In Vitro Morphophysiological Responses of Alternanthera Tenella Colla (Amaranthaceae) to Stress Induced by Cadmium and the Attenuating Action of Silicon

Despite having the ability to bioaccumulate trace elements such as cadmium (Cd), many species also present morphophysiological disorders that can hamper their use as phytoremediation plants. Since it can lead to alterations in biomass accumulation. The employment of elements that mitigate stress, such as silicon (Si), can diminish the deleterious effects caused by trace elements. The objective of this study was to analyze the anatomical and physiological modulations induced by the synergy between Cd and Si in Alternanthera tenella plants, as well as to elucidate whether Si can mitigate the harmful effects caused by Cd under in vitro conditions. Nodal segments were cultured in media containing a concentration gradient of Cd (0, 50, 100, or 200 μM) combined with two levels of Si (0 or 40 μM) for a total of eight treatments. After 34 days, the plants' anatomy, physiology, and tolerance index were analyzed. The plants presented anatomical adjustments (such as lower stomatal index and number of vessel elements), suggesting lower translocation of Cd to the aerial part. When cultured with 200 μM Cd, the plants presented the lowest Chl a/b ratio. In the presence of Si, the decline of this ratio was smaller. Plants exposed to Cd concentrations of 50 μM without Si presented a significant decrease in the performance of the photosynthetic apparatus and tolerance index. The presence of Si in the medium reduced the damages caused by cadmium to the plants' physiology, resulting in greater growth and higher tolerance to this element.

Estimates of Late Albian atmospheric CO2 based on stomata of Pseudofrenelopsis from Jilin Province, Northeast China

Stomata characteristics of two extinct conifer Cheirolepidiaceae species, Pseudofrenelopsis gansuensis and Pseudofrenelopsis dalatzensis were used to reconstruct the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration levels during the late Albian of Cretaceous. A sequence of fossil samples was collected from 5 beds in the Dalazi Formation in Zhixin and Luozigou basins of Jilin Province, northeastern China. The stomatal index was used to estimate the palaeo-pCO2. The average stomatal index value of the two species was 4.1 and the atmospheric CO2 content was ∼1200 ppmv by the average of Recent standardization and Carboniferous standardization. During the short interval of 104.8±0.5 Ma to 104.0±0.4 Ma in the late Albian, the atmospheric CO2 contents present a deceasing tendency, and the highest value was ∼1300 ppmv in the Luozigou Basin. In addition, the higher atmospheric CO2 values of late Albian likely linked to a “greenhouse climate” time of Oceanic anoxic event 1c (OAE1c).

Comparative leaf anatomy of ten Nepenthes L. species (Nepenthaceae) from Peninsular Malaysia

The genus Nepenthes (Nepenthaceae) in Peninsular Malaysia includes fourteen species that can be found from the sea-level to over 1000 m in the mountains. Our observation indicated that Nepenthes can be found in five major habitat types: specifically in tropical lowland evergreen rain forest, heath forest, peat swamp forest, montane forest, and limestone forest. Their leaves have several anatomical characters that remain underexplored. There were specific differences between species that could be potential identification characters. The following anatomical characteristics were explored for their diagnostic value and comprised of ten distinct anatomical characteristics in Nepenthes, viz., density and stomatal index (SI), hypodermis cell – cell layers, occurrence of fiber groups mixed with the hypodermis cells, adaxial cuticle thickness, vascular bundle arrangement, midrib outline shape, venation plasticity, druses appearance and appendage/trichome type.

A Deep Learning-Based Method for Automatic Assessment of Stomatal Index in Wheat Microscopic Images of Leaf Epidermis

The stomatal index of the leaf is the ratio of the number of stomata to the total number of stomata and epidermal cells. Comparing with the stomatal density, the stomatal index is relatively constant in environmental conditions and the age of the leaf and, therefore, of diagnostic characteristics for a given genotype or species. Traditional assessment methods involve manual counting of the number of stomata and epidermal cells in microphotographs, which is labor-intensive and time-consuming. Although several automatic measurement algorithms of stomatal density have been proposed, no stomatal index pipelines are currently available. The main aim of this research is to develop an automated stomatal index measurement pipeline. The proposed method employed Faster regions with convolutional neural networks (R-CNN) and U-Net and image-processing techniques to count stomata and epidermal cells, and subsequently calculate the stomatal index. To improve the labeling speed, a semi-automatic strategy was employed for epidermal cell annotation in each micrograph. Benchmarking the pipeline on 1,000 microscopic images of leaf epidermis in the wheat dataset (Triticum aestivum L.), the average counting accuracies of 98.03 and 95.03% for stomata and epidermal cells, respectively, and the final measurement accuracy of the stomatal index of 95.35% was achieved. R2 values between automatic and manual measurement of stomata, epidermal cells, and stomatal index were 0.995, 0.983, and 0.895, respectively. The average running time (ART) for the entire pipeline could be as short as 0.32 s per microphotograph. The proposed pipeline also achieved a good transferability on the other families of the plant using transfer learning, with the mean counting accuracies of 94.36 and 91.13% for stomata and epidermal cells and the stomatal index accuracy of 89.38% in seven families of the plant. The pipeline is an automatic, rapid, and accurate tool for the stomatal index measurement, enabling high-throughput phenotyping, and facilitating further understanding of the stomatal and epidermal development for the plant physiology community. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first deep learning-based microphotograph analysis pipeline for stomatal index assessment.

