Proteomics and bamboo research

Bamboo, being one of the fastest growing plants needs only between 3 and 4 years to mature before they are ready for harvesting and utilization. This makes bamboo the best possible alternative to replace timber in the future. As a result, bamboo has been the focus of research in recent years. Currently, there is a growing demand for thicker walled and rapidly growing bamboo from the industry due to its mechanical strength, high durability and uninterrupted as well as sustainable supply. However, the information on the physical, mechanical and chemical properties for different bamboo species and age-groups is rather limited. In the current Omics era, ‘Proteomic Analysis’ has now become one of the basic technologies to obtain essential information of the biological systems. Proteomics is a powerful tool to study the global changes in protein synthesis in response to environmental stimuli as well as during development. At present, we are performing the proteomics studies on various commercially important known species of bamboo to understand the molecular mechanisms of rapid growth as well as thick wall lumen. This will help us to better understand the growth characteristics and physical properties of bamboo at molecular level by identifying the novel proteins associated with the production of thick wall and rapidly growing culms of bamboo. We believe that the present proteomics study shall provide a new dataset and the gene screening list, which will be a useful resource for future genetic as well as genomic studies for the development of high quality bamboo cultivars

Genetic modification of crop plants: issues and challenges

The growing area of genetically modified (GM) crops has significantly expanded since they were first commercialized in 1996. Currently 400 million acres of the fertile land worldwide are used to cultivate genetic engineering (GE) crops such as rice, corn, cotton, and soybeans. Genetically modified crops are increasingly gaining acceptance and their adoption has brought huge economic and environmental benefits. In the past 17 years, these achievements have been primarily supported by two simple traits of herbicide tolerant and insect resistant crops. Concurrently GM crops generated intense consumer debate in many parts of the world. The issues under debate include the costs and benefits of the GM crops and the inherent safety concerns. It is widely claimed, however, that biotechnology, particularly genetically engineered food offers dramatic promise for meeting some of the twenty-first century’s greatest challenges; as do all new technologies, it also poses certain apprehensions and risks, both known and unknown. The introduction of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) genes into the plants has raised issues related to its risk assessment and biosafety. The chapter presents an overview of the production of GM crops, their adequacy, detection strategies, biosafety issues, and potential impact on society. Furthermore, the future prospects of the GM crops are also highlighted

Development of volume function for final felling of Pinus brutia Ten in Kurdistan Iraq

Planning for forest management depends upon the forest dynamics, which includes integration of all forest disciplines and understanding of forest resource characteristics including its growth dynamics. The forest growth and yield modelling can provide valuable information about forestry which can be used to determine harvest levels or allowable cut, and to analyze alternative stand treatments. Growth and yield models are generally used to predict the temporal development of forest stands. Knowledge of Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) and total tree height is fundamental to both developing and applying many growth and yield models [1]. Among the several available approaches in the yield prediction methodology, the multilevel model approach, which is a statistical technique, found to be commonly used in many fields of study for generating improvements in parameter estimation .A volume estimation of a forest stand is a good example. Volume estimation in the form of volume function and volume table has been widely used for many different purposes in forestry for more that hundred years including forest plantations and an inventory for timber harvesting. In view of the importance of these functions in forestry, this study was conducted with the main aim to develop a volume function for Pinus brutia Ten, which is a very common forest tree species planted in northern Iraq. The least squares method was used to fit eight unweighted volume equations including two logarithmic transformed equations and seven weighted forms of volume equations to volume data of a 25-30 years old Pinus brutia Ten plantation. The best fit equation was done using Furnival’s index

Sulfur nutrition of oil palm for enhancing oil yield in tropics

Globally, the demand for vegetable oil is increasing due to tremendous growth in the world population. Among vegetable oils, palm oil contributes a major share (33 %) in annual consumption of vegetable oil around the world. The yield of palm oil has witnessed an unprecedented increase in the last few decades, mainly due to the increase in area under oil palm plantation. However, the prospects for increasing palm oil yield due to the increase in area under oil palm cultivation are very bleak as possible areas have already been brought under oil palm plantation. Moreover, palm oil yield per unit area has been stagnant over the last decade. Mainly, oil palm is grown in Oxisols and Ultisols which are highly weathered soils having inherently low fertility status. Soil fertility management is therefore prerequisite to realizing the maximum yield potential of oil palm in such low fertility soils. Sulfur is an essential macronutrient that has a very crucial role in oil biosynthesis in oil seed crops. Sulfur is generally deficient in Oxisols and Ultisols and thus needs proper consideration for enhancing the oil yield of oil palm. But sulfur is least considered in soil fertility and nutrient management programs of oil palm plantations. We have reviewed the literature to highlight the role of sulfur in the biosynthesis of oil in oil seed crops in general and oil palm in particular and have suggested some suitable measures for sulfur management of oil palm plantations for enhancing oil yield in highly weathered soils of Oxisols and Ultisols

