Journal of Applied and Natural Science
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Accumulation efficiency of sunflower for lead and cadmium along with sustainable crop productivity under soil stress
Get PDFBy nature coastal saline soils having several constraints in crop production in addition to that of heavy metals contamination deteriorate the soil productivity. To restore these contaminated soils, various remediation techniques in practices must be revamped. The present study was conducted to enhance the accumulation of heavy metals lead and cadmium in sunflower and improve the crop productivity using organic and inorganic soil amendments along with NPK fertilizers in completely randomized design. Soil samples were admitted to estimating soil physico chemical properties and DTPA extractable lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) and plant samples analyzed for DTPA extractable Pb and Cd concentrations under ICP-OES. The physico-chemical properties and DTPA extractable Pb and Cd concentrations were significantly influenced by amendments. Sunflower exhibited significant differences concerning accumulation of Pb and Cd against amendments tested along with higher biomass production. Higher shoot and root concentration of Pb(0.72,0.81 and 0.94,0.97 mg kg-1) and Cd (1.78, 2.32 and 0.35,0.32 mg kg-1)were recorded in the treatment RDF + EDTA, which was followed by RDF + Potassium humate and RDF + Zeolite application at 45 DAS and at harvest. Remediation efficiency of sunflower increased by application of RDF + EDTA through enhanced solubility of Pb and Cd in soil and thus increased Pb and Cd accumulation in root and shoot of sunflower. Whereas, the application of RDF+ FYM or press mud reduced the bioavailability of Pb and Cd in soil and thus restricted the accumulation of Pb and Cd by sunflower. Further, application of NPK fertilizers maintained the availability of nutrients and enhanced the yield of sunflower. The application of EDTA along with NPK fertilizer enhanced the bioaccumulation of lead and cadmium by sunflower without yield loss. Since, there is a possibility to cause leaching of HMs to ground water by EDTA. Hence, RDF plus Potassium humate or Zeolite can be recommended for lead and cadmium removal by sunflower in coastal saline soils with no loss in crop productivity
Growth, reproduction and food habit of an invasive species of Carassius auratus in the Al-Diwaniya River, Middle of Iraq
Get PDFCarassius auratus is an invasive species that has successfully established populations throughout Iraq. Unfortunately there is no information available regarding the biological properties of the species in Al-Diwaniya River, Middle Euphrates, Iraq. So growth, reproduction and food habit of C. auratus were investigated in this river from November 2016 to October 2017. Length groups of the fishes from 19 to 21cm were prevailing the catch and formed 30.8%. Length-weight relationship was calculated as W= 0.013L 3.129 for all individuals, with allometric growth. The condition of the fish increased in early spring. The maximum age recorded was 5 years with 30.1 cm. The parameters to the von Bertalanffy growth curve fitted to mean total lengths at age were L?= 43.0, K= 0.225 and to= - 0.412. The index of growth performance (?) was 2.612. The unbalanced overall ratio of males to females was 1:3.81. Higher values of gonado-somatic index (GSI) for males and females occurred in early spring. C. auratus is an herbivorous, with a diet that includes algae (52.6%), macrophytes (22.0%), diatoms (15.8%), crustacean (4.8%) and aquatic insects (4.8%). Our results highlighted basic biological aspects of the invasive C. auratus which can assist in fisheries management and conservation of the fish species in Al-Diwaniya river. 
Isolation and purification of anticoagulant enzymes from plant latex
Get PDFThe plant latex is a complex mixture of organic, inorganic and hydrolytic enzymes such as proteases which acts as anticoagulant and finds its uses in surgeries, heart diseases and blood clot treatment. In the present study, latex was collected from Euphorbia milii, Jatropha malacophylla, Thevetia peruviana, Euphorbia pulcherimma and Artocarpus altilis to evaluate the best source of anticoagulant enzyme though four other plants were originally screened as well but failed to show the enzyme. Among the five, A. altilis and J. malacophylla showed the highest anticoagulant activity by milk clotting, blood clotting and APTT assay. The samples were subjected to three-step purification, i.e., salt precipitation, dialysis, ion exchange and gel filtration. The fold purification of A. altilis was found to be 5.37 and 2.31 for J. malacophylla respectively after the gel filtration. The percentage of yield of A. altilis was found to be 63.23% and 26.4% for J. malacophylla. Molecular weight of J. malacophylla sample and A. altilis was found to be ~80kDa and ~105kDa respectively, determined by SDS PAGE. Both enzymes showed optimum activity at pH 7. A. altilis showed optimum activity at 35°C, incubation time of 40 minutes, substrate concentration of 60mM, with MgCl2 as activator the activity increased at 600?L and with EDTA as inhibitor the activity increased at 400?L. J. malacophylla showed optimum activity at 45°C, incubation time of 10 minutes, substrate concentration of 80mM and stable at 35 °C which is the human body temperature. A. altilis showed optimum conditions for human administration making it therapeutically viable
Combination of Trichoderma viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens for the enhanced control of Fusarium wilt disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum infecting Arachis hypogaea L.
