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Seed germination behaviour of Terminalia paniculata Roth (Combretaceae), an economically important endemic tree to peninsular India
The present study was conducted to investigate the seed germination behaviour of Terminalia paniculata, a commercially important tree component of deciduous forests of Peninsular India. The study included the identification of maturity index to determine the optimum collection period of the most viable seeds with good seed longevity. Species are characterized by very low germinability and poor regeneration status. Observations were made throughout the flowering and fruiting period on selected matured trees. Seed viability was tested at various stages of maturity and seed longevity was evaluated. The results indicated that the 16th week after anthesis with red-colored fruits recorded the maximum viability (2.60% germination) that shows it is the best period for the collection of seeds. Seed emptiness is very high in T. paniculata (4 to 2%) compared to other Terminalia species (low emptiness). Pre-sowing treatments were not effective in enhancing seed germination and viability. Seeds can be stored up to 6 months in an air-tight metallic container at 4oC and 45 ± 5 % relative humidity. The results of the study can be taken as a reference for various other tree improvement programs and further studies.
Development of wound dressing film using methanolic extracts of freshwater microalgae and determining its wound healing ability
Wound healing is a complex process in which bacterial infection is a major cause for delayed wound healing. Occurrence of drug resistance among bacterial pathogens led to discovery of new antimicrobial agents from new sources. The present study aimed to identify microalgal metabolites with antibacterial activity and to develop a wound dressing film with their potential healing activity. Microalgal samples were collected from three different freshwater habitats, isolated, made them pure cultures and physico-chemical properties of water samples from the respective sampling sites were analzed. Among the three microalgal isolates, Chlorella sp. NRMC-F-0350 showed antibacterial activity against clinical isolates of E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. Additionally, functional groups present in Chlorella sp. NRMC-F-0350 were identified using FTIR and GC-MS analysis. Several antibacterial compounds viz. benzoxazole, 1,2 Benzene dicarboxylic acid, sistosterol, 9-Octadecanoic acid, eicosane and hexadecane were identified. Wound dressing films were developed and showed evident antibacterial as well as significant wound healing activity (84.5%). Therefore, the developed films can be used as a potential wound dressing material. 
Varietal identification and fingerprinting of Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) varieties and hybrid using morphological descriptors and SSR markers
Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is the sixth most important cereal crop in the world. The genomic resources available in Pearl millet can be utilized for fingerprinting and screening of hybrids using SSR markers and will be helpful for the assessment of seed purity. Hence, the present study was focused on fingerprint popular pearl millet varieties and hybrids of Tamil Nadu for varietal identification and hybrid purity test. The varieties used for DNA fingerprinting were CO (Cu) 9, CO 10, Pearl Millet hybrid CO 9 along with the parents, A' line ICMA 93111A and R' line PT 6029-30. The morphological features were recorded to screen the cultivars. The Pearl millet hybrid CO 9 scored the highest value for more than four quantitative characters via., Number of productive tillers (4-6), Leaf blade length (60-68cm), Leaf blade width (4.0-4.5cm), number of nodes (8-10), and 1000 seed weight (13-14g) which is at par and comparable with the composite CO 10 and higher than that of the variety CO (Cu) 9. PCR was performed using 36 SSR primers to find out polymorphism among the varieties. The SSR markers ICMP3021 and PSMP2089 were able to selectively identify CO (Cu) 9 from the other varieties. Whereas, the SSR markers ICMP3018, PSMP2219, and PSMP2220 were used to distinguish CO 10 from the other varieties. Further, the CO10 variety produced additional alleles for all the markers due to its composite nature. Among the thirty-six SSR primers screened, none of them were found suitable to distinguish the TNAU hybrid CO 9 from its parents. The unique DNA fingerprints developed in the present study can be utilized for seed purity testing and varietal identification
The regulation of salt and drought stress responses by SDR and its interacting proteins in arabidopsis
