Biography:

Abdirashid Elmi is a soil Scientist with expertise in Nutrient Cycling (C, N and P), Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Agricultural Water Quality issues. As an Agricultural/Environmental Scientist, his research investigates “Production systems that are environmentally and economically sustainable, including those that mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by increasing carbon sequestration”. He has published over 30 peer-reviewed scientific publications and two textbook chapters. He is an Associate Chief Editor for a number of international journals in Soil/Environmental Science.

Abstract:

Kuwait is one of the few countries in the world that depend entirely on food imports for food security. Consequently, there is a sense of urgency to promote local food production to meet, partly at least, the growing food demand. Local farmers are adopting organic agriculture on a growing scale with little experience and absence of well-defined standards against which the quality of their products can be measured. This study is designed to investigate the organic farming in Kuwait by comparing the organically grown vegetables with conventional grown vegetables samples. Total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) contents were higher in the organically grown than in conventional crops. A striking observation was high concentrations of heavy metals (As, Pb, Cu and Zn) under organic crops than conventional crops, a sharp contrast with the findings of previous studies. With respect to survey study, results indicate that people perceive organic food as a healthy and safe food to consume.

Biography:

Feibo Wu completed her PhD in 2003 at Zhejiang University (ZJU). She is the Deputy Director of Crop Science Institute-Zhejiang University. Her main research interest includes “Evaluation and identification of plant germplasm, mainly in barley, tolerant to abiotic stresses and its molecular physiology, and phytoremediation of metal-contaminated environments and safe crop production”. She has published 97 papers in reputed SCI-journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of Plant Growth Regulation.

Abstract:

Drought and salinity are the major abiotic stresses that limit agricultural production and dramatically threaten the food supply worldwide. Development of barley for improved drought and salinity resistance requires the knowledge of physiological mechanisms and genetic control of the contributing traits. Tibetan annual wild barley is rich in genetic variation. Here, we demonstrate the physiological and molecular differences between Tibetan wild (XZ5, drought-tolerant; XZ16, salinity/aluminum-tolerant) and cv. CM72 (salinity tolerant cultivar) in response to individual and combined stresses (D+S) of drought (4% soil moisture, D) and salinity (S). Tibetan wild barley XZ5/XZ16 showed to be more tolerant to combined stress of drought and salinity than cv. CM72. The stress tolerance mechanism of wild barley is partially attributed to lower Na⁺/K⁺ ratio, improved water use efficiency (WUE), increased capacity of anti-oxidative enzymes to scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS), increased activities of the carbohydrate and secondary metabolism related enzymes relative to cv. CM72. Comparative proteomic analysis identified 34 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) related tolerance to drought and salinity alone or a combination. Differentially regulated proteins predominantly had functions in photosynthesis, but also in detoxification, energy metabolism, and protein biosynthesis. Importantly, identification of stress responsive proteins and higher expression of their related genes i.e. SAM3, BSA1, PDX11 and TUFA in Tibetan wild barley represents the stress adaption mechanisms. Our findings add knowledge that wild barley is a treasure trove of useful genes and offer rich sources of genetic variation which can be exploited

in future efforts for breeding barley for multiple stress tolerance.

Biography:

Metin Turan has completed his PhD in Soil Science at Ataturk University. He is currently working as a Full Professor in Genetics and Bioengineering department at Yeditepe University. He has published more than 100 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of repute.

Abstract:

This study was conducted on greenhouse conditions. The trial was conducted in 60 pots with an experimental design of 1x4x5 factorial, one plant (wheat), and four humic acid doses (0, 2, 4 and 8 lit da^-1). Each treatment was five replicate. Plant and soil samples were taken at the end of the growing period. Plant and soil nitrogen contents and plant grain were determined. The results obtained have shown that plant nitrogen contents significantly affected the wheat plant growing and soil conditions. The highest wheat nitrogen contents were obtained at 4.00 lit da^-1 humic acid application doses. But the highest available soil nitrogen contents were obtained at 8.00 lit da^-1 humic acid application doses. The lowest plant nitrogen contents were obtained in control group. Positive correlations were determined between the humic acid and wheat plant nitrogen contents and dry matter. Especially, optimum wheat nitrogen contents were obtained at 2.80 lit da^-1 humic acid application dose to the other applications.

 

Biography:

Shambhavi Yadav has her expertise in Molecular Plant Breeding. Her research work has been focused on “Use of molecular genetics and transcriptomics approaches in understanding calcium accumulation in finger millet”. She has done genetic diversity and population structure analyses in diverse finger millet germplasm and carried out linkage and association mapping to reveal quantitative trait loci for calcium content trait. Her work also include in silico mining of simple sequence repeats in finger millet developing-seed transcriptome thereby generating rich SSR resource in finger millet. Currently, she is working in the area of “Genetics and propagation of important forest trees and medicinal plants and also involved in in vitro conservation of forest genetic resources”.

Abstract:

Statement of the Problem: Increased calcium content in cereals could result in biofortification for combating mineral deficiencies. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is one such crop with grains highly rich in calcium. Understanding the genetic basis of grain calcium content (GCC) is critical for improvement of finger millet. In present study, marker-trait association for GCC in finger millet was explored using association mapping.

Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: A global collection of 238 genotypes was taken for present study and genotyped using 85 genic and non-genic simple sequences repeats (SSR) markers. Phenotyping for GCC was done using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Association analysis of SSR allelic data with GCC was carried out using TASSEL 3.0.1 software.

Results: The 85 SSRs yielded 160 scorable alleles, of which 62 were polymorphic with polymorphic information content ranging from 0.143 to 0.781 at an average of 0.359. GCC across 238 genotypes ranged from 0.07% to 0.45%. Association analysis revealed two genomic SSRs UGEP78 and UGEP60 to be significantly associated to GCC quantitative trait loci (QTL) at threshold (P) value≤0.001 and exhibiting phenotypic variance (R2) of 6.4 to 13.8% respectively. Genotypes GPHCPB45 and GPHCPB44 from North-West Himalayan region of India and exotic genotypes IE2957 and IE6537 were found to possess highest GCC. These may be effectively used as parents in genetic improvement programs.

Conclusion & Significance: In present study, marker UGEP60 found linked to QTL for GCC belongs to linkage-group 1B of finger millet which shows co-linearity with rice chromosome 1 harboring a calcium content QTL and thus fine mapping around QTL on finger millet linkage-group 1B could lead to identification of potential genes affecting this trait. Moreover, identified markers could be used in map based cloning and marker assisted introgression. The present study therefore, provides a basis for genetic improvement of calcium content in finger millet.

Figure1: Determination of marker-trait association for grain calcium content in finger millet

Biography:

Asma Osivand completed her MSc thesis entitled “Investigating the possibility of producing hybrids with single-spore isolates of Pleurotus florida”. She is pursuing her PhD in Bio-regulation science at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and her thesis entitled “Allelopathy of edible and wild mushroom” with the aim of finding new biochemical to use it as safe herbicide.

Abstract:

Wild mushrooms have been always considered as valuable source of bioactive compounds, while edible mushrooms have been known for their importance as food source. However, their interaction with plants through chemicals that could lead to find new biochemical has not been well undertaken. A special bioassay method (sandwich method) was applied to compare eight common edible mushrooms (Pleurotus eryngii, Pleurotus citrinopileatus, Pleurotus ostreatus, Lentinula edodes, Grifola frondosa, Flammulina velutipes, Hypsizygus tessellatus and Pholiota namako) with some wild species (Ganoderma appelanatum, Amanita pantherina, Artomyces pyxidatus, Morchella conica, Tricholosporum porphyrophyllum, Trametes hirsuta) for their phytotoxicity against lettuce. Among all tested edible mushrooms, application of 5 mg of P. ostreatus showed stronger allelopathic activity by inhibiting the growth of radicle and hypocotyl of lettuce by 84% and 63% respectively. Moreover, same amount of T. porphyrophyllum exerted 77% and 67% growth inhibition on radicle and hypocotyl of lettuce. In general biochemical contributed in tested mushrooms could be the main cause for their inhibitory activity and could lead to find new allele-chemicals.

Figure1: A) 5mg sandwich method of edible mushrooms have shown. B) The sandwich method of 5mg wild mushrooms have illustrated.   

Biography:

D N Kambrekar is an Assistant Professor of Agricultural Entomology in Department of Agricultural Entomology at University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India. He has worked on “Bio-pesticides mainly on viral pesticides and their utilization in the IPM of pod borer, H. armigera in different crops”. Presently, he is operating a project on integrated management of grape stem borer. 

Abstract:

Grape stem borer, Celosterna scabrator is an important production constraint in grapes in India. It is a major pest of grapes in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states causing major damage in the field. The insect is a borer, the grub bores in to stem and branches and causes drying and withering of affected branches. Initially reddish sap oozes from wounds, chewed particles of wood are seen on the ground just below the site of damage. Wood dust and faecal matter at the base of the vine is indication of the borer activity. The leaves turn yellow in patches that resemble micronutrient deficiency, which ultimately dry and drop down. There are only few management strategies for the pest. Injecting dichlorvos solution into the hole followed by sealing with mud is a present management practice which controls the activity of the pest only up to 15 days. The proposed formulation of chlorantraniliprole (Ferterra 0.4 GR) is belonging to a new class of selective insecticides (anthranilic diamides) featuring a novel mode of action as it is taken up through plant roots and translocated throughout the plant tissues and growing points providing protection to developing plants. A two years study (2014-15 and 2015-16) revealed that chlorantraniliprole (Ferterra 0.4 GR) @ 15 g/vine applied at the root zone of the grape plant is found effective and economical for the management of grape stem borer. The insecticide has ceased the activity of the insect even up to 60 days after application which is evident from the lesser amount of frass collected from the live holes and higher number of live holes turning in to dead holes. Thus, chlorantraniliprole (Ferterra 0.4 GR) @ 15 g/vine can be effective means in managing the stem borer which reduces the cost on plant protection and increases the returns.