African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12496

Table of Content: 2 May 2011; 10(18)

May 2011

Role of inhibitors and biodegradable material in mitigation of nitrogen losses from fertilized lands

Loss of N, occurring mainly through NH3 volatilization, biological denitrification, and NO3- leaching, has both economic and environmental implications. Therefore, the economic benefits of reduced environmental pollution and future damage to our environment as a result of the use of urease inhibitors are of higher significance to the production of gains over the long-term. The literature review discussed the role,...

Author(s): Nasima Junejo, Khanif M.Y., Hanfi M.M, W. M. Z. Wan Yunus and  Dharejo K. A

May 2011

Genetic diversity analysis of various red spider mite-resistant upland cotton cultivars based on RAPD

This study is carried out to analyze the genetic diversity of red spider mite-resistant cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) cultivars that are applied in cultivar identification and breeder's right protection of cottons. The genomic DNA was used as template and random primers were used to analyze the genetic diversity of 21 accessions ofGossypium hirsutum by RAPD-PCR. Among the 100 primers screened, 20 primers...

Author(s): Zhaohui Liu, , Yong Zhang, , Shuo Zhang, Kejun Deng, Shunwen Dongand  Zhenglong Ren,  

May 2011

Maize breeding for marginal lands: Physiological and molecular approach to decipher response and selection of maize recombinant inbred lines (RILs) under water deficit at early growth stage

Drought is the major abiotic stress constraining the production of maize (Zea maysL.) in the arid and semi-arid areas. Recombinant inbred lines (RILs) with improved performance from the 6th selection cycles were evaluated against drought stress at early growth stages and genetic distance was determined through random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers. Significant variation was observed in the rate of water loss...

Author(s): Malik Nawaz Shuja, Wajid Ali, Aqib Iqbal, Ijaz Ali, Iqbal Munir, Dawood Ahmad, Inamullah, Shaheenshah, Gulzar Ahmad, M. Arif Khan and Zahoor Ahmad Swati  

May 2011

Bioinformatics Analysis of Envelope Glycoprotein E epitopes of Dengue Virus Type 3

The E glycoprotein of dengue virus is responsible for the viral binding to the receptor. The crystal structure of envelope glycoprotein has already been determined. However, where the well-defined B-cell and T-cell epitopes are located is still a question. Because of the large variations among the four dengue genotypes, it is very hard to design conserved epitopes for all of them. Therefore, we selected only one...

Author(s): Muhammad Ilyas, Ziaur Rahman, Sulaiman Shamas, Mukhtar Alam, Muhammad Israr and Khalid Masood

May 2011

Early investigation on cryopreservation of Dendrobium sonia-28 using encapsulation-dehydration with modified Evan blue assay

This study was conducted to determine the potential of cryostoring and regenerating Dendrobium sonia-28 protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) using the encapsulation-dehydration technique. The parameters tested for this study included the PLB size range (1 to 2 and 3 to 4 mm), preculture using six different sucrose concentrations (0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 M) and encapsulation using three different sodium...

Author(s): Nor Ziela Pouzi, Xavier Rathinam, Jessica Jeyanthi James Antony, Ranjetta Poobathy, and Sreeramanan Subramaniam

May 2011

Symbiotic effectiveness of pea-rhizobia associations and the implications for farming systems in the western Loess Plateau, China

Interactions between pea (Pisum sativa L.) cultivars and Rhizobium strain affect the symbiotic relationship and ultimately both the nitrogen fixing capacity and the yield. Since Pisum sativum L. is poorly nodulated in the Loess Plateau of China where this crop is grown, the response of pea cultivars Yannong No.2 and Luwan to inoculation with reference Rhizobium ACCC16101, ACCC16103 and...

Author(s): Yahui He, Lizhuo Guo, Hutian Zhang and Gaobao Huang

May 2011

Effect of drought at the post-anthesis stage on remobilization of carbon reserves in two wheat cultivars differing in senescence properties

Remobilization and transfer of stored food in vegetative tissues to the grains in monocarpic plants require the initiation of whole plant senescence. However, mechanism by which plant senescence promotes remobilization of assimilates that are rather obscure. This study examined the relationship between the senescence induced by water deficits and C remobilization during grain filling. Two wheat cultivars (Triticum...

Author(s): Saeed Saeedipour  

May 2011

Quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping for inflorescence length traits in Lablab purpureus (L.) sweet

Lablab purpureus (L.) sweet is an ancient legume species whose immature pods serve as a vegetable in south and south-east Asia. The objective of this study is to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with quantitative traits such as inflorescence length, peduncle length from branch to axil, peduncle length from axil to lowermost flowering node, rachis length, node number of inflorescence,...

Author(s): J. Yuan, B. Wang and T. L. Wu

May 2011

Plant regeneration of Senecio hypochionaeus var. argaeus

Senecio genus includes taxa that can be used for agricultural, pharmacological, physiological and biochemical studies, on account of their different pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs). Senecio hypochionaeus var. argaeus is an endemic species in Turkey. Successful callus production was achieved in all the N6-benzyladenine (BA) and naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) experiments in the root explants. The highest level of shoot...

Author(s): Hatice Çölgeçen  

May 2011

Reactions of selected eggplant cultivars and lines to verticillium wilt caused by Verticillium dahliae Kleb.

Verticillium wilt caused by the fungus Verticillium dahliae Kleb. leads to decrease in the yield and quality of eggplant, an economically important vegetable in Turkey. To develop eggplant lines that are resistant to or tolerant to verticillium wilt, this study used cultivars K-1, K-2, K-3, K-4, K-5, K-6, K-7 and K-8 in the studies presented here. The wild species Solanum torvum and Solanum...

Author(s): S. BaÅŸay, V. Åženiz and H. Tezcan

May 2011

The impact of dust emits by the steel complex of El Hadjar (ANNABA) on two biological models: Mousses and lichens

The effect of the dust rejected by the steel complex of El Hadjar (SIDER) studies was by subjecting the mousses and lichens under a treatment by various concentrations of dust. Previously, the chemical composition of this dust was to analyze and show as well the quantitative and qualitative composition of dust and the dust is consisted of the pollutants with rates much higher than those authorized by WHO. All the...

Author(s): Sabrina Bouchelaghem, Djebar-Berrebbah, H. and Djebar, M. R.

May 2011

Degradation of feather and hair by Chrysosporium tropicum: A potent keratinophilic fungus

The current study was aimed at the degradation of feather and hair wastes in an eco-friendly way, which should further be helpful to make the waste dumping soils fertile. Degradation of feathers and hair was assessed by a highly potent keratinophilic fungi namely Chrysosporium tropicum. The 60 day experiment was set up with sterile defatted feather and hair as substrates in a mineral medium along with the inoculum...

Author(s): Avasn Maruthi Y., Aruna Lakshmi K., Ramakrishna Rao S. and Apta Chaitanya D.

May 2011

Effect of metal poisoning and the implications of gender and age on the elemental composition in patients with mental behavioural disorders

The objective of this work was to investigate the possible correlation between the exposure to selected toxic metals and the behavioural disorder of mentally ill patients. The study also sought to establish if gender and age of the patient had an effect on the pattern of the elemental distribution in their head hair and blood samples. To achieve this, the concentrations of a number of selected toxic metal elements were...

Author(s): Oluremi Olabanji, J. Catherine Ngila, Titus A. M. Msagati, E. Ayodele Oluyemi, Femi O. Fatoye and Bhekie B. Mamba

May 2011

Optimization of medium composition for apple rootstocks

Impact of medium composition (plant growth regulators, mineral nutrients) on multiplication rate, shoot elongation, callusing and rooting of apple rootstocks ('M9', 'M27', and 'MM106') cultured on gelled basal Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium were investigated.  Multiplication rate was mainly dependent upon kind of plant growth regulators especially, 6-benzylaminopurine (BA),...

Author(s): E. Mohammad Amiri and Ameneh Elahinia

May 2011

Hairs as biomonitors of hazardous metals present in a work environment

Human beings come across metal exposure not only through contaminated water and food, but through their metal body burden which increases by working in the environment that is contaminated and not safe. These hazardous metals present in the workplace increases the risk of both illness and injury. Illness tends to develop over time following repeated exposure to a hazard, whereas injury usually occurs instantly. Human...

Author(s): Aima Iram Batool, Fayyaz Ur Rehman, Naima Huma Naveed, Ashraf Shaheen and Shazia Irfan

May 2011

Potential application of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains for the fermentation of banana pulp

This paper aimed at evaluating the fermentation behavior of selectedSaccharomyces cerevisiae strains in banana pulp and they were compared with commercial yeast (baker’s yeast) for subsequent production of distilled spirits. Five types of microorganisms were used: Four yeast strains obtained from accredited microbiology laboratories were isolated from domestic cachaça distilleries...

Author(s): Alvarenga, Raquel Mendonca, Carrara, Andrea Geocze, Silva, Crislane Maria and Oliveira, Evelyn Souza

May 2011

Vision-based judgment of tomato maturity under growth conditions

To determine the picking time of tomato and design the control strategy for the harvesting robot, the judgment of tomato maturity under natural conditions is required. Tomato samples were collected based on the fruit growth conditions which were divided into five different stages in this article: breakers, turning, pink, light-red, and red stages. The visible CCD camera VS-880HC was adopted to shoot visible...

Author(s): Xinzhong Wang, Hanping Mao, Xu Han and Jianjun Yin

May 2011

Role of dietary supplementation in the protein content of bovine milk

This study was conducted to determine the effects of different diet on protein contents of cow milk. A total of one hundred and eighty (180) individual cows of three different breeds (jersey, HF and cross bred) were divided into three dietary treatments groups along with a control diet consisting of simple green fodder (GF). The dietry groups included cotton oil cake (COC), mustard oil cake (MOC) and maize seed cake...

Author(s): Ihsan Ullah, Aqib Iqbal, Ijaz Ali, Iqbal Munir, Essa Ali, Syed Jehangir Shah, Najib Ullah, Sajid Ali Khan Bangash, Zahoor Ahmad Swati and Muhammad Subhan Qureshi

May 2011

Antimicrobial and antioxidative effects of Ugandan medicinal barks

Despite a rich tradition of medicinal plants use by local communities in Uganda their direct antimicrobial effectives together with potential to protect human health against diseases induced by oxidative stress are still poorly documented. The aim of this study is to investigate the in vitro antimicrobial and total antioxidative activities of barks from five tree species selected using information on their...

Author(s): Marta Kuglerova, Hana Tesarova, Jean T. Grade, Katerina Halamova, Olivia Wanyana-Maganyi, Patrick Van Damme and Ladislav Kokoska

May 2011

Computational analysis of human miRNAs phylogenetics

Over one third of the human genome appears to be regulated by miRNAs which are involved in fundamental cellular processes and are negative regulators of gene expression. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are evolutionary conserved across broad phylogenetic distances and have gained considerable attention about evolution, genetic and phylogenetic analysis. Comparing sequences of miRNA precursors within a species and between closely...

Author(s): Raisa Bano and Hamid Rashid

May 2011

Zerumbone improved immunoreactivity of neuropeptides in monosodium iodoacetate induced knee osteoarthritis in rat

The main objective of this investigation was to explore the improvement effect of oral administration of zerumbone on the density of protein gene product; calcitonin gene related peptide and neuropeptide Y immunoreactive nerve fibers against monosodium iodoacetate induced osteoarthritis changes in rat’s knee synovial membrane. Prostaglandin (PG) E2 and F2α were determined to assess their role during...

Author(s): F. J. Al-Saffar, S. Ganabadi, S. Fakurazi and H. Yaakub