Central Agricultural University

About: Central Agricultural University is a education organization based out in Imphal, Manipur, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Agriculture. The organization has 1116 authors who have published 1157 publications receiving 9217 citations.

Isolation and Screening of Cellulose Degrading Microorganisms from Forest Floor Litters of Jhum Fallows

Abstract: Fallow period of a Jhum cycle is the recuperation phase of Jhumming practice, where most of the processes like regeneration of secondary forest, equilibration of biomass (forest litter fall) decomposition and nutrient cycling processes take place. Biomass decomposition is considered to be the key process that supports all other biogeochemical processes. In the present study, litter falls from 4 different Jhum cycles viz. 2, 5, 10 and 20 years were collected from Jhum fields of Mizoram. Since cellulose is the most important component of plant biomass and a source of carbon, the cellulose degrading microorganisms (CDMs) were isolated from these litter falls and screened for their ability to degrade carboxy-methyl-cellulose (CMC) in agar plates as substrate. Based on halo formation in CMC plates, the colony forming unit (cfu) counts of CMC decomposers were recorded in the order of 20 ≥ 10 > 2 > 5 years fallow period. The cfu counts in cellulose agar media ranged from 5.2 × 106 to 9.9 × 107 cfu g−1 litter fall, showing the lowest in 5 years fallow and the highest in 2 years fallow. The cellulase activity ranged from 3.06 to 227.8 µg mL−1 h−1. In conclusion, Jhum fields seem to harbour substantial population of CDMs during fallow period with an indication of higher population in 2 years, which subsides in 5 years and upsurges again at 10–20 years. The activity of decomposer community found more prominent in the longer fallow period.

Marker-assisted breeding for abiotic stress tolerance in horticultural crops

Abstract: The horticultural crops are predominantly short duration crops mostly grown on small patches of land and require a very specific climatic and edaphic requirement to complete their growth and production cycle. The extreme weather events and various abiotic stresses have been reported to cause considerable damage to many horticultural crops. The effects of abiotic stresses like drought, temperature, cold, salinity, and heavy metals on the yield performance are more pronounced in vegetables and fruit crops. To cope up with these abiotic challenges, different plant breeding programs have already been carried out, focusing on the development of abiotic stress-tolerant varieties. Recently, the economic uses of utilizing molecular markers of interesting genes in plant breeding programs have emerged out as a powerful tool in molecular breeding. The potential benefits of these identified markers of bona fide specific traits enhanced the feasibility and success of this marker-assisted selection (MAS). In conventional breeding programs, the selection is carried out based on morphological traits without the knowledge of genetics. Impact of abiotic factors and recent yield issues, characters that control environmental stress tolerance, mineral, osmotic requirement, etc., are the main concerns for horticultural crops. The molecular MAS technology suggests rapid and cost-effective progress in selecting abiotic stress-acclimated horticultural plants with expanding accuracy. The molecular-aided selection has potential in pyramiding target traits/genes in a single progeny plant more precisely and conveniently with little\accidental harms. Marker-tagged abiotic stress-resistance genes can be easily combined without the need for phenotypic screening. As it is a cost-effective and less time-consuming strategy, it can be suggested for long-term improvement in stress tolerance of horticultural crops with some limitations.

Refinement of Draft Genome Assemblies of Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan)

Abstract: Genome assembly of short reads from large plant genomes remains a challenge in computational biology despite major developments in Next Generation sequencing. Of late multiple draft assemblies of plant genomes are reported in many organisms. The draft assemblies of Cajanus cajan are with different levels of genome completeness; contain large number of repeats, gaps and segmental duplications. Draft assemblies with portions of genome missing, are shorter than the referenced original genome. These assemblies come with low map accuracy affecting further functional annotation and prediction of gene component as desired by crop researchers. Genome coverage i.e. number of sequenced raw reads mapped on to certain locations of the genome is an important quality indicator of completeness and assembly quality in draft assemblies. Present work was aimed at improvement of coverage in reported de novo sequenced draft genomes (GCA_000340665.1 and GCA_000230855.2) of Pigeonpea, a legume widely cultivated in India. The two assemblies comprised 72% and 75% of estimated coverage of genome respectively. We employed assembly reconciliation approach to compare draft assemblies and merged them to generate a high quality near complete assembly with enhanced contiguity. Finished assembly has reduced number of gaps than reported in draft assemblies and improved genome coverage of 82.4%. Quality of the finished assembly was evaluated using various quality metrics and for presence of specific trait related functional genes. Employed pair-end and mate-pair local library data sets enabled to resolve gaps, repeats and other sequence errors yielding lengthier scaffolds compared to two draft assemblies. We report prediction of putative host resistance genes from improved sequence against Fusarium wilt disease and evaluated them in both wet laboratory and field phenotypic conditions.

Ethnic Fermented Foods and Beverages of Bihar and Jharkhand

Abstract: Bihar and Jharkhand are the two Indian states which were united until the year 2000. The food, culture and festivals among the people of these states are almost the same except those celebrated by tribal communities. Since both states come under rice-wheat cropping system, the staple food of the people is rice and wheat which cover the major proportion of the food products/dishes prepared at different occasions. The use of fermented foods has been preferred due to improved shelf life, better digestibility and palatability. Fermented foods like pua, jalebi, dhuska, kadhi badi, dahi vada, baskarel, etc. are prepared at different occasions. Products like jalebi and dhuska are commercially prepared by the rural people for sale, and these can be seen at different food stalls in the market. The popular beverage of tribal community of Jharkhand is Hadia prepared from rice or mahua. In Bihar, the consumption of toddy was popular among people of lower socio-economic status. But, after ban from Government of Bihar on use of alcoholic beverages, its consumption has drastically reduced. Since the people have the technique of preparation of these nutritious foods, the commercial production of these foods must be promoted under organized system giving them the employment and providing the common people the nutritious food.