Bacilli As Sources Of Agrobiotechnology: Recent Advances And Future Directions, Zerihun T. Dame, Mahfuz Rahman, Tofazzal Islam

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The group bacilli represent the Gram-positive ubiquitous spore-forming bacteria. Their diversity, versatility and the ability of producing diverse secondary metabolites including enzymes created enormous potential for applications in agriculture, biotechnology, environment and medicine. The bacilli are considered as one of the most studied groups of bacteria providing plant growth-promotion and biocontrol of multiple diseases reflecting their vital role in enhancing plants’ tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Some of the Bacillus species are available commercially as phytostimulants, biopesticides, and biofertilizers. Genetically engineered plants such as maize, cotton, brinjal with endotoxins producing genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has revolutionized agriculture. Many …

Biocontrol Agent, Biofumigation, And Grafting With Resistant Rootstock Suppress Soil-Borne Disease And Improve Yield Of Tomato In West Virginia, Mahfuz Rahman, Tofazzal Islam, Lewis Jett, James Kotcon

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Organic tomato growers in West Virginia and neighboring states suffer serious economic losses each year due to soil-borne wilt diseases caused by fungal pathogens including Verticillium dahliae. This study determined the efficacies of biological control agents (BCAs – Serenade SOIL and Prestop), bio-fumigants and transplants grafted to a resistant rootstock in suppressing wilt disease in heirloom tomato cv. Mortgage Lifter in a certified organic production system in West Virginia in two consecutive years. Prestop and Serenade treatments resulted in higher seedling vigor at the early stage. However, within 40 days of field set in the fungal pathogen infested soil, grafted …

Mechanism Of Plant Growth Promotion And Disease Suppression By Chitosan Biopolymer, Moutoshi Chakraborty, Mirza Hasanuzzaman, Mahfuzur Rahman, Md. Arifur Rahman Khan, Pankaj Bhowmik, Nur Uddin Mahmud, Mohsin Tanveer, Tofazzal Islam

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The chitosan (CHT) biopolymer is a de-acetylated chitin derivative that exists in the outer shell of shrimp, shellfish, lobster or crabs, as well as fungal cell walls. Because of its biodegradability, environmental non-toxicity, and biocompatibility, it is an ideal resource for sustainable agriculture. The CHT emerged as a promising agent used as a plant growth promoter and also as an antimicrobial agent. It induces plant growth by influencing plant physiological processes like nutrient uptake, cell division, cell elongation, enzymatic activation and synthesis of protein that can eventually lead to increased yield. It also acts as a catalyst to inhibit the …

Wheat Blast: A New Threat To Food Security, M. Tofazzal Islam, Dipali Rani Gupta, Akbar Hossain, Krishna K. Roy, Xinyao He, Muhammad R. Kabir, Pawan K. Singh, Md. Arifur Rahman Khan, Mahfuzur Rahman, Guo-Liang Wang

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Wheat blast, caused by the Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum (MoT) lineage (synonym Pyricularia oryzae Triticum lineage), is a destructive disease in South America and Bangladesh. It is primarily a disease of wheat head, which can cause yield loss up to 100% under favorable disease conditions. The head infection results in complete or partial bleaching of the spike above the point of infection with either no grain or shriveled grain with low test weight. Due to low fungicide efficacy against the disease and lack of availability of resistant varieties, an integrated management program should be adopted to control this serious wheat disease. …

Suitable Methods For Isolation, Culture, Storage And Identification Of Wheat Blast Fungus Magnaporthe Oryzae Triticum Pathotype, Dipali Rani Gupta, Musrat Zahan Surovy, Nur Uddin Mahmud, Moutoshi Chakraborty, Sanjoy Kumar Paul, Md. Shaid Hossain, Pallab Bhattacharjee, Md. Shabab Mehebub, Kanistha Rani, Rumana Yeasmin, Mahfuzur Rahman, Md Tofazzal Islam

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Wheat blast disease caused by a South American lineage of Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum (MoT) pathotype has emerged as a serious threat to wheat production in Bangladesh since its first emergence in 2016. Efficient and suitable methods for isolation, storage, inoculum production and molecular characterization of the pathogen can help in achieving the target of sustainable management of the disease in a relatively short period of time. In this study, we aimed to develop suitable methods for isolation, storage and morphological characterization and molecular identification of MoT isolates collected from the blast-infected wheat fields in Bangladesh. This process included modification of …

