Salma Bibi is currently doing her Masters, majoring in Molecular and environmental plant sciences from Texas A & M University, USA. She is 24 years old.

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a C4 cereal grain crop which is grown in semi-arid tropics of Africa and Asia, and is an important component in traditional farming systems and in diets of millions of people. Improving Water-use efficiency (WUE) of crops which is the ratio of whole-plant biomass to cumulative transpiration is becoming a main goal for agriculture and food security goals. In this study water use was apportioned into transpiration (T) and soil evaporation (Es), and water-use efficiency (WUE) and transpiration efficiency (TE), the biomass produced per unit water transpired were calculated. Bloomless which visually exhibit an absence of white fluffy epicuticular wax in leaf sheath was characterized by physiological approaches. A greenhouse experiment was conducted at College Station, TX, 2015 by using a mutation breeding approach to obtain near Isogenic lines of sorghum M401 and Tx623 where M401 is generally a low-wax load (WL) genotype and was the male parent and the Tx623 (ms3) was the recurrent parent. A total of 50 F4 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from cross of Stg4XM1789. Net CO2 assimilation rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate and water use efficiency were measured on the fully developed flag leaves in irrigated and non-irrigated 40 days old plants using CI-350 photosynthesis system. Leaves were collected from bloom and bloomless lines and epicuticular wax load and cumulative water loss (CWL) were measured, also the relationship among EWL, CWL and water-use efficiency were analyzed. Differences in response to irrigation level varied between both genotypes. Among irrigated plants bloomless (XS2) exhibited higher water use efficiency than bloom (XS1). Among non-irrigated plants bloom (XS1) exhibited lower water-use efficiencies than bloomless (XS2) respectively. Water-use efficiency measured in non-irrigated bloomless mutant line with no visible wax structure on the abaxial leaf surface was more than 40% below that measure in bloom. The water loss from the excised leaves was greater in bloomless lines than in bloom lines. Water-use efficiency varied linearly with epicuticular wax load under irrigated and non-irrigated conditions.

Banaz Mahmood has completed her BSc at the age of 22 years from the University of Sulaimani and MSc studies at the age of 27 years from the same University School of Agriculture. She is a final year PhD student in Biology at the University of Plymouth. She has published one paper in IJBBB journal and she is doing the second one and it will be published soon.

Chamomile (Matricaia chamomilla L.) and yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.) contain a range of bioactive compounds. The majority of bioactive compounds are terpenoids, phenols and flavonoids. In fact, these compounds are mainly responsible for their pharmaceutical properties and they act as antiinflammatory and antihemorrhagic. Furthermore, plants produce these compounds to protect themselves against pathogenic microorganisms and abiotic stresses. Solvent extraction of bioactive compounds from plant materials such as: leaves and flowers is an essential first step in the study of medicinal plants. Subsequently, the quantitative and qualitative testing is also an important step in the identification of these compounds using HPLC and GC/FID. Extraction process was carried out by a soxhlet and shaking extractions using methanol and hexane as solvents, the process was achieved to compare the extraction quality between both solvents. The results of chamomile leaves HPLC analysis indicated that chlorogenic acid was isolated at 6.043 min as a major phenolic compound. However, chlorogenic acid and apigenin-7-O-glucoside were dominated in yarrow leaves as phenolic and flavonoid compounds at 6.040 min and 7.647min, respectively. Moreover the flower tissue essential oils were analysed by GC-FID method. The main terpenoid components found in both chamomile and yarrow species extracted by soxhlet and shaking extractions were bisabolol oxide A, chamazulene, farnesene, umbelliferone and limonene at different retention times. Furthermore, the antibacterial activity of the chemical compounds found in chamomile flower essential oil can reduce the growth of Porphyromonas gingivalis and Bacillus cereus. In addition, bioassays essential oils extracted from yarrow showed that the gram positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus) were more resistant to the oil with 3- 4.5 mm inhibition zones. However, the greatest activity against gram negative bacteria was detected in Escherichia coli (20.4mm inhibition zone). The aim of this work was to explore the possible inhibitory effect of the chamomile and yarrow methanolic flower extracts on the growth of some gram positive and gram negative bacteria strains.

Nilgün GÖKTÜRK BAYDAR has completed his PhD at the age of 29 years from Ankara University, Agricultural Faculty. She is currently working in Süleyman Demirel University, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology as a position of Prof.Dr. She has been studying on secondary metabolite production and stress physiology in plants. She has published a lot of papers in scientific journals.

