Applied Botany

Plants have been an important source of medicine for thousands of years. Recently, the world health organization estimated that upto 80% of people still rely mainly on traditional remedies such as herbs for their medicines. In the present study various plant parts of Tridax procumbens were evaluated separately for the presence of primary metabolites. Tridax procumbens Linn belongs to family Asteraceae, and commonly known as Dhaman grass, is a common herb. It is employed as an indigenous medicine for variety of ailments including Jaundice. The plant also has hepatoprotective activity and it is used in Ayurveda in various liver disorders. Phytochemical screening and quantification of primary metabolites in different plant parts i.e leaf and stem (in vivo) as well as its callus (in vitro) quantification revealed the presence of total soluble sugars, proteins, lipids chlorophyll and proline. It showed higher concentration of total soluble sugar, lipid and protein in leaves whereas chlorophyll content and proline was found higher in callus as compared to other parts of plant.

The developing countries mostly rely on traditional medicines. The traditional medicines involve the use of different plant extracts or the bioactive constituents. This type of studies provides health applications at affordable costs. Biochemical studies of the individual plant parts is a necessary prerequisite in order to evaluate their importance in the over all metabolism of the plant. In the present study various plant parts of selected medicinal plants were evaluated, separately for their metabolite content. Maximum amount of total soluble sugars and lipids were present in leaves of Rumex vesicarius, starch in stem of Sisymbrium irio. The leaves of Rumex vesicarius showed more content of metabolites as compared to the other plant parts.

A great yield of tomato is lost to disease of varied causes annually. This underscores the need for continuous study of factors affecting the epidemiology and prevalence of these diseases for effective management. This study was conducted in two environments of Aboh and Ahiazu Mbaise local Government Areas of Imo State Southeast, Nigeria. The aim was to investigate the fungal pathogens associated with tomato plants. The plant leaf samples were cultured on Saboraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) and Brain Heart Infusion Agar (BHIA) and incubated at room temperature for 3-5 days. Result revealed that the most prevalent species were Fusarium (75%) and Curvularia (55%) while Alternaria (15 %) was least .The pathogenecity test carried out showed that Fusarium species were the most pathogenic ; followed by the Aspergillus and Curvularia Species . The data generated from this study will help local farmers in Mbaise in minimizing yield losses.

Sixty four seed samples of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) collected from different districts of Rajasthan revealed 35 fungal species of 18 genera in addition to Alternaria alternata, A. longissima, A. tenussima, Aspergillus candidus, A. flavus, A. fumigatus, A. niger, Bipolaris spicifera, Curvularia lunata, Drechslera graminea, D. tetramera, D. rostrata, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium graminearum, Rhizopus nigricans, Trichothecium roseum which were dominant and affected seed germination, seedling vigour and seedling diseases.

Water scarcity and drought are the main constraints of crop production. Many technologies have been developed to cope with this environmental problem. So improve crop production under limited amount of available water is a measure issue to maximize the return by unit of water (water productivity). To achieve the aforementioned objectives, two field experiments were carried out in the Experimental Farm of National Research Centre Shalkan Kalubia during the winter seasons of 2006/ 2007 and 2007/2008 to study the effect of seed inoculation with (phosphorine and cerealine) on the yield and yield components of some barley cultivars (Giza 126, Giza 130 and Giza 2000) subjected to water stress at different stages of growth (at tillering or milk- ripe stage), Data indicate that, water stress at any stage of growth (tillering or milk- ripe stage) depress most of the studied yield and yield attributes .Such effect was pronounced when barley plants were subjected to water deficit at milk- ripe stage. Dual application of biofertilizer (phosphorine and cerealine) improved yield and yield attributes of barley plants as compared with un-inoculated plants. The data also show that biofertilizers inoculation alleviate the adverse effect of water stress on barley yield. The results indicated that Giza 126 produced the highest grain yield and seed index

Of the several leaf surface characters, leaf architecture has drawn relatively less attention when compared to the epidermal studies which are in the limelight especially after the initiation of SEM studies. In the last decade, with the publication of Hickey’s work on the dicotyledons (1973, 1979) a new thought was provided to this field. A perusal of the past literature revealed that there are no specific reports on the leaf architectural features of the Commiphora wightti Arnott belonging to the family Burseraceae. Leaf architecture act as a pharmacognostic tool for identifying the adulterant because adulteration and misidentification of medicinal plants can cause serious health problems to consumers and legal problems for the pharmaceutical industries. Therefore, the present investigation has been carried out to provide a detailed account of the same besides its evaluation for taxonomic purpose which showed apical orientation, simple leaf organization, lamina and base is asymmetrical, coriaceous texture without any gland. Type of venation is pinnate craspedodromous and semicraspedromous, higher vein order of the leaf is 5⁰.