A Case-Study Application Of The Experimental Watershed Study Design To Advance Adaptive Management Of Contemporary Watersheds, Jason A. Hubbart, Elliott Kellner, Sean J. Zeiger

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

settings Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

A Case-Study Application of the Experimental Watershed Study Design to Advance Adaptive Management of Contemporary Watersheds

by Jason A. Hubbart 1,*,Elliott Kellner 2 andSean J. Zeiger 3 1 West Virginia University, Institute of Water Security and Science, Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, Schools of Agriculture and Food, and Natural Resources, 3109 Agricultural Sciences Building, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA 2 West Virginia University, Institute of Water Security and Science, Davis College of Agriculture Natural Resources and Design, Division of Plant and Soil Sciences, 3011 Agricultural Sciences Building, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA 3 …

The Economics And Politics Of Carbon Taxes And Regulations: Evidence From Voting On Washington State’S Initiative 732, Michael Reed, Patrick O'Reilly, Joshua Hall

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

n November 2016, Washington State voters were presented with a ballot initiative (Initiative 732) advancing the first carbon tax on production and use of fossil fuels in the United States. Initiative 732 promised to reduce fossil fuel consumption by taxing carbon emissions, while remaining revenue-neutral by lowering taxes on businesses, consumers, and working families. In promising revenue-neutrality, Initiative 732 sought support beyond environmentalists and similarly sympathetic voters. It failed to pass, achieving 41.2 percent of votes cast. To investigate this initiative’s failure at the ballot, we analyzed zip code-level voting patterns and demographic data. Relying on a two-step LASSO (Least …

Influence Of Climate Change And Postdelisting Management On Long‐Term Population Viability Of The Conservation‐Reliant Kirtland's Warbler, Donald J. Brown, Deahn M. Donner, Christine A. Ribic, Carol I. Bocetti

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Rapid global climate change is resulting in novel abiotic and biotic conditions and in‐ teractions. Identifying management strategies that maximize probability of long‐term persistence requires an understanding of the vulnerability of species to environmen‐ tal changes. We sought to quantify the vulnerability of Kirtland's Warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii), a rare Neotropical migratory songbird that breeds almost exclusively in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and winters in the Bahamian Archipelago, to pro‐ jected environmental changes on the breeding and wintering grounds. We devel‐ oped a population‐level simulation model that incorporates the influence of annual environmental conditions on the breeding and wintering grounds, …

West Virginia Food Dessert Summit Program, West Virginia University Davis College Of Agriculture, Natural Resources And Design, West Virginia University School Of Public Health, West Virginia University Extension Service, Wvu Foundation, Usda Natural Resources Conservation Service

West Virginia Food Desert Summit 2019

Program from the 2019 West Virginia Food Desert Summit, held in Bridgeport, WV on December 10, 2019.

Endophytic Bacillus Spp. From Medicinal Plants Inhibit Mycelial Growth Of Sclerotinia Sclerotiorum And Promote Plant Growth, Waheda Rahman Ansary, Ferdous Rezwan Khan Prince, Effi Haque, Farzana Sultana, Helen M. West, Mahbubur Rahman, Abdul Mojid Mondol, Abdul Mannan Akanda, Mahfuz Rahman, Michele L. Clarke, Tofazzal Islam

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Plant growth-promoting bacteria that are also capable of suppressing plant pathogenic fungi play an important role in sustainable agriculture. There is a critical need for conducting research to discover, characterize and evaluate the efficacy of new strains of such bacteria in controlling highly aggressive plant pathogens. In this study, we isolated endophytic bacteria from medicinal plants of Bangladesh and evaluated their antagonistic capacity against an important phytopathogenic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Growth-promoting effects of those isolates on cucumber and rice seedlings were also assessed. Among 16 morphologically distinct isolates, BDR-2, BRtL-2 and BCL-1 significantly inhibited the growth of S. sclerotiorum …

Metabolic Syndrome Prevalence In Students Attending West Virginia University, Melissa D. Olfert, Amanda Dent, Rachel A. Wattick

