Abstract: Winter oilseed rape, Brassica napus L., is characterized by a high number of herbicide applications. Therefore, its cultivation can lead to massive contamination of ground water and soil by herbicide and their metabolites. A multi-side long-term field experiment (EFFO, Efficient crop rotation) was set-up in Luxembourg to quantify these effects. Based on soil sampling and laboratory analysis, preliminary results showed reduced dehydrogenase activities of several soil organisms due to herbicide treatments. This effect is highly depending on the soil type. Relation between the dehydrogenase activity and the amount of microbial carbon showed higher variability on the test side with loamy Brown Earth, based on Bunter than on those with sandy-loamy Brown Earth, based on calciferous Sandstone.
Abstract: Sulphur oxidizing bacteria (SOB) have marked their significant role in perspectives of maintaining healthy environment as researchers from all over the world tested and apply these in waste water treatment plants, bioleaching of heavy metals, deterioration of bridge structures, concrete and for bioremediation purposes, etc. Also, these SOB are well adapted in all kinds of environment ranging from normal soil, water habitats to extreme natural sources like geothermal areas, volcanic eruptions, black shale and acid rock drainage (ARD). SOB have been isolated from low pH environment of anthropogenic origin like acid mine drainage (AMD) and bioleaching heaps, hence these can work efficiently in different environmental conditions. Besides having many applications in field of environment science, they may be proven to be very beneficial in area of agriculture as sulphur is the fourth major macronutrients required for the growth of plants. More amount of sulphur is needed by pulses and oilseed crops with respect to the cereal grains. Due to continuous use of land for overproduction of more demanding sulphur utilizing crops and without application of sulphur fertilizers, its concentration is decreasing day by day, and thus, sulphur deficiency is becoming a great problem as it affects the crop productivity and quality. Sulphur is generally found in soils in many forms which are unavailable for plants (cannot be use by plants) like elemental sulphur, thiosulphate which can be taken up by bacteria and converted into simpler forms usable by plants by undergoing a series of transformations. So, keeping the importance of sulphur in view for various soil types, oilseed crops and role of microorganisms in making them available to plants, we made an effort to isolate, optimize, and characterize SOB. Three potential strains of bacteria were isolated, namely SSF7, SSA21, and SSS6, showing sulphate production of concentration, i.e. 2.268, 3.102, and 2.785 mM, respectively. Also, these were optimized for various culture conditions like carbon, nitrogen source, pH, temperature, and incubation time, and characterization was also done.
Abstract: Following plants-barley (Hordeum sativum), alfalfa
(Medicago sativa), grass mixture (red fescue-75%, long-term
ryegrass - 20% Kentucky bluegrass - 10%), oilseed rape (Brassica
napus biennis), resistant to growth in the contaminated soil with oil
content of 15.8 g / kg 25.9 g / kg soil were used. Analysis of the
population showed that the oil pollution reduces the number of
bacteria in the rhizosphere and rhizoplane of plants and enhances the
amount of spore-forming bacteria and saprotrophic micromycetes. It
was shown that regardless of the plant, dominance of Pseudomonas
and Bacillus genera bacteria was typical for the rhizosphere and
rhizoplane of plants. The frequency of bacteria of these genera was
more than 60%. Oil pollution changes the ratio of occurrence of
various types of bacteria in the rhizosphere and rhizoplane of plants.
Besides the Pseudomonas and Bacillus genera, in the presence of
hydrocarbons in the root zone of plants dominant and most typical
were the representatives of the Mycobacterium and Rhodococcus
genera. Together the number was between 62% to 72%.
Abstract: Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is one of the important
non-edible oilseed crops having immense industrial and medicinal
value. Oil yield per unit area is the ultimate target in growing oilseed
plants and sowing date is one of the important factors which have a
clear role on production of active substances particularly in oilseeds.
This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of sowing date on the
seed and oil yield of castor in Central Anatolia of Turkey in 2011.
The field experiment was set up in a completely randomized block
design with three replications. Black Diamond-2 castor cultivar was
used as plant material. The treatment was four sowing dates of May
10, May 25, June 10, June 25. In this research; seed yield, oil content
and oil yield were investigated. Results showed that the effect of
different sowing dates were significant on all of characteristics. In
general; delayed sowing dates, resulted in decreased seed yield, oil
content and oil yield. The highest value of seed yield, oil content and
oil yield (respectively, 2523.7 kg ha-1, 51.18% and 1292.2 kg ha-1)
were obtained from the first sowing date (May 10) while the lowest
seed yield, oil content and oil yield (respectively, 1550 kg ha-1,
43.67%, 677.3 kg ha-1) were recorded from the latest sowing date
(June 25). Therefore, it can be concluded that early May could be
recommended as an appropriate sowing date in the studied location
and similar climates for achieved high oil yield of castor.
