Traditional medicinal plants used by tribal communities in Tonk district, Rajasthan

Rajasthan is the third largest state of India. About 80% of the population live in the villages. The main tribes of Rajasthan are Bhil, Meena, Garasia, Saharia, Damor and Kathoudi. The study area comprises of Tonk district of Rajasthan, India which has seven divisions Deoli, Malpura, Todaraisingh, Uniara, Peeplu, Tonk and Newai. Survey method was followed covering five villages of each division. The data were collected through direct interviews with local people, priests, local physician and gardeners. A detailed questionnaire was designed and written in Hindi for the baseline study following standardised procedures. The tribal communities use plants and plant products in their day to day life, however there is a gap in knowledge in the younger generation. A total of 147 species belonging to 62 vascular plant families are reported. From these 145 species were reported to be used for medicinal applications, 135 species of which were used to treat more than one disease and remaining 8 species were used to treat only one disease. The most widely used plant part is leaves (95 species) and the, most common mode of application is oral (39.65%). The traditional knowledge about the plants can be used to produce to new products for medicinal use, food and fodder

Isolation and characterization of Rhizobium sp. from a collar rot tolerant groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) variety

Groundnut, a major pulse crop, is prone to fungal diseases especially collar rot at seed germination and early seedling stage. In the present study, symbiotic bacteria was isolated and characterised from a collar rot resistant groundnut variety, Mallika and identified as Rhizobium pongamiae following biochemical and molecular characterization (NCBI Acc. No. MK770416). The bacterial isolate on cross inoculation, may be useful in improving crop productivity and enhancing collar rot disease tolerance in susceptible crops

Evaluation of mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] varieties under water deficit stress

Legumes are the most important source of food and fodder but due to climatic changes and global warming; crops are consistently exposed to environmental stresses such as low water shortage, high salinity, mineral toxicity and deficiency, extreme temperatures, etc. Drought is undoubtedly the major constraint limiting plant growth and crop productivity worldwide. The present study was conducted to assess the effect of drought on the growth of plant and productivity in three different mungbean varieties [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] i.e. IPM 02-3, RMG 975 and IPM 02-14. The studied varieties exhibited significant variation in plant height, root length, pod length, pods/plant, fresh weight of shoot, root and nodule, dry weight of shoot, root and nodule, number of leaves/plant, plant leaf area, relative leaf water content (RLWC) and initiation day of flowering. The effect of drought can better seen at the flowering stage and pod development stage that ultimately reduces crop productivity. The deleterious effect of drought in terms of morpho-physiological properties studied as above was more prominent in the variety IPM 02-14 in comparison to RMG 975 and IPM 02-3. It can be concluded that varieties IPM 02-3 and RMG 975 are better adapted to drought condition

Biochemical response of three Vigna mungo varieties (T9, RBU38 and VM4) under drought stress

Plants apply several strategies that are developed during their evolution and artificial domestication to overcome biotic and abiotic stresses. Among eminent environmental threats drought stress is a major factor that affects plants at physiological, biochemical and molecular level. Blackgram (Vigna mungo) is an important pulse crop but its productivity is adversely affected by drought. In the present work, different cultivars of blackgram i.e. T9, RBU38 and VM4 are taken to find out the effects of drought stress by the estimation of different biochemical parameters to better understand biochemical pathway modulations under stress and its possible mitigation. Damage to photosynthetic machinery as evident by decrease in chlorophyll content and loss of membrane integrity in the plants under drought stress. The adverse effects of drought on the plants were averted to a certain extent in RBU38 by activation of defence signalling through H2O2 at lower concentration, which proved damaging at high concentration for T9 and VM4 and a concurrent increase in proline content which may provide protection against oxidative stress. This study suggests that drought modulated biochemical parameters can be used as reliable indices for selection of genotypes with a better stress tolerance

Drought stress mitigation in Vigna radiata by the application of root-nodulating bacteria

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) facilitates plant growth and are of potential use as bio-fertilizer. Pulses are an important protein source in the vegetarian diet and being legumes harbour members of the Rhizobiaceae that form symbiotic relationships and nodules involved in nitrogen fixation. Vigna radiata is one such pulse crop popular in India. Nodulating bacteria were also found to mitigate biotic and abiotc stress and may be used as an alternative to chemical fertilizer for a sustainable agriculture. Here, we review rhizobial species isolated from V. radiata that have offered an efficient drought stress tolerance.&nbsp

Survivability and plant growth promoting traits of Rhizobium aegyptiacum under the stress of fungicides and insecticides

