High utility itemsets mining (HUIM) is an important sub-field of frequent itemset mining (FIM). Recently, HUIM has received much attention in the field of data mining. High utility itemsets (HUIs) have proven to be quite useful in marketing, retail marketing, cross-marketing, and e-commerce. Traditional HUIM approaches suffer from a drawback as they need a user-defined minimum utility ($ min\_util $) threshold. It is not easy for the users to set the appropriate $ min\_util $ threshold to find actionable HUIs. To target this drawback, top-k HUIM has been introduced. top-k HUIM is more suitable for supermarket managers and retailers to prepare appropriate strategies to generate higher profit. In this paper, we provide an in-depth survey of the current status of top-k HUIM approaches. The paper presents the task of top-k HUIM and its relevant definitions. It reviews the top-k HUIM approaches and presents their advantages and disadvantages. The paper also discusses the important strategies of the top-k HUIM, their variations, and research opportunities. The paper provides a detailed summary, analysis, and future directions of the top-k HUIM field.

Twelve lacustrine sediment samples from a relict lake in the Kalla Glacier valley were co-dated using AMS radiocarbon (14C) and infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating methods. In general, the radiocarbon ages of bulk organic matter were older by a minimum of 1500 years compared to (age depth) modeled luminescence ages after fading corrections. This is observed for the first time in the lake sediments of High Himalayan Crystalline zone. A combination of lipid n-alkane data, Raman spectra and geochemical proxies suggested that this was due to ancient organic carbon (OCancient) that is a mixture of pre-aged (OCpre-aged) and petrogenic (OCpetro) organic carbon within older glacial moraine debris that served as sediment source to the lake. Raman spectra suggest the presence of moderate to highly graphitized OCpetro in all the profile samples. The OCpetro contributed 0.064 ± 0.032% to the sediment and the lake stored 2.5 ± 0.7 Gg OCpetro at variable rates during the last 16 kyr, with the mean burial flux 160 kg OCpetro yr−1. This study implies (1) employing another independent dating method in addition to radiocarbon method using bulk sediment organic matter, if the carbon content is low, to observe any discrepancy, and (2) a need to investigate on the fate of OCpetro as many such small lakes become relict in this region.

Drought is a major abiotic stress worldwide limiting chickpea yield drastically. Low heritability and high genotype × environment interactions make the trait-based breeding strategy an unreliable approach. This study was planned to identify the drought-tolerant lines by evaluating yield-based selection indices in a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from an inter-specific cross between drought-tolerant genotype GPF 2 (Cicer arietinum L.) and drought-sensitive accession ILWC 292 (C. reticulatum) at two locations in India (Ludhiana and Faridkot). A total of six yield-based selection indices were calculated and significant variation was observed in the RILs and their parents for yield-based selection indices at both locations. A holistic approach across association analysis and principal component analysis identified drought tolerance index, mean productivity, geometric mean productivity and harmonic mean productivity as key selection indices, which could be used for indirect selection of drought-tolerant lines. Overall, on the basis of these approaches, a total of 15 promising RILs were identified for their use in chickpea breeding programme for developing drought-tolerant cultivars.

The interaction of dust-acoustic (DA) shock waves in a magnetized dusty plasma under the influence of nonextensively modified polarization force is investigated. The plasma model consists of negatively charged dust, Maxwellian electrons, nonextensive ions, and polarization force. In this investigation, we have derived the expression of polarization force in the presence of nonextensive ions and illustrated the head-on collision between two DA shock waves. The extended Poincaré–Lighthill–Kuo (PLK) method is employed to obtain the two-sided Korteweg–de Vries–Burgers (KdVB) equations and phase shifts of two shock waves. The trajectories and phase shifts of negative potential dust-acoustic shock waves after collision are examined. The combined effects of various physical parameters such as polarization force, nonextensivity of ions, viscosity of dust, and magnetic field strength on the phase shifts of DA shock waves have been studied. The present investigation might be useful to study the process of collision of nonlinear structures in space dusty plasma such as planetary rings where non-Maxwellian particles such as nonextensive ions, negatively charged dust, and electrons are present.

