Search

This study reports genome wide characterization and development of first set of microsatellite markers through in silico analysis of eight sequenced Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. punicae strains available in the public database. SSR survey resulted in identification of ~ 4638 perfect SSRs, with mean marker frequency 901 SSRs/Mb and densitiy of 11,006 bp/Mb aross the eight genomes. Frequency distribution graphs revealed hexa-nucleotide repeats were more prominent fowllowed by tri-, tetra-, di- and penta-nucleotides in the analysed genomes. We desinged 2927 SSR primers that are specific to the strain LMG 859 and ePCR confirmed on seven other Xap genomes. This resulted in identification of 542 informative SSRs that are producing single amplicons, from which 66 primers were successfully validated through wet lab experiments on eight Xap isolates of pomegranate. Furthermore, utility of these SSRs were demostrated by analysing molecular diversity among 22 Xap isolates using 20 Xap_SSR primers. SSRs revealed moderate genetic diversity among Xap isolates (61%) and grouped 11 isolates that are repersenting six different states into one cluster. This proved the earlier evidence of wider spread of ST3 type Xap acoss India using Multi locus Sequence Typing (MLST) technique. In summary, Xap_SSR will serve as powerful genomics tools that would helps in monitoring of population dynamics, taxonomy, epidomology and quarantine aspects in bacterial blight pathogen through development of microsatellite based Multilocus Variable number of Tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) in future. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-022-03209-z.

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an important fruit crop, rich in fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, minerals and source of different biologically active compounds. The bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas axonopodispv. punicae is a serious threat to the crop leading to 60- 80 % yield loss under epiphytotic conditions. In this work, we have generated comparative transcriptome profile to mark the gene expression signatures during resistance and susceptible interactions. We analyzed leaf and fruits samples of moderately resistant genotype (IC 524207) and susceptible variety (Bhagawa) of pomegranate at three progressive infection stages upon inoculation with the pathogen. RNA-Seq with the Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform revealed 1,88,337 non-redundant (nr) transcript sequences from raw sequencing data, for a total of 34,626 unigenes with size > 2 kb. Moreover, 85.3% unigenes were annotated in at least one of the seven databases examined. Comparative analysis of gene-expression signatures in resistant and susceptible varieties showed that the genes known to be involved in defense mechanism in plants were up-regulated in resistant variety. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis successfully annotated 90,485 pomegranate unigenes, of which 68,464 were assigned to biological, 78,107 unigenes molecular function and 44,414 to cellular components. Significantly enriched GO terms in DEGs were related to oxidations reduction biological process, protein binding and oxidoreductase activity. This transcriptome data on pomegranate could help in understanding resistance and susceptibility nature of cultivars and further detailed fine mapping and functional validation of identified candidate gene would provide scope for resistance breeding programme in pomegranate.

Genome-wide characterization and development of first set of polymorphic Class I SSRs markers in pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) through in silico analysis using the draft genome sequence of pomegranate cv. Dabenzi (296 Mb) as reported by Qin et al. (2017). The availability of the draft genome sequence of pomegranate cv. Dabenzi presents unprecedented opportunities for the development of largescale genomic resources, such as DNA markers for genotyping applications. In this study, we identify a new set of highly polymorphic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers by targeting the SSR motif lengths of ≥ 24 bp. A total of 1,73,633 SSRs were identified in the 296-Mb pomegranate genome assembly, reflecting an average density of 527.97 SSRs/Mb. Of these, 43,853 SSRs belong to Class I category (> 20 bp). Concerning the abundance of repeat types in the current dataset, dinucleotide (NN) repeats (31.19%) were the dominant class among all SSRs identified in the genome, followed by tetranucleotide (NNNN: 20.5%) and trinucleotide repeats (NNN: 16.8%). The top two SSR motifs in NN category were AT/AT (64.90%) and AG/CT (28.51%), whereas AAT/ATT (34.66%) and AAG/CTT (28.91%) were the most abundant among NNN repeats. Primer pairs were designed for a total of 2856 Class I SSRs and 110 primers were then assayed initially on eight pomegranate genotypes for polymorphism survey. Polymorphic fragments were obtained for 82 SSRs (77.36%), of which a subset of 13 informative SSRs was further employed to investigate genetic diversity among 46 pomegranate genotypes. Approaches, such as population structure, cluster and PCA elucidated genetic relationships among 46 diverse pomegranate genotypes. In summary, here we developed the first set of genome-wide SSRs in pomegranate that will serve as a powerful genomic tool for future genetic studies. These SSRs have widespread applications in QTL mapping and marker-assisted selection for breeding.

