A survey of medicinal plants of Wadi Al-Kouf in Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar, Libya

Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar (the Green Mountain) of Cyrenaica, Libya is known to have the highest plant species diversity in the country, particularly in the depressions and the valleys of the mountain. Wadi Al-Kouf is the largest valley in the mountain, with a rich flora of aromatic and medicinal plants. The present investigation was conducted to record and list the medicinal plant species growing in the valley during the flowering season of 2019. Results revealed that Wadi Al-Kouf hosts 107 medicinal plant species belonging to 49 families and 93 genera. Dicotyledons were the most represented group of angiospermae with 38 families, 79 genera and 89 species, whereas Monocotyledons were represented by only 8 families, 10 genera and 13 species. Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Fabaceae and Solanaceae were the families with the highest number of species; 11, 9, 6 and 6 species, respectively. The most dominant life forms found in the valley were Therophytes (25.2%), Phanerophytes (25.2%) and Chamaephytes (24.3%), followed by Hemicryptophytes (15.9%) and Geophytes (9.3%). Nine endemic species were detected and recorded.

Nesting habitat and honey production of asiatic honey bees (Apis cerana) in the protected forest in Enrekang Regency, Indonesia

This study aims to determine the characteristics of nesting habitat, harvesting techniques, and honey production of Asiatic honey bee (Apis cerana) in the protected forest in Enrekang Regency, Indonesia. Data was collected in the form of primary and secondary data. Data is collected by observation, survey, and literature study then analyzed by descriptive statistical methods. The results showed that the Asiatic honey bee hunting technique by local communities in the protected forest in Enrekang Regency was carried out traditionally during the flowering season, especially in September and October. Asiatic honey bees nest in stone cavities or cracked stones around flowering plants in elevation 976.9-1.085.1 masl. Depth of stone cavities nest ranges between 40-70 cm, height ranges between 20-60 cm, width ranges between 60-100 m, temperature and humidity in stone cavities nest vary between 23-26,9 °C and 70-87%, respectively. The average weight of honeycomb is 1.137,5 g produces an average honey 250.58 g, beeswax 250.58 g, bee bread 169.17 g, and bee brood (eggs, larvae, pupa) 105.42 g. Honey bee yields average is 17.20%, bee wax 60.05%, bee bread 13.97%, and bee brood (larvae, eggs, and pupae) 8.78%.

Prediction of mango hopper, Idioscopus nitidulus (Walker) using hybrid modelling in Konkan region

Mango hopper, Idioscopus nitidulus is the most destructive pest of mango in the India. Thus, aim of the study was to develop precise and easy early population prediction model of mango hopper for tropical mansoon climate conditions. Weekly occurrence data of mango hopper, I. nitidulus during five consecutive years (2014 to 2018) was used for developing hybrid of multiplicative seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) and artificial neural network (ANN) model. The population of I. nitidulus increases in the month of January-February on flower panicles and October-November on new vegetative shoots in the region. The linearity in the time series data was best fitted with SARIMA (0, 0, 2) × (0, 1, 1)52 model as their correlation values are not outside the confidence intervals (CI) limits. Further ANN modeling was done for fitting the SARIMA residuals. The fitted values of model prediction and the actual values of year 2017-2018 flowering season (SMW36-52 of 2017 and SMW 1-13 of 2018) were used for testing of prediction efficiency. The performance of the two models in respect to model fitting and effectiveness of SARIMA and hybrid SARIMA-ANN model was compared by evaluating diagnostic statistics of MSE, RMSE, MAE and MAPE. The best fitted developed hybrid model in present study and the data predicted by model was matched with actual data of mango hopper incidence during the year 2017-18. Hybrid model developed in this study will help to predict hoppers population in advance, thus provide a direction for planning of timely prevention and development of effective management strategies which will help to minimize the use of hazardous pesticides.

A Study on the Volatile Compounds in Elaeagnus angustifolia L. Flowers during Flowering Season by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Coupled with Advanced Chemometrics

The flowers of Elaeagnus angustifolia L. have been used as a homologous variety in China, whose quality seriously relies on the compositions during the flowering period. Unfortunately, studies on the variations of volatile compounds during the flowering season are rarely reported. Herein, a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomic methodology was proposed for the comprehensive analysis of volatile compounds in E. angustifolia flowers to classify various flowering stages. Samples from four flowering stages were collected, including the initial bloom stage, pre-full bloom stage (70–80% of flowers), full bloom stage, and ending of the bloom stage. Simultaneous distillation extraction was used for the extraction of volatile compounds in the flowers, which was then analyzed by a newly developed chemometric data analysis tool, autoGCMSDataAnal. An advantage of the developed methodology is that compounds can be accurately screened and identified. Finally, 59 compounds that showed significant difference among four flowering stages were screened and 31 compounds were identified. Sample clustering results from principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis suggested that flowers from the pre-full bloom stage and full bloom stage may be more suitable when used as raw materials for industrial products.

Understanding Phenological Stages of Pomegranates vis-à-vis Flowering and Fruiting Regulation

A thorough understanding of plant behavior at different growth stages is of paramount importance for fruit quality improvement, the regulation of production periods, and reduced fruit production costs. There are as many as three waves of flowering in evergreen pomegranate cultivars – i.e., during the spring, rainy, and autumn seasons. However, for securing enhanced production of superior quality fruits as well as profit to the growers, crop regulation is required. This can be achieved by forcing the tree to rest at a particular stage and by producing abundant blossoming and quality fruits during any one of the three flushes. Observations on phenological phases would help in understanding the dates of specific stages of crop development, which in turn enable the growers to plan, organize, and carry out timely schedules of agronomic practices such as irrigation, fertilization, and crop protection. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the response of pomegranate under different environmental conditions to identify a suitable flowering season to produce a better quality of fruits with consistent yield, and to enable standardization of management practices for optimum production based on phenological stages.

