The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences最新文献

{"title":"Regeneration and establishment of whole plants from kava (Piper methysticum Forster) meristems in tissue culture","authors":"Raghani Prasad, A. Tyagi, Mary B. Taylor","doi":"10.1071/SP08006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/SP08006","url":null,"abstract":"In the present study the regeneration and establishment of whole plants free from pathogenic contaminants from kava (Piper methysticum Forster) using meristems tissue culture has been established. Four treatments for initiating kava in tissue culture were evaluated for their efficiency in eliminating contaminants and optimizing recovery and growth. One of the treatments, using shoot-tip meristems resulted in 84% decontamination with 72% recovery and another, using nodal bud meristems, resulted in 80% decontamination rate with only 20% recovery. Shoot tips were found to be the ideal explants for kava tissue culture. The minimum time taken for rooting was one month on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 100 mgL-1 myo-inositol, 0.04 mgL-1 BAP, 0.02 mgL-1 NAA, 0.05 mgL-1 GA, 1.0 mgL-1 thiamine and 20 gL-1 sucrose.","PeriodicalId":148381,"journal":{"name":"The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences","volume":"65 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117004645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Incidence of root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) in Fiji: a preliminary investigation","authors":"U. Khurma, R. R. Deo, Sunil Kumar Singh","doi":"10.1071/SP08014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/SP08014","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":148381,"journal":{"name":"The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences","volume":"148 11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130040171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Genetic variation in growth traits in whitewood (Endospurmum medullosum LS Smith) in Vanuatu","authors":"Ioan Viji N. Vutilolo, A. Tyagi, L. Thomson","doi":"10.1071/SP08001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/SP08001","url":null,"abstract":"Whitewood (Endospermum medullosum LS Smith) is a very important timber tree in Vanuatu. It is relatively easy to grow and early maturing. This tree species is contributing to Vanuatu's economy in a big way in terms of employment and revenue but its stands are getting thinner due to continuous logging and lack of replanting. Therefore to establish a breeding programme, genetic variation studies were conducted on a four year-old whitewood family trial established by the Vanuatu Department of Forests under the South Pacific Regional Initiative on Forest Genetic Resources (SPRIG). A total of 97 whitewood families with seed lots collected throughout the Vanuatu were assessed using a row-column design. Characters of economic importance like tree height, diameter at breast height (dbh), wood volume and survival rate were included in this study. Mean height of four year-old trees in families in this trial ranged from 7.8 - 9.2 meters, dbh from 14.8 - 16.8 cm, volume ranged from 0.09m3 - 0.12m3 and survival rate from 70 - 88%. Ranking of the trees within and between families was based on differential weighting system for different characters. Therefore economic weight of 1 was assigned to height and 2 to dbh. All the trees in the trial were ranked but only 20 best trees in the ranking were discussed in detail with the focus on the five best trees for their utility in hybridization programme to improve whitewood provenances. Estimated volume per hectare from the best families and provenances was 166m3 and 100m3 respectively. Mean annual increment (MAI) for the fastest growing family and provenances were 29.2 and 25.0m3 ha-1 yr-1 respectively. Analysis of variance showed highly significant differences (P<0.001) in height, dbh, volume, survival rate and growth of families at 4 years of age. The nested analysis of variance for families and provenances also indicated highly significant differences (P<0.001)) for height, dbh, volume and survival rate.","PeriodicalId":148381,"journal":{"name":"The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124361895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Genotypic divergence analysis for stay green characters in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell)","authors":"S. Ahlawat, A. Chhabra, R. K. Behl, S. Bisht","doi":"10.1071/SP08012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/SP08012","url":null,"abstract":"An experiment was conducted to study the genotypic divergence for stay green traits along with different morphophysiological characters under normal and late sown conditions. Genotypic divergence was carried out according to Mahalanobis D 2 statistics. The 36 genotypes were grouped into 9 clusters under normal sown and 6 clusters under late sown conditions revealing the presence of wide range of genotypic variation. Inter cluster D 2 values ranged from 21.9 (between Clusters V and VI) to 56.1 (between clusters VII and IX) under normal sown conditions and from 26.5 (between clusters III and IV) and 73.34 (between clusters II and V) in late sown condition. Genotypes WH147M and MLU2 (Cluster IX, normal sown and Cluster II late sown) exhibited strong stay green character. These can be used to transfer this trait into fast growing, high yielding and widely