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) production relies heavily on chemical fertilizers and pesticides which have several drawbacks. Biofertilizers provide an eco-friendly alternative, however, growth of the bio-inoculant is often hindered by the chemical residues of insecticides and fungicides present in the soil. In this study, we evaluated the growth of a potential plant growth-promoting bacterium Rhizobium aegyptiacum, in the presence of the fungicide bavistin (50% carbendazim) and the insecticide chlorpyriphos 20 EC.  A decrease in the growth of R. aegyptiacum was observed with increase in concentration of the fungicide and the insecticide. A 33.7% of growth reduction was observed under 3 times of the recommended dose of carbendazim. Likewise, in the presence of chlorpyriphos 20 EC, 10.6, 21.7 and 50.01% growth was inhibited at 1X, 2X and 3X of recommended dose, respectively. In the absence of fungicide and insecticide, the phosphate solubilization index was determined to be 3.21, which reduced to 2.53 under 3X chlorpyriphos treatment and 2.90 under 3X carbendazim treatments. The lowest IAA production (17.8 μg mL-1) was observed in 3X chlorpyriphos treatment. HCN production was also detected in the presence of both insecticide and fungicide.  Thus, R. aegyptiacum was found to retain phosphate solubilization, HCN production and IAA production capacity in the presence of up to three times the recommended dosage of the bavistin and chlorpyriphos 20 EC.  R. aegyptiacum can be recommended as bio-inoculum in chickpea cultivation in agricultural fields contaminated with high concentrations of insecticides and pesticides. &nbsp

Bryology in India - Retrospect and Prospects

Bryology in India has seen remarkable progress starting with Kashyaps’ pioneering work, as reflected in its greatly improved multi-faceted research. This article summarizes some important developments in Indian bryology. Attention is drawn to the negligence of taxonomy in general and of the lower groups of plants in particular studies on bryophytes

Isolation and Characterization of Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria from Root Nodules of Cicer arientinum L.

Aims: The aim of the present study is to isolate and characterize root nodulating bacteria from Cicer arientinum L cv. GNG 1958 and assess its plant growth promoting properties. The study is based on previous reports that native symbiotic bacteria may be replaced by better performing strains by corss-inoculation to increase productivity and tolarance to Biotic and abiotic stresses. Study Design:  Isolation of symbiotic bacteria, its biochemical and molecular characterization and assessment of plant growth promoting property through ammonia production, phosphate solubilization and HCN production. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan, during 2019-2022. Methodology: Root nodulating bacterial strain was isolated from C. arientinum L. cv. GNG 1958 grown at the agricultural fields' located at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Banasthali Vidypapith, Rajasthan. Morphological characteristics of the isolates were noted following Bergey’s Manual of Systemic Bacteriology and biochemical tests performed as per standard methods. Molecular characterization of the potential symbiont was performed by PCR of 16s rRNA genes and the PCR product was sequenced. Plant growth promoting property was determined through ammonia production, phosphate solubilization and HCN production. Results: Root nodulating bacterial strain was isolated from C. arientinum L.cv. GNG 1958. Out of eighteen isolates, BVCA-58 grew fast and  changed the color of BTB dye in media from green to yellow and deep yellow within 2 days of incubation. White colonies were observed when BVCA-58 was inoculated on YEMA media supplemented with Congo red. BVCA-58 has the ability to produce hydrogen cyanide, ammonia and solubilize phosphate. Molecular study of BVCA-58 using 16f-16r and 63f-1244r primers showed 99.89% and 99.62% of similarity with Mesorhizobium jarvisii ATCC-33669 and Mesorhizobium erdmanii USDA-3471 respectively on performing NCBI Blast. BVCA-58 was submitted to NCBI portal as Mesorhizobium sp. strain BVCA-58 with accession nos. OP646813 and OP646810. Conclusion: The present study revealed that isolated strain from Cicer arientinum GNG 1958 variety was Mesorhizobium sp. which has potent plant growth promoting traits

Isolation and Molecular Characterization of Collar Rot Causing Pathogen Aspergillus niger on Groundnut in Rajasthan, India

Groundnut, a major pulse crop also grown as an oil seed over 90 countries worldwide, is important to the Indian economy. The states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu are the main producers of groundnut. In 2021, disease incidence with symptoms similar to collar rot was reported from Jaipur district of Rajasthan. The fungal strain was isolated from the collar region of susceptible groundnut variety TAG-24. White colonies with mycelia were observed in 3-4 days which eventually turned dark brown in color. Pathogenicity tests were performed on healthy groundnut and collar rot symptoms developed within 7-8 days of inoculation. Sequencing of PCR products amplified with the18S rRNA (NS1F-NS8R) and ITS (NS1F-ITS4R) primers indicated  99.4% and 100% identity respectively with a reference strain of Aspergillus niger CBS 554.65 (ATCC 16888) in the NCBI-Genebank database. Based on the morphological and molecular characteristics, the fungal pathogen was identified as Aspergillus niger and submitted to Gene Bank with the accession nos. ON954789 and OQ653131. The the culture is submitted to NCMR-NCCS (accession number MCC 9892)