Academic Paper from the year 2019 in the subject Biology - Botany, grade: A, The University of Hong Kong, language: English, abstract: This investigation was planned to work on the different types of competition and solve the problem of the farmers suffering from shortages of crop production. Hence, the research question was framed: "Does decreasing distance (70mm, 50mm, 30mm, 10mm) of the wheat (Triticum aestivum) and chickpea (Cicer arietinum) seeds sown in the presence (5% solution of urea) and absence of urea effects the shoot length (mm) due to inhibitory effects of intraspecific and interspecific competition between them?" Crop production in India is labour intensive with limitation of scientific techniques. Unawareness in farmers for correct distance of sowing seed leads to low production of crops. This is due to overlapping of niche and thus the realised niche of a species which is the actual mode of existence resulting from adaptation and competition is developed. A research was undertaken by in Journal of Experimental Botany which acknowledged various factors that affect the crop production and solutions to overcome competition. The research would make farmers aware of a major factor like competition, that should be considered while crop production.
About the Author: Saharsh Khicha is a student at the University of Hong Kong currently majoring in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (intensive) and minoring in Computer Science. He is really interested in cell biology, biotechnology etc. He is currently a second year undergraduate student. He moved to Hong Kong for his undergraduate studies. Before he did International Baccalaureate Diploma Program from Jayshree Periwal International School, Jaipur, India. He took all three sciences (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) as Higher levels. During his IBDP studies, he was involved in a summer internship at the Bhagwan Mahaveer Cancer Hospital, Jaipur, India from 06/25/2017 to 07/24/2017. In the 1 month duration of the internship he worked under the department of oncology and auto-radiotherapy. He also shadowed a doctor and attended some patients with minor problems such as cough, fever, stomachache etc. and prescribed them with appropriate medicine. At the department of oncology, he observed various cancerous cells in different body parts of human beings such as a cancerous femur, jaw etc. The department of auto-radiotherapy provided him with the possible treatment for early stage cancer. He learn about the radiation process and application of the machinery. Completing first year at the University of Hong Kong in 2019, he went on to do another summer internship at a biotechnology firm Sanzyme Biologics Private Limited, Hyderabad, India for 2 months. He worked in the Molecular Lab under the supervision of the Research Associate at the firm. He was involved in one of the leading projects of the company. He learnt various techniques about the recombinant process such as Polymerase Chain Reaction, SDS-Page, Sonication, Fermentation etc. He was able to implement his theoretical knowledge about protein expression in the practical work. He has successfully completed and published 1 research paper about the Interspecific and Intraspecific competition among the plants. He is currently working on another research paper about Chymosin protein expression and activation in order to convert milk into cheese by recombinant plasmid digestion. Instead of collecting chymosin from cow's stomach we can produce it in the lab by Recombinant Technology. Currently, he is also looking for Internships in Hong Kong or other countries in the field related to biology. He is also interested in any online projects of which he can be involved and participate.