Madder (Rubia tinctorum L.) is a perennial herbaceous plant and its roots and rhizomes are very rich in anthraquinones used excessively in carpet, rug and textile as natural dye source. Additionally, this dye is used in food industry because of their resistance against to hot and light. They have also anticancer, antimalarial, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Phenolic compounds are another unique metabolite group for cosmeceuticals, foods and pharmaceutical industries. The increased interest to natural metabolites these days caused to use alternative tecniques to get them with high quality and quantitive. Root cultures are an important in vitro technique especially for root-derived metabolites. In order to increase the metabolite synthesis in in vitro conditions elicitor applications could have been done effectively. Salinity is an important stress factor influencing growth and secondary metabolite metabolism in plants. This study was carried out to determine the effect of salt on root growth and secondary metabolite accumulation in madder. For this aim, madder roots obtained from stem explants in in vitro conditions were used as plant materials. Roots were cultured in MS medium containing different concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl) (0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 ppm) for 7 days. Then roots were evaluated in terms of root growth index, total anthraquinones, alizarin, purpurin and total phenolic contents. At the end of the study, it was determined that root growth decreased in line with the elevating level of NaCl while secondary metabolite accumulation increased with NaCl applications compared to the controls.

Nilgün GÖKTÜRK BAYDAR has completed his PhD at the age of 29 years from Ankara University, Agricultural Faculty. She is currently working in Süleyman Demirel University, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology as a position of Prof.Dr. She has been studying on secondary metabolite production and stress physiology in plants. She has published a lot of papers in scientific journals.

Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.) is a very important medicinal plant cultivated for seed, oil and opium for food, perfume, cosmetic and medicinal industries. Unsuitable climatic conditions influence the plant growth and cause some biochemical changes. Drought is also one of the most important stress factors affecting the opium poppy plants. In vitro techniques provide to determine the effects of stress factors on plants in a short time and under controlled conditions. This study was carried out to determine the effects of drought stress on the growth, development and biochemical properties in 4 opium poppy cultivars (TMO-3, Tınaztepe, Zaferyolu and Kemerkaya) under in vitro conditions. For this aim, seeds were cultured on ½ MS medium added 3% sucrose, 1 mg l-1 gibberellic acid, 0.1 mg l-1 indol-3 acetic acid, 0.6% agar and different concentrations of PEG 6000 (0%, 2% and 4%). It was demonstrated that all of the investigated parameters were affected by the applications of PEG. An increase in PEG led to reduction in germination rate, shoot length and fresh plant weight while injury index, chlorophyll, proline, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzyme activities increased depending on rising of the PEG concentrations. As a result of this research, PEG treated plants compared to control plants, were negatively affected by drought stress induced by PEG and there were important differences among opium poppy cultivars in terms of resistance to drought.

Naeela Qureshi is a third year PhD student at the University of Sydney Plant Breeding Institute, Cobbitty, Australia. Her project focuses on identification and molecular mapping of rust resistance genes in common and durum wheat genotypes. She presented her research results at the Plant and Animal Genome (PAG) conference, San Diego, USA and the 2nd International Academic Conference for Graduate Students, Nanjing, China in 2015. She worked as a Plant Pathologist in different Research Institutes in Pakistan and was awarded Dr. Norman E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science & Technology Fellowship by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2012. Naeela also received the Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticeae (WIT) Award in 2014.

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. ssp. durum) is an important crop for making pasta and semolina. Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, is an important disease of durum wheat globally. Breeding for stripe rust resistance is a major objective among durum improvement programs and it is underpinned by the availability of diverse sources of resistance. This study was planned to understand genetic basis of stripe rust resistance carried by a durum wheat landrace AUS26579 from Portugal. AUS26579 was susceptible in the seedling stage and exhibited high level of adult plant stripe rust resistance under field under conditions. AUS26579 was crossed with a susceptible landrace Bansi and a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population (101 lines) was developed. The AUS26579/Bansi RIL population was screened under field conditions to assess variation in stripe rust response. Chi-squared analysis of phenotypic data supported di-genic segregation for stripe rust resistance. Equal amounts of DNA from 10 resistant and 10 susceptible RILs were pooled and bulked segregant analysis (BSA) was performed using the iSelect 90K Infinium SNP assay. BSA results showed the involvement of chromosomes 3B and 6B in controlling stripe rust resistance. Kompetitive Allele Specific Primers (KASP) were designed for the linked SNP loci (six for 3B and 26 for 6B) for detailed mapping of resistance carrying genomic regions in chromosomes 3B and 6B and characterization of these putatively new loci.

