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Rice blast, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae , is one of the most devastating diseases affecting rice crops. We investigated effectiveness of Streptomyces spp. against M. oryzae . The results revealed that among the Streptomyces spp., Streptomyces caeruleatus strain S14 demonstrated superior effectiveness in inhibiting the mycelial growth of M. oryzae (74.7%). The strain was identified by sequencing 16S rRNA region. Further, the complete genome sequence of this highly effective strain was acquired using the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 (PE 150), revealing a total genome length of 9,750,804 base pairs (9.7 Mb). The genome comprises 9,191 protein-coding sequences (CDS), 68 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, 6 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, with an average G+C content of 71.03%. The Streptomyces caeruleatus S14 genome, annotated with RASTtk and genetic code 11, falls under the superkingdom Bacteria. According to annotation statistics from PATRIC, it is a high-quality genome with 97.9% coarse consistency, 93.7% fine consistency, and completeness of 99.9%. The genome included genes related to metabolism, protein processing, defense, virulence, energy, stress response, membrane transport, regulation, cell signaling, cell envelope, DNA processing, cellular activities, RNA processing, and miscellaneous. The complete genome sequence of S. caeruleatus suggests that it offers valuable insights into its antimicrobial activity and provide key genetic traits responsible for pathogen suppression. Incidentally this is the first whole genome sequencing report of S. caeruleatus isolated from rice rhizosphere soil in India.

The article discusses the National Institutional Ranking Framework and the performance of India’s primer institutions, Indian Institute of Technology in the rankings. Ranking of higher educational institutions exists in various countries for a longer period. Times Higher Education Rankings, QS Rankings and Academic Rankings of World Universities are few to mention. All these higher education rankings have various parameters to analyze and based on which the rankings of higher learning institutions are being published. One such ranking for Indian higher educational institutions is NIRF and this ranking will list out the colleges and universities which are functioning in India. There are 23 IITs functioning in India, but only ten IITs have been included for the study, the institutions were selected based on the year of establishment.

The poultry industry is one of the largest and fastest growing agro-based industries in the world. This can be attributed to an increasing demand for poultry meat and egg products. However, a major problem facing the poultry industry is the large-scale accumulation of wastes including manure and litter which may pose disposal and pollution problems unless environmentally and economically sustainable management technologies are evolved. Most of the litter produced by the poultry industry is currently applied to agricultural land as a source of nutrients and soil amendment. However environmental pollution, resulting from nutrient and contaminant leaching can occur when poultry litter is applied under soil and climatic conditions that do not favour agronomic utilisation of the manure-borne nutrients. This review examines the composition of poultry litter in relation to nutrient content and environmental contaminants, its value as a nutrient source, soil amendment, animal feed and fuel source, and cost-effective innovative technologies for improving its value. Poultry litter provides a major source of nitrogen, phosphorus and trace elements for crop production and is effective in improving physical and biological fertility, indicating that land application remains as the main option for the utilisation of this valuable resource. The alternative use of poultry litter; as an animal feed and fuel source, is limited by contaminants, and high moisture content, respectively. The review proposes best management practices to mitigate environmental consequences associated with air and water quality parameters that are impacted by land application in order to maintain the continued productivity, profitability, and sustainability of the poultry industry.

The study examines challenges and opportunities faced by the faculty members of B. S. Abdur Rahman Crescent University in publishing scholarly articles. There are many factors which influence scholarly publications, directly or indirectly. Here, I would like to put forth a few important aspects, which have direct influence on this important publication. Hence, the main objective of the study is to investigate the factors which are associated with scholarly publications. Full time faculties have been identified for this study and a structured questionnaire was distributed to them.