Nickel is a metal of widespread distribution in the environment: there are almost 100 minerals of which it is an essential constituent and which have many industrial and commercial uses. Nickel and nickel compounds belong to the classic noxious agents encountered in industry but are also known to affect non-occupationally exposed individuals. The general population may be exposed to nickel in the air, water and food. Inhalation is an important route of occupational exposure to nickel in relation to health risks. Most nickel in the human body originates from drinking water and food; however, the gastrointestinal route is of lesser importance, due to its limited intestinal absorption. The toxicity and carcinogenicity of some nickel compounds (in the nasal cavity, larynx and lungs) in experimental animals, as well as in the occupationallyexposed population, are well documented. The objective of this paper is to summarize the current overview of the occurrence and sources of nickel in the environment, and the effect of this metal and its compounds on living organisms.

This paper deliberated to present future stance and strategy for variation of Alternaria brassicicola leaf spot of Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica L.)was evaluated based on morphological, cultural and molecular parameters during Rabi season 2014 and 2015. Six isolates of Alternaria were cultured in vitro using different growth medium and the growth pattern of the fungi was studied. Maximum 86 leaf spots were recorded from different places followed and minimum 17 spots from CSA samples. The size of spots shown variations in different isolates collected from different places. The leaf spots were followed the reducing trend with the increasing number of spots. The maximum 0.5-1.9mm size of spot was noticed in CSA samples and minimum0.2-0.7mm from different places of northern Bihar and Biratnagar sub metropolitan city. The growth of A. brassicicola recorded maximum in host extract media followed by Potato Dextrose Agar while the growth observed minimum in Czapek’s medium. The variations also exhibited in protein profiling by using SDS-PAGE.

Seven species of marine macro algae belonging to Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta and Rhodophyta were surveyed, collected from Coromandal coast, India and studied for their lipid composition and its accumulation for the future biodiesel production. Variability of chemical components and production of lipid granules are specific in macro algae and there is also an evidence for temporal variability in macro algal lipid composition. The lipids of algae have wide application in production of fuel. It was observed that lipid composition of macro algae in the sequence of members belonged to Phaeophyta > Chlorophyta > Rhodophyta. In this study we successfully localized the lipid bodies of seven macro algal strain by their ultra structural studies and Nile blue stain method. However, further research work should be carried out from different marine macro algae species for biofuel production to meet out the energy crisis globally in future.

An important feature of India’s wetland development programme is that it combines the task of securing out a strategy for wetland development alternatives with the task of lending similar support to implement the projects.  Such a unified programme ensures reduction of gap between expected benefit and actual outcome – a gap that has been a matter of serious consent in many of the lofty endeavors all over the world. Toxic metal pollution of water and soil is a major environmental problem, and most conventional remediation approaches do not provide acceptable solutions. Wetland plants are being used successfully for the phytoremediation of trace elements in natural and constructed wetlands. This study demonstrates the phytoremediation potential of three different water hyacinths ( Eichornia crassipes, Ipomea spp, Stachytarpheta jamaicensis ) in three different lake system ( Ramanaickan Lake, Basthi Lake Dharga Lake) of Hosur district. Our results shows Eichornia crassipes is a potent metal (Ca,  Mg,  Cl) accumulator and tolerant species collected from Rama Naicken Lake, Hosur. Ipomeas spp  is a moderate accumulator (Fe, SO_4, PO₄) and sensitive species collected from Dharga lake whereas Stachytarpheta jamaicensis is non accumulator and tolerant species. Eichornia crassipes is a promising candidate for phytoremediation of wastewater polluted with different metals and can be used for natural wetland cultivation.