Expression of Peanut stunt virus Coat Protein Gene in Escherichia Coli

Sokhandan Bashir Nemat, Ighani Mayan Hakimeh, Khakvar Reza and Delpasand Khabbazi Afsaneh

Page No: 1-5

The advent of recombinant DNA technology has facilitated heterologous expression of proteins from various sources in different host systems including Escherichia coli. If a plant virus coat protein gene is expressed in the bacterium, it can be used as the antigen for antibody preparation. Such a recombinant antigen preparation can be particularly useful where equipment such as ultracentrifuge is unavailable to purify virus particles to use as the antigen for conventional antibody preparation. Heterologous protein expression of the full length Peanut stunt virus (PSV) coat protein (CP) previously isolated from an infected plant by RT-PCR to be used as an antigen was the aim of the study. The PSV-ER CP (Accession: U15730) was amplified from a previously prepared clone by a pair of the CP- specific primers in PCR. Then, the amplified fragment was ligated into pTG19-T cloning vector and transformed in Escherichia coli DH5α. The transformed cells were selected on LB-medium containing AMP, X-Gal and IPTG. Plasmid was extracted by the alkaline lysis method and then subjected to digestion by BamHl and Sall. The released fragment was purified from the gel, ligated into pET22b(+) and transformed into expression host E. coli BL21(DE3).

The CP gene was amplified by the newly-designed primers to incorporate the desired restriction sites into the amplified fragment in order to facilitate cloning into the expression vector. Upon transformation of E. coli BL21(DE3) cells with the expression vector pET-22bPSVCP and subjection to expression condition, subsequent SDS-PAGE analysis demonstrated over-expression of the anticipated ∼24 kDa protein band. The expressed recombinant CP can be used as an antigen to generate polyclonal antibody.

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Age Related Estimation of Physical and Chemical Properties of Pelvic Long Bones in Kenguri Sheep

Awate Annapurna, Pawar Ashok, Ramchandra B. and Girish M.H.

Page No: 6-8

The present study was conducted on ash samples of pelvic long bones of Kenguri sheep to know the calcium and phosphorus concentrations. The marked midshaft cortical (2cm) bones of right femur, tibia and metatarsals from 24 animals of both sexes were classified into 3 groups according to their age and utilized for estimation of physical and chemical properties such as weight, volume, density, percentage of ash in cortical bone, calcium and phosphorus contents and calcium phosphorus ratio. The percentage of ash samples of femur, tibia and metatarsals bones was 65.04±0.15%, 66.36±0.05% and 69.38±0.05% respectively in group-I animals. There was a significant difference in percentage of ash samples of femur, tibia and metatarsals bones between all the groups of Kenguri sheep.

The percentage of calcium contents was 21.923±0.05%, 21.892±0.09% and 23.220±0.06% in femur, tibia and metatarsals bones of group II animals respectively. The percentage of phosphorus contents was 11.941±0.05%, 10.793±0.07% and 12.465±0.05% in femur, tibia and metatarsals bones of group III animals respectively. There was significant difference in Ca:P ratio of femur, tibia and metatarsal bones between group-I and group-III animals. However, there was no significant difference between group-I and group-II animals.

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Clinical management of Contracted tendon in foal

Gosai R.K., Patel J.B., Sutaria P.T., Patel A.M., Patel P.B. and Patel R.M.

Page No: 9-10

A 3 days old foal unable to get-up normally and also to bear body weight was presented to the OPD unit of Surgery at VCC. The findings confirmed the foal to suffer from contracted tendon was corrected by application of shin guard splint over the fetlock joint after mild extension of limb and resulted in uneventful recovery.

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Effect of Pongamia cake on beneficial soil microorganisms in Areca nut plantation

Jolad Shivali U., Devaraja T.N., Swamy C.T. and Gayathri D.

Page No: 11-19

Areca nut palm (Areca catechu) is one of the important commercial crops. In India especially in Karnataka and Kerala states, this crop is cultivated. As soil nutritive value plays a crucial role for the higher yield, in the present study, a by-product of Biofuel production Pongamia cake was used along with cow dung and enriched indigenous bacterial inoculum. Soil samples were collected from areca nut plantation of district demonstration and production center for Biofuel, ICAR-Taralabalu Krishi Vigyana Kendra, Tolahunase, Davangere. Since bacteria are fast multiplying and quickly adaptable, 18 bacterial isolates were chosen for the development of the inoculum. Out of which, 83.33% of isolates were gram-positive, 16.77% were gram-negative cocci and bacilli. On carbohydrate fermentation, distinct biochemical diversity was recorded. Diversity with respect to utilization of citrate MR-VP, indole, KOH solubility, H2S production and urease production and nitrate reduction was also observed.

