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Provided in this document are descriptions of reforestation projects and techniques presented by Peace Corps volunteers from Chad, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta, and Niger. The purpose of the document is to aid individuals in trying to find solutions to the problems facing forestry in the Sahel. These projects include: (1) reforestation of Ronier palm ("Borassus aethiopum") in the Dallo Maouri; (2) development of village nurseries in the Kongoussi region of Upper Volta; (3) the Yegelalan sand dune stabilization project; (4) Acacia Albida Project in Chad (establishing strands of "Acacia Albida" trees in grain fields); and (5) the Dougui forestry project, which focuses on reforestation through protection of natural regeneration. Also included are reports from the 1977 Peace Corps Forestry Conference. These reports focus on: windbreak planting; direct seeding of "Acacia senegal"; village reforestation; afforestation in N'Guigmi; vegetation inventory of the Dinderesso Foret Classe; determination of the proper date to commence planting; planting in relation to rainfall; village woodlots at Magaria; and vegetation/habitat type-map of Park National de W du Niger. Schedule of the 1978 conference and notes from workshops of desertification are also provided. (JN)

Medicinal plants are plants that contain therapeutic properties or have some beneficial pharmacological effects on human body. Traditionally, medicinal plants play a major role to help treat, cure, and prevent various disease in the community around the world. Brunei flora is quite wealthy with various plants with medicinal benefits. These plants are more renowned today as people have more knowledge and more research has been conducted to study them. Among the issues related to the use of medicinal plants directly or in fresh form is that the content of the medicinal substance could be inconsistent, hence the effectiveness of the medication is also inconsistent. This is especially true if the plants are grown naturally, and not cultivated specifically for pharmaceutical purposes. Therefore, it is the main objective of this research to learn the best farming practice for a living pharmacy and to design a smart farming system that is suitable to grow these local medicinal plants specifically, to cater not only for the farmers, but for anyone who are interested in growing their own medicinal plants that are suitable for the weather condition in Brunei Darussalam. In this research, experiment is done to a set of five different medicinal plants. Two types of organic fertilizers are used to treat the plants, avoiding the use of chemical substances. Electronic sensors are used to monitor the soil condition and solar energy is used to power the sensors and other electronic circuits within the automated monitoring and maintenance system of the plants. Wi-Fi application that allows users to monitor remotely, the data from the system is also developed. Comparison between the effect of the two organic fertilizers to the plants growth and soil conditions are done. Measurement and analysis are presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an analysis of the morphological, anatomical and biochemical parameters of callus culture of heather. Calluses were grown using new synthesized compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants and microbes form a wide range of associations. They have the ability to grow above and below ground, as well as within plants. This interaction is important for plant growth, soil structure, and disease control. It is interesting to know that this interaction eventually turned out to be mutualistic, with microbes utilizing nutrients from plants and plants evolving complex defense strategies and stress resolutions in response. Antioxidants are known to play an important role in the body's defense mechanism against ROS. The objective of this paper is to investigate plant antioxidant activity and its significance. This review also emphasized the antioxidant potential of plants and their stimulation by microbial intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elicitors are compounds that can stimulate several types of plant resistance. Elicitors can activate genes that encode enzymes to synthesize primary, and secondary metabolites, plant growth, and development. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the morphoanatomical characteristics of sweet potato plants treated with salicylic acid as an elicitor. The type of variety used is Cilembu. This study used a completely randomized design (CRD) with five replications. Treatment of salicylic acid (A): control (A0), salicylic acid 0.15 g/L (A1), salicylic acid 0.30 g/L(A2), and salicylic acid 0.45 g/L (A3), with five times of replication. Observations the highest morphoanatomical character was obtained in treatment A3 for the parameters of lamina length, namely 18.98 ± 0.53 Cm, lamina width 13.20 ± 0.45 Cm, internode length 15.41 ± 1.15 Cm, branch length 62.94 ± 6.75 Cm, number of branches 4.66 ± 0.58, caulis diameter 1.12 ± 0.13 Cm, petiole length 38.97 ± 0.61 Cm, petiole diameter 0.97 ± 0.06 Cm, lamina thickness 456.14 ± 8.12 µm, petiole cortex diameter 493.09 ± 3.87 µm, stomata diameter 6.21 ± 0.41µm. The highest mean number of leaves in treatment A2 was 27.33 ± 2.08. The application of salicylic acid can induce morphoanatomical characteristics of sweet potato plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted using pots during the growing season 2017-2018 to investigate the effects of grain soaking with ascorbic acid (0, 50, and 100) mg. l-1 of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) plants growing under salt stress with NaCl (0, 75 and 150) mM and their interaction on plant growth, yield, and some physiological parameters. The experiment was designed according to Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications. The results showed that the effect of salinity stress especially from 150 mM significantly reduced the average of the characteristics studied: plant height, stem diameter, shoot dry weight, root dry weight, spike length, number of spikelets/spike, number of grains/spike, grains weight/spike, chlorophyll content, nitrogen percentage, phosphorus percentage, and potassium percentage; by 16.98%, 33.69%, 33.70%, 26.76%, 31.44%, 27.01%, 20.99%, 34.18%, 12.14%, 20.08%, 57.14%, and 9.66% compared with control respectively. While ascorbic acid soaking showed a significant increase in the averages of the characteristics studied, by 14.63% ,62.64% ,100.70% , 90.82% , 20.21% , 26.14% , 13.05% , 18% ,30% , 18.09% , 41.67% and 8.75% for the previous mentioned traits respectively compared with control. The results showed a significant effect of interaction between both factors in all the characteristics studied, especially ascorbic acid concentration of 100 mg. L−1 and 0 mM of NaCl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ipomoea aquatica (water spinach) is a long and leafy green vegetable with hollow stems that easily grown on the water surface or damp soil. It is a tropical and subtropical perennial herbaceous aquatic or semiaquatic plant. Water spinach needs more water compared to other vegetable crops, thus suggested to employ slow-release fertilizer for sustain the available nutrients in the soil that being leached off by watering. Nitrogen uptake is the major issue in agriculture to sustain the quality of crops and soil for planting medium. Several studies have been conducted on many types of fertilizer and showed beneficial results on growth of water spinach. This study aimed the research on comparing the nitrogen uptake rate study during the planting period for both organic and inorganic fertilizer. The measurement of plant height, dosage of fertilizer and nitrogen uptake were highlighted in this research activities. Pots has been used and the growth of water spinach was evaluated along 30 days of planting. The spent mushroom medium (SMM) compost and NPK-16 fertilizer were used to evaluate the rate of nitrogen uptake for water spinach based on the Michaelis Menten kinetic study to evaluate the best fertilizer dosage with research design activities. It was showed that a 1 g of NPK16 fertilizer was equivalent to 2 g of SMM in the amount of N. There was a clear correlation between the nitrogen concentration and the water spinach growth. From the result obtained, the application of NPK16 fertilizer provided higher nitrogen value initially. However, SMM compost improved both physical and chemical to help water spinach absorbed sufficient moisture and nitrogen uptake at a steady state rate owing to the higher organic matter in SMM. As a conclusion, SMM compost resulted better nitrogen uptake efficiency by improved the soil fertility and better growth of water spinach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was carried out under a plastic house during 2019/2020 in Al-Hindiya Herticaullare Station, Karbala Province, Iraq. Seeds of moringa were planted in black polyethylene bags of 5 kg soil capacity Factorial experiment within Completely Randomized Design (C.R.D) with three replicates was adopted Data were statiscally analyzed and means were compared by using Least Significant Difference (L.S.D) at 0.05 probability level. The aim was to assess the effect of three levels of the nano chelated Fe i.e. 0 ,180 and 360 mg. l−1 , and four levels of Boron(B) i.e. 0, 25 ,50 and 75 mg.L−1 sprayed either once or twice – on the root growth. Results revealed that. Iron significantly affected on the root growth parameters.where 360 mg. l−1 Fe gave the highest values of root dry, root length, root size and root diameter giving 9.67g.pl−1 ,28.50 cm , 21.46 cm3 and 2.23cm respectively compared with the lowest values of faired from the control treatment , which gave 6.01 g , 20.42cm, 18.03cm3and1.12cm respectively. Root dry weight where 75mgl−1 gave 11.07g compared with the control which gave4,2,3g plants sprayed once gave heavier root 8.64g compared with plants sprayed twice which gave7.54g. The interaction between of spraying and B significantly affected dry weight of root, where B at 75mg.l−1sprayed once