June 30, 2015

Tests of propagation of Pseudospondias microcarpa A. Rich. under the climatic conditions of Franceville in the southeastern of Gabon - JBES


  • Pamphile Nguema Ndoutoumou*, Paul Ondo Ovono, Alain Serges Ondo-Azi, Audrey Wilson Ignanga Ignanga, Antoine Mitte Mbeang Beyeme

Pseudospondias microcarpa A. Rich is a tropical tree species, which is not domesticated despite its food and pharmacological potentials. This study aims at introducing its domestication using two types of substrate. The first substrate (S1) is a mixture of compost and local soil while the second substrate (S2) is only made of local soil.
The goal is to determine the best method of propagating P. microcarpa, among the following three techniques: direct sowing of seeds, cutting and layering. For the direct sowing, seeds germinated in 41.67 % and 29.16 %, respectively in the substrates S1 and S2. Besides, the axillary and foliar growth of the plantlets was identical in both substrates. These results are due to the composition of the substrates and to the phenological stage occurring at the end of the observations.
Out of the 55 % of cuttings which recovered, all the plantlets withered then dried out. The insufficiency of the photosynthetic reserves and the lack of formation of calluses introducing the roots formation explain these phenomena. About 83 % of marcotts formed adventitious roots regardless the substrate, which explains a predisposition of the substrates in the induction of the roots formation. Of the three techniques tested, layering was found to be the best method of propagation of P. microcarpa.

Full Articles Available at: Volume 6, Number 3, March 2015 – JBES

Published Journal's: Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES)

June 28, 2015

Screening and evaluation of ligninolytic dye decolourisation capacity of Pleurotus ostreatus - JBES


























  • Patient D. Dhliwayo-Chiunzi, Ruvimbo Rwafa, Lydia Mugayi, Fungai Siwanja, Talent Ngurube, Glasnost Hudson, Hope Mvundura, Shumirai Nyashonjeka, Tapiwaishe Madeya

Ligninolytic enzymes as biocatalysts have the potential to replace conventional processes in several industries including the water purification industry especially in the treatment of dye effluent.

Development of water treatment systems based on ligninolytic enzymes is a desirable option because ligninolytic enzymes can degrade dyes of diverse chemical structure and be used in a wide variety of industries. Studies were carried out to evaluate and screen for ligninolytic dye decolourisation capacity of Pleurotus ostreatus (P.ostreatus). Pure fungal cultures of P.ostreatus were screened for ligninolytic enzyme activity using solid phase decolourisation of aromatic food dyes. The assay was carried out on PDA plates with 100mg/l of individual commercial food dyes - Sunset Yellow, Orange C10 and Lemon Yellow. All the food dyes were effectively bleached or decolourised by fungal mycelia of P.ostreatus after 10 days of active growth in the dark at 25oC.

The observation strongly suggests the presence of fungal peroxidase enzymes which play a role in the degradation of synthetic lignin or dyes. Lignin peroxidase (LiP) activity from crude enzyme extract was determined using the method of Tien and Kirk, 1988. An average LiP activity of 7.635U/ml was observed under Solid State Fermentation (SSF) by P.ostreatus in wheat bran/soya bean substrate (90:10) after 10 days of full substrate colonisation. In agreement with the results of other workers, the study indicates potential for P.ostreatus for industrial production of ligninolytic enzymes through solid state fermentation on locally available agricultural products.

Get Full Article at: Volume 6, Number 3, March 2015 – JBES

Published Journal: Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES)

June 23, 2015

Pathogenicity of root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) on sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) - IJAAR | International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research (IJAAR)

  • O.S. Osunlola*, B. Fawole
Root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita, is a major biotic factor militating against sweet potato production. The pathogenicity of M. incognito on three sweet potato cultivars: Kayode, TIS 4400-2 and TIS 70357-OP-1-79 was investigated in a screen house experiment at the Department of Crop Protection and Environmental Biology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. A vine cutting of each cultivar was planted in a 16 litre polyethylene pot containing 15 litre steam-sterilized sandy loam soil.
Three weeks after planting, the seedlings were inoculated separately at four inoculum densities: 0, 30,000, 60,000 and 90,000 eggs of M. incognito using a 3 x 4 factorial experiment replicated four times in a randomized complete block design. Data were collected on fresh shoot weight, fresh root weight, dry shoot weight, dry root weight, galling index, tuber yield, tuber quality and nematode reproduction. All data were analyzed using ANOVA (p<0.05). M. incognita significantly (p<0.05) reduced the fresh shoot weight by 16.3-23.6%, fresh root weight by 28.3-62.3%, number of tubers by 63.2-69.2% and tuber yield by 72.3-83.2%.
The gall index and the final nematode population increased with increase in inoculum density. The result showed that M incognita caused growth, yield and quality reduction in sweet potato; therefore, management of root-knot nematode should be part of sweet potato production efforts especially in areas where the nematode is endemic.

June 22, 2015

Comparative examination of the effect of manure and chemical fertilizers on yield and yield components of rosemary (Rosemarinus officinalis L.) - IJAAR






























  • Seyede Roghaye Hosseini Valiki*, Sobhanallah Ghanbari
In order to examine the effect of manure and chemical fertilizers on the some agronomic characteristics, yield and the amount of essence of rosemary, the experiment was carried out as randomized complete design with 9 treatments at 4 replications at in Sari city at 2013.
Treatments were included witness (control), sheep and vermicompost fertilizers and chemical fertilizers of nitrogen and phosphorus at 6 different amounts which are N150-P150, N150-P200, N150-P250, N200-P150, N200-P200 and N200-P250. The results showed that the all agronomic traits were very significantly affected by the manure and chemical fertilizers compared to the control. The effect of the manure fertilizer was statistically more that chemical fertilizers on the all characteristics. The maximum plant height, leaf wet and dry weight, wet yield, dry yield and the amount of the essence of the plant were attained when manure fertilizers applied and the maximum stem wet and dry weight and the total number of the chain stems were also attained by chemical fertilizers.
It showed that to increase the quality properties and the amount of the essence of the rosemary plant, the use of manure fertilizers is more effective than chemical fertilizers, statistically. Sheep fertilizers as the manure fertilizers increased all the traits and also the rate of essence significantly compared to vermin-compost fertilizers. Thus, sheep fertilizer can be recommended as the best treatment at the present study.

