Usnea dasaea, a further new addition to the Lichen Flora of Tamil Nadu State, India

The present study addresses the addition of one new fruticose lichen species for the first time to the state of Tamil Nadu in Western Ghats, India. Usnea dasaea Stirt. is a new occurrence in Tamil Nadu. Descriptions of identification keys and distributions of such new species in south India provide useful information for identification. The new species addition of such lichen was identified and deposited at lichen herbaria, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India and Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India for further studies.

New record of Monsonia herrei for Namibia

Background: The southern part of Namibia’s terrain is highly inaccessible making it difficult to explore. Expeditions into difficult terrain can result in new biological discoveries for Namibia. Monsonia herrei has been recorded for South Africa, but has not previously been recorded for Namibia.Objectives: As part of updating the biodiversity records of Namibia, we report the occurrence of a species not previously recorded for the Namibian flora.Method: A botanical field trip was undertaken in September 2014 to the far south of Namibia in the Aussenkehr region along the Orange River. Plant identification was carried out based on herbarium vouchers, observation and photographic records. One collection constituted a new record of the species for Namibia. A voucher specimen of this new record was collected and deposited at the National Botanical Research Institute Herbarium (WIND). Plant identification was confirmed by experts on plants from the region.Results: One species not previously recorded for Namibia, namely Monsonia herrei (L. Bolus) F. Albers, was found during the exploration of the Aussenkehr area.Conclusions: This new record for Namibia confirms the need to update the inventory of the flora of Namibia.

Additional distributional records of the lichen genus Cryptothecia in India

Additional distribution of 25 species of the genus Cryptothecia from different states of India has been provided. Earlier these species were known from limited localities, and currently, they are recorded from the almost all parts of India which is discussed in the present paper. The present study is based on observation of a large number of specimens annotated as ‘sterile specimen’ and other voucher specimens preserved at CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute herbarium (LWG).

Additional distributional records of the lichen genus Cryptothecia in India

Additional distribution of 25 species of the genus Cryptothecia from different states of India has been provided. Earlier these species were known from limited localities, and currently, they are recorded from the almost all parts of India which is discussed in the present paper. The present study is based on observation of a large number of specimens annotated as ‘sterile specimen’ and other voucher specimens preserved at CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute herbarium (LWG).

Bougainvillea: A Long Journey from Rio to Lucknow

Bougainvillea, native of South American sub-tropics, was first collected by Commerson, a French Botanist, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who named it after Louis Antoine de Bougainville, the French navigator with whom he went on voyage around the world during 1766=1769. From its native sub-tropical regions, bougainvilleas were introduced to temperate regions of European countries, where these were grown in the glasshouse. The history of domestication of bougainvillea is 250 years old and in this period there have been many landmark in the bougainvillea cultivation. In India, Bougainvillea spectabilis was first introduced in Kolkata in 1860 from Europe and the improvement work on bougainvillea started in early 20th century, with the introduction of a few cultivars by the Agri-Horticultural Societies, Kolkata and Chennai. But it achieved its popularity in 1920 with the introduction of the cultivar ‘Mrs. Butt’ in Kolkata from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England. Out of 10 species, only B. glabra Choisy, B. spectabilis Willdenow, B. peruviana Humboldt and Bonpland and a natural hybrid B. x buttiana Holttum and Standley, are of horticultural importance. Today, a large number of Bougainvillea cultivars (500 cvs.) are available from three to multibracted ones in various colour and shades to variegated foliage as aresult of natural selection and breeding. 50% of the Bougainvillea cultivars have been evolved in our country. India has been recognized as the International Registration Authority for Bougainvilleas. The Botanic Garden of CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow has rich germplasm collection of Bougainvillea (200 species/cvs) and serves as the reference centre.

Isolation and screening of multifunctional rhizobacteria from the selected sites of Madhupur, Narshingdi and Mymensingh, Bangladesh

A laboratory experiment was performed to isolate some native rhizobacteria that could be used as bioinoculants for sustainable crop production. A total of 43 rhizobacteria were isolated from undisturbed plant rhizosphere soils of three different locations of Bangladesh and evaluated their plant growth promoting traits, both direct and indirect. The study has screened out isolates on the basis of their phosphorous solubilization and nitrogen (N) fixation. The phosphate solubilization assay in National Botanical Research Institute of Phosphate (NBRIP) medium revealed that 12 bacterial isolates were able to solubilize tricalcium phosphate and the rhizobacteria M25 showed best performance with a PSI of 3.33 at 5 day. Exactly 47% (20 isolates) of the isolated rhizobacteria were able to grow in N-free Winogradsky’s medium, which is an indication of potential N2-fixers. Among the 20 potential N-fixers, 15 were able to grow within 24 hours of incubation indicating that they are more efficient in Nfixation. The present study successfully isolated and characterized 43 rhizobacteria. Some of these isolated rhizobacteria have potential plant growth promoting traits and are potential plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) candidate. Considering all plant growth promoting traits, the isolate F37 was the best followed by M6. However, further experiments are needed to determine the effectiveness of these isolates under in vitro and different field conditions to understand the nature of interaction with the plant and environment.Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.2(1): 1-8, April 2015

Comparison of media used to evaluateRhizobium leguminosarumbivarviciaefor phosphate-solubilizing ability

Rhizobium leguminosarum is well known for its ability to fix nitrogen (N). In addition, its capacity to solubilize phosphate (Ph) has been receiving attention in recent years. Our ultimate objective was to select a R. leguminosarum bv. viciae isolate with superior Ph-solubilizing ability. The first step was to identify a culture medium that is sensitive and effective in identifying the ability of R. leguminosarum bv. viciae isolates to solubilize Ph. Thirty isolates were evaluated for Ph solubilization in broth and on solid formulations of three media: yeast mannitol extract (YEM), National Botanical Research Institute phosphate nutrient medium (MNBRI), and Pikovskaya phosphate medium (PVK). All media contained 5 g/L CaHPO4as the only phosphorus (P) source. All 30 isolates increased the Ph concentration in liquid cultures, but the amount of Ph released into solution by individual isolates varied from one medium to another. In contrast, only a subset of the 30 isolates solubilized Ph on the solid cultures. Furthermore, some of the isolates that were able to solubilize Ph were only able to do so on a single medium. Regression analysis revealed no relationship between the Ph concentration in the liquid media and the zones of clearing on the solid media (p > 0.05). Although the pH of all of the liquid media dropped after 12 days of growth of the isolates, a relationship between Ph concentration and pH existed only for the MNBRI medium (r2= 0.485, p < 0.001). Increasing the amount of N in the MNBRI medium from 0.1 g/L of (NH4)2SO4to 0.5 g/L of (NH4)2SO4did not affect the amount of Ph in solution, but it profoundly reduced the survival of the R. leguminosarum by approximately 50-fold. Consequently, the surviving bacteria were either more efficient at solubilizing Ph in the high N media or organic acids released from the lysis of the dead cells solubilized the CaHPO4source.

A Yellow Mosaic Disease of Soybean in Northern India is Caused by Cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus

Soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., is a protein- and oil-rich crop cultivated in India and abroad. A yellow mosaic disease was observed on soybean with 80 to 90% disease incidence during August 2005 at fields of the National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, in northern India. Soybean plants were found to be infested with whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci) suggesting begomovirus etiology. The disease agent was transmitted experimentally by whiteflies, and symptoms developed after 23 days. Total DNA was isolated from 51 leaf samples collected from 42 symptomatic and 9 asymptomatic plants. Polymerase chain reaction was performed using begomovirus coat protein-specific primers 5′-ATGGCGAA GCGACCAG-3′ and 5′-TTAATTTGTGACCGAATCAT-3′ (AM180920/ AM180921). An amplicon of the expected size (~800 bp) was obtained in all 42 symptomatic leaves but not from any of the nine asymptomatic leaf samples. The amplicon was cloned, and the identical sequence of three clones was submitted to GenBank (Accession No. DQ343283). BLAST search of nucleotide sequences revealed 95% identity with Cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus (CLCKV) (GenBank Accession Nos. AJ002449, AJ002448, AJ496286, and AY456683) and 57% identity with Mungbean yellow mosaic India virus (MYMIV-Sb, GenBank Accession No. AY049772). Results indicated that the virus associated with yellow mosaic disease of soybean is an isolate of CLCKV rather than MYMIV-Sb (1) reported earlier on soybean from northern India. To our knowledge, this is the first report of soybean as a new host of Cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus. Reference: (1) K. S. Usharani et al. Curr. Sci. 86:845, 2004.

Multivariate analysis and clustering of Cuphea procumbens inbred lines

15 C. procumbens inbred lines of different eco-geographical origin maintained at National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, India were evaluated for seed yield and its 6 component traits to assess genetic divergence among them. The standardized mean values of different traits were subjected to principal component analysis and cluster analysis was performed based on two different clustering strategies i.e. UPGMA and Wards. Ward's method that showed relatively high cophenetic correlation coefficient and significant Wilk's Lambda was identified as the best clustering solution. The first four principal components (PC) with eigenvalues >1 contributed 91.56% of variability among the inbred. First PC was related with fruits/plant and branches/plant; second PC with yield/ plant, seeds/fruit and test weight third PC with plant height; and fourth PC with days to flowering. The genotypes were grouped into five clusters and cluster II was largest with 5 genotypes followed by clusters I, III and Clusters IV, V. Cluster IV exhibited highest mean for seed yield (14.77g) followed by cluster III (14.53g) and the former incorporated inbred lines, NBCP-53 and NBCP-58 that were highly divergent among themselves and from genotypes in other clusters. The inbred in cluster IV and cluster III with good amount of genetic divergence and superior agronomic traits were identified as promising inbred to develop superior recombinants with desirable agronomic traits.