Salinity effects on germination of forage sorghumes

Abstract: To investigate the effects of osmotic stress on forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) varieties at critical stage of seed germination, i.e., at which salinization is initiated. A study was conducted at the Seed Technology Laboratory at University of Putra Malaysia (UPM- lab.) from October to November 2007. Two forage sorghum varieties (Speedfeed and KFS4) were evaluated in the salinity levels of 0, 5, 10, 15 dS m-1. The experimental design was Completely Random Design (CRD), which was based on factorial with 3 replications. In the experiment, seeds were germinated in covered, sterilized, disposable Petri dishes. Three parameters, namely germination percentage, germination rate, germination index and coefficient velocity of germination were estimated. The results of this study showed that different levels of salinity had significantly affected the germination percentage, germination rate germination index. In addition, a significant difference (1%) was also found in the germination percentage between the two varieties. Meanwhile, the mean comparison of the treatments showed that the germination percentage in distilled water (S1) was the highest (92.5%) and salinity dS m-1 (S4) had the lowest germination percentage. The maximum germination rate (35.58) and germination index (391.67) were retrieved from EC 0 and with the increasing salinity, these parameters were decreased. The evaluation of the two varieties showed that KFS4 (V1) had a higher germination percentage (82.91%) than the speed feed (72.5%). Consequently, the seed germination of KFS4 was better than the speed feed (in salty water and non-stress conditions). In other words, salt stress had been found to delay germination of both varieties

Gait Recognition based on Inverse Fast Fourier Transform Gaussian and Enhancement Histogram Oriented of Gradient

Gait recognition using the energy image representation of the average silhouette image in one complete cycle becomes a baseline in model-free approaches research. Nevertheless, gait is sensitive to any changes. Up to date in the area of feature extraction, image feature representation method based on the spatial gradient is still lacking in efficiency especially for the covariate case like carrying bag and wearing a coat. Although the use of Histogram of orientation Gradient (HOG) in pedestrian detection is the most effective method, its accuracy is still considered low after testing on covariate dataset. Thus this research proposed a combination of frequency and spatial features based on Inverse Fast Fourier Transform and Histogram of Oriented Gradient (IFFTG-HoG) for gait recognition. It consists of three phases, namely image processing phase, feature extraction phase in the production of a new image representation and the classification. The first phase comprises image binarization process and energy image generation using gait average image in one cycle. In the second phase, the IFFTG-HoG method is used as a features gait extraction after generating energy image. Here, the IFFTG-HoG method has also been improved by using Chebyshev distance to calculate the magnitude of the gradient to increase the rate of recognition accuracy. Lastly, K-Nearest Neighbour (k=NN) classifier with K=1 is employed for individual classification in the third phase. A total of 124 people from CASIA B dataset were tested using the proposed IFTG-HoG method. It performed better in gait individual classification as the value of average accuracy for the standard dataset 96.7%, 93.1% and 99.6%compared to HoG method by 94.1%, 85.9% and 96.2% in order. With similar motivation, we tested on Rempit datasets to recognize motorcycle rider anomaly event and our proposed method also outperforms Dalal Method

Optimised reduction of surgical gloves pinholes using forward search method

This research investigates the factors that affect the existence of pinholes in surgical gloves during the manufacturing process. Since eight factors affect the existence of pinholes in surgical gloves, a two-level fractional factorial design 28-4 was used to study the main effects and the first-order interactions of the multiple variables. Multiple linear regressions are used to model the data. This paper also examines the presence of influential points in the data using the influential measures in linear regression such as Cook’s Distance, DFFITS, DFBETAS, Studentized Residual, Standardized Residual, Hadi’s measure, and the robust forward search. The impact of influential points is further assessed through deletion of potential influential points and model selection using adjusted R2, information criterion, and stepwise selection to see whether these influential points significantly improved the existing model

Effect of belimbing buluh (Averrhoa bilimbi) juice extract on oxidative stability and microbiological quality of spent chicken meat

