Bacterial phytopathogen Pectobacterium causes soft rot disease in several vegetable crops globally, resulting in heavy agricultural losses at both the pre and postharvest stages. The present work was carried out to screen Kimchi cabbage genetic resources conserved at the National Agrobiodiversity Center, Rural Development Administration, Korea, for resistance against the soft rot pathogen Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum KACC 21701 over a period of three years (from 2020 to 2022). Infection of the phytopathogen was carried out at four-leaf stage and for each accession, twenty-five plants per germplasm were infected with KACC 21701. Kimchi cabbage cultivars Wangmatbaechu, Seoulbaechu, and CR Kiyoshi were used as control. Seven-days post-infection, the Disease Index (DI) values were manually recorded from zero to four, zero matched perfectly heathy plants and four completely dead plants. The 682 accessions of Kimchi cabbage exhibited varying degrees of disease resistance to KACC 21701 and thirty accessions, exhibiting a DI≤2, were considered for replication studies. During the replication studies, four landrace germplasms (IT102883, IT120036, IT120044, and IT120048) and one cultivar (IT187919) were confirmed to be moderately susceptible to KACC 21701. Results of the preliminary screening as well as replication studies were documented for the all the 682 germplasms. Addition of such information to the passport data of stored germplasms might serve as potential bio-resource for future breeders and researchers to develop resistant varieties or study the mechanisms involved in resistance of plants to such phytopathogen.

A field experiment was conducted at Chishaka, Wedza district in the province of Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe during the 2020/2021 cropping season to determine effect of integrated nutrient management (INM) on cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) yields, net returns, and residual soil fertility. A total of six treatments were evaluated in a randomised complete block design (RCBD) with five replications. Treatments comprised T1 (control, 100% recommended chemical fertilizer), T2 (25% Cattle manure + 25% Chicken manure + 50% Ammonium nitrate), T3 (50% Compound S + 50% Chicken manure), T4 (50% Compound S + 25% Goat manure + 25% Chicken manure), T5 (farmer practice, 75% Compost + 25% Chicken manure), and T6 (50% Compost + 50% Chicken manure). All rates of organic manures were applied based on N equivalence. The soil was sandy loam with low soil organic carbon (1.28%), nitrogen (0.175%), and phosphorus (6.59 mg/kg) for all experimental plots. Results indicated that INM significantly improved soil and crop productivity. INM treatments T4, T3, and T2 recorded significantly maximum yield and yield components which were statistically at par. These treatments also gave the best strategy to improve major soil nutrients and maintain soil fertility. Similarly, the maximum net profit was obtained from combined application of treatments T4, T3, and T2. Treatment with 100% chemical fertiliser gave relatively lower yields and net benefit value than T4, T3, and T2. These results indicate that INM has the great potential to reduce the use of chemical fertilisers without decreasing soil fertility or crop yields. Therefore smallholder resource constrained farmers can adopt INM as a strategy, to enhance resource use efficiency and sustain soil health and crop productivity for improved livelihoods.

Abstract Biosensors are a group of measurement systems and their design is based on the selective identification of analyses based on biological components and physical and chemical detectors. Biosensors consist of three components: biological element, detector, and converter. The design of biosensors in various fields of biological sciences, medicine has expanded significantly. Biosensor technology actually represents a combination of biochemistry, molecular biology, chemistry, physics, electronics, and telecommunications. A biosensor actually consists of a small sensor and biological material fixed on it. Because biosensors are a powerful tool for identifying biological molecules, today they are used in various medical sciences, chemical industry, food industry, environmental monitoring, pharmaceutical production, health, etc. In fact, these sensors are a powerful tool to identify biological molecules. In fact, biosensors are analytical tools that can use biological intelligence to detect and react with a compound or compounds, and thus create a chemical, optical, or electrical message. The basis of a biosensor is to convert a biological response into a message. In this category, the use of telecommunication engineering technology and electromagnetic waves and frequency and radio spectrum is growing more and more to detect, measure, and determine the desired parameters in microbiology and laboratory sciences. The use of radio, optical, electromagnetic, ultrasonic, and infrared wave detection technology is part of the applications of telecommunication science in this field. Even image and audio processing systems have been instrumental in the discussion of biosensors in microbiology. The science of using fiber optics and waveguides, micro-strip antennas, and microelectromechanical technology is also very efficient in the construction and design of these biosensors.

