Smart Breeding for Climate Resilient Agriculture

Human society is at a turning point of its time as climate change is becoming more and more real and inevitable. From rising temperature, which undermines the food production, to melting glaciers, causing disastrous flooding and erosion, the global repercussions of climate change are unprecedented. Plant breeding has always played a pivotal role in human history by revolutionizing agriculture to feed the ever-growing population. It can rescue humankind from imminent threats to agriculture posed by weather fluctuations, rapidly evolving pests and limiting resources. Unlocking the repository of genetic diversity and extensive utilization of wild germplasm invariably is imperative to every crop improvement program. But recent advancements in genomics, high throughput phenomics, sequencing and breeding methodologies along with state-of-the-art genome-editing tools in integration with artificial intelligence open up new doors for accelerated climate-resilient crop improvement. Therefore, holistic smart breeding approaches can be promising way out to tackle climate change and develop better-adapted crop varieties

Pattern of anti-diabetic drugs prescribed for type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in a tertiary care hospital of India: an observational study

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a leading cause of significant morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Evaluation of anti-diabetic drug use pattern guides the healthcare professionals to identify early signals of irrational prescribing and to plan interventions to optimize the benefits of pharmacotherapy.Methods: Observational descriptive study was conducted on 500 prescriptions of T2DM patients collected from Outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital. Prescriptions were analysed for type, number, generic/brand names, fixed dose combinations (FDCs) of anti-diabetic drugs and anti-diabetic drugs prescribed from within National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) 2015.Results: Average number of anti-diabetic drugs per prescription was 2.5. Of these 49% were from within NLEM and only 39% were prescribed by their generic names. Among all the anti-diabetic groups of drugs used, biguanide (32.85%) was the most frequently prescribed followed by insulins (25.4%) and DPP-4 inhibitors (13.75%). Combined drug therapy was more prevalent than monotherapy (70% versus 30%). Metformin+sitagliptin and metformin+linagliptin were most commonly prescribed fixed dose combinations.Conclusions: Recent trend of anti-diabetic drug use included newer anti-diabetic drugs in combination with metformin to achieve better euglycemia and to minimize complications of T2DM

Effect of osmo air drying method on nutritional quality of peach (Prunus persica (l) batsch.) cultivars during storage

The present investigation was carried out with the objective to develop value added products and to assess the quality parameters of osmo air dried peach slices. The peach slices were dried by osmo air drying method. Dehydrated peach (Prunus persica (L) Batsch.) slices prepared were stored under ambient conditions in polythenepacks and subjected to physico-chemical analysis at 45 days interval for a period of 135 days. The highest total sugars were observed in Flordasun 58.28 % and reducing sugars (39.35 %) in Shan-e-Punjab. The maximum acidity (1.84 %) in Shan-e-Punjab, ash content (4.43 %) in Early Grand were recorded. The maximum ascorbic acid content of 11.94 mg/100g was found in Shan-e-Punjab. During storage, an increasing trend was observed in total sugars (54.27-56.76%) and reducing sugars (38.08-39.38%), whereas, acidity (1.85-1.74), ascorbic acid (11.75-9.81mg/100g) , and ash content showed decreasing trend. It is thus concluded that Early Grand, Flordasun and Shan-e-Punjab, cultivars of peach can be suitably used for preparation of dehydrated peach product using osmo air drying methods

Biosafety Aspects of Genetically Modified Crops

With the advancement in the field of agricultural biotechnology, many genetically modified crops like Bt- cotton, Bt- brinjal have been developed and commercialised to fulfil the need of the world population. Several biosafety concerns viz., risk to human health, risk to environment, ecological concern o has been raised after the rapid commercialization of GM crops every year across the world. As per Convention on biodiversity (CBD), Biosafety is a term used to describe efforts to reduce and eliminate the potential risk resulting from biotechnology and its product. Though many concerns being raised time to time, strict biosafety guideline must be followed before introducing a GM crop in public domain especially in resource poor developing countries

