Non-living Factors Research Articles

Impact of Different Herbicidal Treatments on Hybrid Maize: A Review

Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important cereal crop grown in the world. The living factors (insects, pests, weeds) and non-living factors (drought, salinity, heat stress) affects the yield of maize; among which weeds are considered as most destructive in decreasing the maize crop yield. Weeds negatively affect the grain yield of maize and increase the production cost of farmers. Various herbicides are used to control weeds in maize including atrazine, tembotrione etc. Atrazine is a pre-emergence herbicide used to control weeds. It is a selective herbicide used to control broad-leaved weeds and annual grasses. Tembotrione is a PoE (Post-emergence) broad spectrum herbicide used to control broad-leaved and grassy weeds in maize. This herbicide effectively reduces the density and dry weight of most of the weeds present in maize crop. Tembotrione gives lower weed index and higher weed control efficiency, when applied at 150 g ha−1 + surfactant and 125 g ha−1 + surfactant at 20 DAS. These herbicide shows no phytotoxicity effect on the crops. They are totally safe for weed control and enhance the productivity and profatibilty of the crop.

Biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in aromatic and medicinal plants in response to abiotic stresses: A review

Climate change has massive consequences on non-living factors in the environment, resulting in irregular precipitation, fluctuating atmospheric temperature, and variations in humidity. These changes cause biotic and abiotic stresses; plants must have defense mechanisms to survive. Therefore, plants divert some synthesized energy towards producing numerous plant secondary metabolites (PSMs), viz., flavonoids, alkaloids, and essential oils. These compounds act as protections for the plants, helping them to survive under stressful conditions. Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) are sessile organisms that are not immune to harmful consequences of various abiotic stresses in which the PSMs have an important role in acting against the adverse effects. In this regard, the MAPs have a coherent defense mechanism for abiotic stresses. The secondary metabolites produced by these plants are useful as medicines and aromatic products for humans. However, not all stresses produce high secondary metabolites, as their production is highly specific to certain stresses. This review provides a comprehensive understanding of secondary metabolite production under various stressful conditions, including extreme temperature, drought, water logging, salinity, harmful radiation, elevated levels of ozone and CO2, heavy metals, and agrochemicals on MAPs. Additionally, the production of these compounds can be modified by subjecting plants to various stressors. Many authors have reported on PSMs in MAPs, which need to be well documented and exploited for humankind.

Plant-microbe Interactions and their Potential Application in Improving Disease Resistance in Vegetable Crops

Microorganisms have a substantial impact on the environment and have been observed to either immunize or infect organisms from all kingdoms. Plants and microorganisms have undergone co-evolution and engage in interactions within their natural environment. Plant microbiota, often known as plant-associated microorganisms, are essential components of plant existence. Similar to other living systems, the plant body interacts with a range of living and non-living factors as it develops in an intricate environment. The plant microbiome can sustain disease suppression by providing essential tasks to their host, such as stress tolerance, vitality, and development. Plants and microorganisms have evolved molecular systems to mutually interact and derive advantages from their interaction. This symbiotic relationship is advantageous for both the microorganisms and the plants. Various pathways have been explored and are currently being utilized to achieve agricultural, environmental, and health benefits, based on this molecular interaction. Plant-associated microorganisms serve a vital role in the growth and development of plants. Microorganisms stimulate plant growth by directly increasing nutrient uptake and stimulating hormone production. The potential benefits of these mutually beneficial interactions between plants and microbes could be connected to develop microbial inoculants for application in agricultural biotechnology. In general, the utilization of microorganisms and the establishment of beneficial plant-microbe interactions offer promising and environmentally favourable approaches for sustainable and organic agriculture worldwide.

