Context Matters: Intertextuality and Voice in the Early Modern English Controversy about Women

This dissertation examines three clusters of works from the early modern English controversy about women--the debate about the merits and flaws of womankind--in order to argue that authors in the controversy took advantage of the malleability of women's voices to address issues beyond the worth of women. I depart from standard treatments of the controversy by giving priority to the intertextual contexts among works that engage with one another. Attending to the intertextual elements of this genre reveals the metapoetic concerns of the authors and the way such authors fashion their feminine apologists as discursive agents in order to express those concerns. Chapter 1 examines Edward Gosynhyll's sixteenth-century works in tandem with Geoffrey Chaucer's The Legend of Good Women and "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale," arguing that Gosynhyll's revisions of Chaucer--revisions embodied by the feminine apologists in the texts--are integral to his project of establishing the controversy genre as multivalent and dialectical. The resulting metacommentary examines in a new light the age-old rhetorical tradition of exemplarity, a persuasive tool used in diverse literary genres. Chapter 2 considers the way the anonymous play Swetnam the Woman-Hater uses cross-voicing and cross-dressing to establish the performative nature of controversy conventions. In doing so, the play argues for the social benefits of abandoning essentialist logic in favor of gender performance, as such performance makes the role of apologist available to men and women alike. This cluster reconsiders the very processes by which a person--male or female--can be known to others. Finally, I trace John Taylor's use of the marginal woman in his controversy works in order to demonstrate the extent to which Taylor makes these women instrumental in establishing his own poetic and social identity. This project contributes to studies on the English controversy as well as to the field of early modern women and women's writing by arguing that authors found the genre generally and the woman's voice specifically to be fit vehicles for articulating poetic agendas beyond the immediate task of debating the nature of womankind

Efficacy of methanol extract of Morinda citrifolia fruit against Sunflower Downy mildew Disease

