Effect of elicitors on physiomorphological and biochemical parameters of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) and rapeseed (B. napus)

The present investigation was aimed to assess the effect of different concentrations of elicitors viz., salicylic acid (SA) and benzothiadiazole (BTH) on physiomorphological and biochemical parameters of Brassica juncea and B. napus cultivars. The field experiment was conducted during 2012-13 at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India. Four different treatments of elicitors and a fungicide treatment were given to 10 week old plants up to four consecutive weeks. Content of total soluble protein, free amino acids, total sugars and reducing sugars ofleaves of both B. juncea and B. napus were evaluated after each spray. The content of total soluble protein increased, whereas the contents of free amino acids, total sugars and reducing sugars decreased in all the treatments after each spray. Among all the treatments, the combinations of elicitors, i.e., BTH (3 ppm) + SA (33 ppm) and BTH (7 ppm) + SA (17 ppm) exhibited maximum contents of total soluble protein, free amino acids, total sugars and reducing sugars than control in both the cultivars. These treatments were more pronounced in increasing plant height, internodal distance and number of pods per plant in both the cultivars. Our results suggest that the combinations of elicitors act synergistically to promote growth and metabolic activities in B. juncea and B. napus cultivars leading to the induction and regulation of disease resistance

Partial Group Representations on Semialgebras

Let $A$ be an additively cancellative semialgebra over an additively cancellative semifield $K$ as defined in [9]. For a given partial action $\alpha$ of a group $G$ on an algebra, the associativity of partial skew group ring together with the existence and uniqueness of enveloping (global) action were studied by M. Dokuchaev and R. Exel [2] which were extended for semialgebras with some restriction by Sharma et. al. using the ring of differences. In a similar way, we extend the results of [2,3] for semialgebras regarding partial representations.Comment: PAGE 20-2

Biochemical attributes of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) and rapeseed (B. napus) as influenced by salicylic acid and benzothiadiazole

A field experiment was conducted during 2011-12 at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India to assess the effect of foliar application of elicitors viz., salicylic acid (SA) and benzothiadiazole (BTH) on biochemical constituents of Brassica seeds. Seeds of Brassica juncea and B. napus were sown in the field during rabi season. Four different treatments of elicitors along with a fungicide and control were given to 10 week old plants up to four consecutive weeks. After harvesting, the seeds were analyzed for oil, total soluble protein and glucosinolate content. Results indicated that the elicitor treatments increased the oil, total soluble protein and glucosinolate content in seeds of both the Brassica species. In B. juncea, BTH (7 ppm) + SA (17 ppm) showed 12.5% higher oil content than control. In B. napus, the combinations of elicitors viz., BTH (3 ppm) + SA (33 ppm) and BTH (7 ppm) + SA (17 ppm) exhibited 15% increase in oil content compared to control. Treatment containing BTH (3 ppm) + SA (33 ppm) showed 18.72 and 15.86% higher total soluble protein content in B. juncea and B. napus seeds, respectively compared to control. In B. juncea, BTH (3 ppm) + SA (33 ppm) exhibited 7.13% higher glucosinolate content compared to control. In B. napus, BTH (7 ppm) + SA (17 ppm) showed 11.23% higher glucosinolate content than control. In conclusion, the application of elicitors, i.e., SA and BTH could be a useful tool for improving the nutritive value of B. juncea and B. napus seeds

Effect of plant growth hormones and abiotic stresses on germination, growth and phosphatase activities in Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench seeds

Phosphatases are widely found in plants having intracellular and extracellular activities. Phosphatases are believed to be important for phosphorous scavenging and remobilization in plants, but its role in adaptation to abiotic stresses and growth hormones at germination level has not been critically evaluated. To address this issue, the effect of ABA, GA3, NaCl and drought on germination, growth, acid and alkaline phosphatases in sorghum embryos and endosperm was investigated. Germination decreased markedly under ABA, NaCl and drought treatments. Subsequently, a remarkable decrease in fresh weight and dry weight was observed in embryos under ABA and NaCl treatments, whereas a significant decrease in endosperm fresh weight was observed only under drought stress. However, no significant change in endosperm dry weight was observed under other any treatment. Furthermore, a considerable increase in acid phosphatse activity was observed in embryos under GA3 and NaCl treatments, however, alkaline phosphatase activity was substantially higher under all treatments. In endosperm, a significant increase in acid phosphatase activity was observed under ABA and NaCl treatments. Alkaline phosphatse activity was apparently higher under GA3. However, no substantial changes in acid or alkaline phosphatase activities were observed after drought treatments. These findings suggest that changes in the phosphatase enzymes might play important roles in adaptation of germinating seeds, to changing environmental conditions. Based upon these results, a possible physiological role of phosphatases in germinating sorghum seeds is discussed. Key words: Growth, sorghum, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.3(6) 2004: 308-31

