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Block scheduling is difficult to implement in P2P network since there is no central coordinator. This problem can be solved by employing network coding technique which allows intermediate nodes to perform the coding operation instead of store and forward the received data. There is a general assumption in this area of research so far that a target download rate is always attainable at every peer as long as coding operation is performed at all the nodes in the network. An interesting study is made that a maximum download rate can be attained by performing the coding operation at relatively small portion of the network. The problem of finding the minimal set of node to perform the coding operation and links to carry the coded data is called as a network code minimization problem (NCMP). It is proved to be an NP hard problem. It can be solved using genetic algorithm (GA) because GA can be used to solve the diverse NP hard problem. A new NCMP model which considers both minimize the resources needed to perform coding operation and dynamic change in network topology due to disconnection is proposed. Based on this new NCMP model, an effective and novel GA is proposed by implementing problem specific GA operators into the evolutionary process. There is an attempt to implement the different compositions and several options of GA elements which worked well in many other problems and pick the one that works best for this resource minimization problem. Our simulation results prove that the proposed system outperforms the random selection and coding at all possible node mechanisms in terms of both download time and system throughput. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the existing peer-to-peer (P2P) content distribution schemes carry out a random or rarest piece first content dissemination procedure to avoid duplicate transmission of the same pieces of data and rare pieces of data occurring in the network. This problem is solved using P2P content distribution based on network coding scheme. Network coding scheme uses random linear combination of coded pieces. Hence, the above-stated problem is solved easily and simply. Our proposed mechanism uses network coding mechanism in which several contents having the same message are grouped into different groups and coding operation is performed only within the same group. The interested peers are also divided into several groups with each group having the responsibility to spread one set of contents of messages. The coding system is designed to assure the property that any subset of the messages can be utilized to decode the original content as long as the size of the subset is suitably large. To meet this condition, dynamic smart network coding (DSNC) scheme is defined which assures the preferred property, then peers are connected in the same group to send the corresponding message, and connect peers in different groups to disseminate messages for carrying out decoding operation. Moreover, the proposed system is readily expanded to support topology change to get better system performance further in terms of reliability, link stress and throughput. The simulation results prove that the proposed system can attain 20–25% higher throughput than existing systems, good reliability, link failure and robustness to peer churn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study envisaged to document the endophytic fungal association with black pepper through a series of in vitro and in planta investigations. Black pepper was found to harbour endophytic fungal flora belonging to the genera Alternaria, Acremonium, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Chaetomium, Curvularia, Colletotrichum, Fusarium, Humicola, Paecilomyces, Rhizoctonia, Phoma and non-sporulating forms. Further, it was found that the endocarp of black pepper seed is free from culturable endophytic fungi. This was evident from the absence of culturable fungi in in vitro grown black pepper seedlings. The growth of fungi from the seedlings grown under green house conditions reveal that the fungal endophytes establish from fungal propagules falling on the (test) plants that may enter the plant tissues as back ground inoculum and grow as endophyte. This was also supported by the study that the type of endophytic fungi that harbour black pepper plants varied with geographical locations from where the samples were collected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytophthora foot rot is a devastating disease in black pepper which is caused by P. capsici . Using host resistance is a major component in the integrated pest management of this disease. To explore the host resistance pattern, we studied the genotype specific differential expression of important pathogenesis related gene β 1, 3 glucanase and 5 R gene loci from resistant and susceptible varieties of black pepper. The relative expression of β 1, 3 glucanase was up regulated in resistant variety and down regulated in susceptible variety. R gene loci Pn CNBS 5, CNBS 3 and Pn CNBS 2 showed up regulation in susceptible variety in the early hours of infection while resistant genotype recorded its down regulation till 72 h suggesting that the selective down expression