Artificial polyploidy generally enhances the vigour of determinate plant parts and may be favourable where vegetative organs and biomass constitute the economic product. Giving suitable examples, it is shown that genomic multiplication can confer enhanced production and/or qualitative improvement in the biochemical profile of secondary metabolites. Allopolyploidisation can bring about natural complementation of biosynthetic pathways to harness the useful metabolites. A plea is made to utilise the induced polyploidy approach as a rapid means to attain enhanced production of secondary metabolites: pharmaceuticals, aroma chemicals, etc. The necessary prerequisites that may be needed for achieving genetic stability and reproductive success of the induced polyploids are outlined.

To screen the active antimalarial novel artemisinin derivatives, a QSAR modeling approach was used. QSAR model showed high correlation (r(2)= 0.83 and rCV(2)= 0.81) and indicated that Connectivity Index (order 1, standard), Connectivity Index (order 2, standard), Dipole Moment (debye), Dipole Vector X (debye) and LUMO Energy (eV) well correlate with activity. High binding likeness on antimalarial target plasmepsin was detected through molecular docking. Active artemisinin derivatives showed significant activity and indicated compliance with standard parameters of oral bioavailability and ADMET. The active artemisinin derivatives namely, β-Artecyclopropylmether HMCP (A3), β- Artepipernoylether (PIP-1) (A4) and 9-(β-Dihydroartemisinoxy)methyl anthracene (A5) were semi-synthesized and characterized based on its (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopic data and later activity tested in vivo on mice infected with multidrug resistant strain of P. yoelii nigeriensis. Predicted results were successfully validated by in vivo experiments.

Downy mildew (DM) caused by Peronospora arborescens is the most destructive disease of opium poppy which assumes considerable importance in India and other poppy growing countries. The present study was aimed at identification and evaluation of stable resistance sources of DM in opium poppy. Furthermore, genetic variability and inheritance pattern of DM resistance has also been studied which can help in making strategy for crop improvement. Evaluation of 35 selected germplasm accessions of opium poppy under glasshouse and field conditions during the three consecutive years (

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Collar rot, caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kühn, is one of the most severe fungal diseases of opium poppy. In this study, heritability, genetic advance and correlation for 10 agronomic, 1 physiological, 3 biochemical and 1 chemical traits with disease severity index (DSI) for collar rot were assessed in 35 accessions of opium poppy. Most of the economically important characters, like seed and capsule straw yield per plant, oil and protein content of seeds, peroxidase activity in leaves, morphine content of capsule straw and DSI for collar rot showed high heritability as well as genetic advance. Highly significant negative correlation between DSI and seed yield clearly shows that as the disease progresses in plants, seed yield declines, chiefly due to premature death of infected plants as well as low seed and capsule setting in the survived population of susceptible plants. Similarly, a highly significant negative correlation between peroxidase activity and DSI indicated that marker-assisted selection of disease-resistant plants based on high peroxidase activity would be effective and survived susceptible plants could be removed from the population to stop further spread.