Allelopathic effect of Leucaena leucocephala on Pansy (Viola tricolor L.)

The present study on allelopahtic effect of L. leucocephala on pansy (V. tricolor L.) both laboratory and nursery conditions were undertaken. Leucaena which significantly reduced the seed germination in all treatments at 2% (43%), 3% (42%) and 4% (40%) over Control (Distilled water), except in treatment at 1% (55%) wheregermination was found to be maximum over Control (Distilled water), this result shows the stimulatory effect on germination at 1% concentration of leaf leachate under laboratory condition. Leucaena soil in combination with Field soil showed stimulatory effect on the growth parameters in Pansy. Highest germination percentage (82%), fresh shoot weight (2.82g), fresh root weight (0.22g), dry shoot weight (0.50g), dry root weight (0.05g), vigor index (99.36) were recorded in treatment amended with soil 50% Leucaena soil and 50% Field soil and inhibitory effect was seen in pansy when amended into with 100% Leucaena soil under nursery condition. From this study it appears that Leucaena produces allelopahtic substrates, increase in concentration exhibit adverse effect on germination and growth parameters. Hence it is suggested that pansy could be affected economically but this tree can very well adapt to diversified soil condition

Traditional oral healthcare practices followed by the Garo tribe of West Garo Hills District, Meghalaya

287-291Ethnomedicinal study of therapeutic healing methods of oral diseases was conducted during 2016-19 in the West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, India. Recurrent field trips in and around different parts of West Garo Hills lead to the five most knowledgeable and available THPs (Traditional health practitioners) from whom valuable information was elicited. A pre-tested interview schedule was used to gather information from them. Information like vernacular names, common names, scientific names, family, habit, habitat, plant parts used and a comprehensive procedure for preparation of the medicines was recorded. After obtaining detailed information regarding the indigenous wild medicinal plants used wholly for healing oral diseases, an assessment was made that, 14 plant species belonging to 12 different families were found to heal the dreadful and painful disease. Out of the 14 plants having medicinal value, the most important plants used were Curcuma longa L., Piper nigrum L., Piper longum L. and Mimosa pudica L., etc. These 14 medicinal plant species are comprised of trees (five), shrubs (three), herbs (three), vines (two) and grass (one). Among the plant parts used, the leaves were the most primarily used plant part, followed by root and rhizome. The plants were either used alone or in combination with other species. The administration of these herbal medicines was mostly done orally in the form of a juice/decoction. In some cases, the juice was also used to rinse the mouth. These medicinal plants were mostly collected from nearby forests, local markets and kitchen gardens. The present paper aims for the documentation of the ever-diminishing information on the wisdom and knowledge of the Garo THPs on use of various herbs in the traditional oral healthcare system and the detailed description of the preparation and treatment procedure that were practiced by the Garo THPs in the West Garo Hills of Meghalaya

Dynamical non-axisymmetric instabilities in rotating relativistic stars

We present new results on dynamical instabilities in rapidly rotating neutron-stars. In particular, using numerical simulations in full General Relativity, we analyse the effects that the stellar compactness has on the threshold for the onset of the dynamical bar-mode instability, as well as on the appearance of other dynamical instabilities. By using an extrapolation technique developed and tested in our previous study [1], we explicitly determine the threshold for a wide range of compactnesses using four sequences of models of constant baryonic mass comprising a total of 59 stellar models. Our calculation of the threshold is in good agreement with the Newtonian prediction and improves the previous post-Newtonian estimates. In addition, we find that for stars with sufficiently large mass and compactness, the m=3 deformation is the fastest growing one. For all of the models considered, the non-axisymmetric instability is suppressed on a dynamical timescale with an m=1 deformation dominating the final stages of the instability. These results, together with those presented in [1], suggest that an m=1 deformation represents a general and late-time feature of non-axisymmetric dynamical instabilities both in full General Relativity and in Newtonian gravity.Comment: To appear on CQG, NFNR special issue. 16 pages, 5 color figures, movies from http://www.fis.unipr.it/numrel/BarMode/ResearchBarMode.htm

Oviposition Cues for a Specialist Butterfly–Plant Chemistry and Size

The oviposition choice of an insect herbivore is based on a complex set of stimuli and responses. In this study, we examined the effect of plant secondary chemistry (the iridoid glycosides aucubin and catalpol) and aspects of size of the plant Plantago lanceolata, on the oviposition behavior of the specialist butterfly Melitaea cinxia. Iridoid glycosides are known to deter feeding or decrease the growth rate of generalist insect herbivores, but can act as oviposition cues and feeding stimulants for specialized herbivores. In a previous observational study of M. cinxia in the field, oviposition was associated with high levels of aucubin. However, this association could have been the cause (butterfly choice) or consequence (plant induction) of oviposition. We conducted a set of dual- and multiple-choice experiments in cages and in the field. In the cages, we found a positive association between the pre-oviposition level of aucubin and the number of ovipositions. The association reflects the butterfly oviposition selection rather than plant induction that follows oviposition. Our results also suggest a threshold concentration below which females do not distinguish between levels of iridoid glycosides. In the field, the size of the plant appeared to be a more important stimulus than iridoid glycoside content, with bigger plants receiving more oviposition than smaller plants, regardless of their secondary chemistry. Our results illustrate that the rank of a cue used for oviposition may be dependent on environmental context