Adequate nutrition is necessary during childhood and early adolescence for adequate growth and development. Hence, the objective of the study was to assess the association between dietary intake and blood levels of minerals (calcium, iron, zinc, and selenium) and vitamins (folate, vitamin B12, vitamin A, and vitamin D) in urban school going children aged 6–16 years in India, in a multicentric cross-sectional study. Participants were enrolled from randomly selected schools in ten cities. Three-day food intake data was collected using a 24-h dietary recall method. The intake was dichotomised into adequate and inadequate. Blood samples were collected to assess levels of micronutrients. From April 2019 to February 2020, 2428 participants (50⋅2 % females) were recruited from 60 schools. Inadequate intake for calcium was in 93⋅4 % (246⋅5 ± 149⋅4 mg), iron 86⋅5 % (7⋅6 ± 3⋅0 mg), zinc 84⋅0 % (3⋅9 ± 2⋅4 mg), selenium 30⋅2 % (11⋅3 ± 9⋅7 mcg), folate 73⋅8 % (93⋅6 ± 55⋅4 mcg), vitamin B12 94⋅4 % (0⋅2 ± 0⋅4 mcg), vitamin A 96⋅0 % (101⋅7 ± 94⋅1 mcg), and vitamin D 100⋅0 % (0⋅4 ± 0⋅6 mcg). Controlling for sex and socioeconomic status, the odds of biochemical deficiency with inadequate intake for iron [AOR = 1⋅37 (95 % CI 1⋅07–1⋅76)], zinc [AOR = 5⋅14 (95 % CI 2⋅24–11⋅78)], selenium [AOR = 3⋅63 (95 % CI 2⋅70–4⋅89)], folate [AOR = 1⋅59 (95 % CI 1⋅25–2⋅03)], and vitamin B12 [AOR = 1⋅62 (95 %CI 1⋅07–2⋅45)]. Since there is a significant association between the inadequate intake and biochemical deficiencies of iron, zinc, selenium, folate, and vitamin B12, regular surveillance for adequacy of micronutrient intake must be undertaken to identify children at risk of deficiency, for timely intervention.

Distant hybridization of cereals is often impaired by fertilization barriers. Haploid induction through intergeneric crossing is well developed in wheat but has not been successful in rice due to incompatibility issues. The present study was thus undertaken to identify fertilization barriers that hinder the compatibility of the rice cultivar Punjab Rice 121 with maize and pearl millet lines as pollinators. A total of 37,357 spikelets were pollinated, yielding 494 caryopses upon supplementation with auxins. The resultant caryopses, arising from true intergeneric crosses, lacked embryos. Imaging of the pollinated pistils at different intervals indicated that intense callose depositions block the release of generative nuclei to the ovule in these wide crosses. Rice spikelets pollinated with rice pollen (cis-generic crosses) exhibited positive indicators of fertilization reaction at the micropyle. While the cis-generic crosses initiated true caryopsis formation after 24 h, no comparative reaction was observed in the intergeneric crosses. The current survey underlines that the rice female gametophyte presents a strong pre-fertilization barrier to foreign pollen. This barrier may be modulated in the future by altering genotype and auxin combinations.

Triticum monococcum L. and T. boeoticum L., diploid wild relatives of bread wheat (T. aestivum L.), possess resistance to leaf rust (also known as brown rust) caused by Puccinia triticina Eriks. Haustorium formation-based resistance mechanisms (i.e. pre-haustorial and post-haustorial resistance) to leaf rust have been studied and reported in various T. monococcum accessions. In the present study, the mechanism of leaf rust resistance in T. monococcum and T. boeoticum accessions was studied using confocal laser scanning microscopy. Components of resistance studied at a histological level against leaf rust pathotypes, a Mexican pathotype (TCB/TD) and a Swiss pathotype (97512-19), indicated different types of resistance mechanism operative in the two accessions. The resistance in T. monococcum ranged from pre-haustorial resistance against 97512-19 to post-haustorial resistance against TCB/TD. The response in T. boeoticum was post-haustorial with necrosis against the two pathotypes. Pre-haustorial resistance observed in T. monococcum could serve as a potential source of durable rust resistance in wheat breeding.

Addressing the impact of heat stress during flowering and grain filling is critical to sustaining wheat productivity to meet a steadily increasing demand from a rapidly growing world population. Crop wild progenitor species of wheat possess a wealth of genetic diversity for several biotic and abiotic stresses, and morphological traits and can serve as valuable donors. The transfer of useful variation from the diploid progenitor, Aegilops tauschii, to hexaploid wheat can be done through the generation of synthetic hexaploid wheat (SHW). The present study targeted the identification of potential primary SHWs to introduce new genetic variability for heat stress tolerance. Selected SHWs were screened for different yield-associated traits along with three advanced breeding lines and durum parents as checks for assessing terminal heat stress tolerance under timely and late sown conditions for two consecutive seasons. Heat tolerance index based on the number of productive tillers and thousand grain weight indicated that three synthetics, syn9809 (64.32, 78.80), syn14128 (50.30, 78.28) and syn14135 (58.16, 76.03), were able to endure terminal heat stress better than other SHWs as well as checks. One of these synthetics, syn14128, recorded a minimum reduction in thousand kernel weight (21%), chlorophyll content (2.56%), grain width (1.07%) despite minimum grain-filling duration (36.15 d) and has been selected as a potential candidate for introducing the terminal heat stress tolerance in wheat breeding programmes. Breeding efforts using these candidate donors will help develop lines with a higher potential to express the desired heat stress-tolerant phenotype under field conditions.