gave 11.26g compared with the control treatment which gave 4.72g. Boron, bi-interaction and tri-interaction did not affect root, growth parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mathematical growth models have been widely applied to different biological phenomenon over the years. Mathematicians and biologists have been introducing various mathematical growth models to study biological phenomenon based on empirical observations and experimental results. This paper aims to review the application and performance of the mathematical growth models in population growth, bacterial growth, tumor growth, fishery growth and plant growth in a concise manner to understand the vast potentiality in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought stress has a serious effect on plant growth and development in many regions of the world. Green millet (Setaria viridis) is valuable model plants for investigating the C4 grasses for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. This study was carried out to evaluate influence of substrate water content on photosynthetic pigments and biomass accumulation in green millet. Under mild to moderate drought stress, any decrease of chlorophyll a and carotenoids has been obtained, while severe drought causes significant decreasing in all photosynthetic pigments. Therefore future studies dealing with the strategies to improve the pigments contents under water stress are needed. Drought treatment led to a significant decrease in shoots fresh weight accumulation, while dry weight reduction was obtained under moderate and severe drought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the environmental stresses, drought stress is one of the most adverse factors of plant growth and productivity. This study was carried out to evaluate influence of substrate humidity on proline and soluble sugars levels in the leaves of pea. The proline and soluble sugars content did not change very much in control plants during the entire period of investigation, while in drought treated plants, proline content increased dramatically as well as soluble sugars level. Relative water content of leaves was about 64% under control condition, while the drought treatment caused a decrease in RWC to 15%. The correlation-regression analysis of our data revealed a very strong relationship between substrate water content and proline content as well as between peat water content and soluble sugar content in leaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Mg, Mn co-doped La2LiSbO6 phosphors are prepared using solid state reaction route. The phase purity of the prepared samples is analyzed qualitatively and photoluminescence characteristics are investigated. The PL emission was found to be at around 712 nm, a deep red emission lies in the Photosynthetically active radiation region under 323 nm UV excitation. Spectroscopic properties of Bi3+ sensitized Mg, Mn co-doped La2LiSbO6 phosphors are investigated and the PL intensity is found to be quenched thereby indicating the ineffective energy transfer of Bi3+ sensitizers to Mn4+. The Mg, Mn co-doped La2LiSbO6 phosphors can be suitably tuned to design phosphors converted plant growth LEDs that will be useful in smart agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economically important microorganisms were isolated from paddy wetlands of Thrissur kol. They were selected based on their nitrogen fixing capacity and other properties which make them eligible for future use as plant growth promoting bio fertilizers. 26 beneficial isolates were studied. Among the 26 isolates four of them have antimicrobial activity and the isolate N7 was shown to inhibit all the four human pathogens tested. Which may be further studied for their ability to produce antimicrobial compound with bioactivity. Out of 26 isolates N1, PK4, C3 and C12 showed all the three plant growth promoting properties including nitrogen fixation, siderophore production and phosphate solubilization. And the isolate C4 was showed the production of all the three enzymes such as amylase, lipase and cellulase. The selected isolates may find future prospect in the pharmaceutical field and also in various industries for enzyme production. The nitrogen fixing, siderophore producing and phosphate solubilizing isolates can be used in agricultural fields as plant growth promoting bio fertilizers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Batik industry is one of the most developed textile industries in Yogyakarta. Synthetic dyes used for batik coloring contain some toxic components for the environment, such as heavy metals. Zinnia violacea Cav. is one species of Asteraceae family potential to be heavy metal phytoremediator. This research aimed to determine the effects of batik wastewater on plant growth, as well as its root and stem anatomy. One and a half months old zinnia plants were treated with batik wastewater on different concentrations (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%). The treatment was done every 5 days using 400 mL of wastewater according to field capacity. The parameters