Advanced Botany

  Most ancient texts teach us that it is the  Dharma  of each individual in any society to protect nature. This is why people have always worshipped the objects of nature. Trees, water, land and animals have an important mention in our ancient texts. The importance of environment protection in India can be traced back to the period between 321 B.C. and 300 B.C. In  Kautilya’s Arthashastra,  great importance has been laid on environment protection, and clear punishments have been prescribed on the basis of the importance of various parts of a particular tree.   Manusmriti  also mentions about the optimum use of the resources of nature and also prescribes different punishment for causing injury to plants. Ancient literature on Environment Protection Kautilya’s Arthashastra Kautilya, also known as  Chanakya , was a minister of Chandragupta Maurya. The book formulated by him is a thesis on the government and the book provided information re...

  Plants and insects have both benefited and harmed one another through the ages. Plants provide sweet nectar as food to insects, in exchange for, insects carry pollen caught on their bodies to other plants.  This aids their benefactor plants in the reproduction process. Contrastingly, harm may come to the plant as insects prey on the plant for food and plants can be defoliated in short order by these feeding insects. In order to protect themselves from harmful insects plants produce a variety of noxious phytochemicals. Phenolic glucosides are one of the defensive secondary metabolites produced by plants for this purpose. The whitefly named  Bemisia tabaci , one of the most devastating crop pests is a cosmopolitan, highly polyphagous and can seriously reduce crop yields by feeding on phloem, transmitting plant viruses, and excreting honeydew. Phenolic glucosides are toxic phytochemicals strongly affect growth, development, and behavior of whitefly ( Bemisia taba...

  Weeds are undesirable plants which are persistent and damaging and interfere with the growth of other crop plants thus affecting human activities, agriculture and economy of the country. They compete for light, moisture and nutrients affecting quality and quantity of crop. In addition, they have certain toxic chemicals that cause health problems to humans and animals. Successful weed control is a great challenge.  Generally weed control can be classified into two categories:  1. Preventive control, which involves decreasing the weed density on arable land by utilizing natural functions of the eco-system, such as crop rotation, tillage, crop cover, living mulch, etc.  2. The use of herbicides to protect cultivated crops from weed damage.  Herbicides play a major role in conventional weed management, but due to their adverse effects on the environment and the emergence of herbicide resistance in plants, this method is being reconsider...

  Light intensity and quality are among the most critical environmental factors for crop physiology and biochemistry. Crop plants produce smaller and thinner leaves under low light conditions than corresponding leaves in full sunlight conditions. However, shading environments increased the plant height and lodging rate which hinders the transportation of nutrients, water, and photosynthetic products and ultimately causes huge losses to agriculture production. On the other hand, prolonged exposure of plants to high fluxes of solar light also disturbs the balance between absorbed light energy and capacity of its photochemical utilization resulting in photoinhibition of and eventually in damage to plants.  Sunlight damages photosynthetic machinery, primarily photosystem II (PSII), and causes photoinhibition that can limit plant photosynthetic activity, growth and productivity. The extent of photoinhibition is associated with a balance between the rate of photodamage and it...

  Cinnamon is a tropical medium-sized, bushy evergreen tree and is one of the world’s oldest spices. Approximately 250 species have been identified among the cinnamon genus, with trees being scattered all over the world. As a spice, cinnamon is available in powder form or whole and as pieces of bark. People can also use cinnamon essential oil and supplements. The bark of various cinnamon species is one of the most important and popular spices used worldwide not only for cooking but also in traditional and modern medicines. Cinnamon is also used in the aroma and essence industries due to its fragrance, which can be incorporated into different varieties of foodstuffs, perfumes, and medicinal products. The major constituents of cinnamon are cinnamaldehyde and  trans -cinnamaldehyde (Cin), contributing to the fragrance and also to the various biological activities observed with cinnamon such as antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor, cardiovas...

  One day, I was reading a book written by Grace Maeda “Japanese Secrets of Beautiful Skin and weight control” and came to know that, why Japanese women and men are famed for their beautiful skin and longevity? After reading the title of the book, I was so curious to know the reason behind their beautiful skin and longer life. If you have ever wondered whether you could be as radiant as a model on the cover page of a magazine, the answer is yes. By following certain lifestyle strategies and beauty techniques, you can also accomplish an amazing beauty makeover that is based on real, rather than cosmetic changes. But the first element of success is the determination to succeed. If you are determined to look beautiful and feel great, you have to be disciplined in your daily lives. When you feel fit and look great, all the other challenges of modern life-at home and also at work become easier to handle. The first step is to forget about disappointments you may have had in the past ...

  Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen are the major constitutes of body of all the living organisms. These elements contribute to organize various biomolecules present in a cell. In the atmosphere molecular nitrogen is 78% by volume. Nitrogen is the second most important constituent next to carbon in living organisms. It is an important component of amino acids, proteins, enzymes, vitamins, alkaloids and some growth hormones. Proteins present in living organisms contain about 16% nitrogen. Nitrogen is present in the atmosphere as dinitrogen or nitrogen gas. Molecular Nitrogen or diatomic nitrogen (N2) is highly stable as it is triple bonded (N≡N). Because of this stability, molecular nitrogen as such is not very reactive in the atmosphere under normal conditions. Nitrogen is part of nitrogenous bases and amino acids, which are the building blocks of nucleic acids and proteins respectively. DNA transfers genetic information to subsequent generations of organisms. About 78% ...