THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF EXPERIMENTS. By Oscar Kempthorne. New York, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1952. 631 pp. $8.50. This book by a teacher of statistics (as well as a consultant for \"experimenters\") is a comprehensive study of the philosophical background for the statistical design of experiment. It is necessary to have some facility with algebraic notation and manipulation to be able to use the volume intelligently. The problems are presented from the theoretical point of view, without such practical examples as would be helpful for those not acquainted with mathematics. The mathematical justification for the techniques is given. As a somewhat advanced treatment of the design and analysis of experiments, this volume will be interesting and helpful for many who approach statistics theoretically as well as practically. With emphasis on the \"why,\" and with description given broadly, the author relates the subject matter to the general theory of statistics and to the general problem of experimental inference. MARGARET J. ROBERTSON

The Design and Analysis of Experiments

Bioethanol is an attractive biofuel having potential for energy security and environmental safety over fossil fuels. To date, numerous biomass resources have been investigated for bioethanol production, which can broadly be classified into sugars, starch and lignocellulosic biomass. However, conversion of biomass into ethanol varies considerably depending on the nature of feedstock, primarily due to the variation in biochemical composition, and so, only a few feedstocks have been exploited commercially. In recent years, the conversion process of biomass has been improved significantly, even though most of these achievements are yet to be implemented in commercial facility. All the major steps in a typical conversion process, particularly fermentation of sugars that is the common step for all biomass, are greatly influenced by microorganisms. A traditional yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and a bacterial species, Zymomonas mobilis, are widely used in the ethanol fermentation technology. Many factors affect ethanol production process, and the final yield is directly associated with the optimum conditions of these attributes. This review paper presents an overview on the first and second generation bioethanol production with a particular attention to the potential of various biomass sources, technological approaches, role of microorganisms and factors affecting ethanol production process.

Bioethanol production from renewable sources: Current perspectives and technological progress

Population growth and increase in food requirement is the global problem. It is inevitable to introduce new practices that help to increase agricultural productivity. Use of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) has shown potentials to be a promising technique in the practice of sustainable agriculture. A group of natural soil microbial flora acquire dwelling in the rhizosphere and on the surface of the plant roots which impose beneficial effect on the overall well-being of the plant are categorized as PGPR. Researchers are actively involved in understanding plant growth promoting mechanics employed by PGPR. Broadly, these are divided into direct and indirect mechanics. Any mechanism that directly enhances plant growth either by providing nutrients or by producing growth regulators are portrayed as direct mechanics. Whereas, any mechanisms that protects plant from acquiring infections (biotic stress) or helps plant to grow healthily under environmental stresses (abiotic stress) are considere...

Portraying mechanics of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR): A review

Many of the agrochemicals used in controlling pests and diseases are also implicated in ecological, environmental and human health hazards. To find an effective alternative approach with minimum deleterious effects, biological control of soilborne pathogens by application of specific antagonistic microorganisms to seeds, soil or planting material has been studied intensively in the last two decades. Certain bacteria were characterized from rhizosphere of different crop plants that inhibited deleterious and pathogenic bacteria and fungi by producing antibiotics, bacteriocins, siderophores, hydrolytic enzymes and other secondary metabolites. However, the use of these bacteria to protect crops sometimes fails because antagonistic rhizobacteria are unable to compete or colonize the rhizosphere of inoculated plants. Tremendous progress made in characterizing the process of rhizosphere colonization and competence, identification and cloning of bacterial genes contributing to pathogen suppression will contribute to our current understanding of the mechanisms involved in biocontrol. The limitations of these biocontrol products can be addressed by enhancing biocontrol through manipulation of the environment, using mixtures of beneficial organisms, physiological and genetic enhancement of the biocontrol mechanisms, manipulation of formulations and integration of biocontrol with other alternative methods that provide additive effects. These biocontrol agents will subsequently be utilized in sustainable agriculture for improving growth of crop plants.

http://www.globalsciencebooks.info/Online/GSBOnline/images/0906/PT_3(1)/PT_3(1)10-21o.pdf

