Calcium Deficiency Diagnosis in Maize Leaves Using Imaging Methods Based on Texture Analysis

The effects of change in the concentration of Ca++ on myocardial contractility depressed by thiamylal and halothane were studied in isolated dog heart muscle. The concentration of Ca++ in the bathing medium was increased stepwise from 1.9 to 20.9 mM. An increase in Ca++ concentration resulted in an increase both in net-shortening (delta1) and in maximum velocity of shortening at 0.4 g preload (V'max) which reached the maximum values at 11.4mM of Ca++. A further increase in Ca++ concentration rather decreased delta1 and V'max. The concentration-response relation curves in the presence of thiamylal (3.3 mg%) shifted to the right almost parallel to the control curve, with the peaks at 15.2 mM of Ca++. The result indicates that the depression of myocardial contractility produced by thiamylal is counteracted competitively by Ca++. However, the curves in the presence of halothane (5.0 +/- 0.4 mg%) were kept lower than those of the control, with the peaks at 7.6 mM of Ca++. The result shows that the counteraction of Ca++ to the depression of myocardial contractility was limited in the presence of halothane. A similar tendency was observed in maximum force of isometric contraction (Fm). Moreover, in the presence of halothane, the administration of higher concentrations of Ca++ almost always accompanied "after-contraction". From the result obtained and the literature concerned it was suggested that the mechanism for producing the depression of myocardial contractility might be different between thiamylal and halothane in relation to Ca++ movements at the Ca++ storage sites within the myocardium.

The use of technological tools, in the food industry, has allowed a quick and reliable identification and measurement of the sensory characteristics of food matrices is of great importance, since they emulate the functioning of the five senses (smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing). Therefore, industry and academia have been conducting research focused on developing and using these instruments which is evidenced in various studies that have been reported in the scientific literature. In this review, several of these technological tools are documented, such as the e-nose, e-tongue, colorimeter, artificial vision systems, and instruments that allow texture measurement (texture analyzer, electromyography, others). These allow us to carry out processes of analysis, review, and evaluation of food to determine essential characteristics such as quality, composition, maturity, authenticity, and origin. The determination of these characteristics allows the standardization of food matrices, achieving the improvement of existing foods and encouraging the development of new products that satisfy the sensory experiences of the consumer, driving growth in the food sector. However, the tools discussed have some limitations such as acquisition cost, calibration and maintenance cost, and in some cases, they are designed to work with a specific food matrix.

Tipburn (calcium (Ca) deficiency disorder) is a major problem in the production of lisianthus cultivars. However, few studies have investigated the influence of different Ca concentrations in nutrient solution on tipburn incidence and Ca acquisition and distribution. Thus, it remains unclear why some cultivars exhibit tipburn under high Ca concentrations. To address this, we used three lisianthus cultivars ‘Azuma-no-Kaori’ (AK), ‘Celeb Wine’ (CW), and ‘Voyage Yellow’ (VY) and compared tipburn incidence and Ca acquisition and distribution under different Ca concentrations in a nutrient solution (low (40 ppm), moderate (80 ppm), and high (120 ppm) Ca). Tipburn severity and incidence in AK and VY significantly decreased with increasing nutritional Ca concentrations; the Ca concentrations in each organ and Ca acquisition competence (RGRCa) increased at higher nutritional Ca concentrations. In contrast, tipburn incidence in CW was 100% for all treatments. In CW, Ca acquisition competence and Ca concentrations in most organs increased with increasing nutritional Ca concentrations, but the Ca concentrations in the tips of the upper leaves did not differ significantly between treatments. Thus, our results suggest that the cause of tipburn under sufficient Ca conditions is an inability of the plant to distribute Ca to the tips of its upper leaves.

Abiotic factors in nutrient solutions (NSs), such as salinity and high electrical conductivity (EC), may adversely alter plant growth and crop performance. However, there are medicinal/aromatic plants which can not only withstand these adverse conditions, but which can also increase their productivity or even enhance their quality in such conditions. As fresh water sources suitable for irrigation are becoming more and more limited, the use of low-quality water sources and hydroponic growing systems have been suggested as the main alternatives. Towards that direction, this study aims to evaluate the effect of high EC levels in NSs on geranium (Pelargonium graveolens L’Hér.) and common verbena (Verbena officinallis L.) plants cultivated in a soilless (perlite) hydroponics system. Plants were irrigated with a full nutrient solution of EC 2.1 dS m−1 and pH 5.8 until they reached a uniform size. Then, three treatments were applied, namely: (a) a control treatment with an EC of 2.1 dS m−1 in the NS, (b) a high-salinity NS created by adding 75 mM of NaCl (EC under 8.5 dS m−1) and (c) a concentrated NS with an EC of 8.5 dS m−1. In pelargonium, high salinity decreased the total phenolic and total flavonoid contents; antioxidant capacity; N, K, Mg and P content; as well as chlorophyll fluorescence, compared to the control treatment. On the other hand, increased salinity levels increased the Na and Ca content and stomatal resistance. In common verbena, salinity decreased total phenolic content and chlorophyll fluorescence but increased total flavonoid content; antioxidants; leaf K, P, Na, Cu and Zn content; and stomatal resistance, compared to the control. In both species, high EC did not affect polyphenols, flavonoids or antioxidants, whereas it increased stomatal resistance and nutrient accumulation in the leaves, and decreased chlorophyll fluorescence compared to the control treatment. Damage indices, indicated by lipid peroxidation, hydrogen peroxide production and the elevation of enzymes’ antioxidant activities, were evidenced in both saline- and high-EC-treated plants. In conclusion, despite having the same EC levels in the nutrient solution, it seems that ionic stress caused by high mineral concentrations in the nutrient solution had less severe effects on the tested plants than the relevant osmotic stress caused by high salinity due to the addition of NaCl in the nutrient solution.

