Enter records

ID: 63112
Title: The host range of multi-host endophytic fungi
Author: T. S. Suryanarayanan, P. T. Devarajan, K. P. Girivasan, M. B. Govindarajulu, V. Kumaresan, T. S. Murali, T. Rajamani, N. Thirunavukkarasu and G. Venkatesan
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (10) 1963-1969 (2018)
Subject: The host range of multi-host endophytic fungi
Keywords: Diversity, foliar endophytes, fungal endophytes, mutualism.
Abstract: Mature leaves of 224 angiosperm plant species belonging to 60 families and growing in Andaman Islands, and the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu were sampled for the presence of endophytic fungi. Fungal genera such as Alternaria, Arthrinium, Aureobasidium, Chaetomium, Cladosporium, Glomerella/ Colletotrichum, Drechslera, Fusarium, Fusicoccum, Lasiodiplodia, Paecilomyces, Pestalotiopsis, Phoma, Diaporthe/Phomopsis, Guignardia/Phyllosticta, Sporormiella and Xylaria showed an isolation frequency of 5% or more. Species of Colletotrichum, Phyllosticta, Phomopsis and Xylaria occurred as endophytes in the leaves of many plant hosts including those that were taxonomically not closely related. The need to address the broad host range of some genera of fungal endophytes is discussed.
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: Zhang, T. and Yao, Y. F., Endophytic fungal communities associated with vascular plants in the high arctic zone are highly diverse and host plant specific. PLoS ONE, 2015, 10, e0130051. Rosa, L. H., Vaz, A. B. M., Caligiorne, R. B., Campolina, S. and Rosa, C. A., Endophytic fungi associated with the Antarctic grass Deschampsia Antarctica Desv. (Po
Literature cited 2: Suryanarayanan, T. S. and Murali, T. S., Incidence of Leptosphaerulina crassiasca in symptomless leaves of peanut in southern India. J. Basic Microbiol., 2006, 46, 305–309. Davis, E. C. and Shaw, A. J., Biogeographic and phylogenetic patterns in diversity of liverwort-associated endophytes. Am. J. Bot., 2008, 95, 914–924.

ID: 63111
Title: Distribution pattern and population characteristics of Impatiens johnii E. Barnes, a stenotopic endemic and endangered Balsam in the mountain landscape of Munnar, Kerala, India
Author: G. Prasad P. Rajan V. T. Antony and P. K. Shaji
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (10) 1956-1959 (2018)
Subject: Distribution pattern and population characteristics of Impatiens johnii E. Barnes, a stenotopic endemic and endangered Balsam in the mountain landscape of Munnar, Kerala, India
Keywords: Distribution, endemism, habitat, Impatiens johnii, threats.
Abstract: Impatiens johnii has high conservation concern due to its rarity and geographical narrow range. This species is a stenotopic endemic in the Munnar landscape and rediscovered after 67 years. This plant was found as part of epilithic along the streams and high canopy areas in high humidity locations at an elevation of 1600–1800 m amsl. I. johnii is distributed in less than 5 km2 area near Eravikulam National Park and therefore this area needs to be protected for the conservation of I. johnii
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: Mabberley, D. J., The Plant-Book: A Portable Dictionary of the Vascular Plants, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2005, 2nd edn. Pusalkar, P. K. and Singh, D. K., Three new species of Impatiens (Balsaminaceae) from Western Himalaya, India. Taiwania, 2010, 55, 13–23
Literature cited 2: Bhaskar, V., Taxonomic Monograph on Impatiens L. (Balsaminaceae) of Western Ghats, South India: The Key Genus for Endemism, Centre for Plant Taxonomic Studies, Bangalore, 2012. Sasidharan, N., Flowering plants of Kerala: ver 2.0, Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi [CD-ROM], 2013.

