Residual Pattern of Chlorantraniliprole, Thiamethoxam, Flubendiamide and Deltamethrin in Tomato Fruit and Soil.

Tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum L. is grown widely as an important day-to-day demand vegetable. The crop is attacked by various polyphagous insect pests like tomato fruit borer, stink bug, cabbage looper, flea beetle, aphids, whitefly, two-spotted spider mite, etc., and oligophagous insects like leaf-miner, five-spotted hawkmoth, etc. To combat the damage and yield loss, various chemical insecticides were sprayed on tomatoes under field conditions. The residual pattern of insecticides like chlorantraniliprole, thiamethoxam, flubendiamide, and deltamethrin residues was studied following applications of chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC (Coragen) @ 30 g a.i./ha, thiamethoxam 25% WG (Actara) @ 50 g a.i./ha, flubendiamide 39.35 M/M SC (Fame) @ 48 g a.i./ha and deltamethrin 2.8% EC (Decis 100) @ 12.5 g a.i./ha using Reverse Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC). Fruit samples were collected at 0 (1 h after application), 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 days and at harvest time. All the residues of insecticides such as chlorantraniliprole (0.09 mg kg- 1), thiamethoxam (0.03 mg kg- 1), flubendiamide (0.02 mg kg- 1), and deltamethrin (0.01 mg kg- 1) were persisted up to 5th day. There were no residues found at harvest time. The residues of chlorantraniliprole and deltamethrin persisted up to 3rd day of spraying whereas the residues of flubendiamide and thiamethoxam were not detected on the same day in the soil.

Anticarcinogenic and Antioxidant Action of an Edible Aquatic Flora Jussiaea repens L. Using In Vitro Bioassays and In Vivo Zebrafish Model.

Oxidative stress is the major cause of many health conditions, and regular consumption of antioxidants helped to encounter and prevent such oxidative stress-related diseases. Due to safety concerns over long-term uses of synthetic antioxidants, natural antioxidants are more preferred. The purpose of this study is to investigate the antioxidant and anticancer activities of Jussiaea repens L., a wild edible flora found in Manipur, India. The antioxidant activity was evaluated using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay and DNA-nicking assay. The anticancer activity was tested using five cancer lines viz., SKOV3 cells (ovarian), HeLa (cervical), MDA-MB-231 (breast), PANC-1 (pancreatic), and PC3 (prostate). The toxicity, developmental effect, antiproliferative activity was further tested using zebrafish embryos. The methanolic plant extract had higher polyphenol content than flavonoids. The in vitro study demonstrated a promising antioxidant capacity and DNA protection ability of this plant. The extract also showed cytotoxic activity against SKOV3, HeLa, MDA-MB-23, and PANC-1 cancer cell lines. The in vivo studies on zebrafish embryos demonstrated the extract's ability to suppress the developmental process and elicited more cytotoxicity to cancer cells than developing zebrafish embryos. Moreover, the in vivo studies on zebrafish embryos also indicated the antiproliferative activity of J. repens L. extract.

Metabolic degradation of imidacloprid in paddy field soil.

The metabolic degradation and persistence of imidacloprid in paddy field soil were investigated following two applications of imidacloprid at 20 and 80 g a.i. ha(-1) at an interval of 10 days. The soil samples were collected at various time intervals. The limit of quantification for the analysis of imidacloprid and its metabolites was obtained at the concentration of 0.01 mg kg(-1). The initial deposits of total imidacloprid were found to be 0.44 and 1.61 mg kg(-1) following second applications. These residues could not be detected after 60 and 90 days following second applications of imidacloprid at lower and higher dosages, respectively. In soil, urea metabolite was found to be the maximum, followed by olefine, nitrosimine, 6-chloronicotinic acid, 5-hydroxy and nitroguanidine. The half-life values (t1/2) of imidacloprid were worked out to be 12.04 and 11.14 days, respectively, when applied at lower and higher doses, respectively.

Persistence and metabolism of imidacloprid in rice.

Imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide which gives effective control of plant and leaf hoppers in rice. The persistence and metabolism of imidacloprid in paddy leaves, rice grains, bran, straw and husk were studied following two applications of imidacloprid (Confidor 17.8 SL) @ 20 and 80 g a.i. ha(-1) at an interval of 10 days. Samples of paddy leaves were collected at various time intervals. The samples of rice grains, bran, straw and husk were collected at the time of harvest. The limit of quantification of imidacloprid and its metabolites was worked out to be 0.01 mg kg(-1). The maximum residues of imidacloprid and its metabolites in paddy leaves after 0 day (1 h after last spray) of its application @ 20 and 80 g a.i. ha(-1) were found to be 4.57 and 13.94 mg kg(-1), respectively. These residues could not be detected after 60 and 90 days following last application of imidacloprid at lower and higher dosages, respectively. In rice, olefin metabolite was found to be the main constituent, followed by nitroguanidine, urea, 5-hydroxy, chloronicotinic acid and nitrosimine. The samples of rice grains, bran, straw and husk did not reveal the presence of imidacloprid or its metabolites following its application at both the dosages at harvest.

Revision of Acesines Stål and Dunnius Distant, resurrection of Mycterizon Breddin (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Pentatomidae, Pentatominae), and description of a new species from India.