Synthesis and Optimization of Sodium Alginate-Tween 80 nanocarrier for Berberine delivery

The present study focuses at the synthesis of berberine loaded sodium alginate nanoparticles using tween 80 (BSAT) as a surfactant. Berberine has poor solubility and bioavailability because of its hydrophobic nature, hence modified ionic complexation method was applied to enhance its efficacy. The synthesized nanoformulation was optimized by using Central Composite Design. The BSAT nanoparticles were experimentally characterized for particle size distribution, morphology of nanoparticles and drug encapsulation potential. It was experimentally found that BSAT nanoparticles possessed size within the limits of 50-100 nm with good encapsulation efficiency of 96.00 %. Moreover, sodium alginate at 0.05 %, w/v and tween 80 at 1 %, v/v was capable to produce isolated and free flowing nanoparticles. The nanoparticles of BSAT showed enhanced antimicrobial activity compared to pure berberine by agar well diffusion method against Klebsiella pneumonia, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis. The current investigation points that sodium alginate-tween 80 nanocarrier can prove to be a promising nanocarrier for hydrophobic drugs

Assessment of Natural Resources for Conservation of Wetland in District Chamba

The Ramsar Convection of IUCN held in 1971 in Iran raised global attention on the conservation and management of wetlands. 3 wetlands in the Indian State of Himachal Pradesh have been declared a wetland of International importance. Thus it is felt necessary to reclaim and develop high altitude wetlands for its optimum potential use, but a reliable and accurate database is not available. The present endeavour aims at the generation of database in terms of physical aspects/ land use, the extent of water spread and its water quality, vegetation status of the catchment area and surroundings of the lake. The threats to high altitude wetlands have been identified and adequate measures for its conservation and management suggested

Assessment of Natural Resources for Conservation of Wetland in District Chamba

The Ramsar Convection of IUCN held in 1971 in Iran raised global attention on the conservation and management of wetlands. 3 wetlands in the Indian State of Himachal Pradesh have been declared a wetland of international importance. Thus it is felt necessary to reclaim and develop high altitude wetlands for its optimum potential use, but a reliable and accurate database is not available. The present endeavour aims at the generation of database in terms of physical aspects/ land use, the extent of water spread and its water quality, vegetation status of the catchment area and surroundings of the lake. The threats to high altitude wetlands have been identified and adequate measures for its conservation and management suggested

A cluster randomized, controlled trial of breast and cervix cancer screening in Mumbai, India: methodology and interim results after three rounds of screening

Cervix and Breast cancers are the most common cancers among women worldwide and extract a large toll in developing countries. In May 1998, supported by a grant from the NCI (US), the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India, started a cluster-randomized, controlled, screening-trial for cervix and breast cancer using trained primary health workers to provide health-education, visual-inspection of cervix (with 4% acetic acid-VIA) and clinical breast examination (CBE) in the screening arm, and only health education in the control arm. Four rounds of screening at 2-year intervals will be followed by 8 years of monitoring for incidence and mortality from cervix and breast cancers. The methodology and interim results after three rounds of screening are presented here. Good randomization was achieved between the screening (n = 75360) and control arms (n = 76178). In the screening arm we see: High screening participation rates; Low attrition; Good compliance to diagnostic confirmation; Significant downstaging; Excellent treatment completion rate; Improving case fatality ratios. The ever-screened and never-screened participants in the screening arm show significant differences with reference to the variables religion, language, age, education, occupation, income and health-seeking behavior for gynecological and breast-related complaints. During the same period, in the control arm we see excellent participation rate for health education; Low attrition and a good number of symptomatic referrals for both cervix and breast

Evaluation of Nephroprotective and Immunomodulatory Activities of Antioxidants in Combination with Cisplatin against Murine Visceral Leishmaniasis

Leishmaniasis, a neglected tropical disease (NTD) caused by Leishmania, has been put on the World Health Organization agenda for eradication as a part of their Special Programme for Tropical Diseases Research. Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a life-threatening disease when no treatment is given. Most of the drugs still used to treat VL are often expensive, difficult to administer, have serious side effects, and several are becoming ineffective because of increasing parasite resistance. Cisplatin is a first-generation platinum-containing drug, used in the treatment of various solid tumors. We have for the first time characterized the in vivo effect of cisplatin in murine experimental visceral leishmaniasis, but at higher doses it is nephrotoxic. Considering the above findings, the present study was designed to evaluate the protective efficacy of the drug in combination with various antioxidants to reduce or prevent cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. Drug treatment induces a higher secretion of Th1 cytokines, diminution in parasite burden, and the supplementation of antioxidants which are antagonists of the toxicity helps in reducing the nephrotoxicity

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis