Nitrogen availability can be enhanced with the application of nitrogen fixing bacteria and it may be helpful in increasing forage yield and improving quality of oat. Therefore, a field trial to evaluate the effect of seed inoculation with nitrogen fixing bacteria on forage yield and quality of oat was carried out at Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad during Rabi season 2013-14. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with factorial arrangements using three replications. The experiment was comprised of two integrated approaches. The first approach was oat cultivars consisting of four treatments, V1 (AVON), V2 (S-2000), V3 (S-2011) and V4 (PD2LV65) and the second approach was seed inoculation consisting of three treatments, S0 (control), S1 (Azotobacter spp.), S2 (Azospirillum spp.). Fisher's analysis of variance technique was used for statistically interpretation of data by using least significant difference (LSD) test at 5% level of probability. Nitrogen fixing bacteria significantly affect the germination count (m −2 ), plant height (cm), number of tillers (m −2 ), number of leaves per tiller, leaf area per tiller (cm 2 ), green forage yield (t•ha −1 ) and dry matter yield (t ha −1 ). The maximum green forage yield (85.2 t•ha −1 ), dry matter yield (14.1 t•ha −1 ) and crude protein (11.5%) were recorded where Azotobacter inoculation was applied. The interaction between cultivars and nitrogenous strains was significant for green forage yield (t•ha −1 ), dry matter yield (t•ha −1 ) and crude protein (%). Conclusion showed that cultivar Sargodha-2011 which was inoculated with Azotobacter spp. gave higher forage yield of good quality.

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The aim of the present study was used to develop SSR markers and to determine genetic relationships among Asparagus species and its cultivars. We mined 72953 Asparagus nucleotide sequences from NCBI and were analyzed. In total, 143 SSRs from 1943 SSRs containing sequences were identified. Of these, 13.6 % were dinucleotide repeats and 2.3 % were trinucleotide repeats. The most frequent dinucleotide repeat motif was AA/TT (73.9 %). The percentage of tri-nucleotide motifs was highest which coded for stop codon (36 %), whereas the Glycine was least present (4.5%). Among the total of 14 SSR primers used, 10 markers yielded 144 (92.3 %) polymorphic bands with an average of 14.4 alleles per primer. Cluster analysis based on UPGMA grouped the Asparagus species and its cultivars into two main clusters. Cluster A contained only A. grecilius which is more diverse than others, while cluster B was further clustered into two sub clusters. Cluster I was comprised of Asparagus officinalis cultivars and cluster II was comprised of Asparagus wild species. Furthermore, these primers (42.8%) were found to be transferable in other medicinal plants (Curcuma longa L. and Saussurea costus). The results suggest that SSR markers are sufficiently useful and powerful to assess genetic relationships and diversity analysis in Asparagus and A. officinalis cultivars. Furthermore, these markers will be particularly useful for evolutionary and genetic mapping studies in Asparagus. J. Biodivers. Conserv. Bioresour. Manag. 2018, 4(2): 21-32

The present study was hypothesized to evaluate a set of SSRs for the assessment of genetic variations in Asparagus officinalis L. and their allied species. Nine genic SSR markers were especially developed for Asparagus genome and employed for DNA profiling studies of Asparagus species. These SSRs markers have revealed the allelic polymorphism ranging from 1.0 to 2.0. Allele frequency was found highest for psbD-trnL (1.0), petB (1.0) and AG7 (1.0), while it was lowest for ZHD1 (0.1). Polymorphism Information content (PIC) was highest for TC7 (0.9) while it was lowest (0.0) for psbD-trnL, petB and AG7 respectively. The genetic similarity coefficients were found to range from 0.42 to 1.0. The UPGMA clustering algorithm based on SSRs data have clustered Asparagus species into 4 groups (I, II, III & IV) indicating Asparagus officinalis (L.) cultivars and allied species in the first clade, while Asparagus officinalis (L.) ‘Gersengum’, Asparagus densiflorus (Kunth) Jessop, and Asparagus racemosus willd. were clustered in separate clades respectively. The present study has endorsed the origin status of Asparagus officinalis and their allied species. A. officinalis cultivars and other allied Asparagus species are clustered in separate clades, and it was revealed that they have monophyletic origin. It was established that SSRs markers could be informative markers for the differentiation of Asparagus officinalis cultivars, and their allied Asparagus species. Bangladesh J. Bot. 50(3): 595-602, 2021 (September)

Punica granatum L. (Wild) is an important fruit-yielding species of the world and a source of income for people, particularly in the Hindukush-Himalayas of Pakistan. Considering its ecological and commercial importance, an attempt was made to provide a primary assessment of its compositional pattern with relation to environmental variables for ecologically unexplored Punica granatum forests located in a subtropical dry temperate zone using multivariate techniques. The vegetation data were collected from 40 Punica granatum forest stands along with the associated environmental data (12 variables) at different locations. Classification of the stands was carried out using Ward's agglomerative cluster analysis. In total, 20 tree species belonging to 13 families of 19 genera with 78 understories were surveyed. Finally, nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination with associated Monte Carlo permutation tests was performed to explore the patterns of variation in vegetation distribution explained by the environmental variables. Four community types were identified in different altitudinal and microclimatic thickets that significantly varied in species composition. The soil physical properties, i.e. sand and clay, forming an amalgam with chemical properties, i.e. N +1 and K +1 concentrations, were the most influential variables responsible for distribution of Punica granatum and associated species and compositional variation in the subtropical dry temperate areas of Pakistan. The present study will help in the understanding of conservation and management of this ecologically and commercially important species and will provide baseline information for other forests species growing in the area.