Sperm cryopreservation is a fundamental process for the long-term conservation of livestock genetic resources. Yet, the packaging method has been shown, among other factors, to affect the frozen-thawed (FT) sperm quality. This study aimed to develop a new mini-straw for sperm cryopreservation. In addition, the kinematic patterns, viability, acrosome integrity, and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) of boar spermatozoa frozen in the developed 0.25 mL straw, 0.25 mL (minitube, Germany), or 0.5 mL (IMV technologies, France) straws were assessed. Postthaw kinematic parameters were not different (experiment 1: total motility (33.89%, 32.42%), progressive motility (19.13%, 19.09%), curvilinear velocity (42.32, 42.86), and average path velocity (33.40, 33.62) for minitube and the developed straws, respectively. Further, the viability (38.56%, 34.03%), acrosome integrity (53.38%, 48.88%), MMP (42.32%, 36.71%) of spermatozoa frozen using both straw were not differ statistically (p > 0.05). In experiment two, the quality parameters for semen frozen in the developed straw were compared with the 0.5 mL IMV straw. The total motility (41.26%, 39.1%), progressive motility (24.62%, 23.25%), curvilinear velocity (46.44, 48.25), and average path velocity (37.98, 39.12), respectively, for IMV and the developed straw, did not differ statistically. Additionally, there was no significant difference in the viability (39.60%, 33.17%), acrosome integrity (46.23%, 43.23%), and MMP (39.66, 32.51) for IMV and the developed straw, respectively. These results validate the safety and efficiency of the developed straw and highlight its great potential for clinical application. Moreover, both 0.25 mL and 0.5 mL straws fit the present protocol for cryopreservation of boar spermatozoa.

Human intestinal flora is very diverse; with lactic acid bacteria (LAB) existing as part of the most vital gut microbes that improve host health. The application of LAB as a whole organism or its metabolite in the case of probiotic and bacteriocin respectively is extensive. Thus, the need to always bio-prospect for newer strains of LAB is essential. This study focused on isolating LAB from kunun-zaki and kindirmo, a fermented non-alcoholic beverage of non-dairy and dairy sources respectively, explored their physiological and biochemical properties, antibiotics sensitivity pattern and identified based on their 16S rRNA sequencing. A total of eighty isolates were selected sixty-six from kunun-zaki and fourteen from kindirmo in which 93.7% were bacilli and 6.3% were spherical in shape having 68.75% and 30% homofermentative and heterofermentative pathway respectively. All isolates have the ability to utilize glucose to produce lactic acid while their tolerance to pH 3 and salt concentration at 2%, 4% and 6.5% varied widely. Thirty-four isolates based on their physiological and biochemical properties were selected for molecular identification to ascertain their genera and species. Limosilactobacillus fermentum (68%); Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (6%) and Weissella confusa (3%) were confirmed species isolated. Thus, it was concluded that traditional fermented foods such as kunun-zaki and kindirmo are a good source to bio-prospect for LAB for product development, starter culture and probiotic study.

Tin slag is a byproduct obtained from the tin smelting industry and contained naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM); therefore, it has to be managed accordingly. This study focuses on recycling the waste in exchange for natural aggregates for road pavement due to the potential features as construction materials. The main objective of this study is to analyze the use of tin slag by diluting its radioactivity level and as the replacement of natural aggregates while focusing on identifying the mechanical properties of the mixture. Tin slag was used as coarse aggregate in the range of 0–85% while the percentage of recycle glass was maintained at 15% and granite rocks in range of 0–100%. In this research, the concentration activity of NORM in tin slag have been measured using a gamma ray spectrometer. Few laboratory tests for the final product are carried out such as Los Angeles abrasion value (LAAV), aggregate crushing value (ACV), and aggregate impact value (AIV). This study was also conducted to analyze the leachability of As, Cd, Ba, Cr, Pb, Se and Ag from the different composition. From the measurement result, the average concentration of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K are 318.21 Bq·kg−1, 602.07 Bq·kg−1 and 89.84 Bq·kg−1, respectively. The outdoor dose rates were found to be lower than 1.5 mSv·yr−1 in sample A1, A2 and A3 which is the recommended limit for construction materials. The sample toxicity was assessed using the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) and the concentration of the elements studied was analysed using ICP-MS. The result from the analysis indicated that the concentrations of the heavy metal elements were between 0.001–26.94 mg·kg−1, which is lower than the limit for each element. As a conclusion, addition of tin slag between 5 to 25% in exchange of granite rocks as road pavement have showed potential evidence in the test for construction material. Besides, it has low leachability to the environment while diluting the radioactivity level.

In thermal cutting process, gas flow injected from the nozzle has a significant effect on the cutting materials. The gas flow is difficult to observe gases are transparent, therefore, in this study, Schlieren method was adopted to visualize the gas flow inside the kerf. The kerf shape was inserted between two slices of transparent glass in order to imitate the real cutting environment. In order to get the flow characteristics, a high speed camera was equipped and the image processing was applied to compare the before and after injection images. As a result, the method for visualizing gas flow was successfully developed and also expected to be applied to the analysis of purging gas in various welding environments.