DIRECT SCIENCES: SOLVING PROBLEMS THROUGH SCIENTIFIC NETWORKING

Ten olive (Olea europaea L.) genotypes were collected from Agriculture Research Institute Tarnab at Peshawar and Sang Bhatti at Sawabi, KPK, Pakistan to evaluate their genetic diversity. Genomic DNA was isolated from fresh leaves, using a CTAB extraction method with few modifications. Three RAPD primers OPC-01, OPC-09 and OPE-07 obtained from Biron Technologies were tested by RAPD-PCR. Totally 27 bands were amplified and these amplified fragments ranged in size from 100 to 400 bp. Comparatively, more bands were observed in OPC-09 primer, with 12 bands and least number of bands were observed in OPC-01 primer with 7 bands from the electrophoresis results of the olive genotypes. Among three RAPD primers, only OPC-09 was polymorphic, showing (42%) polymorphism.

Olive, Genetic Diversity, Germplasm, RAPD Markers

Mastitis is the inflammation of mammary glands of the dairy animals and tends to be a serious problem in the world while brucellosis is an important zoonotic disease caused by bacteria of the genus Brucella, found globally and is transmitted directly or indirectly through contact with infected secretions, milk and body fluids. Milk when contaminated by brucellae presents a high threat to the new born calves and also to the human as it can spread through ingestion and cause undulant fever or abortion. The current study was conducted to determine the prevalence of mastitis, and its correlation with brucellosis in bovine. A total of 196 milk samples were collected randomly and the overall incidence of mastitis was 25.5% by Surf Field Mastitis Test (SFMT) and brucellosis 6.1% by a routine Milk Ring Test (MRT). The results showed significant co-relationship between brucellosis and mastitis positive samples in accordance to the point prevalence analysis.

Mastitis, Brucellosis, Bovine

Abiotic stress is a major problem around the world causing huge losses to cultivated crops. To overcome this problem, a study was carried out to examine the effect of Sodium chloride (NaCl) stress on germination of seeds, plantlet development (root, shoot length and fresh, dry weight), cell damage (cell membrane stability) and SDS-PAGE analysis of two rice cultivars i.e. Basmati-385 and Shaheen Basmati. It was observed that salt stress had negative effects on seed germination and germination rate. In both rice varieties, gradual reduction in root and shoot length was observed from control to 100 mM Sodium chloride stress while a considerable decrease in shoot and root length was examined at 150 mM. Root and shoot dry weight showed progressive decrease with increasing salt stress. Cell injury also showed progressive increase from control to 150 mM salt concentration. In SDS-PAGE analysis, no variation was found in proteins banding pattern of rice leaves proteins under salt stress and control.

Salinity, Cell membrane stability, Rice, SDS-PAGE