Life Sciences

The present study was undertaken to determine the glycemic index (GI) of ragi rotis incorporated with curry leaf powder. Two ragi varieties viz. SRICHAITHANYA (brown ragi) and HIMAJA (white ragi) were selected. Ragi rotis were evaluated for glycemic response. The glycemic index of rotis ranged from 56.2 to 67.3. White ragi roti had the highest GI with 67.3 followed by White ragi roti incorporated with curry leaf powder with 62.5. Brown ragi roti had GI Value of 61.0 and the least was for Brown ragi roti incorporated with curry leaf powder with 56.2.

The present study was carried out to determine the possible bioactive components of methanolic leaf extract of Magnolia nilagirica by using GC-MS analysis. The GC-MS analysis provides different peaks determining the presence of 55 compounds were identified from the leaf extract of M. nilagirica.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is known to be associated with a reduced risk of developing a certain chronic diseases and cancers due to the presence of lycopene, a bioactive carotenoid. The objective of this study was to determine the antioxidant activity in tomato powder and TP extrudate (Tomato powder incorporated extrudate). The results of present study showed that flavonoid content in tomato powder incorporated extrudate of IC50 value in control extrudate (22.28±0.01) was more when compare to the TP extrudates (15.51±0.01).

Biomass of mangrove seedlings serves as proxy to environmental health. Accurate assessment of mangrove seedling biomass at the site- scale is lacking, especially in the World Heritage Site of Indian Sundarbans. Sonneratia apetala (locally known as keora) is a common fresh water loving mangrove species. This study assessed the biomass of the vegetative parts (leaf, stem and root) of S. apetala seedlings from 18 sampling stations distributed in the western, central and eastern sectors of Indian Sundarbans with contrasting salinity profile.

The study investigated both institutional and technical factors that act as constraints to marketing of peaches in Lesotho. A semi-structured interview schedule was used as a data collection tool in this study and thirty respondents were selected using pilot survey. Both descriptive analysis and multinomial logistic regression model were used for data analysis. The results showed that expertise on grades and standards, storage facilities, value adding and contractual arrangements as major constraints towards peach marketing in Lesotho.

Field experiments were conducted during summer, 2014 and 2015 to study the response of irrigated maize (Zea mays L) to various weed management practices, laid out in randomized block design with three replications that comprises of eleven treatments.

The composition of minerals and vitamin A of Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. ; Detarium microcarpum (Guill. & Perr.); Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Del.; Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn. F.; Tamarindus indica L. ; Hyphaene thebaïca Mart. ; Borassus aethiopum Mart. ; Adansonia digitata L. ; Vitex donania Sweet. ; Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.) Benth. was studied and quantified in tree Departments of Chad. The minerals were determined by spectrometry and photometry and vitamin A was determined by HPLC.

Cyphostemma setosum is a traditional medicinal climber, distributed in Palani hills, the Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India. In this region, the puliah tribal community is using this species more commonly to control type II diabetics. As there is no work in this line, the present study was carried to investigate the in vitro antidiabetic activity of C. setosum in terms of the level of inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase as influenced by methanolic extract of aerial parts of this species.

Inflammatory present study is aimed to derive natural products of plant origin with insecticidal properties to control insect vectors. The aqueous, ethanol and methanol leaf extracts of the traditional mosquito repellant species, Melia dubia were evaluated against the fourth instar larvae of two mosquito species viz., Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. The percentage mortality of these two different mosquito species was tested after 24 hrs of exposure to different concentrations of the leaf extract.

Majority of microbial infections occurring in the human body are attributed to be biofilm-mediated. Biofilms formations in industrial settings are associated with many problems. Formation of biofilm is controlled by environmental factors. This study is carried out to determine the biofilm formation in Serratia marcescens under different environmental condition. Biofilm assay in nutrient medium by microtitre plate methods under different test conditions were performed.