Issue 03

Gene effects and inheritance of branching and other yield attributing characteristics in sesame (sesamum indicum l)

2014-03-18T00:00:00Z

Gene effects and inheritance of branching and other yield attributing characteristics in sesame (sesamum indicum l) Sumathi, P.; Muralidharan, V. A field experiment was conducted with five sesame genotypes, two branched, TMV 4 and TMV 5, and three monostemed / shybranched KS 990837, KS 990813 KS 9908513 and six cross combinations of branched x monostemed to develop F1, F2, BC1 and BC2 populations. Six generations P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1 and BC2 were raised in a non replicated trial to estimate the gene effects for branching and some other yield attributing characteristics. The additive, dominance and duplicate dominance gene effects were found to be important for number of branches per plant. Additive component was significantly positive for days to first flowering, days to maturity and plant height in TMV 4 x KS 99037; plant height and number of branches in TMV 5 x KS 990813; days to first flowering and days to maturity in the cross TMV 5 x KS 99153; indicating the presence of additive gene action. Additiive x additive fixable gene interaction was also reported in different crosses. In most of the crosses, duplicate epistasis was found to be predominant when compared to complementary epistasis. Thus gene effects for a given characteristics varied among crosses. Inheritance study using five crosses viz., TMV 4 x KS 99037, TMV 4 x KS 990813, TMV 5 x KS 99037, TMV 5 x KS990813 and TMV 5 x KS99153, showed a monogenic inheritance of 3:1 with simple dominance recessive relationship for branching and monostem / shy branching characteristic, re spectively. The cross TMV4 x KS 99153 which showed 15:1 ratio, fitted to the expected ratio of 3:1 for branching : shybranching respectively of the test cross progenies. This cross also showed duplicate epistasis for the number of branches per plant in generation mean analysis.

Labour and weather related risks in smallholder rubber production: evidence from Kalutara district

2014-03-12T00:00:00Z

Labour and weather related risks in smallholder rubber production: evidence from Kalutara district Waduge, T.D.; Edirisnghe, J.C.; Fernando, A.P.S.; Herath, H.M.L.K.; Jayasinghe-Mudalige, U.K. It was observed that even in the times of higher prices some smallholder rubber producers remain poor. The reason for this variation in income is thought to be risks associated with rubber production. Therefore, this study investigated the risks related to labour and weather taking a sample of 500 smallholder farmers from the Kalutara district. A Just and Pope stochastic production function is estimated using a three step Feasible Generalized Least Square (FGLS) technique. The estimated variance equation reveals that rainfall and labour usage are risk increasing while price is risk reducing. Weather (rainfall) is typically believed to be the primary source of loss in potential income. Although, results show that this is true based on the sign of expected coefficients, they failed to show statistical significance. However, variability of labour and rubber price showed statistical significance. It is therefore envisaged that availability of farm labour is a key issue in production risk, which is not given due consideration in policy

Coverage and content analysis of biotechnology and genetically modified organisms in four selected Nigerian daily newspapers

2014-03-12T00:00:00Z

Coverage and content analysis of biotechnology and genetically modified organisms in four selected Nigerian daily newspapers Olajide, B.R.; Fawole, O.P. The media, especially the newspapers play a major role as sources of biotechnology information and will be useful avenues for disseminating related information. It is in view of this that this study examined coverage of biotechnology and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in Nigerian daily newspapers as an avenue to raise mass awareness especially amongst literate farmers. This study content analysed 63 GMOs and biotechnology items framed in four Nigerian newspapers (the Guardian, Punch, Vanguard and Nigerian Tribune). The time frame was from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2010 being the period that marked the sudden rise in public awareness of biotechnology issues occasioned by coverage of biotechnology related news in Nigerian media. Variables measured include types of news, frequency of news coverage, placement, direction and space allotted to biotechnology news and related stories. Data were analysed using both descriptive (frequencies, percentages) and inferential (ANOVA) statistics at p≤0.05. Results indicate that across the four newspapers, types of biotechnology news reported were mostly food safety news (54.0%) in 2005 (21 items) with highest news items from Tribune (49.0%). Though most news items (87.3%) on GMOs and biotechnology were positively framed, all (100%) news items were not strategically placed as they were in other pages of all the newspapers. Space allocated to biotechnology news was higher in the Punch (469cm2) than Guardian (423 cm2), Tribune (378 cm2) and Vanguard (252 cm2). There were significant difference across the newspapers in direction (F= 1.23, p ≤ 0.05) and space allotted (F =2.53, p ≤ 0.05) to coverage of biotechnological news. Generally, there is low reportage of biotechnology and GMOs news for the period investigated, across newspapers, in space allotment and strategic locations; it is therefore recommended that more attention and priority should be accorded biotechnology news items in terms of space and strategic placement to enhance public awareness of related information.

Quality of cow milk plain set yoghurt as affected by ultrafiltration process

2014-02-28T00:00:00Z

Quality of cow milk plain set yoghurt as affected by ultrafiltration process Narayana, N.M.N.K.; Gupta, V.K. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of ultrafiltration (UF) process on quality of cow milk plain set yoghurt. Direct UF of cow skim milk and highly concentrated UF cow skim milk retentate addition were used to adjust the total solids (TS) of yoghurt milk, at two different UF concentration levels (UFCLs). Ultrafiltered (approximately to 1.5 and 2 fold) cow skim milk/ equivalent 5 fold UF skim milk retentate added cow skim milk were standardized to 3.3% fat and 13.8% TS. Yoghurts were prepared by inoculating with 2% yoghurt culture (Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus: Streptococcus thermophilus) and analyzed for chemical composition, spontaneous whey syneresis, water holding capacity, textural and sensory attributes. Protein, lactose and ash percentages of yoghurt prepared from direct UF milk were 5.27±0.04, 4.20±0.03 and 0.82±0.02, whereas, in yoghurt prepared from retentate added milk were 5.18±0.02, 4.28±0.03 and 0.84±0.01, respectively at 1.5 fold UFCL, which had optimum quality product. The values were not significantly different in yoghurt made by direct UF concentrated milk compared to retentate added milk. Further, it was observed that protein percentage increased and lactose content progressively decreased significantly (p<0.05) in yoghurt with increase in UF concentration/ UF retentate addition with similar TS in yoghurt milk. None of the quality parameters tested showed significant difference with UF process so that both procedures would be recommended at 1.5 fold UFCL to produce good quality yoghurt with enhanced protein content without addition of stabilizers