Dihaploid plants were obtained through anther culture of somatic hybrids between eggplant and Solanum aethiopicum gilo. The androgenic origin of the dihaploids was demonstrated by ploidy determination (flow cytometry and chloroplast counting) and isozyme and molecular (I-SSR and RAPDs) analyses. The androgenic plants showed significant morphological variability in the traits analysed. Pollen viability in the diploid androgenic plants was drastically reduced with respect to the somatic hybrids; however most of the dihaploids produced parthenocarpic fruits. S. aethiopicum and the somatic hybrids showed complete resistance to fungal wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melongenae. Out of the 41 dihaploids inoculated, 34 were symptomless. The population of androgenic plants developed may represent a useful source for introgression of the Fusarium resistance trait into eggplant.

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We report here the development of transgenic tobacco plants with thaumatin gene of Thaumatococcus daniellii under the control of a strong constitutive promoter -CaMV 35S. Both polymerase chain reaction and genomic Southern analysis confirmed the integration of transgene. Transgenic plants exhibited enhanced resistance with delayed disease symptoms against fungal diseases caused by Pythium aphanidermatum and Rhizoctonia solani. The leaf extract from transgenic plants effectively inhibited the mycelial growth of these pathogenic fungi in vitro. The transgenic seeds exhibited higher germination percentage and seedling survival under salinity and PEG-mediated drought stress as compared to the untransformed controls. These observations suggest that thaumatin gene can confer tolerance to both fungal pathogens and abiotic stresses.

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Background: The onset of monsoons in Mumbai poses an additional health disease burden in the form of rising vector-borne and water-borne diseases such as dengue, malaria, leptospirosis, hepatitis, typhoid, chikungunya, and acute gastroenteritis. These monsoon-related illnesses are preventable with hygienic and sanitation measures that are likely to have been adopted during COVID-19 pandemic. Aim: To assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the occurrence of monsoon-related diseases in the city of Mumbai and find out determinants of variations if any. Material and Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study. Universal sampling was done using secondary data collected from the Epidemiological Cell of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). Data mining was performed to obtain the trends of the monsoon-related diseases in Mumbai. Results: COVID-19 pandemic has remarkably affected the city of Mumbai with approximately 3 lakh cases till December 2020. MCGM has taken a lot of efforts resulting in a recovery rate of close to 95% with less than 3% mortality. With the effective use of social behavior change communication, which focused on masks, frequent hand washing, and social distancing, there seems to be a decline in monsoon-related illnesses in the year 2020 as compared to the previous two years of 2018 and 2019. Conclusion: Monsoon-related illnesses are impacted by behavior and lifestyle modifications like hygiene and environmental sanitation practiced during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study highlights the importance of these universal hygienic practices and their utility in the long-term reduction of monsoon-related illnesses.

The inherent regeneration ability among selected varieties of pigeonpea using decapitated embryonal axis and stem-node explants in the presence of different growth regulators were assessed for multiple shoot bud induction. Among three different hormones namely BAP, Kinetin and TDZ tested for in vitro regeneration at different concentration for decapitated embryonal axis explants, BAP was found to be comparatively better as evident from number of buds per explants. IPA-242 variety was found to be the best for direct organogenesis resulting in the formation of 10 buds when subjected to MS Medium supplemented with 2.0 mgL-1 of BAP. Under treatment with different concentration of TDZ, Pusa-9 revealed 10 shoot buds with 0.15 mgL-1 of TDZ. The overall response of these varieties at different concentration of kinetin was very poor. With stem-node explants under variable concentration of BAP, IPA-3088 performed best showing 17 buds per explants. Similarly Pusa-9 and IPA 3088 revealed maximum regeneration ability forming 10 and 8 buds under TDZ and kinetin respectively. NAA was found to be effective growth regulator for rooting of shoots regenerated both from decapitated embryonal axis and stem-node explants.