of these loci may be attributed to the resistance in the resistant variety. These R genes may be the susceptibility genes (S-genes) in black pepper for Phytophthora . The high relative expression of the R gene locus Pn CNBS 4 and Pn CNBS 1 in resistant genotype at early hours shows their involvement in resistance towards P. capsici. The differential expression of the R gene loci shows the genotype specific functional significance for Phytophthora resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiment on in vitro screening of 125 endophytic fungi of black pepper against Phytophthora capsici indicated that 23 isolates showed more than 50% inhibition. The nematicidal activity of metabolites from endophytic fungi was also tested on Radopholus similis and the isolate BPEF73 (Daldinia eschscholtzii) showed highest mortality up to 60%. The isolates showing biocontrol potential were characterized based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS1 and ITS2) regions of rDNA. The sequence analysis of the isolates showed maximum identity with Annulohypoxylon nitens (BPEF25 and BPEF38), Daldinia eschscholtzii (BPEF41 and BPEF73), Fusarium spp. (BPEF72 and BPEF75), Ceriporia lacerata (BPEF81), Diaporthe sp. (BPEF11) and Phomopsis sp. (BPEF83). This is first report of endophytic association of above fungi in black pepper and the exploitation of their biocontrol potential against the major black pepper pathogens P. capsici and R. similis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study T. harzianum conidial suspension was made in different concentrations of cryoprotectants viz., glycerol, glucose, DMSO and deionized distilled water and stored at two different temperatures viz., 25± 1°C and 28-32°C for more than 720 days for evaluating the shelf life in order to develop a ready to use liquid carrier formulation. The results showed that submerged conidia formulation in cryoprotectants like glycerol, glucose and DMSO preserved the viability for 75 days only when compared to the formulation in sterile deionized water which at 28-32°C retained the viability for 480 days with a viable count of loge= 6.671 (3.2 ? 106) and for more than 720 days with a viable count of loge=5.54 (2 ? 105) and in 480 days at 25±1°C with a viable count of loge=6.3911 (6.5 ? 106) and with a viable count of loge =5.40 (2 ? 105) for more than 720 days. The viability was tested in vitro by recovery in TSM and effectiveness was tested in vivo by drenching the suspension on plants and challenge inoculating with Phytophthora capsici after seven days. Challenge inoculation of black pepper plants with P. capsici after drenching with diluted stored suspension gave a disease reduction of 66.67%. Hence, sterile deionized water can be used as a liquid storage medium for the long term storage of T. harzianum culture without loosing the viability and effectiveness of the spores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, 74 PGPR isolates from different varieties of black pepper were characterized for morphological, biochemical and nutrient mobilization traits as well as inhibition of Phytophthora capsici (causing foot rot) under in vitro conditions. Based on the multiple traits, two PGPR [(Micrococcus luteus Schroeter (1872) Cohn 1872 (BRB3) and Enterobacter aerogenes Hormaeche and Edwards 1960 (AL) (BRB13)] were shortlisted for further growth promotion studies. For biocontrol studies, three PGPR [(Burkholderia cepacia (Palleroni & Holmes 1981) Yabuuchi et al. (1993) (BRB21), Pseudomonas aeruginosa Schröter (1872) Migula 1900 (BRB28) and Serratia marcescens Bizio 1823 (AL) (BRB49)] which showed >70% inhibition of P. capsici were shortlisted. The results from green house study on growth promotion indicated that application of M. luteus (BRB3) + 75% recommended dose (RD) of N + 100% RD of PK produced taller plants, longer roots, greater fresh biomass, more number of leaves and nodes in black pepper. This suggested a 25% reduction in chemical N fertilizer in the presence of M. luteus (BRB3). In the green house study on biocontrol, lowest foot rot (32.77%) and taller plants (332.0 cm) were observed with B. cepacia (BRB 21), which was on par with chemical treatment. This is the first report on the potential of PGPR like M. luteus for growth promotion and B. cepacia for management of P. capsici in black pepper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Genotypic stability of curcumin and yield in turmeric is one of the concerns in spices industries, as genotypes perform differently across environments. [•] Among 11 genotypes, Mega Turmeric was the most stable for fresh yield across 10 environments. [•] IISR Kedaram performed consistently across five environments and was adjudged as most stable cultivar for curcumin production. [•] Overall, the study identified three potential genotypes viz., Mega Turmeric, IISR Kedaram and IISR Prathiba for high curcumin coupled with dry yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Among the factors influencing soil quality, biological indicators are reported as critically important because soil organisms directly influence soil ecosystem processes, especially the decomposition of soil organic matter and the cycling of nutrients. Hence, any factor that affects soil microbial