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) contributes to the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Few studies have investigated the MetS risk of young adults (18–24 years old). This study aims to determine the prevalence of MetS in Appalachian and non-Appalachian students attending West Virginia University. The prevalence of MetS in this population was 15%. There was no difference in MetS prevalence between male students and female students (18.8% males and 11.1% females, p-value = 0.30), or between Appalachian students and non-Appalachian students (17.7% Appalachian and 10.0% non-Appalachian, p-value = 0.33). Identification of MetS early in life is …

Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling Of Students’ Dietary Intentions/Behaviors, Bmi, And The Healthfulness Of Convenience Stores, Tanya Horacek, Elif Dede Yildirim, Kendra Kattelmann, Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, Onikia Brown, Sarah Colby, Geoffrey Greene, Sharon Hoerr, Tandalayo Kidd, Mallory Koenings, Jesse Morrell, Melissa D. Olfert, Beatrice Phillips, Karla Shelnutt, Adrienne White

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: When dietary behaviors are habitual, intentions are low, and environmental cues, such as the consumer food environment, might guide behavior. How might intentions to eat healthily and ultimately actual dietary behaviors, be influenced by the consumer food environment (including the availability and affordability of healthy foods) in convenience stores? This study will determine pathways between the healthfulness of convenience stores and college students’ dietary intentions/behaviors, and body mass index (BMI). Methods: Through multilevel structural equation modeling, a comparison was made of students’ healthful meal intentions (HMI); intake (fruits/vegetables, %kcal/fat, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and whole-grains); and measured BMI; as well …

Changing Climatic Averages And Variance: Implications For Mesophication At The Eastern Edge Of North America’S Eastern Deciduous Forest, Evan Kutta, Jason A. Hubbart

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Observed conversion of xerophytic warm genera species to mesophytic cool genera species in North America’s Eastern Deciduous Forest (EDF) suggests species composition is in disequilibrium with recent climatic warming. However, increasing annual average temperatures is an oversimplification of long-term climatic change and the importance of climate variance is often neglected. Seven-year moving averages and standard deviations of annually averaged maximum temperatures, minimum temperatures, daily precipitation, and vapor pressure deficits (VPD) in West Virginia, USA were quantified over a 111-year period of record (1906–2016). Maximum temperatures decreased significantly (−5.3%; p < 0.001), minimum temperatures increased significantly (7.7%; p < 0.001), and precipitation increased (2.2%; p = 0.107). Additionally, maximum temperature variance decreased (−17.4%; p = 0.109), minimum temperature variance decreased significantly (−22.6%; p = 0.042), and precipitation variance increased significantly (26.6%; p = 0.004). Results indicate a reduced diurnal temperature range and significant reductions in estimated VPD (10.3%; p < 0.001) that imply increased relative humidity, cloud cover, and soil moisture that may support increasingly abundant mesophytic cool genera species. Feedback mechanisms associated with extensive changes in land use, fire suppression, and browser population may have exacerbated climatic changes. Long-term assessments of changing climatic averages and variance are needed to ensure sustainability of forest ecosystem services, health, and productivity in a swiftly changing climate across the broader EDF region and similar temperate forest ecosystems globally.

Self-Reported Vs. Measured Height, Weight, And Bmi In Young Adults, Melissa D. Olfert, Makenzie L. Barr, Camille M. Charlier, Oluremi A. Famodu, Wenjun Zhou, Anne E. Mathews, Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, Sarah E. Colby

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Self-reported height and weight, if accurate, provide a simple and economical method to track changes in body weight over time. Literature suggests adults tend to under-report their own weight and that the gap between self-reported weight and actual weight increases with obesity. This study investigates the extent of discrepancy in self-reported height, weight, and subsequent Body Mass Index (BMI) versus actual measurements in young adults. Physically measured and self-reported height and weight were taken from 1562 students. Male students marginally overestimated height, while females were closer to target. Males, on average, closely self-reported weight. Self-reported anthropometrics remained statistically correlated to …

Arabidopsis Mate45 Antagonizes Local Abscisic Acid Signaling To Mediate Development And Abiotic Stress Responses, Nikola Kovinich, Yiqun Wang, Janet Adegboye, Alexandra A. Chanoca, Marisa S. Otegui, Paige Durkin, Erich Grotewold

