In vitro Anthelmintic Activity of Different Extracts of Memecylon umbellatumBurm.

In the present study, the possible anthelminitic effects of different extracts (petroleumether, chloroform, and ethanol) and two isolated compounds β-stigmasterol (PI) andSitosterol (PII) from the leaves of Memecylon umbellatum on Indian earthwormsPheretima Posthuma was investigated by in vitro experiments. Various concentrations(25, 50, 100mg/ml) of all extracts were tested and results were expressed in terms oftime for paralysis and time for death of worms. From the activity results it was found thatthe ethanolic extract and pure compound PI having the equipotent activity with standarddrug albendazole. Form the observations made higher concentration of extract producedparalytic effect much earlier and the time to death was shorter for all worms

Acid and enzyme hydrolysis to convert pretreated areca nut (areca catechu l.) husk into glucose for bioethanol production by yeasts and Zymomonas mobilis NCIM 2915

Production of renewable fuels, especially bio-ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass, holds remarkable potential to meet the current energy demand as well as to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions for a sustainable environment. Determining optimal pretreatment techniques for fermentation is essential for the success of lignocellulosic energy production process. The study involved the acid pretreatment and use of laccase enzyme to degrade the complex lignocellulosic biomass to simple sugars. Sugars so formed in turn are converted to ethanol by employing suitable yeast strains and bacterium Zymomonas mobilis. Different fermentation process like separate hydrolysis and fermentation process (SHF) and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process (SSF) have been evaluated for the biethanol production. In separate hydrolysis and fermentation process, the higher ethanol production was in Zymomonas mobilis (44.97±3.21 g/L) and Schizosaccharomyces pombe (42.60±3.0 g/L), average ethanol production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (33.13±1.96 g/L) and very low ethanol production in Candida shehatae (25.24±2.30 g/L). In simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process, the higher ethanol production was in Zymomonas mobilis (47.34±3.22 g/L) and Saccharomyces uvarum (44.18±2.67 g/L), average ethanol production in Pichia stipitis (34.71±1.89 g/L), and very low ethanol production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (26.82±2.63 g/L) was monitored after the fermentation process. Structural changes of areca nut husk before and after acid pretreatment were further investigated through Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Hence, acid and enzymatic pre-treatment is more effective for ethanol production. Areca nut husk was revealed as a suitable substrate for ethanol production.Â

An approach to obtain specific polyclonal antisera to Xanthomonas campestris pv. cyamopsidis and its potential application in indexing of infected seeds of guar

Clusterbean seed health testing is warranted since the pathogen (Xanthomonas campestris pv. cyamopsidis (Xccy)) is seed-borne and seed-transmitted. A polyclonal antibody was developed in rabbit via subcutaneous and intramuscular injections and characterized for sensitivity, specificity and its applicability to ELISA which: (i) was sensitive in detecting as few as 102 cells ml−1 at a titre of 1:4000; (ii) was specific, since it reacted only with Xccy and not with other xanthomonads; (iii) reacted both with Xccy cells and culture filtrate, indicating that the antigenic determinant is a secretory component; (iv) was applicable and reliable in seed health testing since it reacted only with infected seeds and plant materials and not with healthy seeds and (v) a purified fraction of antibody was virulent-specific since heat-denatured and avirulent isolates were not detected. The ELISA thus developed is highly reproducible and therefore suitable for the evaluation of the potential disease status of seeds and plant health, which is appropriate for routine seed health testing

Opportunistic screening of at risk asymptomatic adolescent children for prediabetes

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) once considered an adult disease is now being reported in children and adolescents all over the world due to a parallel increase in obesity. Prediabetes is an intermediate stage between no diabetes and diagnosis of DM. Objective: To screen at risk asymptomatic adolescent children for prediabetes state. Methods: A prospective descriptive study was conducted in the outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in South India. All adolescent children between the age group of 10 and 18 years with evidence of overweight as per the World Health Organization age and sex specific centile charts for body mass index (BMI) were enrolled. The study period was 18-month. Anthropometric and demographic data were collected among these subjects and investigated for oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), fasting blood glucose (FBG), and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) as per the designed protocol. Results: Prediabetes was diagnosed in 13% of the study population with a combination of OGTT, FBG, and HbA1c tests. Prediction of prediabetes by OGTT was 10%, HbA1c 5% and by FBS was 3%. Combination of impaired glucose tolerance test with HbA1c had high sensitivity (92%) and specificity (100%). Conclusions: Our study had 13% population with increasing risk of developing T2DM. Further longitudinal studies are required to screen at risk asymptomatic adolescent children for prediabetes

Enhancing Productivity of Guinea Grass Variety JHGG-08-1 through Agro-Techniques in Southern Dry Zone of Karnataka

Guinea grass (Panicum maximum) is a major pan tropical grass used throughout the tropics for pasture, cut-and-carry, silage and hay. It is a fast growing and leafy grass, which is palatable to livestock with a good nutritional value. However, it is generally recommended to supplement it with sources of protein in order to meet nutritional requirements or improve animal performance. It grows well on a wide variety of well drained soils of good fertility and it is a good vegetative barrier. It can survive quick moving fires which does not harm the underground roots and drought because of the deep, dense and fibrous root system. The potentiality of the varieties varies with agro climatic situation and soil type, keeping these things in view, the present investigation was undertaken to identify the optimum plant population and nutrient levels for enhancing the productivity and quality of guinea grass variety JHGG-08- in southern Zone of Karnataka