A total of 17,439 mature miRNAs (~ 21 nt) earlier generated through RNA seq in the pomegranate were used for in silico analysis. After complexity reduction, a total of 1922 representative mature miRNAs were selected and used as query sequences against pomegranate genome to retrieve 2540 homologous contigs with flanking regions (~ 800). By using pre-miRNA prediction web server, a total of 1028 true contigs harbouring pri-miRNAs encoding 1162 pre-miRNAs were identified. Survey of these sequences for SSRs yielded a total of 1358 and 238 SSRs specific to pri-miRNA and pre-miRNAs, respectively. Of these, primer pairs were designed for 897 pri-miRNA and 168 pre-miRNA SSRs. In pri-miRNA sequences, hexa-nucleotides repeats were found to be most abundant (44.18%) followed by mono- (18.41%) and di-nucleotide (17.01%), which is also observed in pre-miRNA sequences. Further, a set of 51 randomly selected pre-miRNA-SSRs was examined for marker polymorphism. The experimental validation of these markers on eight pomegranate genotypes demonstrated 92.15% polymorphism. Utility of these functional markers was confirmed via examination of genetic diversity of 18 pomegranate genotypes using 15 miRNA-SSRs. Further, potential application of miRNA-SSRs for discovery of trait specific candidate genes was showed by validating 51 mature miRNA against publically available 2047 EST sequences of pomegranate by target and network analysis. In summary, the current study offers novel functional molecular markers for pomegranate genetic improvement.

Here we report on comprehensive chloroplast (cp) genome analysis of 16 pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) genotypes representing commercial cultivars, ornamental and wild types, through large-scale sequencing and assembling using next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. Comparative genome analysis revealed that the size of cp genomes varied from 158,593 bp (in wild, “1201” and “1181”) to 158,662 bp (cultivar, “Gul-e-Shah Red”) among the genotypes, with characteristic quadripartite structures separated by a pair of inverted repeats (IRs). The higher conservation for the total number of coding and non-coding genes (rRNA and tRNA) and their sizes, and IRs (IR-A and IR-B) were observed across all the cp genomes. Interestingly, high variations were observed in sizes of large single copy (LSC, 88,976 to 89,044 bp) and small single copy (SSC, 18,682 to 18,684 bp) regions. Although, the structural organization of newly assembled cp genomes were comparable to that of previously reported cp genomes of pomegranate (“Helow,” “Tunisia,” and “Bhagawa”), the striking differences were observed with the Lagerstroemia lines, viz., Lagerstroemia intermedia (NC_0346620) and Lagerstroemia speciosa (NC_031414), which clearly confirmed previous findings. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis also revealed that members outside the genus Punica were clubbed into a separate clade. The contraction and expansion analysis revealed that the structural variations in IRs, LSC, and SSC have significantly accounted for the evolution of cp genomes of Punica and L. intermedia over the periods. Microsatellite survey across cp genomes resulted in the identification of a total of 233 to 234 SSRs, with majority of them being mono- (A/T or C/G, 164–165 numbers), followed by di- (AT/AT or AG/CT, 54), tri- (6), tetra- (8), and pentanucleotides (1). Furthermore, the comparative structural variant analyses across cp genomes resulted in the identification of many varietal specific SNP/indel markers. In summary, our study has offered a successful development of large-scale cp genomics resources to leverage future genetic, taxonomical, and phylogenetic studies in pomegranate.

