Plant Growth Hormones and Micro-Tuberization in Breaking the Seed Dormancy of Bunium persicum (Boiss.) Fedts.

Bunium persicum is a valuable medicinal plant with limited production but high market demand. It thrives predominantly in high-altitude regions. The main challenges hindering its widespread cultivation are seed dormancy and a lengthy seed-to-seed cycle, making its large-scale cultivation difficult. Six genotypes of Bunium persicum were collected from different altitudes to evaluate its germination behavior and seed dormancy. The study was conducted during 2020-23 and comprised three experiments (viz., seed germination under an open field, controlled conditions, and micro-tuberization). Under open field conditions, germination percent was genotype dependent, and the highest germination percentage, root length, and shoot length were recorded in Shalimar Kalazeera-1. Germination behavior assessment of the Bunium persicum revealed that treatment T9 (GA3 (25 ppm) + TDZ (9 µM/L)) is effective in breaking the dormancy of Bunium persicum as well as in obtaining a higher germination percent for early development of the tubers. Similarly, with regard to the effect of temperature and moisture conditions, stratification under moist chilling conditions showed effectiveness in breaking seed dormancy as the germination percentage in stratified seeds was at par with the most efficient growth hormone. With regard to the in vitro micro-propagation, direct regeneration showed multiple shoot primordia at the base of the tubers without intervening callus phase from the MS medium supplemented with BA (22.2 µM) and NAA (13.95 µM) 4 weeks after sub-culturing. Similarly, medium supplemented with JA (8.0 mg/L) and BA (22.2 µM) produced well-organized somatic embryos with shiny surfaces, which appeared at the swelled basal portion of apical stems. Further, the combination of JA (6.0 mg/L) and BA (22.2 M) was effective in developing the micro-tubers and also enhanced the weight and length of Bunium persicum micro-tubers.

Probing the Phytochemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Moringa oleifera under Ideal Germination Conditions.

Moringa oleifera is a rich source of polyphenols whose contents and profile may vary according to environmental conditions, harvest season, and plant tissue. The present study aimed to characterize the profile of phenolic compounds in different tissues of M. oleifera grown under different temperatures (25, 30, and 35 °C), using HPLC/MS, as well as their constituent phytochemicals and in vitro antioxidant activities. The in vitro antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2-azino-bis-3-ethylenebenzothiozoline-6-sulfonicacid (ABTS), and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) methods. The polyphenolic compounds were mainly found in the leaves at 30 °C. UPLC/QTOF-MS allowed for the identification of 34 polyphenolic components in seedlings, primarily consisting of glucosides, phenols, flavonoids, and methoxy flavones. At 30 °C, the specific activities of antioxidative enzymes were the highest in leaves, followed by seedlings and then seeds. The leaf and seed extracts also exhibited a greater accumulation of proline, glycine betaine, and antioxidants, such as ascorbic acid, and carotenoids, as measured by the inhibition of ROS production. We found that changes in the expression levels of the validated candidate genes Cu/Zn-SOD, APX, GPP, and TPS lead to significant differences in the germination rate and biochemical changes. These findings demonstrate that M. oleifera plants have high concentrations of phytochemicals and antioxidants, making them an excellent choice for further research to determine their use as health-promoting dietary supplements.

Enhancement of nutraceutical and anti-diabetic potential of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum). Sprouts with natural elicitors.

Trigonella foenum-graecum has been extensively used for centuries in traditional medicine systems for the cure of health ailments including diabetes. Improving the medicinal attributes of plants through the elicitation strategy is gaining great interest in the recent past. In the current study, an attempt is made to reveal the role and possible mechanism of action of vitamin C elicit phytochemical-rich aqueous extract of 4th day germinated IM6 genotype fenugreek sprouts in the form of lyophilized powder (IM6E) under both in vitro and in vivo conditions. The IM6E demonstrated strong α-glucosidase activity (95.24 %) and moderate α-amylase and invertase inhibition activities under in vitro conditions. The High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) based analysis demonstrated that IM6E possess significantly higher concentration of phenolic phytochemical quercetin (0.148 %) as compared to diosgenin and trigonelline bioactive anti-diabetic nutraceuticals. In normal rats after loading with glucose and sucrose, the IM6E administration in a dose-dependent manner significantly reduced the post-prandial hyperglycemia, in a similar fashion as the anti-diabetic drug voglibose as evident from the area under curves (AUC) of oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and oral sucrose tolerance test (OSTT) tests. The administration of IM6E in streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats drastically improved the antioxidant activity of plasma in them as determined by Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma (FRAP) and the effect was found to be dose-dependent. The oral administration of IM6E in diabetic rats normalized almost all the deregulated biochemical markers like liver enzymes, lipids and significantly decreased higher blood glucose levels with increasing insulin levels as compared to diabetic control. The best concentration of IM6E was found to be 300 mg/kg b.w after 21 days of experimentation. The intra-peritoneal glucose tolerance test (IPGTT) in diabetic rats responded very well to IM6E treatment and 100 mg/kg.b.w. behaved almost like the administration of 0.5U insulin/kg bw, and thus indicating the insulinotropic nature of IM6E. Our findings clearly reveal the use of IM6E for diabetes management and at the same it possesses great potential when combined with voglibose to ameliorate diabetes and its associated complications to a greater extent due to synergistic effects as compared to monotherapy. However, more clinical trials need to be performed before recommending IM6E as an anti-diabetic alternative medicine.