This study evaluated the effects of Averrhoa bilimbi juice extract and storage temperature on lipid oxidation and microbial spoilage of spent chicken meat. Ten, 80 weeks old spent chickens were slaughtered, eviscerated and aged for 24 h at 4°C. Thereafter, the Pectoralis major muscles and right thighs were excised and marinated in either A. bilimbi juice extract, pure distilled water, or no marination (control) for either 4 or 9 h at room temperature or 9 or 24 h at 4°C. Lipid oxidation was monitored on the Pectoralis major muscles while the right thighs were assessed for Enterobacteriacea counts. Lipid oxidation was not significantly affected by the type or duration of marination. Marination showed a temperature dependent effect on Enterobacteriacea counts. At room temperature, samples that were marinated by distilled water showed significantly higher Enterobacteriacea counts than the control while those that were marinated with A. bilimbi juice extract showed no growth at both 4 and 9 h of marination. At chilled temperature, marination had no significant effects on the growth of Enterobacteriacea during the 9 or 24 h storage. These results indicated that A. bilimbi juice extract marinade has some antibacterial activities but works better when combined with refrigerated storage

Stable oxygen and deuterium isotope techniques to identify plant water sources

There is still very little information on the sources of water absorbed by oil palm plant. This information is very important for water management system in oil palm plantation. Thus, this study was carried out to determine current water sources absorbed by the oil palm roots using oxygen (δ18O) and deuterium isotopes (δD) techniques. Sketches of oxygen and deuterium isotope were total rainfall, throughfall, runoff, measurement at 5 soil depths (namely: 20 cm, 50 cm, 100 cm, 150 cm, and 200 cm), and oil palm stem. Results of this study showed huge variance in the values of oxygen and deuterium isotope. Based on Least Significant Difference (LSD) test, there was no significant value in the oxygen and deuterium isotope of stem water and others; however, a similar value was obtained at the depths of 0 - 20 cm and 20 - 50 cm with the stem water. This indicated that oil palm absorbed water from 0 - 50 cm depth. This result agreed with the oil palm rooting system, which has verified that the root quarter is the most active root of oil palm

Enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated kenaf using a recombinant xylanase: effects of reaction conditions for optimum hemicellulose hydrolysis

An efficient hemicellulose hydrolysis has now become a crucial step for xylooligosaccharides production for food additives and nutraceuticals industries. In this study, xylanase hydrolysis of pretreated hemicellulosic kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) for substantial hemicellulose hydrolysis was demonstrated. Experiments were performed primarily to investigate the effect of several critical reaction conditions towards the enzymatic hydrolysis of the pre-treated kenaf. The effects of various ranges of reaction conditions (substrate loading, xylanase loading, pH, temperature and time) were systematically and thoroughly studied. The study of hemicellulosic kenaf conversion using single enzyme was proven to effectively yield up to 59% of conversion after 48 h incubation using 3% (w/v) of substrate loading and 400 U of xylanase loading at 50°C in pH 4.0 buffer systems. The use of a single xylanase on the pre-treated kenaf was a key parameter in understanding the action of the main hemicellulose degrading enzyme towards hydrolysing the hemicellulose backbone of the pre-treated kenaf. Enzyme feeding strategy was also conducted and the results revealed that a batch feeding strategy of 400 U xylanase loading yielded the highest hemicellulose hydrolysis compared to the other fed batch enzyme feeding strategy. It was concluded that each reaction conditions and enzyme feeding strategy gave a significant impact towards the enzymatic hydrolysis and the use of optimum reaction conditions resulted in a high product yield at the end of the reaction. With the discovery of the importance of each reaction conditions involved in a hydrolysis, this study highlights the need for a comprehensive investigation on the reaction conditions using a mixture of enzymes towards achieving a complete hydrolysis with a higher product yield

Contribution of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria in phosphorus bioavailability and growth enhancement of aerobic rice

The phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) can solubilize insoluble forms of phosphorous (P) into simple soluble forms that can be taken up by plants. The main focus of this study was to determine the effect of PSB on P availability in presence of different P rates for improved and sustainable rice (Oryza sativa L.) production under aerobic conditions. Triple superphosphate (TSP) at three levels (0, 30 and 60 kg ha�1) and two isolated PSB (Bacillus sp.) strains (PSB9 and PSB16) were tested in glasshouse conditions. Surface sterilized seeds of aerobic rice (M9 variety) were planted in plastic pots containing 3 kg of soil for 60 days. PSB strains exhibited capability of producing organic acids from soil and plant roots and increased yield of aerobic rice. Significantly, high P solubilization (28.7 mg kg�1) and plant uptake (7.94 mg kg�1) was found in PSB16 inoculated treatments at 30 kg ha�1 of P2O5. In this treatment were also observed high leaf chlorophyll content (34.57), photosynthesis rate (7.59 µmol CO2 m�2 s�1) and root development. Isolated strains showed potential to make higher availability of P and increase content of organic acids from soil and roots at lower doses of TSP in aerobic rice. With the production of organic acids (oxalic, malic, succinic and propionic) higher amounts of P in the soil solution increased plant P uptake and resulted in higher plant biomass. The application of these potential inoculants in an appropriate combination with chemical fertilizers could be considered in organic and sustainable aerobic rice cultivation system