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Anthocyanins provide ideal visual markers for the identification of mutations that disrupt molecular responses to abiotic stress. We screened Arabidopsis mutants of ABC (ATP‐Binding Cassette) and MATE (Multidrug And Toxic compound Extrusion) transporter genes under nutritional stress and identified four genes (ABCG25, ABCG9, ABCG5, and MATE45) required for normal anthocyanin pigmentation. ABCG25 was previously demonstrated to encode a vascular‐localized cellular expor- ter of abscisic acid (ABA). Our results show that MATE45 encodes an aerial meris- tem‐ and a vascular‐localized transporter associated with the trans‐Golgi, and that it plays an important role in controlling the levels and distribution of ABA in …

Genetic Assessment Of Inbred Chicken Lines Indicates Genomic Signatures Of Resistance To Marek's Disease, Lingyang Xu, Yanghua He, George E. Liu, Huanmin Zhang, Hans H. Cheng, Robert L. Taylor Jr, Jiuzhou Song

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: Marek’s disease (MD) is a highly contagious pathogenic and oncogenic disease primarily affecting chickens. However, the mechanisms of genetic resistance for MD are complex and not fully understood. MD-resistant line 63 and MD-susceptible line 72 are two highly inbred progenitor lines of White Leghorn. Recombinant Congenic Strains (RCS) were developed from these two lines, which show varied susceptibility to MD.

Results: We investigated genetic structure and genomic signatures across the genome, including the line 63 and line 72, six RCSs, and two reciprocally crossed flocks between the lines 63 and 72 (F1 63 × 72 and F1 72 × …

Genome-Wide Association Analysis With A 50k Transcribed Gene Snp-Chip Identifies Qtl Affecting Muscle Yield In Rainbow Trout, Mohamed Salem, Rafet Al-Tobasei, Ali Ali, Daniela Lourenco, Guangtu Gao, Yniv Palti, Brett Kenney, Timothy D. Leeds

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Detection of coding/functional SNPs that change the biological function of a gene may lead to identification of putative causative alleles within QTL regions and discovery of genetic markers with large effects on phenotypes. This study has two-fold objectives, first to develop, and validate a 50K transcribed gene SNP-chip using RNA-Seq data. To achieve this objective, two bioinformatics pipelines, GATK and SAMtools, were used to identify ∼21K transcribed SNPs with allelic imbalances associated with important aquaculture production traits including body weight, muscle yield, muscle fat content, shear force, and whiteness in addition to resistance/susceptibility to bacterial cold-water disease (BCWD). SNPs ere …

Chitosan Biopolymer Promotes Yield And Stimulates Accumulation Of Antioxidants In Strawberry Fruit, Mosaddiqur Rahman, Julakha Akter Mukta, Abdullah As Sabir, Dipall Rani Gupta, Mohammed Mohi-Ud-Din, Mirza Hasanuzzaman, Md. Giashuddin Miah, Mahfuzur Rahman, Md Tofazzai Islam

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Strawberry is a well-known source of natural antioxidants with excellent free radical scav- enging capacity. This study determined the effects of chitosan application in field condition on plant growth, fruit yield and antioxidant activities in strawberry fruit. Foliar applications of chitosan on strawberry significantly increased plant growth and fruit yield (up to 42% higher) compared to untreated control. Increased fruit yield was attributed to higher plant growth, individual fruit weight and total fruit weight/plant due to the chitosan application. Surprisingly, the fruit from plants sprayed with chitosan also had significantly higher contents (up to 2.6- fold) of carotenoids, anthocyanins, flavonoids …

Symmetry Of Energy Divergence Anomalies Associated With The El Niño-Southern Oscillation, Evan Kutta, Jason A. Hubbart, Timothy P. Eichler, Anthony R. Lupo

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a dominant source of global climate variability. The effects of this phenomenon alter the flow of heat from tropical to polar latitudes, resulting in weather and climate anomalies that are difficult to forecast. The current work quantified two components of the vertically integrated equation for the total energy content of an atmospheric column, to show the anomalous horizontal redistribution of surface heat flux anomalies. Symmetric and asymmetric components of the vertically integrated latent and sensible heat flux divergence were quantified using ERA-Interim atmospheric reanalysis output on 30 model layers between 1979 and 2016. Results …

Detecting Body Mass Index From A Facial Photograph In Lifestyle Intervention, Makenzie L. Barr, Guodong Guo, Sarah E. Colby, Melissa D. Olfert

