International Journal of Agriculture and Biosciences

The main objective of this work was to study the effect of soaking blanched potato slices in NaCL and CaCL2 solutions on acrylamide formation and sensorial quality of potato chips. Prior to frying, potato slices (Agria variety, diameter: 37 mm, width: 1.5 mm) were blanched in hot water at 85Ċ for 3.5 min; these slices were considered as the control. Slices of the same dimensions were blanched as in the previous step, and soaked at 25Ċ in NaCL and CaCL2 solutions of 0/1 M for 5 min. Blanched and soaked slices were fried at 180Ċ for 4.5 min. The acrylamide content was determined by LC-MS/MS. The sensory quality of potato chips was evaluated based on their crispness, aroma, flavor and overall acceptability by using 10-point hedonic scale, where 1= dislike extremely and 10= like extremely by 50 untrained panelists. Samples soaked in NaCL and CaCL2 solutions showed significant reduction in the formation of acrylamide by 46 and 55% respectively in comparison with control and CaCL2 showed more efficient in inhibiting acrylamide formation than NaCL. Results of sensory evaluation demonstrated that samples soaked in CaCL2 solution had significantly the lowest values of taste, odor and overall acceptability While NaCL soaked samples had significantly (P<0/05) the highest scores of overall acceptability. It was concluded that soaking of blanched potato slices in NaCL solution (0/1 M) can be proposed as a reliable mitigation strategy to reduce acrylamide formation in potato chips with more acceptable sensory characteristics.

Keywords: Acrylamide, Potato chips, Blanching, Salt solution, Sensory characteristic

To evaluate the effects of moisture stress on yield and qualitative and quantitative characteristics of four cotton cultivars, an experiment was conducted using split plot arrangement in a randomized complete block design with four replications in Hashemabad Gorgan region. Main plots included three levels of irrigation [65 (I1), 100 (I2) and 135 (I3) mms cumulative evaporation from class A pan] and four cultivars consisting of Siokra (V1), Golestan (V2), Armaghan (V3) and Sahel (V4) assigned as sub plots. Studied traits were boll number, boll weight, and plant height, and leaf area, number of monopodial and sympodial branches, earliness, lint percentage and yield of plant. Two-year results showed that the effect of year was significant on boll weight, earliness, lint percentage and yield. The effect of irrigation was significant on total traits except for the number of sympodial branches. The effect of cultivar was significant on total traits. The interactional effect of irrigation and cultivar was significant on number of monopodial branches, boll number, boll weight and yield. Results showed that maximum number of monopodial branches, boll number and yield were obtained from cultivar of Siokra at the first level of irrigation (I1V1); and the maximum boll weight was obtained from cultivar Armaghan in no-stress condition (I1V2).

Keywords: Earliness, Cultivar of Siokra, Cotton Yield, Deficit Irrigation, Cotton

Selected phytochemicals which includes flavoniods, alkaloids, tannins, saponins, terpenoids, cyanogenic glycosides steroids and phenols were determined quantitatively in Moringa oleifera stem bark extract. Gravimetric method was used to determine flavanoid, saponin and alkaloid. Spectrophotometeric method was used to determine tannin, phenol, vitamin AB and E content. Chromatographic method was used to determine steroid, cyanogenic glycoside and terpenoid. The results obtained show that the extract contains large quantity of alkaloid, flavonoid, tannin, cyanogenic glycoside and terpenoid with trace amount of steroid. It also show that the extract contain large amount of Vitamin A, E and B2, respectively. From the result, high concentration of flavonoid and alkaloid suggest antioxidant, analgesic and antimicrobial activity and good amount of Vitamin A, E and B2 for proper night vision, antioxidant and fertility activity. It is concluded that methanol extract of Moringa oleifera stem bark is endowed with a lot bioactive compound that may suggest its wide range of applications in both medicine and nutrition.

