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Forty Candidate Plus Trees (CPTs) of Pongamia pinnata were selected based on the morphometric traits to identify suitable seed sources with high oil content and for production of quality seedlings for mass afforestation in different forestry and agroforestry programmes. Significant genetic variability and association were recorded among 40 CPTs for pod and seed traits. Maximum 100-seed weight (186.80 g) and pod-weight (403.94 g) was recorded in CPT-33, while CPT-18 showed maximum oil content (44.07%). In general, phenotypic coefficient of variation was higher than genotypic coefficient of variation indicating the predominant role of environment. High heritability (broad sense) and genetic gain observed for pod-seed ratio (99.00%, 87.78%), 100-seed weight (100.00%, 66.99%) and 100-pod weight (98.00%, 57.38%), respectively indicate additive gene action. Seed weight and pod weight showed positive and significant correlation with oil content. CPTs 18, 20, 33, 13 and 29 were found to be the best on the basis of oil content and pod-seed characters.

C-Glycosyl flavones are present in different plant tissues and they exhibit health benefits. In the present study, it was found that C-glycosyl flavones are distributed in different milled fractions of black gram and among these fractions, husk had the highest content of C-glycosyl flavones. Two C-glycosyl flavones from black gram husk were extracted and purified by preparative high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) column. The purity of each compound was assessed by analytical C18 column. The structure of each compound was confirmed by LC–MS/MS, NMR. The molecular mass of these compounds were found to be [M−H]−, m/z 431.36 and [M−H]−, m/z 431.35 and were identified as vitexin and isovitexin, respectively. Content of vitexin and isovitexin in aqueous ethanol extract was found to be 76 and 65 mg/g of extract, respectively. These C-glycosyl flavones protected DNA and erythrocytes from oxidative damage. The IC50 values for vitexin, isovitexin and quercetin for hemolysis were 6, 5.7 and 2.37 μg, respectively. These compounds also triggered the process of apoptosis in HeLa cells by downregulating Bcl-2 level with the simultaneous upregulation of Bax and caspase-3 protein expression. Thus, C-glycosyl flavones from black gram husk protected DNA and erythrocytes from oxidative damage and exhibited anticancer activity.

Abstract:In this study, experiment was conducted on sandy loam soils poor in organic carbon and water holding capacity in southern Haryana, India to determine the best progenies of Jatropha curcas for bio-diesel production. Fifty progenies raised from seed sources collected from nine states of India were evaluated after five years of plantation for growth, seed and oil content traits. The progenies showed significant (P> 0.05) differences for all the traits studied. Maximum seed yield/plant (879.37 g), number of capsules/plant (522.67) and plant height (408.33 cm) was recorded in P-44. Maximum oil content observed in P-37 (36.08%) followed by P-5 (35.64%). The magnitude of phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was higher than the corresponding genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all the characters studied. Heritability was highest for oil content (95.49%) and 100-seed weight (87.75%) followed by seed yield (75.54%). Total capsules/plant exhibited highest genetic advance (92.69%) followed by number of branches per plant (64.32%). Hierarchical Euclidean cluster analysis of all 50 progenies using D 2 statistics was done where the D 2 analysis grouped the progenies into five clusters. The intra cluster distances ranged from 1.33 to 2.72. The maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster II and V (6.43) followed by I and V indicating greater divergence among progenies belonging to these clusters and an attempt to cross the progenies in these clusters should bring out desirable gene combinations. These progenies showed considerable potential which can be tapped for planting and selecting the improved varieties.

Moisture-sorption characteristics of starch/low-density polyethylene (LDPE) blends were carried out at 27°C for water activity (a w ) from 0.1 to 0.9. The sorption data were used to fit six different sorption isotherm models proposed in the literature. The model constants were determined by linear fitting of the sorption equations. The ranges of applicability of water activity for the isotherm models reported in the article lies between 0.1 and 0.4 (monomolecular layer) for the BET model and between 0.3 and 0.9 (multimolecular and capillary condensation layers) for other models. The value of the coefficient of determination (R 2 ϭ 0.97 Ϯ 0.02) confirms the linear fitting of the equations studied.