ID: 63110
Title: Soil microbial characteristics in sub-tropical agro-ecosystems of North Western Himalaya
Author: Rahul Singh , D. R. Bhardwaj, Nazir A. Pala , Rajesh Kaushal and Bhalendra Singh Rajput
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (10) 1956-1959 (2018)
Subject: Soil microbial characteristics in sub-tropical agro-ecosystems of North Western Himalaya
Keywords: Microbial biomass carbon, CO2 evolution, metabolic quotient, land uses.
Abstract: Eight predominant land use systems, viz. agriculture (T1), horticulture (T2), agrisilviculture (T3), silvopastoral (T4), agrihorticulture (T5), agrihortisilviculture (T6), forest (T7) and grassland (T8) of subtropical parts of Himachal Pradesh were selected along two altitudinal ranges A1 (365–635 m amsl) and A2 (636–914 m amsl) to observe the variation in soil microbial activity and microbial characteristics. Agroforestry land uses and forest ecosystems displayed significantly higher microbial counts and microbial biomass carbon than agriculture and grasslands. The CO2 evolution (soil microbial activity) was found higher in agrisilviculture, agrihortisilviculture, forest and grassland use systems at both altitudinal ranges. Soil biological properties (microbial count, microbial biomass and microbial activity) were maximum in forest land use system. Among the agroforestry land-use systems, agrisilviculture had significantly higher microbial counts. The maximum microbial count (164.50 ×105 cfu g–1 soil) was recorded in forest and remained statistically at par with agrisilviculture (162.34 × 105 cfu g–1 soil). Minimum microbial count (80.66 ×105 cfu g–1 soil) was observed in agriculture land use. At both the altitudinal ranges, the CO2 evolution was highest at 48 h time interval and decreased thereafter. The metabolic quotient (qCO2) indicated that C-use efficiency is higher in grassland use and agriculture land use systems than other studied systems.
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: Azam, F., Farooq, S. and Lodhi, A., Microbial biomass in agricultural soils – determination, synthesis, dynamics and role in plant nutrition. Pak. J. Biol. Sci., 2003, 6, 629–639. Franzluebbers, A. J., Haney, R. L. and Hons, F. M., Relationships of chloroform fumigation–incubation to soil organic matter pools. Soil Biol. Biochem., 1999, 31, 395–405.
Literature cited 2: Gregorich, E. G., Liang, B. C., Drury, C. F., Mackenzie, A. F. and McGill, W. B., Elucidation of the source and turnover of water soluble and microbial biomass carbon in agricultural soils. Soil Biol. Biochem., 2000, 32, 581–587. Haney, R. L., Franzluebbers, A. J., Hons, F. M., Hossner, L. R.and Zuberer, D. A., Molar concentration of K2SO4 and soil pH effect estimation of extractable C with chloroform fumigation extraction. Soil Biol. Biochem., 2001, 33, 1501–1507.

ID: 63109
Title: Comparative expression analysis of defence-related genes in Bacillus-treated Glycine max upon challenge inoculation with selective fungal phytopathogens
Author: Shekhar Jain Anukool Vaishnav Ajit Varma and Devendra Kumar Choudhary
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (10) 1950-1956 (2018)
Subject: Comparative expression analysis of defence-related genes in Bacillus-treated Glycine max upon challenge inoculation with selective fungal phytopathogens
Keywords: Defence-related genes, induced systemic resistance, plant growth promoting bacteria, volatile organic compounds.
Abstract: Activation of defence-related genes by the application of beneficial bacteria leads to prior protection against pathogens through induced systemic resistance. The present study was carried out to examine the qRT– PCR-based relative quantification of differently expressed defence-related genes in soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill) plants primed with Bacillus sp. strain SJ-5 against the fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia solani and Fusarium oxysporum. In this context, molecular characterization of plant growth promoting and biocontrol genes of SJ-5 was done by PCR followed by homology analysis. In the GC-MS analysis of SJ-5 volatile organic compounds, potent antifungal compound bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and antioxidant compound butylated hydroxy toluene were reported with the highest peak area 47.96% and 21.82% respectively, along with other antifungal compounds in small proportion. Qualitative expression of different defence-related genes like lipoxygenase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase 2, peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase, endo-1,3-beta-glucanase, catalase, defensin-like protein, vegetative storage protein and chitinase class I was found elicited in the plants primed with SJ-5 against the fungal pathogens. In the qPCR analysis, the highest upregulation was observed in the transcript profile of ppojh2 in the treatments T5 and T6 with 4.12- and 4.06-fold increase respectively.
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: Hashem, E. A., Abdalla, H. E., Hussein, Y. A. and Abd-Elnabi, M. A., In vitro selection of soybean callus resistant to Fusarium oxysporum metabolites. Res. J. Agric. Biol. Sci., 2009, 5, 588–596. Jain, S., Varma, A., Tuteja, N. and Choudhary, D. K., Plant growth promoting microbial-mediated induced systemic resistance in plants: induction, mechanism and expression. In Microbial Mediated Induced Systemic Resistance in Plants (eds Choudhary, D. K. and Varma, A.), Springer, Singapore, 2016, pp. 213–226.
Literature cited 2: Pieterse, C. M. J., Leon-Reyes, A., Van der Ent, S. and Van Wees, S. C. M., Networking by small-molecule hormones in plant immunity. Nature Chem. Biol., 2009, 5, 308–316. Yang, Y. X., Ahammed, G. J., Wu, C., Fan, S. Y. and Zhou, Y. H., Crosstalk among jasmonate, salicylate and ethylene signaling pathways in plant disease and immune responses. Curr. Protein Pept. Sci., 2015, 16, 450–461.