The effects of various micro-irrigation systems on some parameters of Pomegranate (Punica granatum L. cv. Bhagwa) i.e. physiological, yield, fruit qualities, root density, water use and water use efficiency parameters studied in the field experiments. Six types of micro-irrigation treatments with four replications were applied: 4-subsurface and 2-surface micro-irrigation were presented along with the 1-inline lateral at dripper spacing 30 cm, 2-inline laterals at drippers spacing 30 x 30 cm, 2-inline laterals at drippers spacing 40 x 40 cm; 2-inline laterals at drippers spacing 50 x 50 cm; 1-online lateral with 2-drippers (2D) and 2-online laterals with 4-drippers (4D), respectively. Maximum plant height, steam diameter, leaf area index, flowers, nutrient status and yield was recorded in subsurface drip irrigation system (SDI) with 2-inline laterals (30 x 30 cm) followed by (40 x 40 cm), (50 x 50 cm), surface drip irrigation (DI) with 2-laterals and 4drippers, 1-inline lateral at dripper spacing 30 cm and 1-online lateral with 2drippers. Soil moisture withholding was also higher in the SDI with double inline laterals (30 x 30 cm). The total average quantities of water used ranged from 2520.20 to 8340.60 Lbahar−1 t−1 and water use efficiency was found to be ranged from 1.98 to 4.01 kg m-3 in micro-irrigation systems. The biophysical advantages are low canopy humidity and fewer diseases and weeds. The results showed that 30 x 30 cm inline double lateral enhanced the flowering intensity, yield, root density and water use efficiency of pomegranate.

The simple sequence repeat (SSR) survey of ‘Tunisia’ genome (296.85 Mb) identified a total of 365,279 perfect SSRs spanning eight chromosomes, with a mean marker density of 1,230.6 SSRs/Mb. We found a positive trend in chromosome length and the SSR abundance as marker density enhanced with a shorter chromosome length. The highest number of SSRs (60,708) was mined from chromosome 1 (55.56 Mb), whereas the highest marker density (1,294.62 SSRs/Mb) was recorded for the shortest chromosome 8 (27.99 Mb). Furthermore, we categorized all SSR motifs into three major classes based on their tract lengths. Across the eight chromosomes, the class III had maximum number of SSR motifs (301,684, 82.59%), followed by the class II (31,056, 8.50%) and the class I (5,003, 1.37%). Examination of the distribution of SSR motif types within a chromosome suggested the abundance of hexanucleotide repeats in each chromosome followed by dinucleotides, and these results are consistent with ‘Tunisia’ genome features as a whole. Concerning major repeat types, AT/AG was the most frequent (14.16%), followed by AAAAAT/AAAAAG (7.89%), A/C (7.54%), AAT/AAG (5.23%), AAAT/AAAG (4.37%), and AAAAT/AAAAG (1.2%) types. We designed and validated a total of 3,839 class I SSRs in the ‘Tunisia’ genome through electronic polymerase chain reaction (ePCR) and found 1,165 (30.34%) SSRs producing a single amplicon. Then, we selected 906 highly variable SSRs (> 40 nt) from the ePCR-verified class I SSRs and in silico validated across multiple draft genomes of pomegranate, which provided us a subset of 265 highly polymorphic SSRs. Of these, 235 primers were validated on six pomegranate genotypes through wet-lab experiment. We found 221 (94%) polymorphic SSRs on six genotypes, and 187 of these SSRs had ≥ 0.5 PIC values. The utility of the developed SSRs was demonstrated by analyzing genetic diversity of 30 pomegranate genotypes using 16 HvSSRs spanning eight pomegranate chromosomes. In summary, we developed a comprehensive set of highly polymorphic genome-wide SSRs. These chromosome-specific SSRs will serve as a powerful genomic tool to leverage future genetic studies, germplasm management, and genomics-assisted breeding in pomegranate.

The present study investigates the genetic diversity and population structure among 42 diverse pomegranate genotypes using a set of twenty one class I hypervariable SSR markers (> 24 bp), which were reported earlier from the analysis of cv. Dabenzi genome. The study material comprised 16 indigenous and 13 exotic cultivars, and 13 wild accessions. A total of 66 alleles (Na) were detected with an average of 3.14 alleles per marker. The average values of polymorphic information content (PIC), observed heterozygosity (Ho) and Shannon’s gene diversity index (I) were 0.44, 0.21 and 0.95, respectively suggesting moderate genetic diversity. The pairwise genetic distance ranged from 0.07 to 0.80 with a mean value of 0.53. Population structure analysis divided all the genotypes into four subpopulations (SP1, SP2, SP3 and SP4). Interestingly, the results of phylogenetic and principal component analyses coincided with the results of structure analysis and the grouping of genotypes followed the geographical origins. AMOVA revealed that 25% of the variation was attributed to differences among populations, whereas 75% within the subpopulations with significant F(ST) value 0.25 (p

