RESUMO
More than just a health crisis, COVID-19 pandemic has stressed across social, economical and emotional dimensions of human well being and health. The sudden enforcement although willful and honest, perpetuated a sense of insecurity and uncertainty as a result of livelihood loss, especially for the people employed in unorganized and private sectors across different urban centers of the country. The unexpected scenario not only caused widespread joblessness but also created varied conditions of psychological stresses foreseeing the less likelihood of returning of pre-COVID conditions. As an outcome of the pandemic, the involuntarily return of youth was seen as a boon for reversing the undesirable and unprecedented trends impacting the traditional rural dynamics. Present study is an attempt to highlights impacts, challenges and opportunities under and after COVID-19 on rural populace of Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL) amid the sudden halt of remittances and jobless aspiring youth. A systematic approach was followed, where 16 villages in eight Blocks of KSL were assessed and migrants (n=815) were interviewed for compiling the information. Results revealed that COVID-19 has impacted (both positively and negatively) various sectors such as agriculture, tourism, overall family income, etc., as perceived by the respondents. Sectors like restaurants/shops, tourism, and agriculture emerged as potential cash generating avenues, with 30 %, 21 %, and 20 % respondent's perception, respectively. It is also revealed that in the absence of immediate alternatives, and policy intervention, villagers engaged themselves in the time tested traditional sectors of livelihoods or created their own niche by integrating traditional wisdom and acquired skills.
RESUMO
Valeriana jatamansi Jones, an important medicinal herb of the Himalayan region, is an essential source of many therapeutic compounds and is traded/consumed in very high volume. The hypothesis of this study was that different seasons and light conditions may affect the content of medicinally valuable components with changes in the morpho-physiological attributes of the plant. Growing plants under suitable light conditions and harvesting of appropriate plant parts in optimum season is crucial for harnessing the full potential of the crop. Thus, the study was carried out to determine the seasonal response of V. jatamansi plants (genetically identical plants of same age) in terms of growth and phytochemical content under two different light conditions (full sunlight and 50% shade). During all seasons, growth parameters (plant height, leaf number, leaf area, relative water content, plant biomass) and the principle bioactive compounds (valerenic acid) were higher under shade conditions, while total flavonoids, tannins, phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities were higher under full sunlight conditions. HPLC analysis revealed that valerenic acid and most of the phenolic content were higher during summer season, especially in leaf part of the plant. The study suggested harvesting of V. jatamansi plants (especially leaf), during summer season to harness high quality raw material and to prevent loss of belowground parts. This strategy can be adopted by farmers for large scale cultivation of species. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version of this article contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-021-00944-0.
RESUMO
Efficient micropropagation procedure was developed for Origanum vulgare, a high-value culinary herb, and the phytochemicals, phenolic content, antioxidant and antimutagenic activity of leaf and stem, derived from different growing stages were analyzed. The agar solidified Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with a combination of 6-benzylaminopurine and α-naphthaleneacetic acid was optimized as best shoot-multiplication-medium. Shoots were rooted best on 1/2 strength MS medium supplemented with 50 µM indole-3-butyric acid (IBA). The plantlets were successfully acclimatized ex vitro in a soil, sand and farmyard manure mixture (2:1:1 v/v/v) with 100% survival rate in greenhouse. The total anthocyanin and total phenolic content were observed significantly higher in leaves of in vitro-raised plants. However, total tannin, flavonoid and antioxidant activity remained higher in leaves of mother plant maintained under ployhouse condition. All the plant extracts have shown significant antimutagenic activity except in vitro-growing plants. A total of 13 polyphenolic compounds were detected in different extracts using high performance liquid chromatography. Among these, catechin was detected maximum in in vitro-growing cultures and chlorogenic acid in leaves of mother plant. These findings will help the farmers, medicinal plant growers, and industries for mass multiplication and effective extraction of phytochemicals from O. vulgare.
