Journal of Applied and Natural Science
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Toxic effects of endosulfan on cholesterol levels of liver, brain and gills of stinging catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis
Get PDFStinging catfish Heteropneustes fossilis exposed to different concentrations of an organochlorine pesticide endosulfan under static conditions, revealed statistically significant increase in cholesterol contents of liver, brain and gill tissues even at the lowest concentration (0.0010 mg/l). Fish also elicited behavioral changes due to pesticide toxicity. Hypercholesterolemia appeared to be due to stress induced metabolic alterations caused by intoxication
Ethyl Methane Sulphonate induced morphological variations in mulberry (Morus) variety M5
Get PDFPresent investigation deal with the study of mutagenic effect of Ethyl Methane Sulphonate (EMS) on mulberry variety M5. The results revealed that at 0.4% EMS treatment, height of the plant and leaf area were considerably increased. Stem dichotomy, fusion of leaves, increase in thickness, change in texture of leaves and occurrence of albino and xantha were common in 0.3% EMS treated plants in M1 generation
Increase in intracellular proline content in Anabaena variabilis during stress conditions
Get PDFThe present study deals with the effects of stress due to varying concentrations of sodium chloride, cadmium, pH and exposure to pesticides on intracellular proline accumulation in Anabaena variabilis in laboratory conditions. The stresses induced due to these changes in their growth media were expressed as decrease in growth (by 40% at pH 5; 30% at 50 mM NaCl; 80% at 50 ?M endosulphan and 55% at 10 ?M CdSO4) as measured in terms of chlorophyll a concentrations in the test organism. Low pH (5, 6) had stronger negative effect on growththan increasing alkaline pH. The cyanobacterium showed varying degree of susceptibility to increasing salt, cadmium and endosulphan concentrations. Under all these altered conditions, their intracellular proline concentration was found to increase linearly in the test organism with increase in its amount of stress inducing substances in its vicinity. Proline appears to be a stress provoked substance in A. variabilis. However, there seemed to be a breakdown in the proline synthesis mechanism when concentrations of such compounds reached toxic proportions
Antimicrobial effect of Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standley, against certain bacteria and fungal strains
Get PDFThis study was performed to evaluate the antibacterial and antifungal potency of Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standley, commonly known as bottle gourd belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae. Petroleum Ether, Chloroform, Methanol, Absolute alcohol and Water showed a majority of the compound including Steroids, Alkaloids, Tannins, Flavonoids, Lactones and Carbohydrates. All the five extracts were prepared by using soxhlet apparatus and the extracts showed moderate to potent antimicrobial activity against the bacterial strains: Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Klebsiella pneumonia, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus and antifungal strains: such as Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus oryzae and Trichoderma harzianum
Effect of vehicular pollution on Duranta repens L. in Jammu City
Get PDFExperimental potted plants of Duranta repens has been exposed to air pollution at major traffic crossings-Amphalla chowk, Dogra chowk, Bikram chowk, Satwari chowk of Jammu city and also inside University Campus in the department which has been taken as a reference site. Sets of 10 plants were kept at each site and analyzed for various micro morphological, anatomical and biochemical parameters to assess the changes due to air pollution. Analysis of data revealed that micro-morphological parameters viz. stomatal frequency, epidermal cell frequency increased significantly while others like size of the stomata, epidermal cells and length, breadth ratio of the epidermal cells decreased significantly in plants kept at polluted location. All the anatomical parameters such as thickness of midrib region, midrib adjoining region, spongy tissue, upper epidermis and vascular bundles decreased significantly in exposed plants. Among biochemical parameters chlorophyll b decreases significantly while ascorbic acid increases significantly. Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) has also been calculated and found to increase significantly in plants kept at polluted location which indicate that the Duranta repens serve as sink to air pollutants and can be effectively employed for phyto-monitoring auto exhaust pollution along the road side of the busy traffic ways
Differential effects of pesticides on soil microflora in cultivated soil of Indian rice field agro-ecosystems