The genera Acesines Stål, 1876 and Dunnius Distant, 1902 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae: Pentatominae) were revised and redescribed with the description of Dunniusbarpetensis Salini & Rabbani, sp. nov., based on specimens from Assam and Meghalaya, northeastern states of India. The genus Mycterizon Breddin, 1909 is reinstated from Dunnius, removed from the tribe Menidini, and redescribed. Consequently, the following new combinations are proposed: A.sordida (Kirby, 1891), comb. nov., Dunniuslaticeps (Zheng & Liu, 1987), comb. nov., D.tridentatus (Xiong & Liu, 1995), comb. nov., and D.trifasciatus (Xiong & Liu, 1995), comb. nov. A lectotype is designated for Araductabella (Distant, 1900a). Acesinesbambusana Distant, 1918, and Mycterizonbellusstat. rev. are redescribed based on both male and female genitalia and Dunniusfulvescens (Dallas, 1851) is redescribed based on female genitalia.

Bioactivity and nutritional quality of nutgall (Rhus semialata Murray), an underutilized fruit of Manipur.

Introduction: Underutilized fruits plays a significant role in socio economic, cultural, nutritional and ethnomedicinal status of tribal people. However, scientific studies on the nutritional and other pharmaceuticals/biological activities of these fruits are meagre. Hence, the present study dealt with the quantification of nutritional quality and deciphering the bioactivity of nutgall (Rhus semialata Murray syn. Rhus chinensis Mill.), an underutilized fruit crop mainly found in foothill tracks of Eastern Himalaya, India, China, Japan, Korea and other South East Asian countries. Methods: The Rhus semialata Murray fruits were collected from five different locations in Purul sub-division, Senapati district, Manipur, India. The nutritional composition of the fruit pulp was analysed. Further the fruit pulp was extracted in methanol and water. The methanol and water extracts were studied for bioactivity properties such as antioxidant, antihyperglycemic, antihypertensive, antihyperuricemia, anti-tyrosinase, and antimicrobial activity. Results and discussion: The fruit was rich in essential fatty acids. The presence of linoleic and oleic acids, along with traces of docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapantaenoic acid, revealed the potential food value of the fruit. 59.18% of the total amino acid composition of the protein present was constituted by essential amino acids. The IC50 value of methanolic extract (MExt) and Water extract (WExt) of the fruit were recorded as 4.05 ± 0.22 and 4.45 ± 0.16 µg/mL, respectively, in the DPPH assay and 5.43 ± 0.37 and 11.36 ± 2.9 µg/mL, respectively, in the ABTS assay as compared to Ascorbic acid (3 and 5.4 µg/mL in DPPH and ABTS assay, respectively). The CUPRAC assay also showed a high antioxidant potential of MExt and WExt (1143.84 ± 88.34 and 456.53 ± 30.02 mg Ascorbic Acid Equivalent/g, respectively). MExt and WExt of the fruit were more active against α-glucosidase (IC50 of 1.61 ± 0.34 and 7.74 ± 0.54 µg/ mL, respectively) than α-amylase enzyme (IC50 14.15 ± 0.57 and 123.33 ± 14.7 µg/mL, respectively). In addition, the methanolic fruit extract showed low to moderate pharmacological potential in terms of antihypertensive (Angiotensin converting enzyme-I inhibition), antihyperuricemia (xanthine oxidase inhibition), anti-tyrosinase, and antimicrobial activity. The IC50 values of angiotensin-converting enzyme I inhibition, xanthine oxidase inhibition and tyrosinase inhibition were recorded as 13.35 ± 1.21 mg/mL, 93.16 ± 4.65 mg/mL, and 862.7 ± 12.62 µg/mL, respectively. The study evidently indicates that nutgall fruit is a potential source of phytonutrients, bestowed with commercially exploitable, multifaceted health benefits.

Development and validation of a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe method for the determination of imidacloprid and its metabolites in soil.

A simplified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe method was standardized and validated for the estimation of residues of imidacloprid and its metabolites from different types of soil comprising sandy loam, loamy sand and clay loam soil. The samples were extracted with acetonitrile, clean up by treatment with primary secondary amine sorbent and graphitized carbon. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a technique to separate and quantitate residues of polar, nonvolatile and thermolabile chemical compounds, using high-pressure pumps, short and narrow columns packed with microparticulate phases and a detector. The residues were estimated using HPLC equipped with a photodiode array detector system, C18 column. Acetonitrile and water (30 : 70) were used as an isocratic mobile phase at 0.3 mL/min. Imidacloprid and its metabolites presented distinct peaks at retention factors of 4.93 min (6-chloronicotinic acid), 7.91 min (nitroguanidine), 9.12 min (olefin), 11.32 min (nitrosimine), 13.82 min (urea), 15.45 min (5-hydroxy) and 22.47 min (imidacloprid). Consistent recoveries above 80% for imidacloprid and its metabolites were observed when samples were spiked at 0.01, 0.05 and 0.10 mg/kg levels. The limit of quantification of the method was 0.01 mg/kg. The analytical method was validated in terms of parameters including selectivity, linearity, precision and accuracy of the detection system.