Musa sp. cultivar Rasthali (Silk AAB) is a choice variety of the Asian sub-continent. Its production and sustenance are threatened by Fusarium wilt, which affects the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers. The use of quality planting material is one of the strategies to manage the disease. Availability of quality planting material for varieties other than Grand Naine is limited. Large-scale micropropagation using existing technologies is laborious and expensive. Temporary immersion bioreactor system is emerging as a potential advancement in the micropropagation industry. In this study, a cost-effective temporary immersion bioreactor (TIB) system has been developed and an efficient micropropagation method has been standardized. Explants cultured in TIB with 250 ml of culture medium in a 2-min immersion frequency of 6 h were found to be efficient for shoot proliferation and rooting. Its efficacy has been compared with the semisolid culture method. At the end of the 6th subculture, 1496 ± 110 shoots per explant were obtained in TIB. Chlorophyll, carotenoid, stomatal index, and the number of closed stomata were examined to determine the physiological functions of the plants grown in TIB and compared with semisolid grown plantlets. Plantlets grown in TIB were genetically stable and were confirmed using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The multiplication of shoots in TIB was 2.7-fold higher than the semisolid culture method, which is suitable for large-scale production of planting material for commercial applications.

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A series of new 1,3-dihydro-3-hydroxy-3-(2-phenyl-2-oxoethyl)-2H-indol-2-ones (1a-g) and 1,3-dihydro-3-(2-phenyl-2-oxoethylidene)-2H-indol-2-ones (2a-g) were synthesised by Knoevenagel condensation of substituted indole-2,3-diones (isatins) with various acetophenones. The synthesised compounds were characterised by their physical data, elemental, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and mass spectral analyses and their in vitro antioxidant activity was determined by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging assay. These compounds showed moderate to good antioxidant activities as compared with the standard, ascorbic acid. The antioxidant potential of 3-hydroxy-3-substituted oxindoles (1a-g) increased in a concentration-dependent manner from 10 to 500 μg/ml with 5-fluoro and 5-methyl analogues showing maximum activity. Of 3-aroyl methylene indol-2-ones (2a-g), majority of compounds with halogen substitution at position 5 of isatin ring exhibited good antioxidant activity within a concentration range of 5-100 μg/ml and the maximum activity was observed at 20 and 25 μg/ml concentrations. Thus, our study provides evidence that some newly synthesised isatin derivatives exhibit substantial antioxidant activity at low concentrations.

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The quantitative and qualitative changes of bacterial flora associated with the silkworm (Bombyx mori) at different stages of its life cycle were studied. Larvae reared on mulberry leaves were dissected and their bacterial populations counted after a 3-day incubation period at 28 + 2°C. The results showed a higher heterotrophic bacterial population in the fourth and the fifth instars, which coincide with the active feeding stage of the larvae. The similarity of the genera observed in the digestive tract and that observed on the leaves fed to the larvae suggests colonisation of food microflora in the gut following ingestion. The bacteria inhabiting the gut of silkworm were found to be elaborating amylase, caseinase, gelatinase, lipase and urease. The highest percentage of isolates were protease producers followed by lipid and polysaccharide splitters. The results indicate that the bacterial flora play an important role in the digestion of ingested food material.Resume-Des changements quantitatifs et qualitatifs de la flore bacterienne associee au ver-asoie ont ete etudies a differents stades de son cycle de vie. Des larves elevees sur des feuilles du murier ont ete dissequees et leur flore bacterienne a ete comptee apres 3 jours d'incubation a 28 ± 2°C. Les resultats montrent une population bacterienne hautement heterotrophique chez les 4eme et Seme stades qui coincident aux stades nourriciers de la larve. La similarity des genres observes au niveau du tractus digestif et sur les feuilles suggere la colonisation de la microflore de la nourriture au niveau des intestins par suite de l'ingestion. On a trouve que les bacteries peuplant les intestins du ver-a-soie elaborent 1'amylase, la caseinase, la gelatinase, la lipase et Purease. Un plus grand pourcentage des isolats ont ete des producteurs de protease, suivis de sequenceurs de lipides et de polysaccharides. Les resultats indiquent que la flore bacterienne joue un role important dans la digestion de la nourriture ingeree.

A 70 year old female patient presented with complaints of pain, watering and swelling in the right eye. She gave a history of fall, as she was walking in the paddy field of her farm. Ophthalmological and Microbiological investigation revealed a fungal keratitis with an unusual fungus Macrophomina phaseolina which is primarily a plant pathogen, with a potential to cause human infections especially in immuno-compromised patients. The patient responded well to the antifungal treatment with Oral Voriconazole with absence of recurrence and dissemination.

We report a case of fungal keratitis caused by the coelomycetous fungus Nattrassia mangiferae in a 70 year old gentleman, agriculturist by occupation, with a history of injury to his right eye. The scraping showed narrow septate fungal hyphae on a KOH mount, isolation of a fast growing black mould, which demonstrated hyphae and arthroconidia of varying widths typical of the Scytalidium synanamorph (S. dimidiatum). The formation of the pycnidia, which at maturity, expressed conidia. The patient was started on topical itraconazole one hourly and topical atropine thrice a day. The patient was lost to follow up hence we are not able to comment on the final outcome of the patient.

Twenty mungbean hybrids were derived five lines, four testers, through linex tester mating design were evaluated to study the magnitude of relative heterosis, heterobeltiosis and standard heterosis for yield and nutritional traits. The magnitude of relative heterosis, heterobeltiosis and standard heterosis observed for seed yield per plant were 57.45, 53.67, and 51.04 respectively. Heterosis for seed yield per plant is manifested through heterotic response for most of the yield contributing traits in additive fashion. The crosses LGG-574 x Pusa Vishal, LGG-574 x PM-5, LGG-460 x Pusa Vishal, LGG-460 x IPM-2-14 and LGG-407 x PM-5were adjudged as superior heterotic crosses for seed yield, yield components and nutritional traits. Therefore, these crosses could be exploited by adopting recurrent selection or biparental mating mating to derive high yielding segregants in mungbean.