ID: 63108
Title: Prevalence and risk factors of hypertension among Mizo population: a population-based epidemiological study from North East India
Author: Prasanta K. Borah, Suman K. Paine, Hem Ch Kalita, Dipankar Biswas, Dilip Hazarika, Chandra K. Bhattacharjee and Jagadish Mahanta
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (10) 1947-1949 (2018)
Subject: Prevalence and risk factors of hypertension among Mizo population: a population-based epidemiological study from North East India
Keywords: Dietary salt, epidemiological study, hypertension, prevalence an
Abstract: The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence and risk factors of hypertension (HTN) in the Mizo population from Mizoram, North East India. We carried out a cross-sectional study among urban and rural populations. Socio-demographic and clinical information, including blood pressure and anthropometric measurements were collected by house-to-house visits and recorded in a predesigned and pretested questionnaire. The study included a total of 12,313 subjects (male: 5707, female: 6606) from urban (n = 5853) and rural (n = 6460) localities. All information was analyzed using the statistical package SPSS17. Prevalence of HTN was 15.9% with significant urban–rural (18.9% versus 13.2%, P < 0.001) and gender variation (18.2% versus 13.9%, P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis in the overall (rural and urban) model was carried out, which revealed that age, extra salt (salt as a side dish), tuibur (a special form of tobacco), high BMI and sedentary lifestyle were independently associated with HTN (P < 0.05). This study has public health implications, as community-based lifestyle intervention of these risk factors may alleviate the burden of HTN.
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: Yusuf, S., Reddy, S., Ounpuu, S. and Anand, S., Global burden of cardiovascular diseases: Part 1: General considerations, the epidemiologic transition, risk factors, and impact of urbanization. Circulation, 2001, 104, 2746–2753. Subramanian, H., Soudarssanane, M. B., Jayalakshmy, R., Thiru Selvakumar, D., Navasakthi, D., Sahai, A. and Saptharishi, L. G., Non-pharmacological interventions in hypertension: a community based cross-over randomized controlled trial. Indian J. Community Med., 2011, 36(3), 191–196.
Literature cited 2: WHO, The World Health Report 2002: reducing risk, promoting healthy life, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 2002. Hazarika, N. C., Biswas, D., Narain, K., Phukan, R. K., Kalita, H.C. and Mahanta, J., Differences in blood pressure level and hypertension in three ethnic groups of Northeastern India. Asia Pac. J. Public Health, 2000, 12, 71–78.