Site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) can be an alternative to a recommendation for uniform fertilizer use across a rice ( Oryza sativa L.) production system within a country or region of a country. We developed a web-based decision support tool named Nutrient Manager for Rice (NMR), which used principles of SSNM to calculate fertilizer N, P, and K rates for individual fields based on a target yield set for each field. It also used expected growth duration of the rice variety, crop establishment method, and age of transplanted seedlings to calculate days after rice establishment for each of three applications of fertilizer N. NMR enabled P rates to match estimated removal of P with harvested grain and crop residue for the target yield set for each field. We compared field-specific fertilizer recommendations from NMR with uniform application of fertilizer provided by an existing blanket fertilizer recommendation for irrigated inbred rice (BFR) and farmer’s fertilizer practices (FFP) in on-farm trials conducted in 74 irrigated rice fields across three growing seasons in the Cauvery Delta, Tamil Nadu, India. Grain yield was 0.6–0.7 Mg ha −1 higher ( P  ≤ 0.05) with NMR than FFP in two of the three seasons, even though total fertilizer cost was comparable or less with NMR. Yield was comparable for NMR and BFR, but NMR reduced fertilizer N and P rates and total fertilizer cost compared to BFR. Use of NMR rather than BFR also had less risk of financial loss for a farmer. The likelihood of financial loss with a switch from FFP to BFR averaged 31%. It reduced to 18% with a switch from FFP to NMR. NMR facilitated the calculation of field-specific fertilizer N, P, and K management practices, which increased fertilizer use efficiency without loss in rice yield compared to a recommended uniform fertilizer management across fields.

In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of Bacillus strains for plant growth promotional activities under in vitro and in vivo conditions. The results indicated that Bacillus megaterium BS11 was superior in enhancing the plant growth and yield of rice plants compared to other Bacillus strains. Currently, there is no information available on the molecular mechanism of Rice– B. megaterium interaction for plant growth promotion. Thus, the present study was undertaken to understand the molecular basis of Rice– B. megaterium interaction at the proteome level using the two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) approach. Proteomic results revealed that a total of 17 proteins were differentially expressed in response to BS11 inoculation. The application of BS11 up-regulated most of the identified proteins involved in plant metabolism, transcription, transporter, signaling, defense, and stress responses, which may underlie the improvement of rice plant growth. Furthermore, the proteomic results were validated at the mRNA level by Quantitative Real-Time PCR (qPCR) analysis. The abundances of proteins and transcripts were positively correlated for all genes except LOC_Os01g68620. Overall, our results suggest that B. megaterium strain BS11 may promote plant growth by improving various metabolism in rice plants.

Conversion of mangrove vegetation into rice cultivation is considerably enhanced nowadays which adversely affects ecological sustainability. Soil microbial community is one of the key indicators to monitor soil health in mangroves. Studies on the variations in the microbial community within mangroves are plenty, whereas reports in mangrove-converted paddy soils are scarce. Therefore, Biolog ® eco-plate-based technique was used in this study to assess soil microbial community in the Bhitarkanika (MB) and Sundarban (MS) sub-humid tropical mangroves-converted paddy soil. The results showed that significantly lower soil microbial biomass carbon and enzyme activities were recorded in MB and MS compared to the NRRI (National Rice Research Institute) paddy soil where continuous rice cultivation is being practiced conventionally since 1946 under the sub-humid tropical region. Biolog®-based average well color development (AWCD) was found significantly lower in MS and MB compared to NRRI. Shannon–Weaver and McIntosh indices followed the similar trends of AWCD. A biplot analysis indicated the positive correlation of pH, available phosphorus, actinomycetes population, and phenolic compound utilization under MS, whereas EC and phosphate-solubilizing bacteria were positively correlated under MB. Compared to MS and MB, NRRI paddy soil harbored more carbohydrate-utilizing microbes and showed a positive correlation with fluorescin-diacetate, dehydrogenase, and acid phosphatase. Overall, the present study suggested that the conversion of the Sundarban and Bhitarkanika mangroves into rice cultivation adversely affected the microbial diversity, thereby altering natural sustainability.

