Metagenomic analysis of rhizosphere microbiome provides insights into occurrence of iron deficiency chlorosis in field of Asian pears

Background Fe-deficiency chlorosis (FDC) of Asian pear plants is widespread, but little is known about the association between the microbial communities in the rhizosphere soil and leaf chlorosis. The leaf mineral concentration, leaf subcellular structure, soil physiochemical properties, and bacterial species community and distribution had been analysed to gain insights into the FDC in Asian pear plant. Results The total Fe in leaves with Fe-deficiency was positively correlated with total K, Mg, S, Cu, Zn, Mo and Cl contents, but no differences of available Fe (AFe) were detected between the rhizosphere soil of chlorotic and normal plants. Degraded ribosomes and degraded thylakloid stacks in chloroplast were observed in chlorotic leaves. The annotated microbiome indicated that there were 5 kingdoms, 52 phyla, 94 classes, 206 orders, 404 families, 1,161 genera, and 3,043 species in the rhizosphere soil of chlorotic plants; it was one phylum less and one order, 11 families, 59 genera, and 313 species more than in that of normal plant. Bacterial community and distribution patterns in the rhizosphere soil of chlorotic plants were distinct from those of normal plants and the relative abundance and microbiome diversity were more stable in the rhizosphere soils of normal than in chlorotic plants. Three (Nitrospira defluvii, Gemmatirosa kalamazoonesis, and Sulfuricella denitrificans) of the top five species (N. defluvii, G. kalamazoonesis, S. denitrificans, Candidatus Nitrosoarchaeum koreensis, and Candidatus Koribacter versatilis). were the identical and aerobic in both rhizosphere soils, but their relative abundance decreased by 48, 37, and 22%, respectively, and two of them (G. aurantiaca and Ca. S. usitatus) were substituted by an ammonia-oxidizing soil archaeon, Ca. N. koreensis and a nitrite and nitrate reduction related species, Ca. K. versatilis in that of chlorotic plants, which indicated the adverse soil aeration in the rhizosphere soil of chlorotic plants. A water-impermeable tables was found to reduce the soil aeration, inhibit root growth, and cause some absorption root death from infection by Fusarium solani. Conclusions It was waterlogging or/and poor drainage of the soil may inhibit Fe uptake not the amounts of AFe in the rhizosphere soil of chlorotic plants that caused FDC in this study.

Grain size variation in sand column along Chhatrapur coast, Ganjam district, Odisha – A clue to the depositional environment

The concentration of heavy mineral placer deposits along the coastal tracts are function of various favourable factors i.e. hinterland geological formations, prevalence of favourable climatic condition, their transportation through intricate drainage systems and various coastal processes, which operated during the geological past. Textural analysis of the available unconsolidated sediments from the present deposits is of vital importance to decode the prevailing depositional environment while grain size analysis is the major parameter used. Present study highlights the grain size analysis of the identified sand column from Chhatrapur Mineral Sand Deposit along the coastal tract of Odisha to infer the environment of deposition of heavy mineral bearing sand and their heavy mineral content variation. Standard procedure of sampling, data analysis and interpretation techniques were adopted. Result shows that, sands from frontal and rear dune are characterized by distinct bi-modal distribution, medium to fine, moderately to well sorted with good positive skewness, whereas, sand from Inter-dunal region shows dominant unimodal, medium to coarse grain, moderately poorly sorted nature and slightly positive skewness. The better heavy mineral concentration (10 to 25 % grade) in frontal and rear dunes is attributed to prevalence of aeolian dune deposition accompanied by good sorting. In contrast, the low concentration of heavy mineral (3 to 6 %) in inter dune region is due to occasional fluvial regime and poor sorting of sediments. Thus, grain size analysis can be an effective tool to decipher local prevailing depositional environment, which has a bearing on heavy mineral concentration as well.

The Effects of Calcination on Mineral Composition and Physical Properties of Limestones and Oyster Shells Derived from Different Sources

Limestones and oyster shells are normally used in raw or roasted meal form in the livestock diet. Calcination is intended to improve the mineral concentration and physical characteristics of limestones and oyster shells which vary based on different chemical compositions, textures, and impurities of their types and habitats. The present research aimed to study the effects of calcination on mineral composition and the physical properties of limestones and oyster derived from various sources. Limestone samples from three local limestone mining and oyster shell samples from three shellfish species were calcined by burning at a temperature of 800-1000°C. The calcined products were analyzed for mineral content (Ca, P, Mg, Cu, Zn, and Mn), physical properties (bulk density, tapped density, specific density, and angle of repose), and particle size. Results indicated that calcination had no significant effect on Ca and P concentrations but reduced micro mineral concentration. Limestones had a higher Mg concentration than that of oyster shells, and calcination increased Mg concentration. Calcined oyster shells had higher densities, percentages of fine particles, and lower angles of response. The results suggested that the type of limestones and oyster shells could determine their thermal decomposition properties.