Enhanced production of withaferin-A in shoot cultures of Withania somnifera (L) Dunal

Withania somnifera (L) Dunal, commonly known as ashwagandha or Indian ginseng, is the source of large number of pharmacologically active withanolides. Withaferin-A (WS-3), a major withanolide of W. somnifera, has been proven to be an effective anti-cancer molecule. In this study, a liquid culture system for shoot proliferation, biomass accumulation and withaferin-A production of an elite accession (AGB002) of W. somnifera was investigated. The nodal explants cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) semi-solid medium supplemented with various concentrations of 6-benzyl adenine (BA) and Kinetin (Kn) elicited varied responses. The highest number of regenerated shoots per ex-plant (35 ± 3.25) and the maximum average shoot length (5.0 ± 0.25 cm) were recorded on MS medium supplemented with BA (5.0 μM). The shoots were further proliferated in half and full strength MS liquid medium supplemented with the same concentration BA. It was interesting to note that shoots cultured on MS half strength liquid medium fortified with 4 gL-1 FW (fresh weight) shoot inoculum mass derived from 5 week old nodal explants of W. somnifera showed highest accumulation of biomass and withaferin A content in 5 weeks. Withaferin A was produced in relatively high amounts (1.30 % and 1.10 % DW) in shoots cultured in half and full strength MS liquid media respectively as compared to natural field grown plants (0.85 % DW). A considerable amount of the withaferin A was also excreted in the culture medium. Successful proliferation of shoots in liquid medium and the synthesis of withaferin A in vitro opens new avenues for bioreactor scale-up and the large-scale production of the compound

Nitrate and nitrogen oxides: sources, health effects and their remediation

Increased use of nitrogenous (N) fertilizers in agriculture has significantly altered the global N-cycle because they release nitrogenous gases of environmental concerns. The emission of nitrous oxide (N2O) contributes to the global greenhouse gas accumulation and the stratospheric ozone depletion. In addition, it causes nitrate leaching problem deteriorating ground water quality. The nitrate toxicity has been reported in a number of studies showing the health hazards like methemoglobinemia in infants and is a potent cause of cancer. Despite these evident negative environmental as well as health impacts, consumption of N fertilizer cannot be reduced in view of the food security for the teeming growing world population. Various agronomic and genetic modifications have been practiced to tackle this problem. Some agronomic techniques adopted include split application of N, use of slow-release fertilizers, nitrification inhibitors and encouraging the use of organic manure over chemical fertilizers. As a matter of fact, the use of chemical means to remediate nitrate from the environment is very difficult and costly. Particularly, removal of nitrate from water is difficult task because it is chemically non-reactive in dilute aqueous solutions. Hence, the use of biological means for nitrate remediation offers a promising strategy to minimize the ill effects of nitrates and nitrites. One of the important goals to reduce N-fertilizer application can be effectively achieved by choosing N-efficient genotypes. This will ensure the optimum uptake of applied N in a balanced manner and exploring the molecular mechanisms for their uptake as well as metabolism in assimilatory pathways. The objectives of this paper are to evaluate the interrelations which exist in the terrestrial ecosystems between the plant type and characteristics of nutrient uptake and analyze the global consumption and demand for fertilizer nitrogen in relation to cereal production, evaluate the various methods used to determine nitrogen use efficincy (NUE), determine NUE for the major cereals grown across large agroclimatic regions, determine the key factors that control NUE, and finally analyze various strategies available to improve the use efficiency of fertilizer nitrogen

Ecology of the coastal heath forest flora - a case study from Terengganu, Malaysia

This study was conducted to determine the floral diversity and biomass in a coastal heath forest at Rantau Abang, Terengganu, Malaysia. The plot included contiguously arranged 100 subplots (10 m x 10 m). Results showed that 959 trees of 63 species belonging to 52 genera and 30 families are distributed in this coastal forest. Myrtaceae is the largest family (163 trees) followed by Annonaceae (160 trees) and Lecythidaceae (100 trees). Euphorbiaceae is the most diverse family containing 6 genera and 6 species. Syzygium claviflorum var. claviflorum (15.5%) was the dominant species followed by Polyalthia hypogaea (12.7%) and Barringtonia macrostachya (10.4%). Dipterocarpaceae has a small stocking as compared to the non-dipterocarp families in this forest. This family comprised about 9% of tree density and 6% of tree species diversity. The dominant species from Dipterocarpaceae is Shorea materialis. The total biomass in the forest lies around 249 ton/ha. The largest contribution to the biomass comes from Dipterocarpaceae with 86 ton/ha (34.5%) followed by Myrtaceae 75.3 ton/ha (30.2%). The biomass contribution of Shorea materialis is78.8 ton/ha, followed by Syzygium claviflorum 67.8 ton/ha. The biomass of Champereia griffithii is 0.006 ton/ha