Nutritional Profiling, Phytochemical Composition and Antidiabetic Potential of Taraxacum officinale, an Underutilized Herb.

Taraxacum officinale (T. officinale), a wild vegetable with a number of health claims, has been mostly ignored and unexplored. The study aims to compare the nutritional, phytochemical as well as antidiabetic potential of fresh as well as shade-dried leaves of T. officinale, in order to recommend its best form as a dietary antidiabetic product. The results revealed that as compared to fresh leaves, the shade-dried leaves, in addition to possessing higher levels of carbohydrates, crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, etc., also contain appreciable amounts of total phenols (5833.12 ± 4.222 mg/100), total flavonoids (188.84 ± 0.019 mg/100 g), ascorbic acid (34.70 ± 0.026 mg/100 g), ß-carotene (3.88 ± 1.473 mg/100 g) and total chlorophyll (239.51 ± 0.015 mg/100 g) antioxidants. The study revealed the presence of medicinally important antidiabetic flavonoid quercetin present in T. officinale leaves. Among the three solvent systems used, the aqueous extract of shade-dried T. officinale leaves comparatively demonstrated potent antidiabetic activity under in vitro conditions in a dose-dependent manner via targeting α-amylase and α-glucosidase, the two potent enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism. Therefore, in addition to being a nutritious herb, the shade-dried leaves of T. officinale have great potential to suppress post-prandial glucose rise and can be better exploited through clinical trials to be used as a dietary intervention for better management of diabetes.

Effect of silicon application with mycorrhizal inoculation on Brassica juncea cultivated under water stress.

Brassica juncea L. is a significant member of the Brassicaceae family, also known as Indian mustard. Water is a limiting factor in the successful production of this crop. Here, we tested the effect of water shortage in B. juncea plants supplemented with or without the application of silicon and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in total 8 different treatments compared under open filed conditions using a randomised complete block design (RCBD). The treatments under control conditions were control (C, T1); C+Silicon (Si, T2); C+My (Mycorrhiza; T3); and C+Si+My (T4). In contrast, treatments under stress conditions were S (Stress; T5); S+Si (T6); S+My (T7) and S+Si+My (T8), respectively. In total, we evaluated 16 traits, including plant response to stress by evaluating peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) activity. The fresh weight (g) increased only 7.47 percent with mycorrhiza (C+My) and 22.39 percent with silicon (C+Si) but increased 291.08 percent with both mycorrhiza and silicon (C+Si+My). Using mycorrhiza (S+My) or silicon (S+Si) alone produced a significant increase of 53.16 percent and 55.84 percent in fresh weight, respectively, while using both mycorrhiza and silicon (S+Si+My) together produced a dramatic increase of 380.71 percent under stress conditions. Superoxidase dismutase concentration (Ug-1 FW) was found to be increased by 29.48 percent, 6.71 percent, and 22.63 percent after applying C+My, C+Si and C+Si+My, but treatment under stress revealed some contrasting trends, with an increase of 11.21 percent and 19.77 percent for S+My, S+Si+My, but a decrease of 13.15 percent for S+Si. Finally, in the presence of stress, carotenoid content (mg/g FW) increased by 58.06 percent, 54.83 percent, 183.87 percent with C+My, and 23.81 percent with S+My and S+Si+My, but decreased by 22.22 percent with S+Si. Silicon application proved to be more effective than AMF treatment with Rhizophagus irregularis, and the best results were obtained with the combination of Si and AMF. This work will help to suggest the measures to overcome the water stress in B. juncea.

Variability in Catechin and Rutin Contents and Their Antioxidant Potential in Diverse Apple Genotypes.

Catechins and rutin are among the main metabolites found in apple fruit. Sixty apple genotypes, harvested in 2016 and 2017, were analyzed for their phenolic content and antioxidant activity. The HPLC analysis showed that the catechin concentration ranged from 109.98 to 5290.47 µg/g, and the rutin concentration ranged from 12.136 to 483.89 µg/g of apple fruit. The level of DPPH activity ranged from 9.04% to 77.57%, and almost half of the 15 genotypes showed below 30⁻40% DPPH activity. The apple genotypes 'Lal Ambri', 'Green Sleeves', and 'Mallus floribunda' showed the highest DPPH activity of between 70% and 80%, while 'Schlomit', 'Luxtons Fortune', 'Mayaan', 'Ananas Retrine', and 'Chaubatia ambrose' showed the lowest ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) activity (0.02⁻0.09%). Statistical analysis showed a correlation between DPPH activity and catechin content (r = 0.7348) and rutin content (r = 0.1442). Regarding antioxidant activity, fractionated samples of apple genotypes revealed significant activity comparable to that of ascorbic acid. There was also a consistent trend for FRAP activity among all apple genotypes and a significant positive correlation between FRAP activity and rutin content (r = 0.244). Thus, this study reveals a significant variation in antioxidant potential among apple genotypes. This data could be useful for the development of new apple varieties with added phytochemicals by conventional and modern breeders.