Heterosis and inbreeding depression to identify superior F1 hybrids in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) for the yield and its contributing traits

Eight parental lines of diverse origin of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) were crossed in 8 × 8 diallel mating design excluding reciprocals. The 28 F1 hybrids along with their parents and one standard check (H-86) were evaluated in a randomized block design with three replications during seasons of rabi 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14. In the present study, revealed that heterosis over better parent, mid parent, standard check and inbreeding depression was observed for all the traits under studies. Highly significant heterosis was observed for days to first flowering (-13.49, -13.52 and -12.28%), number of flowers per cluster (17.90, 22.11 and 24.27%), days to first harvest (-8.01, -11.04 and -9.76%), number of fruit per cluster (39.17, 42.71 and 20.71%), fruit diameter (19.93, 31.43 and 13.27%), fruit length (19.29, 22.34 and 13.35%), Average fruit weight (18.88, 19.41 and 7.80%), number of fruits per plant (25.86, 46.69 and 41.87%) and yield per plant (58.61, 75.61 and 56.33%) over the better, mid and standard parents, respectively along with considerable inbreeding depression. Most promising cross Pant T-3 × H-24 showed highly significant positive heterosis over better parent for yield per plant

Estimation of combining ability analysis in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) for yield, nutritional and processing quality improvement

Combining ability for yield and nutritional quality traits in tomato were studied by involving 28 cross combi-nations obtained from crossing 8 diverse lines in diallel mating fashion. Based on GCA effects of parents, the varie-ties Pant T-3, Arka Alok and Sel-7 were good general combiners for most of the traits under study. The crosses viz., Pant T-3 x H-24 (1.052%), Arka Meghali x Punjab Chhuhara (0.768%) and H-88-78-1 x Azad T-5 (0.768%) were found to be high positive specific combining ability effect for yield per plant. For quality traits, the crosses Arka Me-ghali x Punjab Chhuhara and H-24 x Sel-7 were also superior specific combiner for number of seeds per fruit and ascorbic acid, while cross Punjab Chhuhara x H-88-78-1 was superior specific combiner for number of seeds per fruit (24.165%), yield per plant (0.677%) and titrable acidity (0.183%). These elite hybrids may be tested for yield and other quality traits under different agro-climatic conditions for commercial exploitation of hybrid vigour

TYPES OF DISABILITY AS PER RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ACT, 2016: A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE

Education is an essential part of modern, civilized, advanced and developed society and its progress can never be completed and multidimensional, today when we talk about education, the shape of inclusive education comes to the fore. Due to which normal and disabled get education by sitting at the same table in a school together. Without inclusive education, the education of disabled cannot be given in full and real shape. In the 21st century, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 came into force, which led to the development of a new consciousness among disabled (Divyangjan, 2021). Under which making disabled aware, bringing disabled into the mainstream of society through inclusive education, use of educational technology, barrier free environment, categorizing the existing 7 to 21 types of disability and increasing many services operates.  Article visualizations

TRADITIONAL DIETARY PATTERN OF INDIAN FOOD AND ITS SCIENTIFIC BASIS: AN OVERVIEW

India is a country where different type of languages, culture & food habits are in use. There is tremendous regional diversity in their daily diets. Indian cuisine reflects a more than 5,000 year history of various groups and cultures interacting with the subcontinent, leading to diversity of flavors and regional cuisines found in modern-day India. Dietary pattern analysis is an emerging area of research. This study demonstrates the importance of elucidating the social and cultural contexts in which dietary behaviors exist, especially when considering contradictory mainstream approaches to health promotion. Most of the food items were developed by keeping the health aspect in mind and some of the foods were directly used as homemade medicine for some specific diseases as they had therapeutic value. The previous generations knew very well the medicinal value of some of the spices or other ingredients and as such made it a point to use that ingredient in some food recipe to add medicinal value in it. This made Indian cuisine rich in a wide variety and taste and also helpful for health. It also provides valuable information to develop qualitative measures for empirical assessment, develop and evaluate targeted interventions

HYPOMETHYLATION OF DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID IN TESTICULAR TISSUE DUE TO ARSENIC EXPOSURE IN MICE

ABSTRACTObjective: Among various environmental carcinogens, arsenic is highly sensitive and possesses potential to cause several diseases including cancer.Nevertheless, arsenic has not been observed to induce mutation directly but is involved in epigenetic changes. Hypomethylation of oncogenes andhypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes are reported to be associated with accumulation of arsenic. The present investigation demonstrates adirect correlation arsenic and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation.Methods: Swiss albino mice were grouped as control and arsenic treated for 12 weeks. Arsenic concentration in blood and testes was analyzed byatomic absorption spectrometer. Furthermore, DNA was extracted from the testes of mice by DNA purification kit and used for determining globalmethylation in mice genome with the help of MethylFlash Methylated DNA Quantification Kit.Results: Arsenic concentration in arsenic-treated mice was significantly higher than the control group in both blood and testes. Interestingly, arsenicconcentration in blood was recorded to be higher than testes in the arsenic-treated group with significance (p<0.0001). Moreover, a lower percentageof cytosine of mice genome was found to be methylated in arsenic-treated mice group than control group (p<0.0001).Conclusion: Greater concentration of arsenic in mice leads to hypomethylation of mice genome globally. Arsenic fosters deregulation of geneexpression by modifying methylation of CpG island of the promoter region. Epigenetic study is of prime importance in the field of oncology. Drugdevelopment for repressing alteration of DNA methylation is imperative for cancer treatment.Keywords: Arsenic, Cancer, Deoxyribonucleic acid, Methylation, Carcinogen

