Applied Botany

The research paper represents a brief analysis of physico-chemical characteristics of three different water bodies viz. earthen pond, cemented pond and lake located at Bhimtal, Nainital, Uttarakhand during winter season. Air temperature, water temperature, pH, DO, free CO2, total alkalinity, total hardness, total nitrogen, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, ammonium and silicate were the physico-chemical parameters observed during the experimental period.

Study on the relationship between alkaloid yield and it’s components will improve the efficiency of breeding programs to select the appropriate mutant with higher economy to fulfill the world demand for vincristine and vinblastine, with a view of it’s clinical importance. The comparative study on the morphometric variations on the mutants of C. roseus revealed that plant height and pollen diameter is positively correlated with each other through character correlation. The relative importance of each agronomical component in determining alkaloid yield in mutants of Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don. is achieved by partitioning into direct and indirect effects through path co-efficient analysis. The number of leaves and dry matter yield has direct effect on alkaloid yield with increased number of follicle/ plant. The increment in number of leaves/ plant resulted in increase dry matter yield with higher alkaloid yield. The vindoline, catharanthine and vincristine have direct effect but vinblastine pose indirect effect on alkaloid yield.

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.

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.

Today most of the world population is moving towards herbal medicines. Traditional plant medicines might offer a natural treatment to treat various human ailments. Research work goes to be focused on finding successful results on the therapeutic values of medicinal plants and also exact molecular mechanism of their action at molecular levels. The article gives an overview of Therapeutic and current status of the pharmacological perspectives of Gloriosa superba L. a member of lililaceae family, with phytochemicals present in this species were found to have analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic, anti-coagulant, anti-tumor, “enzyme inhibitor, and anti-venom characteristics”. Further clinical studies are necessary to increase our understanding of the links between the documented traditional uses and toxicity of G. superba, this article is aimed at compiling an up-to-date medicinal uses and poisonous properties of G. Superba over its distributional.

Understanding the molecular factor behind sex expression has immense importance both in basic and applied research. Determination of sex in Casuarina equisetifolia is of utmost important from the commercial forestry. Sex of plant is very important as number of female plants must be maximum. Plantation of seedlings of unknown sex leads to long term effects on yield. Hence correct identification of male and female genotypes at juvenile phase is important to maintain proper densities of female and male plants and dioecious nature also poses problem in tree breeding programmes. In many dioecious plants, gender influences economic value, breeding schemes, and/or opportunities for commercial use of genetically transformed materials.

In present study oilseeds were collected from different parts of Marathwada region and screened on different media for the incidence of different fungal species. Thirty fungal species were found to be associated with oilseeds. A study was also conducted to determine the antifungal activity of essential oils and gums of some medicinal plants against storage fungi. Eucalyptus oil and gum of Terminalia arjuna, Acacia Arabica and Butea monosperma inhibited the growth of storage fungi.

Analysis of life forms of the vegetation of Ajmer (Rajasthan) was carried out based on the data collected from the field. The biological spectrum of Ajmer (covering different habitats in and around Ajmer) represent 7% phanerophytes, 10% nanophanerophytes, 16% chamaephytes and 20% hemiscryptophytes, geophytes are 6% while therophytes forms the largest class of total flora. Lianas are a poorly represented class with 2% of the total flora. According to life form classification, the plant communities are regarded as therophytic, which is a characteristic feature of vegetation in desert and semi desert condition of Rajasthan.

The effects of aqueous leaf extracts of different concentrations of Butea monospermal (Lam) Taub (Fabaceae), Limonia acidissima L. (Rutaceae) Semecarpus anacardium L. (Anacardiaceae) from Pathardi Tahsil (longitude190 09? N, latitude 750 10? E) Dist Ahmednagar were bioassayed in August 2008 on germination and seedling growth of Raphanus sativus L . var. ‘Hybrid 11’. Seed germination was promoted 13 to 21% by Butea, 3.58% by Limonia while Semecarpus inhibited by 10.71% at 10-1 concentration. Data was analyzed by appropriate statistical method. Inhibition at higher and stimulation at lower extract concentrations were recorded. Pot culture experiments will be arranged.