ID: 63107
Title: Data visualization by alluvial diagrams for bibliometric reports, systematic reviews and meta-analyses
Author: Andy Wai Kan Yeung
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (10) 1942-1947 (2018)
Subject: Data visualization by alluvial diagrams for bibliometric reports, systematic reviews and meta-analyses
Keywords: Alluvial diagram, bibliometrics, metaanalysis, neuroimaging, tast
Abstract: Alluvial diagram is a type of flow diagram traditionally used to illustrate the temporal changes in a network composition. However, alluvial diagram can also be utilized as a graphical summary of the demographic data of studies included in a bibliometric report, systematic review or meta-analysis. Such a graphical summary enables readers to quickly discover data patterns and notice the relationships between adjacent data columns. The current study demonstrates such an application of the alluvial diagram and discusses how it facilitates readers to better comprehend the data presented.
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: . Tomlin, G. and Borgetto, B., Research pyramid: a new evidence-based practice model for occupational therapy. Am. J. Occup. Ther., 2011, 65, 189–196. Yeung, A. W. K., Goto, T. K. and Leung, W. K., A bibliometric review of research trends in neuroimaging. Curr. Sci., 2017, 112, 725–734.
Literature cited 2: Yeung, A. W. K., Goto, T. K. and Leung, W. K., The changing landscape of neuroscience research, 2006–2015: a bibliometric study. Front Neurosci., 2017, 11, 120. Yeung, A. W. K., Goto, T. K. and Leung, W. K., At the leading front of neuroscience: a bibliometric study of the 100 most-cited articles. Front Hum Neurosci., 2017, 11, 363.

ID: 63106
Title: Fusion of multispectral and panchromatic data using regionally weighted principal component analysis and wavelet
Author: J. Jayanth, T. Ashok Kumar and Shivaprakash Koliwad
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (10) 1938-1942 (2018)
Subject: Fusion of multispectral and panchromatic data using regionally weighted principal component analysis and wavelet
Keywords: Fuzzy, RWPCA_WT, regionally weighted, WT.
Abstract: This study proposes a new multispectral (MS) and panchromatic (PAN) image fusion algorithm based on regionally weighted principal component analysis (RW-PCA) and wavelet. First, the MS images are segmented into spectrally similar regions based on the fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering method. Secondly, based on the spectral vector’s degree of membership in each region, a new RW-PCA method is proposed to fuse the MS and PAN images region by region, and fused MS images are obtained. In the traditional PCA-based fusion method, the MS and PAN images are fused globally with the same transform method. In the proposed RW-PCA-based fusion method, the local spectrum information of the MS images is employed, and the spectral information is better preserved in the fused MS images. Finally, in order to improve the quality of spectral and spatial details, the above fused MS images and the original PAN images are further fused using the wavelet-based fusion method, and the final fused MS images are obtained. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed image fusion algorithm performs better in spectral preservation and spatial quality improvement than some other methods do.
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: Jayanth, J. and Shivaprakash Koliwad, Performance degraded by the sensor noise at pixel level image fusion. Int. J. Comput. Appl., 2010, 8(9), 23–28. Jayanth J, Ashok Kumar, T. and Shiva Prakash Koliwad, Comparative analysis of image fusion techniques for remote sensing. International Conference on Advanced Machine Learning Technologies and Applications (AMLTA 2012) Cairo, Egypt, 8–10 December 2012. Proc. Commun. Comput. Inf. Sci. (eds Hassanein, A. E. et al.), Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany, 2012, 322, 111–117.
Literature cited 2: Wang, M. et al., Satellite jitter detection and compensation using multispectral imagery. Remote Sens. Lett., 2016, 7(6), 513–522. Wang, M., Shadow compensation algorithm for remote sensing images based on RGB and HSI color space. Geospat. Inf., 2014, 61, 403–407.

ID: 63105
Title: Application of the ecological footprint method for measuring sustainability of agricultural land use at a micro level in Barddhaman district, West Bengal, India
Author: Biswajit Ghosh and Namita Chakma
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (10) 1913-1920 (2018)
Subject: Application of the ecological footprint method for measuring sustainability of agricultural land use at a micro level in Barddhaman district, West Bengal, India
Keywords: Agricultural land use, biocapacity, ecological footprint, sustainability.
Abstract: In the present study we used the ecological footprint method to numerically measure the sustainability of agricultural production at the micro level. For this, two community development blocks of Barddhaman district, West Bengal, India were selected. As a consumption-based method, it is most suitable for measuring cropland footprint, biocapacity of croplands, and their ecological surplus and deficit status of an environmental indicator. The integrated result represents higher sustainability of agricultural system, but crop-wise assessment explores some negative aspects with respect to self-sufficiency of the study area that demand necessary transformation of existing cropping pattern.
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: FAO, The state of world’s land and water resources for food and agriculture, 2011; http://www.fao.org/docrep/017/i1688e/i1688e. pdf Malthus, T. R., An Essay on the Principle of Population (Sixth Edition, 1826), John Murray, London, 1798, p. 6.
Literature cited 2: Pimentel, D. and Giampetro, M., Global population, food and the environment. Trends Ecol. Evol., 1994, 9(6), 239. Kendall, H. W. and Pimentel, D., Constraints on the expansion of the global food supply. Ambio, 1994, 23(3), 198–205.

