Medicinal plants of Muzaffarnagar district used in treatment of urinary tract and kidney stones

191-195A floristic survey of ethnomedicinal plants was conducted at Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh to assess the potentiality of plant resources. The study revealed that 15 plant species belonging to 13 families are used as anti-urolithiatic agents in local remedies. The information on medicinal uses is based on the exhaustive interviews with local healers and herbalists, practicing traditional system of medicine. Details of the plants, parts used, method of preparation, dosage and mode of administration have been reported. Equisetum debile Roxb. and Gomphrena celosioides Mart. are most effective and commonly used in treatment of urinary tract and kidney stones. These may prove precious potential source of bioactive compounds of therapeutic value against uro- and nephro-lithiasis and hence need further critical scientific testing, phytochemical examination and clinical evaluation for the purpose

Growth responses of mutants of spring barley to fumigation with SO2 and NO2in combination.

This study was undertaken to evaluate the range of variation in growth responses of sodium azide-induced M2mutants (stocks SI and S2) of spring barley, Hordeum vulgare. L. cv. Maris Mink, in relation to air pollution tolerance or sensitivity. The preliminary screening experiment with 150 nl l−1concentrations of SO2 and NO2 in combination for 10 d, yielded well-defined sensitive and tolerant lines in both the stocks. However, the percentage frequency distribution of plants in different injury classes varied and stock S2 showed a better segregation of different lines. In a subsequent experiment, treatment with a mixture of each gas at 100 nl l−lconcentration for 22 d caused a variable degree of growth reduction. As a result of air pollution treatment, most of the growth parameters were significantly (P < 0.001) reduced in the sensitive lines of both the stocks, whereas the tolerant lines showed a marked resistance to the growth inhibitory effect of the pollutants. The magnitude of the difference between the sensitivities of different lines was usually double or more, and the effects were, more pronounced in stock S2 than in stock SI. Root dry weight was more adversely affected than shoot dry weight in sensitive lines of both the stocks. The results indicated that inter-line differences in growth responses of these mutants were wide ranging, distinct and consistent. In conclusion, this study clearly demonstrates that artificial mutations may cause a markedly broad base of variation in air pollution sensitivity of crop plants which may be used in future plant breeding programmes of pollution tolerant cultivars

Needle chlorosis in Sitka spruce following a three-year exposure to low concentrations of ozone: changes in mineral content, pigmentation and ascorbic acid.

Two-year-old seedlings of Sitka spruce were exposed to 70 nl 1−1 ozone or to filtered air over three successive summers in outdoor large-scale fumigation chambers (Solardomes). Seven months after the last period of exposure to the pollutant and just prior to budburst, upper-surface chlorisis affecting only the older needles of ozone-exposed trees was observed. In many respects, the symptoms appeared to be similar to those characteristic of type 1 spruce damage occurring in parts of mainland Europe. Chlorophyll pigments were reduced in the ozone-exposed older foliage, but no change in the ratio of chlorophylls to carotene was observed. The content of ascorbic acid was clearly related to the amount of foliar damage observed on the trees exposed to ozone and the largest increases were seen in those trees which were most visibly damaged. Although none of the foliage examined was deficient in any of the nutrient cations which were measured, the concentration of Mg in the older needles was significantly reduced by exposure to ozone, irrespective of damage symptoms. Exposure to ozone also resulted in increases in the ratios of K: Mg and Ca: Mg. In the older needles, leaching of Mg2− and K− by 0.5 mM H2SO4, pH 3.0, was enhanced by prior exposure to ozone, but the amounts removed were small (< 6%). It is suggested that long-term exposure to ozone has a cumulative effect on plant tissue and that the observed chlorosis was the result of accelerated senescence