significant on yield and yield contributing characters of transplant Aman rice. The highest plant height, total dry matter production hill1 and leaf area index were recorded in 30-day old seedlings with 80 kg N ha1. Grain yield gradually increased with the use of relatively younger seedlings and 30-day old seedlings produced the highest number of effective tillers hill1 (5.34), grains panicle1 (110.9), 1000-grain weight (24.60 g), grain yield (4.06 t ha1) and straw yield (5.17 t ha1). In case of nitrogen rate, 80 kg N ha1 produce the highest grains panicle1 (113.1), 1000-grain weight (25.39 g), grain yield (4.37 t ha1) and straw yield (5.59 t ha1). In interaction, 30-day old seedlings with 80 kg N ha1 produced the highest effective tillers hill1 (6.22), grains panicle1 (124.1), 1000-grain weight (26.91g), grain yield (4.71 t ha1) and straw yield (6.16 t ha1). Therefore, 30-day old seedlings with 80 kg N ha1 appeared as the promising technique to obtain the highest grain yield. It was also observed that under adverse situation delaying in transplanting may be continued up to 15 September with aged seedlings (60-day old) from the same source and application of nitrogen ranging from 100120 kg ha1 to obtain grain yield ranging from 3.84.0 t ha1