Exploring Western Ghats microbial diversity for antagonistic microorganisms against fungal phytopathogens of pepper and chickpea

Newly isolated microbial cultures from Western Ghat soil samples of Kerala region in India were screened for antagonistic activity by well diffusion and dual culture plating against Phytophthora capsici and Rhizoctonia solani, infecting pepper and chickpea, respectively. Bioactive samples were made by varying solvent extraction of the culture broths of the potent isolates belongs to Actinomycetes, Pseudomonas, Bacillus and Trichoderma. The efficacy of the isolates to produce other potent antifungal metabolites such as cell wall degrading enzymes, HCN and volatile compounds were also checked. Treatment with antagonistic isolates in vivo under greenhouse conditions revealed significant reduction of the disease intensity of foot rot disease of black pepper and collar rot of chick pea

Effect of chlorogenic acid on antioxidant activity of Flos Lonicerae extracts*

Flos Lonicerae is a medically useful traditional Chinese medicine herb. However, little is known about the antioxidant properties of Flos Lonicerae extracts. Here the antioxidant capacity of water, methanolic and ethanolic extracts prepared from Flos Lonicerae to scavenge 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical and reduce Fe3+ to Fe2+ is examined. Chlorogenic acid, a major component of Flos Lonicerae, is identified and further purified from 70% ethanolic extract with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and its antioxidant capacity is characterized. The total phenolic compounds and chlorogenic acid contents in Flos Lonicerae are determined. The present results demonstrate that the Flos Lonicerae extracts exhibit antioxidant activity and chlorogenic acid is a major contributor to this activity