November 2010
Dietary cation anion difference: Impact on productive and reproductive performance in animal agriculture
Various nutritional tools have been used to improve the productive and reproductive performance of animals, among which difference between certain minerals, called dietary cation anion difference (DCAD) plays a pivotal role. Low or negative DCAD diets reduce blood pH and HCO3- and animal becomes acidotic. This improves Ca absorption from the intestinal tract. It also induces mobilization of Ca from bones...
November 2010
Aureobasidium pullulans, an economically important polymorphic yeast with special reference to pullulan
Aureobasidium pullulans, popularly known as black yeast, is one of the most widespread saprophyte fungus associated with wide range of terrestrial and aquatic habitats, in temperate and tropical environment. It is a polymorphic fungus that is able to grow in single yeast-like cells or as septate, polykaryotic hyphae showing synchronous conditions, with budding cells. This fungus has been exploited potentially...
November 2010
Characterization and cloning of TMV resistance gene N homologues from Nicotiana tabacum
Tobacco cultivars Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun NN plants carrying the N gene contain a multitude of N-related genes. We cloned a few N homologues andisolated two full-length cDNAs of NL-C26 and NL-B69 genes from N. tabacum cv. Samsun NN. Nucleotide sequence analysis showed that the coding regions of NL-C26 (3,498 bp)...
November 2010
Identification of the quantitative trait loci for grain rate in maize
Grain rate (GR) is a very important trait in maize (Zea mays L.) breeding program related to yield. To realize its genetic basis, a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population and different nitrogen (N) regimes were used to map the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for GR in maize. As a result, two QTLs were identified under high N regime and could explain a total of 14.84% of phenotypic variance. Due to...
November 2010
Occurrence of Bacillus thuringiensis in faeces of herbivorous farm animals
Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner), the insect pathogen has been isolated from a variety of habitat. It is understood that the habitat of B. thuringiensis has always been associated with their biological activity. In the present study, B. thuringiensiswas isolated from faeces of cows and goats. The phenotypic characterization revealed that the B. thuringiensis isolates are motile...
November 2010
Identification of the GDF9 mutation in two sheep breeds by using polymerase chain reaction- restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique
A genetic mutation with major effects on the litter size in sheep was recently identified in the growth differentiation factor (GDF9) gene of the TGF-B super family (transforming growth factor). GDF9 gene has been localized to chromosome 5 in sheep. In order to evaluate the GDF9 gene polymorphism, blood samples were collected randomly from 42 Kordi sheep and 44 Arabic sheep from Kordestan and...
November 2010
Heterologous expression of βC1 of Chili leaf curl virus in Pichia pastoris
countries including Pakistan. Chili leaf curl virus is a monopartite begomovirus having single stranded circular betasatellite. It has one open reading frame βC1, required for pathogenicity determined, symptom induction and viral accumulation. It produces viral symptoms like mosaic, mottling, leaf distortion, vein etching, yellowing, stunting and narrowing of leaves. This study was conducted on...
November 2010
Effects of temperature, light conditions and gibberellic acid on the in vitro germination of Protea cynaroides L. embryos
Poor and inconsistent germination of Protea cynaroides seeds are often observed in soil. A protocol based on embryo culture was developed for efficient in vitropropagation of P. cynaroides. The effects of temperature, light conditions and gibberellic acid (GA3) on the in vitro germination of P. cynaroides embryos were studied. The results showed that the use...
November 2010
Induction of phenolics, lignin and key defense enzymes in eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) roots in response to elicitors
Elicitors are capable of mimicking the perception of a pathogen by a plant, thereby triggering induction of a sophisticated defense response in plants. In this study, we investigated an induced resistance in eggplant in respect to cell wall strengthening and defense enzyme activation affected by four elicitors such as, chitosan (CHT), salicylic acid (SA), methyl salicylate (MeSA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA). The...
