ABSTRACT
Aims: The present study was aimed at investigating the phytoconstituents in order to correlate the folkloric claims with the bioactive compounds present in Casuarina equisetifolia. Also evaluate the antioxidant, antibacterial and cytotoxic property of Casuarina equisetifolia. Methodology: In the present study, the leaf extracts were investigated for different phytochemical groups using specified reagents. Antioxidant activity by following DPPH free radical scavenging study, antibacterial activity by disc diffusion method and cytotoxic activity by Brine shrimp (Artemia salina) lethality bioassay procedures. Results: The qualitative phytochemical screening revealed that the extract contains alkaloids, glycosides, tannins, steroids, etc. The extract showed strong antioxidant activity in DPPH free radical scavenging study (IC50: 25.89μg/mL), while, it showed moderate cytotoxic activity in Brine shrimp (Artemia salina) lethality bioassay study (LC50: 77.98μg/mL). It also showed mild antibacterial activity against both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. Conclusion: The present study tends to suggest the antioxidant, cytotoxic and mild antibacterial activity of MeOH extract of Casuarina equisetifolia.
ABSTRACT
Casuarina equisetifolia Forst. is a tree crop that provides fuel wood, land reclamation, dune stabilization, and scaffolding for construction, shelter belts, and pulp and paper production. C. equisetifolia fixes atmospheric nitrogen through a symbiotic relationship with Frankia, a soil bacterium of the actinobacteria group. The roots of C. equisetifolia produce root nodules where the bacteria fix atmospheric nitrogen, which is an essential nutrient for all plant metabolic activities. However, rooted stem cuttings of elite clones of C. equisetifolia by vegetative propagation is being planted by the farmers of Pondicherry as costeffective method. As the vegetative propagation method uses inert material (vermiculite) for rooting there is no chance for Frankia association. Therefore after planting of these stocks the farmers are applying 150 kg of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP)/acre/year. To overcome this fertilizer usage, the Frankia-inoculated rooted stem cuttings were propagated under nursery conditions and transplanted in the nutrient-deficient soils of Karaikal, Pondicherry (India), in this study. Under nursery experiments the growth and biomass of C. equisetifolia rooted stem cuttings inoculated with Frankia showed 3 times higher growth and biomass than uninoculated control. These stocks were transplanted and monitored for their growth and survival for 1 year in the nutrient-deficient farm land. The results showed that the rooted stem cuttings of C. equisetifolia significantly improved growth in height (8.8 m), stem girth (9.6 cm) and tissue nitrogen content (3.3 mg g−1) than uninoculated controls. The soil nutrient status was also improved due to inoculation of Frankia.
ABSTRACT
In this research, Casuarina eguisetifolia Linn was used to verify the broadly suitability of DNA bar-codes in identification of Li-medicine plants and systematic development of species. The genomic DNA of 22 samples collected C. eguisetifolia and its adulterants were amplified by 4 pairs of primers respectively (ITS (inter-nal transcribed spacer), ITS2 (internal transcribed spacer 2), trnH-psbA , rbcL) and sequenced bi-directionally. Obtained sequences were assembled using CodonCode Aligner. The dates were analysised using MEGA5.1 in ac-cordance with the kimura 2-parameter (K2P) model. The neighbor-joining (NJ) phylogenetic trees were construct-ed. Our study demonstrated the efficacy of ITS/ITS2 to distinguish between C. eguisetifolia and other adulterants species at the molecular level. Comparative to the primer of trnH-psbA and rbcL, there was a obviously DNA gap. The NJ trees showed that the several species of Casuarina can be classified to same types to show a obvi-ously monophyly, which the nearest family was Guttiferae. Therefore, ITS/ITS2 regions can accurately distinguish the original plant of Li-medicine. The systematic evolution of Casuarina can be verified in the molecular level.