Physico-chemical characterization of Oak, Pine and Sal forest soil profiles of Betalghat Region of Kumaun Himalaya

Soil is one of the basic natural resources on which all forms of terrestrial life co-exist. The soils of three forest types i.e., banj-oak (Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus) chir-pine (Pinus roxburghii Sargent) and sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn. f.) of Betalghat block, Nainital District, (Kumaun Himalaya). Soils were drawn from three depths viz. 0-10 cm, 11-20 cm, 21-30 cm. The present study were studied resulted to soil physico-chemical properties i.e. maximum soil texture (sand 34.30 %, silt 57.21 % and clay 33.23 %), soil moisture (12.6 %), bulk density (1.43 g.cm-3), porosity (52.06%), water holding capacity (69.27%) and the maximum values of chemical analysis i.e. pH (6.80), total carbon (3.82 %), organic matter (6.57 %), total nitrogen (0.36 %), available potassium (267 mg/kg) and available phosphorous (62 mg/kg). Banj-oak forest shows rich physical properties followed by sal and chir-pine forest while chir-pine forest shows rich chemical properties in compared to sal and banj-oak forest

U-2012: An improved Lowry protein assay, insensitive to sample color, offering reagent stability and enhanced sensitivity

Traditional colorimetric protein assays such as Biuret, Lowry, and modified Lowry (U-1988) are unsuitable for colored biological samples. Here we describe an improved Lowry protein assay (U-2012), which utilizes stable reagents and offers enhanced sensitivity over the U-1988 assay. U-2012 circumvents interference from colored pigments and other substances (for example sugars) bound to perchloric acid (PCA) precipitated proteins by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) induced oxidation at 50°C. Unused hydrogen peroxide is neutralized with sodium pyruvate before protein estimation for a stable end color. The U-2012 assay is carried out on the PCA precipitated protein pellet after neutralization (with Na2CO3 plus NaOH), solubilization (in Triton-NaCl), decolorization (by H2O2) and pyruvate treatment. Protein contents in red wine and homogenates of beetroot and blueberry are calculated from standard curves established for various proteins and generated using a rectangular hyperbola with parameters estimated with Microsoft Excel's Solver add-in. The U-2012 protein assay represents an improvement over U-1988 and gives a more accurate estimation of protein content