observed were plant morphology, plant growth, as well as root and stem anatomy. The transverse section of root was prepared using the paraffin embedding method, while the anatomical slides of stem were obtained by non-embedding method. The results showed that increasing concentration of batik wastewater decreased the number of fresh leaves, the length and volume of the roots, and also plant biomass. Treatment of 50% to 100% of wastewater caused leaf chlorosis and necrosis. Plant height increased up to 50% concentration but decreased at 75% and 100%. Anatomically, batik wastewater decreased the diameter of roots and stele, with the highest was obtained in control. Trachea diameter increased by 75% and 100%, while cortex thickness decreased by 100% treatment. Increasing wastewater concentration also caused damage to epidermal and cortical cells of roots, as seen by the shape of the cells, from round to ellipsoid cells with a number of cells showed a damaged cell wall. In stem, the diameter increased in plants with wastewater of up to 75% and then decreased by 100%. Epidermal cell thickness in the stem has no significant change between control and treated plants, however, 100% of wastewater gave the thinnest stem cortex. For vascular bundles, the thickness increased along with the increasing concentration of wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is mostly suitable for growing in moderate climate conditions at temperature 20 ° C. Yields are influenced by many factors: soil characterization, available nutrients, distribution of pests and weeds, agrotechnology, genotype or variety and climatic conditions during the vegetation period. In recent years' summary of meteorological conditions (precipitation and air temperature), showed that stressful conditions during the vegetation period had a diverse influence on the growth and development of plants. Excess or lack of humidity in soil or drought and heat affected the size and shape of the potato tubers. The heat stress is the problem of agriculture in many regions of the world in the last years. The aim of the study was to evaluate cultivars and clones from the breeding material under the stress conditions at the Stende Research Centre. The field trials were set up due to project of the Latvian Ministry of Agriculture: "Evaluation of breeding material to implement integrated and organic agriculture crop production technologies"(2015-2018). The article summarizes results of nine potato clones and nine varieties in both integrated and organic systems during 2017-2018, when 2018 was one of the driest and hottest in the last 100 years. The evaluation of the varieties and breeding material phenological phases in two years showed that germination and flowering differed from year to year. Due to hot and dry weather conditions flowering was weak for several varieties and the bud flowering was observed. In 2018 germination for some varieties was slower compared to the previous year, but for many varieties ('Lenora', 'Prelma', 'Imanta') and breeding material germination was not delayed (Table 1). The earlyest germination and flowering were observed for variety 'Monta'. Earlier germination compared to other varieties and clones was recorded to S01085-21 and S03067-33 and the variety 'Rigonda'. In the organic field earlier germination was observed for the varieties 'Rigonda', 'Monta', 'Prelma' and clones S01085-21, S07169-35. The yield of varieties and breeding material lines in both years was good but still lower tuber yields were obtained in the integrated growing system and only one line (S01085-21) and variete 'Gundega' had significantly higher yield in comparison 2017. In the organic growing system tuber yields of all varieties and breeding material lines were significantly lower than the 2017 year. Yield reduction is not significant for 3 breeding material lines: S10063-128, 19922.29 and S2008-6.5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two bacteria, Enterobacter ludwigii Ez-185-17 and Raoultella terrigena Ez-555-6, isolated from root nodules of Medicago lupulina from the Chernobyl exclusion zone, were identified in a previous study and shown not to disturb plant growth. The main goal of this work is to elucidate the relationships between these bacteria and flax, in particular whether they display activities such as plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) properties or modulation hairy root development. In order to better understand their role in plants, some known PGPB properties were determined in comparison with several control bacteria. The influence of these bacteria on Linum usitatissimum growth under hydroponic conditions was also investigated. Our study shows that both bacteria belong to PGPB since they were able to increase considerably the root surface area of flax, especially Raoultella terrigena Ez-555-6. Significant IAA production and phosphate solubilization of Enterobacter ludwigii Ez-185-17 were highlighted, which enabled these biochemical PGPB properties to be correlated with their effects on flax growth. However, Raoultella terrigena Ez-555-6 did not express high biochemical activities, suggesting that other PGPB abilities should be studied in order to establish the link with flax growth improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seaweed extracts have many uses. Growth stimulation results obtained from different plant species are mentioned. Also, algae extracts are used to reduce biotic and abiotic stress. Salt stress is one of the most important factors decreasing the productivity of plants. High soil salinity can have a negative effect on major physiological processes. In our work, we investigated the response of Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. 