ABSTRACT
Seed invigoration treatments are crucial for enhancing germination and seedling growth, particularly under adverse environmental conditions. Various techniques, such as hydropriming, seed hardening, osmopriming, and pre-sowing dry heat treatments have been proved to improve seed quality. Sunflower is an important oilseed crop, however, its area is now confined to specific niches and therefore any efforts to increase its production and bring back its glory are highly welcome. Sunflower crop is highly susceptible to environmental stresses further limiting its cultivation. Hence identification and standardization of suitable techniques to improve the germination capacity and planting value of sunflower especially under stress conditions is the need of the hour. The present study is taken up in aged and fresh seeds of two sunflower hybrids viz., DRSH-1 and GK-2002 to standardize hydropriming, thermo priming and pre-chilling treatments so as to the enhance planting value when sown under sub optimal conditions. It was found that hydropriming for 16 hrs, thermopriming for 6hrs at 35oC and pre chilling for 7 days at 10oC showed highest improvement in the seed quality parameters like germination percentage, seedling vigour indices I and II, field emergence and speed of germination. These findings offer promising avenues for improving seed quality and viability in sunflower.
ABSTRACT
This investigation was conducted to study combining ability along with inheritance of grain yield and its component traits in 36 hybrids of pearl millet which were generated through line × tester mating design using 12 male sterile lines and 3 restorers as parental material at IIMR, Hyderabad during kharif, 2022. These hybrids were evaluated in randomized block design with 3 replications during kharif, 2022 and summer, 2023 at IIMR, Hyderabad. In results, both GCA and SCA variances were found significant for majority of characters. The ratio of GCA and SCA variance indicated the predominance of non-additive gene action for all the characters studied except for panicle length and panicle width. GCA effects revealed that parents like 274A, 269A, 04999A and 260A (female) and 123R (male) were good general combiners for grain yield and some contributing characters. On the basis of SCA effects the crosses namely 252A × 124R, 843-22A × 124R, 843-22A × 132R, 242A × 123R, 264A × 132R and 274A × 123R were identified as superior for grain yield and related traits over the seasons. Therefore, it is advised that these parents and hybrids be used in the creation of fruitful hybrids as well as for population growth.
ABSTRACT
Background: Alcohol-based hand sanitizer (ABHS) usage has become one of the COVID-19 pandemic-related adapted responses. Some disulfiram-ethanol reactions are reported in people who use alcohol-based hand rub/sanitizer and take Disulfiram as a treatment for their alcohol use disorders. Aim & Objective: To determine the practice experiences of psychiatrists on disulfiram prescription to alcohol use disorder victims. Methodology: A cross-sectional study on the psychiatrists to find the experiences of disulfiram prescription to their clients with alcohol use disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Nearly 84 (51%) were reverted with a completed questionnaire. Among the respondents, 28 (33.3%) of the respondents decreased to prescribe Disulfiram, 48 (57.1%) reported that their patients stopped using ABHS due to fear of Disulfiram-Ethanol Reaction (DER), and 20 (23.8%) responders notified that their patients were expressed their worry on DER with Disulfiram and ABHS. Conclusion: Disulfiram prescribed for alcohol use disorders; treatment got peculiar experiences with the incidences of DER reported with Alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Many practitioners were scared to prescribe disulfiram due to DER with ABHS. The prevailing evidence that there is no possibility of cutaneous application of ABHS producing enough significant DER. Hence using ABHS is not a contraindication for disulfiram prescription.
ABSTRACT
Rotula aquatica Lour is a small branched shrub that grows characteristically among rocks and trailing over gravel in stream beds. It belongs to the family Boraginaceae and widely distributed throughout India. It is commonly called as Pasanabheda. The present study was aimed to evaluate the total phenolics and in vitro antioxidant activity in root and leaf extracts of Rotula aquatica Lour. The dried roots and leaves were subjected to soxhlet extraction utilizing chloroform and methanol followed by preliminary qualitative phytochemical analysis. Total phenolic content was estimated by Folin-Ciocalteu method and in vitro antioxidant assays were performed using various radical scavenging activities viz. DPPH, superoxide anion, nitric oxide, hydroxyl and iron chelating activities at different concentrations. The results of the total phenolic content estimation was expressed in terms of equivalence with standard and the antioxidant potentiality of various scavenging and chelating activity were expressed in terms of IC50 values. The results showed that both root and leaves possess significant antioxidant activity even though the former was found to be superior than the latter in terms of parameters assessed. Further the methanol extracts were proved to be an ideal for the materials subjected to investigation.