Zombi 1
Eliane Lebouf
Zombi was the African term for a person without a dmon. In Africa, they worked as slaves. They had no will of their own and proved to be hard workers. Although the specific procedure was never described, the Africans had a specific method of making them.[1] Marisa Coulter knew of their practices from her travels around the world and used that knowledge in her work on intercision. She created zombi of her own through this process, and explained to Lord Boreal that they have no fear, no imagination and no free will.[2]
1. Axelrod E.M. The psychology of zombies: Why are zombies so infectious? In: Zombies, divorce, & the internet: A collection of psychological disquisitions. Denver: APSG, 2014. -of-zombies. Accessed February 14, 2023.
Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.
Plant population density is a major determinant of crop yield per unit of land area and is a dependent variable of plant spacing. Narrow row spacing reduces weed germination and growth and gives the crop a competitive advantage over weeds due to rapid canopy closure20. The rapid canopy development at narrow row spacing might be attributed to more light interception per unit leaf area index, thereby increasing photosynthetic rates of the leaves and hence, better growth and development occurs21. The primary organs of plants are their flowers, which have a significant impact on the distribution of dry matter and sugar, their accumulation, fruit quality, and changes in endogenous hormones22,23,24. Removal of the flowers may affect the distribution of carbohydrates to the tubers, increase tuber production and serve as a paradigm for high yield agriculture. The increase in tuber biomass and potential utility as bioenergy were both influenced by the enhancements of C and N contents25.
This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors. The present investigation comprising plant studies was performed in accordance with relevant institutional, national, and international guidelines and legislation.
The results pertaining to influence of treatments under study on quality parameters of tubers in tuber cowpea are presented in Table 4. The results indicated that the planting of tuber cowpea at wider spacing exhibited higher protein percentage in the tubers than closer spacing (Table 4). The deblossoming of tuber cowpea resulted in higher accumulation of proteins in the tubers (Table 4). The results indicated that starch and sugar content in tubers were not significantly influenced by variable spacings (Table 4). No significant variations were found with respect to interaction effects of treatments on different quality parameters of tubers in tuber cowpea (Table 4).
The results pertaining to influence of treatments under study on protein content (%) of pod in tuber cowpea are presented in Table 6. The results indicated that protein contents in pods were not significantly influenced by variable spacings (Table 6). Greater accumulation of protein was found in F2 (blossom retention) (Table 6). Presence of blossoms may have been instrumental in greater accumulation of protein in the pods. The present findings are in agreement with those of Hussain and Basahy33, Gerrano et al.34, and Jayathilake et al.35.
The results pertaining to influence of treatments under study on nutritional parameters of pericarp in tuber cowpea are presented in Table 7. The results revealed that total N, P, K, Ca, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu content in pericarp was found independent of spacing treatments in the study (Table 7). Greater accumulation of N, P, K, Ca, Mg Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu was found under blossom retention conditions (F2) (Table 7) The interaction effects of S1F1 in the pericarp indicated higher accumulation of Mg (Table 7).
The results pertaining to influence of treatments under study on the Protein % of pericarp in the pods of tuber cowpea are presented in Table 8. The results depicted no significant effect on the protein content of pericarp under variable spacing. However, the higher value of total protein accumulation in the pericarp was observed in F2treatment (6.63%) (Table 8). While interaction treatments have also exhibited no significant effect on pericarp protein accumulation (Table 8).
The results pertaining to correlation analysis among plant spacings and nutrient components have been presented in Tables 10, 11 and Fig. 2. The interaction analysis revealed the positive association between wide spacing and nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), Manganese (Mn) and protein content of tubers under deblossoming condition. When flowers were not removed, the positive association was observed among area and N, P, Zn, Mn, Ca, Starch, Sugar and protein content. Under both conditions the plant spacing was negatively associated with potassium content.