Get Full Article at: Volume 6, Number 2, February 2015 – IJAAR

Published Journals:  International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research (IJAAR)



June 20, 2015

Morphological and genetic variation in Aegilops geniculata Roth. from Tunisia - IJAAR

  • Khaled Mguis1,2†, Asma Mahjoub3†, Mejda Abassi2 , Ali Albouchi2 , Zeineb Ouerghi1, Ben Brahim Nadia3 , Zoubeir Béjaoui2
Aegilops geniculata Roth is an annual grass relative to cultivated wheats and is widely distributed in North Africa. In order to understand the diversity of this species, 13 populations collected in different bioclimatic areas in north and central Tunisian were analyzed using morphological and molecular characters.
Principal component analyses (PCA) based on the agro- morphological characters allowed the separation of populations in five mainly bioclimatic groups characterized by different morphological patterns. Populations originated from humid coastal areas were characterized by good vegetative development, vigorous spikes and caryopses. Samples collected from mean altitude with sub-humid climate had late germination and a large growing cycle a high biomass production and weak caryopses. Populations collected from intermediate and high mountains with sub-humid and semi-arid conditions presented good fertility and high yield-related. Individuals with early germination, weak vegetative development and high caryopses yield characteristics of the coastal areas and plains in sub-humid and the upper semi-arid climate. Populations originated from steppic highlands in upper arid conditions and mean and high altitudes mountains with upper semi-arid were characterized by low morphological development, weak fertility reduction of yield-related and shortening of growing cycle.
Individuals were distinguished successively by Phenological, morphological and Yield-related traits. RAPD analysis based on the phenotypic variability and genetic distances revealed a significant variation within and between populations associated with bioclimatic conditions, in particular winter temperature. Genetic diversity was higher in populations growing under warm bioclimates than in those from cold bioclimates.

June 10, 2015

Effect of foliarly applied potassium on Capsicum Annuum L. grown under sodium chloride stress--IJAAR


































Authors: Sawaira Naz1, Muhammad Hamayun1, Aqib Sayyed1, Seema Gul1, Zahida Parveen2,
Muhammad Khalid1, Humaira Gul1


Salinity is one of the environmental factors that has a critical influence on the germination and plant establishment. In present study, two independent experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of salinity and potassium on germination, seedling establishment and growth of Capsicum annuum L.
A range of sodium chloride concentrations control (non-saline), 60mM NaCl (EC=8.5mS/cm), 100mM (EC=11.73mS/cm) showed reduction in germination percentage and different parameters of seedling stage (plumule length, root length, fresh and dry biomass). Application of potassium (400 ppm and 800 ppm KNO3) enhances the germination percentage and seedling growth. To study the vegetative growth, some biochemical aspects and ionic composition of different plant parts of Capsicum annuum L., a pot experiment was conducted in Botanical Garden, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Pakistan. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized factorial design with three replicates. Potassium nitrate was used as the potassium source.
The rate of potassium treatment was 400 and 800 ppm. Plants were subjected to 60mM (EC=8.5mS/cm), 100mM (EC=11.73mS/cm) levels through addition of NaCl to irrigation water. Results showed that by increasing salt concentration different growth parameters (Plant height, root length, number of leaves, fresh and dry biomass) exhibited decrease. Electrolyte leakage, chlorophyll content, carotenoids, total proteins showed increase under different salt treatments. It has been concluded that application of both concentration of KNO3 (400 & 800 ppm) through leaves exhibited enhancement effect on growth parameters under normal as well as saline condition but 800 ppm KNO3 concentration exhibited more pronounced alleviating effect under NaCl stress.

FULL ARTICLES AVAILABLE AT: Volume 6, Number 5, May 2015 – IJAAR
PUBLISHED JOURNALS: International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research (IJAAR)

June 7, 2015

The effects of priming by folic acid and hydrogen peroxide on morphophysiological traits in cannabis seeds (Cannabis sativa L.) - JBES

  • Shirin Karbalaye Golizadeh1, Tooraj Mir Mahmoodi*2, Nabi Khaliliaqdam3
  1. Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Mahabad Branch,Islamic Azad University, Mahabad, Iran
  2. Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Mahabad Branch, Islamic Azad University,
    Mahabad, Iran
  3. Department of Agriculture, Payame Noor University, Saghez, Iran
Effect of various folic acid and hydrogen peroxide concentration on some traits of cannabis performed based on randomized complete blocks design in research green house of Islamic Azad University of Mahabad, Iran. Experiments treatments were levels of folic acid (0,5,10,15,20,25,27Mm), hydrogen peroxide (0,7.5,15,22.5,30,37.5,40 Mm) and control (non-primed) which replicated 4 in 24 and 6 h in 2014. Laboratory parameters measured included, seed vigor index, germination rate and seedling dry weight And measuring the greenhouse includes RWC, Stomata conductance, dry weight root and plant, specific leaf area and spad. Folic acid was positive trend than hydrogen peroxide. compared to the control and primed with distilled water for 6 hours, respectively about 16 and 11 percent were biological function.
FULL ARTICLE AVAILABLE AT:   Volume 6, Number 2, February 2015 – JBES