Mitigating Cd and bacterial wilt stress in tomato plants through trico-synthesized silicon nanoparticles and Trichoderma metabolites

There has been a growing apprehension in recent years about the harmful effects of environmental pollutants on agricultural output, encompassing both living organisms and non-living factors that cause stress. In this study, the soil application of bulk silicon (Si), silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) and Trichoderma metabolites (TM) were investigated alone or in combination for the management of an important abiotic stress i.e. Cd toxicity and biotic stress i.e. bacterial wilt (BW) in tomato plants. SiNPs were synthesized by Trichoderma and confirmed through XRD, FTIR, and Ranman spectrum analysis. Results showed that Si, SiNPs and TM were all effective treatments. The combine treatment of SiNPs and TM followed by SiNPs alone were superior over other treatments in mitigating Cd toxicity and reducing BW disease on tomato plants. The soil application of these treatments reduced the Cd toxicity by enhancing Cd-tolerance index, decreasing bioavailability of soil Cd, reducing Cd contents and translocation in plants, improving gaseous exchange, photosynthesis, and increasing the antioxidant enzyme activities and their transcriptions. These treatments significantly suppressed BW pathogen leading to the significant decrease in disease index and severity on plants. In vitro evaluation and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis revealed that SiNPs and TM significantly disrupted the cellular morphology of BW pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum. Findings of this study proposes the possible use of SiNPs and TM in mitigating the Cd and BW stress in tomato plants and possibly in other crops.

Eco-Friendly Virtue of Kurinjith Thinai as shown in Kuruntthokai

This article deals with the study of environmental ethics on the basis of the principle of ecology, which deals with the higher ideas expressed in the Kurinjith Thinai songs of the Sangam literature. One of the Sangam pieces of literature, the Kuruntthokai, contains a plethora of elements of ecological theory. Ecology is a field that deals with the natural environment and artificial environment around us. The main objective of this department is to explain the relationship between living and non-living factors and to prevent the destruction of the living environment by avoiding artificial life and taking up natural life. The Kuruntthokai explains the life of the people living in the five kinds of lands. Thus, the purpose of this article is to bring out ideas about the ecological ethics found in the hilly and mountainous Kurinjith Thinai.

The Emergence and Evolution of the Ecosphere

The ecosphere is a natural construction, the development of which fundamentally differs from the way the other planets in our solar system evolved. Life emerged consequently to the connection between non-living factors and macromolecules – complex carbon-based compounds. Living beings had the capacity of creating a new type of informational pattern, which soon assumed the coordination of major processes at the planetary level, and the non-living components – the atmosphere, the hydrosphere and the lithosphere – were substantially modified by the biosphere. Our approach regarding thr evolution of life is an ecological one; emphasis is put on the interrelations between the living and the non-living worlds: the emergence of metabolism, interspecific relations, the use of multiple energy sources; the emergence of life generated biogeochemical cycles and evolutionary processes characterized by self-control, self-organization and self-improvement. A special role was played by the transition from the use of chemical energy to the use of light energy, with the release of oxygen, which, owing to oxidative reactions, became the main element in the global development of most energetic processes. Life progressed from self-reproducing organic macromolecules to protoorganisms, then single-celled organisms (prokaryotes) and finally eukaryotic organisms emerged. In time, they populated all environments: the marine, the brackish, the freshwater, the terrestrial and the underground one. Living beings created two planetary covers: the biosphere and the pedosphere. The interconnection of the biosphere with the non-living covers (the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the lithosphere and the pedosphere) resulted in the emergence of the ecosphere.

Phylogenetic and Physicochemical Study of CBF Gene in Different Plant Species

Temperature changes and environmental stresses are the most important non-living factors in disturbing the favorable conditions that cause metabolic disorders in plant cells. In this regard, CBF systems have the most important role in tolerating cold stress in plants. It is very important to study and compare the sequence of CBF gene and determine the phylogenetic and evolutionary relationships of this gene in different plants using bioinformatics tools. In this study, by examining the amino acid sequence of protein expressed from CBF gene in durum wheat (tetraploid), from Plantcare, NCBI and EXPASY databases and also to investigate the relationships of this gene in forty different plant species, their homology from in terms of protein similarity with MEGA5, UPGMA and Bioedit software was determined. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the nucleotide length of this gene among the forty plants studied above varied from 453 nucleotides for pine to 759 nucleotides for rice. It also showed that the length of this gene in hexaploid wheat plant contains 214 amino acids. The results of analysis of variance showed high diversity between plants. The evolutionary matrix was calculated based on Poisson correlation and showed that there is the highest distance (4.324) and the lowest distance (0.007) between the protein sequences of CBF gene in plants. Based on the results of cluster analysis by UPGMA method, the protein sequence of this gene was divided into three groups. AP2 and ABRE regions were observed in the initial sequence of CBF gene and also the presence of CAAT box in most plants. The existence of genetic diversity of CBF gene in different plants confirms that the differences in gene expression and differences in protein form are due to environmental effects, which in the long run have epigenetic effects and genetic modification of that gene in that plant.

Nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics: A brief review with future prospects

Individual’s genetic makeup best describes the properties regarding its growth and development. It is stored and passed on to generations and is in dynamic equilibrium with the environmental and other non-living factors. The most predominant environmental stimuli are diet/nutrition. Diet/nutrition interacts and modulates varying underlying molecular mechanisms central to various physiological functions basically at three different levels: genome, proteome, and metabolome. Advances in genomic studies are paving the way to the development of scientific insights into nutritional sciences. Nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics are closely associated but two different areas of nutritional research. Both the fields involved the study of the implication between nutrition, metabolism, and genetic mechanism. The primary goal is to pinpoint nutrient-dependent health characteristics and nutrition dependent diseases. Another important area connected to these sciences concerns food composition and performance of quality assessment by studying proteomics and metabolic pathways. Nutrigenomics explains how the nutrients influences or effects the expression of the, while the response of different gene variants to nutrients or different dietary components is called Nutrigenetics. A personalized based diet can help us to know the right nutrient to take or avoid those who may potentially harm overall health. The goals are intended to alter or decrease the impact of hostile dietary changes that have occurred in since past in the developed world and more recently in the developing countries.

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Molecular Defensive Mechanism of Arachis hypogaea in Response to Salt Stress.

Abiotic stresses comprise all nonliving factors, such as soil salinity, drought, extreme temperatures, and metal toxicity, posing a serious threat to agriculture and affecting the plant production around the world. Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is one of the most important crops for vegetable oil, proteins, minerals, and vitamins in the world. Therefore, it is of importance to understand the molecular mechanism of peanut against salt stress. Six transcriptome sequencing libraries including 24-hour salt treatments and control samples were constructed from the young leaves of peanut. A comprehensive analysis between two groups detected 3,425 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) including 2,013 upregulated genes and 1,412 downregulated genes. Of these DEGs, 141 transcription factors (TFs) mainly consisting of MYB, AP2/ERF, WRKY, bHLH, and HSF were identified in response to salinity stress. Further, GO categories of the DEGs highly related to regulation of cell growth, cell periphery, sustained external encapsulating structure, cell wall organization or biogenesis, antioxidant activity, and peroxidase activity were significantly enriched for upregulated DEGs. The function of downregulated DEGs was mainly enriched in regulation of metabolic processes, oxidoreductase activity, and catalytic activity. Fourteen DEGs with response to salt tolerance were validated by real-time PCR. Taken together, the identification of DEGs' response to salt tolerance of cultivated peanut will provide a solid foundation for improving salt-tolerant peanut genetic manipulation in the future.

Identification of alleles related to rice traits using association analysis and haplotyping under normal and drought stress.

