Effects of lead(Pb)-induced oxidative stress on morphological and physio-biochemical properties of rice

In rice,high concentration of lead(Pb)can cause phyto-toxicity affecting several physiological functions.Cultivation of rice varieties that are resistant to Pb-induced oxidative stress is an important management strategy in Pb-contaminated soils.In the current study,we evaluated four different rice cultivars for their response to Pb-induced stress.Three japonica type cultivars X-Jigna,Ediget,and Furat,and one Indica type cultivar Amber 33 were grown in soil containing different Pb concentrations(0 mM,0.6 mM,and 1.2 mM).The soil was treated with 0 mM or 0.6 mM or 1.2 mM Pb solution one month prior to rice seedling transplantation.Thereafter,four-week-old rice seedlings were transplanted into the treated soil and their responses were observed until maturity.The data revealed that a highest concentration of Pb(1.2 mM)induced significant reduction in agronomic traits such as plant height,number of tillers per plant,number of panicles per plant,and number of spikelets per panicle in all the rice cultivars.However,least reduction in the agronomic traits was observed in X-Jigna,whereas the highest reduction in the agronomic traits was observed in Ediget.Antioxidant activity of catalase(CAT),peroxidase(POD),polyphenol oxidase(PPO),and superoxide dismutase(SOD),was evaluated along with the accumulation of superoxide ions(O2.-),protein,proline,chlorophyll,sucrose,glucose,and fructose contents in all the rice cultivars.A significant increase in antioxidant activity and in the accumulation of proline and sucrose contents with the least reduction in the chlorophyll and protein contents was observed in X-Jigna suggesting that X-Jigna is the most tolerant among all the rice cultivars tested against Pb-stress.On the other hand,non-significant and slightly significant increase in the antioxidant activity,less accumulation of proline and sucrose contents,and higher reduction in the chlorophyll and protein contents was observed in Ediget,which further suggest that Ediget is the most susceptible rice cultivar to Pb-stress.In addition,the other rice cultivars Furat and Amber 33,were found to be moderately tolerant to Pb-induced oxidative stress.In summary,our results suggest that tolerance to Pb-induced oxidative stress would be a result of a synergetic action of both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant systems,leading to a balanced redox status in rice.

An Enhanced Intelligent Intrusion Detection System to Secure E-Commerce Communication Systems

Information and communication technologies are spreading rapidly due to their fast proliferation in many fields.The number of Internet users has led to a spike in cyber-attack incidents.E-commerce applications,such as online banking,marketing,trading,and other online businesses,play an integral role in our lives.Network Intrusion Detection System(NIDS)is essential to protect the network from unauthorized access and against other cyber-attacks.The existing NIDS systems are based on the Backward Oracle Matching(BOM)algorithm,which minimizes the false alarm rate and causes of high packet drop ratio.This paper discussed the existing NIDS systems and different used pattern-matching techniques regarding their weaknesses and limitations.To address the existing system issues,this paper proposes an enhanced version of the BOM algorithm by using multiple pattern-matching methods for the NIDS system to improve the network performance.The proposed solution is tested in simulation with existing solutions using the Snort and NSL-KDD datasets.The experimental results indicated that the proposed solution performed better than the existing solutions and achieved a 5.17%detection rate and a 0.22%lower false alarm rate than the existing solution.

Growth, Yield and Quality Performance of Pearl Millet (<i>Pennisetum americanum</i>L.)

Livestock industry of Pakistan is expanding day by day. To meet its growing demand high fodder yielding and nutritious varieties of fodder crops are needed. Pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum L.) is an excellent choice for this purpose. In order to explore the possibility of the better yield potential varieties of pearl millet performed in a good manner under agro ecological conditions of Faisalabad during the year 2012. A field experiment was conducted at Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Randomized complete block design was used with three replications;the net plot size was 1.8 m × 6 m. The experiment was comprised of nine millet varieties named Cholistani Bajra, Barani Bajra, MB-87, Sargodha Bajra 2011, 18-BY, Super Bajra-1, PARC-MS-2, 86-M-52 and FB-822. All other agronomic practices were kept normal and constant. Data on yield and yield components were recorded by standard procedure. Significant results were recorded among the varieties for forage growth and yield. The variety 86-M-52 produced maximum forage and dry matter yield because of more number of leaves (14), leaf area (3540.1 cm2) followed by Sargodha Bajra-2011. All cultivars have statistically significant differences in respect of quality characteristics. However, non-significant differences were observed among cultivars regarding ash contents. The cultivar Sargodha Bajra-2011 has the highest crude protein (10.347%) and the cultivar FB-822 has the minimum crude protein percentage (6.733%). While PARC-MS-2 has the highest crude fiber percentage (34.667%) but variety MB-87 has the minimum crude fiber (24.333%). Variety 86-M-52 proved better for getting higher forage yield followed by Sargodha Bajra-2011 than all other varieties. Sargodha Bajra-2011 is the best cultivar that performed well in respect of quality parameters under irrigated conditions of Faisalabad.

Immune Sensor Xa21 Regulates Bacterial Leaf Blight Infection in Seven Rice Cultivars from Myanmar

Bacterial leaf blight(BLB)is a devastating disease of rice with the potential to reduce yield by up to 70%.In this study,we investigated the genetic foundation of Xa21-mediated resistance to BLB infection in seven different rice varieties from Myanmar.The varieties exhibited a variable phenotypic response at 14 d after infection(DAI)by Xoo strains K1 and K3a,among which,the variety Kayin Ma was classified as a moderately resistant(MR)variety,expressing Xa2,Xa4,xa5,xa13,and Xa21 genes.