How to Identify Rare and Endangered Ferns and Fern Allies

Identification of rare and endangered plant species is the first requirement for any conservation programme. The IUCN guideline is the only available method to identify the rare and endangered species and it requires vast data on the wild population of the target species. None of the biological characters, which are playing main role in the survival and distribution of several species, is used in IUCN guideline. In the meantime there are several difficulties in following IUCN guideline, particularly the non availability of complete field data. Moreover, the same guideline can not be used for all the groups of species in equal importance. The vascular cryptogams, pteridophytes, are also an important component of any mountainous flora and they have also to be conserved in nature. As they are the primitive vascular plants on the earth, they are getting depleted in the flora due to various reasons and it is the right time to identify the rare and endangered pteridophytes to conserve them. By considering various difficulties of IUCN method for the identification rare and endangered pteridophytes, a very simple method has been adopted by using just four criteria and this method can be applied to Pteridophytes from any region of the world

Isozyme Analysis on Different Varieties of Sugarcane

Isozymic and protein diversity among five sugarcane varieties viz., Co 6304, Co 85019, Co 8371, Co 89003 and Co 91010 were studied to understand the varietal interrelationship and to identify the biochemical marker for the disease resistance and stress tolerance. The standard technique of vertical gel electrophoresis PAGE was employed for size separation of isozymes. The gel was stained with different staining solutions for different isozyme systems viz. peroxidase, esterase, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase and proteins. Rf values of the banding profiles, similarity index and variation between the varieties were analysed. Among the four enzyme systems, peroxidase profile reveals the difference between the disease resistant / susceptible and abiotic stress tolerant / non tolerant varieties. The two isoperoxidase bands with Rf values 0.62 and 0.66 showed their presence in disease resistant and abiotic tolerant varieties. The presence of two marker bands (0.62, 0.66) of resistant and stress tolerant varieties suggest that the variety Co 6304 may also be resistant to smut, wilt and moderately resistant to red rot and tolerant to drought

Preliminary Phytochemical and Anti-Bacterial Studies on \u3cem\u3ePassiflora edulis\u3c/em\u3e

Preliminary phytochemical and antibacterial activity of the leaf and callus of Passiflora edulis Sims, were examined using extracts of benzene, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, chloroform and petroleum ether. Of these, chloroform extract of the leaf and callus showed the maximum solubility and antimicrobial activity with the MIC ranging from 100 to 250 µl. Extracts of benzene, petroleum ether and isopropanol were ineffective in inhibiting the selected bacteria. In addition, this phytochemical study confirmed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, tannins and triterpenes from ethanol and chloroform extracted sources

Quantifying the local density of optical states of nanorods by fluorescence lifetime imaging

In this paper, we demonstrate a facile far-field approach to quantify the near-field local density of optical states (LDOS) of a nanorod using CdTe quantum dot (QD) emitters tethered to the surface of the nanorods as beacons for optical readouts. The radiative decay rate was extracted to quantify the LDOS; our analysis indicates that the LDOS of the nanorod enhances both the radiative and nonradiative decay of QDs, particularly the radiative decay of QDs at the end of a nanorod is enhanced by 1.17 times greater than that at the waist, while the nonradiative decay was enhanced uniformly over the nanorod. To the best of our knowledge, our effort constitutes the first to map the LDOS of a nanostructure via the far-field method, to provide clarity on the interaction mechanism between emitters and the nanostructure, and to be potentially employed in the LDOS mapping of high-throughput nanostructures

Chemo-protective effect of aqueous extract of the resurrection plant Selaginella involvens (Sw.) Spring on UV-tolerance during spore germination of Pteris argyraea T. Moore

The present study was aimed to know the effect of aqueous extracts of the resurrection plant, Selaginella involvens (Sw.) Spring on spore germination in Pteris argyraea T. Moore and also to know the ameliorating effect of the extracts on UV-Stress during spore germination of Pteris argyraea T. Moore. Based on the present study it is concluded that the extract of Selaginella involvens, shows growth promoting effect by enhancing the spore germination in Pteris argyraea. Both UV and aqueous extracts of Selaginella involvens enhances germination, but the UV stress results in both physical and morphogenetic abnormalities. It is to be noted that in the extract treated spores, the physical abnormalities are in less frequency when compared to the extract- untreated spores

Pharmacognostical Studies on Three Asplenium Species

The present study was aimed to study the pharmacongonstical characters viz., morphological and physico-chemical characteristics of three rare medicinally important spleenworts viz. Asplenium affine Swartz, Asplenium decrescens Kunze and Asplenium zenkeranum Kunze. The present study revealed the presence of alkaloids, triterpenes, and flavonoids in Asplenium species. Based on the Thin Layer chromatogram, interspecific relationship was assessed. A. affine and A. decrescens showed 42% of similarity coefficient and A. zenkeranum was varied from A. affine and A. decrescens with 36% variance

Evaluation of antioxidant potential of ethanolic extracts of selected species of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Selaginella</i>

238-244The purpose of the present study was to investigate the amount of total phenolics, flavonoids, tannins and in vitro antioxidant properties of ethanolic extracts of different Selaginella species, viz. Selaginella involvens (Sw.) Spring., Selaginella intermedia (Bl.) Spring., Selaginella inaequalifolia (Hook. & Grev.) Spring. and Selaginella tenera (Hook. & Grev.) Spring. The antioxidant activities were evaluated by measuring the ability of the extracts to scavenge the DPPH+, ABTS+, FRAP, metal chelating and phosphomolybdenum assays. The maximum extractable total phenolics were recorded in S. involvens (128.41 mg GAE/g), tannins and flavonoids were present in S. intermedia (67.46 and 184.44 mg GAE/g, respectively). Among the four different ethanolic extracts of Selaginella species, the maximum DPPH+ free radical scavenging activity was exerted by S. involvens (IC50 71.84 µg/mL). Highest activity of ABTS+ assay was observed in S. involvens (2281.48 µmol TE/g) and S. tenera registered the higher Fe2+ chelation (1352.77 µmol Fe (II)/mg). Maximum metal chelating activity was exhibited by S. inaequalifolia (4.56 mg EDTA equiv/g) and the strongest phosphomolybdenum reduction was observed in the ethanolic extracts of S. tenera (26.1 g AA/100 g). The results of the study clearly suggest that Selaginella species are a natural source of antioxidants and it validates the folkloric usage

Broadband enhancement of spontaneous emission from nitrogen-vacancy centers in nanodiamonds by hyperbolic metamaterials

We experimentally demonstrate a broadband enhancement of emission from nitrogen-vacancy centers in nanodiamonds. The enhancement is achieved by using a multilayer metamaterial with hyperbolic dispersion. The metamaterial is fabricated as a stack of alternating gold and alumina layers. Our approach paves the way towards the construction of efficient single-photon sources as planar on-chip devices. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC