Discovery of active principles in plants have given credence to the idea that integration of traditional medicine into the health care delivery would be very promising and should be encouraged. The incidence of Candida infections are rising at an alarming rate throughout the world. To overcome these alarming problem researchers are increasingly turning their attention to folk medicine, looking for new leads to develop better drugs against microbial infections. Different organic and aqueous extracts of Crinum asiaticum were screened for their anticandidal activity against five (9 isolates) human pathogenic Candida spp. by agar well diffusion assay. The pattern of growth inhibition varied with the six different solvents used for extraction. Out of six solvents, dichloromethane showed best activity against all tested Candida spp. with zone of inhibition ranging between 12.3mm and 20.6mm. Of the five Candida spp., C.albicans strain-2 was found to be most sensitive with maximum zone of inhibition of 20.6mm followed by C.krusei strain- 1(17.3mm), C.albicans strain-4, C.glabrata (15.6mm) , C.albicans strain-1 (14.6), C.albicans strain-3 (12.3mm) and no activity was observed in C.tropicalis, C.krusei strain-2 and C.lusitaniae. The MIC tested for all the leaves extracts ranged between 100mg/ml and 6.25 mg/ml in dichloromethane extract. The result obtained in the present study suggests that the dichloromethane extract of C.asiaticum can be used in treating candidiasis caused by different species of Candida. however, further investigations will be needed for the isolation, characterization and exploitation of bioactive principles responsible for anticandidal activity.

Screening of cellulase, xylanase and pectinase producing microorganisms was done by using agrowaste like wheat bran and orange peel. Screening of enzyme producing microorganisms using commercial substrate is an expensive process. So to reduce the cost of isolation, various agricultural residues were used. Wheat bran was used for the isolation of xylanolytic and cellulolytic microorganisms and citrus peel was used for screening of pectinolytic microorganisms. A qualitative study of xylanase, pectinase and cellulase activities was detected by flooding plates containing respective substrates with 0.5% (w/v) Congo red for 15 min followed by repeated washing with 1 M NaCl. Quantitatively bacterial isolates were screened for enzymes activity in submerged fermentation by using modified Horikoshi medium. Enzyme produced under SmF was then assayed by measuring the amount of reducing sugar released by using the 3,5 Dinitrosalicylic acid. The use of cost effective substrates for the isolation of enzymes producing microorganisms is good process and will ultimately lower the cost of screening and isolation.

Seven Vigna species were studied for yellow mosaic virus resistance during rainy season. The YMV resistant species V. umbellata was attempted to cross with the YMV susceptible species in line x tester fashion using hand emasculation and pollination technique. The results demonstrated that severe infection of yellow mosaic virus at early seedling growth stage up to maturity produced less pods and those produced are either empty or with infected seeds. Different combining compatibilities were also observed among the studied Vigna species. Ricebean exhibited more compatability with V. mungo followed by V. sublobata. The genotypes of V. luteola, V. trilobata, V. aconitifolia and V. unguiculata were found incompatible in present investigation. The number of F1 seeds in the crossed pod ranged from 1 to 3. Immature or shriveled seeds of crossed pods revealed integrity of the various Vigna species. Present investigations suggests ricebean as a potential natural resource for YMV resistance and this trait can be introduced in agriculturally important but YMV susceptible crops through breeding. In near future, improved varieties of

The antimicrobial activity of Acacia nilotica leaves and bark extracts were assayed against the six ear pathogens causing otitis infection namely, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis, Escherchia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter sp. and Candida albicans using agar well diffusion method. Organic leaves and bark extracts displayed antimicrobial activity against all the tested ear pathogens, while aqueous leaves extract showed activity against three tested bacterial ear pathogens. Aqueous bark extracts were unable to exhibit any antimicrobial activity. The highest antimicrobial activity of A. nilotica leaves and bark extracts were found against S. aureus with zone of inhibition of 23.6 mm and 20.6mm in acetonic extract with minimum inhibitory concentration value of 6.25mg/ml and 12.5 mg/ml. The MBC values ranged between 6.25mg/ml and 505mg/ml for the different bacterial ear pathogens while showed the common MFC value of 50 mg/ml against C. albicans. These results indicate that acetonic leaves extract of A. nilotica could be used as a source of antimicrobial agents to treat otitis infections.

Soybean is one of the world’s most important sources of vegetable oil and protein meal. The results of plant breeding efforts have greatly improved the crop characteristics but genetic engineering offers new possibilities. Genetic transformation has tremendous potential in developing improved soybean varieties with desired agronomic traits, which are otherwise difficult to achieve through traditional breeding. Development of efficient in vitro regeneration system of soybean through tissue culture, and transformation protocol is the prerequisite for the adoption of de novo biotechnological approaches aiming at genetic manipulation. Such an alternative approach, for the development of improved soybean varieties is to introduce exogenous gene in soybean genome using gene transfer technique. However, the successful development of transgenic soybean depends upon an efficient plant regeneration protocol and its suitability to transformation techniques. During the last thirty years, significant progress has been made in soybean biotechnology, particularly in the area of transgenic technology. This review provides a detailed account of the advances made in the regeneration and genetic transformation of soybean and their potential applications.

This paper reports an economical method for immobilization of xylanase by physical adsorption on residual wheat bran obtained after the extraction of enzyme following solid state fermentation. The optimization of process parameters through response surface methodology gave an immobilization of 83.6 % and protein binding of 82%. The values optimized by RSM were validated with adsorption isotherm (Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm equations). The monolayer capacity (KL/aL) for 0.04 g of residual wheat bran was corresponds to 5.25 mg of protein. The pH and temperature stability was enhanced after immobilization. The bound enzyme displayed a higher Vmax and it could be reused for 15 cycles still retaining 70.0 % of its initial activity. The enzyme was fully stable during storage at 4°C for two months. The immobilized enzyme was found to be effective in removing chromophores from the newspaper pulp. The chromophores released by the enzyme exhibited absorbance at 240 to 360 nm wavelengths with maximum at 300 nm. The immobilization protocol proposed here is apparently cost-effective as it reuses the wheat bran. A considerable stability and reusability of the bound enzyme may be advantageous for its industrial application.

With snowballing interest in eating for health in the developed world coupled with the endemic obesity problem, much attention is being directed towards delivering soluble fibers to the consumer through food. Cereal foods are obvious and major sources of healthy soluble and insoluble fiber grown over 73% of the total global harvested area. These contribute to over 60% of the world food production providing about 50 percent of protein and energy necessary for the human diet. Oats provide more protein, fiber, iron and zinc than other whole grains. They have high nutritive value both for people and animals because of good taste and an activity of stimulating metabolic changes in the body. Oats are said to be unique among cereals as they are therapeutically active against diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, inflammatory state and vascular injury than other grains which are predominantly insoluble, such as wheat or rice. This review highlights the nutritional value of oats, β-glucan in them as biologically defense modifier, their mode of action against various diseases and enlists various fermented and non-fermented products of oats available in market.