Biological Control of Soilborne Plant Pathogens with Rhizosphere Bacteria

Polyphasic taxonomy of the genus Talaromyces

Fungal plant diseases are one of the major concerns to agricultural food production world wide. Soil borne pathogenic fungi such as Pythium, Fusarium, Rhizoctonia and Phytopthora attack most of the economically important crop plants (either through seed root before germination or seedling after germination) resulting in loss of billions of dollars. Moreover, the management of chitinous waste is also pressing need today. Mycolytic enzymes (chitinases, proteases and glucanase) producing microorganisms may help in solving these problems. These microorganisms have ability to lyse the fungal cell wall and also have the potential to manage the chitinous waste by producing chitinases. Many chitinolytic microorganisms have potential to control fungal plant pathogens but they are not fully successful in all the cases due to different geological and environmental conditions. Thus, bioprospecting to find novel, highly chitinolytic microorganisms which help in developing potential biocontrol agent. Furthermore, to increase the survivability of biocontrol agents, a formulation may also be necessary. This review is focused on the progress of chitinase genes, chitinolytic microorganisms and their diversity as well as formulation of chitinolytic producers which have the potential to control fungal plant pathogens

/pdf/bioprospecting-and-antifungal-potential-of-chitinolytic-1mzpy5wsrm.pdf

Bioprospecting and antifungal potential of chitinolytic microorganisms

Statistical screenings of medium components for the production of chitinase by the marine isolate Pantoea dispersa

Chitinolytic marine bacterial strains (30) were isolated from the sea dumps at Bhavnagar, India. They were screened as chitinase producers on the basis of zone of clearance on chitin agar plates incorporated with calcofluor white M2R for the better resolution. Out of these, three strains namely, Pseudomonas sp., Pantoea dispersa and Enterobacter amnigenus showed high chitinase production. They were also found to produce proteases and therefore have a good potential for use as antifungal biocontrol agents for the control of fungal plant pathogens. These strains could degrade and utilize the mycelia of Macrophomina phaseoliena (Tassi) Goidanich and Fusarium sp. In vitro, these strains could inhibit the growth of Fusarium sp. and M. phaseolina. The culture filtrate inhibiting hyphal elongation was observed microscopically.

/pdf/isolation-and-identification-of-marine-chitinolytic-bacteria-2ig3it8nqf.pdf

Isolation and identification of marine chitinolytic bacteria and their potential in antifungal biocontrol

No-cook process using granular starch hydrolyzing enzyme (GSHE) was evaluated for Indian broken rice and pearl millet. One-factor-at-a-time optimization method was used in ethanol production to identify optimum concentration of GSHE, under yeast fermentation conditions using broken rice and pearl millet as fermentation feedstocks. An acid fungal protease at a concentration of 0.2 kg per metric ton of grain was used along with various dosages of GSHE under yeast fermentation conditions to degrade the grain proteins into free amino nitrogen for yeast growth. To measure the efficacy of GSHE to hydrolyze no-cook broken rice and pearl millet, the chemical composition, fermentation efficiency, and ethanol recovery were determined. In both feedstocks, fermentation efficiency and ethanol recovery obtained through single-step no-cook process were higher than conventional multistep high-temperature process, currently considered the ideal industrial process. Furthermore, the no-cook process can directly impact energy consumption through steam saving and reducing the water cooling capacity needs, compared to conventional high-temperature process.

/pdf/no-cook-process-for-ethanol-production-using-indian-broken-4dyisj5grb.pdf

Vipul Gohel

Papers

Bioprospecting and antifungal potential of chitinolytic microorganisms

Statistical screenings of medium components for the production of chitinase by the marine isolate Pantoea dispersa

Isolation and identification of marine chitinolytic bacteria and their potential in antifungal biocontrol

No-Cook Process for Ethanol Production Using Indian Broken Rice and Pearl Millet

Statistical optimization of medium components for κ-carrageenase production by Pseudomonas elongata