Rola jedwabnictwa w wypełnianiu Celów zrównoważonego rozwoju

The present study attempted to scenario analysis study of sericulture resource which would cover its significance and provide the entire gamut of mulberry silk in order to create appropriate planning and thereby playing a significant role in enhancing GDP of silk dominant regions of the economy. This review study analyses our present knowledge of the current scenario of sericulture sustainability, potential, growth and silk crafts of a silk producing regions with the aim of supporting the regions’ sustainable growth and development. It conducts bibliometric analysis of highly cited scientific research publications on sericulture sustainability using the Scopus and web of science databases. We investigate sericulture’s contribution in accomplishing UN Sustainable Development Goals, and we claim that a better knowledge of sericulture’s contribution to sustainable development is critical for assuring inclusive sustainable regional development.W niniejszym opracowaniu podjęto próbę analizy scenariuszowej zasobów serikultury, która obejmowałaby jej znaczenie i zapewniła całą gamę jedwabiu morwowego w celu stworzenia odpowiedniego planowania, a tym samym odegrania znaczącej roli w zwiększaniu PKB regionów gospodarki opartych na produkcji jedwabiu. Niniejsze badanie przeglądowe analizuje naszą obecną wiedzę na temat obecnego scenariusza zrównoważonego rozwoju hodowli jedwabiu, potencjału, wzrostu i rzemiosła jedwabniczego w regionach produkujących jedwab w celu wspierania zrównoważonego wzrostu i rozwoju regionów. Prowadzi analizę bibliometryczną często cytowanych publikacji naukowych na temat zrównoważonego rozwoju hodowli serów przy użyciu baz danych Scopus i sieci naukowej. Badamy wkład serihodowli w osiąganie celów zrównoważonego rozwoju ONZ i twierdzimy, że lepsza wiedza na temat wkładu tej hodowli w zrównoważony rozwój ma kluczowe znaczenie dla zapewnienia zrównoważonego rozwoju regionalnego sprzyjającego włączeniu społecznemu

Big Data Analytics over Encrypted Datasets with Seabed

Today, enterprises collect large amounts of data and leverage the cloud to perform analytics over this data. Since the data is often sensitive, enterprises would prefer to keep it confidential and to hide it even from the cloud operator. Systems such as CryptDB and Monomi can accomplish this by operating mostly on encrypted data; however, these systems rely on expensive cryptographic techniques that limit performance in true “big data” scenarios that involve terabytes of data or more. This paper presents Seabed, a system that enables efficient analytics over large encrypted datasets. In contrast to previous systems, which rely on asymmetric encryption schemes, Seabed uses a novel, additively symmetric homomorphic encryption scheme (ASHE) to perform large-scale aggregations efficiently. Additionally, Seabed introduces a novel randomized encryption scheme called Splayed ASHE, or SPLASHE, that can, in certain cases, prevent frequency attacks based on auxiliary data

Breeding Wheat for Biotic Stress Resistance: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects

Wheat (T. aestivum) is one of the key food grain crops and is a prominent source of calories and proteins globally. In addition to mushrooming population and rising abiotic stresses in this ongoing climate change era, biotic stresses pose a great threat to wheat production over the globe. Fungal diseases such as rusts, mildew, along with pests like aphid, hinder the potential yield performance of the elite wheat cultivars to a huge extent. The complex nature of plant-parasite interactions is shown to be the decisive factor for the ultimate resistance expression in wheat. However, the advancement of molecular genetics and biotechnology enabled the replacement of the tedious, time and resource consuming cytogenetic analyses of locating APR and ASR genes using molecular mapping techniques. Continuous efforts have been made to mine resistance genes from diverse genetic resources such as wild relatives for combating these diseases and pests, which are repositories of R genes. Additionally, they offer a promising source of genetic variation to be introgressed and exploited for imparting biotic stress tolerance in cultivated wheat. Though just a handful of R-genes are cloned and molecularly characterized in wheat so far, more than 350 resistance genes for various diseases have been identified and successfully introgressed into elite varieties around the globe. Modern genomics and phenomic approaches coupled with next-generation sequencing techniques have facilitated the fine-mapping as well as marker aided selection of resistance genes for biotic stress resistance wheat breeding