biomass, activity and populations would necessarily affect soil quality and sustainability. Presently, a staggering number of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) employed for industrial and environmental applications or formed as by-products of human activity are finding their way into soils. Common ENPs include the metal ENPs (elemental Ag, Au, Fe etc.), fullerenes (grouping Buckminster fullerenes, CNTs, nanocones etc.), metal oxides (TiO2, CuO, FeO2, ZnO, Al2O3, SiO2 etc.), complex compounds (Co–Zn–Fe oxide), quantum dots often coated with a polymer e.g. cadmium–selenide (CdSe) and organic polymers (dendrimers, polystyrene, etc.). The antimicrobial activity of these ENPs has been extensively studied with human pathogenic bacteria. Similarly, studies also exist on the affect of ENPs on beneficial microbes in vitro under controlled conditions. But very little information is available on how these ENPs affect microbial communities in soil under field conditions. The few published literature does suggest that among the ENPs, fullerenes and their derivatives are less toxic, while small size metal and metal oxide ENPs are detrimental to soil microbial communities. However, under field conditions, soil organic matter and related components like humic and fulvic acids could possibly negate the toxic effects of these ENPs through various mechanisms. Also, the resistance and resilience of soil microbial communities to such perturbations cannot be discounted. The paper also stresses the need for more information on interaction of ENPs with soil microorganisms under field conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The 500MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is under construction at Kalpakkam, India. The main vessel of this pool type reactor acts as the primary containment in the reactor assembly. In order to keep the main vessel temperature below creep range and to reduce high temperature embrittlement and also to ensure its healthiness for 40 years of reactor life, a small fraction of core flow (0.5m3/s) is sent through an annular space formed between the main vessel and a cylindrical baffle (primary thermal baffle) to cool the vessel. The sodium after cooling the main vessel overflows the primary baffle (weir shell) and falls into another concentric pool of sodium separated from the cold pool by the secondary thermal baffle and then returned to cold pool. The weir shell, where the overflow of liquid sodium takes place, is a thin shell prone to flow induced vibrations due to instability caused by sloshing and fluid–structure interaction. A similar vibration phenomenon was first observed during the commissioning of Super-Phenix reactor. In order to understand the phenomenon and provide necessary experimental back up to validate the analytical models, weir instability experiments were conducted in a 1:4 scale stainless steel (SS) model installed in a water loop. The experiments were conducted with flow rate and fall height as the varying parameters. The experimental results showed that the instability of the weir shell was caused due to fluid structure interaction. This paper discusses the details of the model, the modeling laws, similitude criteria adopted, analytical prediction, the experimental results and conclusion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents the author's views on new research studies related to beneficial microbes for sustainable agricultural production. It is opined that agricultural scenario has witnessed a major change in production and productivity in India. It is stated that a healthy soil includes biotic components of microfauna and microflora that are essential for the recycling of nutrients.

Abstract Bacterial wilt of ginger ( Zingiber officinale Rosc.) causes serious economic losses in all major ginger growing areas of the world. The Indian mango ginger ( Curcuma amada Roxb.) is found to be resistant to the disease. With an aim to decipher the factors involved in mango ginger resistance, tissue-specific expression of nine candidate genes viz., Ethylene Response Factor (ERF), HMG-CoA synthase (HMGS), HMG-CoA reductase (HMGR), ABC transporter, WRKY8 transcription factor, β-(1, 3)-glucanase, Callose synthase, Heat Shock Protein (HSP) and Mlo14 were carried out at different time intervals in leaf and rhizome tissues post pathogen inoculation using real-time PCR. The transcripts varied in the level of up and down-regulation, with a marked difference in the intensity and time of response. Compared to leaf tissues, the rhizome tissues of both the plants showed increased expression of all the transcripts except β-(1, 3)-glucanase and Mlo14. In both the resistant and susceptible plants β-(1, 3)-glucanase showed higher expression in the leaf tissues, whereas HSP and Callose synthase showed higher expression in rhizome tissues of ginger and mango ginger respectively. Compared to ginger, the rhizome tissues of mango ginger showed peak level expression at earlier hours. The rhizome of mango ginger may play an important role in preventing the entry of the pathogen through the soil. Traversing all these barriers if the pathogen is delivered directly to the xylem tissues, they can multiply profusely and induce bacterial wilt in