Department of Biotechnology

Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) is a private university located in&nbsp;Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 1984, as Vellore Engineering College, the institution offers 20 undergraduate, 34 postgraduate, four integrated and four research programs. It has campuses in Vellore, Amravati, Bhopal and Chennai.

VIT is one of the top ranked private universities in India according to NIRF, THE and QS Rankings.&nbsp;Govt. of India has recognized&nbsp;VIT, Vellore as an&nbsp;Institution of Eminence. This has allowed VIT to take independent quality initiatives and move up in world ranking.

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VIT University

VIT School for Agricultural Innovations and Advanced Learning

The microsporidian parasite Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP) causes a significant negative impact in shrimp aquaculture. A diagnostic procedure for detecting EHP in shrimp was developed, but transportation of the infected shrimp samples from the farm / hatcheries to the laboratory is burdensome and preservation of the tissues is problematic. Here, we developed a simple method of transporting nucleic acid without preservatives using the Flinders Technology Associates filter card (FTA matrix card; Whatman). DNA can be stored and extracted without the need for centrifugation and hazardous chemicals. EHP infected shrimp homogenate was spotted on a FTA matrix card and stored at room temperature. Storage stability was confirmed by analysis at different time points and we efficiently recovered DNA up to 6 months post spotting. The recovery efficiency of FTA-DNA was compared with the existing DNA extraction methods DNeasy® Blood & Tissue kit method and Guanidine hydrochloride method. The efficiency of extraction and sensitivity of the DNA in the FTA card confirmed that recovery of EHP-DNA from the FTA matrix was superior to with other methods. © 2019 Elsevier Inc.

VIT Unitversity

Vellore Campus

Department of Integrative Biology

School of Bio Sciences and Technology

Journal of Invertebrate Pathology

A simple filter paper-based method for transporting and storing Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei DNA from infected Litopenaeus vannamei tissues

Rice is a staple food predominantly consumed by more than half of the global population. Water deficit is a crucial threat to produce rice globally. Prevailing water-saving techniques for rice can reduce water inputs but are not widely adopted due to the high yield penalty. Partial root-zone irrigation (PRI) is an innovative water-saving technique that allows simultaneous wet and dry areas within the root zone. We hypothesized that optimized PRI improves the water use and reduces the yield penalty of rice. A split root experiment was conducted on rice grown in pots with six defined PRI treatments, that is, PRI1, PRI2, PRI3, PRI4, PRI5, and PRI6. Half of the root system was wetted and alternated between halves with one- (PRI1), two- (PRI2), three- (PRI3), four-(PRI4), five- (PRI5), and six- (PRI6) day intervals. Conventionally irrigated rice plants where the whole root zone of rice was wetted and grown in the nonsplit pot were maintained and considered as control. Control and PRI treatments were irrigated based on 100% potential evapotranspiration demand (ETc). In particular, one PRI treatment (PRI3) showed a remarkable increase in active roots and leaf photosynthesis (PN) by wet and dry cycles within the root zone. Distinctive shoot responses of rice under PRI indicated enriched physiological responses for superior water productivity. The third-day-interval partial root-zone irrigation (PRI3) and conventional irrigation had similar leaf water potential (Ψleaf ), while PRI3 had higher grain yield than conventional treatment and higher root surface area that may have compensated for the moderate level of stress in PRI. The finding that PRI scheduled at three-day intervals (PRI3) was superior to conventional irrigation for a single rice plant is promising and needs to be tested and adapted to field conditions. © 2020 Theivasigamani Parthasarathi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

World University root node

Fulltext

International Journal of Agronomy

Preliminary investigation on crop growth, physiology, and yield of rice under partial root-zone irrigation