Abstract: A study on the physicochemical properties of Jatropha curcas seed oil for industrial applications were carried out. Physicochemical properties of J. curcas seed oil (59.32% lipids) showed high content of LA (36.70%), iodine value (104.90 mg/g) and saponification value (203.36 mg/g). The present study shows that, J. curcas seed oil is rich in oleic and linoleic acids. The J. curcas seed oil with the highest amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic acid) can find an application in surface coating industries and biolubricant base oil applications, whereas the high amount of monounsaturated fatty acid can find an application as a biodiesel feed stock. J. curcas seed oil contains major TAG of monounsaturated OLL, POL, SLL, PLL, OOL, OOO and POP followed by LLL. J. curcas seed oil can be classified as unsaturated oil with an unsaturated fat level of 80.42%. Hence the J. curcas seed oil has great potential for industrial applications such as in paint and surface coatings, production of biodiesel and biolubricant. Therefore, it is crucial to have more research on J. curcas seed oil in the future to explore its potential as a future industrial oilseed crop.
Abstract: Indian subcontinent has a plethora of traditional
medicine systems that provide promising solutions to lifestyle
disorders in an 'all natural way'. Spices and oilseeds hold
prominence in Indian cuisine hence the focus of the current study
was to evaluate the bioactive molecules from Linum usitatissinum
(LU), Lepidium sativum (LS), Nigella sativa (NS) and Guizotia
abyssinica (GA) seeds. The seeds were characterized for functional
lipids like omega-3 fatty acid, antioxidant capacity, phenolic
compounds, dietary fiber and anti-nutritional factors. Analysis of the
seeds revealed LU and LS to be a rich source of α-linolenic acid
(41.85 ± 0.33%, 26.71 ± 0.63%), an omega 3 fatty acid (using
GCMS). While studying antioxidant potential NS seeds demonstrated
highest antioxidant ability (61.68 ± 0.21 TEAC/ 100 gm DW) due to
the presence of phenolics and terpenes as assayed by the Mass
spectral analysis. When screened for anti-nutritional factor
cyanogenic glycoside, LS seeds showed content as high as 1674 ± 54
mg HCN / kg. GA is a probable good source of a stable vegetable oil
(SFA: PUFA 1:2.3). The seeds showed diversified bioactive profile
and hence further studies to use different bio molecules in tandem for
the development of a possible 'nutraceutical cocktail' have been
initiated..
Abstract: Biochemical and molecular analysis of some
antioxidant enzyme genes revealed different level of gene expression
on oilseed (Brassica napus). For molecular and biochemical
analysis, leaf tissues were harvested from plants at eight different
developmental stages, from young to senescence. The levels of total
protein and chlorophyll were increased during maturity stages of
plant, while these were decreased during the last stages of plant
growth. Structural analysis (nucleotide and deduced amino acid
sequence, and phylogenic tree) of a complementary DNA revealed a
high level of similarity for a family of Catalase genes. The
expression of the gene encoded by different Catalase isoforms was
assessed during different plant growth phase. No significant
difference between samples was observed, when Catalase activity
was statistically analyzed at different developmental stages. EST
analysis exhibited different transcripts levels for a number of other
relevant antioxidant genes (different isoforms of SOD and
glutathione). The high level of transcription of these genes at
senescence stages was indicated that these genes are senescenceinduced
genes.
Abstract: Elateriospermum tapos seed (buah perah) is the one
of the rich sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids. It contains high
percentage of oleic acid which is the important component to develop
nervous system and also α-linolenic acid (ALA) which is the
precursor of omega-3 fatty acids series to synthesize
eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
However, there is less study about this valuable oilseed and exploit
its potential. Therefore, this paper is to assess the comparison of
physico-chemical properties and fatty composition of perah oil to
palm oil and soybean oil. From the comparison, perah oil shows low
peroxide value means it has good oxidative stability and also high
iodine values shows that it can be used in paint industry. The study
shown that perah oil is comparable to palm oil and soybean oil, so it
has high potential to be exploited in the oleochemical,
pharmaceutical, cosmetics and paint industries.