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Asparagus racemosus is a commercially important medicinal plant, traditionally used for combating gynecological problems in India. The majority of plants used by the pharmaceutical industry come from wild sources, endangering the natural population of the species. The plants are being overharvested, so this species faces a real danger of becoming vulnerable in its natural habitat. Ex situ conservation using in vitro tools is a possible solution to this problem. Ex situ conservation of plants involving in vitro tools has been initiated through axillary branching using nodal explants. Studies on in vitro storage under slow-growth conditions were carried out to develop an efficient protocol for conservation of A. racemosus germplasm. In vitro shoot cultures generally require a 4-wk subculture onto fresh medium when grown at 25±2°C under a 16-h photoperiod. In this research, the use of mannitol or sorbitol as an osmoticum and reduction of sucrose to 1.5% (w/v) in half-strength MS medium led to maintenance of the cultures for 6 mo at 25±2°C with no subculture. Surviving shoots from the slow-growth cultures could be regenerated with 100% efficiency, indicating that the subculture interval was successfully extended by this method. Temperature and medium modification both had significant effects on the growth of stored shoots, and the two factors showed significant interaction. In experiments designed to test encapsulation as a storage method, micropropagated shoot clusters encapsulated in calcium alginate beads were successfully stored up to 75 d at 25±2°C under a 16-h photoperiod. Stored shoots from both storage methods were subsequently recovered and multiplied on MS medium with 3% sucrose and 1.11 μM benzylaminopurine at 25 ± 2°C. Welldeveloped shoots were rooted and acclimatized successfully.

Preservation of commercial and research important fungi for long time period is a very tedious job. Mostly cryopreservation technique in liquid nitrogen is used for long term preservation. In this work 15 different species of commercial and research important fungi are preserved at 4°C in different concentration of glycerol using two different methods (Slant culture and Slice cut method). In slant culture method at 50% of glycerol, 100 and 86.66% of fungi are viable upto 24 and 30 months of preservation, respectively. In slice cut culture method 100% of fungi are having regeneration capacity upto 24 months of preservation. This study help to preserve the fungi with easy and low cost for long term period at 4°C under refrigerator.

The potential environmental benefits that can be obtained from replacing petroleum fuels with biofuels derived from renewable biomass sources are the main driving forces for promoting the production and use of biofuels. Due to depletion of fossil fuels, ethanol, which can be obtained via the bioconversion of renewable feedstock, is widely regarded as an efficient alternative for gasoline as transportation fuel. Biomass energy can play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Rice bran is a by-product of milling process of rice, and due to its carbohydrate contents, it may serve as good source for bioethanol production. The present study deals with bioethanol production from rice bran and screening of bioethanol-producing bacteria from rice bran. In the screening process, three fermentative bacteria were obtained; they were studied on the basis of morphology, biochemical characteristics and maximum bioethanol production. The maximum bioethanol-producing bacteria was identified by sequencing method. The bacteria thus identified as Bacillus cereus strain McR-3 is a novel bacteria reported in bioethanol production from rice bran substrate. Different parameters like temperature and pH also affects the production of bioethanol. It was observed that optimum temperature and pH for maximum bioethanol production was 37°C and 5, respectively.

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Bioethanol is regarded as one of the most promising biofuel from renewable sources. The development of ethanol production from lignocellulosic material is thus considered as the second-generation biofuel technology. Lignocelluloses account for the majority of the total biomass present in the world. To initiate the production of industrially important products from cellulosic biomass, bioconversion of the cellulosic components into fermentable sugars is necessary. A variety of microorganisms including bacteria and fungi may have the ability to degrade the cellulosic biomass to glucose monomers. The main aim of this work is the production of bioethanol from Deoiled Rice Bran by using Pichia kudriavzevii RCEF4907 and to optimize various parameters affecting the production of bioethanol. The production of bioethanol from Deoiled Rice Bran can be estimated by specific gravity method. In this study, various physical and biological methods carried out for the production of bioethanol and analysed optimum parameters such as incubation period, temperature, pH, nutrient supplements and biological pretreatment. Thus under the optimum conditions of temperature 25 °C , pH 6.5, and on 3 rd day of fermentation, P. kudriavzevii RCEF4907 produced maximum bioethanol 10.5% while in biological pretreatment 10.8% bioethanol produced and in case of nutrient analysis, 1ml of 1% Urea solution maximum production of bioethanol 11.4% was obtained.

A B S T R A C T Gloriosa superba L. is an herbaceous climber distributed in tropical parts of the world. Pharmaceutically important alkaloid-colchicine, present in its tubers and seeds and due to overexploitation it becomes vulnerable in the forests. In the present investigation, in vitro tuber production was carried out for its propagation and conservation. The plant possesses a very strong apical dominance. Consequently, any damage to the plant apical meristem is fatal for it which was also exhibited during in vitro culture. Only apical meristems were able to produce a single and un-branched shoots and nodal explants were remained dormant even in the presence of exogenous cytokinin. The in vitro propagation was accomplished by the microtuber formation technique, in two steps. Maximum number of microtubers 9.8±0.8 per culture in eight weeks, were produced in vitro on Murashige and Skoog medium with sucrose (60 g LG 1 ) and in the presence of 35.5 µM 6-benzyladenine (BA) with citric acid and polyvinyl pyrrolidone-40. Subsequently the induced microtubers were sub-cultured on to the medium with lower cytokinin level, 8.88 µM BA. The individual microtubers with shoots were subjected to a single step rooting and in vitro acclimatization in coco-pit containing vessels, exhibited 90% survival. In vitro grown tubers contained less percentage of colchicine than the natural field-grown plant tubers. However, microtubers showed increased colchicine content, as they grow older.

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