Effect of Silting Yield Index on Biomass and Carbon Sequestration Potential along an Altitudinal Gradient of Subtropical Chir Pine Forests and Grasslands in North Western Himalaya, India

Biomass is an important characteristic of vegetation and is regarded as an important indicator of ecological and management processes in the vegetation. Measures of standing crop also reflect the amount of energy stored in the vegetation, which can indicate the potential productivity at the site. Forests are important for carbon sequestration besides playing very important role in the global carbon cycle. They store about 80% of all aboveground and 40% of all belowground terrestrial organic carbon. This study comprises to estimate the biomass and carbon stock of chirpine forests at different altitudinal gradients

Cross genera amplification of ginger EST-SSRs in large cardamom using genomic DNA isolated from standardized simplified protocol

323-330Large cardamom (Amomum subulatum Roxb.) is one of the most important cash crops of Sikkim. The issues crippling its production have been largely addressed through improved agronomic practices but efforts for genetic improvement have not been made. Being an orphan crop with regard to its genomic resources, the present study was carried out to standardize DNA isolation protocol for large cardamom using minimal resources and cross amplification of ginger expressed sequence tag (EST) based simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers in large cardamom. The DNA isolation protocol was standardized through various modifications in the general cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) procedure. The DNA isolated through standardized protocol was of high quality confirmed through both electrophoretic (clear and intact bands) and spectrophotometric studies (A260/A280 ratio 1.68 to 1.97). The isolated DNA of all the six large cardamom samples was employed for PCR studies with 73 EST-SSR primers of ginger, out of which 18 showed cross amplification. Out of 18 primers, only 5 exhibited polymorphism showing maximum of 2 alleles per locus. In total, the PIC ranged from 0 to 0.63. A total of  23 alleles were amplified with average of 1.3 alleles per marker. A null allele marker was also observed. The results indicated low cross amplification rate (24.6%).  DNA isolation protocol standardized in the study can be used across labs for extraction of quality DNA with minimal resources and primers showed cross-amplification may be further used for various molecular studies in large cardamoms

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Not AvailableBiochar application to soil has been projected as an approach to improve soil quality, which can also infuence soil microbial activities. In this experiment, we have utilized four dissimilar feedstocks derived biochar amendments. The highest microbial biomass carbon was found in Lantana camara (LC) biochar followed by pine needle (PN), maize stalk (MS) and lowest in black gram (BG) biochar. The dehydrogenase activity in diferent biochar treatment increased signifcantly along with control with increase in incubation days except pine biochar where dehydrogenase decreased. Biochar application in soil increased acid phosphatase compared to control. The highest alkaline phosphatase was found in MS and it was 20.56, 31.27, 42.52, 57.62 and 69.56 at 1, 7, 30, 60 and 90 days of incubation, respectively. The highest urease was found in LC followed by BG, MS and lowest in PN among the biochar at both the biochar application rate. The biochar application augmented the protease enzyme activity in soil, which might be due to augmenting the accessibility of inorganic nitrogen. The highest fuorescein diacetate was found in LC and it was 10.12, 17.62, 24.62, 32.86 and 37.56 at 1, 7, 30, 60 and 90 days of incubation, respectively. The increased biological indicator was more at 2.5 t/ha biochar application rate than 5.0 t/ha i.e. lower concentration of biochar enhanced more than higher concentration. This laboratory study demonstrated that biochar application can proft incubated acid soils by improving microbial biomass carbon up-lift while increasing potential soil enzyme activityNot Availabl