Computerised Rice Grading-Boon to Exporters

 Chandigarh, Nov 8 (UNI) The tedious, laborious and error-prone  system of rice-grading would soon be a thing of past with the path-breaking computerised classification system developed by scientists here.  
   The server-based analytical instrument with complete ‘knowledge and data’ could provide world-class sample testing over the internet, leading to ‘uniform procurement specifications and testing’, which would also be a boon for exporters.
   The device, developed by Central Scientific Instruments
Organisation (CSIO) here, ”could provide transparency in the
procurement process and could be useful for food procuring and marketing agencies, rice shellers, grain marchants and exporters,” the CSIO Director Dr Pawan Kapur told UNI.
   The rice grading, which would take into account the colour, shape  and size of each grain, would be most useful in meeting the export  requirements which seek absolute rice dimensions and accumulative stringent percentages in broken and undesirable items.
   Project Head, Dr H K Sardana said the system meets export or superior quality requirements, including the moisture test. It could detect undesirable elements like foreign matter, broken, damaged, discoloured, chalky and red grains and could differentiate between various varieties mixed together.
   In addition, the system could provide grain-wise measurements and histogram, he said.
   Moreover, the whole process of classification of rice sample
takes only one or two minutes in comparision to hours that it takes  to manually and visually check the grains as per BIS standards.
   The system could be customised to suit export requirements and BIS standards including annual relaxations applicable to farmers during adverse weather conditions.  
   About the other benefits of the sorting machines, he explained that it could work even at sheller’s level for inspection while milling.
   A prototype unit of the system was successfully tested by
Markfed, as per the standard requirements of the BIS and FCI, Mr Sardana said.
   For remote sample submission,  people living even in remote areas could be connected to the system through internet and could submit the sample at their scanner for obtaining certified statistical
report.
   The new system would also turn out to be much cost-effective as BIS, as a central agency, could provide the on-line grading service to distant clients, he said. //EOM//

Pozted by: Dr.Y.Bala Murali Krishna.

DNA Barcoding of Indigenous Fish Species

Lucknow, Nov 8 (UNI) National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR), Lucknow has undertaken an ambitious and advanced programme of developing DNA bar coding of indigenous fish species.
   The project will greatly help in the identification of fish
species, patenting of marine fauna and specialised research thereon.
   NBFGR has been recognised as a nodal organization under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi for undertaking advanced research programmes on exotic fish and quarantine.
   Bureau Director W S Lakra informed that the DNA bar coding of about 50 fish species had already been developed and research was on for other several varieties.
   Dr Lakra was addressing the nine-day ‘Symposium and Training Programme on Fish Biotechnology’, which was inaugurated yesterday.
   Leading Australian marine scientist Dr R D Ward — who is also Co-Chairman, Global Programme, DNA Bar Coding of Fish — emphasised its importance towards the documentation, characterisation and conservation of aquatic bio-diversity.
   Further, Dr Lakra informed regarding the recent development of  vital diagnostic tools such as monoclonal antibiotics, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), DNA finger printing and gene probes etc.
   He stressed the need for developing such diagnostic tools for all the major fish diseases, that cause huge economic losses to farmers.
   Lucknow Biotechnology Park Director P K Seth said fish were  good indicators of water quality. ”Marine biotechnology has tremendous potential towards improving production of food and ornamental fish, besides production of pharmaceuticals from fish.
   National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) Director Rakesh Tuli emphasised the need to undertake intensive research on production of transgenic fish with respect to improvement of economically important traits and production of stress-resistant fish.
   Fish and aquatic fauna constitute nearly 20 per cent — at Rs 7,200 crore — of India’s total agricultural exports annually.
   The annual fish production currently stands at 64 lakh tonnes, Dr S Ayyappan, Deputy Director General (Fisheries), ICAR had told UNI in an earlier interview.
   The per capita consumption of fish in India is 9 kgs/per year compared to 12 kgs/per year globally. The country stands second in aqua-culture and third overall in fish production in the world.
   ”India is home to about 2,400 fish species. Fisheries can play a vital role in maintaining the ‘food and nutritional’ security of the country,” Dr Ayyappan, who is also the Chief Executive, National Fisheries Development Board, observed.//EOM//

Posted by: Dr.Y.Bala Murali Krishna

Networking for Research on Earthquakes

ICTP moots Network of Scientists for Promoting  Collaborative Earthquakes Research

Hyderabad, Oct 23-2k6: The Italy-based Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is forming a network of scientists from Iran to Indonesia to study the formation of earthquakes and build capacities to respond to calamities caused by earthquake, ICTP Director K R Sreenivasan said today.Mr Sreenivasan, who was here in connection with a collaborative programme with the Central University of Hyderabad, said the network would have scientists from the National Geophysical Research in India and National Aeronautics Laboratory.

The first meeting of the newly formed network of scientists would be held in Italy next month.