Influence of residue type and method of placement on dynamics of decomposition and nitrogen release in maize-wheat-mungbean cropping on permanent raised beds: a litterbag study

Decomposition influences carbon and nutrient cycling from crop residues. The nylon-mesh-bag technique was implied to study the decomposition and N-release dynamics from different crop residues under field conditions. The four types of residues were: maize (lower than 50% below the cob), wheat (lower than 25% of wheat stubbles), a whole mung bean residue, and a mixture of wheat + mung bean residue (1:1 ratio) put on the soil surface and in below the sub-surface. Decomposition and N release from both at-surface- and below-surface-placed residues were accurately described by a single-pool first-order exponential decay function as a function of thermal time (based on the accumulative daily mean temperature). The simple first-order exponential model met the criteria of goodness of fit. Throughout the decomposition cycle (one thermal year), the rate of decomposition as measured by a decrease in residue mass and the release of total N were statistically higher from the sub-surface compared to the surface-placed residue, irrespective of the residue type. At the end of the 150-day decomposition cycle, the release of total N was highest in mung bean (32.0 kg N ha−1), followed by maize (31.5 kg N ha−1) > wheat + mung bean (16.1 kg N ha−1), and the minimum (6.54 kg N ha−1) in wheat residue. Crop residues with a wider C/N ratio such as maize and wheat, when applied on the soil surface in conservation agriculture, caused the decomposition to occur at slower rates, thereby providing long-term beneficial effects on the soil thermal regime, soil moisture conservation, and C sequestration in North-West India

Differentially expressed seed aging responsive heat shock protein OsHSP18.2 implicates in seed vigor, longevity and improves germination and seedling establishment under abiotic stress

Small heat shock proteins (sHSP) are a diverse group of proteins and are highly abundant in plant species. Although majority of these sHSPs were shown to express specifically in seed, their potential function in seed physiology remains to be fully explored. Our proteomic analysis revealed that OsHSP18.2, a class II cytosolic HSP is an aging responsive protein as its abundance significantly increased after artificial aging in rice seeds. OsHSP18.2 transcript was found to markedly increase at the late maturation stage being highly abundant in dry seeds and sharply decreased after germination. Our biochemical study clearly demonstrated that OsHSP18.2 forms homooligomeric complex and is dodecameric in nature and functions as a molecular chaperon. OsHSP18.2 displayed chaperone activity as it was effective in preventing thermal inactivation of Citrate Synthase. Further, to analyze the function of this protein in seed physiology, seed specific Arabidopsis overexpression lines for OsHSP18.2 were generated. Our subsequent functional analysis clearly demonstrated that OsHSP18.2 has ability to improve seed vigor and longevity by reducing deleterious ROS accumulation in seeds. In addition, transformed Arabidopsis seeds displayed better performance in germination and cotyledon emergence under adverse conditions as well. Collectively, our work demonstrates that OsHSP18.2 is an aging responsive protein which functions as a molecular chaperon and possibly protect and stabilize the cellular proteins from irreversible damage particularly during maturation drying, desiccation and aging in seeds by restricting ROS accumulation and thereby improves seed vigor, longevity and seedling establishment

Online prediction of robot to human handover events using vibrations

One of the main issues for a robotic passer is to detect the onset of a handover, in order to avoid the object from being released when the human partner is not ready or if some impact occurs. This paper presents the methodology for a robotic passer, that is potentially able to estimate the interaction forces by the receiver on the object, thus to achieve fluent and safe handovers. The proposed system uses a vibrator that energizes the object and an accelerometer that monitors vibration propagation through the object during the handover. We focused on the machine-learning technique to classify between four states during object handover. A neural network was trained for these four states and tested online. In experimental trials an accuracy of 85.2% and 93.9% were obtained respectively for four classes and two classes of actions by a neural network classifier