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This study aimed to identify whether a research participant’s body-mass index (BMI) can be correctly identified from their facial image (photograph) in order to improve data capturing in dissemination and implementation research. Facial BMI (fBMI) was measured using an algorithm formulated to identify points on each enrolled participant’s face from a photograph. Once facial landmarks were detected, distances and ratios between them were computed to characterize facial fatness. A regression function was then used to represent the relationship between facial measures and BMI values to then calculate fBMI from each photo image. Simultaneously, BMI was physically measured (mBMI) by trained …

Assessing The Difference Between Soil And Water Assessment Tool (Swat) Simulated Pre-Development And Observed Developed Loading Regimes, Sean J. Zeiger, Jason A. Hubbart

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The purpose of this research was to assess the difference between Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) simulated pre-development and contemporary developed loading regimes in a mixed-land-use watershed of the central United States (US). Native land cover based on soil characteristics was used to simulate pre-development loading regimes using The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Loading targets were calculated for each major element of a pre-development loading regime. Simulated pre-development conditions were associated with increased retention and decreased export of sediment and nutrients when compared to observed developed conditions. Differences between simulated pre-development and observed developed maximum daily yields …

Assessing Environmental Flow Targets Using Pre-Settlement Land Cover: A Swat Modeling Application, Sean J. Zeiger, Jason A. Hubbart

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Determining environmental flow requirements to sustain aquatic ecosystem health remains a challenge. The purpose of this research was to quantify the extent of current flow alterations relative to baseline hydrologic conditions of a simulated historic flow regime prior to anthropogenic flow disturbance (i.e., pre-settlement flows). Results allowed assessment of the efficacy of environmental flow targets based on pre-settlement land cover in a contemporary mixed-land-use catchment (i.e., urban, agricultural, and forested). Pre-settlement flows were simulated using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Pre-settlement land cover, based on soil physical characteristics, was used to simulate pre-settlement flows with the SWAT model. …

Health Disparities Score Composite Of Youth And Parent Dyads From An Obesity Prevention Intervention: Icook 4-H, Melissa D. Olfert, Makenzie L. Barr, Rebecca L. Hagedorn, Lisa Franzzen-Castle, Sarah E. Colby, Kendra K. Kattelmann, Adrienne A. White

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

iCook 4-H is a lifestyle intervention to improve diet, physical activity and mealtime behavior. Control and treatment dyads (adult primary meal preparer and a 9–10-year-old youth) completed surveys at baseline and 4, 12, and 24 months. A Health Disparity (HD) score composite was developed utilizing a series of 12 questions (maximum score = 12 with a higher score indicating a more severe health disparity). Questions came from the USDA short form U.S. Household Food Security Survey (5), participation in food assistance programs (1), food behavior (2), level of adult education completed (1), marital status (1), and race (1 adult and …

Multivariate Analysis Of The Cotton Seed Ionome Reveals A Shared Genetic Architecture, Duke Pauli, Greg Ziegler, Min Ren, Matthew A. Jenks, Douglas J. Hunsaker, Min Zhang, Ivan Baxter, Michael A. Gore

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

To mitigate the effects of heat and drought stress, a better understanding of the genetic control of physiological responses to these environmental conditions is needed. To this end, we evaluated an upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) mapping population under water-limited and well-watered con- ditions in a hot, arid environment. The elemental concentrations (ionome) of seed samples from the pop- ulation were profiled in addition to those of soil samples taken from throughout the field site to better model environmental variation. The elements profiled in seeds exhibited moderate to high heritabilities, as well as strong phenotypic and genotypic correlations between elements …

Study On The Relationship Between Expression Patterns Of Cocaine-And Amphetamine Regulated Transcript And Hormones Secretion In Porcine Ovarian Follicles, Pengfei Li, Jinzhu Meng, Jiongjie Jing, Qingling Hao, Zhiwei Zhu, Jianbo Yao, Lihua Lyu

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: Cocaine-and amphetamine regulated transcript (CART) is an endogenous neuropeptide, which is widespread in animals, plays a key role in regulation of follicular atresia in cattle and sheep. Among animal ovaries, CART mRNA was firstly found in the cattle ovaries. CART was localized in the antral follicles oocytes, granulosa and cumulus cells by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. Further research found that secretion of E2 was inhibited in granulosa cells with a certain dose of CART, the effect depends on the stage of cell differentiation, sug- gesting that CART could play a crucial role in regulating follicle atresia. The objective …

Tree Species Richness Enhances Stand Productivity While Stand Structure Can Have Opposite Effects, Based On Forest Inventory Data From Germany And The United States Of America, Laura Zeller, Jingjing Liang, Hans Pretzsch

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: In recent studies, mixed forests were found to be more productive than monocultures with everything else remaining the same.