Performance of Guinea Grass Variety JHGG-08-1 in Southern Region of Karnataka

Guinea grass (Panicum maximum) is native to Africa but this grass was introduced to almost all tropical countries as a source of animal forage. It grows well on a wide variety of well drained soils of good fertility and it is suitable for vegetative barrier and conservation of soil. It can survive quick moving fires which does not harm the underground roots and drought because of the deep, dense and fibrous root system. The Potentiality of the varieties varies with agro climatic situation and soil type. Keeping these things in view, the present investigation was taken up to study the performance of Guinea grass varieties in southern dry zone of Karnataka under protective irrigation

MFC-09-1: A New Forage Cowpea (\u3cem\u3eVigna unguiculata\u3c/em\u3e (L.) Walp) Variety for South Zone of India

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) is a leguminous crop grown throughout West Africa, often in association with pearl millet and sorghum. Cowpea is well adapted to the harsh growing conditions, including low soil fertility, high temperatures, and drought. Cowpea can fix atmospheric nitrogen to improve soil fertility and cropping system productivity. Additionally, farmers feed cowpea fodder to livestock to increase income, and collect the manure produced for use in their fields thereby reduces farmers’ reliance on commercial fertilizers and sustains soil fertility. Previous studies with cowpea indicated that this legume improves soil fertility and enhances the intake and utilization of poor quality roughage consequently improving livestock production and productivity

Performance of Dual Purpose Pearl Millet Genotypes as Influenced by Cutting Management and Nitrogen Levels

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) is important minor millets cultivated both for food and fodder. The dual purpose nature of pearl millet has recently identified due to its profused tillering, repeated harvesting and absence of anti nutritional factor. In fodder crops, the production potential can be manipulated by fertilizer management and time of harvest. In this regard, peal millet no exception, scientific study on cutting and nitrogen management on green fodder yield, quality and grain yield is meagre. Therefore, the present investigation was under taken to study the influence of cutting management and nitrogen levels on green forage and grain yield of dual purpose pearl millet

Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS) approach on Nutritional Diagnosis in Fruit crops- A Review

Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS) is widely used statistical approach for interpretation of the plant tissue analysis data and to diagnose the plant nutreint needs much earlier than the reduction of crop yield with greater accuracy. It helps in simultaneous identifying imbalances, deficiencies and excesses of crop nutrients and ranks them in the order of their importance for their remedial steps. The DRIS norms based on foliar composition can developed in any crop and at any stage of its development. It provides a mathematical means of ordering large number of nutrient ratios into nutrient indices that can be easily interpreted. The nutrient ranges been established as deficient, low, optimum, high and excessive based on the mean of nutrient concentration and standard deviation from high yielding population to serve as a guide for a quick and routine diagnostic and advisory purpose. The major advantage of DRIS lies in its ability to minimize the effect of variation in tissue age on diagnosis, which allows a choice of wider range of tissues than permissible under the conventional critical value approach. Thus, DRIS is holistic in nature for identification of nutrient imbalance in crops and formulation of nutrient management strategies for achieving higher yields

Incidence and importance of plant-parasitic nematodes on pigeon pea and groundnut in Karnataka State in southern India

Samples were collected from 68 pigeon pea and 93 groundnut fields in five districts of Karnataka State, India. Heterodera cajani was found in all the locations in pigeonpea fields, with nematode densities greater in Belgaum and Gulbarga districts than in others. Rotylenchulus reniformis was present in 75% of the samples and nematode densities were greater in Dharwad and Bijapur than in other districts. Average population densities of eggs and juveniles of H. cajani was 62% higher on Vertisols. Other nematodes present were: Aphelenchoides spp., Ditylenchus spp., Helicotylenchus retusus, Helicotylenchus sp., Hoplolaimus seinhorsti, Hoplolaimus sp., Meloidogyne sp., Pratylenchus coffeae, P. delattrei, P. zeae, Tylenchorhynchus vulgaris and Tylenchorhynchus sp. Pratylenchus spp. were predominant and highest density of 1.9 Pratylenchus per cubic cm of soil was observed at Chikodi in Belgaum district. Lesions on groundnut pods were not serious in any region and Meloidogyne spp. were not important on these crops., 4 ref., Samples were collected from 68 pigeon pea and 93 groundnut fields in five districts of Karnataka State, India. Heterodera cajani was found in all the locations in pigeonpea fields, with nematode densities greater in Belgaum and Gulbarga districts than in others. Rotylenchulus reniformis was present in 75% of the samples and nematode densities were greater in Dharwad and Bijapur than in other districts. Average population densities of eggs and juveniles of H. cajani was 62% higher on Vertisols. Other nematodes present were: Aphelenchoides spp., Ditylenchus spp., Helicotylenchus retusus, Helicotylenchus sp., Hoplolaimus seinhorsti, Hoplolaimus sp., Meloidogyne sp., Pratylenchus coffeae, P. delattrei, P. zeae, Tylenchorhynchus vulgaris and Tylenchorhynchus sp. Pratylenchus spp. were predominant and highest density of 1.9 Pratylenchus per cubic cm of soil was observed at Chikodi in Belgaum district. Lesions on groundnut pods were not serious in any region and Meloidogyne spp. were not important on these crops