Keywords: Cyanogenic glycosides, terpenoids, flavonoids, Vitamine B2, Vitamine A, Vitamine E, Tannin, Steroids

The rose certainly remains the queen of the cut flowers. This research was carried out in the research greenhouse of Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) branch, to investigate the effect of salicylic acid preharvest treatment on quality, quantity and nutrient uptake of rose flower (cv. Angelina). The experimental design was completely randomized, using different concentrations salicylic acid (0, 50, 100 and 150 ppm) with 3 replications. Average temperature of day and night were 28°C and 18°C, respectively and relative humidity in greenhouse was 60-70 percent during the growth period. The plants were sprayed manually on a once every two weeks. The some properties of rose such as leaf area, length of flowering stem, plant yield, chlorophyll content (a, b and total), anthocyanin of petal, total nitrogen, potassium and phosphor were determined at after the late-stage of salicylic acid spray. The results indicated that foliar application of salicylic acid significantly affected chlorophyll (a, b and total), anthocyanin of petal, total nitrogen, potassium and phosphor. However, statistical analysis showed leaf area, length of flowering stem and plant yield of rose were far greater in 50 and 100 ppm salicylic acid compared to 0 and 150 ppm salicylic acid. Based on these results, it is suggested that salicylic acid pre harvest application improved quality of cut rose flowers.

Keywords: Salicylic acid, Rose cut flowers, Pre harvest, Chlorophyll, Anthocyanin

Despite porcine circoviruses type 1 (PCV1) and type 2 (PC2) have high levels of nucleotide similarity, PCV1 is considered non-pathogenic to the swine and PCV2 has been related with several pigs’ disease. In December 2014, one fattening pig farm purchased postweaning piglets (about 25Kg) from local small-scale farmers in Tai’an, Shandong, China. After the two weeks, the pigs began to exhibit signs of disease, including pallor of the skin, and respiratory distress and pyrexia (41°C to 42°C), and morbidity exceeded 10%. Clinical, necropsy, histopathological examinations, PCR-RFLP and sequence were performed. The distinctic lesions including the multifocal greyish-white lesions in the liver and kindey, and the swollen of the lymph nodes were observed. Necrotic lymphocytes with homogeneous and red-stained necrotic foci of inguinal and mesenteric lymph nodes, interstitial pneumonia and nephritis were observed on histopathologic slides under a light microscope.PCR with a specific 1767-bp fragment showed that the flock were positive for PCV2 and negative for classic swine fever, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, porcine pseudorabies. The PCV2 complete genome sequence was compared with the genomic sequences in the GenBank nucleotide database, and was found to share 97.6% to 98.9% sequence similarity with the PCV2-1C, which was consistent with PCR-RFLP analysis. In summary, the present study is beneficial to understanding of PCV2 epidemiology and the establishment of a genotype definition for PCV2.

Keywords: Porcine circovirus type 2; Tai’an city; Pathological diagnosis; PCR-RFLP

Heavy metal stress adversely affects microbial activities at elevated levels but information on response of indigenous soil bacterial populations and the sensitivity of whole microbial activities is poorly understood. Thus, the effects of heavy metals on certain soil bacterial populations and microbial activities were investigated over a four-week period. Sulphate salts of zinc (Zn), cooper (Cu), and nickel (Ni) were added to the soil samples at 5 g/kg of soil. The rates of microbial carbon (total carbon, organic matter and oxidizable organic carbon), nitrogen mineralization, respiration, pH were measured. Total colony-forming units (CFU) of aerobic heterotrophic bacteria, total and faecal coliforms were taken. The results indicated that the effects of metals on the assayed parameters were generally significant (P<0.05) with marked positive correlations (P<0.01). The rates of carbon accumulated by the 4th week of post-treatment were high in% Cu and Zn treatments (6.38, 11.00, 4.78%; and 6.34, 10.93, 4.75% respectively), but insignificant in% Ni. There were accumulated levels of nitrogen, showing rates of 0.51, 0.53 and 0.48% in samples treated with Zn, Cu, and Ni respectively, compared to 0.38-0.40% at zero time. Respiration of the soil’s microbial populations was inhibited from an initial rate of 0.24g of C/g to 0.11g of C/g in the Zn treated soil; and to 0.05g of C/g in the Cu treated soil; and to 0.09g of C/g in the Zn treated soil respectively by the 4th week. Plate counts of total aerobic heterotrophic bacteria, total and faecal coliforms were significantly inhibited. Inhibitory additive effects of microbial activities and population caused by the heavy metals were recorded.