Sheath blight caused by soil borne necrotrophic fungus Rhizoctonia solani [teleomorph-Thanatephorus cucumeris (Frank) Donk.] is a major disease of rice. The disease is increasing over the year in India and cause up to 69% yield loss under favourable conditions. A total of 67 accessions of Oryza nivara were screened to identify resistance against sheath blight during 2015. Out of these, 16 accessions were found moderately resistant (MR) which were further evaluated during the year 2016 and 2017. After three years of screening, 12 of them were found to have a consistent moderate resistant reaction whereas four of the O. nivara accessions namely, IRGC81941, IRGC102463C, CR100097 and CR100110A have shown moderately susceptible to susceptible reaction against sheath blight. A correlation study revealed that different disease variables measured were significantly (P < 0.05) correlated. All the genotypes and genotype × environment interaction had a significant (P < 0.001) effect on all the disease variables. Cluster analysis showed that all the accessions were clustered into four groups which showed resistant, MR, moderately susceptible and susceptible reactions. Among all the O. nivara accessions IRGC81941A showed the maximum potential against sheath blight due to a least relative lesion height of 22.80%. None of the accession had complete resistance to the disease. The identified promising accessions such as IRGC81835, IRGC81941A, CR100008 and CR100111B can be utilized in a sheath blight resistance breeding program.

The supplementation of livestock rations with herbs containing bioactive components, such as rosmarinic acid (RA), have shown promising results as a natural feed additive in promoting growth, productive and reproductive performance, feed utilization, fertility, anti-oxidant status and immunologic indices. Furthermore, RA reportedly reduces the risks of various animal diseases and mitigates side effects of chemical and synthetic drugs. RA is a natural polyphenol present in several Lamiaceae herbs like Perilla frutescens, and RA is becoming an integral component of animal nutrition as it counters the effect of reactive oxygen species induced in the body as a consequence of different kinds of stressors. Studies have further ascertained the capability of RA to work as an anti-microbial, immunomodulatory, anti-diabetic, anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, hepato- and renal-protectant agent, as well as to have beneficial effects during skin afflictions. Additionally, RA is favored in meat industries due to enhancing the quality of meat products by reportedly improving shelf-life and imparting desirable flavor. This review describes the beneficial applications and recent findings with RA, including its natural sources, modes of action and various useful applications in safeguarding livestock health as well as important aspects of human health.

Drought is the major abiotic constraint to the rice production in the rain-fed areas across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Wild species of Oryza offer a wide spectrum of adaptive traits and can serve as potential donors of biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. At the Punjab Agricultural University, we are maintaining an active collection of 1630 accessions of wild species germplasm (AA, CC, BBCC and CCDD) of rice. These accessions were screened to assess genetic variation for drought tolerance under field conditions. Severe water stress was imposed at the late vegetative stage by withholding water initially for 25 d and then extended further to 35 d during kharif season in the years 2013–14 and 2015–16. The tolerance score for drought stress was based on the extent of leaf rolling and leaf drying. Based on the 2 years’ data, seven accessions from Oryza rufipogon, four from Oryza longistaminata and one each from Oryza officinalis and Oryza latifolia were found tolerant to drought stress. These selected accessions were further phenotype for root morphology. The average root length among the selected accessions ranges between 36 and 80 cm and the number of primary roots vary from 30 to 87 cm. The O. rufipogon accession IRGC 106433, O. longistaminata accession IRGC 92656A, O. officinalis accession IRGC 101152 and O. latifolia accession IRGC 80769 showed approximately 2–2.5 times longer root length and number than the indica rice elite cultivar PR121. The results indicated potentiality of selected wild species germplasm for conferring drought tolerance to the elite cultivars.

In this paper, we prove some value distribution results which lead to normality criteria for a family of meromorphic functions involving the sharing of a holomorphic function by more general differential polynomials generated by members of the family, and improve some recent results. In particular, the main result of this paper leads to a counterexample to the converse of Bloch’s principle.