Background Rice after wheat is the most important and essential foodstuff in the world and accounts for 40 to 50 percent of the world's food. Rice per capita consumption in iran is 40 kg. Rice consumption in Iran has increased since the 50 and is considered as an essential commodity and the second most important nutrient after wheat. Drought stress is a kind of potential reduction of soil water and in such a situation, plant to maintain and continue water absorption can regulate osmotic potential. The concept of stress in the plant is the negative and severe effect of a number of living or non-living factors in the plant. The environment is on the plant's natural plant that can disrupt dry matter production and decrease its yield. Plant adaptation behavior to drought stress plays an important role in stress tolerance. These behaviors are controlled and controlled by the genes and can function under non-stress conditions. The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the allelic variation, coupling analysis and haplotypes of continuous microsatellite markers to drought tolerance genes in rice. Materials and methods The plant material studied in this research, which included 48 varieties of rice, was prepared from Rice Research Center of iran, (IRRI) research institute and lines produced at Gonbad-e-Kavos University. In a completely randomized block design with Three replicates in two separate floodwaters (without stress) and drought stress in terms of diversity of morphological and genetic traits in Babol province in 2016 were surveyed. Irrigation was done from 40 days after transplantation, which was carried out on 2 irrigation regimes based on the crop year. In the processing stage, grain yield was taken from a surface area of one square meter and grain yield was calculated with a moisture content of 14%. Other traits including 100 grains weight, number of stems, number of filled grains, number of pods, plant height, panicle length, number of panicles, stem diameter, grain length, grain width, grain shape, straw weight, length of period, Flag leaf length, flag leaf width of 10 plants were randomly selected and traits were measured. Molecular studies were performed with nine microsatellite markers related to drought stress tolerance. Findings Considering the significance of interactions between cultivars and cultivations, the variance of the compound was divided into two distinct normal and stresses (Table 1-4, 2-4, and 3-4). Analysis of variance showed both in normal conditions and in drought stress Genotypes were significantly different for all studied traits in both conditions. The 48 genotypes examined were based on 9 microsatellite markers in a total of 31 alleles with an average of 44.3 alleles per gene site. The RM60 marker had the highest number of alleles (six), and RM 324 and RM472 markers had the lowest allele count (two). The average content of multiform data log (PIC) was 51.1, which showed RM22 and RM12093 with 0.68 and RM324 with the lowest of 0.14 (PIC). The results of coupling analysis showed that in the traits of yield and yield components for number of clusters, the number of three negative alleles (RM12093-A, RM60-B, RM22-E) and four alleles (RM216-B, RM28166-B, RM28166- C and RM324-A) had positive regression coefficients. For the number of grains in the cluster, there was a positive allele (RM22C) allele. Three positive alleles (RM19367-A, RM216-A and RM22-D) and a negative allele (RM472-A) were also detected for 1000-grain weight. The functional attribute was correlated with only one allele (RM510-C). The haplotype evaluation divided the microsatellite markers of the genotypes into 25 haplotype groups, of which 23 haplotypes were isolated and the other two groups had two genotypes in their subset. haplotype 1 group (48 and 47 genotypes) had the highest yield of 5540.9 kg / ha and in some cases it could be said that it had the highest drought tolerance. Discussion The comparison of the results of haplotype analysis and the analysis of the association of alleles with the evaluated traits showed that there is a correlation between the results of these two methods of examining the data for the obtained data. Combined analysis of variance showed that most of the studied traits were significant at 1% probability level.

Global epigenetic changes of histone modification under environmental stresses in rice root.

Abiotic stresses are non-living factors with negative morphological and physiological effects on living organisms. Substantial evidence exists that gene expression changes during plant cell growth are regulated by chromatin reconfiguration and histone modification. Several types of histone modifications are dramatically transformed in stress-responsive gene regions under drought stress conditions. Environmental stresses also cause the root apical meristem (RAM) region to decelerate root growth. In this study, we investigated how quantitative changes in epigenetic markers in this region influence rice morphology and physiology. Both iron and salinity treatments changed the epigenetic landscape from euchromatic to heterochromatic according to heterochromatin (H3K9me2) and euchromatin (H3K4me) markers, especially in the proximal meristem region. Moreover, supplementation with external abscisic acid (ABA) was able to mimic the effect of environmental stresses on global epigenetic changes. In contrast, the addition of external auxin (IAA) to rice under saline conditions affected heterochromatin formation without influencing euchromatin transformation. Chromatin dynamics is therefore believed to be directly connected to plant growth regulator signaling. We discuss insights into the role of plant growth regulators: ABA and IAA, peroxide signaling, and their effects on the global epigenetic change of histone modification under abiotic stresses.

Erratum to: How Accurate are Paleoecological Reconstructions of Early Paleontological and Archaeological Sites?

1. The definition of habitat (on page 2) and ecosystem is incomplete. For habitat it currently reads; a place where a population of animals and plants live, as well as their surroundings, both living and non-living. This should read as follows: A portion of the biome, which shows distinctive faunal, vegetational, trophic and lithological properties. For ecosystem it currently reads; An ecosystem here is considered as part of ecology consisting of the environment, its living parts, and the non-living factors that affect it. It should read: An ecosystem here is considered as part of ecology within a defined pluviometric regime consisting of the environment (with its range of habitats), its living parts, and the non-living factors that affect it. 2. Page 4 of the current pdf, first column, first paragraph, line 12. It reads: in this case lacustrine and alluvial habitats). It should read: (most of the time, alluvial habitats). 3. Page 7 of current pdf. First column, 4th paragraph. Here, the reference to Figure 2 is incorrect as it refers to a figure that was removed during revisions. This figure 2 does not exist in this paper. 4. Table 1 caption should be modified to: Minimum number of individuals (MNI) according to taxa reported in the Rwenzori National park for the whole ecosystem, the alluvial portion of the ecosystem and the thaphocoenosis documented in the latter. 5. Table 2 caption should be modified to: Number of animals collected throughout the alluvial woodland habitats sampled areas 1–6 in the Tarangire Park by Lamprey (1964). The areas sampled are: Riverine grassland, Acacia tortilis woodland, Gall Acacia woodland, drainage line woodland, Acacia-Commiphora woodland, Acacia mellifera-Commiphora woodland. 6. Figure 2 caption. The first sentence should be expanded as follows: Hierarchical agglomerative cluster analyses of several African national parks representing wooded biomes and more open savanna landscapes compared to two Pliocene hominin localities in Ethiopia. Data on bovid tribe.....

Diseases of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus Valenciennes, 1844) in China. A review from 1953 to 1983.

A review is briefly made for the research on the diseases of grass carp from 1953 to 1983 in China. Grass carp which is one of the four famous Chinese “farm fish” is particularly important freshwater fish in China. However, it is most susceptible to various kinds of diseases so far we know in China. The pathogens included viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoan, worms, crustaceans, algae and larvae of molluscs. Besides, some kinds of diseases were cuased by non-living factors. For the widely epidemical diseases, they have been studied on etiology, epidemiology and prevention and cure. Some good results for controlling most of these diseases have been obtained. For preventive culture of grass carp, comprehensive measures of technical management were applied. Recently, we have found that hygenic surrounding like rice fields are good places to prevent grass carp's diseases, in the meantime the weed eating grass carp helps rice plant to preserve the energy wasted by the weeds. A mutural relationship between rice plant and grass carp has well been established recently in China. Extensive works were carried out for the investigation of parasites of grass carp. 127 species of parasites have been discovered from this kind of fish, among them 73 were new species and two new families were suggested.

Physical Site Factors Influencing Annual Production of True Mountain Mahogany, Cercocarpus Montanus

True mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus niontanus Raf.) is a widely distributed browse species of major importance in the western United States. The palatability is good to excellent for all classes of livestock and it is onie of the most valuable winter foods for deer and other herbivorous big game animals. Fundamental knowledge of the ecology of this browse plant is extremely limited. Increasing emphasis on the miiaintenance and manipulation of browse ranges requires that basic information be obtained oni the plants providing the forage. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of physical site factors which inifluence the annual production of true moulntain imahiogalny. The investigation was designed to identify the physical site factors significantly infIluencilng the annual production of true mlouniitaini mahograny, and to assess the relative importance of these factors. Site factors are commonly grouped into two primary classifications: living and non-living. The non-living factors may be divided into the broad categories of climate and physiography. This study is concerned with the physiographic factors relating to soil and topographv. For invaluable counsel aind directioni (lurirlg the study the author wishes to thanklik the following individuals: Dr. Lee E. Yeager, Leader, Colorado Cooperative Wildlife Research UTnit, Colorado State University; Dr. Harold WV. Steinihoff alnd Prof. Charles Terwilliger of the College of Forestry and Range Managemiienit, Colorado State University; Mr. E. H. Reid and Dr. Jacob L. Kovner, Clhief, Divisioni of Ra-nge Researchi alnd Mathematical Statistician, respectively, of the 1 Based on a thesis submitted to the Graduate School of Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado. The investigation was sponsored, financed, and supervised by the Colorado Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit and the Colorado Game and Fish Department, Federal Aid Project W-101-R. Publication by permission of the Dean, Graduate School, Colorado State University. 2 Formerly graduate fellow, Colorado Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit; the Colorado Game and Fish Department, the Colorado State University, the Wildlife Management Institute, Washington, D. C., and the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, cooperating. Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station; Dr. Elmer E. Remmenga, Director, Statistics Laboratory, Colorado State University; and Dr. John L. Retzer, Staff Assistant, Forest Soils, U. S. Forest Service, Washington, D. C.