A total of 17,439 mature miRNAs (~ 21 nt) earlier generated through RNA seq in the pomegranate were used for in silico analysis. After complexity reduction, a total of 1922 representative mature miRNAs were selected and used as query sequences against pomegranate genome to retrieve 2540 homologous contigs with flanking regions (~ 800). By using pre-miRNA prediction web server, a total of 1028 true contigs harbouring pri-miRNAs encoding 1162 pre-miRNAs were identified. Survey of these sequences for SSRs yielded a total of 1358 and 238 SSRs specific to pri-miRNA and pre-miRNAs, respectively. Of these, primer pairs were designed for 897 pri-miRNA and 168 pre-miRNA SSRs. In pri-miRNA sequences, hexa-nucleotides repeats were found to be most abundant (44.18%) followed by mono- (18.41%) and di-nucleotide (17.01%), which is also observed in pre-miRNA sequences. Further, a set of 51 randomly selected pre-miRNA-SSRs was examined for marker polymorphism. The experimental validation of these markers on eight pomegranate genotypes demonstrated 92.15% polymorphism. Utility of these functional markers was confirmed via examination of genetic diversity of 18 pomegranate genotypes using 15 miRNA-SSRs. Further, potential application of miRNA-SSRs for discovery of trait specific candidate genes was showed by validating 51 mature miRNA against publically available 2047 EST sequences of pomegranate by target and network analysis. In summary, the current study offers novel functional molecular markers for pomegranate genetic improvement. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s12298-020-00790-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an important fruit crop of arid and semiarid regions of the world with immense medicinal and nutritional value. Bhagwa, Ruby, Ganesh, G-137, Jalore Seedless, Arakta and Mridula are some of the popular cultivars of pomegranate which are commercially cultivated in different parts of India. These varieties differ in their maturity period (time taken from full bloom to harvest). Harvesting the fruits of pomegranate too early does not allow fruits to ripen properly while late harvesting limits the market life of fruits.Hence, an experiment wasconducted to determine the appropriate maturity indices for harvesting pomegranate during 2011-12 and 2012-2013. Days after full bloom (DAFB), fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter, 100 arils weight, TSS, titrable acidity and brix-acid ratio (BAR) were recorded at 15 days interval after fruitset. The maturity indices, viz. total soluble solids (TSS) and brix-acid ratio determined for harvesting the fruits of pomegranate with better edible quality is as follows: ie. 15.95°B TSS and 31.90 BAR at 180 DAFB for Bhagwa, 15.80°B TSS and 32.91 BAR at 175 DAFB for Ruby, 16.10°B TSS, 37.44 BAR at 150 DAFB for Ganesh, 16.20°B TSS, 36.00 BAR at 145 DAFB for Jalore Seedless, 15.40°B TSS, 34.22 BAR at 140 DAFB for Arakta and 15.50°B TSS, 33.69 BAR at 140 DAFB for Mridula.

This study involves isolation, identification and evaluation of the most efficient fungal stain that promotes the plant growth and nutrient uptake in pomegranate in semi-arid agro-ecosystem. Five Penicillium strains were isolated from rhizosphere and evaluated in vitro for their K and P solubilizing efficacy and specific accession numbers were obtained from the National Fungal Collection Centre of India (NFCCI). The best performing strain was identified as Penicillium pinophilum (NFCCI 2498) using DNA sequencing. A pot culture experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of P. pinophilum strain alone or in combination with insoluble K on growth and nutrient uptake of pomegranate plants. Soil inoculation with P. pinophilum was found to increase nutrient uptake (N, P, and K) that resulted in improved growth, significantly higher leaf area index and photosynthetic rate of plant. Inoculation of P. pinophilum with the insoluble K treated (100 mg K kg−1 soil) soil exhibited increased potassium and phosphorus uptake by 47.47 and 63.44 per cent, respectively. Mobilization of insoluble P could be attributed to the development and colonization of P. pinophilum in and around the rhizosphere of pomegranate as evidenced by higher dehydrogenase, alkaline and acid phosphatase activity in inoculated soil than control.