mango ginger. Highlights • Bacterial wilt resistance in mango ginger could involve a cross-talk between various defence signalling pathways. • The expression pattern of the selected defence-response genes differed post pathogen inoculation. • These changes in the transcript levels may underlie the outcome of the host-pathogen interaction in mango ginger and ginger. • The rapid induction of defence related genes might help mango ginger to limit infection by R. solanacearum. • The present data paves a way to understand the molecular basis of the defence response to R. solanacearum in mango ginger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a fuzzy logic--based jamming detection algorithm (FLJDA) is proposed to detect the presence of jamming in downstream data communication for cluster-based wireless sensor networks. The proposed FLJDA keeps an eye on the existing nodes and new node to determine their behavior by applying fuzzy logic on measured jamming detection metrics. To monitor the behavior of the nodes, the FLJDA computes the jamming detection metrics, namely, packet delivery ratio and received signal strength indicator. The major features of this paper are the following: (1) The jamming detection algorithm is specifically implemented for downstream data communication, (2) cluster head estimates jamming detection metrics for detecting the jamming unlike the existing algorithms where individual nodes explicitly collect the jamming detection metrics, and (3) the proposed algorithm optimizes the jamming detection metrics on the basis of fuzzy logic unlike the existing approaches, which uses merely jamming detection threshold alone for jamming detection. The simulation results of the proposed system provide the true detection ratio as high as 99.89%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems with space frequency block coding (SFBC) transmissions achieve both spatial and frequency diversity gains in wireless communications. However, SFBC SC-FDMA schemes using linear detectors suffer from severe performance deterioration because of noise enhancement propagation and additive noise presence in the detected output. Both issues are similar to inter-symbol-interference (ISI). Traditionally, SC-FDMA system decision feedback equalizer (DFE) is often used to eliminate ISI caused by multipath propagation. This article proposes frequency domain turbo equalization based on nonlinear multiuser detection for uplink SFBC SC-FDMA transmission systems. The presented iterative receiver performs equalization with soft decisions feedback for ISI mitigation. Its coefficients are derived using minimum mean squared error criteria. The receiver configuration study is Alamouti's SFBC with two transmit and two receive antennas. New receiver approach is compared with the recently proposed suboptimal linear detector for SFBC SC-FDMA systems. Simulation results confirm that the performance of the proposed iterative detection outperforms conventional detection techniques. After a few iterations, bit-error-rate performance of the proposed receiver design is closely to the matched filter bound. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-carrier frequency division multiple access is greatly sensitive to carrier frequency offset (CFO) between transceivers. This leads to the destruction of orthogonality among subcarriers, which in turn leads to inter-carrier interference and multiple access interference between different users. Minimum mean square error (MMSE) equalizer that uses an inverse operation on an interference matrix with a dimension equal to the number of subcarriers is normally used to invalidate CFO effects. Hence, the terminal processing complexity is very high. The proposed conjugate gradient method attempts to mitigate the higher computational complexity by iteratively evaluating the MMSE solution without direct matrix inverse operation. To further mitigate the multiple access interference, MMSE combined with parallel interference cancellation is also implemented. The analysis of the proposed method shows better performance and fast convergence in single-carrier frequency division multiple access systems. The maximum iteration number to formulate an accurate solution is almost equal to the number of active users in the uplink access. Simulation results bring out the effectiveness of the present method compared with the existing CFO compensation schemes in terms of computational complication and system performance with large frequency offsets. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jamming attack is a serious security threat in wireless sensor networks. Therefore, it is important to frame a mechanism to protect wireless sensor networks from various jamming attacks. Jammer intrusion detection and jamming detection are two separate issues. In this paper, a novel jammer detection framework to detect the intrusion of jammer and the presence of jamming in a cluster-based wireless sensor network is proposed. The proposed framework is novel in three aspects: whenever the cluster head receives a packet, it first verifies whether the source node is a legitimate, new node, or a jammer node. Second, when the source node is declared as a new one in the first step, then the framework validates whether the new node is legitimate node in the previous cluster or a jammer node by using cluster head code. Third, the framework observes the behavior of the newly joined node and the existing nodes to identify whether the nodes in the cluster is jammed or not. Additionally, it also classifies the types of jamming, if the presence of jamming is detected. Simulation result shows that the proposed framework performs extremely well and achieves jamming detection rate as high as 99.88 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The construction of Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR), a 500MWe liquid sodium cooled reactor, is in progress at Kalpakkam in India. Control plug (CP) is located right above the core subassemblies in the hot pool. Control plug is an important component as many of the critical reactor parameters are sensed and controlled by the components housed in the control plug assembly. In PFBR primary circuit, components are basically thin walled, slender shells with diameter to thickness ratio ranging from 100 to 650. These components are prone to flow induced vibrations. The existence of free liquid (sodium) surfaces, which is the source of sloshing phenomenon and the operation of primary sodium pump in the primary pool are other potential sources of vibration of reactor components. Control plug is a hollow cylindrical shell structure and provides passages and support for 12 absorber rod drive mechanisms (ARDM) which consists of 9 control and safety rods and 3 diverse safety rods, 210 thermo wells to measure the sodium temperature at the exit of various fuel subassemblies, three failed fuel localization modules (FFLM) and acoustic detectors. It consists of a core cover plate (CCP), which forms the bottom end, two intermediate supports plate, i.e. lower stay plate (LSP) and upper stay plate (USP) and an outer shell. The CCP is located at a distance of 1.3m from the core top. With such a gap, there will be long free hanging length of the thermocouple sleeves, Delayed neutron detector (DND) sampling tubes and ARDM shroud tubes and hence they are susceptible to flow induced vibrations. Since control plug is partially immersed in hot sodium, the reactor transients are felt by the components, hence it is very much essential to understand the vibration response of the control plug components. The main vibration excitation mechanisms are vortex shedding, turbulence buffeting, fluid-elastic instability, etc. In order to assess the susceptibility of CP internals against flow induced vibrations (FIVs), to measure structural response and to validate the analytical codes developed for FIV analysis of CP along with the assumptions of supports for various CP internals therein, a flow induced vibration testing program was formulated in 1:4 scale model of PFBR CP. As the first phase of this program, experimental modal analysis of CP internals was carried out in air to estimate the modal parameters. Subsequently, flow induced vibration studies were conducted in the 1:4 scale model of CP in water. In this model, size of the tubes, shell and plates are reduced to ¼ size of the PFBR CP. The stiffness of CP parts is reduced by 4 times and mass decreased by 64 times which results in scaling up of modal frequencies by 4 times. The CP internals in the model were instrumented with accelerometers and strain gages. The studies were conducted in water with flows derived on the basis of velocity similitude. The output signals from the sensors were acquired and analyzed to obtain frequency spectra, overall vibration amplitude and strain values at various locations inside CP. The study carried out confirms the absence of resonance due to flow induced vibration mechanisms for the entire operating range. This paper elucidates the modeling details, similitude criteria, instrumentation employed and experimental results obtained with discussion on results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An experiment was conducted at Kammarpally (Andhra Pradesh) to evaluate the efficacy of four fungicides viz., Propiconazole (0.1%), Hexaconazole (0.1%), Tricyclazole (0.1%) and Carbendazim + Mancozeb (0.1%) for the management of leaf spot disease (Colletotrichum capsici) of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.). Rhizome treatment with Carbendazim + Mancozeb (0.1%) gave the best results for germination (90.52%) and rhizome treatment and foliar application of Propiconazole (0.1%) at 45 and 90 days after planting (DAP) were significantly superior in reducing the disease index (20.01%) of leaf spot disease and increasing the fresh rhizome yield (17.13 t ha-1) as compared to other fungicides tested. The high cost - benefit ratio was achieved in rhizome treatment and foliar application of Carbendazim + Mancozeb at 45 and 90 DAP (1:1.92). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) which is under construction at Kalpakkam, India, is a 500MWe sodium cooled pool type reactor. The core of the PFBR consists of 1758 free standing subassemblies supported on the grid plate. The entire core is divided into 15 different flow zones and the flow rate required through each zone is calculated based on the fission heat generation. The coolant sodium flows from the bottom of the subassembly to top and the design of the subassembly for each flow zone is quite complex. There are 181 fuel subassemblies in PFBR core with 217 fuel pins in each subassembly, vertically held in the form of bundle within a hexagonal wrapper tube. The pins are separated by spacer wires wound around the pins helically. Analytical prediction of subassembly pressure drop, vibration and determination of inception of cavitation for this complex geometry is very difficult. So experiments were conducted extensively to get a more accurate evaluation of the design and for its qualification for the use in PFBR, which is designed for 40 years of operation. Pressure drop and cavitation experiments were carried out in water on full scale (1:1) subassemblies of all flow zones. The overall pressure drop of the subassembly determines the ratings of the pump. Cavitation of the pressure drop devices lead to erosion damage of fuelpins and may also result in reactivity fluctuation due to sodium-void effect. So it is essential to confirm that the subassembly is not cavitating in the operating regime of the reactor. Subassembly can vibrate in cantilever mode due to the turbulence in the flow and can result in reactivity fluctuation, reactor control problem and can even lead to the failure of the fuel pins. So vibration measurements were carried out in water on the maximum rated subassembly. This paper discusses various experiments carried out on PFBR subassembly, the similarity criteria followed, instrumentation, results and conclusion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Piperpep database is a compilation of peptide data from mass spectrometry analysis of a medicinally important export oriented crop - black pepper, developed by the fact that any mass spectrometry derived data would be an excellent source for genome annotation in future. This database has 1001 peptides, including 36 antimicrobial peptides annotated from the leaf of black pepper. The user friendly browsing and search tools would help the researcher with crop improvement in black pepper and also in other crops via peptide or protein data. The information on antimicrobial peptides in this database is expected to cater towards development of new drugs for agricultural and medicinal uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floral diversity in monoecious type nutmeg reveals three types of flowers namely; pistillate, staminate and hermaphrodite flowers. The structure of hermaphrodite flowers in nutmeg is reported for the first time. The flowers are borne on the leaf axil, flowering habit of the three types of flowers are seen in cymes as well as solitary in the same tree. The gynoecium consists of single ovary with bifid stigma in the pistillate flowers and the androecium of staminate flowers has adnate 7-13 anthers. Intra flower variability is evident in case of hermaphrodite flowers. In hermaphrodite flower the androecium ranges with 1-4 anthers, in the form of fused filament or free filament or both; some anthers are fused with the gynoecium. Besides remnants of the stamen in the developed fruits of hermaphrodite flowers, staminodes are also observed in the flowers. Colour of all the three types of flowers are light creamy yellow, with thick gamosepalous perianth which bursts as bilobed, trilobed, tetralobed and pentalobed lobes during anthesis. Analysis of variance of trees for flower types and floral attributes like flower type, number of anthers, length of anthers, length of filaments and length of ovary are found to be highly significant. High coefficient of variation is recorded for hermaphrodite (183.84%) and pistillate (171.71%) flowers. The pollen viability of the hermaphrodite flowers are found less as compared to the staminate flowers. The percentage of pollen viability is 79.74 and 90.77 in hermaphrodite and male flower respectively. In the population studied, the occurrence of hermaphrodite flower in monoecious tree ranged from 0 - 10%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indian mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) is a perennial rhizomatous herb with a raw mango flavour. It is resistant to bacterial wilt disease. In order to understand the disease resistance mechanism of mango ginger the hexane, chloroform and methanol extracts (5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 mg mL-1) and essential oils (1%, 5% and 10%) were tested against the bacterial wilt pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum by agar well diffusion method. The hexane, chloroform and methanol extracts showed more or less the same level of antimicrobial activity with a zone of inhibition ranging from 3-9 mm. The essential oils exhibited a zone of inhibition ranging from 3-7 mm. The major constituents of the essential oils were ß-myrcene and ß-pinene. The results indicated that the rhizome of mango ginger may contain compounds that are toxic to the pathogen. The extracts of mango ginger could be explored further for developing a natural bactericide against R. solanacearum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Immunological characterization of mycobacterial peptides may help not only in the preparation of a vaccine for leprosy but also in developing in vitro T-cell assays that could perhaps be used as an in vitro correlate for treatment outcome. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the use of Mycobacterium bovis recombinant 32-kDa protein (r32-kDa) antigen-stimulated T-cell assay as a surrogate marker for treatment outcome and monitor vitamin D receptor (VDR)-mediated anti-microbial responses during multidrug therapy (MDT) in leprosy. Methods:Newly diagnosed tuberculoid and lepromatous leprosy patients were enrolled and followed up during their course of MDT at 6 and 12 months. IFN-Υ, IL-10, IL-17 and IL-23 levels in culture supernatants and expression of VDR, TLR2, LL37 and DEFB in r32-kDa-stimulated PBMCs were measured. Controls comprised household contacts (HHCs) and healthy endemic subjects (HCs). Results:Significant differences were observed in the levels of IFN-Υ, IL-17, IL-23, VDR and anti-microbial peptides LL37 and DEFB after treatment and when compared with that of HHCs and HCs, respectively. Conclusions:These findings suggest that responses to r32-kDa antigen reflect an improved immunological and antimicrobial response in leprosy patients during therapy, thereby indicating its potential use as an immune correlate in the treatment of leprosy patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytophthora capsici is one of the most destructive pathogens of black pepper in India and the world over. Diversity of 114 Phytophthora isolates obtained from leaf, stem, root and soil of different agro climatic areas was studied using 25 SSR primers that were previously described. twenty primers were successfully amplified. Of these, 15 were polymorphic among the Phytophthora isolates and altogether 37 loci were detected. Of the 37 bands generated from 20 primers, 75.67% were polymorphic. Cluster analysis using the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averages divided the isolates into seven major groups. The dendrogram generated showed that all the isolates were separated at similarity coefficient between 57-95%. Group 7 with a single isolate stood as an out group. Clustering did not follow the pattern of geographical origin or plant part from where the isolates were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ralstonia solanacearum race 4 isolates were obtained from Zingiberaceae plants in India during bacterial wilt outbreaks. Polyphasic phenotypic and genotypic analysis revealed intraracial diversity and dominance of biovar 3 over biovar 4. Biovar 3 strains were isolated from very severely wilted Zingiberaceae plants in the field and found to be present across diverse geographical, host and seasonal boundaries. It was hypothesized that these isolates belong to a single, 'fast wilting', lineage. Using one 'fast wilting' isolate in controlled inoculations, rapid wilt was observed in ginger within 5-7 days. Wilting was also observed in several other closely and distantly related hosts such as turmeric (Curcuma longa), aromatic turmeric (Curcuma aromatica), black turmeric (Curcuma caesia), sand ginger (Kaempferia galanga), white turmeric (Curcuma zeodaria), awapuhi (Zingiber zerumbet), greater galangal (Alpinia galanga), globba (Globba sp.), small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) and large cardamom (Ammomum subulatum) of the Zingiberaceae family, and in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Molecular analysis, including multiplex PCR-based phylotyping, sequence analysis of 16S rDNA, 16-23S intergenic spacer and the recN gene, and multilocus sequence typing, revealed minimal differences between fast wilting isolates, confirming that almost all belong to the same lineage. Biovar 4 was isolated from plants showing slow wilt progression and self-limiting wilting in restricted geographical locations instead, and was identified to be genetically distinct from the fast wilting biovar 3 isolates. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of host range and genetic analysis of R. solanacearum race 4 in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Availability of quality planting material of high yielding varieties is a major production constraint in all black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) growing countries, and hence there is a need for technology that boosts production of quality planting material. An investigation was carried out to study the effect of different combinations of soil-less coir pith based nursery mixtures on rooting and growth of black pepper cuttings in the nursery. Among the different nursery media combinations, coir pith with Trichoderma and vermicompost recorded significantly higher growth parameters. The study confirmed that composted coir pith with vermicompost and Trichoderma is an ideal potting medium for black pepper nursery. In the second experiment, among the single node cuttings with three different maturities (collected from the serpentine method runners), maximum nursery grwoth, was recorded in the terminal portion of the runners (11-15th nodes). Similarly, higher growth parameters were recorded in the cuttings planted with full leaf compared to halfleaf cuttings. The study indicated that the rooted cuttings with full leaf from middle and top portions recorded higher growth parameters. Use of Trichoderma and vermicompost enriched coir