The ubiquitin/26S proteasome pathway is key to protein degradation in plants. Its specificity often orchestrated by ubiquitin-protein ligases (or E3s), which facilitate the translocation of ubiquitin to appropriate targets. F-box protein is one of the subunit of E3 ligases SCF (Skp1-Cullin/CDC53-F-box). It has been reported that F-box protein is not only related to plant growth but also abiotic stress. In this study, the protein was found localised in the nucleus and its function was identified. It demonstrated that on salt treatment SDR is involved in salt and drought stress response in Arabidopsis. However, the function of most F-box proteins is unknown. In this paper, the full length of the F-box protein SDR gene was cloned by traditional reverse molecular biology methods, and related transgenic materials were constructed. Bioinformatics analysis of the cis-element of the promoter of F-box protein was used to screen F-box proteins that may be stressed by plants. We found a large number of abiotic stress response elements such as drought stress response elements, salt stress response elements, and heat shock response elements in the promoter sequence upstream of the SDR (At5g15710) gene. The results show that SDR can be induced by ABA, heat shock, and salt, but expression is suppressed under drought treatment
Walking Molar – A radiographic Presentation
Dilaceration is the result of a developmental anomaly in which there has been an abrupt change in the axial inclination between the crown and the root of a tooth. It is seen involving both the permanent and primary dentitions. Root canal curvatures may be apical, gradual, sickle-shaped, severe-moderate-straight curve, bayonet / S-shaped curve and dilacerated curve. Curved root canals exhibit great difficulty in cleaning, shaping and obturation of the root canal system. This mandates routine periapical radiographs which aid the clinician in assessing these morphological variations in the root canal system. This article highlights a rare presentation of dilacerated distal root of left mandibular first molar resembling radiographically as walking molar in 17-year-male patient
Genotypes by environment effect on flowering and seed set in cassava, Manihot esculenta Crantz in Uganda
Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) production has been constrained by biotic and abiotic factors, which could be solved by conventional breeding. However, cassava hybridization is difficult because many genotypes do not flower or set seeds and yet cassava sexual reproduction is essential for breeding programs. Consequently, this study was undertaken to identify agro ecologies in Uganda that best promote cassava flowering and seed set in order to facilitate breeding. Field evaluation of eight genotypes in randomized complete block design with three replications at three agro-ecologies of Uganda for two cropping seasons was conducted. Weather data were monitored and cassava flowering/seed set-related traits were collected at one-month interval commencing from 1.5 Months after planting. Results indicated that varieties previously categorized as high flowering and seed set performed differently than those identified as poor flowering and seed set, although with varying genotypic differences in each environment. Genotypes mean performances, additive main effect and multiplicative interaction and genotype main effect and genotype by environment interaction bi-plots model’ results indicated Rwebitaba in Western savannah grassland agro-ecology and Namulonge-NaCRRI in Lake Victoria Crescent agro-ecology as the most favorable environments for the performance of all the evaluated traits, and season one as the most favorable season. However, the most stable environment for all the evaluated traits was Abi-ZARDI. Conclusively, the high proportion of variation which occurred between genotypes and environments was explained by the genotypic variances. Dry months had poorer cassava flower initiation and development than wet months of the cropping season. Therefore, Abi-ZARDI in North-western savannah grassland agro-ecology and season one could be recommended for the establishment and timing of cassava breeding nursery
The Growth, productivity and nutritional status of Salicornia brachiata Roxb. cultivated in saline soils supplemented with organic manures under sea water irrigation