Introduction . India is the largest producer of pomegranate in the world, with rich genetic diversity. The wide range of utility of pomegranate in human health, nutrition and livelihood security has triggered its heavy demand in India and other countries. At present, more than 300 germplasm accessions from indigenous and exotic sources are available in India, but meagre information on the physico-chemical properties of their fruits is available. In our study, the physico-chemical properties of varieties grown under a semi-arid climate were investigated. Materials and methods . Our study was carried out at the experimental farm of the National Research Centre on Pomegranate, Solapur, India, during the harvests of 2008–2009 and 2009–2010. Twenty pomegranate varieties were studied with respect to the physico-chemical properties of their fruits. Results and discussion . A considerable variation (coefficient of variation: 3.37% to 101.13%) was observed with respect to the 16 characters studied. The values ranged from 12.64 °Brix to 15.39 °Brix for TSS; 0.38% to 3.40% for acidity; 16.67 g to 27.82 g for 100-aril weight; 4.31-38.62 for the maturity index; 59.22% to 77.40% for aril percentage; and 43.30% to 61.00% for juice percentage. Fruit size, rind weight, total aril weight, 100-aril weight, juice weight and aril width were found to have a strong positive correlation (P

Improper hardening leads to high field mortality and poor growth of in vitro raised plantlets which poses a major hurdle in utilization of in vitro propagation for pomegranate. In this study four arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) strains namely, Glomus mosseae, Acaulospora laevis, Glomus manihotis and a mixed AMF strain were used as biohardening agents to improve survival and growth of in vitro raised pomegranate plantlets. Plantlets inoculated with G. mosseae gave highest survival (90.40% and 88.00% at 60 and 90 DAI, respectively) and root colonization per cent (47.40 and 87.60 at 60 and 90 DAI, respectively). The predominant effect of G. mosseae was also evident on increased plant height (24.96 and 30.50 cm at 60 and 90 DAI, respectively) and root length (23.42 and 27.68 cm at 60 and 90 DAI, respectively) of the inoculated plantlets. G. mosseae and G. manihotis were found more effective in improving most of the growth, physiological and biochemical attributes of inoculated tissue culture raised plantlets. However, total phenol (24.94 and 28.62 μg/g at 60 and 90 DAI, respectively) and total chlorophyll (3.70 and 3.96 mg/g at 60 and 90 DAI, respectively) were found highest in mixed AMF inoculated plantlets.

Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of small non-coding endogenous RNAs that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally, play multiple key roles in plant growth and development and in biotic and abiotic stress response. Knowledge and roles of miRNAs in pomegranate fruit development have not been explored. Results Pomegranate, which accumulates a large amount of anthocyanins in skin and arils, is valuable to human health, mainly because of its antioxidant properties. In this study, we developed a small RNA library from pooled RNA samples from young seedlings to mature fruits and identified both conserved and pomegranate-specific miRNA from 29,948,480 high-quality reads. For the pool of 15- to 30-nt small RNAs, ~50 % were 24 nt. The miR157 family was the most abundant, followed by miR156, miR166, and miR168, with variants within each family. The base bias at the first position from the 5’ end had a strong preference for U for most 18- to 26-nt sRNAs but a preference for A for 18-nt sRNAs. In addition, for all 24-nt sRNAs, the nucleotide U was preferred (97 %) in the first position. Stem-loop RT-qPCR was used to validate the expression of the predominant miRNAs and novel miRNAs in leaves, male and female flowers, and multiple fruit developmental stages; miR156, miR156a, miR159a, miR159b, and miR319b were upregulated during the later stages of fruit development. Higher expression of miR156 in later fruit developmental may positively regulate anthocyanin biosynthesis by reducing SPL transcription factor. Novel miRNAs showed variation in expression among different tissues. These novel miRNAs targeted different transcription factors and hormone related regulators. Gene ontology and KEGG pathway analyses revealed predominant metabolic processes and catalytic activities, important for fruit development. In addition, KEGG pathway analyses revealed the involvement of miRNAs in ascorbate and linolenic acid, starch and sucrose metabolism; RNA transport; plant hormone signaling pathways; and circadian clock. Conclusion Our first and preliminary report of miRNAs will provide information on the synthesis of biochemical compounds of pomegranate for future research. The functions of the targets of the novel miRNAs need further investigation. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12870-016-0807-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This genetic diversity study aimed to estimate the population structure and explore the use of association mapping strategies to identify linked markers for bacterial resistance, growth and fruit quality in pomegranate collections from India. In total, 88 accessions including 37 cultivated types were investigated. A total of 112 alleles were amplified by use of 44 publicly available microsatellites for estimating molecular genetic diversity and population structure. Neighbor-joining analysis, model-based population structure and principal component analysis corroborated the genetic relationships among wild-type and cultivated pomegranate collections from India. Our study placed all 88 germplasm into four clusters. We identified a cultivated clade of pomegranates in close proximity to Daru types of wild-type pomegranates that grow naturally near the foothills of the Himalayas. Admixture analysis sorted various lineages of cultivated pomegranates to their respective ancestral forms. We identified four linked markers for fruit weight, titratable acidity and bacterial blight severity. PGCT001 was found associated with both fruit weight and bacterial blight, and the association with fruit weight during both seasons analyzed was significant after Bonferroni correction. This research demonstrates effectiveness of microsatellites to resolve population structure among the wild and cultivar collection of pomegranates and future use for association mapping studies.