Pharmacognostic Evaluation of Ocimum basilicum L

Aim: Standardization of Ocimum basilicum through pharmacognosy. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Plant Biology and Plant Biotechnology, Ethiraj College for Women, Chennai “Between” Dec 2014-April 15. Methodology: Organoleptic evaluation was carried out based on sensory characters. A free hand anatomical section of the stem was observed. Powder analysis, maceration, Phytochemical test and Fluorescence analysis were conducted according to standard protocol. Results: The organoleptic characters of the dried leaves of Ocimum basilicum were green, aromatic, pungent and brittle in texture with anomocytic stomata with stomatal index 71.87% in the lower epidermis. A prominent bundle sheath in the leaf was evident. The macerated stem showed annular xylem vessels. The aqueous extract showed the presence of alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, steroids, terpenoids, and glycosides. Alkaloids and lignins were evident in the histochemical study. Conclusion: Pharmacognostic evaluation of Ocimum basilicum would help in identification, detection of adulterants and development of a monograph.

Español Plastic colored paddings and its effect on the foliar micromorphology of husk tomato (Physalis ixocarpa Brot.)

Objective: To assess the effect of colored plastic paddings on the foliar micromorphology of husk tomato (Physalis ixocarpa Brot.). Design / methodology / approach: A completely randomized statistical model was used with five treatments (black, white, blue, red and green paddings) with three repetitions each, 95% reliability and Tukey's mean test (P ? 0.05). To quantify the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) a portable GreenSeeker® sensor was used. To measurement of total soluble solids a Atago® Digital refractometer, the density and stomatal index, length and width of stomata were determined with a Carl Zeiss microscope with an integrated camera and the AxionVisionRel measurement software 4.8. Results: The results show no significant differences in the NDVI and total soluble solids. The micromorphological variables of adaxial stomatal density and adaxial stomatal index were superior in the blue paddings and exceeded black paddings in 95 % and 50 % respectively. The rest of the micromorphological variables were statistically similar, the yield per plant was statistically similar in the black, white, red and green, while blue paddings yield less. Study limitations / implications: blue paddings improve micromorphological characteristics, but not the yield of husk tomato crops. Findings / conclusions: Some of the foliar micromorphological characteristics of the husk tomato crop are modified by colored plastic paddings; however, the improvement in these variables does not necessarily improve the crop yield, probably due to the absorbed and reflected radiation by the colored plastic paddings.

Comparative chemotaxonomic investigations on amaranthus hybridus l. and Amaranthus spinosus L.

The present study is set to investigate the comparative chemotaxonomic investigations on Amaranthus hybridus L. and Amaranthus spinosus L. which belong to the family Amaranthaceae. They are dicots pre-dominantly found in the Niger Delta Tropics, Nigeria. The species are annual erect herbs with flower inflorescences as elongated spikes which are mostly paniculate occurring at ends of branches in globose fashion in axils of leaves.The nodes often have pair of axillary spines. Flowers are small, greenish with male ones at the top while the female ones below the clusters and stem is greenish but often reddish with one-seeded capsule as fruit in Amaranthus spinosus which attains up to 80 ± 20cm in height whereas A. hybridus differ in absence of a pair of axillary spines, the stems are greenish or slightly pinkish which grows up to 100 ± 10cm in height. A. hybridus is more of a vegetable and has alternate phyllotaxi and narrow cuneate base. Fruits from both species are circumscissile capsules and their inflorescences are terminal racemes positioned at their axils with female perianth segments of five. Epidermal studies revealed amphistomatic stomata which is anisocytic type for both species. The stomatal index for A. spinosus adaxial foliar epidermis is 20% and the abaxial 20% whereas for A. hybridus adaxial is 20% and abaxial foliar stomatal index of 20%. Anatomical studies revealed open vascular system, collenchyma dominating the hypodermis while parenchyma occupied the general cortex and pith regions. A. hybridus has more vascular bundles and trichomes, and wider pith than A. spinosus. Phytochemical studies showed the presence of tannins, saponins, alkaloids, and flavonoids are present in A. spinosus while alkaloids were absent only in A. hybridus. This may be the reason why A. spinosus is used more in tradomedicine than A.hybridus which served more as vegetable. Key Words: Morphology, Anatomy, Phytochemistry, Amaranthus, Amaranthaceae