Get PDFThe present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of indiscriminant use of common pesticides especially insecticide on the population of soil micro flora in cultivated soil of Indian rice field agro-ecosystems. Endosulfan and Dichlorvos @ 1ml/l (normal dose) did not show any adverse effect on soil micro flora; but a high dose 2ml/l showed a negative effect. On the other hand Carbofuran @ 9 kg/acre (normal dose) and 12kg/ acre (high dose) showed an adverse effect on the growth of actinomycetes, bacteria and fungi. The important findings of the present study is that the effect on microbes by applying insecticides reflects the ecological imbalance of microbes in cultivated soil and hamper the microbial equilibrium to some extent. The study focused that the uses of the pesticides as a plant protection agent occasionally hamper the growth of soil micro flora in cultivated rice field
Indian marsh mugger and its tunnel residency behavioural patterns in a sanctuary premises in Haryana, India
Get PDFThe present studies endeavour to focus attention on the Tunnel behavior of Indian Marsh Mugger in “Bhor Sainda Crocodile Sanctuary” in Kurukshetra district of Haryana state in India. The Sanctuary premises are spread over an area of about 25-30 Acres with a good marshy land and a central earth mound which is having 12-15 tunnels. Observations reveal that Indian Marsh Mugger is accustomed to spend time in Tunnels during the night without any exception in normal conditions. However, if the tunnels are damaged due to one or the other reason,then Muggers may compulsively stray in the open during night time. All the tunnels are seldom in use at any given time.Tunnels are necessarily used for eggs laying by the females. Tunnels are in very bad shape in this Sanctuary.Tunnels are scattered on the earth mound all across with no specific pattern or style. However, most of the tunnels are located in the centre of the earth mound. Tunnels were in very good position during 1985-1990. However, now these tunnels are in very bad shape. Most of these are now stuffed with debris and appear defunct. These have directly affected the hatching of eggs which are necessarily laid in tunnels by muggers at this Sanctuary site
Antimicrobial activity in leaf, seed extract and seed oil of Jatropha curcas L. plant
Get PDFThe study on antibacterial and antifungal efficacy of leaf and seed extract and seed oil of Jatropha curcas reveals that the inhibition zones ranged from 7 to 22 mm for antibacterial and from 10 to 20 mm for antifungal activity. Among all extracts tested, seed extract showed significant activity while leaf extract showed intermediate activity against gram-positive bacteria. In case of gram-negative bacteria, seed extract and seed oil has shown some moderate activity whereas, no activity was observed in leaf extract. In case of fungal cultures, among all test extracts only seed extract showed significant activity against Mucor and Tilletia fungus, while in case of Rhizopus no activity was observed against all test extracts. These results indicated the possibility of using Jatropha extract and seed oil for medicinal uses and natural food preservation
Growth response of black velvet tamarind (Dialium guineense Willd) seedling to different potting media
Get PDFThe response in growth and development of seedlings of Dialium guineense to different potting media was studied in the screen house. Five potting media: River sand (Rs), Top soil (Ts), Poultry manure (Pm), Rice husk (Rh) and Oil palm refuse bunch (OPRB) were used. They were evaluated as sole treatments and in combination with river sand (Rs) in different ratios (1:1, 1:2, 2:5 and 5:2) respectively. Altogether, twenty one (21) potting media types were evaluated. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) in three replications. Data were collected on monthly basis for plant growth parameters, while shoot and root dry weight were measured at the end of the experiment. On the average the seedlings of D. guineense responded best on the Rs + Ts 1:2 growth medium in number of leaves (16.67), stem girth (0.31 cm), number of nodes (11.67), shoot dry weight (1.24 g) and root dry weight (0.50 g). Rs + Ts 1:2 was followed by Rs + Pm 1:1 and Ts sole respectively with respect to the growth parameters evaluated and were not significantly (p 0.05) from one another, but were significantly (p < 0.05) different from other media and their combinations with river sand
Effect of different fractions of Hibiscus rosa sinensis leaf extract on islets of Langerhans and antioxidant activity in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse
Get PDFThe present investigation was undertaken to study the effect of Hibiscus rosa sinensis leaf extract fractions on islets of Langerhans, total antioxidant activity in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse. Two sets of experiments were conducted. First experiment was designed to test the hypoglycemic properties of different isolated fractions. Five fractions were screened for hypoglycemic property. Fractions F3, F4 and F5 showed hypoglycemic in NOD mice. Second set of experiment was conducted to assess the effects of above fractions on the diameter of islets of Langerhans and on the â-cells number and total antioxidant capacity (TAC). All the fractions had a significant effect in the enhancement of diameter of islets of Langerhans and the â-cell number and antioxidant active (total antioxidant capacity) compared with control NOD mice