Botany

Abiotic stress adversely affects plant growth and metabolism and as such reduces plant productivity. Recognized as a major contributor in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), it hinders the growth of plants through induction of oxidative stress. Biostimulants such as melatonin have a multifunctional role, acting as a defense strategy in minimizing the effects of oxidative stress. Melatonin plays important role in plant processes ranging from seed germination to senescence, besides performing the function of a biostimulant in improving the plant’s productivity. In addition to its important role in the signaling cascade, melatonin acts as an antioxidant that helps in scavenging ROS, generated as part of different stresses among plants. The current study was undertaken to elaborate the synthesis and regulation of melatonin in plants, besides emphasizing its function under various abiotic stress namely, salt, temperature, herbicides, heavy metals, and drought. Additionally, ...

Skewed gender ratio of unisexual plants in a population could be detrimental to optimal fruit/seed-set and sustenance of a species. In instances of non-availability of sufficient pollen donors or quality pollen donors, storage of pollen for supplemental pollination has proved to be a reliable strategy. However, testing the germinability and viability of pollen grains under in vitro conditions at the time of collection or after storage is a pre-requisite. Optimization of pollen germination media, especially in case of threatened and endemic plant species, may help in their breeding and conservation to ensure seed formation in years of low yield and poor recruitment. Here, we present the details of a standardized pollen germination medium for Pittosporum eriocarpum, an endangered tree species, which does not respond to Brewbaker and Kwack’s (BK) medium, usually employed to ascertain pollen germinability. The optimized BK medium, improves pollen germination and the pollen tube growth r...

Article history: Received 30 April 2019 Received in revised form 13 July 2020 Accepted 20 July 2020 Available online 31 July 2020 Abstract The over-exploitation of natural resources, exponential growth of human population and advancement in the technology over a short period of time has changed the major biogeochemical cycles. This has also led to irreversible loss and even the extinction of genetically distinct species. Use of technology and modernization has led to socio-economic development. However, these have also led to a variety of harmful side effects. Various harmful pollutants are liberated into the atmosphere from different sources in the form of pesticides, herbicides, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, heavy metals and particulate matter. These pollutants not only threaten the human and animal health, reproduction of insect and birds, but also cause plant diseases and disturb the structure of the ecosystem. Significant primary information about the diversity, quantity and...

Two new species of Fabaceae-Papilionoideae are described and illustrated. Crotalaria suffruticosa from Karul Ghat region of Maharashtra is morphologically close to C. albida and C. epunctata. C. multibracteata from Panhala region of Maharashtra resembles C. vestita. C. suffruticosa differs from C. albida and C. epunctata in its habit, leaf, inflorescence, callosity, keel type, stigma, style morphology and number of seeds/pod. To test if the new species differ from their morphologically most similar species, we measured various traits and performed a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). This analysis shows that the new species differs from similar species in gross morphology for several diagnostic traits and showed correlations between the variables or distance among groups and estimated the contribution of each character. Phylogenetic analyses were also conducted based on nuclear (ITS) and plastid (matK) markers. The analyses revealed nucleotide differences between the new species an...