Biodegradable polymers are a newly emerging field. Biodegradable polymers are useful for various applications in medical, agriculture, drug release and packaging fields. Biodegradable polymers have received much more attention in the last decades due their potential applications in the fields related to environmental protection and the maintenance of physical health. At present only few groups of the mentioned biopolymers are of market importance. The main reason is their price level, which is not yet competitive. The future of each biopolymer is dependent not only on its competitiveness but also on the society ability to pay for it. The future outlook for development in the field of biopolymers materials is promising. To improve the properties of biodegradable polymers, a lot of methods have been developed, such as random and block copolymerization or grafting. These methods improve both the biodegradation rate and the mechanical properties of the final products. Physical blending is another route to prepare biodegradable materials with different morphologies and physical characteristics. To provide added value to biodegradable polymers, some advanced technologies have been applied.

The investigation on biochemical profiling in pomegranate cultivar ‘Bhagawa’ was carried out at experimental orchards located at ICAR-NRCP, Solapur. Fruit size, total soluble solids, pH, titratable acidity, total phenolics, total and reducing sugars, total anthocyanin and ascorbic acid contents were measured at various fruit developmental stages. Significant increase in total soluble solids, sugar content, total anthocyanins and ascorbic acid was observed, however, there was significant decrease in total phenolic content and titratable acidityas the fruits advanced to maturity (MS1 to MS5 stage).The ratio of TSS/TA is an important factor for deciding fruit maturity. Moreover, the significant increase in TSS/TA ratio from second to third and fourth to fifth maturity stages (MS2 to MS3 and MS4 to MS5) was observed due to increment in TSS and decrement in titratable acidity. A correlation matrix revealed significantly (P

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an important fruit crop of arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Due to its exquisite fruit quality, enriched nutritional values and enormous medicinal usage, it has great demand in domestic and export market. Among the different varieties of pomegranate grown in India, Bhagwa has become the predominant commercial cultivar. The fruits of Bhagwa have bold red arils (edible portion), soft seeds, thick rind which is dark red with attractive shininess. However, loss of surface moisture leads to shrinkage and fading of gloss (brightness) which makes the fruits to become unattractive and fetch poor price apart from reducing its keeping quality. Lac formulations developed at ICAR-IINRG, Namkum, Ranchi are natural edible coatings that enhance the shelf life/keeping quality of fruits by acting as barrier for moisture exchange from fruit surface. With the objective of improving the keeping quality, fruits of pomegranate cv. Bhagwa were dipped in lac formulations. The outcome of the study revealed that lac formulation SH 2 was found to be superior compared to others. Lac formulation SH 2 when applied at 100% concentration was found most effective in improving the keeping quality of pomegranate fruits by 6.0 days under ambient conditions over the untreated control (16.7 days) by reducing the physiological loss in weight, enhancing the brightness (gloss), and increasing the brix acid ratio of the fruits.

The alkaloids N-methylhydrasteine hydroxylactam and 1-methoxyberberine chloride were isolated from Corydalis longipes. Both alkaloids showed high efficacy individually (in concentration of 50-150 ppm) and also in a 1:1 mixture against spore germination of some fungi, viz. Alternaria alternata, A. brassicae, Curvularia maculans, Curvularia sp., Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Colletotrichum sp., Helminthosporium speciferum, H. pennisetti, Helminthosporium sp., and Ustilago cynodontis. The antifungal effect of single compounds was dose-dependent. If the mutual ratio of the two components in the mixture was changed from 1:1 to a major content of any of the two compounds, the inhibitory effect on spore germination decreased.