Bacterial blight (BB) of rice caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) is a major biotic constraint of rice production in all the major irrigated/lowland rice growing regions of Asia, including Punjab and its adjoining states in India. None of the individual BB resistant Xa/xa genes is effective against Punjab pathotypes. In the present study, we have screened 1176 accessions, comprising 1007 accessions of A genome species Oryza glaberrima, O. barthii, O. nivara, O. rufipogon, O. longistaminata, O. meridionalis, O. glumaepatula and 169 accessions from ten other wild species having CC, FF, EE, BBCC and CCDD genomes against two most recently evolved Xoo pathotypes viz. PbXo-10 and PbXo-8 in Punjab state of India, for two constitutive years 2014 and 2015. Based on 2 years of data, four accessions of O. glaberrima (IRGC102206, IRGC1022445, IRGC102512 and IRGC102520) and two of the O. longistaminata accessions (IRGC92624 and IRGC101754) were identified with immune reaction against PbXo-8. For PbXo-10, O. longistaminata showed large number of accessions with complete to partial resistance followed by O. rufipogon (8), O. nivara (2), O. punctata (2) and O. officinalis (1). Two of the O. longistaminata accessions IRGC92624 and IRGC92644 from Mali were found to have resistance against both the Xoo pathotypes indicating presence of BB resistance gene other than Xa21. These can be transferred to elite cultivars of O. sativa for better management of BB.

Aberrant gene expression occurs in parthenogenetic embryos due to abnormal epigenetic modifications in the genome that probably diminish viability and enhance developmental abnormalities in these embryos. In the present study, five developmentally important genes (HPRT1, Cx43, Sox2, Mest and IGF2R) were analysed at different stages in parthenotes (haploid and diploid) and compared with similar stages in in vitro fertilized (IVF) embryos. The results indicated that in haploid parthenotes expression of HPRT1 was upregulated (P < 0.05) only at the 2–4-cell stage whereas Cx43 expression was significantly (P < 0.05) downregulated in all stages as compared with the control. However, expression of this gene was upregulated (P < 0.05) in 2–4-cell and morula stages of diploid parthenotes. Expression of Sox2 was significantly (P < 0.05) downregulated in morula stage haploid parthenotes, whereas it was upregulated (P < 0.05) in 8–16-cell stage diploid embryos. The expression of Mest was upregulated (P < 0.05) at the 2–4-cell stage of both haploid and diploid parthenotes, whereas it was downregulated in 8–16-cell stage diploid embryos as compared with control. IGF2R expression was upregulated (P < 0.05) only in morula stage haploid and diploid parthenote as compared with control. These results indicate that parthenogenetic embryos showed aberrant gene expression of developmentally important genes such as HPRT1, Cx43, Sox2, Mest and IGF2R in comparison with IVF embryos, this finding may be one of the major reasons for the poor developmental competence of parthenogenetic embryos.

The cotton–wheat production system (CWPS) occupies an important place in the agricultural economy of several South Asian countries. The instability of the CWPS has increased particularly during the post-transgenic hybrids phase mainly because of these hybrids calling for intensive crop management being cultivated under all situations, especially in resource-poor conditions leading to violent fluctuations during adverse years and thereby affecting the socio-economic status of these developing countries. A study was conducted to evaluate and quantify the effect of the two-tier intercropping of cotton and peanut with the substitution of a 25–50% recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) of cotton by farmyard manure (FYM) on productivity, profitability and nitrogen economy in the CWPS at New Delhi during 2006–08. To quantify the residual effects of previous crops and their fertility levels, a succeeding crop of wheat was grown with varying rates of nitrogen, viz. 0, 50, 100 and 150 kg ha−1. Wheat equivalent productivity was significantly more with the inclusion of peanut in the CWPS (21–26%) with a high net return (US$288) than a pure stand of cotton in the CWPS. The substitution of 25% RDN of cotton by FYM being on par with no substitution recorded a higher wheat equivalent yield, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium uptake, net return and nitrogen use efficiencies. Nitrogen economy in wheat was 22 kg ha−1 due to inclusion of peanut in the CWPS and 13 kg ha−1 due to substitution of the 25% RDN of cotton by FYM. The study suggested that for the success of the CWPS in South Asian countries, escalating prices of N fertilizers with environmental issues and the instability of transgenic hybrids can be overcome by using wider rows of cotton by peanut intercrop with the integrated use of both organic and inorganic sources of nitrogen.