Methods: To find out if this productivity is caused by tree species richness, by a more heterogeneous stand structure or both, we analyzed the effects of forest structure and tree species richness on stand productivity, based on inventory data of temperate forests in the United States of America and Germany.

Results: Having accounted for effects such as tree size and stand density, we found that: (I) tree species richness increased stand productivity in both countries while the effect of tree …

A Comparison Study Of Quality Attributes Of Ground Beef And Veal Patties And Thermal Inactivation Of Escherichia Coli O157:H7 After Double Pan-Broiling Under Dynamic Conditions, Kawang Li, Amanda Gip Mckeith, Cangliang Shen, Russell Mckeith

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This study compared the quality variation and thermal inactivation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in non-intact beef and veal. Coarse ground beef and veal patties (2.1 cm thick, 12.4 cm diameter, 180 g) inoculated with E. coli O157:H7, aerobically stored before double pan-broiling for 0–360 s without rest or to 55, 62.5, 71.1, and 76 ◦C (internal temperature) with 0.5- or 3.5-min rest. Microbial population and qualities including color, cooking losses, pH, water activity, fat, and moisture content, were tested. After cooking the beef and veal patties, the weight losses were 17.83–29%, the pH increased from 5.53–5.60 to 5.74–6.09, the moisture …

Evaluation Of Fruit Bagging As A Pest Management Option For Direct Pests Of Apple, Daniel L. Frank

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Bagging fruit with plastic, paper, and two-layer commercial bags was evaluated for control of insect pests and diseases in an experimental apple orchard planted with ‘Red Delicious’ trees. Results from fruit damage evaluations at harvest showed that bagging significantly reduced fruit damage from direct apple pests compared with non-bagged control plots, and generally provided similar levels of fruit protection when compared with a conventional pesticide spray program. Of the three bagging materials evaluated, plastic bags provided numerically higher levels of fruit protection from insect pests, and two-layer commercial bags provided numerically higher levels of fruit protection from fruit diseases. Fruit …

Plant Probiotic Bacteria Bacillus And Paraburkholderia Improve Growth, Yield And Content Of Antioxidants In Strawberry Fruit, Mosaddiqur Rahman, Abdullah As Sabir, Julakha Akter Mukrta, Mohibul Alam Khan, Mohammed Mohi-Ud-Din, Giashuddin Miah, Mahfuzur Rahman, M. Tofazzal Islam

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Strawberry is an excellent source of natural antioxidants with high capacity of scavenging free radicals.

This study evaluated the effects of two plant probiotic bacteria, Bacillus amylolequefaciens BChi1 and Paraburkholderia fungorum BRRh-4 on growth, fruit yield and antioxidant contents in strawberry fruits. Root dipping of seedlings (plug plants) followed by spray applications of both probiotic bacteria in the field on foliage significantly increased fruit yield (up to 48%) over non-treated control. Enhanced fruit yield likely to be linked with higher root and shoot growth, individual and total fruit weight/plant and production of phytohormone by the probiotic bacteria applied on plants. …

Pseudomonas And Burkholderia Inhibit Growth And Asexual Development Of Phytophthora Capsici, Amena Khatun, Tarin Farhana, Abdullah As Sabir, Shah Mohammad Naimul Islam, Helen M. West, Mahfuzur Rahman, Tofazzal Islam

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The objective of this study was to isolate and characterize antagonistic rhizobacteria from chili against a notorious phytopathogen Phytophthora capsici. Among the 48 bacteria isolated, BTLbbc-02, BTLbbc-03, and BTLbbc-05 were selected based on their inhibitory activity against P. capsici. They were tentatively identified as Burkholderia metallica BTLbbc-02, Burkholderia cepacia BTLbbc-03, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa BTLbbc-05, respectively, based on their 16S rRNA gene sequencing. All inhibited the growth of P. capsici at varying levels by inducing characteristic morphological alterations of P. capsici hyphae. The cell-free culture supernatant of all three isolates impaired motility (up to 100%) and caused lysis …