Seabuckthorn – Greening Ladakh

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<span style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Intra-plant floral variation in<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"> Cleome</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">viscosa</i> L. and its possible significance in breeding system</span>

468-475<span style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="">Cleome viscosa<span style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"=""> L., an annual rainy season weed, is cosmopolitan in distribution. Two naturally growing populations of C. viscosa from Jammu, J & K, India have been studied for floral variation at an intra-plant level and its possible role in its life cycle. Plants of both the populations bear flowers which exhibit tremendous intra-plant variation in size (large and small) and sex (hermaphrodite, staminate and pistillate). The average number of flowers per plant varied significantly and so did their structural and functional details. Greater propensity, however, was towards hermaphroditism at both plant and flower levels. <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">The large and small sized flowers differed in their morphology and reproductive features; the former were significantly larger than the latter. Anthesis, anther dehiscence and stigma receptivity were coupled in all flower types. This functional aspect along with the structural proximity between stamens at two lengths and pistil further facilitated self-pollination. However, conspicuous floral display attracted diverse pollinator fauna <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">(Apis dorsata, Halictus albescens, Nomia curvipes and N. elliotii) which in turn mediated cross pollination. Nevertheless, each floral type contributed towards plant’s fitness in its own way. Hermaphrodite flowers exhibited both self and cross pollination and assured survival by setting fruits and seeds with the large sized counterparts more productive. All these floral variations seemed to impart flexibility to the pollination system and provide fitness over the short flowering season. </span

Predicting the potential habitat suitability and distribution of “Weed-Onion” (Asphodelus tenuifolius Cavan.) in India under predicted climate change scenarios

Recent shifts in the spectrum of weeds documented throughout the globe in various agroecosystems were purportedly associated with climate change. Consequently, it called for a more thorough investigation of weed vulnerabilities and management in the changing climate scenarios. In the present investigation, we compile geographic occurrence data of an agricultural weed Asphodelus tenuifolius Cavan. using ecospat R package and BIOMOD ensemble forecasting to analyze the existing distribution and anticipate its possible distribution in the future under future climate change scenarios. Nine different algorithms were used and implemented in biomod2 package for modelling the current potential habitat distribution of the selected species across the study region and climatic data was downloaded from WorldClim database. Ensemble modeling showed high habitat suitability of the majority of central, northern, and western Indian regions under current climatic conditions. In addition, by gaining suitable habitats in the future the target species will undergo significant increase in range change. The potential range of habitat suitability for A. tenuifolius is likely to increase from 138.73% to 190.29% in terms of Committee Averaging and 721.42%–1508% in terms of Weighted Mean under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). This ensemble modelling technique will help us to locate the places where its potential range could expand while simultaneously analysing the spatial distributions of field weeds, which may be important for the creation of cutting-edge weed control methods