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A study was conducted to assess the potential of bacterial synthesized silver nanoparticles by Bacillus siralis strain UMBS1.1, isolated from a silver mine and used to remove toxicity of four textile dyes viz., Congo red, nigrosine, crystal violet and phenol red. Characterization of nanoparticles was done by UV-visible spectroscopy, FTIR, SEM and DLS analysis. Comparative dye decolourization study was carried out to degrade 25, 50, 75 and 100 ppm of each dye by both Ag-nanoparticle solution and bacterial culture preparation. Of the dyes tested, Congo red showed maximum degradation both by bacterial culture and Ag-nanoparticle solution and was selected for further study on Vigna mungo, V. radiata, Solanum lycopersicum and Viola tricolor. Results revealed 100% seed germination, both under in vitro and in vivo conditions, in all the plants tested, except S. lycopersicum (80%). The plumule length of 15.0 ± 0.23, 12.0 ± 0.23, 6.5 ± 0.22 and 5.5 ± 0.16 cm; radical length of 3.0 ± 0.17, 2.5 ± 0.20, 1.5 ± 0.17 and 1.9 ± 0.18 cm; shoot length of 24.0 ± 0.12, 17.0 ± 0.12, 23.5 ± 0.26 and 11.0 ± 0.08 cm; and root length of 2.9 ± 0.05, 3.2 ± 0.15, 2.2 ± 0.15 and 3.9 ± 0.01 cm was observed in V. mungo, V. radiata, S. lycopersicum and V. tricolor, respectively, in bacterial synthesized Ag-nanoparticles treatment. Increase in seed germination and seedling growth was observed in Congo red dye with Ag-nanoparticle treatment. Thus, green synthesized Ag-nanoparticles can play a vital role in bioremediation of these synthetic dyes.

The present investigation was carried out to estimate variability, heritability and genetic advance in diverse germplasm of tomato. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Thirty five genotypes including one check cultivar were evaluated for different horticultural traits. High phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation were depicted for the characters like number of fruits per plant (51.80 and 50.00%), fruit yield per plant (52.18 and 51.10%), fruit yield per plot (53.21 and 51.91%), fruit yield per ha (53.21 and 51.91%) and plant height (36.85 and 36.38%). High heritability coupled with high genetic gain was recorded for number of fruits per plant (93.18 and 99.42%), plant height (97.45 and 73.98%), average fruit weight (95.11 and 50.09%), fruit yield per plant (95.89 and 103.00%), per plot (95.19 and 104.34%) and per hectare (95.19 and 104.34%). Hence, selection based on above characters can prove effective for improvement in yield. High heritability coupled with moderate genetic gain was observed for number of fruits per cluster, harvest duration and ascorbic acid content. Therefore, these characters also show some scope for improvement in yield through selection in tomato.