Curvularia eragrostidis, a new threat to large cardamom (Amomum subulatum Roxb.) causing leaf blight in Sikkim

Large cardamom (Amomum subulatum Roxb.) is now affected by several diseases caused by both viruses andfungi. At present, leaf blight is considered a major threat to cardamom cultivation in Sikkim. During the pasttwo decades, cultivation of the crop in this region has dropped by almost 60%. Hence, to quantify the severityof leaf blight damage and identification of the causal organism for the disease, a survey was conducted fromMay to August 2017 in different large cardamom growing regions of Sikkim. During this survey, a typicalsymptom of leaf blight was observed on cardamom leaves in many locations. The leaves with blights werecollected, surface sterilized, and inoculated on potato dextrose agar (PDA). The pathogen was isolated as pureculture, and on the basis of morphological and microscopic characteristics, the fungus was identified species ofCurvularia. Molecular characterization of the fungal isolate with ITS-rDNA partial gene amplification usinguniversal primers (ITS4 and ITS5), showed 100% similarity with Curvularia eragrostidis (family: Pleosporaceae). The fungal isolate and nucleotide sequence was deposited in National Fungal Culture Collection ofIndia (NFCCI), Pune and NCBI with accession numbers NFCCI 4541 and MN710527, respectively. This is thefirst report on the occurrence of C. eragrostidis pathogen causing leaf blight of large cardamom grown inSikkim.

Synergism Between Probiotics And Herbs To Manage Type 2 Diabetes In Rats

Objective: This study aims to explore the adjuvant effect of multi-strain probiotics with either saffron, cardamom, ginger, or cinnamon herbs to achieve synergistic management for controlling type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods: Eighty-eight adult male, Wistar rats were used. Eight rats were kept as healthy control. Eighty rats were used to induce type 2 diabetic rats (T2DR) and were randomly assigned to ten groups. One group was an offer to 0.2 ml multi-strain probiotics orally. The rest of T2DR were gavage with 100 mg/kg aqueous extract of saffron, cardamom, ginger, or cinnamon without or with 0.2 ml multi-strain probiotics orally. Bodyweight gain (BWG), and feed efficiency ratio (FER) were recorded. Determination of oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), serum insulin, C-peptide, HDL, LDL, HDL/total cholesterol ratio were performed. Serum antioxidant activity, Th1and Th2 cytokines and histopathology of the pancreas were done. Results: Comparable with T2DR, solely multi-strain probiotics or with herbs caused a significant reduction in BWG (P<0.05). Groups fed saffron, cardamom, and ginger and enriched with multi-strain probiotic showed significant improvement in OGTT, serum insulin, C-peptide and lipid abnormalities (P<0.05) compared to T2DR. Besides, they had antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. The group received ginger alone exerted anti-hyperglycemia and anti-inflammatory effects. However, cinnamon had a moderate anti-diabetic effect and solely probiotics did not show a significant benefit for all parameters except BWG. Conclusion: Cardamom, saffron, and ginger enriched with multi-strain probiotics achieve a synergistic relationship for managing T2D. This finding exhibits a possible new hypothesis to manage diabetes that needs further study.

Cardamom Derived Phytochemicals against Bronchitis Caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae

Phytochemicals from Cardamom plant extract can cure Bronchitis. One of the causes of Bronchitis is an infection of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Molecular docking method applied using “Biovia Discovery Studio”. “High positive values of -CDOCKER energy and -CDOCKER interaction energy” suggested that 4-terpineol can effectively deactivate thymidine phosphorylase enzyme thereby interrupting the life cycle of the organism.

Cardamom Derived Phytochemicals against Mycoplasma pneumonia Causing Bronchitis

Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi in the lungs. Bronchitis is mainly caused by a viral infection and a small number of cases are caused by a bacterial infection like Mycoplasma pneumonia.Cardamom extract is a traditional medicine that is used to treat Bronchitis. The objective of the study is to identify the phytochemical of Cardamom capable of curing pneumonia-like bronchitis Molecular docking method applied using “Biovia Discovery Studio”. “High positive values of -CDOCKER energy and -CDOCKER interaction energy” suggested that acetic acid can effectively deactivate glycerophosphodiester phospho diesterase enzyme thereby interrupting the life cycle of the organism

Cardamom Derived Phytochemicals against Mycobacterium tuberculosis Causing Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a disease caused by severe infections by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a pathogenic bacteria. These bacteria cause infections in humans and thus lead to an unhealthy life. Phytochemicals from cardamom plant extract are traditionally used to cure Tuberculosis. Molecular docking method applied using “Biovia Discovery Studio”. “High positive values of -CDOCKER energy and -CDOCKER interaction energy” suggested that acetic acid can effectively deactivate histidinol dehydrogenase (H37Rv) thereby interrupting the life cycle of the organism

Present and Future Climate Change in Indian Cardamom Hills: Implications for Cardamom Production and Sustainability.

