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Moringa oleifera Lam., (family: Moringaceae) has begun to gain more popularity as a new ‘superfood’ due to its high nutritive value. It has been used for generations to treat and prevent the diseases such as diabetes, anemia, arthritis, and respiratory, skin, heart, liver and digestive disorders. Apart from these pharmacological activities, it is also a plant growth enhancer. The present work deals with a comparative assessment of the effect of foliar spray of Moringa leaf extracts (MLEs) of different varieties (PKM-1, PKM-2, Jaffna, ODC and Conventional) on the stevioside and mineral contents of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, a commercial natural sweetener plant. The decreasing order of stevioside and zeatin content in stevia plants after MLEs foliar spray, as determined by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was: Jaffna (7.73%; 0.0063%) > PKM-1 (6.93%; 0.0056%) > PKM-2 (6.45%; 0.0051%) > ODC (4.14%; 0.0048%) > Conventional (3.86%; 0.0042%) > Control (2.94%; 0.00088%) respectively. While, the decreasing order of mineral contents as determined by flame photometer was: Jaffna > PKM-1> PKM-2 > ODC > Conventional > Control. The comparative study revealed that among all the varieties, Jaffna significantly improved the growth and physiochemical parameters of stevia plants. Thus, this variety can be used as an eco-friendly and cost-effective plant growth enhancer in stevia farming and can be used for other commercially important crops.

The aqueous and ethanolic leaves and seeds extract of M. oleifera varieties, ‘Jaffna’, ‘PKM-1’ (Periyakulam-1), ‘PKM-2’ (Periyakulam-2), ‘ODC’ and ‘Conventional’ were analyzed for their free radical scavenging effect on DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl) and ABTS (2, 2-azinobis,3-ethyl-benzothiazolin-6-sulfonic acid). The DPPH and ABTS activity (based on IC50 values) trend with leaves extract was: Conventional > ODC > PKM-2 > PKM-1 > Jaffna and Conventional > ODC > PKM-2 > PKM-1 > Jaffna respectively. Similarly, the DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities of seeds extract was: Conventional > ODC > PKM-2 > PKM-1 > Jaffna and Conventional > ODC > PKM-2 > PKM-1 > Jaffna respectively. The trend observed with total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) values for both leaves and seeds extracts was: Jaffna > PKM-1 > PKM-2 > ODC > Conventional. The antibacterial activity (disc-diffusion method) of the aqueous and ethanolic leaves and seeds extracts of the five varieties on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus showed a similar trend: Jaffna > PKM-1 > PKM-2 > ODC > Conventional. A comparative assessment of the plant growth promoting potential of the leaves extracts on Stevia rebaudiana was also performed. The trend observed was: Jaffna > PKM-1 > PKM-2 > ODC > Conventional. Therefore, the comparative study reveals that ethanolic leaf and seed extracts of Jaffna variety possess strong antioxidant and antibacterial properties with a high TPC and TFC, as compared to the other varieties. It also exhibits a promising plant growth promoting activity. Thus, this variety can be explored further as a reliable source of natural bacteriostatic agent, antioxidants and plant growth enhancer.

Moringa oleifera Lam. (Moringaceae) is revered as s ‘miracle tree’ due to its remarkable nutritional, medicinal and industrial uses. In our study, a comparative analysis of the nutritional parameters (antioxidant activity, sugar content—TSS, total soluble proteins—TSP and mineral contents), phytochemicals (HPLC analysis of four anticancer compounds), and cytotoxicity of M. oleifera leaf extracts (MLEs) of five selected varieties (conventional, PKM-1, PKM-2, ODC, and Jaffna), was performed. Jaffna variety possessed the highest antioxidant activity (FRAP) followed by other four varieties. The trend observed was: Jaffna (9.47 µg/mL, 18.48 µg/mL, 29.39 µg/mL, and 35.37 µg/mL) &gt, PKM-1 (4.82 µg/mL, 7.63 µg/mL, 22.33 µg/mL, and 27.71 µg/mL) &gt, PKM-2 (2.10 µg/mL, 7.04 µg/mL, 13.18 µg/mL, and 21.78 µg/mL) &gt, ODC (0.17 µg/mL, 2.10 µg/mL, 4.41 µg/mL and 13.94 µg/mL) &gt, Conventional (0.05 µg/mL, 1.08 µg/mL, 2.86 µg/mL, and 5.40 µg/mL), total soluble proteins (TSP) [0.69 ± 0.01 and 0.94 ± 0.01 µg/mL (young and mature stage, respectively)], sugar content (TSS) [0.39 ± 0.01 and 0.51 ± 0.01 µg/mL (young and mature stage, respectively)], chlorophyll content [1.07 ± 0.01 (plantlet stage), 1.36 ± 0.003 (vegetative-stage), 0.82 ± 0.004 (reproductive stage) mg/g], followed by the other four varieties. The trend observed for cytotoxic activities of ethanolic MLEs on HepG2 cell line, based on the IC50 values, was conventional (1.22 mg/mL) &gt, ODC (0.90 mg/mL) &gt, PKM-2 (0.65 mg/mL) &gt, PKM-1 (0.35 mg/mL) &gt, Jaffna (0.15 mg/mL). The results of HPLC quantification of anticancer compounds [beta-sitosterol (0.244%), quercetin (0.216%), kaempferol (0.013%), and moringin (0.063%)] was also in consonance with that of MTT assay. In summary, the trend observed in all the parameters tested was Jaffna &gt, PKM-1 &gt, PKM-2 &gt, ODC &gt, conventional. Thus, Jaffna variety has a better potential to combat malnutrition and cancer and must be recommended for commercial plantations.

Fungi are beneficial to humans and used worldwide, both industrially and commercially. They have great relevance in environmental clean-up (as decomposers and recyclers), agriculture (as proteinaceous food), food technology (in fermented foods, baked goods, alcoholic beverages, enzymes, and food colorants), textile industry (anthraquinone- based dyes and azaphilones), and medicine production (antibiotics, organic acids, vitamins, and steroids). Fungi such as Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp., Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus spp., Enterobacter aerogenes, Streptomyces griseoviridis, Gliocladium catenulatum, Trichoderma spp., and many others are crucial to the food processing industries. Meticulous research on existing strains and development of new strains can be beneficial in improving both the quality and variety of food products and the effectiveness of fungal-derived pigments and medicines.