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Phytotoxicity of Mercury and Nickel
on Antioxidant Enzyme Activities in Brassica juncea L. Seedlings
and Role of Homobrassinolide in Overcoming Stress -- Aruna Kumari and C P Malik
The present paper describes the effect of homobrassinolide on growth, and antioxidative enzyme superoxide dismutase ascorbate peroxidase and catalase activities in 15-d-old seedlings of Brassica juncea L. treated with Hg and Ni metals at different concentrations. Treatments decreased the seedlings growth, APX activity and increased the SOD and catalase activities in seedlings. Homobrassinolide hardening increased the seedlings growth and APX activity, while decreasing the SOD and catalase activity of seedlings. © 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Qualitative, Quantitative Analysis of Siderophore Production
by Rhizobium Strains and Evaluation of the Effect
of Iron on Siderophore Production -- V K Deshwal, N Babylaisana, B Kongbrailatpam,
Swati and A Chauhan
In the soil with neutral pH, iron is present in the form of insoluble ferric hydroxide polymers,which is not available biologically. But microorganisms have the ability to uptake iron. For the present study, characterized and siderophore producing Rhizobium strains PMR-2, PMR-3, PMR-7, PMR-9, PMR-12, PMR-13, PMR-15 and PMR-19 were selected (Deshwal et al., 2010). A qualitative analysis revealed that supernatant of Rhizobium strains developed pink color. Maximum peak was observed at 510 nm. This confirmed that isolated Rhizobium strains were produced catechol type siderophore. Rhizobium PMR-2, PMR-3, PMR-7, PMR-9, PMR-12, PMR-13, PMR-15 and PMR-19 produced siderophore in different iron concentrations (0.1, 1 and 10 uM) but failed to produce siderophore at concentration 20 uM. Siderophore production was always highest in 1 uM Fe concentration, as compared to 0.1 uM and 10 uM Fe concentration. Rhizobium PMR-3 strains showed maximum siderophore production (29 ug mL–1) and Rhizobium PMR-7 produced least siderophore (17 ug mL–1) in YEM broth containing 1 uM Fe. © 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Allelopathic Effect of Chenopodium murale L. and Cassia tora L.
on Germination and Growth Activities of Mustard
-- Eva Sarkar and Pampa Chakraborty
The basic approach of allelopathic research in agriculture deals with the screening capacity of weeds in suppressing the growth of crops in different aspects. In the present study, fresh aqueous shoot extracts of Chenopodium murale and Cassia tora, two common obnoxious weeds, were used to determine their allelopathic potential on seed germination and seedling growth of mustard (Brassica nigra L.). The rate of germination reduced considerably with 1:5 concentration of the extracts. In both the cases, root lengths were inhibited more than the hypocotyl lengths, as compared to control. The inhibitory effect was a function of the concentration gradient (1:20, 1: 10 and 1:5), and the greatest inhibition observed was under the high concentration application. Similar effects were observed in the case of enzyme assays. Activities of catalase and ?-amylase were more affected than that of the peroxidase in treated seedlings. Pretreatment of seeds with GA3 could not prevent the inhibition of seed germination and seedling growth when transferred to shoot extracts of the experimental weeds. The shoot extract of C. tora was more inhibitory than C. murale regarding their allelopathic effect on mustard.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Endangered Ecosystems of Eastern Ghats: Need
for Conser ving Kondapalli Forests, Andhra Pradesh, India
-- P Rama Chandra Prasad, K S Rajan and J Asha Kumari
Forests are the renewable resources, which are under continuous threat due to various anthropogenic interferences. The present paper discusses the risk caused due to the residual forest patches of eastern ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India, and the actions to be taken to protect them before they go into the phase of extinction. The paper focuses mainly on the significance of Kondapalli reserved forest of eastern ghats and on the role of anthropogenic factors in modifying the structure of these forests and on the possible causative and underlying factors that drive such changes. Though Kondapalli forest was declared as reserve forest, it is subjected to human disturbances, threatening the biodiversity and its population. The establishment of industries near to this forest and easy movement of people into the forest have caused a lot of damage to the vegetation. Encroachment, indiscriminate cutting of trees and haphazard grazing in forest areas have resulted in vast stretches of useless degraded scrub, eroded soils and bare hills. In this context, there is a need to analyze the current status of these forests and suggest measures to retain the remnant forests and recover wherever possible, thus providing various types of resources and for becoming a repository for biodiversity of the area. © 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Effect of Quality Protein Maize on Growth and Body Weight
Gain Performance of Rhode Island Red (RIR) Breed Chickens
-- Fisseha Moges, Getnet Zeleke and Tekeba Eshetie
This experiment was conducted at Andassa Livestock Research Center (ALRC) to evaluate the growth performances of RIR starter and grower chicken fed a ration containing different levels of QPM and normal maize. The trial was carried out using completely randomized design for a period of 16 weeks. The results of both the starter and grower feeding phases revealed that there was significant difference (P < 0.05) in body weight, daily weight gain and mortality rate of chicks between the control groups and those fed various levels of QPM in the ration. During the starter phase there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in final body weight among chicks fed different levels of QPM in the ration. Chicken fed a ration containing different levels of QPM (49-55% in the ration) showed significantly (P < 0.05) lower feed conversion ratio compared to chicken fed local maize. The lowest levels (49 and 51%) of QPM in the ration resulted in the highest mortality rate of chicks than the highest levels (53 and 55%) of QPM and the control diet. During the grower phase, chicken fed a ration containing different proportions of QPM (52-58%) showed the highest average final body weight and average daily weight gain than those fed a ration containing normal maize. On the other hand, chicken fed with a ration containing local maize were significantly higher in feed conversion ratio than those fed with different levels of QPM. The highest mortality rate was recorded only on chicks fed with a ration containing 54% QPM. Hence, it is recommended that inclusion of over 49 and 51% QPM in the ration of starter and grower chicks respectively was found to be promising in terms of body weight gain. © 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Adrenaline Induced Changes in Kinetics of Na+-K+-ATPase
in Tissues of Indian Toad, Bufo melanostictus
-- J R Chetty, P K Dixit, G Mishra and H N Behera
The treatment of adrenaline to normal toads increased Na+-K+-ATPase activity significantly in both the liver and muscle homogenates. The study of enzyme kinetics, by taking various substrate concentrations, indicated an allosteric activation up to Vmax. However, after attainment of Vmax, subsequent increase in substrate concentration exhibited substrate inhibition depressing the enzyme activity.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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