pith in black pepper nurseries minimizes chemical fungicides besides Trichoderma that colonizes the root system of seedlings will help in preventing the infection by pathogens in the main field. Since there is no high additional cost involved, the use of Trichoderma enriched coir pith can also be adopted by commercial nurseries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) are the source of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) that can be used to develop molecular markers for the study of polymorphism and genetic diversity. In the present investigation, 30 EST simple sequence repeats (SSR) primer sets derived from three formae speciales of Fusarium oxysporum: melonis ( Fom), cucumerium ( Foc), and lycopersici ( Fol) - were tested for transferability to Fusarium udum. The majority of SSR loci contain trinucleotide (63.70%) while fewer contain di- (27.41%), tetra- (5.64%) and penta-nucleotide (3.22%) repeats. The number of alleles at these SSR loci ranged from one to three, with an average of 1.4 alleles per locus. CAG (24.19%) and AC (16.93%) were the most abundant motifs identified. Three markers ( FomSSR-8, FolSSR-2 and FolSSR-4) were found highly informative for genetic characterization of F. udum and very useful in distinguishing the polymorphism rate of the markers at specific locus; however, polymorphic information content (PIC) was maximum (0.597) in FocSSR-7. In terms of cross species transferability, 70% of the primer sets of Fom-SSR and Fol-SSR and 30% of the Foc-SSR produced an amplicon in F. udum isolates. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first set of EST SSR markers developed and assessed for the variability, genetic analysis and evolutionary relationships of the F. udum population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was conducted during 2008-09, 2009-10 & 2010-11 at Dapoli (Maharashtra) to study the effect of stem thickness and stem length for harvesting cinnamon bark. Twelve treatment combinations viz., two genotypes; Konkan Tej (G1), ACC-11 (G2), two lengths of stem; 50 cm (L1), 100 cm (L2) and three thicknesses of stem; 1-2 cm (T1), 2-3 cm (T2), 5-6 cm (T3) were used for experimentation. There were no significant differences in bark thickness before and after drying, fresh and dry weights of quill in the genotypes studied and length of cinnamon stem selected for bark extraction. Significantly highest bark thicknesses before (1.14 mm) and after (0.82 mm) drying and fresh (111.21 g) and dry (56.64 g) weights of quill were recorded in T3 (5-6 cm thick stem) treatment. Interaction effect of genotype, length and thickness of stem selected for coppicing indicate significant differences in bark thickness before and after drying and fresh and dry weights of quill. Significantly maximum bark thickness before drying (1.74 mm) was recorded in treatment combination G2L1T3, which was at par with G1L2T3 (1.72 mm), G2L2T3 (1.71 mm) and G1L1T3 (1.67 mm). The treatment combination G1L2T3 produced significantly highest bark thickness after drying (1.33 mm) fresh (223.31 g) and dry (117.28 g) weights of quill respectively. Significantly low bark thickness before drying (1.00 mm) fresh (49.13 g) and dry (22.92 g) weights of quill were recorded in treatment combination G1L1T1, which were at par with treatment combination G2L1T1. Higher oil percentage was observed in 5-6 cm thick stem i.e. Konkan Tej (3%) and ACC- 11 (2.50%) respectively. Thus for coppicing of cinnamon for extraction of bark, harvesting of 5- 6 cm thick stem is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the phytoplasma was detected in black pepper (Piper nigrum) with phyllody symptoms in India. A 1.20kb DNA fragment encoding the portion of phytoplasma 16S rDNA consistently amplified by nested PCR was cloned and sequenced. The sequenced region contained 1230 nucleotides. Sequence analyses showed that the gene was most closely related to members of aster yellows group (16Sr I) of phytoplasma. The sequence identity with members of aster yellows group (16Sr I) was >98% while that with members of other groups (16Sr II to 16Sr XV and other undesignated groups) ranged from 87 to 96%. On the basis of sequence identity and phylogenetic relationship studies, it is concluded that phytoplasma infecting black pepper in India belongs to aster yellows group. This is the first report of identification of phytoplasma in black pepper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article deals with the hepatotoxicity and carcinogenesis effects of coumarin compounds in cassia cinnamon, Cinnamomum cassia. Topics discussed include the chemical properties of coumarins and their presence in plants, the use of coumarin in the treatment of patients with advanced cancer and in the prevention of cancers, and the result of clinical trials that showed cell toxicity and tumor occurrence. The effect of coumarin in humans is described.

The article focuses on the phosphorus (P) accumulation in soils in Kerala, India. Topics include the result of the study conducted by the Kerala State Planning Board which shows the acidity of soils in the area, the high level of P in the soils due to over-fertilizing or adding too much manure, and the role of nitrogen (N) in the accumulation of P in the soils.