August 2015

Evidence for the presence of a female produced sex pheromone in the banana weevil Cosmopolites sordidus Germar (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Behaviour-modifying chemicals like pheromones and kairomones hold a great potential in pest management.  Evidences from mating behaviour studies of the banana weevil, and from the weevil’s responses to their freeze-killed conspecifics, body washes/extracts, live conspecifics (olfactometer studies), and trapped volatiles of mature and immature adults clearly suggest that two types of pheromones are produced in...

Author(s): R. P. Uzakah, J. A. Odebiyi, M. F. B. Chaudhury and A. Hassanali

August 2015

Apocarotenoid gene expression in saffron (Crocus sativus L.)

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a triploid sterile plant characterized by its long red stigmas, which produce and store its chief carotenoid derivatives-safranal, crocin and picrocrocin. Saffron selections of Kashmir are heterogeneous for floral characteristics which are mainly attributed to the environmental factors, though genetic factors may have role with regard to its differential characteristics across various...

Author(s): J. I. Mir, N. Ahmed, M. H. Khan and T. A. Mokhdomi

August 2015

The time delayed feedback control to suppress the vibration of the autoparametric dynamical system

The response of a dynamical system of two-degree-of-freedom with parametrically excited pendulum is solved and studied. The delayed feedback control is applied to suppress or stabilize the vibration of the system. The case of 1:2 sub-harmonic resonances between pendulum and primary system is studied; the method of multiple scales is applied to obtain second-order approximations of the response of the system. It is shown...

Author(s): Yasser A. Amer and Samira M. Soleman

August 2015

Evaluation of agro-ecological approach to soil quality assessment for sustainable land use and management systems

Long-term cultivation of crops has been found to cause soil physico-chemical and biological quality (SQ) degradation for sustainable agricultural production practices in Akwanga, Nigeria. Understanding the dynamics of SQ change under different land use types is desired. The present study was carried out to assess soil physico-chemical indicators (based on land evaluation approach) and biological SQ (based on...

Author(s): Peter Ikemefuna Ezeaku