KAJIAN USAHATANI AKAR WANGI RAKYAT BERWAWASAN KONSERVASI DI KABUPATEN GARUT

<p>ABSTRAK<br />Penelitian usahatani akar wangi (Vetiver zizanoides Stapt) dilakukan<br />dari bulan Nopember 2003 sampai Oktober 2004 di Kecamatan Samarang,<br />Kabupaten Garut, Jawa Barat. Data aspek sosial ekonomi diambil dari 120<br />petani akar wangi dan 22 pabrik penyuling akar wangi. Percobaan<br />lapangan dilaksanakan lahan pada seluas 3 hektar. Metode penelitian yang<br />digunakan yaitu rancangan acak kelompok dengan 3 pola tanam dan 2<br />ulangan. Perlakuan yang dicoba adalah pola tanam petani, pola tanam<br />introduksi dan pola tanam konservasi. Parameter yang diamati adalah berat<br />akar, kadar minyak, tingkat erosi, tingkat produktivitas dan kelayakan<br />ekonomi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa dari ketiga pola yang<br />diteliti ternyata pola konservasi mempunyai berat akar yang lebih tinggi<br />yaitu 0,74 kg, sedangkan pola petani 0,60 kg dan pola introduksi 0,50 kg.<br />Hasil analisis kadar minyak ketiga pola menunjukkan bahwa kadar minyak<br />pola konservasi dan pola petani tidak berbeda nyata yaitu 2,60% dan<br />2,25%, sedangkan pola introduksi hanya 1,25%. Dari kedua parameter di<br />atas (berat akar dan kadar minyak) dapat disimpulkan bahwa pola<br />konservasi lebih baik dibandingkan dengan pola lainnya. Tingkat erosi<br />yang terjadi di pertanaman akar wangi adalah: (a) pola petani 26,20 ton/ha,<br />(b) pola introduksi 19,40 ton/ha, dan (c) pola konservasi 17,80 ton/ha.<br />Hasil pengukuran tingkat erosi ini diamati selama 6 (enam) bulan dan<br />kondisi di atas masuk kategori tingkat bahaya erosi (TBE), klasifikasi<br />sedang (30 sampai 60 ton/ha/tahun). Tingkat produktivitas yang dicapai<br />dari ketiga pola usahatani tersebut yaitu (a) pola petani sebesar 16.000 kg/<br />ha/tahun, (b) pola introduksi 15.000kg/ha/tahun, dan (c) pola konservasi<br />18.000kg/ha/tahun. Dari ketiga pola tersebut yang tertinggi adalah pola<br />konservasi, tetapi analisis kelayakan ekonomi pada ketiga pola adalah :<br />Pola konservasi : B/C ratio 3,26, NPV Rp 7.852.000, dan IRR 18,75%;<br />Pola introduksi : B/C ratio 2,03, NPV Rp 5.089.000, dan IRR 18,75%;<br />Pola petani : B/C ratio 3,60, NPV Rp7.130.000, dan IRR 18,50%.<br />Kata kunci : Akar wangi, Vetiver zizanoides Stapt, usahatani, konservasi,<br />erosi, produksi, kadar minyak, Jawa Barat</p><p><br />ABSTRACT<br />Study on vetiver farming system in Garut District<br />The study of Vetiver (Vetiver zizanoides Stapt) farming system was<br />conducted from November 2003 to October 2004 in Samarang, Sub<br />District, Garut, West Java. The primary data were collected through the<br />interview of 120 vetiver farmers and 22 vetiver oil processors, and from 3<br />hectars field trial. The study used a randomized block design with 3<br />cropping patterns and two replications. Parameters observed were root<br />weight, oil content, erosion level, productivity level, and economic<br />feasibility. The research result indicated that conservation pattern<br />produced the higher root weight, conservation pattern 0.74 kg, farmer<br />0.60 kg and introduction pattern 0.50 kg. Result of oil analysis were the oil<br />content of conservation and farmer patterns were not significantly<br />different, namely 2.60% and 2.25%, while the introduction pattern was<br />only 1.25%. From the two parameters (root weight and oil content), it was<br />indicated that the conservation pattern was better. The erosion level on<br />vetiver farms at farmer, introduction and conservation patterns were 26.20<br />ton/ha, 19.40 ton/ha and 17.80 ton/ha, respectively. The erosion level<br />above was classified as TBE, while moderate level (30 – 60 ton/ha/year).<br />The productivity levels at farmer, introduction and conservation patterns<br />were 16,000 kg/ha/year, 15,000 kg/ha/year and 18,000 kg/ha/year,<br />respectively. It was clear that conservation pattern gave the highest<br />productivity, but the result of economic feasibility study showed :<br />Conservation pattern : B/C ratio 3.26, NPV Rp. 7,852,000 and IRR<br />18.75%; Introduction pattern : B/C ratio 2.03, NPV Rp. 5,089,000, and<br />IRR 18.75%; Farmer pattern : B/C ratio 3.60, NPV Rp. 7,130,000 and IRR<br />18.50%.<br />Key words : Vetiver, Vetiver zizanoides Stapt, farming system,<br />conservation, erosion, production, oil content, West Java</p>

