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Moringa oleifera Lam., the miracle tree, is widely used as a traditional medicine. The analyses of phytochemicals and antioxidant potential of hydroethanolic extract of various plant parts of M. oleifera revealed that leaves possessed the highest content of total phenolics (9.58 mg/g), β-carotene (14.10 mg/g) and lycopene (2.60 mg/g). Flowers and bark showed the highest content of total flavonoids (3.5 mg/g) and anthocyanin (52.80 mg/g), respectively. Leaves also showed maximum antioxidant potential using nitric oxide scavenging assay (IC50 - 120 µg/ml) and deoxyribose degradation assay (IC50—178 µg/ml). Highest DPPH radical scavenging activity was observed in flowers (IC50—405 µg/ml). The GC–MS study revealed the presence of 29, 36 and 24 compounds in bark, leaf and flower, respectively. The major constituent identified were epiglobulol (41.68% in bark), phytol (23.54% in leaf) and β-sitosterol (15.35% in flower).The phytochemicals identified possess several therapeutic activity, including antioxidant potential, which was confirmed through earlier reports. Moreover, the presence of 1,1,3-triethoxubutane in all the plant parts analyzed, projects it as an important source of waste water treatment as hydrophobic modifiers.

Drought is one of the most serious threats to crop production all over the world and is likely to worsen with anticipated changes in the climate. Drought impairs normal growth, disturbs water relations and reduces water-use efficiency in plants. Plants, however, have a variety of physiological and biochemical responses at cellular and organism levels, making it a more complex phenomenon. Researchers have been trying to understand and dissect the mechanisms of plant tolerance to drought stress using various approaches. The present chapter describes the strategies used by plants to adapt to low water potential at physiological, biochemical and molecular levels. This chapter also describes the strategies involving genetic engineering used by breeders in order to obtain crop varieties with improved drought tolerance, some of which show great promise. Modern genomic and genetic approaches coupled with breeding methodologies are expected to more effectively identify the genes and metabolic pathways that confer drought tolerance in crops.

The search for new insecticidal natural products is very important viewing the global incidence of malaria. In the present study, rotenoids viz., sumatrol, rotenone, tephrosin, rotenol, deguelin, and elliptone were identified from the plant parts and callus culture of Cassia tora L. Maximum content of rotenoids was observed in roots (1.96% ± 0.03) and minimum in the stem (0.52% ± 0.02). Rotenoid showed larvicidal activity against Anopheles stephensi larvae (LC50-120.61 ppm; P

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of initial temperature treatment on phytochemical and antioxidant potential of commercially important plant Azadirachta indica A. Juss. The leaves were differentially treated after harvest at temperatures 4, -20, and 110 °C and at room temperature, separately. It was found that a quick drying process at 110 °C followed by air-drying helped in maximum retention of bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity, which was significantly higher than other processing methods. Correlation analysis revealed that total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) can be a measure to assess the antioxidant potential using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. Nitric oxide scavenging assay (NOSA) was insignificantly related to DPPH and FRAP. Also, FRAP and DPPH can be a predictive assay for each other, but not with NOSA. Thus, a quick drying process at 110 °C using an oven can be a cost-effective venture, especially in developing countries, for retaining the nutritive value and antioxidant activity of A. indica.

Weeds have known to affect human activities including agriculture since ages. Looking at the global scenario the major contributors of crop loss are weeds, followed by animals and pathogens. World War II started the ‘chemical era’ for the development of herbicide. Herbicides are used to kill weeds and are still the largest product type accounting for 47.6 % of global pesticide sales followed by insecticide (29.4 %), fungicide (17.5 %) and others (5.5 %). Herbicides have been classified in various ways but classification based on site of action of herbicide is comparatively better as herbicide resistance management can be handled more properly and effectively. Commonly used herbicides globally are generally broad spectrum and non-selective which restricts their use in arable lands. Thus there is need to modify the crops genetically so that the crop plants remain unaffected by herbicide application. Different strategies have been used either individually or in combination to develop transgenic plants. Reports suggest that the global area covered by herbicide-resistant transgenic plant outnumbers the area covered by any other genetically modified plants. However, inadvertent use of herbicides has helped in evolution of resistant weeds. This problem is now a subject of discussion worldwide. Integrated herbicide management is important to avoid selection pressure for the evolution of resistance. Transgenic plants have really helped the mankind in increasing the crop yield but use of transgenic plant is still a debatable topic which needs meticulous research, observations and experimentations for a final statement either in favour or against.

Gymnema sylvestre R. Br. is an important medicinal plant known for its antidiabetic potential. In the present study, phytosterols from G. sylvestre was identified and quantified in vivo and in vitro. Maximum callus induction was observed in MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg L(-1) of 2, 4-D. The protein content was significantly high both in aerial plant parts and callus tissue. Phytosterols were identified using chromatographic and spectral studies. beta-sitosterol, campesterol and stigmasterol were identified both in vivo and in vitro. Lanosterol was identified only in callus culture. Phytosterols have reported for the first time in callus culture of G. sylvestre.