Morphological diversity of Morus spp. (Mulberry accessions) grown in Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan

Genetic diversity of thirty mulberry accessions was determined by using the eleven different phenotypic characters. The study was conducted in field areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The main objective of this study was to find out the diversity in morphological characters of Mulberry accessions found in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan. The results showed that there is a significant difference in quantitative parameters among the thirty accessions (p≤0.001). The cluster analysis showed that the data is divided into two main groups at near 80 dissimilarity level. This study suggests that the Morus germplasm is quite diverse

Environmentally benevolent synthesis and characterization of silver nanoparticles using Olea ferruginea Royle for antibacterial and antioxidant activities

In this study, we reported an easy, rapid, cost-effective and environmentally benign method for the fabrication of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) using Olea ferruginea as reducing, capping and stabilizing agent. For this, an aqueous extract of leaf and bark of O. ferruginea was treated with 1 mM AgNO3, which reduces Ag ions to Ag-NPs by establishing reddish brown color. The synthesized Ag-NPs were spherical crystals, with a mean size of 23 and 17 nm for leaf- and bark-mediated Ag-NPs, respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy affirmed the role of leaf and bark extracts of O. ferruginea as reducing, capping and stabilizing agent. These biosynthesized Ag-NPs showed profound antibacterial activity against Gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli) and Gram-positive (Streptococcus pneumonia and Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria. The highest antibacterial activity was shown by bark Ag-NPs against S. aureus (14.00 mm), while leaf Ag-NPs showed higher activity against S. pneumonia (13.00 mm). Additionally, they produced effective antioxidant activity against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) as compared to plant extracts and positive control. It was observed that the bark-mediated Ag-NPs had higher percentage (90%) of scavenging potential than the leaf-mediated Ag-NPs (78%). The significance of the current study is the synthesis of eco-friendly, easy and cost-effective Ag-NPs as biomedical products