The objective of this research was to determine the foliar application of L-ornithine (0.0, 0.30 and 0.60 mM) as a precursor of polyamines, at vegetative stage was on antioxidant defense and growth of drought stressed sugar beet plants grown under clay and sandy soil conditions. Two water irrigation treatments (80% and 40% Field capacity) were carried out on sugar beet plants grown in pots under greenhouse conditions. Water stress resulted in significantly decrement in growth parameters including root diameter, root and shoot weights per plant compared with corresponding control plants. The results showed that drought stress significantly affected most biochemical characteristics of plants. Photosynthetic pigments contents, free amino acids and peroxidase enzyme activity were decreased, while catalase enzyme activity and lipid peroxidation was increased with drought stress. On the other hand, foliar application of L-ornithine effectively alleviated harmful effects caused by drought stress on root length, root and shoot weights of sugar beet plants, especially under sandy soil conditions. The results cleared that ameliorating the negative effects of drought stress through exogenously applied L-ornithine associated with improved photosynthetic pigments, protein profile, lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzymes; catalase and peroxidase, total soluble sugars and total amino led to increasing drought tolerance of sugar beet plants.

Drought stress is a significant environmental variable affecting wheat growth and development. Plant stress tolerance is intimately related to growth regulators of plants as polyamines. The study assessed the impact of drought (50% water irrigation and 100% water irrigation), priming of grains in putrescine (0.25, 0.5, and 1 mM), and their interactions on the growth, yield, and physiological attributes of wheat plants. Drought conditions declined plant height, fresh and dry weights, leaves and tillers numbers, and flag leaf area. However, applying putrescine, especially at (1 mM), enhanced wheat growth performance in normal or water-deficit conditions. Drought stress decreased spike length (28.6%), number of spikelets (15.6%), number of grains (30.3%), the weight of the spike (23.5%), and the weight of the grains/spike (37.5%). In addition, drought decreased the contents of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, free amino acids, and total phenols, while applying putrescine enhanced wheat plant growth performance in normal or drought conditions. Putrescine at (1 mM) achieved the highest increase in plant height (38.8%), root length (50%), leaves number (166%), tillers number (80%), flag leaf area (70.3%), shoot fresh weight (99.4%), shoot dry weight (98.4%), root fresh weight (97.8%), root dry weight (210%) compared to the untreated plants. Moreover, pretreatment with putrescine improved chlorophyll a (13.3%), chlorophyll b (70.3%), carotenoids (61.8%), soluble sugars (49.1%), amino acids (42.7%), phenols (52.4%), number of spikelets (59.3%), number of grains (81.1%), and weight of spike (45.4%). Moreover, variations in the protein profile of wheat plants were due to drought conditions and putrescine application. In conclusion, priming wheat grains with putrescine effectively induces protective mechanisms against water stress and improves wheat plants’ physiological attributes and yield components.

Opuntia ficus-indica L. Mill cladodes are considered to be a source of an abundance of bioactive compounds. To identify a natural product that can be used in the chemoprevention and treatment of cancer, this study was conducted to produce an anticancer agent extracted from in vitro-derived cladodes of prickly pear cactus. Toward this goal, assays of seed germination and micropropagation revealed that the highest seed germination rate was 66% and that the highest shoot number per explant was obtained with benzyl adenine (BA) (2 mg/l) and kinetin (Kin) (1 mg/l) within 2 months, at 22.6. In addition, the maximum length of shoots was obtained with BA (3 mg/l) and Kin (0.5 mg/l), at 7.44 cm. The in vitro-derived cladode extract showed higher total phenolic and kaempferol contents than the in vivo-derived cladode extract (total phenolics 156.5 mg/g and 86 mg/g DW; kaempferol 2.807 mg/g and 1.304 mg/g DW, respectively). These remarkable results reflected the anticancer activity on the viability and proliferation/migration of PC3 prostate and mammary Mcf7-7 cells. In terms of cytotoxicity, the IC50 values on PC3 and Mcf7 cells were 5775.7 and 6311.3 μg/ml, respectively, showing dose-dependent increases. Meanwhile, from in vivo analyses of the plants, the IC50 values were 5927.93 and 6825.6 μg/ml, respectively, again showing dose-dependent increases.

Objectives: The main objective of the present study is to obtain callus and cell suspension culture from Balanitesa egyptiaca sterile plantlets grown in vitro and to compare growth and the biosynthetic potential of saponins, flavonoids and glycosides by callus and cell suspension culture Balanitisa egyptiaca. Methods: Callus was induced from the mother plants on MS culture media supplemented with  2.0 mg/l  BA + 2.0 mg/l  2,4-D with and without agar gelling. Total saponins, glycosides and flavonoids were estimated in both types of cultures over a period extending from 1 to 5 weeks to compare the productivity of such secondary metabolites in callus and cell suspension cultures. Results: The results obtained indicated that both calli and cell suspension cultures were able to synthesize the target active ingredients and that cell suspension culture was superior to the callus culture in the biosynthesis and accumulation processes. By the end of the incubation period, the amount of total saponins in cell suspension culture reached up 51.97±0.26 dry biomass compared to 35.02 ±0.06 mg/g in callus culture. The amount of total flavonoids in cell suspension culture reached up 10.88±0.24 dry biomass compared to 6.40±0.02 mg/g in callus culture and of total glycosides reached up 6.11±0.25 dry biomass compared to 5.06 ±0.05 mg/g in callus culture. Conclusions: The results obtained in this study may indicate the promising role that plant cell culture will play in the future in phytopharmaceutical industry. Peer Review History: Received 16 July 2020; Revised 12 August; Accepted 26 August, Available online 15 September 2020 UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main purpose of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 6.0/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 7.5/10 Reviewer(s) detail: Name: Dr. Gehan Fawzy Abdel Raoof Kandeel Affiliation: Researcher at pharmacognosy Department, National Research Centre, Egypt. E-mail: gehankandeel9@yahoo.com   Name: Ahmad Najib Affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy-Phytochemystry Universitas Muslim Indonesia-Indonesia E-mail: ahmad.najib@umi.ac.id   Comments of reviewer(s): Similar Articles: PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF COLOCASIA ESCULENTA (TARO) MEDICINAL PLANT LEAVES USED IN FOLK MEDICINE FOR TREATMENT OF WOUNDS AND BURNS IN HUFASH DISTRICT AL MAHWEET GOVERNORATE–YEMEN PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHIC OF PRUNUS DULCIS (ALMOND) MEDICINAL PLANT LEAVES USED IN FOLK MEDICINE FOR TREATMENT OF WOUNDS AND BURNS IN HUFASH DISTRICT AL MAHWEET GOVERNORATE–YEMEN