Rice-based integrated farming system improves the productivity and profitability by recycling resources efficiently. In the sub-humid tropics, rice production without sufficient nutrient replenishment often leads to soil health and fertility degradation. There has been very limited research on soil health and fertility after adopting a multi-enterprising rice-based integrated farming system (IFS), notably in the rice-fish-livestock and agroforestry system, when compared to a conventional farming system (CS). Therefore, the present study analyzed the dynamics of soil properties, soil bacterial community structure and their possible interaction mechanisms, as well as their effect on regulating soil quality and production in IFS, IFSw (water stagnant area of IFS) and CS. The results indicated that soil nutrient dynamics, bacterial diversity indices (Shannon index, Simpson index, Chao 1, ACE and Fisher index) and system productivity were higher in IFSw and IFS compared to CS. Moreover, relative operational taxonomic units of dominant bacterial genera ( Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Planctomycetes, Cyanobacteria, Crenarchaeota and Gemmatimonadetes ) were also higher in IFSw and IFS compared to CS. Mean soil quality index (SQI) was highest in IFSw (0.780 ± 0.201) followed by IFS (0.770 ± 0.080) and CS (0.595 ± 0.244). Moreover, rice equivalent yields (REY) and rice yields were well correlated with the higher levels of soil biological indices (SQI Biol ) in IFS. Overall, our results revealed that rice-based IFS improved the soil health and fertility and ensuing crop productivity through positive interaction with soil bacterial communities and nutrient stoichiometry leading to agroecosystem sustainability.

Phosphorus (P) is a major limiting factor for plant growth. Long-term organic fertilization increases P availability by improving soil microbial and chemical properties. To study this, rice was grown under different treatments, namely, control, farmyard manure (FYM), green manure (GM), FYM + GM (1:1) (FYGM), FYM +  Azolla (1:1) (FYAZ), rice straw (5 t ha −1 ) + GM (GMRSF), Azolla  + GM (1:1) (GMAZ) and rice straw (2.5 t ha −1 ) + GM (GMRSH), with the aim of comparative evaluation of microbiological and chemical changes occurring in the rice soil after 15 years of rice-fallow cycles. The results showed that organic fertilization increased dehydrogenase activity by 12–50% over the control. Both acid (166.1 μg PNP g −1  h −1 ) and alkaline phosphatase (46.1 μg PNP g −1  h −1 ) activities were found highest in GMRSH. Long-term application of organic fertilization increased the pools of active/labile C (microbial biomass carbon, readily mineralizable carbon), N (microbial biomass nitrogen) and P (microbial biomass phosphorus) in the soil. Bacterial and fungal populations were observed higher in the FYM treatment than in the control. However, the populations of phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) and fungi (PSF) were observed highest in GMRSH and FYAZ, respectively. Non-occluded Al and Fe-P (125.94 kg ha −1 ) was highest in GMRSH, while occluded P (6.46 kg ha −1 ) was highest in GMRSF. Thus, long-term (15 years) organic fertilization improves PSB and PSF populations, contributing to better P transformation in the soil. GMRSH and GMRSF treatments were found to be effective organic fertilization in increasing enzymatic activities, available phosphate fractions and microbial biomass in soil.

Following acute-phase infection, activated T cells are terminated to achieve immune homeostasis, failure of which results in lymphoproliferative and autoimmune diseases. We report that sterile α - and heat armadillo-motif-containing protein (SARM), the most conserved Toll-like receptors adaptor, is proapoptotic during T-cell immune response. SARM expression is significantly reduced in natural killer (NK)/T lymphoma patients compared with healthy individuals, suggesting that decreased SARM supports NK/T-cell proliferation. T cells knocked down of SARM survived and proliferated more significantly compared with wild-type T cells following influenza infection in vivo . During activation of cytotoxic T cells, the SARM level fell before rising, correlating inversely with cell proliferation and subsequent T-cell clearance. SARM knockdown rescued T cells from both activation- and neglect-induced cell deaths. The mitochondria-localized SARM triggers intrinsic apoptosis by generating reactive oxygen species and depolarizing the mitochondrial potential. The proapoptotic function is attributable to the C-terminal sterile alpha motif and Toll/interleukin-1 receptor domains. Mechanistically, SARM mediates intrinsic apoptosis via B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) family members. SARM suppresses B cell lymphoma-extra large (Bcl-xL) and downregulates extracellular signal-regulated kinase phosphorylation, which are cell survival effectors. Overexpression of Bcl-xL and double knockout of Bcl-2 associated X protein and Bcl-2 homologous antagonist killer substantially reduced SARM-induced apoptosis. Collectively, we have shown how T-cell death following infection is mediated by SARM-induced intrinsic apoptosis, which is crucial for T-cell homeostasis.