A New Algorithm for Simultaneous Retrieval of Aerosols and Marine Parameters

We present an algorithm for simultaneous retrieval of aerosol and marine parameters in coastal waters. The algorithm is based on a radiative transfer forward model for a coupled atmosphere-ocean system, which is used to train a radial basis function neural network (RBF-NN) to obtain a fast and accurate method to compute radiances at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) for given aerosol and marine input parameters. The inverse modelling algorithm employs multidimensional unconstrained non-linear optimization to retrieve three marine parameters (concentrations of chlorophyll and mineral particles, as well as absorption by coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM)), and two aerosol parameters (aerosol fine-mode fraction and aerosol volume fraction). We validated the retrieval algorithm using synthetic data and found it, for both low and high sun, to predict each of the five parameters accurately, both with and without white noise added to the top of the atmosphere (TOA) radiances. When varying the solar zenith angle (SZA) and retraining the RBF-NN without noise added to the TOA radiance, we found the algorithm to predict the CDOM absorption, chlorophyll concentration, mineral concentration, aerosol fine-mode fraction, and aerosol volume fraction with correlation coefficients greater than 0.72, 0.73, 0.93, 0.67, and 0.87, respectively, for 45∘≤ SZA ≤ 75∘. By adding white Gaussian noise to the TOA radiances with varying values of the signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR), we found the retrieval algorithm to predict CDOM absorption, chlorophyll concentration, mineral concentration, aerosol fine-mode fraction, and aerosol volume fraction well with correlation coefficients greater than 0.77, 0.75, 0.91, 0.81, and 0.86, respectively, for high sun and SNR ≥ 95.

Mineral Preparation Using Rod Mill for Mineral Galena Characterization

Galena mineral preparation was carried out for mineral characterization. The mineral characterization carried out included XRD (X-Ray Diffraction), XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence), SEM-EDS (Scanning Electron Microscope-Energy Dispersive X-Ray). The preparation of galena minerals begins with the process of reducing the grain size including crushing and grinding. The results of crushing and grinding are then separated based on grain size using a sieve or siever to get a grain size of -200 mesh. The grinding process using a rod mill needs to be timed, so that the results are not too fine which is causing the recovery in the mineral concentration process to be low.

Nutritional diversity of underutilized plant species collected from Aegean Region of Turkey

The objective of the present work was to evaluate variability for dry matter, protein and mineral N (nitrogen), P (phosphorus), K (potassium), Ca (calcium), Mg (magnesium) composition of nutritionally important and widely consumed wild edible plants in Aegean region of Turkey, and to assess their mineral diversity using multivariate analysis. The plant material comprises 17 edible plants collected from native found, the data were subject to analysis of variance, and a Pearson correlation test used to determine the correlations between dry matter, protein content and N, P, K, Ca, Mg composition. Principal component analysis was performed on the result of examine compositions and the factor loadings, eigenvalues and percentage of cumulative variance were calculated, the patterns of relationships among nutritive element were shown three-dimension scatter plot. Multivariate analysis revealed considerable variation for the most of concentration and explained 81.49% of total variation accounted for three PC axes. The data reveal that selected wild plant provide significant nutrition and exhibited great variability among the species. Although soil mineral concentration, availability, fertilization and environment may have influenced on nutrient accumulation in plant tissue, genetic variability is considerable influenced on mineral composition of plant.

Proximate analysis and formulation of weaning food using germinated cereals, pulses and ground nut

A combination of nutritionally inferior diets and improper feeding practices are major contributing factors to the development of childhood malnutrition. Complementary feeding improvement should be of highest priority for nutrition of infant and young children containing all essential nutrients at required amount. The objective of this study was designed to investigate the inclusion of weaning food formulation and evaluating compositional and functional properties of the products. The analysis undertaken in this study was infant food formulation, proximate composition, mineral concentration and sensory properties. The moisture content in this study ranged from 1.49 ± 0.12 to 3.89 ±0.12, crude protein from 15.09 ± 0.05 to 16.79± 0.01, crude fat from 11.11 ± 0.07 to 12.80 ± 0.00, total ash from 2.06 ± 0.03 to 2.21 ± 0.00, carbohydrate from 65.9740 ± 0.24 to 68.2641 ± 0.14 and energy value ranged from 431.68 ± 0.05 to 449.18 ± 0.57. From the result provided, sample-A contained the highest protein, moisture, fat content than sample-B. But carbohydrate and energy are highest in sample-B than sample-A. The two macro minerals mg/100 g of Ca and Zn in the study were ranged from lower 0.60±0.07 to 0.79±0.01 and 1.05±0.01 to 2.44±0.06 respectively. Beta-carotene is varied from 0.90±o.01 to 1.17±0.00. Sensory parameters such as colour, appearance, texture, taste, aroma and overall acceptability is high in sample-A than to sample-B. Finally, from the general trend observed in this study that both the weaning foods prepared from cereal, legume, pulse flour provided better nutritional and functional compositions to meet nutrient dense of infant foods. Asian Australas. J. Food Saf. Secur. 2021, 5 (2), 32-42