Search

Clerodendrum thomsoniae commonly known as bleeding heart vine or bag flower which is a good candidate for a new crop for the floriculture industry. In this study, in-vitro callus regeneration of C. thomsoniae through nodal culture has been attempted. Murashige and Skoog’s medium supplemented with 2 mg/l BAP and 0.5 mg/l

Canna, the solitary genus of the family Cannaceae and order Zingiberales, comprises of about 51 species of flowering plants. It isa horticultural plant but its agricultural importance can’t be undervalued. Canna is a self pollinating plant and require outsidepollinator due to its typical flower structure. Propagation through seed germination is not considered reliable. In order to producegenetically modified and improved varieties of Canna, various in vitro techniques had been studied. Thus the present study reflectsa comprehensive review on in vitro propagation of Canna species with special reference to some other members of Zingiberales

Introduction: Canna edulis Ker Gawler, grown in the sub Himalayan region containing starchy rhizome are used by the tribal people as food and herbal medicine. Methods: Investigations were done to find out 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, total flavonols and total proanthocyanidin contents, nitric oxide (NO) scavenging activity, hydroxyl radical scavenging activity of different solvent fractions of aquous extract of C. edulis rhizome. Among the cellular molecules, lipids containing unsaturated fatty acids with more than one double bond are particularly susceptible to action of free radicals. The resulting reaction, known as lipid peroxidation and anti lipid peroxidation activity has been performed using goat liver homogenate. Results: Six out of 29 fractions showed DPPH free radical inhibition above 75% and were used for further phytochemical screening. Diethyl ether : ethyl acetate (1:3) fraction showed the maximum inhibition percent. Highest amount of total flavonol and total proanthocyanidins were recorded in diethyl ether : ethyl acetate (1:3) fraction. Maximum NO scavenging activity and hydroxyl radical inhibition activity were observed in bioactive diethyl ether : ethyl acetate (1:1) fraction. Inhibition of lipid peroxides was maximum in ethyl acetate fraction. Data from thin layer chromatography (TLC) revealed the presence of phenolic compounds in all fractions, whereas flavonoid glycoside compounds were restricted in ethyl acetate and diethyl ether : ethyl acetate (1:3). Conclusions: Thus it can be concluded that the antiradical scavenging activity of Canna rhizome may be due to the presence of polyphenolic compouns like phenols, flavonoids, proanthocynidins etc.

Canna indica Linn. (Cannaceae) is used both as medicine and food. Traditionally, various parts of C. indica are exploited to treat blood pressure, dropsy, fever, inflammatory diseases etc. However, to date there is no reliable micropropagation protocol for C. indica. We present here a regeneration technique C. indica with banana micropropagation medium (BM). BM supplemented with 3% sucrose, 0.7% agar, and 0.17% NH4NO3 and different plant growth regulators like BAP (2 mg∙L−1) and NAA (0.5 mg∙L−1) was found to be effective in inducing callus. BM with BAP (2 mg∙L−1) was ideal for somatic embryogenesis and plantlet regeneration. After a period of 3 months, regenerated plantlets were successfully transferred to the field conditions. Appearance of somaclonal variation among the regenerated plants is a common problem which was assessed by DNA fingerprinting. To detect genetic fidelity in C. indica, RAPD and ISSR markers were employed. Ten RAPD primers produced 60 amplicons, while 7 ISSR primers generated 45 bands in both in vitro plantlets and mother plants. RAPD and ISSR analyses showed no evidence of polymorphism between parent plants and the regenerated plants as all the amplified products were found to be monomorphic.

Hippophae salicifolia, Elaeagnus pyriformis, Myrica esculenta and M. nagi are actinorhizal plants growing in the sacred forests of Northeast India with multipurpose uses. The present investigation was undertaken to determine the phenol, flavonoid and flavonol contents of the fresh fruit juice of these plant species including the antioxidant potential by means of DPPH, H2O2 and NO scavenging activity and FRP. The total phenolic, flavonoid and flavonol contents of fruit juice ranged from 321.68+/-0.06 to 76.67+/-0.01 mg/g GAE, 272.92+/-0.07 to 20.12+/-0.02 mg/g QE and 258.92+/-0.08 to 18.72+/-0.02 mg/g QE, respectively. At 2.0 mg/mL concentration, DPPH scavenging activity was found to be the highest in M. esculenta (89.62 percent) and the lowest in E. pyriformis (17.58 percent). The reducing power activity was found significantly higher in H. salicifolia juice, which increased with increase in concentration. The H2O2 scavenging activity of H. salicifolia juice was found to be as high as 98.78 percent, while Elaeagnus juice was found to be less effective with just 48.90 percent. Juice of H. salicifolia showed the greatest NO scavenging effect of 75.24 percent as compared to juice of E. pyriformis, where only 37.54 percent scavenging was observed at the same concentration. Taking into account all the experimental data, it can be said that the fruits of H. salicifolia and both M. nagi and M. esculenta have good antioxidant activity compared to fruits of E. pyriformis.