Nidaf khan has completed M.Sc in Biotechnology from Lucknow University. I completed my summer training from CSIR-NBRI and dissertation from CSIR-IITR, Lucknow. I qualified GATE (Biotechnology) 2015 examination and currently working as a researcher with three years of research experience, pusuing Ph.D in biotechnology at CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal And Aromatic Plants,Lucknow. I have one publication in peer reviewed SCI Journal and submitted book chapters in National Seminars.I also participated in National seminars, International conferences and hands on workshops and presented posters in National Seminar organized by SFRI, Jabalpur, MP (India) and in Rastriya Vaigyanic Sanghosti organized by CSIR-CIMAP and BARC, Mumbai (India). I also delivered few lectures in symposium organised by CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow. I volunteered in International Conference on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Resource for Affordable New Generation Healthcare (ICOMP-2015) and hands-on-training on NMR Technique organized by CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow.

Mentha is a genus of aromatic plants in the family lamiaceae. The essential oils from m.spicata contains d-limonene, carvone and dihydrocarvone. M.piperita with high menthol content also contains and menthone, methyl esters particularly menthyl acetate. Mint species are not clearly distinct as hybridization between some of them occurs naturally. The objective is to develop inter simple sequence repeats (issrs) specific to mint species, a codominant molecular marker used for genetic mapping for germplasm resources. We have developed a set of issrs in mint species for developing species specific markers viz., m.arvensis, m.piperita, m.spicata, m.cardiaca, m.viridis, m.longifolia, m.gentilis and m.rubia. Morphological, phytochemical and genetic differences were studied to evaluate the level and distribution of diversity among sixteen genotypes of mentha using both agro-morphological traits and issr markers. The results showed significant differences among genotypes for all agro- morphological traits programs. Morphological variation was correlated with variation in their corresponding molecular marker. The 26 issr primers chosen for molecular analysis revealed 820 bands, of which 808 were polymorphic. Percentage of polymorphic bands ranged from 91 to 100% according to primers tested. The generated dendrogram based on issr profiles divided the genotypes into 5 groups. Cluster analysis based on these traits grouped the genotypes into 8 separate clusters. Lemi aa and lemi k issr primers tested in this study yielded highly informative patterns.the generated issr fragments sizes ranged from 200-900 bp. Genotypes of two clusters with a good amount of genetic divergence and desirable agronomic traits were detected as promising genotypes for hybridization. Probes developed were then in future utilized for molecular breeding.

Muñoz-Sanchez J.A. has completed his MSc. at the Anahuac University. He has published more than 25 papers in top journals and has been serving as coordinating of several science diffusion events at national level. His experience in research is on techniques of biochemistry and physiology of plants, specifically in crops with high commercial interest in the Peninsula of Yucatan.

The multiple environmental factors that affect plants give a complex set of abiotic and biotic stresses. Abiotic stress is defined as environmental conditions that reduce growth and yield below optimum levels. It is difficult to estimate the effects of abiotic stress on crop production but there is a significant impact on plants. The research of effects of environmental changes on crop cultures of high commercial demand is a constant topic in community of countries like Mexico. Many changes are occurring very fast and the crops sense that modifications and promote their adaptation to new different factors around them. To understand the function of the regulation of key pathways that respond specifically to a certain stress is a major biology challenge for the present time. In our research group we are interested in the metabolic pathways of response to abiotic and biotic stress, and the function of key molecules like salicylic acid (SA) involved in the possible activation of response to stress through phospholipids pathway.

In the dry savannah zone of West Africa, poor farmers cannot afford the use of external inputs in their cropping system. So, crop production is based on soil nutrition potential. In the low input system in general and the rainfed lowland rice in particular, yield observed in farmer’s field is far below the yield potential of released varieties. Rice paddy yield is closely linked to nitrogen (N) uptake and management become urgent specifically during the dry-to-wet season transition period (DWT) during which more nitrogen is expected to be lost. A field experiment has been carried out to assess the effect of pre-rice cover crops grown as “nitrate catch crops” (NCC) on soil N dynamics and on subsequent rice agronomic performances in Dano (Burkina Faso). NCC have been experimented in two neighboring area following water and nutrient inflows management. NCC significantly reduced the buildup of soil nitrate during the DWT instead of the bare fallow where up to 70 kg ha-1 of nitrate have been released. Maximum N accumulation by NCC biomass was observed in the water and nutrient inflow (WNI) area and ranged from 73 kg ha-1 with the panicum (Panicum maximum L.) to 121 kg ha-1 for the velvet bean (Mucuna cochinchinensis L.). The cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) recording 86 kg ha-1 of nitrogen accumulated. Rice agronomic performances have been improved by NCC incorporation. Considering the bare fallow as reference, paddy yield increased by 1 030 kg ha-1 when rice is grown after panicum. As for the N-fixing legumes, paddy yield increase was estimated at 1 257 and 2 089 when rice is grown after the velvet bean and the cowpea, respectively. With regard to the efficacy of NCC in the immobilization of soil nitrate and their action on rice productivity, their integration in the low input cropping system could contribute to short term production increase and long term soil fertility maintenance. 

