AQUAMAN: a web-based decision support system for irrigation scheduling in peanuts

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an economically important legume crop in irrigated production areas of northern Australia. Although the potential pod yield of the crop in these areas is about 8 t ha(-1), most growers generally obtain around 5 t ha(-1), partly due to poor irrigation management. Better information and tools that are easy to use, accurate, and cost-effective are therefore needed to help local peanut growers improve irrigation management. This paper introduces a new web-based decision support system called AQUAMAN that was developed to assist Australian peanut growers schedule irrigations. It simulates the timing and depth of future irrigations by combining procedures from the food and agriculture organization (FAO) guidelines for irrigation scheduling (FAO-56) with those of the agricultural production systems simulator (APSIM) modeling framework. Here, we present a description of AQUAMAN and results of a series of activities (i.e., extension activities, case studies, and a survey) that were conducted to assess its level of acceptance among Australian peanut growers, obtain feedback for future improvements, and evaluate its performance. Application of the tool for scheduling irrigations of commercial peanut farms since its release in 2004-2005 has shown good acceptance by local peanuts growers and potential for significantly improving yield. Limited comparison with the farmer practice of matching the pan evaporation demand during rain-free periods in 2006-2007 and 2008-2009 suggested that AQUAMAN enabled irrigation water savings of up to 50% and the realization of enhanced water and irrigation use efficiencies.

Development and adoption of a web-based irrigation management tool for improved water use efficiency

Develop a web-based tool to assist farmers and consultants make strategic and tactical irrigation decisions.

CattleTickBase: An integrated Internet-based bioinformatics resource for Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus

The Rhipicephalus micro plus genome is large and complex in structure, making it difficult to assemble a genome sequence and costly to resource the required bioinformatics. In light of this, a consortium of international collaborators was formed to pool resources to begin sequencing this genome. We have acquired and assembled genomic DNA into contigs that represent over 1.8 Gigabase pairs of DNA from gene-enriched regions of the R. micro plus genome. We also have several datasets containing transcript sequences from a number of gene expression experiments conducted by the consortium. A web-based resource was developed to enable the scientific community to access our datasets and conduct analysis through a web-based bioinformatics environment called YABI. The collective bioinformatics resource is termed CattleTickBase. Our consortium has acquired genomic and transcriptomic sequence data at approximately 0.9X coverage of the gene-coding regions of the R. microplus genome. The YABI tool will facilitate access and manipulation of cattle tick genome sequence data as the genome sequencing of R. microplus proceeds. During this process the CattleTickBase resource will continue to be updated. Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of Australian Society for Parasitology Inc.

Rhipicephalus microplus serine protease inhibitor family: annotation, expression and functional characterisation assessment

Background: Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus evades the host's haemostatic system through a complex protein array secreted into tick saliva. Serine protease inhibitors (serpins) conform an important component of saliva which are represented by a large protease inhibitor family in Ixodidae. These secreted and non-secreted inhibitors modulate diverse and essential proteases involved in different physiological processes. Methods: The identification of R. microplus serpin sequences was performed through a web-based bioinformatics environment called Yabi. The database search was conducted on BmiGi V1, BmiGi V2.1, five SSH libraries, Australian tick transcriptome libraries and RmiTR V1 using bioinformatics methods. Semi quantitative PCR was carried out using different adult tissues and tick development stages. The cDNA of four identified R. microplus serpins were cloned and expressed in Pichia pastoris in order to determine biological targets of these serpins utilising protease inhibition assays. Results: A total of four out of twenty-two serpins identified in our analysis are new R. microplus serpins which were named as RmS-19 to RmS-22. The analyses of DNA and predicted amino acid sequences showed high conservation of the R. microplus serpin sequences. The expression data suggested ubiquitous expression of RmS except for RmS-6 and RmS-14 that were expressed only in nymphs and adult female ovaries, respectively. RmS-19, and -20 were expressed in all tissues samples analysed showing their important role in both parasitic and non-parasitic stages of R. microplus development. RmS-21 was not detected in ovaries and RmS-22 was not identified in ovary and nymph samples but were expressed in the rest of the samples analysed. A total of four expressed recombinant serpins showed protease specific inhibition for Chymotrypsin (RmS-1 and RmS-6), Chymotrypsin / Elastase (RmS-3) and Thrombin (RmS-15). Conclusion: This study constitutes an important contribution and improvement to the knowledge about the physiologic role of R. microplus serpins during the host-tick interaction.