Cuscuta reflexa Roxb. and C. campestris Yuncker are widely used as medicinal plants in different areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Keeping in view of their local uses, antibacterial, antioxidant and phytochemical investigations were carried out in the stem extracts. The antibacterial activities were carried out by Disc diffusion method against Gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia) bacteria. Ampicillin was used as positive control. It was found that ethanol extract of both the plants were most active as compared to other extracts and S. aureus (Gram positive) was most sensitive bacterium compared to other tested Gram-negative bacteria. The antioxidant potential of the crude extracts of these plants was examined on the source of their scavenging activity of the stable 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrrazyl hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical and found to possess good antioxidant. Preliminary phytochemical screening has shown the presence of several phytochemicals.
The Indian crested porcupine (Hystrix indica) is a vertebrate pest of agricultural lands and forest. The study was aimed to report the damage to local crops by the Indian crested porcupine (Hystrix indica) in the Muzaffarabad District. A survey was conducted to identify the porcupine-affected areas and assess the crop damage to the local farmers in district Muzaffarabad Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) from May 2017 to October 2017. Around 19 villages were surveyed, and a sum of 191 semi-structured questionnaires was distributed among farmers. Crop damage was found highest in village Dhanni where a porcupine destroyed 175 Kg/Kanal of the crops. Regarding the total magnitude of crop loss, village Danna and Koomi kot were the most affected areas. More than half (51.8%) of the respondents in the study area suffered the economic loss within the range of 101-200$, and (29.8%) of the people suffered losses in the range of 201-300$ annually. Among all crops, maize (Zea mays) was found to be the most damaged crop ranging between 1-300 Kg annually. In the study area, porcupine also inflicted a lot of damages to some important vegetables, including spinach (Spinacia oleracea), potato (Solanum tuberosum) and onion (Allium cepa). It was estimated that, on average, 511Kg of vegetables are destroyed by porcupine every year in the agricultural land of Muzaffarabad. It was concluded that the Indian crested porcupine has a devastating effect on agriculture which is an important source of income and food for the local community. Developing an effective pest control strategy with the help of the local government and the Wildlife department could help the farmers to overcome this problem.
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