'Berggold' plants treated with SuperFifty solution (1:1000 and 5:1000), under salt stress conditions (100 mM NaCl). SuperFifty® 0-0-8 is an organic fertilizer from brown marine alga - Ascophyllum nodosum (L.) Le Jolis. It is a highly concentrated product: 500 g dry mass per liter. After seeds germination, the plants were grown in the plant growth chamber. Been plants have been influenced by salt stress at the end of vegetative growth period. The plants were sprayed with SuperFifty solution. Three replicate pots per each variant were used. Sodium chloride, in tested dose, caused inhibition of the following physiological parameters: plant height, foliar area, relative water content. The seaweed extract contained in the Super Fifty product can help reduce the physiological stress caused by salt. The lowest tested concentration of SuperFifty (1:1000) has shown its effectiveness in reducing saline stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study has conducted research on morphological and anatomical responses of some varieties of tobacco plants to waterlogging stress. Parameters measured were morphology, anatomy and plants sensitivity index. Results were analyzed using two-way ANOVA followed by the Tukey test. The results show that waterlogging stress can reduce the growth of tobacco plants, including a decrease in plant height with the lowest value of 15.6 cm, root length reduction to the lowest value of 4.6 cm and plant dry weight reduction to the lowest value of 0.26 gr. But waterlogging stress can increase the number of adventitious roots with the highest value of 18.33. In addition, waterlogging stress can lead to the formation of aerenchyma tissue. The sensitivity index showed that plant varieties that are resistant to waterlogging stress are the varieties Kemloko 3 (index value of 0.03), varieties of Paiton 2 (index value of 0.18) and the varieties Kemloko 2 (index value of 0.42). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoacclimation is a process by which photosynthetic capacity is regulated in response to environmental adjustments in terms of light regime. Photoacclimation is essential in determining the photosynthetic capacity to optimize light use and to avoid potentially damaging effects. Previous work in our laboratory has identified a gene, gpt2 (At1g61800) that is essential for plants to acclimate to an increase and decrease of growth irradiance, separately. To investigate the photoacclimation ability towards fluctuating natural light condition in Arabidopsis thaliana, photosynthetic capacity was measured in plants of the accession Wassileskija (WS) and in plants lacking expression of the gene At1g61800 (WS-gpt2). The experiment was carried out over a time span from early Autumn to early Spring season in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. The seedlings were grown in an unheated greenhouse in Manchester, UK without supplementary lighting. Gas exchange measurements and chlorophyll content estimation were performed on WS and WS-gpt2 and it showed that both sets of plants were able to acclimate to fluctuating natural light condition. Therefore, it is suggested that the mechanisms of acclimation in a separate growth light condition is mechanistically distinct than the mechanism under fluctuating natural light condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apple has a tendency to bear huge amount of flowers or inflorescences. Plants have ability to eliminate excess number of fruitlets. Frequently fruit trees eliminate insufficient number of fruitlets to grow good quality fruits. Most processes related to yield selfregulation varies significantly between different apples varieties. Also meteorological conditions influenced flower buds differentiation and fruit growth during blooming and other development stages. The investigations were carried out in 2015 - 2016 at the Institute of Horticulture. The main aim was to evaluate yield self-regulation peculiarity in various apple varieties in different meteorological conditions. In our experiment we made fruit self - thinning evaluation of 15 different varieties. Meteorological conditions were varying. In 2015 there was lack of rainfall, while 2016 year was rainy. After each fruit-drop period the number of developed and undeveloped seeds were counted of self-sheded and normally growing fruits. Amount of developed seeds as auxins source is one of the most important factor for yield