Sericulture

Natural products play an important role in drug development programs in the pharmaceutical industry which are basically obtained from plants with potent bioactive compounds capable of preventing and treating most oxidative related diseases and have often been used in folkloric medicine. The most important of these bioactive constituents of plants are phenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, and saponins which provide the medicinal value to the plants in which they are present. The present study focuses on the Quantitative evaluation of important bioactive phytochemicals like phenols, flavonoids, alkaloids and saponins in different extracts of Leaf and fruit of an important medicinal plant Indigofera hirsuta L. belonging to family Fabaceae. I. hirsuta L. is an annual sub shrub and grows to a height of 1m tall and widely distributed in India with immense herbal medicinal properties. Phenols, flavonoids are known to possess wide range of biological activities like antimicrobial, antioxidant and...

The demand for medicinal and aromatic plants has grown rapidly across the globe in recent years primarily due to the threats posed by increasing demand and resultant extensive destruction of plant rich habitats. In this context many medicinal plants are facing extinction or severe genetic loss. Therefore the collection, conservation and exchange of strategic Information and planting material of medicinal plants have become extremely critical. From ancient times to till date all cultures have used plants as a source of medicine because of their vital role in supplying nutrients as well as strengthening various essential human systems to protect them from several diseases. At present, there is a dearth of awareness about the importance of plant conservation and the methods that are used to conserve the rare and endangered species. Successful conservation requires cooperation between Plant Biologists, research institutions, policy makers and the public. A complex web of different organizations and practices should work together to maintain and safeguard the rare and endangered flora. Well-developed Plant Data Base (PDB) provides an easy way to efficiently store information about medicinal plants and also greatly facilitates shared access to relevant information. The websites help to connect organized information of plants with their images including their variants captured over time. Search tools allow us to find plants by family, genus, scientific name, common name and accession number as well as general categories including flower, fruit, or foliage.The communication strategy for engendering local community support for the conservation programme involves the use of a wide range of media that the local communities are familiar with, and which have the power to communicate the messages to the target groups. Thus the Networking database is useful for plant identification, reference and Biodiversity discovery and implementing these new technologies that can vitally improve possibilities of the conservation, collection and dissemination of medicinal knowledge which contribute to the sustainability of our plant wealth.

Abscisic acid is a phytohormone produced by plants and has various roles in plants growth and development. ABA function in plants is still not well understood, despite of its involvement in abscission. However, ABA has a critical role in reducing a variety of stress reactions. Drought stress is one of the abiotic stress and is defined as a prolonged period of reduced water supply. ABA controls plants response to various conditions such as salinity, low temperature, and drought. It plays a vital role in regulating a variety of processes involved in plant growth, such as floral induction, seed dormancy, embryo maturation, seed germination and root growth. The present research work is carried out to analyse the drought tolerance and leaf chlorosis by the application of ABA on selected three medicinal plant species Talinum paniculatum, Bryophyllum pinnatum and Sauropus androgynus.

Mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori L. is monophagous and feeds on mulberry. The beneficial effects of various organics such as green manures, bio-fertilizers, vermicompost and application of certified organic fertilizers need to be highlighted adequately for increasing the yields in mulberry and consequent silk quality. Due to continuous application of chemical fertilizers which brings about the depletion of the soil fertility, sustainable yields of cocoons could not be achieved. As an alternative, application of organic manures which helps in the revival of soil health has to be tested for a sustainable increase of yield and quality of mulberry leaf in comparison with application of Chemical fertilizers. In this study six treatments comprising of organic nitrogen, organic phosphorous, organic potassium were applied and the bio-efficacy of all these inputs on the quantitative and qualitative parameters of silkworm and cocoon were studied in comparison with chemical fertilizers. Bioassay ...

The historical links between the United States and India can be traced to the year 1492, the year when Christopher Columbus discovered America in the course of his search for a new route to India. But the official and formal links began after India gained independence. American contacts with India had started before the American Revolution through soldiers and seamen who had lived both in the American colonies and in India later both countries had mutual contacts through various agencies such as missionaries, tourists, intellectuals and Indian freedom fighters Silkworm Bombyx Mori-An Economic Insect