Chih-Wen Sun has completed her PhD from University of California at Davis and postdoctoral studies from Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Academia Sinica in Taiwan. Afterward, She joined the Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, as a faculty member. Her research focus is on the “regulation of chloroplast development”.

Plastid is a unique organelle which carries on many biological processes, such as photosynthesis, synthesis of aromatic amino acid, and gravitropism. During the evolution of plant cells, more than ninety percent of the plastid genes were gradually transferred to the host nuclear genome. However, these genes have to be transcribed in nucleus, translated and post-translationally modified in cytoplasm, and imported to plastids accurately while the processes of plastid biogenesis nowadays. Otherwise the plastids will lose their biological functions, maintenance of survivalship, ability in DNA replication, and fail to undergo plastid division. Translocons on the outer envelope membrane of chloroplast, Toc34 and Toc159 proteins, are main receptors for import of nuclear-encoded plastid proteins. Based on sequence homology and substrate specificity, two Toc34 and four Toc159 homologues are found in Arabidopsis, atToc33/34 and atToc159/atToc132/atToc120/atToc90, respectively. The expression of these atTOC genes must be properly regulated, or their gene products will not be correctly integrated to their destination to allow their function. In order to verify the particular expression pattern of these family members, GUS activity of transgenic plants expressing GUS coding sequence driven by different lengths of the upstream regulatory sequences of these genes were analyzed. Our data suggest that the expression of these homologous genes is not only spatially and temporally moderated in particular vegetative and reproductive tissues, but also in specific cell type. However, they still have to express redundantly to secure the normal development and function of plastids in different plant tissues.

Ramanpreet is Research Scholar under the supervision of Dr. R. C. Gupta, Wada Awardees in field of cytogenetic. She Completed M.Phil. in the field of cytogenetic and she Attended national and international conferences. She Published three international papers.

Two Cytotypes Of Physalis Angulata L. I.E. Diploid And Tetraploid Were Studied Meiotically And Comparative Biochemical Analysis Was Performed For Different Parameters. As Physalis Angulata L. Is Medicinally Important Plant Which Is Used In Both Traditional And Medicinal System. A) Protein Analysis: Different Parts (Fruit, Leaf, Stem And Root) Of Physalis Angulata L. (Diploid & Tetraploid) And Solanum Xanthocarpum Schradt & Wendl. Were Investigated For Total Protein Content By Following The Standard Methodology I.E. Lowry Et Al. 1951 B) Elemental Analysis: Fruit, Leaf, Stem And Root Of Physalis Angulata L. (Diploid & Tetraploid) Were Analyzed For Different Minerals With Wdxrf (Wavelength Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence). C) Fatty Acid Analysis: Different Plant Parts (Fruit, Leaf, Stem And Root) Of Physalis Angulata L. (Diploid & Tetraploid) Were Studied For Different Fatty Acids By Following The Standard Methodology Given By S. Ranganna. D) Sugar Profile: Fruit, Leaf, Stem And Root Of Physalis Angulata L. (Diploid & Tetraploid) Were Analyzed For Different Sugars By Following The Standard Protocol Of Aoac. E) Detection Of Some Of The Phenolic Components Of Physalis Angulata L.

Dr. Hsu-Liang Hsieh now is a professor at Institute of Plant Biology, National Taiwan University (NTU), Taiwan. He got his BSc and MSc in Plant Molecular Biology at Department of Agronomy, NTU, and then received his Ph.D. degree in Biological Sciences at University of Texas at Austin, USA. In 1996, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, with prof. Xing-Wang Deng. In 2001, Dr. Hsieh as an Assistant Prof. joined the Department of Botany, NTU, and then he became a professor in 2013. His research mainly focuses on the integration of light and jasmonate signaling pathways