Traffict Density Affects Stomatal Character of Tanjung Plant (Mimusops elengi, L.) in Mataram City

Increase in traffic density increases air pollution. Air pollution affects plant life physiologically, for the long run it could be morfologically, one of whichs is the stomatal characters. This research aimed to determine the influence of traffic density difference to the stomatal characteristic of Tanjung leaves (Mimusops elengi L.) in Mataram City. Sampling was carried out on 4 designated locations including the Unram Library (control) that has no traffic density, Jl. Dr. Sudjono (Low traffic), Jl. Ahmad Yani and Jl. Majapahit (high traffic). The method used was Post ex Facto, Purposive sampling. The measured parameters included the number of stomata, the number of open and closed stomata, the stomatal index, the stomatal size and the aperture size of the stomata. The research data was analyzed in a qualitative description and in a quantitative description using analysis of Varian (ANOVA). The results showed that the traffic density reduces the number of stamata as well as their size, the number of opended and increased the number of closed stomata, increases stomatal index due to stomatal damage and reduces stomatal aperture in Mataram city. It is concluded that traffic density affects stomatal haracter tanjung plant. Thrence, this finding reveals that stomatal character of tnajnjung plant can be used as air pollution bioindicator.

EFFECT OF INDUSTRY EFFLUENT ON HISTO-PHARMACOGNOSY OF BOERHAAVIA DIFFUSA LINN. USED AS BLOOD PURIFIER

Aims of the Study: To carried out the effect of Atlas Cycles Industry effluent on pharmacognosy of Boerhaavia diffusa Linn. used as Blood Purifier Method: The effluent of Atlas Cycles Industry was analyzed by Trivedi & Goel, 1986 method. Metacalf and Chalk, 1950 was consulted for anatomical studies of selected plant; for chemical analysis Johanson, 1940, Cromwell, 1955 & Trease and Evans, 1983 were followed. TLC was investigated by WHO, 1998. Results: The physico-chemical parameters of Atlas cycle industry effluent were found greater values as compared to standard values. The morphological & anatomical parameters were showed decreasing trend in those plants which were collected near the vicinity of Atlas cycle industry. The colour reaction tests resulted only degrees of changes. The number of spots in observation of TLC, stomatal index, palisade ratio, water extractive and alcohol extractive values were reduced in those plants which were collected near the vicinity of Atlas cycle industry where as vein Islet & vein termination number, ash values were comparatively higher in same samples. Conclusion: The conclusion of this study is that the plants should not be collected form polluted areas(near the vicinity of any industry) for the preparation of medicines, since majority of parameters reflect decreasing data in those plants which were taken from polluted area.

Phytopharmacognostic Evaluation of the Leaves OF Gnetum africanum Welw (Gnetaceae)

Background: Gnetum africanum Welw (Gnetaceae) also called African salad and Afang in Ibibio language is an evergreen, perennial, shade-tolerant vine with woody stems which can climb up to 12m or more from a tuberous root-stock. It has culinary and medicinal importance. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate pharmacognostic parameters of Gnetum africanum. Methods: The leaves were identified, collected, air-dried, pulverized, weighed and subjected to the evaluation of its microscopy, micromeritics, chemomicroscopy, fluorescence, soluble extractive values, moisture content and ash values using standard procedures. Results: The results obtained from microscopy revealed that the leaf has brachyparacytic, stomata, 3-5 armed and stellate trichromes on the abaxial surface. The epidermal cell wall pattern was undulate on the abaxial surface and sinuous on the adaxial surface. Stomatal number was found to be 3.1 ± 0.25 on the abaxial surface and Stomatal index was found to be 16.8% on the abaxial surface. The micromeritics analysis of the leaf powder revealed passable flow with the angle of repose of 420. The result of chemomicroscopy of the leaf revealed the presence of mucilage, lignin, calcium oxalate crystals, starch and oil. For water-soluble extractive value, the result was 13.25%w/w, methanol-soluble extractive value 4.25%w/w, ethanol-soluble extractive value 4%w/w, moisture content 10.5%w/w, total ash value was 5%w/w, acid-insoluble ash value 1%w/w, water-soluble ash value 2%w/w and sulfated- ash value 6% w/w. Conclusion: The results obtained from the pharmacognostic study provides information for the identity, quality and purity of Gnetum africanum.