Keywords: Heavy metals, mineralization, respiration, bacterial population

Stepped spillways are designed to pass high flow discharges over the dams. Energy increases due to high speed of flow on stepped spillway. This energy must be dissipated by suitable way process. Many studies have been done on stepped spillways and effects of factors such as the height of the step, number of steps, slope of step and sill on steps for energy dissipation has been investigated. In this research, the effect of rectangular sills with length of quarter and half of the step bottom length on energy dissipation in skimming flow is investigated. Stepped spillway model contains 61steps with a slope of 33% and scale of 1:15. The results showed that the relative energy dissipation is related to the factors such as the discharge, height and length of sill. The best sill that introduce highest of energy dissipation in stepped spillway had a height of 0.4 times of the step height and with one quarter of the step bottom length. Also the results indicates that by installing the sill on the each steps, the energy dissipation rate increases about 4 to 11 percent with respect to non-sill in step.

Keywords: Energy dissipation, Height of sill, Slope, Stepped spillway, Skimming flow

In order to investigate the replacement of natural ingredients instead of chemicals in the preservative solutions of cut flowers, an experiment with factorial arrangement was carried out in a completely randomized design with three replications. In this study, the effect of concentrations of 4000, 2000, and 6000 mgl-1 of thymol and Rosemary essential oil with 4% sucrose in preservative solutions were evaluated in order to study the Alstroemeria cut flower. Traits of vase life, solution uptake, flower diameter, total soluble solids, anthocyanin and chlorophyll was evaluated. The results showed that the most vase life of the flower was related to the treatment of 4000 mgl-1 thymol with 14/33 days, while the control with 9 days of life had the least longevity. The greatest amount of flower diameter and total soluble solids was related to Rosemary essence and the greatest amount of solution uptake, anthocyanin and chlorophyll was observed in the flowers treated with thymol.

Keywords: Alstroemeria, Rosemary essential oil, Thymol, Vase life

The purpose of research was analyzing technical knowledge of summer crop farmers regarding production system sustainability in Khouzestan Province, Iran. The method of research was correlative descriptive. A random sample of summer crop farmers of Khouzestan province, Iran (n=250) were selected for participation in study. The study was conducted in 2014-2015. A questionnaire was developed to gather information regarding technical knowledge of summer crop farmers about production system sustainability. The questionnaire reliability was estimated by Cronbach’s alpha. Reliability was 0.85. Data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Based on the results level of farmer’s knowledge about items of production system sustainability on all items was moderate. The results indicate 64.4% of farmers had moderate overall knowledge regarding production system sustainability. Liner regression was used to predict changes in sustainability knowledge by different variables. Level of education, participation in extension practices, income, access to communication channel, attitude to sustainability may well explain for 67.6% changes (R2 = 0.676) in sustainability knowledge.

Keywords: Knowledge, Production System Sustainability, Summer Crop Farmers

The study focused on evaluation of training and visit extension system in improving extension agents’ skill and farmers’ productivity. Specifically, the study determined the skills acquired by extension agents during fortnight training; ascertained the quality of training impacted to farmers by extension agents; examined extension agents perception about fortnight training and farmers perception about usefulness of extension training; assessed level of farmers productivity resulting from extension agents training. A multi-stage random sampling technique was employed to select sixty (60) arable crop farmers and twelve (12) extension agents. Primary and Secondary data were collected using two sets of structured questionnaire administered on the respondents. Analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics and Likert scale rating system which produced discriminatory index. Results shows that quality of training received was high (61.6%). About 55% and 45% of the respondents adjudged the training received to be useful and very useful. The respondents were excellent in skill development after the fortnight training following the overall mean of 3.31. Result further showed increases in farmers’ productivities. It was recommended that skilled subject matter specialist be employed to improve the fortnight training for sustainability in farmers productivity.

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