Aims: This paper examines the interactions between climate parameters and cardamom capsule yield and its sustainability in Indian Cardamom Hills. Methodology: Temporal trends were evaluated at annual, seasonal and monthly time scale using Mann-Kendall method. Significant trends were identified at annual, seasonal and monthly scale using two tailed Z-Test. The temporal trends were evaluated using the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test. To quantify the slope we used Sen’s non-parametric estimator of slope. The significance of the test was evaluated using two tailed Z-Test. A p value of <0.05 was used to indicate statistical significance, using two tailed Z test. Results: Climate warming was significant in the recent decades in the Indian Cardamom Hills, which is recognized as one of the ecologically sensitive and biologically diverse areas. Considerable and significant spatial and temporal variations have occurred in the main climatic elements like air temperature, rainfall and relative humidity in the hill region. Significant positive trend in day-night time temperature has been observed and the trend differed from one station to another. Significant increasing trend was also observed for minimum temperature than maximum temperature and this had caused decline in diurnal temperature. Both winter and summer monsoon rainfall as well as high relative humidity had a positive influence on the yield of cardamom. However, the variability in these two types of rainfall was high for the entire region and the trend is negative. The variability of monthly mean precipitation is high for May, December and January under AR4 climate scenario. Conclusion: The sustainable yield of cardamom may be possible only when the winter and summer rainfall variabilities were minimal. Increasing trend of soil temperature from 0-10 cm depth was recorded, which was significant at 5 cm depth and can cause considerable negative implications for sustainable cardamom production both in terms of reduced soil moisture availability and altered pest population dynamics.

Molecular modeling and conformational analysis of native and refolded viral genome-linked protein of Cardamom mosaic virus.

The viral genome-linked protein (VPg) of Potyviruses is covalently attached to the 5’ end of the genomic RNA. Towards biophysical characterization, the VPg coding region of Cardamom mosaic virus (CdMV) was amplified from the cDNA and expressed in E. coli. Most of the expressed VPg aggregated as inclusion bodies that were solubilized with urea and refolded with L-arginine hydrochloride. The various forms of CdMV VPg (native, denatured and refolded) were purified and the conformational variations between these forms were observed with fluorescence spectroscopy. Native and refolded CdMV VPg showed unordered secondary structure in the circular dichroism (CD) spectrum. The model of CdMV VPg was built based on the crystal structure of phosphotriesterase (from Pseudomonas diminuta), which had the maximum sequence homology with VPg to identify the arrangement of conserved amino acids in the protein to study the functional diversity of VPg. This is the first report on the VPg of CdMV, which is classified as a new member of the Macluravirus genus of the Potyviridae family.

Blood pressure lowering, fibrinolysis enhancing and antioxidant activities of Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum).

Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton. (Small cardamom) fruit powder was evaluated for its antihypertensive potential and its effect on some of the cardiovascular risk factors in individuals with stage 1 hypertension. Twenty, newly diagnosed individuals with primary hypertension of stage 1 were administered 3 g of cardamom powder in two divided doses for 12 weeks. Blood pressure was recorded initially and at 4 weeks interval for 3 months. Blood samples were also collected initially and at 4 weeks interval for estimation of lipid profile, fibrinogen and fibrinolysis. Total antioxidant status, however, was assessed initially and at the end of the study. Administration of 3 g cardamom powder significantly (p<0.001) decreased systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure and significantly (p<0.05) increased fibrinolytic activity at the end of 12th week. Total antioxidant status was also significantly (p<0.05) increased by 90% at the end of 3 months. However, fibrinogen and lipid levels were not significantly altered. All study subjects experienced a feeling of well being without any side-effects. Thus, the present study demonstrates that small cardamom effectively reduces blood pressure, enhances fibrinolysis and improves antioxidant status, without significantly altering blood lipids and fibrinogen levels in stage 1 hypertensive individuals.