self-regulation. Varieties of apple which are blooming abundantly and eliminate high amount of fruitlets, grows fruits until maturity with stabile amount of developed seeds and produces permanent harvest annually, independently from meteorological conditions during vegetation. Such apple varieties need higher amount of developed seeds to inhibit abscission. Apple varieties tended to bloom abundantly and eliminate small amount of fruitlets depending on meteorological conditions. Demand of auxins to carry fruits depends on meteorological conditions therefore these apple-trees develop different amount of seeds, when weather conditions changes. We may presume, that different apple varieties need different amount of phytohormones or their ratio to hold fruitlets on the apple. Therefore apple trees with smaller amount of seeds in fruits grow more fruits to its normal size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental measurements focused on evaluation of grapevine leaf surface area development in nine varieties, in the viticultural conditions of South Moravia. The dynamics of leaf surface area development was measured by using a device called leaf area meter AM 300. The device operates on the principle of a scanner and the resulting values are expressed through the leaf area index - LAI. The measurements were carried out in five dates during phenophases of growth, flowering, initial development of fruits, and ripening of berries. The results show a significant differences in increase in leaf area between the evaluated varieties, especially during flowering. The size of the leaf area, depending on the year, corresponds to values between 7.615 and 13.483 square metres per hectare. The largest leaf area was reached in growth stage 8, which is ripening of fruit. The leaf area reached the largest size in the varieties Grüner Veltliner, Zweigelt, and Sauvignon, with values ranging from 20.560 to 26.481 square metres per hectare. The results suggest that a significant proportion of leaf area is also represented by lateral shoots whose size in the ripening phase, depending on variety, ranges from 33.7 to 52.9 per cent of the total leaf area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant physiological processes related to plant growth and development strongly depends on the environmental stress factors. Response to stress appears as a complex of different reactions with a particular feedback on plants. Influence of ionized alkaline water to sow lentil physiological reactions was investigated by analyzing changes in biomass accumulation, assimilates partitioning and pigment content. Ionized alkaline water at (8.4 pH) was applied during 6-7 and 8-9 leaves development stage. According to experiment results, at the latest stage of investigation, ionized alkaline water increased lens dry matter content more than 1.44 times. During experimental time increase in dry matter content was 13.96%, when control plants gained only 3.47%. Ionized alkaline water application resulted in 8.58% significantly higher root dry matter content compare to control variant. Results of our experiment revealed the significant effect of ionized alkaline water to chlorophyll content. Chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b in control plants had a tendency to decline, whereas in experimental variant with ionized water, increase in pigment concentration was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, the prospects of ZnS:Mn nanocrystals capped with L- serine, a bio-compatible amino acid, synthesized by wet chemical route, as efficient fluorescent probes for plant cell biological studies have been investigated. The present synthesis route using bio-compatible material is a low cost and easy to control method. The colloidal stability of the capped nano crystals is very good as they remain stable without settling down for long time. It is observed that L- serine significantly modifies the structural and optical characteristics of the ZnS:Mn nanocrystals and hence is suitable as a biocompatible capping agent. The structural properties of L- serine capped nanocrystals were investigated by XRD technique. The size of the L- serine capped ZnS:Mn nanocrystals is found to be around 2 nm . The optical characterization of the nanocrystals was carried out on the basis of photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopic studies. The intense photoluminescence emission observed around 597nm for L-serine capped ZnS:Mn offers high prospects of applications in bio-imaging fields. The unique optical properties of nanoparticles make them appealing as in vivo and in vitro fluorophores in a variety of biological investigations. In the present study, L-serine capped ZnS:Mn nanocrystals were used as a staining dye in fluorescent microscope for observing cell division, cell structure etc. These nanocrystals were also incorporated into the culture media along with the normal auxin- cytokinin hormone combinations in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium for micropropagation of Bacopa monnieri Linn. (Brahmi:Scrophulariaceae), an Ayurvedic