Processing of vanilla (Vanilla planifolia Andrews) beans - Influence of storing fresh beans, killing temperature and duration of killing on quality parameters

Experiments were conducted at Myladumpara (Kerala) to study the effect of storing freshvanilla (Vanilla planifolia) beans before killing, killing temperature and duration of killingand further curing on quality parameters. The study indicated that storing of fresh beans fora maximum of 3 days after harvest and before killing is advisable and the vanillin content ofsuch beans was the highest (2.51%) when compared to longer duration of storage. Killing ofbeans in hot water maintained at 65°C for 3 min or at 63°C for 5 min was on par. Immediatewrapping of killed beans with woollen cloth and storing in sweating box was the idealmethod for obtaining optimum weight and vanillin content of beans. A higher percentage ofbeans (71 to 84) became ready for conditioning within 15 days of slow drying by this method.Interactions of killing temperature and exposing beans either directly or the next day as wellas killing temperature and duration of killing were significant. &nbsp

Natural fruit set in Vanilla wightiana Lindl., an endangered species from Andhra Pradesh, India

Vanilla wightiana Lindt, described as an extremely endangered wild species, occurs in the Eastern Ghat forest ranges of East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh, India. &nbsp

Initiation of hairy roots from Canavalia sp. using Agrobacterium rhizogenes 15834 for the co-cultivation of Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Glomus microcarpum

Pratap Chandran, R. and Potty, V.P. (2011). Initiation of hairy roots from Canavalia sp. using Agrobacterium rhizogenes 15834 for the co-cultivation of Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Glomus microcarpum. Journal of Agricultural Technology 7(2): 235-245. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi have symbiotic relationship with plants and which mainly helps the plants for the uptake of phosphorus, other micro nutrients and are fundamental for soil fertility and plant nutrition. The obligate biotrophic nature of AM fungi makes it difficult to grow them in synthetic medium and this prevents large scale inoculum production. In the present investigation, we were successful in raising hairy roots from Canavalia sp. using Agrobacterium rhizogenes ATCC 15834 and successfully co-cultivated AM fungi Glomus microcarpum in hairy roots. The hairy root obtained was confirmed for the presence of rol B genes of Agrobacterium rhizogenes. Different stages of AM fungal colonization were also observed and 60 % of mycorrhizal colonization was observed on the 20 th day of co-cultivation in petri dish. Mycorrhized Canavalia hairy roots were tested for its potential to use as an mycorrhizal inoculum to infect Ipomoea batatas roots were tested and its showed 76% colonization

Induction of hairy roots through the mediation of four strains of <i>Agrobacterium rhizogenes</i> on five host plants

122-128 Induction of hairy roots by four strains of Agrobacterium rhizogenes- ATCC 15834, A4, WC and WR were studied in five plants, Ipomoea batatas, Solenostemon rotundifolius, Vigna vexillata, Pachyrrhizus erosus and Canavalia species. Among the five plants selected for transformation and induction of hairy roots, P. erosus was found resistant to all the four bacterial strains. Similarly, one strain, WR also failed to induce hairy roots in all the plants. However, all the strains exhibited good growth dominated by 15834 grown in YEB medium. Hairy roots were induced from the cotyledons, hypocotyls, stem cuttings and in vitro plants of I. batatas through the transformation of 15834 and A4 strains. S. rotundifolius and V. vexillata were susceptible to the strains of A4, 15834 and WC. Canavalia sp. was resistant to WR and WC strains, but was susceptible to A4 and 15834. It was for the first time that hairy roots were initiated from S. rotundifolius, V. vexillata and Canavalia sp. The variation observed in the time of induction of hairy roots (incubation period) by a single strain (15834) in different plant species, suggests that the plant has also a definite role in determining the incubation period. Among the four strains of A. rhizogenes, 15834 was found to be the most efficient in transformation and initiation of hairy roots, with the shortest minimum incubation period and dominant growth in YEB medium. A. rhizogenes is a well known plant pathogen, which produces “hairy root disease” in susceptible plants. On modified MS medium, cotyledon explants were superior to hypocotyls. The hairy roots transformed by A. rhizogenes strain 15834 on I. batatas, V. vexillata and Canavalia sp. were also morphologically different. </smarttagtype

Processed Foods for Defence Needs-R & D Efforts at CFTRI

The Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, working under the council of Scientific &amp; Industrial Research has developed a number of processes and techniques some of which are relevent to Defence needs. Items like spray dried egg powder and canned drinking water are already in use by the services while others may find application in future

Effect of three different boundary-layer parameterisations in a regional atmospheric model on the simulation of summer monsoon circulation

Bulk, first-order and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) closure schemes are used to parameterise the boundary-layer physics in a high resolution, limited area model. The model was used to simulate the summer monsoon circulations over India. The domain selected included the monsoon trough over northern India, a region of mesoscale convection. A monsoon depression was present at the time of the simulation. The results indicate that the TKE closure scheme combined with the Monin-Obukhov surface-layer similarity relation provided the best 48-hour simulation of the circulation and the rainfall associated with the monsoon depression

Recent developments in tropical cyclone analysis using observations and high resolution models

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