Nature has always been an excellent source for many therapeutic compounds providing us with many medicinal plants and microorganisms producing beneficial chemicals. Therefore, the demand for medicinal plants, cosmetics, and health products is always on the rise. One such plant from the Leguminosae family is licorice and the scientific name is Glycyrrhiza glabra Linn. It is an herb-type plant with medicinal value. In the following article, we shall elaborately look at the plants' phytochemical constituents and the pharmacological impact of those substances. Several compounds such as glycyrrhizin, glycyrrhizinic acid, isoliquiritin, and glycyrrhizic acid have been found in this plant, which can provide pharmacological benefit to us with its anti-cancer, anti-atherogenic, antidiabetic, anti-asthmatic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and antispasmodic activity. Alongside, these products have a different role in hepatoprotective, immunologic, memory-enhancing activity. They can stimulate hair growth, control obesity, and have anti-depressants, sedatives, and anticoagulant activity. This review examines recent studies on the phytochemical and pharmacological data and describes some side effects and toxicity of licorice and its bioactive components.

This review examines the prospect of improving perennial legume adaptation to grazed mixed pasture swards across the higher-altitude regions of south-eastern Australia through improved management, particularly as it relates to soil fertility. The range of adapted perennial species available to farmers often remains limited to only one perennial forage legume species, white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Despite recent advances in cultivars for increased persistence in dryland environments, white clover remains sensitive to drought with its inherently shallow root system and limited capacity to restrict water loss from herbage. With few alternative species likely to become widely available in the foreseeable future, prospects for extending the boundaries of perennial legume adaptation likely rely on a dual approach of improving soil fertility and further genetic improvement in white clover. Improved soil fertility would focus on overcoming soil acidity and addressing nutrient deficiencies, particularly of phosphorus, potassium, boron and molybdenum, which tend to be more widespread in the target region. Addressing these soil constraints would alleviate periodic moisture stress by: (1) increased water availability through improved infiltration and soil hydraulic properties; (2) increased root growth to maximise exploration of the soil volume; and (3) better maintenance of plant cell structures to foster improved osmotic regulation. However, the extent to which white clover adaption may be extended remains an issue of further research. This review highlights an opportunity for further genetic improvement of white clover by focusing on improving the capacity to recover from periodic droughts through seedling regeneration. Further breeding efforts in white clover should examine the feasibility of selecting for hard seed characteristics more similar to the best-adapted subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.) cultivars across this region to promote ongoing seedling regeneration.

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Abstract:Objective: To assess the prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM)

Natural disasters are a major concern in Bangladesh, particularly drought which is one of the most common disaster in Bangladesh. Drought needs to be explained spatially to understand its spatiotemporal variations in different areas. In this paper, the meteorological drought has been shown by using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) method and illustrated through the Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) method across Bangladesh. We used rainfall data of 30 meteorological stations in Bangladesh during the study period of 1981–2010. The results indicate that drought has been fluctuating and it has become a recurrent phenomenon during the study period. The SPI depicted the drought conditions that plunged dramatically in 1981, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1994, and 1996 and then gradually improved in 2004, 2006, and 2009 in the country. The present study demonstrated that drought occurred in Bangladesh on an average of 2.5 years. Drought was more prominent in the northern, south-western, and eastern regions in Bangladesh compared to the rest of the areas of the country. The outcomes of the present study will help in during disaster management strategies, particularly drought, by initiating effective plans and adaptation remedies in different areas of Bangladesh.

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Background: Rice (Oryza sativa) is the most important staple food for almost half of the global population. Improvement of rice yield is of global concern and is influenced by a wide variety of regional factors including climate and agricultural management. This research addresses the need to understand the relative influence of these factors and develop geographically explicit determinants of rice yield across Bangladesh. The specific objectives of this study were (a) to assess spatial and temporal variation in rice yield, cropping intensity and means of irrigation, and (b) to evaluate the relative importance of spatio-temporal change in climate, cropping intensity and means of irrigation on rice yield. A database on rice yield, management practices (cropping intensity and means of irrigation) and climate was collected from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and Bangladesh Meteorological Department, respectively, for the years of 1981-2010. Linear mixed models were used to assess the influence of different determinants on rice yield. Results:The results indicate that irrigation, particularly groundwater irrigation, had a stronger influence on rice yield than climatic conditions and cropping intensity in Bangladesh during the study period. Temperature and rainfall showed negative impacts on yield. Rice yield also declined when cropping intensity increased. Conclusions:Both climate and groundwater extraction need to be considered in future policy development. However, the current extraction rate of groundwater may not be sustainable in the future to increase rice yield. The study concludes that spatio-temporal differences in observed yield allow interpretation of potential determinants that are important for food policy development in Bangladesh.

Seasonal pasture monitoring can increase the efficiency of pasture utilization in livestock grazing enterprises. However, manual monitoring of pasture over large areas is often infeasible due to time and financial constraints. Here, we monitor changes in botanical composition in Tasmania, Australia, through application of supervised learning using satellite imagery (Sentinel-2). In the field, we measured ground cover and botanical composition over a 12-month period to develop a supervised classification approach used to identify pasture classes. Across seasons and paddocks, the approach predicted pasture classes with 75–81 % accuracy. Botanical composition varied seasonally in response to biophysical factors (primarily climate) and grazing behaviour, with seasonal highs in spring and troughs in autumn. Overall, we demonstrated that 10-m multispectral imagery can be reliably used to distinguish between pasture species as well as seasonal changes in botanical composition. Our results suggest that farmers and land managers should aim to quantify within-paddock variability rather than paddock average cover, because the extent and duration of very low ground cover puts the paddock/field at risk of adverse grazing outcomes, such as soil erosion and loss of pasture biomass, soil carbon and biodiversity. Our results indicate that satellite imagery can be used to support grazing management decisions for the benefit of pasture production and the improvement of environmental sustainability.