Über den Oxalathaushalt von Salicornia europaea L. unter dem Einfluß variierter Erdalkalisalz-Gaben

Artificial Intelligent Systems are increasingly used to support early diagnosis of multiple relevant diseases. The spread of these systems is boosted by the application of machine learning techniques on datasets (also in the form of videos and images) obtained from different information sources. A key role is played by artificial vision systems that are in charge of reasoning on data acquired from different devices, including smartphones. The facility to disseminate and share information let to the globalization of medical protocols previously used just in some world's areas. This is the case of tongue inspection, widely used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to perform a diagnosis, which allows physicians to obtain useful indications on the state of internal organs by observing the color and the consistency of patient's tongue. The current interest in tongue's image analysis is also motivated by the possibility of performing a first self-analysis on a possible disease suggesting further medical investigation. The paper is a non-exhaustive overview of the features most frequently used in artificial vision systems contextualized to tongue analysis. It highlights shortcomings in some of the existing studies and provides insights for future research. Our work aims to provide a unifying view that can support the researchers working on Tongue Colored Image Analysis.

In order to study the Mn nutrition ofbidi tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum L. aromatic strain 2-1) when it is supplied with nutrient solutions containing different ratios of Mn with Fe, P, K and Ca, a sand-culture experiment was carried out in four different series viz. Fe-Mn, K-Mn, P-Mn and Ca-Mn. No characteristic deficiency symptoms except general loss of green colour and diminished growth were observed at 0.1 ppm Mn in the nutrient solution. Toxicity was observed when Mn in the nutrient solution was 100 ppm and severity of the symptoms decreased with increase in Fe-Mn or K-Mn ratios, but it increased when P-Mn ratio increased while in Ca-Mn series it first decreased and then increased at still higher concentration of Ca on account of chloride ion effect as CaCl2 had to be added to bring about 500 ppm concentration of Ca necessary for the treatment. No symptoms of deficiency or toxicity were observed when Mn in nutrient solution varied from 1 to 10 ppm and Fe-Mn ratio for the leaf varied from 0.4 to 6.1 and its Mn content varied from 190 to 1575 ppm. Slight loss of green colour and plant vigour appeared when Fe-Mn ratio for the leaf was higher than 12.8 even though the Mn content was as high as 90 ppm. Toxic effect due to excessive Mn was felt when Fe-Mn ratio was 0.35 or less and leaf content 1875 ppm or more. Nicotine content was inversely related to the intensity of Mn-toxicity.

In this study, the effects of boron (B) and calcium (Ca) supply on Ca fractionation in suspension cells and different tissues of rape (Brassica napus L.) plants of two cultivars with different B efficiency were studied, with a purpose to elucidate the mechanism by which B affects Ca concentration in plants. As Ca supply increased in nutrient solution or culture medium, the relatively easily extractable Ca fractions, that is H2O and 80% ethanol extractable Ca in leaves, 1 mol L−1 NaCl extractable Ca in upper leaves, roots and suspension‐cell were significantly increased. While the recalcitrant Ca fractions extracted by 2% acetic acid, 0.6 mol L−1 HCl and Ca in the residue were not affected by Ca supply. Increasing B supply in nutrient solution or culture media significantly reduced 1 mol L−1NaCl extracted Ca in suspension cell and roots of both cultivars, which were most likely related to the alteration of cell wall metabolism. Calcium extracted by 2% acetic acid, 0.6 mol L−1 HCl and Ca in residue in suspension‐cell and roots of B inefficient cultivar Bakow were easily improved by B deficiency as compared to that of B efficient cultivar Tezao16. Increasing of these relative recalcitrant Ca fractions was related to the different response of cultivars to the B deficiency, which may reflected different extent that Ca deposited in the two cultivars due to impaired membrane integrity under B deficiency. The effects of B on Ca concentration in lower and upper leaves of the two cultivars were quite different and were the integrated effects of B on Ca metabolism, Ca transport in plants and growth of certain organ. Increasing B supply increased total Ca concentration in upper leaves of Bakow and reduced that of Tezao16, which might relate to the different adaptability of the two cultivars to comparatively higher B supply.