Groundwater is a vital source of freshwater in both urban and rural regions of the world. However, its injudicious abstraction and rapidly increasing contamination are posing a severe threat for sustainable water supply worldwide. Geographical Information System (GIS)-based groundwater quality evaluation using Groundwater Quality Index (GQI) has been proved to be a cost-effective tool for assessing groundwater quality and its variability at a larger scale. However, the conventional GQI approach is unable to deal with uncertainties involved in the assessment of environmental problems. To overcome this limitation, a novel hybrid framework integrating Fuzzy Logic with the GIS-based GQI is proposed in this study for assessing groundwater quality and its spatial variability. The proposed hybrid framework is demonstrated through a case study in a hard-rock terrain of Southern India using ten prominent groundwater-quality parameters measured during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. Two conventional GIS-based GQI models GQI-10 (using all the ten groundwater-quality parameters) and GQI-7 (using seven ‘concerned/critical’ groundwater-quality parameters) as well as hybrid Fuzzy-GIS-based GQI (FGQI) models (using seven critical parameters) were developed for the two seasons and the results were compared. The Trapezoidal membership functions classified the model input parameters into ‘desirable’, ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’ classes based on the experts’ knowledge and water quality standards for drinking purposes. The concentrations of Ca2+, Mg2+, and SO42− in groundwater were found within the WHO desirable limits for drinking water throughout the year, while the concentrations of seven parameters (TDS, NO3−-N, Na+, Cl−, K+, F− and Hardness) exceed their permissible limits during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. A comparative evaluation of GQI models revealed that the FGQI model predicts groundwater quality better than the conventional GQI-10 and GQI-7 models. GQI modeling results suggest that the groundwater of most of eastern and southern parts (∼60% in pre-monsoon season; ∼90% in post-monsoon season) of the study area is unsuitable for drinking. Further, the groundwater quality deteriorates during post-monsoon seasons compared to pre-monsoon seasons, which indicates an increased influx of contaminants from different industries, mining areas, waste disposal sites and agricultural fields during monsoon seasons. This finding calls for the strict enforcement of regulations for proper handling of effluents from various contamination sources in the study area. It is concluded that the fuzzy logic-based decision-making approach (FGQI) is more reliable and pragmatic for groundwater-quality assessment and analysis at a larger scale. It can serve as a useful tool for the water planners and decision makers in efficiently monitoring and managing groundwater quality at watershed or basin scales. © 2020 The Author(s)

Water Research

Assessing groundwater quality for drinking water supply using hybrid fuzzy-GIS-based water quality index

Ischemic heart disease (IHD), a severe condition of myocardium facing impediment in the supply of basic needs for cellular metabolism is caused by atherosclerosis. Though statin drugs could control the use of surgery on IHD patients, the complete rehabilitation or prophylaxis can be achieved through herbal-based medicines viz. either in the form of crude extract or pure phytocompounds. In the present study, pretreatment with leaf extract of Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. was investigated for cardioprotective activity—in vitro by mitigating H2O2-induced oxidative stress. Analysis such as estimation of antioxidants, lipid peroxidation, and DNA fragmentation assay revealed significant protective effect of plant extract on cardiomyocytes. Reactive oxygen species detection was done by using 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescein diacetate, apoptosis detection with Acridine Orange/Ethidium Bromide and nuclear damage detection by diamidino-2-phenylindole which confirmed the protective effect of N. nucifera extract. In addition, gene expression studies of apoptotic regulatory genes (Bcl2 and Cas-9) resulted in significant protection of nucifera extract pretreated and maintained cells. To conclude, in vitro cardioprotective activity of N. nucifera against H2O2 induced oxidative stress was achieved at the concentration of 50 µg/ml. Therefore, major phytocompounds present in extract could be beneficial in managing cardiac complications in the future. © 2019, Springer Nature B.V.

Molecular Biology Reports

Protective effect of Nelumbo nucifera (Gaertn.) against H2O2-induced oxidative stress on H9c2 cardiomyocytes

Synthesis of hydrazine hydrate assisted manganese doped zinc selenides by hydrothermal technique led to the formation of good quality nanospheres which are controlled by Ostwald ripening process. Structural studies using XRD showed the incorporation of manganese in zinc selenide matrix with their crystallite sizes ranging between 10 and 15 nm, which corroborate with the TEM measurements. Dominant emission (517 nm) corresponds to the near band edge emission as observed from photoluminescence spectra. Presence of impurities and defects were identified from various other emissions as well as from the bandgap variation obtained from reflectance spectra. The third order nonlinearity of manganese doped zinc selenide nanoparticles were calculated by the standard Z-scan technique using 532 nm CW DPSS and nanopulsed Nd:YAG laser. Mn doped ZnSe nanoparticles which exhibits near resonant excited state absorption were found to be an ideal candidate to be exploited as optical limiters in protecting optical components from high intense laser pulses. Further, lower onset optical limiting threshold under pulsed laser excitation of manganese doped zinc selenides (2.92 × 1012 Wm−2) compared to pure zinc selenide (4.98 × 1012 Wm−2) confirms that doping of Mn in ZnSe can yield efficient energy absorbing optical limiters. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.