adapted genotypes like Raj 3765 to develop wheat varieties for various agro ecological conditions.","PeriodicalId":148381,"journal":{"name":"The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115195491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ecology and reproduction of the endangered Fijian Ground Frog Platymantis vitianus – Fiji Islands","authors":"E. Narayan, K. Christi, C. Morley","doi":"10.1071/SP08004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/SP08004","url":null,"abstract":"This paper reports on the terrestrial nesting behaviour and biometrics of eggs and froglets of the Fijian ground frog, Platymantis vitianus observed on Viwa Island (900m east of the mainland Vitilevu, Fiji Islands), including day-time choices of micro-habitats and variations in capture rates in the sex-age classes of adults and metamorphs with respect to in-situ rainfall conditions. More adult males and gravid females were captured during the wet months of November until January. Metamorphs were more common subsequent to these months. Furthermore, egg masses of P. vitianus were discovered on Viwa Island for the first time, two nests were located underneath rotten logs during high rainfall month of December, 2007. It is highly probable that the reproductive cycle of P. vitianus is continuous while courtship and nesting events are influenced by the variable and higher rainfall months on Viwa Island.","PeriodicalId":148381,"journal":{"name":"The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131317247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Initial results on solar flare effect on 24.8 kHz subionospheric propagation over long path to Suva","authors":"Abhikesh Kumar, Sushi I Kumar","doi":"10.1071/SP08013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/SP08013","url":null,"abstract":"Solar flares are explosions on the surface of the sun that release a large amount of electromagnetic energy in the form of radio waves at the long wavelength end, through optical emission to X-rays at the short wavelength end. It has long been known that the solar flares, particularly associated with X-rays having wavelengths typically of tenths of nm, penetrate the lower region of the ionosphere (D-region) and increase the electron density via extra ionization (Mitra 1974). The normal unperturbed daytime D-region from which Very Low Frequency (VLF) signals are reflected is maintained mainly by Lyman-α radiation (121.6 nm) from the sun that partially ionizes the minor neutral constituent nitric oxide (at height around 70 km). Under normal conditions, the solar X-ray flux is too small to be a significant source for ionizing the D-region. However, when solar flare occurs, the X-ray flux increases significantly which with wavelengths below 1 nm penetrates down to the D-region and markedly increases the ionization of the neutral constituents particularly nitrogen and oxygen hence increases the electron density. The lower ionosphere can be characterized as the “Wait ionosphere” defined by a reference height H′in km and the exponential sharpness factor in km-1 (Wait and Spies 1964). Researchers have reported changes in the ionospheric parameters, H' and β as a function of solar X-ray flux (Thomson et al. 2004, 2005; Grubor et al. 2005; Zigman et al. 2007). The increase in the D-region electron density can produce significant perturbations in the phase and the amplitude of VLF signals propagating in the Earthionosphere waveguide.","PeriodicalId":148381,"journal":{"name":"The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125235340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Isolation and properties of starch from some local cultivars of cassava and taro in Fiji","authors":"Ashveen Nand, R. Charan, D. Rohindra, J. R. Khurma","doi":"10.1071/SP08007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/SP08007","url":null,"abstract":"Sedimentation method was used for isolating starch from local cassava (Manihot esculenta) and two types of taro (Colocasia esculentum var. esculenta), one having pink corms and the other having white corms. The extracted starches were characterized for pH, moisture content, ash content, paste clarity and gelatinization temperatures. Cassava starch was found to have a higher pH and moisture content compared to taro starches while taro starches had a higher ash content. Optical microscopy revealed that taro starches have smaller granule size than cassava starch. Cassava starch showed higher paste clarity than taro starches. The paste clarity of all the starches was found to be pH dependent.","PeriodicalId":148381,"journal":{"name":"The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124259640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nutrient characterisation and in vitro digestibility of grass and legume/browse species - based diets for beef cattle in Vanuatu","authors":"E. M. Aregheore, T. A. Steglar, J. Ng'ambi","doi":"10.1071/SP06003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/SP06003","url":null,"abstract":"Some grasses, Buffalo (Panicum Coloratum), Guinea (Panicum maximum), Setaria (Setaria sphacelata), Embu (Panicum maxum), Elephant (Pennisetum Purpureum), Koronivia (Brachiaria humidicola), and Signal (Brachiaria decumben); and legumes/browses Gliricidia sepium, Glycine wightii, Green desmodium and Leucaena leucocephala grazed by beef cattle in Vanuatu were characterized for crude protein (CP), fibre fractions, macro and