Get PDFFusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum is a devastating disease of peanut. The fungus causes severe yield loss in groundnut. Combinations of biocontrol agents that are compatible with each other is a viable approach to control the plant disease. The study was conducted to determine the beneficiary aspects of combining different species of Trichoderma and Pseudomonasfluorescens i.e Trichoderma viride+Pseudomonas fluorescens (Tv+Pf), Trichoderma harzianum+Pseudomonas fluorescens (Th+Pf) and Trichoderma viride +Trichoderma harzianum (Tv+Th) to control the Fusarium wilt in biochemicalparameters such as DNA, RNA, Amino nitrogen, phenols, dihydroxy and proline contents of Arachis hypogaea.L. Among the three combinations tested, Trichoderma viride + Pseudomonas fluorescens (1+2%) sprayed leaves provided greater suppression of Fusariumoxysporum by increasing the levels of DNA,RNA,Amino nitrogen contents resulting in the suppression of Fusarium wilt disease of Arachis hypogaea L.Maximum reduction of DNA, RNA, Amino nitrogen was observed in the infected Fusariumoxysporumleaves Phenol, Dihydroxy phenols and proline contents increase sharply in the treated plants treated with (Tv+Pf) as compared to the control plants. At the same time the other two combinations resulted in enhanced control in comparison with individual ones. This present study indicates that specific combination of Trichoderma viride and Pseudomonas fluorescens could have the greater efficacy in the inhibition of pathogen in the biocontrol of Fusarium wilt disease as compared with individual strains
Development and sensory evaluation of value added bakery products developed from germinated soybean (Glycine max) varieties
Get PDFSoybean based bakery products were prepared by supplementing germinated soybean varieties namely SL 525, SL 744 and SL 958 with refined flour at different substitution levels and were organoleptically evaluated using nine-point hedonic rating scale for sensory attributes like appearance, color, texture, flavor, taste and overall acceptability by a semi-trained panel of 10 judges (panel included Professors and Assistant Professors). Incorporation of germinated soybean flour at 10, 20 and 30 percent levels showed both significant and non-significant difference (p<0.05) for products namely biscuits, muffins, bread, donuts and tarts for overall acceptability. Among varieties, biscuits were highly acceptable at 20 percent for SL 744 with score 8.0. Supplementation of 10 percent was highly acceptable and the scores for overall acceptability for muffins (8.42), donuts (8.0) of SL 958 and bread (8.01) of SL 525 were achieved. Tarts were highly acceptable at 20 percent supplementation in SL 525 with overall acceptability of 7.93. It may be concluded that soybean flour can be an economical alternative for refined flour in bakery products for future industrial commercialization. Further awareness regarding nutrient composition and utilization of the germinated soybean flour in the daily diet needs to be generated
Nutrient requirement, canopy development and fruit yield of high density guava (Psidium guajava L.) production in subtropics of Northern Karnataka
Get PDFNutrient requirement for guava under high density planting is much higher than normal planting. Combined application of organic manures and chemical fertilizers will enhance nutrient use efficiency. The field experiment was carried out at Raichur, Karnataka, India during 2017 to standardize rate of fertilizers and organic manures for Guava (Psidium guajava L.) cv. Allahabad safeda under high density planting. Treatments consists of application of fertilizers for normal planting compared with 100:40:75 g NPK/plant as recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF), 75% and 50% of high density planting (HDP) along with 25 kg farmyard manure, organic manure alone and foliar application of urea @ 1 % at 2,3 and 4 months after pruning. Results indicated that application of NPK@ 235: 118: 120 g per plant as per the RDF for HDP along with 25 kg FYM has resulted in taller plants, plant spread E-W as well as N-S directions, canopy volume and leaf area index. Higher fruits/plant, average fruit weight, fruit diameter, fruit length, fruit yield per plant and fruit yield (48.58 t ha-1) was recorded by application of NPK@ 235: 118: 120 g per plant same as that of HDP along with 25 kg FYM. Application of 50 % of HDP recommendation along with foliar application of urea @ 1% at 2, 3 and 4 months after pruning and 25 kg FYM was also found effective in achieving higher fruit yield of guava
Biomedical waste generation, composition and management: A case study of Shree Maharaja Gulab Singh Hospital (SMGS) Shalamar, Jammu (J&K)
