ABSTRACT
Pod fly, Melanagromyza obtusa is an important emerging pest and a major constraint to increase the production and productivity of pigeonpea. The concealed mode of life of pod fly within the pod makes it difficult to control. Hence, host plant resistance is an important tool for the management of this pest. Therefore, a set of forty genotypes were screened for resistance to pod fly under field conditions and characterized for morphological and biochemical traits in the pods. The correlation studies revealed that, among morphological and biochemical constituents of pigeonpea, pod length (r=0.389*), pod width (r=0.380*), protein content (r=0.857**), total carbohydrates (r=0.782**), reducing sugars (r=0.848**) and total free amino acids (r=0.832**) in the pod walls were positively correlated with per cent pod damage, whereas pod wall thickness (r= -0.762**), trichome density (r= -0.745**) and phenol content (r= -0.871**) had significant negative correlation with pod fly damage. Therefore, these traits can be used as phenotypic and biochemical markers to identify pigeonpea genotypes with resistance to M. obtusa, and use in pod fly resistance breeding program.
ABSTRACT
Background: To evaluate the acute toxicity study and effective dose determination of ethanolic leaf extract of Barleria cristata L. Methods: Toxicological evaluation and effective dose determination of ethanolic leaf extract of Barleria cristata were performed in wistar albino rats. 250, 500, 1000 and 2,000 mg/kg of body weight of ethanolic leaf extract of Barleria cristata (EtBc) were administered orally as a single dose to rats. Rats were observed periodically for symptoms of toxicity and death within 24 hours and then daily for the next 14 days. So the rats were observed for another 14 days and then sacrificed to collect serum and organs for the analysis of biochemical parameters. After this study, rats were induced with diabetes by a single intra peritoneal injection of 45 mg/kg bodyweight of streptozotocin. Ethanolic leaf extract of Barleria cristata was orally administered to diabetic rats at 200, 400 and 600mg/kg doses for 7 days through oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Glycemic index was demonstrated the variable doses of ethanolic leaf extract in normal and diabetic rats during OGTT studies. Results: In acute toxicity study, the results were showed that the administration of the ethanolic leaf extract of Barleria cristata (EtBc) at all given doses (up to 2000 mg kg) did not produce any sign of acute toxicity or instant death in rats tested during the period of observation. From OGTT study, 400mg/kg dosage of EtBc exhibited notable blood glucose lowering effect at 90 min than the other doses and this was similar to that of standard drug glibenclamide treated rats. This dosage was showed the highest percentage of glycemic index in both normal and diabetic rats. Conclusion: EtBc was revealed the non-toxic nature used for acute toxicity studies and among various doses of this extract, 400 mg/kg brought an effective hypoglycemic activity in wistar albino rats.
ABSTRACT
The objective of the study was to check the laccase (purified from Hypsizygus ulmarius) for decolorization of different dyes. The purified laccase from Hypsizygus ulmarius was studied for its decolorization of different dyes (Remazol brilliant blue R (RBBR), Alizarin red, Congo red, methyl orange and methyl violet). The results indicated that the percent of decolorization was increased when the time course and enzyme concentration was increased. The purified laccase showed maximum amount of decolorization in RBBR (85%) and followed by Methyl Orange (75%), Alizarin Red (73%), Methyl Violet (72%) and Congo Red (69%) without any additional redox mediator which suggest that this enzyme could be used in industries for effluent treatment.
ABSTRACT
An experiment was conducted with four dates of sowing (Second fortnight of May, First fortnight of June, Second fortnight of June and First fortnight of July) and four Varieties (TMV-2, JL-24, Narayani and Abhaya). There was wide variation in the weather conditions that prevailed over the cropping periods between the two years of experimentation. During the first year (2006) a continuous dryspell of 51 days prevailed which coincided with different growth stages of groundnut under different dates of sowing. This dry spell has not favoured the growth and development of crop, instead, it has increased the crop duration of different varieties of groundnut studied under the present investigation. The crop duration was 139-146 days in early sown crop to 110-125 days in normal sown crop compared to normal duration of 105 to 120 days. However, the second year (2007) is normal with better temporal distribution of rains and the crop duration ranged from 104-120 days in early sown crop to 108-121 days under normal sown crop. The length of growth period in 2006 is due to receipt of continuous rains after dry spell of 51 days from seed development phase to physiological maturity. In 2007,the crop which received heavy rains (22 June sown crop ) from 90 DAS to harvest was adversely affected resulting poor filling and low yields. The results revealed that Sowing during July first fortnight was found to be optimum time for groundnut during drought year, while during normal year advancing the sowing date by one month may also favour good crop provided there were good rains. The performance of Abhaya cultivar was better than the Narayani, TMV-2 and JL-24 under different kinds of environments like extreme moisture stress, stress free or even under moderate stress conditions. However, in normal year TMV-2 and JL-24 performance was also good compared to drought year.