Variations in agronomic and grain quality traits of rice grown under irrigated lowland conditions in West Africa

Rice breeding in West Africa has been largely skewed toward yield enhancement and stress tolerance. This has led to the variable grain quality of locally produced rice in the region. This study sought to assess variations in the agronomic and grain quality traits of some rice varieties grown in this region, with a view to identifying sources of high grain yield and quality that could serve as potential donors in their breeding programs. Forty‐five varieties were grown under irrigated conditions in Benin and Senegal with two trials in each country. There were wide variations in agronomic and grain quality traits among the varieties across the trials. Cluster analysis using paddy yield, head rice yield, and chalkiness revealed that 68% of the total variation could be explained by five varietal groupings. One group comprising seven varieties (Afrihikari, BG90‐2, IR64, Sahel 108, WAT311‐WAS‐B‐B‐23‐7‐1, WAT339‐TGR‐5‐2, and WITA 10) had high head rice yield and low chalkiness. Of the varieties in this group, Sahel 108 had the highest paddy yield in three of the four trials. IR64 and Afrihikari had intermediate and low amylose content, respectively, with the rest being high‐amylose varieties. Another group of varieties consisting of B6144F‐MR‐6‐0‐0, C74, IR31851‐96‐2‐3‐2‐1, ITA222, Jaya, Sahel 305, WITA 1, and WITA 2 had high paddy yield but poor head rice yield and chalkiness. The use of materials from these two groups of varieties could accelerate breeding for high yielding rice varieties with better grain quality for local production in West Africa

Homogenization of Periodic Semilinear Parabolic Degenerate PDEs

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Determining Pair Interactions from Structural Correlations

We examine metastable configurations of a two-dimensional system of interacting particles on a quenched random potential landscape and ask how the configurational pair correlation function is related to the particle interactions and the statistical properties of the potential landscape. Understanding this relation facilitates quantitative studies of magnetic flux line interactions in type II superconductors, using structural information available from Lorentz microscope images or Bitter decorations. Previous work by some of us supported the conjecture that the relationship between pair correlations and interactions in pinned flux line ensembles is analogous to the corresponding relationship in the theory of simple liquids. The present paper aims at a more thorough understanding of this relation. We report the results of numerical simulations and present a theory for the low density behavior of the pair correlation function which agrees well with our simulations and captures features observed in experiments. In particular, we find that the resulting description goes beyond the conjectured classical liquid type relation and we remark on the differences.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. See also http://rainbow.uchicago.edu/~grier

Direct observation of the influence of the As-Fe-As angle on the Tc of superconducting SmFeAsO1−x_{1-x}Fx_{x}

The electrical resistivity, crystalline structure and electronic properties calculated from the experimentally measured atomic positions of the compound SmFeAsO$_{0.81}$F$_{0.19}$ have been studied up to pressures ~20GPa. The correlation between the pressure dependence of the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) and crystallographic parameters on the same sample shows clearly that a regular FeAs$_{4}$ tetrahedron maximizes Tc, through optimization of carrier transfer to the FeAs planes as indicated by the evolution of the electronic band structures.Comment: 15pages, 4 figure

Characterization of virulence factors in the newly described <i>Salmonella enterica</i> serotype Keurmassar emerging in Senegal (sub-Saharan Africa)

From 2000 to 2001, nine strains of Salmonella enterica belonging to the new serotype Keurmassar have been isolated from human and poultry samples at the Senegalese National Salmonella and Shigella Reference Laboratory at the Pasteur Institute, in Dakar. All strains carried virulence factors including Salmonella Pathogenicity Islands (SPI)-1, -2, -3 and -5 encoded genes. Strains did not harbour virulence plasmid. Ribotyping analysis revealed a single clone identical to Salmonella Decatur isolated in Zimbabwe. These data suggest that strains are closely related, and may have been spread clonally. In this new serotype, insertion sequence IS200 is not present

Pressure Dependence of Fragile-to-Strong Transition and a Possible Second Critical Point in Supercooled Confined Water

By confining water in nano-pores of silica glass, we can bypass the crystallization and study the pressure effect on the dynamical behavior in deeply supercooled state using neutron scattering. We observe a clear evidence of a cusp-like fragile-to-strong (F-S) dynamic transition. Here we show that the transition temperature decreases steadily with an increasing pressure, until it intersects the homogenous nucleation temperature line of bulk water at a pressure of 1600 bar. Above this pressure, it is no longer possible to discern the characteristic feature of the F-S transition. Identification of this end point with the possible second critical point is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Réponses phénologiques du riz irrigué dans le Sahel

Dans le Sahel, les périodes froides causent des pertes de rendement dues à la stérilité des épillets chez le riz cultivé tardivement. Les systèmes de riziculture au Sahel pourront donc bénéficier des hausses de températures. Des températures plus élevées pendant la phase végétative entraîneront des cycles de culture raccourcis, tandis que pendant les périodes froides de la phase reproductive, des températures plus élevées pourront réduire la stérilité. Pour les périodes chaudes, ont attend des effets négatifs sur la production de la biomasse et l'augmentation de la stérilité causée par la chaleur. Sur la base des données phénologiques d'une vaste gamme de matériel génétique collectées au début des années 1990 au Sénégal, un modèle (RIDEV) a été développé pour estimer la durée et la stérilité de multiples variétés de riz dans le Sahel comme une fonction de la date de semis. Cependant, des différences observées entre les cycles observés dans les champs des paysans et ceux évalués par RIDEV ont été rapportées. Cela pourrait s'expliquer soit par des défaillances du modèle, l'évolution variétale et/ ou par le changement climatique. Actuellement, à Ndiaye (zone côtière semi-aride) et Fanaye (zone continentale semi-aride), 10 variétés de riz très différentes sont cultivées toute l'année avec des dates de semis décalées d'un mois en vue de déterminer la durée, le taux d'apparition des feuilles et la stérilité dans les conditions climatiques actuelles. Ces variétés incluent certains des génotypes précédemment observés de même que certaines variétés de référence tolérantes à la chaleur et au froid. Les résultats seront utilisés pour améliorer RIDEV en vue des prédictions des réponses des cultures au changement climatique. Les résultats préliminaires avec une attention particulière sur la dérivation des constantes photothermiques seront présentés pour l'ensemble de la première année et comparés aux résultats issus des années précédentes.(Texte intégral

First report of Rice stripe necrosis virus infecting rice in Benin

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