November 2010
Efficacy of Jatropha, Annona and Parthenium biowash on Sclerotium rolfsii, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri and Macrophomina phaseolina, pathogens of chickpea and sorghum
The demand for products and technologies based on plants to control plant pathogens has increased in recent years due to concern about the use of hazardous pesticides. In the present investigation, washings of vermicompost (called biowash) prepared from foliage of Jatropha (Jatropha curcas), Annona (Annona squamosa) and Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus) were evaluated against fungal pathogens viz. Fusarium...
November 2010
Traditional mining and mineralogy of geophagic clays from Limpopo and Free State provinces, South Africa
This paper is based on responses to questionnaires administered to 226 representative geophagic adults in Limpopo (Polokwane and Sekhukhune) and Free State (Qwaqwa and Mangaung) Provinces in South Africa, and semi-quantitative mineral identification of 40 geophagic clay samples from the same areas. Geophagic clays consumed were whitish, yellowish, khaki and black; mined from...
November 2010
Optimization of growth medium and fermentation conditions for improved antibiotic activity of Xenorhabdus nematophila TB using a statistical approach
A sequential optimization approach based on statistical experimental designs was employed to optimize growth medium and fermentation conditions, in order to improve the antibiotic activity of Xenorhabdus nematophila TB. Tryptone soyptone broth (TSB) was chosen as the original medium for optimization. Glucose and peptone were identified as the optimum carbon and nitrogen sources using single factor...
November 2010
Enhanced biomass production study on probiotic Bacillus subtilis SK09 by medium optimization using response surface methodology
The culture conditions of lactose fermenting, spore forming probiotic Bacillus subtilis SK09 isolated from dairy effluent were optimized by response surface methodology to maximize the biomass production. The student’s t-test of the Placket-Burman screening design revealed that the effects of pH, ammonium citrate and peptone were more significant and these variables were further optimized...
November 2010
Determination of acrylamide concentration in processed food products using normal phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
Currently, acrylamide concentration in processed food products have become a very serious health issue. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Scientific Committee for Food (SCF) of the European Union also confirmed this concern. In laboratory scale, it was found that acrylamide causes tumors in animals. This study is aimed to determine the concentration of acrylamide in processed food products available...
November 2010
Effects of carbon and nitrogen sources on the induction and repression of chitinase enzyme from Beauveria bassiana isolates
Beauveria bassiana a natural soil borne insect pathogen is being used effectively these days in integrated pest management system. Foliar application of these fungi is quite satisfactory as it invades its host by adhering to insect cuticles through the formation of penetration structures called appresoria, which produces various extracellular enzymes, including chitinase that causes the insect...
November 2010
Improving recombinant protein solubility in Escherichia coli: Identification of best chaperone combination which assists folding of human basic fibroblast growth factor
Manipulating the cytoplasmic folding environment by increasing the intracellular concentration of folding modulators, such as chaperone molecules, causes the convenient production of heterologous proteins. Wrong selection of chaperones will negatively affect the host cells physiology and the production of heterologous proteins. Due to this reason, type and combination of chaperone molecules are crucial to produce more...
November 2010
Engineering thermostable xylanase enzyme mutant from Bacillus halodurans
Endo-1,4-beta-xylanase is the main enzyme in xylan-backbone hydrolysis and has received attractable research interest due to its significant application in various industrial processes such as food, feed, waste treatment, fuel and chemical production, paper and pulp industries; but these applications require thermostable xylanase enzymes. Error-prone polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and site-directed...
November 2010
Behavioural responses of four goat genotypes to successive handling at the farm
The objective of the current study is to compare the behavioural responses of Xhosa lob-eared, Nguni and Boer goats and their crosses to blood collection and rectal palpation. A total of 48, six- month old castrated male indigenous goats of the Xhosa lob-eared, Nguni and Boer goats and their crosses were kept at the University of Fort Hare Farm, South Africa for eight weeks. The goats were randomly assigned...
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