Comparison of Some Biological Parameters between Young Grass Carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella (Valenciennes, 1884) fed on Artificial Diet and Alfalfa inEarthen Ponds at Basrah, Iraq

The current study aims to compare the relationships of some biological parameters of young grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella (Valenciennes, 1844) fed on artificial diet and alfalfa in earthen ponds. These parameters included length-weight relationship, relative length and weight of the alimentary canal, condition factor and survival rate. Results of lengthweight relationship showed that no significant differences (P>0.05) were recorded for the t-test for the ideal value of 3 for fishes fed on artificial diet or alfalfa plant. The condition factor of young grass carp fed on artificial diet ranged between 0.021 to 1.074, while for fishes fed on alfalfa plant was 0.023 to 1.270 for allometric and Fulton’s condition factor, respectively. Also, there was no significant difference (P>0.05) for fishes fed on both diets in all biological parameters, the relative length of the alimentary canal for fishes fed on artificial diet (1.65) and on alfalfa plant (1.69), while the relative weight of the alimentary canal were 0.0285 and 0.0218 for fishes fed on both diets, respectively. Results also showed that the Zihler coefficient were 7.43 and 7.62, respectively. The survival rate was 100% for both treatments.

Anti-pest protection of two-year old alfalfa grown for seeds

Purpose. To evaluate the effectiveness of different insecticides against pests on two-year old alfalfa grown for seeds. Materials and methods. The study was conducted in the experimental field of the Institute of Irrigated Agriculture of NAAS in 2017–2019. The filed experiments were laid out in split plots. The main plots (factor A) were for water supply conditions (no irrigation vs. irrigation); sub-plots (factors B and C) were for application of insecticides. Seeds were sown in wide rows with interrows of 70 cm. Results and discussion. When the two-year old alfalfa canopy (budding onset) was inspected before insecticide treatment, the average numbers of pests were as follows: alfalfa plant bug – 3.0 specimens/10 sweeps, alfalfa aphid – 20.0 specimens/10 sweeps, beet webworm – 3.0 specimens/10 sweeps, alfalfa weevil (imagoes/grubs) – 1.0/3.0 specimens/10 sweeps, and alfalfa seed weevil – 1.0 specimens/10 sweeps. Treatment 1 reduced the pest numbers in the canopy: alfalfa plant bug – by 70.0–93.3%, alfalfa aphid – by 93.0–97.5%, beet webworm – by 80.0–96.7, alfalfa weevil (imagoes/grubs) – by 60.0–90.0%/73.3–93.3%, and alfalfa seed weevil – by 76.0–94.0%, depending on the insecticide. Treatment 2 helped to reduce the pest numbers in the canopy. Insecticide containing active substances chlorpyrifos 500 g/L and cypermethrin 50 g/L applied at a dose of 1.00 L/ha was the most effective. The highest seed yield was achieved after treatment 1 with insecticide containing active ingredients chlorpyrifos 500 g/L and cypermethrin 50 g/L applied at a dose of 1.00 L/ha and treatment 2 with insecticide containing active ingredients chlorantraniliprole 200 g/L and lambda-cyhalothrin 50 g/L applied at a dose of 0.17 L/ha and 0.15 L/ha, respectively. Conclusions. The highest seed yield was achieved after treatment 1 with insecticide containing active ingredients chlorpyrifos 500 g/L and cypermethrin 50 g/L applied at a dose of 1.00 L/ha and treatment 2 with insecticide containing active ingredients chlorantraniliprole 200 g/L and lambda-cyhalothrin 50 g/L applied at a dose of 0.17 L/ha and 0.15 L/ha, respectively

Sex Pheromone of the Alfalfa Plant Bug, Adelphocoris lineolatus: Pheromone Composition and Antagonistic Effect of 1-Hexanol (Hemiptera: Miridae)

The sex pheromone composition of alfalfa plant bugs, Adelphocoris lineolatus (Goeze), from Central Europe was investigated to test the hypothesis that insect species across a wide geographical area can vary in pheromone composition. Potential interactions between the pheromone and a known attractant, (E)-cinnamaldehyde, were also assessed. Coupled gas chromatography-electroantennography (GC-EAG) using male antennae and volatile extracts collected from females, previously shown to attract males in field experiments, revealed the presence of three physiologically active compounds. These were identified by coupled GC/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and peak enhancement as hexyl butyrate, (E)-2-hexenyl butyrate and (E)-4-oxo-2-hexenal. A ternary blend of these compounds in a 5.4:9.0:1.0 ratio attracted male A. lineolatus in field trials in Hungary. Omission of either (E)-2-hexenyl-butyrate or (E)-4-oxo-2-hexenal from the ternary blend or substitution of (E)-4-oxo-2-hexenal by (E)-2-hexenal resulted in loss of activity. These results indicate that this Central European population is similar in pheromone composition to that previously reported for an East Asian population. Interestingly, another EAG-active compound, 1-hexanol, was also present in female extract. When 1-hexanol was tested in combination with the ternary pheromone blend, male catches were reduced. This compound showed a dose-response effect with small doses showing a strong behavioral effect, suggesting that 1-hexanol may act as a sex pheromone antagonist in A. lineolatus. Furthermore, when (E)-cinnamaldehyde was field tested in combination with the sex pheromone, there was no increase in male catch, but the combination attracted both males and females. Prospects for practical application are discussed.

