Biochar improves the growth and physiological traits of alfalfa, amaranth and maize grown under salt stress.

Purpose: Salinity is a main factor in decreasing seed germination, plant growth and yield. Salinity stress is a major problem for economic crops, as it can reduce crop yields and quality. Salinity stress occurs when the soil or water in which a crop is grown has a high salt content. Biochar improve plant growth and physiological traits under salt stress. The aim of the present study, the impact of biochar on growth, root morphological traits and physiological properties of alfalfa, amaranth and maize and soil enzyme activities under saline sands. Methods: We studied the impact of biochar on plant growth and the physiological properties of alfalfa, amaranth and maize under salt stress conditions. After 40 days, plant growth parameters (plant height, shoot and root fresh weights), root morphological traits and physiological properties were measured. Soil nutrients such as the P, K and total N contents in soil and soil enzyme activities were analyzed. Results: The results showed that the maize, alfalfa, and amaranth under biochar treatments significantly enhanced the plant height and root morphological traits over the control. The biochar on significantly increased the total root length, root diameter, and root volume. Compared to the control, the biochar significantly increased the chlorophyll a and b content, total chlorophyll and carotenoid content under salt stress. Furthermore, the biochar significantly increased enzyme activities of soil under salt stress in the three crops. Conclusions: Biochar treatments promote plant growth and physiological traits of alfalfa, amaranth, and maize under the salt stress condition. Overall, biochar is an effective way to mitigate salinity stress in crops. It can help to reduce the amount of salt in the soil, improve the soil structure, and increase the availability of essential nutrients, which can all help to improve crop yields.

Clinically relevant pharmacogenetic markers in Tatars and Balkars.

This study was aimed to investigate the prevalence of CYP2C9*2 (p.430C > T, rs1799853), CYP2C9*3 (p.1075A > C, rs1057910), CYP4F2*3 (p.1297G > A, rs2108622), CYP2C19*2 (p.681G > A, rs4244285), CYP2C19*3 (p.636G > A, rs4986893), CYP2C19*17 (p.1260C > A, rs12248560), ABCB1 (p.3435C > T, rs1045642), CYP2D6*4 (p.1846G > A, rs3892097), SLCO1B1*5 (p.521T > C, rs4149056) and CES1 (p.1168-33A > C, rs2244613) among Tatars and Balkars ethnic groups living in Russia to provide a basis for future clinical studies concerning on understanding of population-level differences in drug response. The study involved 341 apparently healthy, unrelated, and chronic medication-free volunteers of both sexes of ethnic groups of Tatars and Balkars living in Volga and Caucasus regions of Russia. Genotyping was performed using real-time polymerase chain reaction-based methods. The allelic prevalence of studied markers in ethnic groups were compared with Russians as a largest ethnic group in Russia. Statistically significant differences for the following gene polymorphisms were found between both ethnic groups in respect of different markers and with Russians. Our study shows differences in prevalence of the main relevant pharmacogenetic markers in Tatars and Balkars. These findings should be taken into consideration for personalization algorithms development and pharmacogenetics implementation in regions with ethnic minorities as Russia has.