This study was undertaken to determine the effects of varied salinity regimes on the morphological traits (plant height, number of leaves, number of flowers, fresh and dry weight) and major mineral composition of 13 selected purslane accessions. Most of the morphological traits measured were reduced at varied salinity levels (0.0, 8, 16, 24 and 32 dS m(-1)), but plant height was found to increase in Ac1 at 16 dS m(-1) salinity, and Ac13 was the most affected accession. The highest reductions in the number of leaves and number of flowers were recorded in Ac13 at 32 dS m(-1) salinity compared to the control. The highest fresh and dry weight reductions were noted in Ac8 and Ac6, respectively, at 32 dS m(-1) salinity, whereas the highest increase in both fresh and dry weight was recorded in Ac9 at 24 dS m(-1) salinity compared to the control. In contrast, at lower salinity levels, all of the measured mineral levels were found to increase and later decrease with increasing salinity, but the performance of different accessions was different depending on the salinity level. A dendrogram was also constructed by UPGMA based on the morphological traits and mineral compositions, in which the 13 accessions were grouped into 5 clusters, indicating greater diversity among them. A three-dimensional principal component analysis also confirmed the output of grouping from cluster analysis.
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) is an herbaceous leafy vegetable crop, comparatively more salt-tolerant than any other vegetables with high antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins. Salt-tolerant crop variety development is of importance due to inadequate cultivable land and escalating salinity together with population pressure. In this view a total of 25 purslane accessions were initially selected from 45 collected purslane accessions based on better growth performance and subjected to 5 different salinity levels, that is, 0.0, 10.0, 20.0, 30.0, and 40.0 dS m(-1) NaCl. Plant height, number of leaves, number of flowers, and dry matter contents in salt treated purslane accessions were significantly reduced (P ≤ 0.05) and the enormity of reduction increased with increasing salinity stress. Based on dry matter yield reduction, among all 25 purslane accessions 2 accessions were graded as tolerant (Ac7 and Ac9), 6 accessions were moderately tolerant (Ac3, Ac5, Ac6, Ac10, Ac11, and Ac12), 5 accessions were moderately susceptible (Ac1, Ac2, Ac4, Ac8, and Ac13), and the remaining 12 accessions were susceptible to salinity stress and discarded from further study. The selected 13 purslane accessions could assist in the identification of superior genes for salt tolerance in purslane for improving its productivity and sustainable agricultural production.
The diverse nature of polymers with attractive properties has replaced the conventional materials with polymeric composites. The present study was sought to evaluate the wear performance of thermoplastic-based composites under the conditions of different loads and sliding speeds. In the present study, nine different composites were developed by using low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with partial sand replacements i.e., 0, 30, 40, and 50 wt%. The abrasive wear was evaluated as per the ASTM G65 standard test for abrasive wear through a dry-sand rubber wheel apparatus under the applied loads of 34.335, 56.898, 68.719, 79.461 and 90.742 (N) and sliding speeds of 0.5388, 0.7184, 0.8980, 1.0776 and 1.4369 (m/s). The optimum density and compressive strength were obtained to be 2.0555 g/cm3 and 46.20 N/mm2, respectively for the composites HDPE60 and HDPE50 respectively. The minimum value of abrasive wear were found to 0.02498, 0.03430, 0.03095, 0.09020 and 0.03267 (cm3) under the considered loads of 34.335, 56.898, 68.719, 79.461 and 90.742 (N), respectively. Moreover, the composites LDPE50, LDPE100, LDPE100, LDPE50PET20 and LDPE60 showed a minimum abrasive wear of 0.03267, 0.05949, 0.05949, 0.03095 and 0.10292 at the sliding speeds of 0.5388, 0.7184, 0.8980, 1.0776 and 1.4369 (m/s), respectively. The wear response varied non-linearly with the conditions of loads and sliding speeds. Micro-cutting, plastic deformations, fiber peelings, etc. were included as the possible wear mechanism. The possible correlations between wear and mechanical properties, and throughout discussions for wear behaviors through the morphological analyses of the worn-out surfaces were provided.