African Journal of Agronomy

African Journal of Agronomy ISSN: 2375-1185 Vol. 12 (5), pp. 001-007, May, 2024. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Optimization of Production and Biochemical Characterization of Alkaline α-Amylase from Bacillus subtilis A10 Originated from Kahramanmaras, Turkey Soils

Ashabil Aygan*, Sevtap Sariturk, Sedat Kostekci and Huseyin Tanis

Biotechnology Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences and Letter, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, K. Maras-Turkey.

Received 24 December, 2023; Accepted 26 February, 2024

Abstract

Bacillus subtilis A10 isolated from orchard soil, Kahramanmaras, Turkey. The enzyme synthesis was observed between pH 7.0-11.0, with an optimum 37°C. The amylase was purified by fractional ammonium sulfate precipitation and sephadex G-100 column. Analysis of the enzyme with sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) revealed a single band which was estimated as 46.9 kDa. The enzyme presented an optimum activity at pH 8.5 and 45°C. Its thermal stability between 20-50°C was about 89.5% for 30 min. The pH stability was observed between pH 7.0 and 10.0 with an average of 84.9% of retaining activity for 15min. The activity of the enzyme was inhibited by SDS and EDTA by 48.4 and 75.9%, respectively. On the other hand, Na2SO3 and b-Mercaptoethanol did not effect the enzyme activity. This alkaliphilic amylase is suitable for waste-paper, starch and bioethanol industries.

Key words: Bacillus subtilis, alpha amylase, alkaliphilic, enzyme.
 

African Journal of Agronomy ISSN: 2375-1185 Vol. 12 (4), pp. 001-006, April, 2024. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Genetic performance of sunflower hybrids in diverse environmental settings of Sudan

Salah B. Mohamed Ahmed¹ and Abdel Wahab H. Abdella^{2
    
1}Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of Gedaref, P.O. Box 449,
Gedaref, Sudan
²Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Khartoum, P. O. Box 13314, Shambat, Sudan

Accepted 2 April, 2023

Abstract

Nineteen locally developed sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) hybrids and an introduced one (Hysun 33) were evaluated at two irrigated locations, New Halfa and Rahad for two consecutive seasons (2003/04 and 2004/05) in order to estimate stability of performance for seed yield per ha (t). A randomized complete block design with four replicates was applied at each location. Data on seed yield was collected. The variance of genotype x environment interaction (GxE) was highly significant, suggesting that the yield of the hybrids was inconsistent in different environments. The average ranking of the 20 hybrids, according to stability parameters showed that Salih was the first ranked hybrid followed by Ka99x7, Ka99x29, Ka99x13 and Shambat 6, whereas Hysun33 was the last ranking one. The two released hybrids (Salih and Shambat 6) were adapted favorable environments, whereas Ka99x25-2 adapted unfavourable conditions. However, the graph for scatter points for yield of the locally developed hybrids revealed that Salih and Shambat 6 were stable, whereas that of Hysun 33 was unstable under these environments and its yield was only increased with improving the conditions.

Key words: Sunflower, hybrids, yield, GxE interaction, stability.

African Journal of Agronomy ISSN: 2375-1185 Vol. 12 (3), pp. 001-005, March, 2024. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Assessment of genetic diversity in exotic safflower (Carthamus tinctorious L.) through rapd markers

Mahasi M. J.¹, Wachira F. N.², Pathak R. S.² and Riungu T. C.³

¹Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), P. O. Private Bag, Njoro, Kenya.
²Egerton University, P. O. Box 536, Njoro, Kenya.
³KARI – Muguga South P.O. Box 30148 Nairobi - Kenya.

Accepted 20 November, 2023

Abstract

Safflower is a drought tolerant annual oil crop and this gives it an advantage over the other crops in the drier parts of Kenya. It is valued worldwide as a source of high quality vegetable oil. In the past, characterization of safflower using molecular markers has been limited. The objective of this study was to evaluate the degree of polymorphism in 36 safflower accessions using RAPDs. Sixty-one ampl-ification products were scored using 14 random 10 mer primers and binary matrices subjected to statistical analyses using NTSYS. A resemblance matrix was developed using SMC, which was used with the UPGMA to compute cluster analysis and PCA. Eight groups were formed at a similarity coe-fficient of 0.79. Cluster two had 14 accessions originating from India, USA, Australia and Bangladesh while cluster three had 9 accessions from India, USA and Mexico. Proportionally accessions from India were highest in cluster one and two. The differences between pairs of accessions were basically related to the number of RAPD fragments shared. Four Indian accessions PI 214150, PI 199910, W6 16821 and PI 248359 clustered together. However, Girna also from India formed an independent cluster. SMC among accessions ranged from 0.37 (PI 248359 and PI 262419) to 0.98 (PI 560177 and T65) . The last two accessions may be genetically related since they constituted the nearest to a complete match for all markers. Accessions from different countries tended to group together though random scattering often occurred. Using PCA the first three components explained 44% of the total variation. The results indicate genetic polymorphism between the safflower accessions under study.

Key words: Amplification, PCA, RAPDs, simple matching coefficients, electrophoresis.

