The Ethnobotany Study of The Foodstuffs by Local Communities in The Bulumario Village, North Sumatera

Food is a primary human need. Various foods are initially obtained from plant species. Village people have used various food plants based on local knowledge and belief. The aims of this research were to elucidate (1) various food plants traditionally utilization by local people of the Bulumario Village, North Sumatra; (2) plant organs of food plants that are traditionally used by the local people of Bulumario village. The method used in this study was qualitative. Data were collected through surveys, interviews, and participatory observation. A total of 46 respondents were interviewed consisting of 22 men and 24 women who determined by purposive sampling. Data were analyzed was descriptively using descriptive statistics. A total of 83 species belonging to 66 genera and 36 families have been used by local communities in Bulumario village as foodstuffs. Those used as a source of carbohydrates (7 species), fruit sources (15 species), vegetables (32 species), and spices (21 species). Based on plant part used, the foodstuffs are fruit (34 species), leaves (21 species), and stems (13 species). The composition of food plants are cultivated (53 species), wild (18 species), and semi-cultivated (12 species). Solanum torvum, Garcinia attrovidis, Etlingera elatior, and Zanthoxylum acanthopodium are spices especially in Bulumario Village which have bioactivity as an antimicrobial so they are potential to be developed as a natural preservative. Pakkat (Calamus hookerianus, Calamus metzianus, Calamus thwaitesii and Plectocomiopsis geminiflora) have the potential to be developed as a vegetable or carbohydrate source.

Diversity of foliicolous lichens in Shivamogga district, Karnataka

Foliicolous lichens are one of the poorly documented groups of organisms found exclusively in evergreen forests. Very few works have been done on this group of lichens in the state of Karnataka. Hence, the present study is carried out to document the diversity of foliicolous lichens in evergreen, shola and semi-evergreen forest patches of Shivamogga district, Karnataka. Thirty-three species of foliicolous lichens are documented in the present study belonging to 16 genera and nine families. Among them Porina multiloculata, P. epiphylla, P. karnatakensis and Tricharia allostrigosa are the most dominant species. Whereas, Mazosia bambusae, Porina nitidula, P. semecarpi, P. microcarpa and Tapellaria phyllophila are less dominant species. Calamus thwaitesii supports wide range of foliicolous lichens. Cinnamomum macrocarpum, Dimocarpus longan, Memecylon malabaricum and Pinanga dicksonii are the other important plant species commonly supporting the foliicolous lichens in the study area. In the selected small study area, we are able to document 33 species of epiphyllous lichens. More explorations may yield many additions to the present knowledge.

Germination and emergence of four rattan Calamus species of Western ghats in response to different pre-sowing seed treatments

The present investigation was carried out to study the effect of ten pre-sowing treatments on germination parameter of the four Calamus species in the nursery of College of Forestry, Vellanikkara. Most of the pre-sowing treatments of Calamus spp. gave better performance compared to the control. Complete removal of outer pericarp and sarcotesta of each seed manually (T2), Sulphuric acid treatment for 3-5 minutes after removing sarcotesta (T6) and Hot water treatment (500C) after removing sarcotesta for two minutes followed by soaking in water for 12 hours (T7) were found promising in all the species. The higher germination percentage (83.82, 89.96), mean daily germination (0.020, 3.39), peak value of germination (0.026, 3.45) and germination value (0.00041, 11.56) and was recorded for Calamus thwaitesii and C. metzianus in treatment with GA3 (T9) respectively. The maximum germination percentage (27.74), MDG (0.41), PVG (0.46) and GV (0.20) for C. hookerianus in T7 (Hot water treatment (500C) after removing sarcotesta for two minutes followed by soaking in water for 12 hours), and highest MDG (0.078), PVG (0.91) and GV (0.0065) for C. travancoricus in T5 (Sulphuric acid treatment for 3-5 minutes without removing sarcotesta). The present study reiterated that the pre-sowing treatments hold major scope in the propagation of rattan seedlings which usually could not germinate well under ordinary conditions due to dormancy.

Multi-gene phylogeny of Pithomyces with the sexual morph of P. flavus Berk. & Broome

Pithomyces flavus collected from litter of palm, Calamus thwaitesii from Dudhsagar, Goa, India is re-described as sexual morph of Astrosphaeriella vesuvius. Combine molecular phylogenetic analysis of ITS, LSU, SSU and RPB2 is provided to support this new connection and identity of sexual morph.

Micro-cloning of an economic rattan palm Calamus thwaitesii for eco-restoration programme

Axillary shoots were induced from shoot tip of Calamus thwaitesii suckers on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 0.4 mg/L N6-benzylaminopurine and 0.1 mg/L each of thidiazuron and α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). The shoots initiated were subcultured to fresh media of the same composition for shoot multiplication and multiplied shoots were transferred to half strength MS hormone-free media for shoot elongation. The elongated shoots (∼5cm) were then re-cultured to the media supplemented with 3.0 mg/L indole-3-butyric acid/4.0 mg/L NAA to raise plantlets which were subsequently analysed for genetic fidelity using inter simple sequence repeat markers. Out of 183 bands scored, 178 bands were monomorphic indicating 97.2% similarity. The observed low level of polymorphism between genotypes supports genetic consistency of these micro-clones that are likely to be genetically true to their parental origin. The clones thus obtained were hardened in the specially fabricated mist house at 29 ±2°C and 80±5% relative humidity for 3 months followed by shifting to green house for another 3 months of nursery establishment. The established plants when reintroduced to the selected forest segments of the Western Ghats, Kerala (India) showed 79.3% survival rate after 2 years of field transfer. The viable and highly reproducible in vitro cloning protocol demonstrated here for the first time can be used for the production of elite female clones for aforestation activities and sustained delivery of high quality raw materials to cane processing units for strengthening cane industry.