The primary task of the network covering Pakistan, Nepal and Malaysia among other countries, was to record the seismic activity and build capacities to respond to calamities, he said, adding that the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics operated under a tripartite agreement between the Government of Italy, two UN agencies-United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).//EOM//

Posted By: Dr.Y.Bala Murali krishna

New Virus Detected in Chillies in India

 Ludhiana, Oct 10-2k6: A virus known as ‘begomoviruses’, which reduces the yield, has ‘infected’ the chilli crop in India for the first time.
   The World Vegetable Centre–AVRDC located at Taiwan has detected the presence of this virus in the samples taken from  Ludhiana.
   This virus is believed to be a tentative strain of the chilli
leaf curl virus which is prevalent in Multan in Pakistan.
   The Centre has called upon breeders at Punjab Agricultural
University (PAU) that the presence of the ‘begomoviruses’ needs to be considered for developing chilli cultivars and virus resistant chilli plants.
   PAU’s Department of Vegetable Crops, Head- cum- senior
olericulturist, Dr Daljit Singh today said that chilli is an
vegetable important crop. It is sown on an area of 9882 hectares in Punjab, mainly in the districts of Sangrur, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Amnritsar and Jalandhar.
   In Punjab. the chilli production is around 15,888 tonnes annually.
   Dr Daljit Singh, who is working in collaboration with the
scientists of AVRDC, said the tomato leaf curl begomoviruses
infecting chillies in India was first noticed in 2004. The results of the analysis done at the World Vegetable Centre in Taiwan have been recently published.
   This is for the first time that this begomoviruses has infected chilli crop in India and it will significantly reduce productivity, he claimed.//eom//

New Virus Detected in Chillies in India

Cashew to Play a Role of an Invisible Doctor?

Cashew to play role in nanotechnology
[ 7 Sep, 2006 0807hrs ISTIANS ]

BANGALORE: The delightful cashew nut loved by everybody will soon have a bigger role to play - in nanotechnology.

When Kyathanahalli Nagabhushana submitted his doctoral thesis on cashew (Anacardium Occidentale) in 1998, little did he anticipate the excitement his research would create among materials scientists seven years later.

Not only scientists but cashew growers too will have to thank the Bangalore-born Nagabhushana, whose research has led to a new commercial use for cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) — the fluid inside the shell casing of the cashew.

CNSL contains anacardic acids, chemicals that Nagabhushana studied for his thesis. Recent findings have shown that anacardic acids are useful in preparing magnetic ‘nanofluid,’ according to Nagabhushana, a participant at the just ended international conference Nano2006 at the Indian Institute of Science here.

India is the largest exporter of cashew nuts and, together with Brazil, accounts for over 80 percent of the world supply of around 100,000 tonnes.

Less than 20 percent of CNSL, a byproduct of the cashew industry, is utilized for making paints and lubricants. Its potential application in nanotechnology has opened a new window of opportunity for cashew producers.

Nanoparticles, so called because of their extremely small size, are the basis of a new technology revolution that is in the making. Magnetic nanofluid - a colloidal solution containing magnetic nanoparticles - has medical applications such as targeted drug delivery, Nagabhushana said.

Nagabhushana, currently at the German Institute for Technical Chemistry, is working with Professor H. Bönnemann of Max Plank Institute, one of the pioneers in the colloidal nanoparticle chemistry.

“We were looking for a suitable magnetic fluid preparation for medical application and my research experience on cashew in Mysore University led us to use anacardic acid and CNSL in general for this purpose,” Nagabhushana said.

Combined with certain metals, anacardic acids form metal complexes soluble in organic solvents like pentane and toluene. On decomposition, the metal complexes generate colloidal nanoparticles of around one nanometre, Nagabhushana said. (The width of human hair is about 100,000 nanometres).

“Obviously, the size can be altered by changing the ratio of anacardic acid to metal,” Nagabhushana said. “And by mixing different metal complexes in solution, literally any alloy composition (in colloidal form) can be generated which is unprecedented.”

He said this approach has opened new avenues for generating various single and multiple metallic alloy metal nanoparticles of copper, iron, cobalt and nickel “having different properties”.

Production of nanofluids (from nanoparticles) faces major challenges since nanoparticles in solution can clump together and rapidly settle down. CNSL was found to prevent this by acting as a “colloidal stabilizer”, Nagabhushana said.

Nagabhushana told the conference that he was reporting for the first time “the exploitation of natural anacardic acid (from CNSL) as a nanochemical precursor and as a colloidal stabilizer for metal nanoparticles”.

Massachusetts-based US firm Strem Chemicals Inc, which collaborates with Max Plank Institute, is already producing CNSL-stabilized magnetic fluid of iron and cobalt nanoparticles in toluene, Nagabhushana said.

He said his future work would be focused on preparing nanofluids of metallic particles in solvents like alcohol or water in high concentrations for drug delivery.

Targeted drug delivery systems are under development by several research groups. In the “tag and drag” approach, drug molecules attached to the surface of magnetic nanoparticles are directed to a specific target tissue using magnets outside the body and the drug is released by applying a radio frequency pulse.

In hypothermal treatment, magnetic nanoparticles are directed to diseased tissue containing heat sensitive tumours. An alternating current magnetic field is applied such that the nanoparticles become heated, causing destruction of the cancerous cells while sparing normal tissue. //EOM//

Posted by: Dr.Y.Bala Murali Krishna

The Best Popular Science Stories from India

Hi friends,

This blog is to bring out some of the best science stories contributed from journalists,particularly of the United News of India, across the length and the bredth of India to benefit the readers.

It is aimed at encouraging popular science writing by post graduate students,scientists and journalists.

Your comments and suggestions art most welcome.

You may visit my other blogs www.ybalu.wordpress.com and www.popularsciencewriting.blogspot.com for more stories.

More blogs related to media are underway.

Yours

Dr.Y.Bala Murali krishna.