ID: 63104
Title: Bubble size prediction in gas–solid fluidized beds using genetic programming
Author: R. R. Sonolikar , M. P. Patil, R. B. Mankar, S. S. Tambe and B. D. Kulkarni
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (10) 1904-1912 (2018)
Subject: Bubble size prediction in gas–solid fluidized beds using genetic programming
Keywords: Bubble diameter, bubble motion, fluidized bed, genetic programming.
Abstract: The hydrodynamics of a gas–solid fluidized bed (FB) is affected by the bubble diameter, which in turn strongly influences the performance of a fluidized bed reactor (FBR). Thus, determining the bubble diameter accurately is of crucial importance in the design and operation of an FBR. Various equations are available for calculating the bubble diameter in an FBR. It has been found in this study that these models show a large variation while predicting the experimentally measured bubble diameters. Accordingly, the present study proposes a new equation for computing the bubble diameter in a fluidized bed. This equation has been developed using an efficient, yet infrequently employed computational intelligence (CI)-based data driven modelling method termed genetic programming (GP). The prediction and generalization performance of the GP-based equation has been compared with that of a number of currently available equations for computing the bubble diameter in a fluidized bed and the results obtained show a good performance by the newly developed equation.
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: Kwauk, M. and Li, H. Z., Handbook of Fluidization, Chemical Industry Press, Beijing (in Chinese), 2007. Harrison, D. and Leung, L. S., Bubble formation at an orifice in a fluidized bed. Trans. Inst. Chem. Eng., 1961, 34, 409–414.
Literature cited 2: Zenz, F. A., Bubble formation and grid design. Inst. Chem. Eng. Symp. Ser., 1968, 30, 136–139. Nieuwland, J. J., Hydrodynamic modeling of gas–solid two-phase flows. Ph D thesis, Twenty University, 1995.

ID: 63103
Title: Automation in transplanting: a smart way of vegetable cultivation
Author: Abhijit Khadatkar, S. M. Mathur and B. B. Gaikwad
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (10) 1884-1892 (2018)
Subject: Automation in transplanting: a smart way of vegetable cultivation
Keywords: Agriculture, automation, smart farming, vegetable transplanting
Abstract: Vegetable transplanting is a labourious and time-consuming field operation when performed manually. The semi-automatic vegetable transplanters are cumbersome to operate due to limitations on manual feeding rates of seedlings which vary with respect to work duration and skill of the operator. Automation in the field of vegetable transplanters has provided opportunities for savings in labour and time required for transplanting operation in open field and controlled environmental structures, i.e., shade nets or polyhouse. The advent and recent advances in transplanting technologies suggest ample scope of working on automated seedling pickup and drop mechanisms using robotics. Use of seedling pickup mechanism in automatic transplanters can repeatedly extract single seedling automatically from the seedling pro-tray with the help of a pair of pins or forks and drop at predefined location. In general, these systems comprise either a machine vision system or end-effector mechanism for extracting the seedling; gripper and a manipulator; indexing drum-type seedling removal device with ejector; or a pick-up system, feeding system and a planting system. Such automated systems have helped ease the transplanting operation and efficient planting of seedlings by maintaining the accuracy, precision and effectiveness in planting seedlings with minimum human intervention. This study highlights the research gaps and developments in smart transplanting technologies used in the field of vegetable cultivation.
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: Horticulture Statistics Division, Horticulture Statistics at a Glance-2017, Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, 2017. Vanitha, S. M., Chaurasia, S. N. S., Singh, P. M. and Naik, P. S.,Vegetable Statistics 2013, Technical Bulletin No. 51, Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi, 2017, p. 25
Literature cited 2: Tsuga, K., Development of fully automatic vegetable transplanter. Jpn. Agric. Res. Qly., 2000, 34(1), 21–28. Patil, A. S., Davane, S. S. and Malunjkar, S. V., Design, development and testing of hand held vegetable transplanter. Int. J. Adv. Res., 2015, 3(1), 247–253.