Current scenario of climate change and its impact on plant diseases

The change in global climate is because of expanding convergence of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the environment. Climate changes observed on Earth in recent years are mostly the result of various human activities. The global temperature has risen by around 0.8 °C over the past hundred years and is expected to ascend by between 0.9 and 3.5 °C by 2100. Climate change does not only affect the holistic crop growth but also influence the spread, multiplication, incidence and severity of many phytopathogenic agents. These effects will be seen not only on the other elements of the agroecosystem but also on plants and other organisms. Climate change involving rise in temperature and CO2 level in the atmosphere, and other weather events such as drought and flooding, all affects the host plant resistance to pathogens. Climate change has the potential to alter host-pathogen interactions and ultimately pose great impact on development of disease epidemics. However, determining these effects is difficult, so experts from various fields must look beyond their own disciplinary boundaries and put the effects of climate change in a larger context. Various plant disease models have been created to integrate modern climate forecasts at different levels. According to climate change scenario, there is great need to modify the methods of disease management in terms of their geographic and temporal distribution. This review uses appropriate examples to demonstrate the many implications that climate change has on plant diseases and their repercussions

Anti-mycobacterial activity of Piper longum L. fruit extracts against multi drug resistant Mycobacterium Spp

A long tradition of using pepper as to fight against several ailments by the local tribal people is still in the practice, in many parts of the rural India. So utilizing this tribal knowledge base for this highly medicinal plant, an attempt was made to isolate some novel natural bioactive compounds with potential activity against multidrug resistant (MDR) Mycobacterium. A bioassay guided fractionation of Pippali (Piper longum L.) was performed in five different organic solvents and their activities were monitored against different pathogenic bacteria including MDR Mycobacterium. Different fractions were screened for the bioactivity against Mycobacterium, and the structure of bioactive compound was characterized with H1 and C13 NMR. An ethyl acetate fraction of Pippali extract was found active against M. smegmatis (3000µg ml-1) and M. tuberculosis (39 µg ml-1). It also shows very significant activity against other bacterial strains like E.coli (152 µg ml-1), Staphylococcus aureus (14 µg ml-1), Salmonella typhi (180 µg ml-1), Enterococcus faecalis (15 µg ml-1), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (52 µg ml-1). This fraction of ethyl acetate was then purified and characterized as piperine [5-(1, 3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-1-piperidin-1-ylpenta-2,4-dien-1-one], a well known alkaloid from this plant. Bioactivity guided fractionation concludes that Piperine is the only active ingredients in various fractions of fruit extract evaluated for antibacterial activity. Fraction having piperine has significant activity against multi drug resistant strains of Mycobacterium spp. than other purified fractions of fruit extract. The current finding encourages us to develop new alternative medicine that includes piperine alone and/or in combination with other drugs to fight against the drug resistance among Mycobacterial strains.   

Rarity of Ceropegia bulbosa Roxb. var. lushii and protocol for its ex-situ conservation in the Indian desert

Over expolitation of tubers of Ceropegia bulbosa var. lushii which is a narrow endemic in the Indian Desert has drastically declined its populations and made it threatened. This was confirmed by its absence at its previously reported sites in Barmer, Jodhpur, Jalore, Jhunjhunun and Jaisalmer. Its occurance in Jhalawar, a previously reported site and at another unreported site at Jalore with density of only 4-12 plants/ha confirmed that it has become rarer. Reasons for declining populations in terms of density and occurrence of C. bulbosa var. lushii due to both extrinsic and intrinsic factors (= threats) have been investigated in this paper. Extrinsic factors include overexploitation of tubers, habitat loss and fragmentation due to mining. Six tubers brought from its native sites regenerated successfully at Desert Botanical Garden , CAZRI, Jodhpur. Intrinsic threats were experimentally assessed by studying its life cycle for three years. Seeds produced by these plants under captivity showed 30-35% germination. Germination, phenology and growth of plants both, from seeds for one year and tubers for three years revealed many sensitive, risk prone stages which indicated potential threat to its regeneration in its native places. These included failure to seed set due to lack of pollinator, falling of immature follicles, exposure of seeds to open sun, sapling damage by wild animals and digging out of perenating tubers by wild ungulates and human being. Both extrinsic and intrinsic factors are responsible for its rarity in the wild. It emerged that for success in its ex-situ conservation, mature seeds, availability of partial shade and safety from wild animals are essential requirements