Annabelle G. C. del Norte-Campos and Lorelie A. Burgos Owing to their small size and difficult taxonomic identification, meiofauna are often neglected as part of the benthic ecosystem. Most of the studies done on meiofauna have been limited to soft bottom intertidal or subtidal areas and very few were done on rocky shores. This study was done to characterize the meiofaunal assemblages of a rocky shore site in Southern Guimaras, west central Philippines as part of a long-term sampling program. Following the Natural Geography in Shore Areas (NaGISA) sampling protocol, four transects (3 intertidal and 1 subtidal), along the depth gradient of high tide (HT), mid-tide (MT), low tide (LT), and 1 m subtidal (ST), with 5 replicates each, were laid parallel to the shore of the mainland. Meiofaunal assemblages were sampled in August 2011 and October 2012. The percentages of macroalgal cover and biomass were also calculated. Predominating taxa in both surveys were quite consistent, i.e., harpa...

Jan Karl P. Binarao, Haerold Dean Z. Layaoen, Josefa Angelie D. Revilla, Angelo C. Ani, and Maria Liezel P. Caroche Hand tractors are among the major agricultural machines used by Filipino farmers. They aid farmers in the laborious process of preparing the land prior to planting. Though hand tractors enhance efficiency and productivity of farming, they still pose some threat to the user, specifically with the vibration they generate during operation. Prolonged exposure to vibration from hand tractors may lead to the health risk called hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS). This study compared the effectiveness of vibration dampeners available in the market when operating a diesel- and a gasoline-powered hand tractor. The experiment was done in a stationary position based on the standards set by IS/ISO 5349: 2001. Baseline measurements of vibration at 2100, 2700, and 3300 rpm were as follows: 6.60, 7.12 and 10.50 m s-2 for diesel-powered hand tractor, and 6.81, 4.65 and 11.04 m s-2 for ...

Arthur L. Fajardo The float-assisted tiller is a popular farm implement used for lowland tillage in the Philippines. Lower cost per hectare is the main advantage of using the float-assisted tiller compared with traditional plowing and harrowing. Different designs of the float-assisted tiller have been developed and are commercially available. However, only a few studies have been published regarding float-assisted tiller design modifications and their corresponding performance evaluation. The present study aimed to determine and compare the puddling performance of three designs (TW1, TW2 and TW3) of tilling wheel for the float-assisted tiller at different shaft speeds (200, 250 and 300 rpm). The experiments were done using a single tilling wheel in a laboratory soil bin filled with Maahas clay. Performance index was used as a measure of puddling performance. Performance index was affected by the tilling wheel design, shaft speed, number of passes, and the combination of number of pa...

Shengguo Zhao, Li Liu, Yuan Cai and Jianping Wu Maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been used extensively to determine genetic diversity and to guide genetic resource conservation. It is hypothesized that local populations of Chinese Yellow Cattle (Bos taurus) in the Loess Plateau of Western China were produced from Zaosheng cattle, and estimates of genetic diversity in Zaosheng and other derived populations are needed to assist in getting more detailed information about genetic resource conservation. Samples from Qinchuan cattle (QC, n = 171), Zaosheng cattle (ZS, n = 184), Pingliang native cattle (PL, n = 112), and Guyuan native cattle (GY, n = 75) were analyzed using mtDNA D-loop analytical techniques. A total of 140 variable sites and 244 haplotypes were identified. Among the QC, ZS, PL and GY populations, the diversity of haplotypes (0.946 ± 0.012, 0.976 ± 0.005, 0.966 ± 0.010, and 0.975 ± 0.009, respectively), the average number of nucleotide differences (16.312...

Baek Jae Yeol and Lim Sun Young The study investigated the effect of wine waste extracts on antiproliferative property. Wine wastes were extracted using acetone/methylene chloride (A+M) and methanol (MeOH) and then fractionated using n-hexane, 85% aq. methanol (MeOH), butanol (BuOH) and distilled water. The cytotoxic activity of the wine wastes against AGS human gastric, HT-29 human colon and HT-1080 fibroblast cancer cell lines was determined using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. All the extracts and fractions from the wine wastes decreased the growth of AGS cells, and the effect was concentration-dependent. The MeOH extract showed significantly higher inhibition against the growth of AGS cells compared with the A+M extract (P<0.05). The same trend was observed for the n-Hexane, 85% aq. MeOH, n-BuOH and water fractions. Among the fractions, the 85% aq. MeOH fraction showed the highest effect of 68% inhibition at the lowest concentrat...

