A comparative investigation was undertaken with pigeon pea leaves and attached flower buds/flowers/pods during their developmental stages including senescence in a natural system in experimental plots. Alterations in chloroplast pigments, total soluble proteins, lipid peroxidation, malondialdehyde (MDA) content and activities of guaiacol peroxidase (POD, EC 1.11.1.7) and superoxide dismutase (SOD, EC 1.15.1.1) were studied at 5-day interval from initial to 40-day stage. Chloroplast pigments and proteins of leaves increased upto 15 and 20-day stages respectively followed by a steady decline. Reproductive parts, however, exhibited rise in chloroplast pigments upto 25-day and protein till last stage as developing pods gain the amount from the senescing leaves which are nearest to them. Senescing leaves show very high POD activity than the developing and senescing pods and POD appears to be associated with chlorophyll degradation. Considerably higher activity and amount of LOX and MDA respectively have been noticed in senescing leaves than in flowers and pods. Increase in SOD activity during early stage of leaf growth and maturation indicates protective role that declined at senescent stages. Pods are unique in having very high SOD activity, only last stage of senescence does show a decline.
Community forestry is an important form of forests and provides resources to over a half billion people in developing countries. They also play a significant part in mitigating the CO2 levels by sequestering a significant amount of carbon in the soil as well as biomass. The present paper assessed floristic diversity and vegetation structure in three different community forests of southwest Haryana which is a part of tropical dry deciduous forests. The vegetation sampling and data analysis were done following standard procedures. A total of 76 plant species belonging to 37 families in the form of 11 trees, 13 species of shrubs, 46 species of herbs, and 6 species of climbers are documented from all three sites. Poaceae was the most specious family in three sites. The highest tree diversity was recorded in Bhera forest followed by Daya and Dhanger. Regarding understory, the forest of Daya has a greater diversity than Bhera and Dhanger forests. Salavadora oleoides was the dominant tree species in Daya site and Dhanger site while in Bhera the dominant tree species was Ailanthus excelsa. The incidence of rampant livestock grazing and other anthropogenic disturbances were visible in all three sites which are primarily responsible for the degradation of these already fragmented village community forests.
Cut flowers of Calendula officinalis L. as scapes were maintained in holding solutions of 0.1M sucrose, 20 M methyl chlorflurenol (a morphactin, MOR), 1.5 mM 8hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ), sucrose + MOR, sucrose + 8-HQ and sucrose + MOR + 8-HQ in the laboratory under continuous light. Untreated sets were also present where scapes getting the supply of double distilled water (DDW). Combined applications of sucrose + 8-HQ and sucrose + MOR + 8-HQ were very effective in minimizing the loss of fresh weight of scapes and moisture content. These combinations and also individual sucrose treatment as well as sucrose + MOR were very useful to reduce the loss in flower diameter by maintaining hydration and turgidity. Sucrose + MOR + 8-HQ combination was also unique in exhibiting maximum rise in protein amount on fresh weight basis between 0 and 3 and 3 and 6-day and on dry weight basis between 0 and 3-day. Lesser GPOX activity in petals of flower scapes subjected to 8-HQ, MOR and sucrose treatments may suggest lesser production of H2O2. Further, used chemicals such as sucrose, MOR and 8-HQ could reduce the lipid peroxidation process in petals and the best treatment was sucrose + MOR + 8-HQ followed by sucrose + 8-HQ > sucrose + MOR > MOR> 8-HQ > sucrose > DDW.
The functional diversity is an essential concept in the field of ecology. It refers to the relative abundance, range, and value of the functional traits present in a given community or ecosystem. Plant functional traits (leaf traits, stem traits, root traits, etc.) create a link between an ecosystem processes and plant physiology and thus offer a powerful means to study the global change on vegetation dynamics and ecosystem processes. When plant species grown in different environments, their physiological and functional traits get modifed due to changes in site-specific conditions. In the present study, leaf functional traits (leaf size-LS, specific leaf areaSLA, leaf dry matter content-LDMC, leaf nitrogen content-LNC, leaf phosphorus content-LPC and leaf nitrogen to phosphorus ratio-N:P) of twelve dominant understorey species (6 shrubs and 6 herbs) were examined in the Pine forest of Morni Hills range of lower Shivaliks, Haryana, India. During the study, the maximum value of leaf size was obtained for Murraya koenigii and Cynoglossum zeylanicum, while the maximum value of LDMC was obtained for Toxicodendron parviflorum and Dicliptera chinensis among shrubs and herbs respectively. Other than this, highest value of SLA, LPC and LNC were calculated for Parthenium hysterophorus among shrubs and Oxalis corniculata among herbs. The calculated values were also found to be significantly correlated among the selected plant species. The SLA was found to be negatively correlated with, LDMC and LPC whereas positively correlated with LNC and N:P. The present study represents a step forward in the direction of functional ecology performed in the forest ecosystems of Haryana. This study is essential for predicting the patterns of community assembly as well as for describing species contributions to ecosystem processes.
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