The soil analysis showed that the decrease in the soil pH and EC and increase in the N, P and K content on weekly sampling for four consecutive weeks. From the present study, it has been revealed that the usage of Pongamia cake with bacterial enrichment enhanced N, P, K contents to the areca nut soil. Further, the cow dung usage also increased the available nitrogen content of the areca nut soil along with bacterial inoculants to a large extent.

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Cultivation of Lentinus squarrosulus Mont. and Lentinus sajor-caju Fr. on agroforestry wastes under field conditions

Njouonkou André-Ledoux, Nchare Pokassa Idriss, Suh Christopher and Tsopmbeng Gaston Noumbo

Page No: 20-25

Lentinus sajor-caju and L. squarrosulus are two important wild edible saprotrophic mushrooms used in tropical Africa. However, they have not yet been commercially cultivated and their uses depend largely on the environmental conditions. In order to improve the management of agricultural wastes and contribute to insure food security in Cameroon, a study was performed to assess the production of these mushrooms on different agroforestry wastes in rural farm conditions during the dry season.

Fragments of young wild sporophores were used to produce the spawns used to cultivate fruiting bodies on corn cobs, coffee parchment, rice husk, sawdust and mixture of wood sawdust with rice husks. For spawn production, mycelia growth was successful on all substrates with wood sawdust having the highest volume, colonizing 841.21 cm3 and 836.78 cm3 for L. squarrosulus and L. sajor-caju respectively after 30 days. Fruiting of the mushrooms started 94 days after inoculation. The best biological efficiency was obtained on corn cobs and sawdust for L. sajor-caju and L. squarrosulus respectively. This study supported the fact that native edible Lentinus can be produced in farm condition mainly on wood base substrate.

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Slaughter Traits and Carcass Characteristics of Different Durations of Post Hatch Feeding Delay in Chabro Chicks

Irfan Shakeel, Azmat Alam Khan, Saim Qureshi, Sheikh Adil and Banday M.T.

Page No: 26-29

A study was carried out to quantify the effect of post hatch delay in feeding on the slaughter traits and the carcass characteristics of Chabro chicks. 400 days old Chabro chicks were divided into 5 groups, each comprising of four replicates of 20 birds each. Chicks pertaining to G1 were offered feed at hatchery itself. Feeding in groups G2, G3, G4 and G5, was initiated after the delay of 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours.

The results indicated no adverse effect on the slaughter traits or on the carcass characteristics of Chabro birds except some significant differences in giblet weight and the intestinal weight.

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Performance of exotic date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) genotypes in Bangladesh

Faruquei M.A.B., Saha A., Nasim M., Khatun A., Ibrahim M., Harun Ar Rashid, Dewan M.M.R., Quais M.K., Mondal S., Pramanik S., Parvin N., Islam A.B.M.J., Asad Uz Zaman M., Shirazy B.J., Mostafizur A.B.M., Khatun L., Eftekhar Uddin M., Chakrobarty T. and Shahidullah S.M.

Page No: 30-37

Date (Phoenix dactylifera) is a noble fruit cultivated mainly in dry and hot area of the globe. Wild relative of date palm (Phoenix sylvestris) is frequently grown all over Bangladesh. A long-term study had been initiated in 2013 with the seeds of 10 famous date cultivars collected from the International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), United Arab Emirates (UAE). Aim of the current study was to assess the adaptability of exotic date fruit in Bangladesh. Segregated population of the cultivars is growing in the historical Mujibnagar Complex, Meherpur, Bangladesh. This vast population of the species is being established as a germplasm centre. Vegetative growth and flowering response of all the varieties were found encouraging. Among the cultivars the highest percentage of female plants (14%) was recorded in Deglet noor.

Though this ratio is too small but not discouraging. In this population there are vast number of plants with diversified nature. Better genotype and best adapted plant might be selected from the current population. This effort would help us to release appropriate date palm cultivars for Bangladesh environment.

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Role of Biostimulant Formulations in Crop Production: An Overview

Hazra Dipak Kumar and Purkait Aloke

Page No: 38-46

Biostimulants are compatible with the most advanced farming techniques used in integrated crop management. Natural plant biostimulants are important in sustainable crop production systems and to enhance nutrient use efficiency, abiotic stress tolerance and crop quality. This study discusses the different formulations strategy of biostimulant in crop production and considers the fundamental and innovative principles underlying this technology.

The role of biostimulant in increasing crop production, making available food at cheap rates and improvement in quality of food cannot be overemphasized. This has brought the importance of biostimulant formulations to the fore. This requires that the biostimulant formulation be chemically stable and physically uniform under all foreseeable storage conditions so that the minimum effective amount can be accurately applied to target areas. The goal is to ensure safety in handling and during application and to optimize biostimulant efficacy.

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