Ebrahim Brouki Milan, Babak Abdollahi Mandoulakani, and Fatemeh Kheradmand Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is one of the important medicinal plants belonging to the Lamiaceae family, used as fresh herb. Methyl jasmonate (MeJa) is a hormone signal and endogenous growth regulator involved in the regulation of defense responses, which induces a broad range of physiological pathways in many plant species. In this study, a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications was conducted in a greenhouse to evaluate the effect of MeJa on the expression of eugenol-o-methyl transferase (EOMT) and phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) genes (key genes involved in the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids) in basil. Two concentrations of MeJa (0 and 0.5 mM) were sprayed on healthy plants at pre-flowering stage. Plant leaves were sampled at 0, 24, 48 and 72 h after MeJa application, and the expression of the EOMT and PAL genes was studied using real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results show...

Jonard C. Valdoz, Pablito M. Magdalita, Wella L. Absulio, and Rachel C. Sotto The cultivars of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis are known worldwide for their aesthetic value as garden or potted plants; but they have a short duration or retention of their flowers. This constraint has limited their potential in the floriculture industry because these cultivars have not been used as sources of cut flowers for floral arrangements. The main objective of this research was to find out the factors that affect duration of petal retention in Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. across the four breeds or varieties used, namely, ‘Gelia Castillo’ (GC), ‘Loren Legarda’ x ‘Estrella F. Alabastro’ (LL x EFA), ‘Reddy-or-Not’ (RON), and ‘Wilcox’ (WX). Morphological traits such as peduncle diameter, receptacle diameter, peduncle length and petal thickness were related to floral retention of H. rosa-sinensis L. Moreover, the anatomy of the abscission zone was observed to provide a tissue-level basis for floral retention. Fu...

Younes Kheirizadeh Arough and Raouf Seyed Sharifi In order to evaluate the effects of biofertilizers and zinc on some physiological traits of Triticale under limited water conditions, a factorial experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design with three replications in 2014 and 2015. Experiment factors included water limitation at three levels [normal irrigation (W0) as control; moderate water limitation (W1) – irrigation withheld at 50% of heading stage; severe water limitation (W2) – irrigation withheld at 50% of booting stage]; four biofertilizer levels: no biofertilizer (F0), application of mycorrhiza (F1), application of plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) (F2), application of both PGPR and mycorrhiza (F3); and four nano zinc oxide levels [(without nano zinc oxide (Zn0) as control, application of 0.3 (Zn1), 0.6 (Zn2) and 0.9 (Zn3) g L-1)]. Results showed that water limitation decreased chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, carotenoid ...

Xiaoqiong Chen, Kohei Irifune, Dingqian Yang, Norio Nagao, Yuuki Chikawa, Xianjun Wu, and Tomio Itani This study aimed to compare different experimental approaches for measuring antioxidant capacities of pigmented rice varieties. Samples of red, black, and white rice varieties were analyzed. The anti-oxidative activities of the rice samples were assessed by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazylhydrate (DPPH) free radical and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assays, respectively. The total phenolic contents and the extraction efficiencies of the methanol and ethanol solvents were compared. Although the DPPH free radical and ORAC assays yielded different results, the same trends were observed with regard to their antioxidant capacities, with ranges of 1492.7–2065.8 (highest value), 713.7–1587.4, and 23.9–92.5 µmol Trolox 100 mg-1 corresponding to red, black, and white varieties, respectively. The most efficient extraction solvent was 1% HCl in methanol, which yielded extracts wi...

Evangeline D. Pascual, Celia B. Dela Viña, Merlyn S. Mendioro, Jose E. Hernandez, Junrey C. Amas, Andres Godwin C. Sajise, and Glenn B. Gregorio Novel quantitative trait loci (QTL) for seedling-stage salt tolerance were determined in Hasawi variety of rice (Oryza sativa L.) using 384-plex single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. The F6 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) population, which was produced from the cross IR29 x Hasawi, generated phenotypic data for seedling length and weight, biomass, shoot sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) concentration, and Na-K ratio. Genotyping analysis resulted in a linkage map length of 1379.80 cM with an average of 8 cM interval, thereby producing a total of 17 significant QTLs. Most of the QTLs detected were for seedling vigor, specifically: two for visual salt injury (qSES1, qSES4); three for shoot length (qSL1, qSL9, qSL12); two for root fresh weight (qRFW4.1, qRFW4.2); three for root dry weight (qRDW12, qRDW4.1, qRDW4.2); one for reduction in r...