In India, Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmer's Rights Act (PPV&FRA, 2001) requires the registration and protection of new and notified/extant plant varieties based on the criteria of distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) of morphological characteristics. However, these morphological traits have not been able to resolve closely related genotypes. The molecular markers can very well support the DUS testing in such cases. In the present study, therefore, 14 varieties of rice cultivated in Punjab state of India were fingerprinted using 75 simple sequence repeat (SSR) primers. Out of these, 58 primers produced polymorphic profiles, while 13 were monomorphic, 2 revealed null allele and the remaining 2 amplified only from super basmati. In a screen of 7 cultivars, 16 SSR loci produced 17 rare/unique alleles, which provided an opportunity for their unambiguous identification. Cluster analysis based on SSR data clearly distinguished the cultivars into two dist inct groups: comprising non-basmati (group I) and basmati (group II). The cluster pattern was consistent with the pedigree and breeding history of the cultivars.

Synthetic amphiploids between Triticum aestivum (AABBDD) landrace Chinese Spring (PhI) and cultivar WL711 with different accessions of Aegilops kotschyi (UUSlSl) were developed through colchicine treatment of sterile hybrids. The F1 hybrids and amphiploid plants were intermediate between the parents for plant morphology and spike characteristics. Meiotic metaphase chromosome analysis of the F1 hybrids (ABDUSl) showed the expected chromosome number (35) and very little but variable homoeologous chromosome pairing. The amphiploids (AABBDDUUSlSl), however, had variable frequency of univalents at meiotic metaphase-I. The SDS–PAGE of high molecular weight glutenin subunits of amphiploids along with the parents showed the presence and expression of all the parental genomes in the amphiploids. The amphiploids with seeds as large as that of wheat cultivars had higher grain, flag leaf and grain ash iron and zinc concentrations than the wheat parents and comparable with those of their Ae. kotschyi parents suggest that Ae. kotschyi possesses a distinctive genetic system for the micronutrient uptake, translocation and sequestration than the wheat cultivars. This could, however, be demonstrated unequivocally only with comprehensive data on biomass, grain yield and harvest index of the Aegilops donors and the synthetic amphiploids, which is not feasible due to their shattering and hard threshing. The use of amphiploids for the transfer of high iron and zinc concentrations and development of alien addition and substitution lines in wheat is in progress.

Bacterial blight (BB) of rice caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae (Xoo) is one of the major constraints to productivity in South-East Asia. The strategy of using major genes, singly or in combination, continues to be the most effective approach for BB management. Currently, more than two dozen genes have been designated but not all the known genes are effective against all the prevalent pathotypes. The challenge, therefore, is to continue to expand the gene pool of effective and potentially durable resistance genes. Wild species constitute an important reservoir of the resistance genes including BB. An accession of Oryza nivara (IRGC 81825) was found to be resistant to all the seven Xoo pathotypes prevalent in northern states of India. Inheritance and mapping of resistance in O. nivara was studied by using F2, BC2F2, BC3F1 and BC3F2 progenies of the cross involving Oryza sativa cv PR114 and the O. nivara acc. 81825 using the most virulent Xoo pathotype. Genetic analysis of the segregating progenies revealed that the BB resistance in O. nivara was conditioned by a single dominant gene. Bulked segregant analysis (BSA) of F2 population using 191 polymorphic SSR markers identified a ∼35 centiMorgans (cM) chromosomal region on 4L, bracketed by RM317 and RM562, to be associated with BB resistance. Screening of BC3F1 and BC2F2 progenies and their genotyping with more than 30 polymorphic SSR markers in the region, covering Bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clone OSJNBb0085C12, led to mapping of the resistance gene between the STS markers based on annotated genes LOC_Os04g53060 and LOC_Os04g53120, which is ∼38·4 kb. Since none of the known Xa genes, which are mapped on chromosome 4L, are effective against the Xoo pathotypes tested, the BB resistance gene identified and transferred from O. nivara is novel and is tentatively designated as Xa30(t). Homozygous resistant BC3F3 progenies with smallest introgression region have been identified.

Karnal bunt (KB) of wheat, caused by Tilletia indica (Mitra) Mundkur, adversely affects international wheat trading and the movement of germplasm between countries due to quarantine restrictions. Breeding for host plant resistance requires the identification of KB resistance sources. Accessions of the D genome progenitor of bread wheat, Aegilops tauschii, were screened in a specially designed screen-house, where the optimum environmental conditions conducive for KB development were simulated by controlling temperature, humidity, fogging and shading. The 183 accessions were subjected to artificial inoculation with a mixture of nine KB isolates, and seven proved highly resistant and four moderately resistant over three rounds of screening over 3 years.