Understanding of the lycopene accumulation in the fruit of Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) has been intensively studied. To dissect the molecular mechanism underlying the lycopene accumulation in tomato fruit, we utilized a suppression substractive hybridization (SSH) method to isolate the genes that are regulated by blue light and participate in the regulation of lycopene accumulation. A MADS-box transcription factor TDR4 gene was isolated from heat-tolerant tomato line CL5915 and shown to be induced by blue light. Further virus-induced gene silencing assays revealed that silencing of TDR4 reduced the lycopene levels in tomato fruit. Stable transgenic tomato lines containing reduced levels of the TDR4 transcripts showed great reduction of lycopene levels, reflecting with decreased expression of the key enzyme PSY gene in transgenic tomato fruit, which suggests that PSY may be a target of TDR4 for lycopene accumulation. Further electrophoretic mobility shift assays and yeast one-hybrid studies indicated that TDR4 could directly bind to the conserved cis-element CArG motifs in the promoter of the PSY gene. Moreover, chromatin immunoprecipitation studies further revealed that TDR4 could bind to other regulators of lycopene accumulation such as RIN and CNR, as well as ethylene-related ripening genes, including ACS4 and PG2a. Ectopic expression of TDR4 resulted in a significant increase of lycopene levels in transgenic tomato lines, in which the expression levels of these genes mentioned above were substantially increased. Taken together, these data indicate that TDR4 may play a vital role to regulate lycopene accumulation via ethylene-independent or -dependent pathways in tomato fruit

This study was carried out to determine the effect of fertigation (w) using poultry manure (pm) and foliar fertilizer (lf) as treatments on soil chemical properties and yield of telfaria occidentalis and was conducted in ondo west local government south-western nigeria. poultry manure was mixed with equal volume of water at the rate of 5 and 10t/ha, 5 and 10t/hapm was mixed with ½ recommended rate of foliar fertilizer or liquid fertilizer (lf) while full recommended rate (lf) and control were also used. the treatments were arranged in randomized complete block design and replicated three times. the results showed significant effect of all the treatments on growth parameters of telfaria occidentalis and soil n, p, k, ca, mg, zn and mn compared with control. application of w+5t/hapm+ ½ lf had the highest increase in leaf area, plant height, number of leaves and biomas of telforia occidentals. application of w+10t/hapm+ ½ lf had the best residual effect on soil ph, n, p, k and exchange acidity.

Farhad has completed his bachelor degree at the age of 25 years from University of Tebriz and master’s degree studies from University of Tehran Agriculture college. He has published a book intitled “seed technology” and more than 5 papers in reputed journals.

The main goal of seed storage is to maintain the quality of seed from the harvesting time till sowing it the next year. And among all factors, Storage temperature and moisture content are the most important factors affecting seed longevity and vigour and by controlling these factors we could decrease the deterioration of seeds during storage. Using appropriate packaging is a good and easy way for controlling storage conditions. In this study, we investigated the effect of using different packages on the amount of deterioration in two seeds, soybean JK and maize 704 variety, kept in different moistures and temperatures conditions, and also we determined seed viability constants for them. Treatments were two types of package (nano and aluminium), three levels of moisture content (8, 12 and 16 %), three temperatures (5, 20 and 35) and six storage periods (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 months). The quality of stored seeds was tested by measuring different seed viability and vigour indices in each period. The results showed that with the increase in storage time, both seed viability and vigour decreased and it was more severe in high moisture and temperature treatments and in most indices the decreased was seen in the first month of storage in 16% seed water content and 10 C temperature treatment and not in other onces, which shows that storage condition in more important in storage than other factors. For all indices, germination rate and percentage, mean germination time (MGT), percentage of normal seedlings, seedling dry weight, vigour index and electrical conductivity, in both soybean and maize seeds, there were significant differences in main and quadratic interaction (time*package*moisture*temperature) at 1% probability level. The effect of package material was different in different moisture and temperature treatments, as seeds stored at nono packages showed less deterioration only in high moisture and temperatures, while, in low level moisture and temperature no significant difference was seen between aluminium and nono packages. Also, in most cases seeds stored in aluminium packages lost viability and vigour in the first month of storage in 16% WC and 10 C, while in lost happened in the fifth and sixth month (four months delay) for seeds in nano packages. So, nono packages keeps the quality of seeds in improper storage conditions and therefore are recommended as good materials for seeds storage. Measuring the activity of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase guaiacol) and malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide showed that antioxidant system is generally more active in Nano seed packaging and the amount of malondialdehyde and peroxides hydrogen was observed more in Aluminum seed packaging. Finally, by comparing the effects of different factors, seed water content and temperaturs are reported the most important facors in preserving seed quality and inhibiting seed aging during storage for soybean and maize seeds and Nano seed packaging is better for storing seeds in higher temperature and humidity.