Discovery of a Novel MHC Class I Lineage in Teleost Fish which Shows Unprecedented Levels of Ectodomain Deterioration while Possessing an Impressive Cytoplasmic Tail Motif

A unique new nonclassical MHC class I lineage was found in Teleostei (teleosts, modern bony fish, e.g., zebrafish) and Holostei (a group of primitive bony fish, e.g., spotted gar), which was designated “H” (from “hexa”) for being the sixth lineage discovered in teleosts. A high level of divergence of the teleost sequences explains why the lineage was not recognized previously. The spotted gar H molecule possesses the three MHC class I consensus extracellular domains α1, α2, and α3. However, throughout teleost H molecules, the α3 domain was lost and the α1 domains showed features of deterioration. In fishes of the two closely related teleost orders Characiformes (e.g., Mexican tetra) and Siluriformes (e.g., channel catfish), the H ectodomain deterioration proceeded furthest, with H molecules of some fishes apparently having lost the entire α1 or α2 domain plus additional stretches within the remaining other (α1 or α2) domain. Despite these dramatic ectodomain changes, teleost H sequences possess rather large, unique, well-conserved tyrosine-containing cytoplasmic tail motifs, which suggests an important role in intracellular signaling. To our knowledge, this is the first description of a group of MHC class I molecules in which, judging from the sequence conservation pattern, the cytoplasmic tail is expected to have a more important conserved function than the ectodomain.

Riboswitches in Archaea

Background: Riboswitches are cis-acting, non-coding RNA elements found in the 5’UTR of bacterial mRNA and 3’ UTR of eukaryotic mRNA, that fold in a complex manner to act as receptors for specific metabolites hence altering their conformation in response to the change in concentrations of a ligand or metabolite. Riboswitches function as gene regulators in numerous bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae and plants. Aim and Objective: This study identifies different classes of riboswitches in the Archaeal domain of life. Previous studies have suggested that riboswitches carry a conserved aptameric domain in different domains of life. Since Archaea are considered to be the most idiosyncratic organisms it was interesting to look for the conservation pattern of riboswitches in these obviously strange microorganisms. Materials and Methods: Completely sequenced Archaeal Genomes present in the NCBI repository were used for studying riboswitches and other ncRNAs. The sequence files in FASTA format were downloaded from NCBI Genome database and information related to these genomes was retrieved from GenBank. Three bioinformatics approaches were used namely, ab initio, consensus structure prediction and statistical model-based prediction for identifying riboswitches. Results: Archaeal genomes have a sporadic distribution of putative riboswitches like the TPP, FMN, Guanidine, Lysine and c-di-AMP riboswitches, which are known to occur in bacteria. Also, a class of riboswitch sensing c-di-GMP, a second messenger, has been identified in a few Archaeal organisms. Conclusion: This study clearly reveals that bioinformatics methods are likely to play a major role in identifying conserved riboswitches and in establishing how widespread these classes are in all domains of life, even though the final confirmation may come from wet lab methods.

Conservation of heritage areas

Conservation and heritage areas both are very sensible and important for any nation. For our country, Nepal, it is more important asit has lots of national and international heritage areas and have to conserve as much as possible in a suitable and best way. As one should know the typical type of process which can be followed as required by any heritage area. To conserve the heritage area, one may follow one or more than one process for same project. According to international conservation pattern or rules, here comes few types of conservation ways which may be fitted for our context too.