Physics

School of Advanced Sciences

Chennai Campus

Optical Materials

Investigations on the structural, morphological, linear and third order nonlinear optical properties of manganese doped zinc selenide nanoparticles for optical limiting application

Likert scale is the most widely used psychometric scale for obtaining feedback. The major disadvantage of Likert scale is information distortion and information loss problem that arise due to its ordinal nature and closed format. Real-world responses are mostly inconsistent, imprecise and indeterminate depending on the customers’ emotions. To capture the responses realistically, the concept of neutrosophy (study of neutralities and indeterminacy) is used. Indeterminate Likert scale based on neutrosophy is introduced in this paper. Clustering according to customer feedback is an effective way of classifying customers and targeting them accordingly. Clustering algorithm for feedback obtained using indeterminate Likert scaling is proposed in this paper. While dealing real-world scenarios, indeterminate Likert scaling is better in capturing the responses accurately. © 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Department of Database Systems

School of Computer Science and Engineering

Soft Computing

Indeterminate Likert scale: feedback based on neutrosophy, its distance measures and clustering algorithm

Plants optimize water use and carbon assimilation via transient regulation of stomata resistance and by limiting hydraulic conductivity in a long-term response of xylem anatomy. We postulated that without effective hydraulic regulation plants would permanently restrain water loss and photosynthetic productivity under salt stress conditions. We compared wild-type tomatoes to a transgenic type (TT) with impaired stomatal control. Gas exchange activity, biomass, starch content, leaf area and root traits, mineral composition and main stems xylem anatomy and hydraulic conductivity were analyzed in plants exposed to salinities of 1 and 4 dS m−1 over 60 days. As the xylem cannot easily readjust to different environmental conditions, shifts in its anatomy and the permanent effect on plant hydraulic conductivity kept transpiration at lower levels under unstressed conditions and maintained it under salt-stress, while sustaining higher but inefficient assimilation rates, leading to starch accumulation and decreased plant biomass, leaf and root area and root length. Narrow conduits in unstressed TT plants were related to permanent restrain of hydraulic conductivity and plant transpiration. Under salinity, TT plants followed the atmospheric water demand, sustained similar transpiration rate from unstressed to salt-stressed conditions and possibly maintained hydraulic integrity, due to likely impaired hydraulic regulation, wider conduits and higher hydraulic conductivity. The accumulation of salts and starch in the TT plants was a strong evidence of salinity tolerance via osmotic regulation, also thought to help to maintain the assimilation rates and transpiration flux under salinity, although it was not translated into higher growth. © 2020 Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society

Physiologia Plantarum

Wide vessels sustain marginal transpiration flux and do not optimize inefficient gas exchange activity under impaired hydraulic control and salinity

In the present study, red algae Portieria hornemannii was scrutinized for the productive synthesis of silver nanoparticles. These biosynthesized nanoparticles were characterized by visible color change and ultraviolet visible spectrophotometry that indicated the formation of nanoparticles at the absorbance of 418 nm. Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy, X-ray Diffraction analysis was further carried out to study the functional groups and crystalline nature of the substance. Scanning electron microscopy and Transmission electron microscopy exposed the shape of the silver nanoparticles, which was found to be spherical. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy confirmed the presence of the metal silver. Stability of nanoparticles was analyzed using Zeta potential. The synthesized nanoparticles were found to be active against the fish pathogens Vibrio harveyii, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio alginolyticus and Vibrio anguillarum. The highest activity was found against the pathogens V. harveyii and V. parahaemolyticus. We have established an environmental friendly synthesis of Silver nanoparticles which can be used as an alternative to commercially available antibiotics in the treatment of fish diseases.

Microbial Pathogenesis

Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using red algae Portieria hornemannii and its antibacterial activity against fish pathogens

The present study was conducted to develop finger millet and oats based functional beverage. The nutricereals were ground into coarse flour and blended in various proportions (90:10–50:50) to prepare the drink. The functional drink, optimized using response surface methodology, was prepared using malt-drink (diluted formulation of finger millet: oat in the ratio 60:40) and double toned milk (40:60–60:40). The final optimized product was found to be rich in dietary fibers (1.23%) viz. β-glucan (101.33 mg/100 mL), and the antioxidants like total polyphenols (52.33 mg/100 mL). The drink was low in fat (1.26%), cholesterol (3.10 mg/100 mL), and lactose (1.75%). Sensory acceptability of the selected beverage (7.21) was at par with the sweetened cattle milk (7.52) on a 9-point hedonic scale. The overall cost of ready to serve drink was INR 10 (serving size 200 mL), ensuring the economic feasibility of the drink. Practical applications: Finger millet is a rich source of calcium, iron and zinc; and oats are rich in beta-glucan. Incorporation of finger millet and oats improve the overall functional properties of milk. The complementation of the finger millet with oats can further enhance the physical as well as the functional properties of the milk. The dietary fiber content of the nutricereal based beverage was also increased, which makes it a potential prebiotic. The drink also provides an improved way for the introduction of millets in futuristic food products. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.