Get PDFFor the life, health and general well-being, good medical care play vital role and hospitals are health institutions that provide these services. Wastes generated from the hospitals, medical care units, blood banks and medical laboratory is called biomedical waste. Proper management of biomedical waste is important for good health of not only the patients but also for residents living in the vicinity of hospitals. The present study, has been made to study biomedical waste management in SMGS Hospital Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir). The average biomedical waste per bed per day of SMGS Hospital was observed to be 116.37g, whereas maximum value of average biomedical waste per bed per day was observed to be 315.61g in Gynecology and Obstetric, 68.34g in ENT wards, 37.28g in Paedriatic wards and 44.27g in Dermatology wards The average per bed per day biomedical waste generation in SMGS hospital appears to be is less as compared with work of other workers because their evaluations were based on Biomedical Waste (Management and Handing) Rules, 1998 in which both infectious and non-infectious waste were included whereas present study was based on Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules which included only infectious waste
Trichoderma: A part of possible answer towards crop residue disposal
Get PDFIndia is one of the leading countries in agricultural production and generate large volume of crop residue. Increasing demand for food grains due to growing population leads to generation of crop residues. Due to lack of proper disposal mechanism of crop residue, farmers burn the residue which release greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere, and poses great threat to environment as well as human health. The residue burning causes greater carbon emission and nutrient losses which otherwise incorporated into the soil system may substantially improve the soil biodiversity. Besides several practices of crop residue management, the most feasible method for farmers is incorporation of residue into the soil with the inoculation of microbes. In soil system the ability of microbial community in degrading organic substances is well known. In the early stages of residue decomposition simple substrates like carbohydrates are degraded by bacteria, but in later stages degradation of complex constituents viz., cellulose, lignin needs microbes which are capable of secreting enzymes like cellulase, acting on complex organic substrates. In this context, cellulolytic micro organisms like Trichoderma have the potential and emerging as an important microbial inoculants to enhance the rate of decomposition as well as alleviate the effect of residue burning
Progress and prospects of glucosinolate pathogen resistance in some brassica plants
Get PDFPlants are constantly defending themselves against an array of assaults by pathogenic organisms. This has led to the evolution of precise and elaborate chemical defense systems involving glucosinolates (GSLs) in cruciferous plants. These GSLs and their hydrolysis products are biologically active and are implicated as enabling formidable plant defense processes in certain economically important members of Brassicaceae like broccoli, cabbage and mustard seed. This review provides a comprehensive report of how indole and aliphatic GSLs mitigate incidents of plant pathogenesis. By evaluating the roles of GSLs in plant-pathogen interaction of some brassica plants, this review highlights the associated mechanism that culminates in disease suppression. Moreover, seven economically important brassica pathogens were reviewed in terms of their ability to disrupt proper plant functioning as well as the mechanisms by which GSLs and their hydrolysis products in Brassica lower the susceptibility to them. Future perspectives of the application of GSLs in plant pathogen resistance using advanced molecular techniques are also discussed
Lichen diversity of Padder Valley Kishtwar (J&K), India
Get PDFLichens are one of the most successful group of organisms and form an important aspect of biodiversity of any region. But still lichens are under explored in most of regions. The present work has been carried out in Padder Valley, Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). A thorough survey of the lichen diversity from all the possible habitats was conducted in the study area which indicated the presence of 110 species belonging to 54 genera and 23 families. Parmiliaceae has been recorded as the largest family (16 genera, 27 species) and is followed by Physciaceae (8 genera, 14 species). Four families have been observed to be monotypic. Lecanora has been recorded as dominant genera with 7 species followed by Peltigera with 5 species. Corticolous was most preferred substratum exhibited by 61 species while foliose was the most dominant type of growth form represented by 52 species. The study has added 94 lichen taxa as new records for district Kishtwar and is first of its kind in Padder Valley, J&K