Morpho-molecular Characterization of Carrot Soft Rot Incitant, Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp carotovoroum

Carrot is an important root vegetable which plays an important role in human health. Globally, Post harvest diseases are the major constraint in carrot production, especially soft rot which resulting in severe yield loss. Early diagnosis of these post-harvest diseases paves a way for reducing the economic losses. Carrot samples showing typical rotting symptoms were collected from markets of four different districts of Tamil Nadu and the pathogen involved were isolated. Severe carrot soft rot incidence (66.74%) was observed in samples collected from Ooty area of The Nilgiris district and the least disease incidence of (16.21%) was recorded in Perundurai of Erode district. Pathogenicity of soft rot pathogen were conducted and the virulent isolates were identified based on Percent Disease Index (PDI) showing >50% rotting falls under disease grade 9 using disease grade scale (0 to 9). The bacterial isolates (KPB-7 and OCB-5) causing soft rot were characterized using various biochemical assays where in they showed positive response for methyl red, H2S gas production, KOH and catalase tests besides showing negative response for gram’s reaction. Furthermore, molecular characterization of 16s rRNA region revealed the soft rot isolate (KPB-7) as Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp carotovorum (with an accession number OR251119).

Influence of Fruit Bagging on the Physical Qualities and Shelf Life of Mango cv. Alphonso under Ultra-High-Density Planting

The present experiment was conducted to study the effect of preharvest fruit bagging on the physical parameters and shelf life of mango cv. Alphonso during 2023. Mango fruits were bagged 35 days after the fruit set with various types of bags viz: T1: Brown paper bag; T2: Double layered bag; T3: Transparent bag; T4: Non-woven bag; T5: Butter paper bag; T6: Control (no bagging). The experiment was conducted in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with six treatments and four replications. The result indicated that preharvest fruit bagging had a significant effect on physical parameters, shelf life and days required for harvest after bagging. Bagging with Double layered bag increased fruit retention (75.03%), fruit length (9.35cm), fruit weight (295.36g), pulp weight (228.30g), shelf life (18.5 days) and decreased physiological loss of weight (8.16%). Therefore, preharvest fruit bagging improved fruit retention, physical parameters and shelf life in mango cv. Alphonso.

Role of Exogenous Melatonin in Enhancing Shelf Life of Traditional Banana Varieties

Aims: An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of various concentrations of melatonin on post harvest weight loss and shelf life of three traditional banana varieties viz. Ney Poovan, Nendran and Red Banana.Study Design: Completely Randomized Design.Place and Duration of Study: Post Graduate laboratory, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during 2022.Methodology: Banana hands were dipped in 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 mM melatonin for 15 minutes and were stored at ambient temperature. The hands dipped in water were treated as control. Observations on physiological weight loss and shelf life were recorded till the fruits remained marketable.Results: The results depicted that fruits immersed in 1.0 and 1.5 mM melatonin for 15 minutes recorded lower weight loss (31.56, 30.55 and 24.90%) on 11th, 11th and 12th day of storage and longer shelf life by 3, 2.67 and 2.67 days in Ney Poovan, Nendran and Red Banana respectively.Conclusion: The effects of melatonin were due to its efficiency in reducing transpiration and respiration and thereby lowering weight loss. The lowered metabolic activity not only mitigated weight loss but also maintained firmness and turgidity of the fruits and thereby prolonging the storability. It was evident from the results that melatonin treatment could be a good practice for extending postharvest life of banana by reducing the physiological loss in weight simultaneously maintaining the appearance.

Hippocampal formation volume, its subregions, and its specific contributions to visuospatial memory tasks

Visuospatial memory (VSM) is the ability to represent and manipulate visual and spatial information. This cognitive function depends on the functioning of the hippocampal formation (HF), located in the medial portion of the temporal cortex. The present study aimed to investigate whether there is an association between the volume of the HF and performance in VSM tests. High-resolution structural images (T1) and neuropsychological tests evaluating VSM were performed on 31 healthy individuals. A VSM index was created by grouping 5 variables from 5 tasks (4 from the CANTAB battery and 1 from the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test). Multiple linear regression models using the volumes of HF subregions as independent variables and the VSM index as the dependent variable were conducted to test the hypothesis that memory performance could be predicted by HF volumes. We also conducted analyses to explore the role of covariates that may mediate this relationship, specifically age and intelligence quotient (IQ). We found significant associations between the hippocampal subregions of the left hemisphere and the VSM index (F(7,22)=2.758, P=0.032, R2a=0.298). When IQ was accounted for as a covariate, we also found significant results for the right hemisphere (F(8,21)=2.804, P=0.028, R2a=0.517). We concluded that the bilateral hippocampal formations contributed to performance on VSM tasks. Also, VSM processing is essential for a diverse set of daily activities and may be influenced by demographic variables in healthy subjects.