The paper reports for the first time from India the discovery of spikelets of Setaria spp. It appears that the carbonized grains are represented by Setaria italica, S. viridis and S. verticillata or by unknown species. The material comes from the Harappan site, Surkotada in district Kutch, Gujarat and is radiocarbon dated to 1600 B.C. The identification of these carbonized spikelets is based upon comparative morphological study of ten extant species of Setaria.
SUMMARYAnalysis of a large number of fossil pollen grains of Tilia from the East Anglian Fenland, led to examination of the characters that might be employed to separate T. platyphyllos from T. cordata. Certain characters were discarded hut mesh structure and size in surface reticulation, characters since accepted by other authors, were regarded as satisfactory and made the basis for classifying fossil grains. The results indicated native British status for both species of lime from pollen-zone Vila onwards, with T. cordata much the commoner, and very high relative frequencies of Tilia pollen in zone Vila and diminution zone by zone thereafter to levels below 0.5% of total tree pollen.Whilst working in the Cambridge Botany School during the period 1956-59 upon the vegetational history of sites on the western border of the East Anglian Fenland, large numbers of fossil pollen grains of Tilia were encountered and the attempt was made to refer them to the two species that have been considered native to Britain, T. cordata Mill., and T. platyphyllos Scop. An attempt was made to use various criteria accepted at that time, but finally dependence was placed on the character, visible under the oil-immersion objective, that in the exine reticulation pattern of T. platyphyllos most of the meshes contain a central spot of the same refractive index as the reticulum itself, whereas in T. cordata the meshes of the reticulum are empty. This feature was independently recognized by Erdtman (1956), andPraglowski (1962). This feature has been subsequently elucidated by electron-microscopic investigations (Chambers and Godwin, 1961, 1971) and is a substantial part ofthe basis on which Beug (1971) and Andrew (1971) rely for separating pollen of the two species.The samples of fen peat were prepared in the usual way by heating in 10% NaOH, followed (after sieving) by ehlorination, acetolysis and mounting in glycerine jelly stained with safranin.With the exine pattern as criterion the fossil pollen was referred to T. cordata and T. platyphyllos. A few intermediates were disregarded for this purpose. Fifty grains of each were photographed, at a magnification of x 375 and all the negatives were enlarged to give prints at a uniform magnification of x 1125. Between two and six photographs were made of each grain at appropriate depths of focus. The following dimensions were then collected from the photoprints.(i) Mean diameter: from the polar view of each grain, the mean of three diameters was taken, each extending from a pore to the opposite face (Fig. ia).(ii) Pore breadth/depth ratio: as measured from side view of the pore with the grain in polar aspect (Fig. ib). 693
The radiocarbon dates covered in this list were measured during 1978. Chemical and counting procedures are as reported previously (R, 1978, v 20, p 398-404). Age calculations are based on the conventional 14C half-life (5570 yr) and on the contemporary value of 950 of the activity of NBS oxalic acid. Errors quoted correspond to lo-value which takes into account the counting statistics, the uncertainty in the half-life, and the instability of the counting system. The ages are not corrected for isotopic fractionation in nature.ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Jatropha curcas is a tropical species that has been recognized as a promising biodiesel plant. During 2018–2021, researchers at Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam, elicited information on Jatropha’s biochemical characteristics, growth performance, variability, and association studies for biometric variables using five backcross (BC4F1) hybrid clones of Jatropha with a control variety TNMC 7. In terms of seed yield, two hybrid clones, CJH 13 (1,218.60 g) and CJH 12 (1,034.40 g), outperformed the other hybrid clones. The seed oil content was higher in CJH 5 (34.19%). The seed oil content had moderate PCV (16.49%) and GCV (16.39%) values, as well as high heritability (99%) and genetic advance (33.56%) as a percentage of the mean. The number of fruits per bunch (0.845 and 0.850) and the number of bunches per branch (0.771 and 0.788) had significant positive phenotypic and genotypic correlations with seed yield, respectively. The iodine numbers, cetane numbers, and saponification values of all hybrid clones were acceptable and satisfactory and were in good compliance with Indian and international biodiesel standards.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.