Comparison of low-molecular-weight organic acids and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid to enhance phytoextraction of heavy metals by maize

We compared acetic, ascorbic, and oxalic acids with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) to enhance phytoextraction of nickel (Ni), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) by maize. Except ascorbic acid, acids significantly (P < 0.05) decreased shoot dry weight with maximum (5.60 g pot-1) recorded with ascorbic acid and minimum with oxalic acid (4.06 g pot-1). Maximum ammonium bicarbonate-diethylenetriaminepenta acetic acid (AB-DTPA)-extractable nickel (19.94 mg kg-1) was recorded with EDTA and it was minimum (10.57 mg kg-1) with oxalic acid. The EDTA significantly (P < 0.05) increased AB-DTPA-extractable lead while other acids decreased it. Except acetic acid, other acids significantly (P < 0.05) increased Ni and Zn concentration in shoots with maximum Ni (9.22 mg kg-1) and Zn (37.40 mg kg-1) with EDTA

Composition and diversity of plants in Sibuti Mangrove Forest, Sarawak, Malaysia

Sarawak is endowed with numerous pristine and estuarine mangroves. However, information pertaining to the species composition and diversity of pristine mangroves of Sarawak is scanty. Hence, this study was carried out to assess the plant composition and diversity of Sibuti mangrove forest, Miri, Sarawak to investigate the current status and diversity of vegetation. Nine mangrove plant species were recorded employing the line transect (100–240 m) survey method. Major mangrove species were Rhizophora apiculata, Xylocarpus granatum, and Nypa fruticans. The stand density was recorded as 1938.46 ± 482.24 trees ha−1, 1722.22 ± 254.58 saplings ha−1, and 6222.22 ± 384.90 seedlings ha−1. The mean diameter, height, and basal area for the whole forest stand were 20.83 ± 13.79 cm, 13.53 ± 5.55 m, and 201.83 ± 12.68 m2 ha−1, respectively. The mean diameter of the dominant species R. apiculata was 24.10 ± 13.90 cm, height 15.18 ± 5.09 m, and basal area 176.13 ± 12.73 m2 ha−1. The importance value index (IVI) of R. apiculata was 202.24 followed by 63.85 for X. granatum. Shannon diversity indices (H′), Margalef richness (D), and Peilou evenness (J′) of the forest stand were 1.18, 1.41, and 0.54, respectively. Similarity of species composition showed two major clusters for the whole forest stand. The findings of this study suggest that Sibuti mangrove forest stand is undisturbed and healthy. This forest could be managed and conserved for multi-sectoral uses such as ecotourism, biodiversity, research, and education rather than solely as a wildlife sanctuary

RAPD markers associated with salt tolerance in soybean genotypes under salt stress

In order to investigate the influence of genetic background on salt tolerance in soybean (Glycine max), ten soybean genotypes (Pusa-20, Pusa-40, Pusa-37, Pusa-16, Pusa-24, Pusa-22, BRAGG, PK-416, PK-1042, and DS-9712) released in India, were selected and grown hydroponically. The 10-day-old seedlings were subjected to 0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, and 150 mM NaCl for 15 days. Plant growth, leaf osmotic adjustment, and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis were studied. In comparison to control plants, the plant growth in all genotypes was decreased by salt stress, respectively. Salt stress decreased leaf osmotic potential in all genotypes; however, the maximum reduction was observed in genotype Pusa-24 followed by PK-416 and Pusa-20, while minimum reduction was shown by genotype Pusa-37, followed by BRAGG and PK-1042. Pusa-16, Pusa-22, Pusa-40, and DS-9712 were able to tolerate NaCl treatment up to the level of 75 Mm. The difference in osmotic adjustment between all the genotypes was correlated with the concentrations of ion examined such as Na+ and the leaf proline concentration. These results suggest that the genotypic variation for salt tolerance can be partially accounted by plant physiological measures. Twenty RAPD primers revealed high polymorphism and genetic variation among ten soybean genotypes studied. The closer varieties in the cluster behaved similarly in their response to salinity tolerance. Intra-clustering within the two clusters precisely grouped the ten genotypes in sub-cluster as expected from their physiological findings. Our study shows that RAPD technique is a sensitive, precise, and efficient tool for genomic analysis in soybean genotypes