ID: 63102
Title: Modern technologies for sustainable food and nutrition security
Author: P. C. Kesavan and M. S. Swaminathan
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (10) 1876-1853 (2018)
Subject: Modern technologies for sustainable food and nutrition security
Keywords: Green to evergreen revolution, modern technologies, nutrition security, sustainable food.
Abstract: In the hierarchy of human needs, food is absolutely the most basic. As the human population was increasing at an accelerated rate with concomitant depletion of natural resources during the 18th century, Malthus was greatly concerned about the sustainability of food availability. Despite the fact that the human population has been burgeoning, a total collapse in food supply has not yet happened. This is because of new technologies emerging from time to time to boost agricultural productivity and preventing the onset of the Malthusian scourge. However, none of these technologies, including the Green Revolution of the 1960s, has been truly sustainable largely because of their adverse environmental and social impacts. It is expected that the Evergreen Revolution which eliminates the negative attributes of the Green Revolution would be more sustainable. Critical evaluation of the most modern technology, modern biotechnology, reveals that the Btand herbicide-tolerant-crops are highly unsustainable. In addition to causing environmental harm, these crops exhibit genotoxic effects. The original objective of reducing the need for application of chemical pesticides has also not been realized. There is need for basic research to understand the causes of ‘unintended effects’ associated with genetically engineered crops. It will be prudent to adhere to the recommendations of the Task Force on Agricultural Biotechnology, Government of India (2004) in the development and regulation of genetically engineered crops. These aspects are briefly discussed in this article.
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: Rockström, J. et al., A safe operating space for humanity. Nature, 2009, 461, 472–475. Carson, R., The Silent Spring, Houghton Miffin Co., Boston, USA,1962, p. 400.
Literature cited 2: Swaminathan, M. S., The age of algeny, genetic destruction of yield barriers, and agricultural transformation. In Presidential Address, Section of Agricultural Sciences: 55th Indian Science Congress, Part II, Varanasi, 1968, pp. 236–248. Bourne Jr, J. K., The end of plenty; the global food crisis. Natl. Geogr., 2009, 215(6), 26–59.

ID: 63101
Title: Ethulia gracilis Delile (Asteraceae), a new weed record for India
Author: Jagdish Dalavi,Sneha Bramhadande,Chirag Narayankar, Suraj Patil, Shrirang Yadav
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (10) 1856-1857 (2018)
Subject: Ethulia gracilis Delile (Asteraceae), a new weed record for India
Keywords: Ethulia gracilis, new weed record, India
Abstract: Asteraceae is the second largest angiosperm family after Orchidaceae with ca 1,623 genera, ca 24,700 species . Many species of Asteraceae are weeds in cultivated fields as well as forest areas. Some of them are aggressive invasive weeds, viz. species of Acanthospermum Schrank, Ageratum L., Ambrosia L., Bidens L.,Chromolaena DC., Eupatorium L., Parthenium L., Synedrella Gaertn., Wedelia Jacq., etc. Many of them seriously affect the native or local plant biodiversity, human health and crop productivity.
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: Funk, V. A., Susanna, A., Stuessy, T. F. and Robinson, H., Systematics, Evolution and Biogeography of the Compositae, International Association of Plant Taxonomy, 2009, p. 171. Quattrocchi, U., CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names, CRC Press, Boca Raton, London, New York, Washington D.C., 2000, p. 955.
Literature cited 2: Gilbert, M. and Jeffrey, C., Kew Bull., 1988, 43(2), 165–193. Mabberley, D. J., The Plant Book, Ed. 3, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2008, p. 320.

