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Seed germination based on temperature experience extensive deviation and considered as one of the earliest phenotypic expressions of the plants. Accurate assessment of the germination time under prevailing thermic regulations leads to optimized plant populations. Studying genotypic differences and microclimate during the early life are key indicators for specie recruitment. The research was carried out to quantify the impact of different temperatures on safflower genotypes. The seeds of five safflower genotypes (PI-16308, PI-16309, PI-16315, PI-26744 and PI-26748) were tested for germination at six constant temperatures (10,15,20,25,30 and 35 °C). Individual and coupled response of genotypes and temperatures revealed significant variation for germination percentage and germination index. Thermal regulation of germination percentage, germination index, mean germination rate, mean germination time, coefficient of velocity of germination, coefficient of variation of germination time, uncertainty of germination process and synchronization index were found highly sensitive to different temperatures. The maximum efficiency of above indices was recorded at temperature range of 15-20 °C. Based on these results it is concluded that temperature range between 15-20 °Cis best suited for safflower planting to get the optimum plant population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bio-based materials have been used traditionally for millennia. Their use was overtaken in recent times by the discovery and utilization of fossil-based resources for materials and energy. However, concerns about the non-renewability of fossil resources and greenhouse gas and other emissions associated with their use have brought forth a renewed interest in using bio-based materials in recent years. The environmental advantages of bio-based materials cannot be taken for granted without a rigorous scientific assessment. Many tools based on energy, economics, and environmental impacts have been used. Life cycle assessment is one such tool developed and successfully utilized for the environmental assessment of biofuels and bioproducts. However, many methodological challenges, among other things related to system boundaries, functional units, allocation, and carbon accounting, still need further research and consideration. In this work, the related issues are summarized, and the directions for addressing them are discussed. Despite the methodological challenges in their assessment, biofuels and bioproducts show promise in terms of their environmental advantages compared to their fossil-oriented counterparts. These advantages can be further enhanced by utilizing all parts of the feedstock biomass, especially for value-added materials and chemicals via biorefineries.

Palm-based biorefinery system has gained attention worldwide because of potentially high economic returns. However, environmental impacts also increase with the additional production. Therefore, this study aims to assess the sustainability of (1) current palm-based biorefinery system in Thailand, including cooking oil and biodiesel, and (2) palm-based biorefinery system with value-added products, i.e., succinic acid, lactic acid, bio-hydrogenated diesel (BHD), and epichlorohydrin (ECH) that represent biomaterial, biofuel, and biochemical products, respectively. Accordingly, seven palm-based biorefinery scenarios were designed, and their sustainability was assessed through life cycle assessment (LCA), net energy balance (NEB) and net energy ratio (NER), employment generation, and eco-efficiency. The results revealed that value-added production increased global warming impacts by around 3 – 79% compared with the current system. Although environmental impacts increased due to the additional processes related to the production of the value-added products, total product values also increased, especially for succinic acid, generally leading to higher eco-efficiency values. The current palm-based biorefinery system with succinic acid production had the highest eco-efficiency among all the scenarios considered. The BHD production scenario had the highest NEB and NER because the products were used for energy. Employment generation increased for all the scenarios between 2 – 86% compared with the current system.

The study was conducted at NARC, Islamabad, Pakistan during the year 2009 to estimate heritability and genetic advances regarding yield and yield contributing traits using fourteen maize (Zea mays) genotypes (BS-01, Agati 2002, Margalla, EV-1097, EV-1098, Sadaf, EV-6098, EV-5098, EV-7004Q, Soan-3, Islamabad Gold, Islamabad White, Raka Poshi and Sahiwal-2002). The experiment was laid out in RCBD with three replications. Data were recorded for plant height, ear height, ear length, leaf area, number of leaves per plant, 100-grain weight and grain yield per plant. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant mean sum of squares for all the characters studied. The highest heritability estimates were observed for 100-grain weight (97.39%). All the other traits were observed to have heritability estimates ranging from 97.39 (100 grain weight) to 47.06% (number of leaves/plant). Range of genetic advance for different traits ranged from 1.26 (ear length) to 2674.45 (grain yield). The highest genetic advance was recorded for grain yield. Maximum level of phenotypic coefficient of variation was found for grain yield per ha (19.52%) but it was minimum (8.07) for plant height among all the studied traits. Genotypic coefficient of variation for different traits ranged from 6.11 (ear length) to 18.83 (grain yield). All the other traits had their value of genotypic coefficient of variation in this range. Hence, it is recommended that selection may be based on genotypes possessing potential traits like plant height, ear height, leaf area, and grain yield for yield enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acoustic phonon mode anomalies in the paraelectric phase of tetragonal and rhombohedral (1 − x)Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3−xPbTiO3 single crystals were systematically investigated by Brillouin light scattering measurements. The inverse relaxation time in the paraelectric phase of both crystals showed a stretched-type slowing-down temperature dependence approaching the structural phase transition temperature instead of a normal critical slowing-down. The observed anomalous part of the elastic constant in the paraelectric phase of the tetragonal crystal in the vicinity of , exhibited a -type dependence in the temperature range from to . On the other hand, the elastic constant of the rhombohedral ferroelectric crystal exhibited a deviation from such a temperature dependence. This was attributed to the interaction of acoustic phonon modes with strong polarization fluctuations and elastic deformation arising from the complex dynamics of polar nanoregions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]