micro minerals (phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, potassium, copper, iron, manganese and zinc) and energy. Also in vitro digestibility study was carried out to predict the utilization of available nutrients. Data obtained were discussed in light of whether available nutrients would satisfy requirements of grazing beef cattle of different age and physiological function. The CP of grass and legume/browse species ranged from 7.9-17.8% and 10.5-23.9% respectively. L. leucocephala has a higher CP while Green leaf desmodium had the lowest CP content. DM and NDF were higher (P 0.05) from each other, however NDFD and ADFD were higher (P<0.05) in the grasses than in the legumes/browses. In conclusion, the results of these analyses and the in vitro digestibility study have provided information on nutrients that are adequate and/or inadequate in the grass and legume/browse species components grazed to sustain beef cattle production in Vanuatu. The very low concentration of Cu in both the grass and legume/browse species therefore demonstrates the need to supplement grazing beef cattle with mineral lick blocks to overcome its deficiency.","PeriodicalId":148381,"journal":{"name":"The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences","volume":"57 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2006-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121966758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Wind regime in the proximity of the 20 kW experimental turbine site at Nabua, Fiji","authors":"Ajal Kumar, R. Deo","doi":"10.1071/SP06008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/SP06008","url":null,"abstract":"Renewable energy generated as much electric power worldwide in 2005 as one-fifth of the worlds nuclear power plants excluding large hydropower that itself accounts to 16% of world’s electricity (REN 21 2005). Renewable energy is gaining prominence in providing the world’s primary energy needs. Solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal are considered as the premier renewable energy resources that are in direct competition with the conventional fuels. The fastest growing technology has been the photovoltaic (grid connected), however, wind power is steadily growing with an estimated existing capacity of 56 GW by the end of 2005 (REN21 2005). Wind power has been used for many centuries to provide mechanical and electrical power for a variety of uses. Since the beginning of the last century, however, the most important use has been the generation of electricity for supply to rural and remote areas, as well as providing energy into the electrical distribution system, i.e. the national grid. World wind energy capacity has doubled every three years since 1990 and each doubling has been accompanied by a 15% reduction in the price of wind turbines (Milbrow 2005). Turbine size has increased from 600 - 800 kW to 1 - 3 MW with blade diameters from 60 -100 m and the energy costs (c/kWh) has declined by at least 18% and is now half those of 1990. The practical size of a wind turbine is determined by the assessment of annual electrical load, site conditions, wind resource, installed cost, and utility rate (Lodge 2005).The major countries that utilize wind power for electricity generation include the USA, Spain, Germany, India, Britain, Sweden, Netherlands, China, and Denmark. However, Russia, South Africa, Brazil, and Mexico are in the transitional stage to develop large-scale commercial markets. The basic theory of the extraction of energy from a wind turbine is found in any standard textbook on wind energy. The power in the wind varies as the cube of the wind speed. If an obstacle is placed in the path of the wind, the wind’s kinetic energy does work on the obstacle and wind energy is converted to other forms, including the kinetic energy of rotating parts. Thus a turbine or rotor placed in the path of wind, with wind speed,","PeriodicalId":148381,"journal":{"name":"The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2006-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114840349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mapping the cloud-to-ground lightning occurrence in Fiji","authors":"V. Ramachandran, A. Kishore, Sushi I Kumar","doi":"10.1071/SP06005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/SP06005","url":null,"abstract":"Using the Time Of Group Arrival (TOGA) of sferics two year (Jan2003-Dec2004) annual average of about 3,200 and 1,200 cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes were recorded in the two larger islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, Fiji. A two year average CG flash density showed maxima of 0.80 and 0.35 flashes/km2 per year in two islands. The diurnal variation showed peak activity between 14:00 hrs- 16:00 hrs LT and the seasonal variation showed enhanced lightning incidences during November-April. Data from Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) aboard the NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite are also presented for the same period at the two locations. Lightning in a 10 km ×10 km area was compared with total rain accumulation at a site midway in the area which shows good correlation.","PeriodicalId":148381,"journal":{"name":"The South Pacific Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2006-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114542167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}