medicine. The results suggest that L-serine capped ZnS:Mn nanocrystals can act as efficient enhancers towards quick callusing and shoot proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinity is considered as the most important abiotic factor. It limits growth and productivity of plants and degrades agricultural soils in arid and semi arid area. The study was conducted on Vicia faba L.'Semilla violeta' and 'Reine mora'. Sowing was realized in plastic pots containing sandy substrates of bentonite 3, 5, 7, and 10% associated with abiotic stresses of salinity corresponding to doses of NaCl, MgCl2 and MgSO4 20, 40, and 60 mmol.L-1 respectively. The effect of these constraints on germination and proline content was investigated. The results showed that the addition of 5% of bentonite has improved the rate and germination time. However, the combined effect of salinity and bentonite showed a relatively increase of proline in 'Reine mora' than those of 'Semilla violeta'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of our studies was to compare the growth of greenhouse tomato transplants under 455 and 470 nm short-wavelength single-monochromatic solid-state lamps developed for supplementation of high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps used in greenhouses. Two types of lamps with peak emissions at 455 nm and 470 nm were installed in a greenhouse. Transplants of tomato hybrids 'Cunero' F1 and 'Magnus' F1 were investigated. Measurements of growth parameters and photosynthetic pigments were evaluated at the end of the experiment. Our experiments revealed a positive effect of the blue light on tomato transplant growth, but differential response was determined between hybrids 'Cunero' F1 and 'Magnus' F1. Both supplemental blue (455 and 470 nm) lights increased height, leaf number and area, fresh weight and decreased hypocotyl length in 'Cunero' F1 cultivar. 455 nm supplemental light had greater positive effect on growth parameters of 'Magnus' F1. The latter lighting decreased photosynthesis pigments content in leaves of 'Cunero' F1 transplants. Meanwhile, both supplemental blue lights increased photosynthesis pigments content in leaves of tomato 'Magnus' F1 transplants. The application of 455 and 470 nm short-wavelength solid-state lamps developed for supplementation of high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps can be an effective equipment of controlling growth of tomato transplants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bees use signals from plants to identify worthwhile visits. They learn quickly to differentiate mainly their floral odor than their colour. In some species the flowers remain open, intact and turgid until they are pollinated (anthesis) after which they are no longer attractive to pollinators (post-anthesis). Pollinators use fragrance for distance orientation, approach, landing, feeding and associative learning. The aim of this work was to study the variation of odor profile between anthesis and post-anthesis produced in flowers of different cultivars of Prunus Persica (L.) batsch, using an electronic nose since odor is a communication between flowering plants and bees. Visual results on field showed that peach flowers are generally more visited in the anthesis stage. Among all the analysed cultivars, Forastero cultivar was the only one visited in this floral stage. Statistical analysis of the electronic nose data showed that doped semiconductuvtive SnO2 sensors could differentiate between stages (anthesis and post-anthesis) only in case of Forastero cultivar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tetrastigma rafflesiae (Miq.) Planch is one of the sole host species of parasitic plants in the family Rafflesiaceae. A study was conducted in order to propagate this species using vegetative propagation. This propagation technique was done using stem cuttings and was conducted in the nursery at the National University of Malaysia (UKM). The propagation medium were made using four types of soil nursery mixtures of topsoil, organic matter and sand (7:3:1, 3:2:1, 2:1:1 and 1:1:1), mixture of topsoil, organic matter, sand and three different hormones treatments (0:0:IAA, 0:0:IBA and 0:0:NAA) and without any hormone treatment in basic soil (1:0:0, 0:1:0 and 0:0:1) was treated as a control. Approximately, stem cutting was used in 15 cm length. The base of each cutting was treated with root powdered hormones before being planted in soil. After 180 days of planting, the high number of leaf quantity (>12 leaves) was produced from stem cutting planted in 3:2:1 soil mixtures and the same results was obtained from stem cutting more than 15 cm to 18.78 cm in length, significantly. Soil mixture with 7:3:1 has significantly increased the leaf chlorophyll contents (10.22 nm) and also increased in leaf area index (16.375 cm²). Treatment hormones do not have any significant result in this study. The study has showed that T. rafflesiae can be propagated using cuttings as alternative source of planting materials for conservation purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]