The flowers are the essential plant organs influencing nutritional composition, rate of sugar and dry matter accumulation, fruit quality traits, and physiological processes in the plants25. In the tuber cowpea, the simultaneous formation of tubers and flowers occurs, and the substances accumulated are transported to these organs, flowers, and tubers, respectively. Hence, the nutritional status of pods, pericarp and tubers was compared in the present investigation under different conditions. The total N and P content of tubers increased with the increase in plant spacing of tuber cowpea. Maximum nitrogen concentration was observed at the high spacing of tuberose36. In rice, higher P uptake was reported by Parvin et al.37 at wider spacing37. Higher Zn and Mg contents of tubers were also observed at the widest spacing. At wider spacings, plants can absorb more water and nutrients, mainly because each plant produces a greater number of roots and has access to relatively greater proportions of soil and nutrients than a closely spaced plant. The highest zinc uptake in rice was also observed with the widest spacing, while the lowest uptake was recorded with the closest spacing38. Similar findings were reported by other researchers39,40. Magnesium is largely involved in chlorophyll synthesis, production, transportation, utilization of photo-assimilates, enzyme activation and protein synthesis41. Therefore, the higher protein content of tubers at wider spacing is also attributable to the higher content of Mg in tuber harvested from widely spaced plants.
In the present study, the wider row spacing of 60 cm was significantly better than 45 cm with respect to tuber protein content. The relatively higher levels of zinc observed in the tubers harvested from widely spaced plants, may also have been instrumental in increasing the protein content of such tubers, since zinc is known to be an essential component of thousands of proteins in plants42. Likewise, the higher accumulation of nutrients like N was reported recently in broccoli under wider spacing by Fitsum et al. and Abhijithnaik et al.43,44. The range of starch recorded in tuber cowpea is similar to that observed by other researchers45,46,47. The accumulation of more dry matter in the tuberous roots was probably accomplished by translocation of reserve carbohydrates from other plant parts.
Under the deblossoming conditions, the inhibitory effects of flower and pod development on vegetative growth and tuber yield of zombi pea might be due to direct competition for photosynthates linked food reserves between different plant organs25. The results obtained in the present investigation substantiate this hypothesis. In general, the flower initiation process removes a huge quantity of nitrogen and carbohydrates. The consumed nitrogen is exploited in the development of pods and seeds27,48. The interaction analysis revealed that plant spacing was positively correlated with N, P and protein content in the tubers of zombi pea under deblossoming conditions. A large quantity of elaborated nitrogen and carbohydrates are required in tuber development. Thus, under wider spacing with deblossoming conditions, the more food material elaborated to tuber formation and enlargement in zombi pea, and resulting in well-developed tubers and a high quantitative accumulation of protein content in the tubers. Further, it might be supported by the results of Roberts and Struckmeyer49 who recorded an increased phloem development in nonflowering plants as compared to flowering plants. In addition, the histological studies are required in zombi pea to analyze the alteration in blossoming and deblossoming conditions with respect to phloem development and flowering state. The mechanism involved when both tubers and flowers were produced in the same plant of Zombi pea can be explained by the fact that, there was unequal partitioning and translocation of assimilates involving those of carbon and of nitrogen. Larger proportions of carbon-based photo assimilate were translocated to the root tubers while greater amounts of nitrogen based assimilates were translocated to the fruits. It is possible that the inhibitory effects of floral and fruit development on vegetativeness and tuber development may be due to a simple direct competition for elaborated food materials between the vegetative organs, floral differentiation and fruit formation24. In legumes sucrose is the pre- dominant sugar and among nitrogenous solutes are the amino acids50. Sugars and other macromolecules arrive in heterotrophic plant tissues through the phloem50. Proteins are mobile in phloem and there may also be destination-selective translocation31. It was proposed that the difference in osmotic pressure between the phloem and the surrounding tissues could drive the unloading of solutes in sinks.
Forney and Breen51 also reported that the starch content of roots of deblossomed strawberry plants was about 18 times higher than plants with fruit51. The contents of P, Ca, Zn, Mg, Fe, Cu in green pod were maximum in the treatment combination S3F2 (wider spacing with inflorescence retention). It is attributed to the fact that wider spacings allow each plant to produce more roots and get access to greater quantity of nutrients per unit area of soil. The relatively higher levels of copper observed in different plant parts like tuber, pod and pericarp at the closest spacing (S1) may be explained by the greater concentrations of copper recorded in the soil at the same spacing. Copper acts as a cofactor in various enzymes and performs essential roles in photosynthesis, respiration and the electron transport chain, and is a structural component of defense genes. Excess of Cu, however, imparts negative effects on plant growth and productivity52. Irrespective of treatments, growing tuber cowpea raised the soil pH and increased the N, P, K, Fe and Cu contents of soil. Such enhancements may prove to be beneficial for the succeeding crops, with the exception of Fe and Cu which may prove to be toxic at higher concentrations.
59fb9ae87f