Effects of growth conditions and cultivability on the content of cyclitols in Medicago sativa

Cyclitols are secondary metabolites with bioactive properties, naturally occurring in plants. Accumulation of such metabolites is directly connected with abiotic stressing factors. This article investigates the influence exercised by a series of abiotic factors including plant treatment with elicitors and cultivability in various regions of Europe, in some cases during two seasons, onto the amounts of cyclitols produced in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). The obtained results highlighted that NaCl elicitation acts to increase the quantity of cyclitols, while AgNO3 and Zn(NO3)2 generally decreased the obtained amount of cyclitols. When considering the seasonal impact, samples harvested in August presented a double amount of cyclitols in comparison with those collected in May. Correlation analysis proved that this phenomenon is related mainly to sunshine period versus low humidity. However, our investigation suggests that soil type, salinity level, lack of humidity, the number of sunny days, and plant elicitation play a role on the amount of cyclitols produced in alfalfa plant.

Production and characterization of antimicrobials from isolate Pantoea agglomerans of Medicago sativa plant rhizosphere soil

Due to rise in drug resistance among pathogens, there is always an urge to look for new drug alternatives. So in this study we aimed to identify the unexplored rhizosphere microflora of alfalfa plant for new antimicrobials. With initial screening for isolates from rhizosphere region for antibacterial activity against selected bacterial pathogens, the isolate AL10 had better activity selected for this study. The isolate mass was cultured and secondary metabolites were extracted using ethyl acetate and subjected to FTIR and GC-MS analysis. Based on functional diversity analysis, the isolate subjected to anti-bacterial activity revealed significant activity against Streptococcus pneumonia, Klebsiella, S. aureus with zone of inhibition in the range of18-20 mm. Based on GC-MS analysis report ten compounds were identified and 1-Octadecane and 1-nonadecanol were found to be responsible for bio-activity. FT-IR results showed that N-H stretching functional group was dominantly present in the extract. Molecular identification of the isolate by 16S rRNA sequencing showed the isolate as Pantoea agglomerans. The results showed that the isolate P.agglomerans, gram negative bacteria had wide antibacterial activity due to 1-Octadecane and 1-nonadecanol. Though Alfalfa plant has been described for various biological activities, this is a first report on rhizosphere region of plant reporting for antibacterial potential microbes.

PENGARUH PEMANGKASAN KUNCUP APIKAL TERHADAP PRODUKSI BIJI DAN KADAR KLOROFIL DAUN ALFALFA (Medicago sativa L)

Alfalfa plant in Indonesia its not easy to produce flowers and seeds. Flower production is also affected by cutting the apical bud. At this time there is no research on the effect of cutting the length of the apical bud of the flower and seed production of alfalfa, both in quantity and quality. Thus this study examines the apical bud cutting the length of the seed production and alfalfa leaf chlorophyll content. The purpose of this study was to determine the most optimal length of the apical bud cutting to produce optimal growth and production of alfalfa seed. Outcomes and benefits of this research are: a). Provide information for other researchers on seed production and alfalfa leaf chlorophyll content were treated with different apical bud cutting, which will carry out further research. b). Provide recommendations to stakeholders on the apical bud cutting the most optimal for alfalfa plants that produce highest seed production and alfalfa leaf chlorophyll content. c). Providing information for farmers and researchers on alfalfa seed development opportunities for the tropic zone. Research using randomized complete block design with four replications. This study was a single-center trial with a treatment of various lengths cutting apical bud. Apical bud cutting long treatment include without cutting, cutting apical bud length of 5 cm, 10 cm, 15 cm, 20 cm and 25 cm from the ground. When cutting is done when the plants aged 6 weeks after planting. The results of the study showed that the alfalfa plant leaf extract can be produced which is solid green chlorophyll that has the potential to be used as raw material for the manufacture of supplement health drinks. Alfalfa flower has emerged in the 4th month, this occurred in the treatment of cutting 5 cm. It shows the probability that the flower has the potential to develop into seeds. Keywords: alfalfa, cutting, chlorophyll, seeds, apical bud

Comparação de técnicas analíticas para a extração de potássio de amostras de tecido vegetal com água e soluções ácidas concentrada e diluída

The improvement of analytical methods makes the search for new technologies fast, accurate and low cost are constantly being reviewed and evaluated. The main objective of this research was to compare three forms of extraction of potassium (nitro-perchloric decomposition, extraction with water and extraction with diluted solution of HCl) of plant tissues samples of Tanzania grass (Panicum maximum cv. Tanzania) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa cv. Crioula).The methods of K extraction of Tanzania grass and alfalfa plant tissue samples in acid solution or diluted with water were equivalent to the traditional method of nitro-perchloric decomposition and can replace it.