ID: 63100
Title: The grand challenge and ethics of the ‘central science’
Author: Sumit Bhaduri
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (10) 1852-1853 (2018)
Subject: The grand challenge and ethics of the ‘central science’
Keywords: Grand challenge, ethics, ‘central science’
Abstract: Chemistry, one of the main branches of natural science, has been called the ‘central science’. Whether or not it has ‘easily articulated grand challenges’, a question posed in Nature is an intriguing one. Could it be that ‘easy articulation’, an advantage enjoyed by physics and biology, may actually mean more of packaging and less of substance? If so, then ethical advocacy of all science and not just chemistry must start with a look at funding of science.
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: As quoted by Matlin, S. A. et al., Chem. Eng. News, 6 February 2017, p. 20. Bhaduri, S., Curr. Sci., 2015, 109(6), 1024.
Literature cited 2: Haskel, J. and Westlake, S., Capitalism without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy, Princeton University Press, USA, 2017. Bhaduri, S., Curr. Sci., 2017, 113(1), 18.

ID: 63099
Title: Challenges in the promotion of herbals as alternative and complementary medicine
Author: Pooja Rawat,Pawan Kumar Singh, Vipin Kumar
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (10) 1837-1838 (2018)
Subject: Challenges in the promotion of herbals as alternative and complementary medicine
Keywords: Challenges, promotion of herbals, complementary medicine
Abstract: Herbals, particularly traditional herbal medicines (codified or non-codified) are of immense value. These have significantly contributed to the development of various medications, and hence have become the focus area of researchers for drug discovery. Eighty per cent of the medications of plant origin are suggested to be based on original ethnopharmacological uses. . Paclitaxel (Taxol®), the most extensively used drug for breast cancer, was isolated from Taxus brevifoia bark. Artemisinin and its derivative artemotil, isolated from Artemisia annua and quinine, isolated from Cinchona succirubra bark are approved antimalarial drugs.
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: Dias, D. A., Urban, S. and Roessner, U., Metabolites, 2012, 2, 303–336. Dang, H., Wang, Q., Wang, H., Yan, M. and Liu, X., Phytother. Res., 2016, 30, 292–297.
Literature cited 2: Liberti, L. E. and Der Marderosian, A., J. Pharm. Sci., 1978, 67, 1487–1489. Sangwan, R. S. et al., Curr. Sci., 2004, 86, 461–465.

ID: 63098
Title: Phenology of a temperate fern Dryopteris wallichiana (Spreng.) Hyl. (Dryopteridaceae) in Uttarakhand, India
Author: N. Punetha, J. N. Pant, R. Punetha and K. Bhakuni
Editor: R. Srinivasan
Year: 2018
Publisher: Current Science Association and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Source: ENVIS, CES & EWRG, CES
Reference: Current Science Vol. 115 (9) 1805-1809 (2018)
Subject: Phenology of a temperate fern Dryopteris wallichiana (Spreng.) Hyl. (Dryopteridaceae) in Uttarakhand, India
Keywords: Dormancy of leaf primordia, Dryopteris wallichiana, Indo-Himalaya, phenology, temperate forest.
Abstract: Initiation and proliferation of leaf primordia, leaf expansion and maturation of a basket fern Dryopteris wallichiana are described based on two years of observation. The phenology of these events is strictly seasonal beginning with the onset of spring in the temperate Himalayan climate. Leaf primordia initiated during late summer often remain dormant but expand in the next growing season. Maturation of most of the leaves of a growing season is completed before the start of winter, but these withstand the winter cold. Leaves of the previous growing season remain erect on the rhizome for about 20 months after which they collapse. Significance of the presence of green and dry collapsed leaves on the rhizome is discussed.
Location: T E 15 New Biology building
Literature cited 1: Tanner, E. V. J., Leaf demography and growth of the tree fern Cyathea pubescens Mett. ex Kuhn in Jamaica. Bot. J. Linn. Soc.,1983, 87, 213–227. Von Aderkas, P. and Green, P. E. J., Leaf development of the ostrich fern Matteuccia struthiopteris (L.) Todaro. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 1986, 93, 307–312.
Literature cited 2: Willmot, A., The phenology of leaf life span in woodland populations of the ferns Dryopteris filix-mas (L.) Schott and D. dilatata (Hoffm.) A. Gray in Derbyshire. Bot. J. Linn. Soc., 1989, 99, 387–395. Minoletti, M. L. and Boerner, R. E., Seasonal photosynthesis, nitrogen and phosphorus dynamics, and resorption in the wintergreen fern Polystichum acrostichoides (Michx.) Schott. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club., 1993, 120, 397–404.