Plant Community Diversity Influences Allocation to Direct Chemical Defence in Plantago lanceolata

Background: Forecasting the consequences of accelerating rates of changes in biodiversity for ecosystem functioning requires a mechanistic understanding of the relationships between the structure of biological communities and variation in plant functional characteristics. So far, experimental data of how plant species diversity influences the investment of individual plants in direct chemical defences against herbivores and pathogens is lacking. Methodology/Principal Findings: We used Plantago lanceolata as a model species in experimental grasslands differing in species richness and composition (Jena Experiment) to investigate foliar concentrations of the iridoid glycosides (IG), catalpol and its biosynthetic precursor aucubin. Total IG and aucubin concentrations decreased, while catalpol concentrations increased with increasing plant diversity in terms of species or functional group richness. Negative plant diversity effects on total IG and aucubin concentrations correlated with increasing specific leaf area of P. lanceolata, suggesting that greater allocation to light acquisition reduced the investment into these carbon-based defence components. In contrast, increasing leaf nitrogen concentrations best explained increasing concentrations of the biosynthetically more advanced IG, catalpol. Observed levels of leaf damage explained a significant proportion of variation in total IG and aucubin concentrations, but did not account for variance in catalpol concentrations. Conclusions/Significance: Our results clearly show that plants growing in communities of varying species richness an

The Effects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Direct and Indirect Defense Metabolites of Plantago lanceolata L.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can strongly influence the metabolism of their host plant, but their effect on plant defense mechanisms has not yet been thoroughly investigated. We studied how the principal direct defenses (iridoid glycosides) and indirect defenses (volatile organic compounds) of Plantago lanceolata L. are affected by insect herbivory and mechanical wounding. Volatile compounds were collected and quantified from mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal P. lanceolata plants that underwent three different treatments: 1) insect herbivory, 2) mechanical wounding, or 3) no damage. The iridoids aucubin and catalpol were extracted and quantified from the same plants. Emission of terpenoid volatiles was significantly higher after insect herbivory than after the other treatments. However, herbivore-damaged mycorrhizal plants emitted lower amounts of sesquiterpenes, but not monoterpenes, than herbivore-damaged non-mycorrhizal plants. In contrast, mycorrhizal infection increased the emission of the green leaf volatile (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate in untreated control plants, making it comparable to emission from mechanically wounded or herbivore-damaged plants whether or not they had mycorrhizal associates. Neither mycorrhization nor treatment had any influence on the levels of iridoid glycosides. Thus, mycorrhizal infection did not have any effect on the levels of direct defense compounds measured in P. lanceolata. However, the large decline in herbivore-induced sesquiterpene emission may have important implications for the indirect defense potential of this species

Emission of Volatile Organic Compounds After Herbivory from Trifolium pratense (L.) Under Laboratory and Field Conditions

Plants emit a wide range of volatile organic compounds in response to damage by herbivores, and many of the compounds have been shown to attract the natural enemies of insect herbivores or serve for inter- and intra-plant communication. Most studies have focused on volatile emission in the laboratory while little is known about emission patterns in the field. We studied the emission of volatiles by Trifolium pratense (red clover) under both laboratory and field conditions. The emission of 24 compounds was quantified in the laboratory, of which eight showed increased emission rates after herbivory by Spodoptera littoralis caterpillars, including (E)-β-ocimene, the most abundant compound, (Z)-β-ocimene, linalool, (E)-β-caryophyllene, (E,E)-α-farnesene, 4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene (DMNT), 1-octen-3-ol, and methyl salicylate (MeSA). While most of these compounds have been reported as herbivore-induced volatiles from a wide range of plant taxa, 1-octen-3-ol seems to be a characteristic volatile of legumes. In the field, T. pratense plants with varying herbivore damage growing in established grassland communities emitted only 13 detectable compounds, and the correlation between herbivore damage and volatile release was more variable than in the laboratory. For example, the emission of (E)-β-ocimene, (Z)-β-ocimene, and DMNT actually declined with damage, while decanal exhibited increased emission with increasing herbivory. Elevated light and temperature increased the emission of many compounds, but the differences in light and temperature conditions between the laboratory and the field could not account for the differences in emission profiles. Our results indicate that the release of volatiles from T. pratense plants in the field is likely to be influenced by additional biotic and abiotic factors not measured in this study. The elucidation of these factors may be important in understanding the physiological and ecological functions of volatiles in plants

The role of complement in ocular pathology

Functionally active complement system and complement regulatory proteins are present in the normal human and rodent eye. Complement activation and its regulation by ocular complement regulatory proteins contribute to the pathology of various ocular diseases including keratitis, uveitis and age-related macular degeneration. Furthermore, a strong relationship between age-related macular degeneration and polymorphism in the genes of certain complement components/complement regulatory proteins is now well established. Recombinant forms of the naturally occurring complement regulatory proteins have been exploited in the animal models for treatment of these ocular diseases. It is hoped that in the future recombinant complement regulatory proteins will be used as novel therapeutic agents in the clinic for the treatment of keratitis, uveitis, and age-related macular degeneration