Plant diseases pose serious problems for the agriculture industry, resulting in lower crop yields and financial losses. The creation of such an application is extremely important for agriculture since it provides a preemptive response to one of the industry's biggest problems, which is plant diseases. The capacity to quickly and reliably identify diseases can make a big impact in agriculture, where crop health directly affects productivity and economic stability. As a result, we suggest a method that uses an image of a plant to find whether it is well or ill. The goal of the paper is to use leaf image data to categorize and forecast the type of disease. Our proposed solution uses methods like texture analysis, which groups leaf images with a specific disease or those that are healthy by using the Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM). We specifically extract contrast, correlation, homogeneity, and energy while grouping and classifying the user-provided image. Using unsupervised techniques like K-Means Clustering, we were able to classify the leaf images from the data into four groups such as Alternaria alternata, Anthracnose, Bacterial Blight, and Healthy. Finally, we use supervised techniques such as Support Vector Machine (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbors to classify the new image into these groups. We achieved 90.04% accuracy, that is the result of our implementation.

Texture analysis in liver of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) sub-chronically exposed to perfluorooctanoic acid

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of chloride (Cl) and reduced forms of nitrogen (N) on the nitrate (NO3), total N, and Cl concentrations in onion (Allium cepa L.) plants using a non‐recirculating nutrient film growing system. The reference treatment was a nutrient solution containing 19 mM NO3 and 1.25 mM ammonium (NH4). The results from this treatment were compared with that obtained using mixed amino acid, urea, and glycine treatments with or without additional Cl (10 mM) in which 20% of the NO3 in the reference treatment was substituted with one of these reduced forms of N. Fresh and dry weights of the onion plants were not affected by the treatments. The NO3 content was considerably lower in the mixed amino acid treatment, being 4236 mg NO3/kg FW as compared to either the reference, urea, or glycine treatments. The NO3 contents of the plants in these treatments were 5393, 5339, and 5261 mg NO3/kg FW, respectively. The presence of Cl in the nutrient solution also reduced th...

The degradation in quality of stereoscopic image was evaluated subjectively as part of an effort to develop a method for evaluating the quality of coded stereoscopic color images. The mean opinion score was analyzed to determine the effect of the attentive eye from the viewpoint of stereoscopic vision. The result of an evaluation experiment shows that the effect of the attentive eye was not significant for coded stereoscopic image. Moreover, the overall quality of the stereoscopic image was degraded when the qualities of the left and right images differed. This means that the overall quality of the coded stereoscopic image was not evaluated by the average value of qualities of the right image and the left image. Finally, the overall quality of the coded stereoscopic image was evaluated synthetically both of the block noise of the background portion which has no disparity information and the distortion of the stereoscopic edge portion of the object.

Response of four olive ( Olea europaea L.) cultivars to six B concentrations: Growth performance, nutrient status and gas exchange parameters

Calcium deficiency provoked by the application of different forms and concentrations of Ca 2+ to soil-less cultivated muskmelons

The overall objective of this research is to develop plant genotypes for better adaptation to acid soil stress factors, such as Al toxicity in subsoils, which cannot be economically corrected by conventional means. The specific objective of the work reported here was to determine the range of A1 tolerance available within the sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) species.Thirteen sunflower genotypes were grown for 23 days in greenhouse pots (1.82 kg) of fertilized, acid, Al‐toxic Bladen soil treated either with no lime or with 3,000 ppm CaCO3. With vegetative growth as an index, the genotypes differed widely in tolerance to the acid soil. For example, on the unlimed soil (pH 4.1) the top yield of ‘CM‐2,’ ‘Manchurian,’ ‘Greystripe,’ ‘Peredovik,’ and ‘Romania HS‐52’ were 42, 38, 27, 23, and 11%, respectively, of those on the limed soil (pH 5.5). Corresponding relative root yields (no lime/lime %) were 69, 55, 50, 29, and 7%. The differential Bladen soil tolerance of the Manchurian and Romania HS‐52 genotypes was confirmed in three additional experiments.The Manchurian genotype was also significantly more tolerant to excess Al in nutrient solutions than Romania HS‐52. For example, with 2, 4, and 6 ppm Al added at initial pH 4.6, the relative top yields (Al/no Al %) were 64, 28, and 28% for Manchurian and 64, 18, and 15% for Romania HS‐52. Corresponding relative root yields were 65, 28, and 21% for Manchurian and 59, 16, and 8% for Romania HS‐52.The greater acid soil sensitivity of the Romania HS‐52 genotype was associated with a chlorosis of young leaves which did not occur in Al‐toxic nutrient solutions. The stems of Bladen sensitive Romania HS‐52 plants accumulated significantly higher concentrations of Zn than did those of the more tolerant Manchurian genotypes when both were grown on the unlimited Bladen soil. Genotypic differences in Bladen soil sensitivity or susceptibility to the symptoms of leaf chlorosis were not related to any significant differences in the concentrations of Al, Ca, P, Fe, Mn, Cu, or Ni in the plant tops. Fertilization of the unlimed Bladen soil with Mo reduced the chlorosis in Bladen‐sensitive Romania HS‐52 but did not increase growth.Results of these studies suggest the possibility of breeding genotypes with greater tolerance to acid subsurface soils and the subsequent expansion of sunflower acreage into soil regions where the crop previously has not been successful.