Bharathiar University

About: Bharathiar University is a education organization based out in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Thin film & Adsorption. The organization has 5812 authors who have published 8628 publications receiving 143934 citations. The organization is also known as: BU.

Biodiversity in Indian Underexploited/Tribal Pulses

Abstract: Pulses are an important source of proteins to the vegetarian and socio-economically weaker sections of the population. With rapid increase in population coupled with stagnation in pulses production at around 12 to 14 million tonnes, the per capita availability of protein has decreased causing Protein-Energy-Malnutrition (PEM) especially among children below the age of five years in India. This has necessitated exploration of alternate sources of protein to bridge the gap for protein requirement of the various sections of vegetarian population. In this context, alternate sources like untraditional legumes (underexploited/tribal pulses) assume significance. Therefore it is time to understand their biodiversity with a view to exploit such genetic resources for additional supply of plant protein, so that they can augment the availability of protein from conventional pulse crops in India. Around 40 legumes belonging to the genera, Abrus, Acacia, Alysicarpus,Atylosia, Bauhinia, Canavalia, Cassia, Dolichos,Entada, Erythrina, Indigofera, Lens, Mucuna,Parkia, Parkinsonia, Phaseolus, Pongamia, Prosopis,Sesbania, Tamarindus, Vicia, Vigna and Xylia are known to be consumed by as many as 550 tribal communities in India who account for 67.76 million of total Indian population. Besides there are another 10 underexploited/little known legumes, which have not been exploited to the extent they deserve. The importance of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) including the traditional medicinal properties of these wild legumes have been enumerated. The authors’ team of workers have gathered 192 germplasm (accessions) of wild legumes including 45 tribal pulses from different agroclaimatic regions in India. Marked genetic variation among the germplasm/varieties of several tribal pulses at the time of collection and evaluation for agrobotanical characters have been recorded. The genetic erosion of germplasm of tribal pulses, such as Entada scandense, Mucuna monosperma, M. gigantea, Atylosia goensis,Bauhinia vahlii, Xylia xylocarpa, Parkia roxburghii, Vigna radiata var. sublobata, V. mungo var. silvestris and V grandis, has been noticed. Several germplasm conservation strategies and their utility in this context have been stressed. Chemical investigations on levels of crude protein and crude lipid also have revealed the existence of genetic diversity not only among different varieties but also among different germplasm of the same species. Several germplasm/varieties/species such as Atylosia goensis, Canavalia ensiformis, C. gladiata, Erythrina indica, Indigofera linifolia, Lens esculenta, Mucuna spp., Psophocarpus spp., Pongamia pinnata, Phaseolus lunatus, Sesbania bispinosa, Vicia faba, Vigna trilobata and Xylia xylocarpa possess 20–80% (w/w) more crude protein compared to the conventional pulses. Similarly several germplasm/varieties/species like Alysicarpus rugosus, Bauhinia spp., Cassia spp., Entada scandense, Erythrina indica, Mucuna spp., Parkia roxburghii, Pongamia pinnata, Prosopis chilensis, Psophocarpus spp., Tamarindus indica and Xylia xylocarpa contain high levels of crude lipid (10–30%, w/w). Human nutrition requires a balanced source of essential amino acids. Generally seed proteins of several legumes are deficient in sulfur — containing amino acids, cysteine and methionine. Exceptionally the seed proteins of Alysicarpus rugosus, Indigofera linifolia and Tamarindus indica contain sulfur containing amino acids more than FAO/WHO (1991) requirement pattern. Similarly seed proteins of certain varieties/germplasm of tribal pulses like Abrus precatorius, Acacia leucophloea, A. nilotica, Bauhinia malabarica, Canavalia gladiata, Cassia laevigata, Entada scandens, Indigofera linifolia, Mucuna pruriens var. pruriens, M. pruriens var. utilis, Parkia roxburghii, Phaseolus lunatus, Prosopis chilensis, Parkinsonia aculeata, Pongamia pinnata, Vigna aconitifolia, V. capensis, V. sesquipedalis, V. sinensis, V. sublobata, V. umbellata, V. vexillata and Xylia xylocarpa contain tryptophan more than FAO/WHO (1991) requirement pattern. The germplasm of untraditional pulses such as Canavalia ensiformis, C. gladiata, Mucuna pruriens var. pruriens, M. pruriens var. utilis and Psophocarpus tetragonolobus have been advocated for large scale cultivation and consumption as alternate and additional sources of plant protein after toxicological evaluation and technological processing.

Effects of Pediococcus pentosaceus supplementation on growth performance, intestinal microflora and disease resistance of white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei

Abstract: Litopenaeus vannamei is economically important shrimp species in worldwide aquaculture. This study was conducted to assess the effect of different levels of probiotic Pediococcus pentosaceus (PP) on growth performance, feed utilization, digestive enzyme activity, intestinal microflora count and body composition of L. vannamei. Four diets containing different concentrations [0 (PP0), 106 (PPI), 107 (PPII) and 108 (PPIII) CFU/g] of PP were formulated. After 8 weeks feeding trial, the experimental shrimps were challenged with Vibrio anguillarum and noted the surveillance. At the end of the feeding trial, the obtained results revealed a significant increase (p < .05) in final body weight, final length, weight gain (WG), survival rate, protease and amylase activities, lactobacillus sp. and Bacillus sp. intestinal count, total haemocyte counts (THC) and lysozyme activity in PPIII group when compared with the other groups. Similarly, WG, amylase activity, Bacillus sp. count, THC and lysozyme activity were significantly enhanced in case of PPII compared to the control group (p < .05). Interestingly, FCR and Vibrio sp. counts were significantly decreased in case of PPIII group when compared to the other groups (p < .05). Also, significant level of surveillance was noted in the challenging test with V. anguillarum. These results suggested that the P. pentosaceus improved the growth performance, digestive enzyme activity, immunity and tolerance against V. anguillarum of L. vannamei.

Finite-time consensus of Markov jumping multi-agent systems with time-varying actuator faults and input saturation

Abstract: This paper gives attention to the issue of finite-time leader-following consensus of nonlinear discrete-time multi-agent systems with Markov jump parameters. A robust fault-tolerant control protocol that takes the effect of time-varying actuator faults and actuator saturation into account is considered for the addressed system. The main purpose of the paper is to design a fault-tolerant controller such that the leader-following consensus of the addressed system is achieved over a prescribed finite-time interval. By using the Lyapunov functional approach, Abel’s lemma and some properties of Kronecker product, a sufficient condition for the existence of fault-tolerant state feedback controller for the addressed system is presented and an explicit parameterization of such a controller is obtained. Eventually, a numerical example along with its simulation results is exploited to reflect the applicability of the proposed design method, wherein the robust performance of controller is exhibited despite the presence of actuator saturation and time-varying actuator faults.