Different organic materials possessing antimicrobial properties have the ability to retard nitrification. Nitrification retarders could be successfully used to improve fertilizer efficiency if the retarders do not increase ammonia volatilization as well. The main objective of this study was to find whether any locally available organic materials namely cow dung, seed crush of Syzygium cumini, L...

Regular usage of toxic chemicals in mulberry garden to control the pests cause pollution and are detrimental to human beings and beneficial organisms including silkworms. Further, the pests develop resistance to the chemical insecticides with indiscriminate use and result in sudden outbreak. In view of these, pest management using non-chemical methods have gained importance including biological...

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic syndrome characterized by an increase in the blood glucose level. Treatment of diabetes is complicated due to multifactorial nature of the disease. Azadirachta indica Adr. Juss and Bougainvillea spectabilis are reported to have medicinal values including antidiabetic properties. In the present study using invivo diabetic murine model, A. indica and B. spectabili...

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is still a global epidemic despite the introduction of several highly effective direct-acting antivirals that are tagged with sky-high prices. The present study aimed to identify an herbal decoction that ameliorates HCV infection. Among six herbal decoctions tested, the Aeginetia indica decoction had the most profound effect on the HCV reporter activity...

Hybrid sterility is a major form of postzygotic reproductive isolation. Although reproductive isolation has been a key issue in evolutionary biology for many decades in a wide range of organisms, only very recently a few genes for reproductive isolation were identified. The Asian cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) is divided into two subspecies, indica and japonica. Hybrids between indica and ja...

Rice blast, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae, is one of the most devastating diseases. The two major subspecies of Asian cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.), indica and japonica, have shown obvious differences in rice blast resistance, but the genomic basis that underlies the difference is not clear. We performed a genomewide comparison of the major class of resistant gene family, the nucleotide-bind...

The comparative effects of ethanol leaf-extracts of Vernonia amygdalina and Azadirachta indica on catalases and reduced glutathione in albino rats were conducted through spectrophotometric methods. The animals were grouped into seven (A, B, C, D, E, F and G) containing six albino rats each. The leaf-extract of Azadirachta indica at 200, 400 and 600 mg/kg body weights was administered for two we...

Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) fungi (Glomeromycota) form symbiosis with and deliver nutrients via the roots of most angiosperms. AM fungal hyphae are taken up by living root epidermal cells, a program which relies on a set of plant common symbiosis genes (CSGs). Plant root epidermal cells are also infected by the plant growth-promoting fungus Piriformospora indica (Basidiomycota), raising the ques...

BACKGROUND To date, anti-obesity agents based on natural products are tested for their potential using lipase inhibition assay through the interference of hydrolysis of fat by lipase resulting in reduced fat absorption without altering the central mechanisms. Previous screening study had indicated strong anti-obesity potential in Eleusine indica (E. indica), but to date, no pharmacologic studie...

Ignatzschineria indica is a Gram-negative bacterium that is commonly associated with the larvae of flesh flies. I. indica is difficult to isolate in routine laboratory procedures but has been associated with neglected wounds infested with maggots, fever, elevated white blood count and C-reactive protein, and polymicrobial culture results. Other specific hematological/immunological changes are n...