Halophytic crops are being explored for their nutritional, culinary, oilseed, forage/ feed crop, medicinal, and wastewater treatment potential. Along the Palk Bay region, a short term field experiment was conducted at coastal inlands of Kattumavadi village of Puthukottai district, Tamilnadu during the monsoon season of 2017 to evaluate the cultivation potential of Salicornia brachiata Roxb. in coastal sandy loam soil supplemented with different rates of farmyard manure (FYM) and halophytic compost (HC) irrigated with seawater. Observations recorded in the present study clearly indicated that supplemental fertilizers can play a vital role in the restoration of soil fertility, particularly in terms of available nitrogen and organic carbon in saline soils. HC treated plants showed increased biomass production (3240 Kg ha-1) at 60 DAP compared to control and other treatments. The application of FYM @ 2 ton ha-1 and HC @ 1 ton ha-1 significantly enhanced dry matter production and the proximate analysis exhibited less variation in total phenols and ascorbic acid with the increase in the rates of manure applications
Antigenotoxic potential of gel extract of Aloe vera against Sodium azide genotoxicity in Allium cepa cells: Antigenotoxicity of Aloe vera gel extract
Nowadays, the increasing rate of human exposure to various kinds of environmental mutagens has necessitated the search for natural antimutagens /antigenotoxic agents in natural products. In this study, Aloe vera gel extract was tested for its possible antigenotoxicity following the Allium cepa assay. Ten onions (Allium cepa) per dose were grown for 48 and 72 hours on gel extract of A. vera at 6.25%, 12.5%, 25.0%, 50.0% and 100.0% in combination with sodium azide (0.05mg/ml) solution for microscopic and macroscopic evaluations, respectively. Distilled water and sodium azide were the negative and positive controls, respectively. The cell division in the root tips, and root growth in the exposed A. cepa were inhibited in a dose dependent manner by the mixture of A. vera and sodium azide. However, the mixture of absolute (100.0%) dose and sodium azide completely arrested cell division and induced a lower root length than that recorded for sodium azide alone. The genotoxicity of sodium azide was inversely reduced by the doses of A. vera except at 100.0%. These results show that gel extract of A. vera possesses strong antigenotoxic /antimutagenic potency at lower dose range of 6.25% to 25.0% in A. cepa cells, however, its higher doses above 50.0% to 100.0% could be severely toxic when being considered for suppression of environmental mutagens’ mutagenicity or genotoxicity. This suggests that gel extract of A. vera contains phytochemical(s) that can be useful in the development of anticancer drug
Novel bHLH and WD40 transcription factors from turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) as putative regulators of curcumin biosynthesis
Turmeric, the golden spice belonging to the family Zingiberaceae, is enriched with biologically active curcuminoids composed of curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin. Curcuminoids are phenylpropanoid derivatives, and the biosynthetic pathway is controlled by several transcription factors (TFs). bHLH, WD40 and MYB TFs are the most important TFs regulating phenylpropanoid biosynthesis in plants. Through comparative transcriptome analysis of high and low curcumin germplasm accessions, 20 TFs belonging to the classes bHLH, WD 40, NAC, WRKY and bZIP, which showed differential expression with respect to curcumin, were identified. Among these, two bHLH and one WD40 TFs showed maximum comparative fold change and negative correlation vis-a-vis curcumin content in quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis. The results of comparative transcriptome and qRT-PCR analyses were in congruence, indicating their putative role as negative regulators
Characterization and classification of major coconut growing soils in South Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India
Six soil series representing major coconut growing soils of the Eastern Ghats in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu State, India, were evolved from granite gneiss and alluvium parent materials. Characterization of different soil properties was done using a detailed soil survey at 1:10000 scale. The soils were neutral to moderately alkaline in reaction (7.31 to 9.19), non-saline, poor to moderately well-drained and moderately shallow (<75 cm) to very deep (>150 cm) in depth. The soils were sandy to clay in texture, sub-angular blocky to crumb in structure, dark reddish-brown to brown, very low to high in OC content (0.06 to 2.70%), low to medium in AWC (3.44 to 22.39%), low to high in CEC (4.70 to 54.0 cmol (p+) kg-1) and having high base saturation (77 to 100%). The soils also had sizable amounts of exchangeable sodium (4.29 to 33.46%), which was maximum in P5, P6 and P1, and high clay content in P5 and P2. The distribution of CaCO3 in different depths was found to be maximum in P4 and P1. The soil orders identified in the coconut area were Inceptisols, Entisols, Alfisols and Vertisols. Assessment of soil resources and identification of yield-limiting soils factors on coconut could be by way of better management and improved productivity