Downy mildew of sunflower is one of the most devastating seed and soil borne disease caused by Plasmopara halstedii which is very challenging to eradicate once established in the field. In the present study methanolic extract from Morinda citrifolia fruit was screened for their anti-mildew activity and phytotoxicity. Leaf disc assay revealed that, as the concentration of extract increases from 1% to 5% a significant decrease in sporulation was observed. Higher concentration leads to browning of leaf surface indicating phytotoxicity. Similarly, upon seed treatment lower concentrations (1% -5%) were found improving the seed germination and plant growth, and higher concentration (above 7%) significantly reduced the seed quality variables. Phytochemical analysis of methanolic extract showed the presence of phenolics, alkaloids, steroids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, tannins, reducing sugars and saponins. Further, bioactive compounds from crude extract were partially purified through preparatory thin layer chromatography and evaluated for their anti-sporulant activity. Among the five compounds extracted, four were found suppressing the sporulation to various extents and compound with Rf value 0.87 was recorded significantly with higher anti-sporulant activity. KEYWORDS: Sunflower, Morinda citrifolia, Downy Mildew, anti-mildew activity, Phytotoxicity. INTRODUCTION The sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is an annual herbaceous plant which belongs to the family Asteraceae. It is one of the top three important edible oil yielding seed crop grown across the world. Sunflower is susceptible to many fungal, bacterial and viral diseases. More than 30 diseases have been identified in sunflower Abstract Morinda citrifolia L. also known as noni or Indian mulberry is a small evergreen tree, originating in tropical Asia. In the tropics, it has been greatly valued medicinally and the plant is normally cultivated for its roots, leaves and fruits. Fruit juice is used as an alternative medicine for its potential anti-microbial, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects (Wang et al., 2002). Various parts of the plants, crude and partially purified compounds from M. citrifolia was extensively used for several human and animal diseases MATERIALS AND METHODS Plant Material Sunflower seeds (Cv. Morden) susceptible to downy mildew disease was collected from National Seed Corporation, Mysore, Karnataka. The seed samples were surface sterilized with 0.2 % sodium hypochlorite for 2 min and subsequently washed with distilled water thrice. The surface sterilized seeds were used throughout the experiments. Mature fruits of M. citrifolia were collected from 'Indraprastha' Jeevadharaka Sasyavaata Kalalavadi village, Mysore. Preparation of plant extract The mature fruits (1 kg) were washed with distilled water and chopped in to pieces and kept for drying at 45ºC for 72 h. The dried fruit sample was coarse powdered by using mechanical blender and was extracted with methanol by using soxhlet apparatus. The extract was concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure and controlled temperature (50°C). Different concentrations (1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10 %) were prepared by dissolving it in minimum quantity of dimethyl sulfxoide (DMSO) and made up to desired volume with sterile distilled water. Determination of anti-sporulant activity The downy mildew pathogen P. halstedii has been maintained in the sick plot of Department of Biotechnology, University of Mysore, Mysore since the last 10 years. In order to collect inoculum for the experiment, susceptible cv. Morden was grown in the sick plot. Thirty-day old infected seedlings showing profuse downy growth was selected in the late evening and inoculum was harvested early morning. Anti-sporulant activity of methanolic extract against P. halstedii was investigated by leaf disc method Phytochemical analysis of the extract The phytochemical analysis of methanolic extract of M. citrifolia was carried out following the standard procedures of Sunflower seed quality assessment The crude methanolic fruit extract of M. citrifolia was dissolved in small amount of DMSO and was diluted to required concentrations with sterile distilled water. The highly susceptible sunflower seeds were treated with different concentrations of (1, 3, 5, 7 and 10%) fruit extracts for 6 h on a rotary shaker at 150 rpm (400 seeds in 100 ml extract). The treated seeds were blot dried and evaluated for their seed quality variables (root length, shoot length, % germination and seedling vigor) following roll towel method (International Seed Testing Association 2010). For each treatment four set of 100 seeds were used and the experiment was repeated thrice. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) analysis The crude methanolic fruit extract was separated on precoated 20 x 20 cm TLC Silica gel 60 F 254 (Merck KGaA). 10 µl of each extract was spotted on TLC plate at equal distance and the chromatogram was developed with standardized solvent system Ethyl acetate:Methanol:Water (100:6:4). The developed chromatogram was observed under visible and ultra violet (UV) light. Preparative TLC was conducted as explained above except the silica gel plates used were of 2 mm thickness. The spots at different Retention factor (Rf) values were scraped off and eluted using methanol. The eluted compound was tested for its anti-sporulant activity by leaf disc assay at 1 mg/ml concentration. Statistical analysis All data of seed quality variables were expressed as mean ± standard error and analyzed separately for each experiment and subjected to arcsine transformation and analysis of variance (ANOVA) (SPSS, version 16). RESULTS Determination of anti-sporulant activity In the leaf disc assay, a gradual decrease in sporulation was observed with application of the different concentrations of methanolic extract in the increasing order from1% -5% Phytochemical analysis The phytochemical analysis of crude methanolic extract of fruits revealed the presence of secondary metabolites Sunflower seed quality assessment Sunflower seed treatment with different concentrations of the extract revealed significant (P ≤ 0.05) enhancement of germination and seedling vigor index to varying degrees over the control. Maximum germination of 83% and seedling vigor index of 2905 were noticed in 5 % seed treatment compared to the control 72 % germination and vigor index 1836. The higher concentrations were found to be phytotoxic which was evident by decrease in the seed quality variables Screening of anti-sporulant activity of partially purified fractions by TLC The partially purified fractions showed five bands with Rf value ranging from 0.09 to 0.87. Among the five compounds extracted, four were found inhibiting the sporulation to various extents. The fraction with Rf value of 0.87 was significant in suppressing the sporulation of P. halstedii ( DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The present study aimed to manage downy mildew pathogen using methanolic extracts of M. citrifolia fruits. The management of oomycetes phytopathogen is a challenge as it behaves differently from other fungi and is a seed and soil bornesystemically infecting pathogen. Major bioactive compounds identified in M. citrifolia include scopoletin, octoanoic acid, terpenoids, alkaloids, anthraquinones, b-sitosterol, carotene, flavone glycosides, linoleic acid, alizarin, acubin, L-asperuloside, caproic acid, caprylic acid, ursolic acid, rutin, and peroxeronine From the present study, it could be concluded that M. citrifolia furit extract are endowed with anti-sporulant bioactive compounds which can be successfully used to manage sunflower downy mildew disease. Along with disease protecting potential properties, lower concentration of the extracts are also found to stimulate the early plant growth. But the higher concentrations of crude extracts are phytotoxic which was evidenced by browning of leaf discs and decreased seed quality variables