African Journal of Agronomy ISSN: 2375-1185 Vol. 12 (2), pp. 001-007, February, 2024. Available online at www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Influence of environmental factors and genotypic diversity on pythium damping-off in safflower

M. H. Pahlavani¹*, S. E. Razavi², F. Kavusi³ and M. Hasanpoor³

¹Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources,
P.O. Box 386, Gorgan, Iran.
²Department of Plant Protection, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, P.O. Box 386,
Gorgan, Iran.
³BS students of Plant Breeding; Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, P.O. Box 386,
Gorgan, Iran.

Accepted 20 October, 2023

Abstract

Improvement of genetic potential in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) against Pythium species would be an efficient means of control of this major seed and seedling fungal pathogen. The type and content of reaction for plant to pathogen could be severely affected by environmental conditions such as temperature. In this study seed rot and seedling damping-off of fourteen safflower genotypes that came from different origins, were evaluated using Pythium ultimum infected and sterile paper towels at temperatures 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30°C. Both factors including the temperatures and the genotypes and their interaction affected seed germination of safflower. The results showed that temperature had a significant effect on number of normal and diseased seedlings in Pythium-infected media. Among the five different levels of treated temperatures, the lowest number of normal seedlings occurred at 25 and 30°C, and the lowest number of diseased seedlings were also observed at 10 and 15°C. There was a considerable difference among the fourteen studied genotypes for number of normal seedlings and number of diseased seedlings in infected media under laboratory conditions. The effect of genotype × temperature interaction on both number of normal seedlings and number of diseased seedlings was no significant. Cultivar CW-74 had the lowest, and cultivars LRV-51-51 and LRV-55-259 had the highest number of normal seedlings under Pythium -infected conditions. And also, Line 34072 had the lowest, and cultivar CW- 74 had the highest number of diseased seedlings in Pythium-infected media. In fields infesting with P. ultimum, sowing safflower seed when temperature is more than 15°C is likely to have poor stand establishment due to seed rot and seedling damping-off. Therefore it is advisable to plant safflower early when soil temperature is cool.

Key words: Pythium ultimum, zoospore, seed, seedling, rot.

African Journal of Agronomy ISSN: 2375-1185 Vol. 12 (1), pp. 001-009, January, 2024. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Exploring the impact of climate and geographic variability on Sudanese sorghum forage lines

Maarouf I. Mohammed

Shambat Research Station, ARC, P.O. Box 30, Khartoum North. Sudan. E-mail: [email protected].

Accepted 5 October, 2029

Abstract

Combining ability in forage sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] was not as much investigated as in grain sorghum. In the present study, 4 local stocks (Testers) and 7 exotic stocks in A3 cytoplasm were crossed in line x tester fashion to investigate combining ability in forage sorghum. The hybrids and their parents were evaluated across two years (2002 - 2003) and at two locations in Khartoum State, Sudan. Forage yield, days to flower, plant height, leaf to stem ratio and stem diameter were studied. Significant general (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) effects in desirable direction were detected for most traits. The best general combiners for forage yield and earliness in flowering were identified. Both additive and non -additive gene actions were important in the expression of all characters with the preponderance of additive actions for days to flower, forage yield, stem diameter, leaf to stem ratio and non-additive actions for plant height. GCA effects were more stable over years than specific ones. Selection in early generations was suggested for characters predominately controlled by additive genes. Heterosis breeding was recommended for forage yield improvement. For leaf to stem ratio, selection must be based on more genetically diverse materials.

Key words: A3 cytoplasm, additive, ankolib, combining ability, islang, hybrid sorghum, shambat.

African Journal of Agronomy ISSN: 2375-1185 Vol. 12 (1), pp. 001-005, January, 2024. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Innovative Approaches for Enhancing Regeneration and Transformation in Indian Mustard: Leveraging Lectin Genes from Chickpea [Cicer arietinum (L.)

V. V. Singh¹, Vandana Verma¹*, Aniruddh K. Pareek¹, Monika Mathur¹, Rajbir Yadav¹, Poonam Goyal¹, Ajay Kumar Thakur¹, Y. P. Singh¹, K. R. Koundal², K. C. Bansal², A. K. Mishra¹, Arvind Kumar¹ and Sandeep Kumar¹

¹Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research, Bharatpur, Rajasthan 321 303, India.

²NRCPB, IARI, New Delhi, India.

Accepted 15 October, 2023

Abstract

A simple and easy protocol for regeneration and genetic transformation of Brassica juncea (L.) Czern and Coss cv. Pusa bold has been developed. The optimum regeneration was found on combination of BAP (3.0 mg/l) and IAA (0.2 mg/l). The genetic transformation protocol has been standardized using Agrobacterium tumefaciens (gv3101). Cotyledonary petioles used as explant were pre-cultured for 48 h and than co-cultivated with Agrobacterium suspension for 2 days. Putative transformants were selected from selection medium containing 20 mg/l Kanamycine and 250 mg/l cefotaxime. Complete plant formed after placing shoots on rooting medium (0.5 mg/l IBA). Confirmation of integration of transgene was done by PCR using nptII gene primer.

Key words: Indian mustard, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, chickpea lectin gene, cotyledonary petioles, transformation.