Immobilization of recombinant Escherichia coli on multi-walled carbon nanotubes for xylitol production

E. coli has been engineered to produce xylitol, but the production faces bottlenecks in terms of production yield and cell viability. In this study, recombinant E. coli (rE. coli) was immobilized on untreated and treated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) for xylitol production. The immobilized rE. coli on untreated MWCNTs gave the highest xylitol production (5.47 g L−1) and a productivity of 0.22 g L−1 h−1. The doubling time for the immobilized cells increased up to 20.40 h and was higher than that of free cells (3.67 h). Cell lysis of the immobilized cells was reduced by up to 73 %, and plasmid stability improved by up to 17 % compared to those of free cells. Xylitol production using the optimum parameters (pH 7.4, 0.005 mM and 29 °C) achieved a xylitol production and productivity of 6.33 g L−1 and 0.26 g L−1 h−1, respectively. A seven-cycle repeated batch fermentation was carried out for up to 168 h, which showed maximum xylitol production of 7.36 g L−1 during the third cycle. Hence, this new adsorption immobilization system using MWCNTs is an alternative to improve the production of xylitol

Simplified feeding strategies for the fed-batch cultivation of Kluyveromyces lactis GG799 for enhanced recombinant xylanase production

A xylanase gene (xyn2) from Trichoderma reesei ATCC 58350 was previously cloned and expressed in Kluyveromyces lactis GG799. The production of the recombinant xylanase was conducted in a developed medium with an optimised batch and with fed-batches that were processed with glucose. The glucose served as a carbon source for cell growth and as an inducer for xylanase production. In a 1-L batch system, a glucose concentration of 20 g L-1 and 80 % dissolved oxygen were found to provide the best conditions for the tested ranges. A xylanase activity of 75.53 U mL-1 was obtained. However, in the batch mode, glucose depletions reduced the synthesis of recombinant xylanase by K. lactis GG799. To maximise the production of xylanase, further optimisation was performed using exponential feeding. We investigated the effects of various nitrogen sources combined with the carbon to nitrogen (C/N) molar ratio on the production of xylanase. Of the various nitrogen sources, yeast extract was found to be the most useful for recombinant xylanase production. The highest xylanase production (110.13 U mL-1) was measured at a C/N ratio of 50.08. These conditions led to a 45.8 % increase in xylanase activity compared with the batch cultures. Interestingly, the further addition of 500 g L-1 glucose led to a 6.2-fold increase (465.07 U mL-1) in recombinant xylanase activity. These findings, together with those of the exponential feeding strategy, indicate that the composition of the C/N molar ratio has a substantial impact on recombinant protein production in K. lactis

Effects of copper and zinc application on the oil palm root morphology and epidermis cell size

The growth of oil palm is highly dependent on the availability of nutrients, supplied through fertilizers. This is especially true for peat soils where there is a lack of Zn and Cu due to the soil being deficient of mineral and clay content. The deficiency of Zn and Cu has been found to inhibit oil palm plant and root growth. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of different concentration of Zn and Cu chelates on the root development of oil palm roots cell walls. The oil palm seedlings were harvested after two different growing periods; the first harvest was conducted after three months of planting while the second harvest was after 6 months of planting. The harvested oil palm seedlings were measured for root length, root thickness and root surface area. The best root growth for the copper treatments was with concentrations of 8.00 mg Cu/palm. The cell epidermis size and cortex cells of the oil palm seedlings in this treatment was the smallest, meaning that it did not experience any Cu toxicity, while it had the longest root length, root surface area, root fresh weight and root dry weight. For the zinc treatments, the best root growth was at 5.00 mg/palm. This is because in this treatment, the oil palm seedlings achieved the highest root length, root surface area, root fresh weight and root dry weight. This means that the best concentration of Cu to promote root growth of oil palm seedlings is 8.00 mg Cu/palm while the best concentration of Zn was 5.00 mg Zn/palm. Further research needs to also be conducted using a combination of both Zn and Cu applications at the same time, to determine if the combined micronutrients had different effects on the oil palm seedlings roots growth