Ethanol Extract from Astilbe Chinensis Inflorescence Suppresses Inflammation in Macrophages and Growth of Key Oral Pathogenic Bacteria

Dysregulation of infection-derived inflammatory responses has been one of the crucial pathological causes of oral diseases. Even though the organic extracts of Astilbe chinensis have been frequently reported to have anti-inflammatory activity, the study on the extract of A. chinensis inflorescence has yet to be reported. Here, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory efficacy of A. chinensis collected from a variety of regions and seasons and successfully demonstrated that GA-13-6, an ethanol extract of A. chinensis inflorescence collected in a flowering season, inhibited the production of inflammatory mediators and proinflammatory cytokines, such as nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and suppressed the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) both in mRNA and protein levels in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. Importantly, we for the first time confirmed that GA-13-6 efficiently inhibited the growth of Porphyromonas gingivalis, Streptococcus sanguinis, and Streptococcus mutans, showing that GA-13-6 possesses antibacterial activity against these pivotal oral pathogens. Thus, GA-13-6 is a potential active ingredient not only for the treatment or prevention of periodontal and dental diseases but many other inflammation-related diseases.

ANALISIS USAHA DAN PEMASARAN MADU KELULUT DI KABUPATEN KAMPAR

Bee breeding is a side job and source of income for local population. The research objectives were to analyze the characteristics breeders and business profile of kelulut honey, to know the kelulut honey cultivation technology, recognize the rocessing (agroindustry) of kelulut honey, determine the production costs, production, income, and efficiency of kelulut honey, and analysis the marketing of kelulut honey in Kampar regency. This study used a survey method. The sample was selected by purposive sampling as 26 breeders. Data were analyzed qualitative and quantitative descriptive approaches. The results showed that the characteristics of the breeders were in the productive age category (26-55 years old), SD-Bachelor education and breeding experience between 1-6 years. The business was established in 2016 with the name of “Kelompok Madu Galo-Galo Kuok Lestari”. The breeders have 2-40 bee boxes and use family labor. Technology of breeding kelulut honey consisted of a parent colony, colony splitting, manufacture and placement of hive, maintenance, and harvesting. The processing was traditional. Kelulut honey required a production cost of IDR 487,883.33/production process, produce an average production of 20.04 liters during the flowering season and the non-flowering season 7.79 liters. The average net income derived each harvesting as IDR 2,973,655.13/breeder/boxe and IDR 858,270.52/ breeders/boxe during on flower season and off season, respectively. Kelulut honey marketing only sells to the city of Pekanbaru.

Horizontal orientation facilitates pollinator attraction and rain avoidance in radially symmetrical flowers

PremiseFloral angle, such as upward, horizontal, and downward orientation are known to evolve under both biotic and abiotic agents to enhance pollination success in zoophilious plants. Adaptive significance of horizontal orientation in radially symmetrical (actinomorphic) flowers under biotic and abiotic selection pressures were largely unknown, although those in bilaterally symmetrical flowers have been well studied.MethodsUsing experimentally angle changed flowers, we examined the effects of flower angle on pollinator behaviors, pollination success and rain avoidance in a population of insect-pollinated Platycodon grandiflorus. We further investigated the frequency and amount of precipitation in the flowering season and pollen damage by water in this species. Main results: Horizontally oriented flowers received more visitations and pollen grains on the stigma in male and/or female phases than downward and/or upward oriented flowers and avoided pollen damage by rainfall compared to upward oriented flowers. The pollen germination experiment showed that approximately 30% of pollen grains burst in distilled water, thus pollen damage by rainfall was potentially serious in P. garndiflorus.ConclusionIn this study, our field experiments revealed that upward flowers cannot avoid damage from rainfall during the flowering period whereas both upward and downward flowers suffered from pollinator limitation in female success. Thus, horizontal flower orientation is suggested to be adaptive in this insect-pollinated actinomorphic species which blooms in the rainy season.

Habitat Ecology of Epiphytic & Terrestrial Orchids in Langchenphu, Jomotsangkha Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhutan

Orchids are the largest and diverse families of flowering plants. Orchids are found growing mostly in tropical climates affecting various communities socio-economically. Among many protected areas in Bhutan, Jomotshangkha Wildlife Sanctuary (JWS) is the least explored in terms of flora and fauna. The study was carried out to assess diversity, host tree preferences and to determine the growth zone of epiphytic orchids along the altitudinal gradient in Langchenphu gewog in JWS. Transect technique was used in which three trails transect were laid out with 10 sampling plots in each transect. Plots size of 20 m × 20 m along the altitudinal gradients were established maintaining an altitudinal interval of 100 meters between each sample plot. A total of 42 species of epiphytic orchids from 20 genera was recorded of23 host tree species under 15 families were recorded. A significant correlation between diversity of orchid and altitude was observed (r = .927, p < .05). Myrtaceae and Theaceae were the most preferred host tree families (14%) followed by Bignoniaceae (13%) and others respectively. The Study concludes that 57% of total species encountered prefers higher canopy & on a tree with rough bark, Pearson chi-square test (X2(1) = 4.7, p< .05) showed a significant difference between trunk, branches, and canopy. Many epiphytic orchids prefer dense canopy (n = 73, 47%) and living trees (99%). Future studies should be focused more on the flowering season for obtaining better information on orchid diversity in the study area.