Biological Forum-An International Journal

3

Authors: Kiran Poonia*, Sonal Chavan* and M. Daniel*

ABSTRACT : Not much is known on the fixed oil composition, polyphenols, phospholipids of finger millet [Ragi–Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn], a tropical cereal crop of India and Africa. The oil content of this grain is found to be 0.74% consisting of oleic acid (47.17%), linoleic acid (24.78%) and palmitic acid (23.06%). The flavonol present was quercetin and cyanidin was the anthocyanidin present. Vanillic, syringic, ferulic and caffeic acids were the phenolic acids present. The total phenolics amounted to 3.2 mg/gm. The total antioxidant potential was Ic50 10.6 + 0.03 mg/ml. in terms of ascorbic acid and gallotannin. The phospholipids present in Ragi was 0.36% consisting of lecithins, cephalins and galactolipids. The health benefits of all these compounds are highlighted.

3

Authors: N.T. Pawar, Y.S. Muniv, G.P. Bhawane and A.A. Kanase

ABSTRACT : The optimal pH of midgut trehalase from CSR2 and Kolar gold (PM X CSR2) were 5.5 the 50% inactivation time for trehalase at 60°C were 3 min. in CSR2 and 10 min. in Kolar gold. The optimal temperature for both races was 50°C. The Km value for CSR2 was 10.57 × 10-3 M and for Kolar gold was 3.0 × 10-3 M.

4

Authors: Y. S. Muniv* and G. P. Bhawane**

ABSTRACT : Proteolytic activity from the midgut of the lepidopteran larvae Bombyx mori was studied in relation to compare the characterization in three different multivoltine races, Pure Mysore, Nistari and Kolar gold. The optimum pH for the midgut protease was 11.2 in Pure Mysore and Nistari, while it was 11.0 in Kolar gold. The temperature optimum for Pure Mysore was 50°C, while it was 45°C for Nistari and Kolar gold. Incubation of the gut protease for 15 minutes was found as a linear time period in Nistari while that of 20 minutes in Pure Mysore and Kolar gold. The 50% reduction in activity at 55°C, for 7.3 minutes was found in Nistari, 9.6 minutes for Pure Mysore and 10.7 minutes for Kolar gold. Km values recorded were 0.278%, 0.167% and 0.222% in Pure Mysore, Nistari and Kolar gold respectively. The specific activity of Pure Mysore was 0.611 μg tyrosine/μg protein/h; Nistari was 0.916μg tyrosine/μg protein/h, while that of Kolar gold was 0.546μg tyrosine/μg protein/h.

5

Authors: Vaibhao G. Thakare*, Varsha S. Zade* and Kailash Chandra**

ABSTRACT : A study was conducted during 2009-10 in the protected area of the Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR), Maharashtra. Twelve species under four subfamilies of family Scarabaeidae were reported for the first time from Melghat Tiger Reserve. Further study may increase the number of species of these beetles from Tiger Reserve.

5

Authors: Monika Thakur*, Sushila Negi** Amit Kumar**, Sandip Patil**, Ajay Kumar* and Neha Sharma*

ABSTRACT : Water becomes contaminated with enteric pathogens such as coliform group of bacteria viz Salmonellae, Vibrio and dysentery causing bacilli. The human faecal material carried along with domestic sewage is often dumped in rivers and lakes leading to water contamination. The present study was undertaken to detect the enteric pathogens and to measure the extent of drinking water contamination with the pathogenic microorganisms. Water samples were collected from different areas of Solan city in Himachal Pradesh. Most probable number (MPN) test was performed to detect the coliforms in water samples collected from surface water sources, hand pumps, taps, roof top storage tanks and aqua-guards. Chlorination of some water samples was done to see the effect of chlorine on bacteria. The indicator organisms isolated were E. coli and Enterobacter aerogenes. E. coli and Enterobacter aerogenes are the characteristic of intestinal tract of man and animals. The study reveals that surface water and roof top storage tank water was more liable to contamination whereas, ground water and aqua-guard water was safer for human consumption. Chlorine was effective in removing these bacteria from water.

7

Authors: Ganesh Holkar*, Vinayak Daphal*, Ravi Yadav* and M. D. Rokade*

ABSTRACT : A simple, sensitive and selective LCMS/MS method has been developed for the determination of acyclovir in human plasma. Since acyclovir is a polar compound and soluble in aqueous medium and practically insoluble in most of organic solvents its analysis in biological fluids in currently published HPLC methods, involve pre-treatment of acyclovir plasma sample including deproteinization or solid phase extraction, Acyclovir in plasma were concentrated by solid phase extraction and chromatographed on a C18 column using a mobile phase of 0.1% formic acid : methanol (30 : 70% v/v). The method was validated over a linear range of 20 - 1000 ng mL–1 for acyclovir. The LOQs were 60.0 and 900 ng mL–1. The validated method was applied for the quantitation of acyclovir from plasma samples in a pharmacokinetic study.

7

Authors: Kailash Chandra*, Devanshu Gupta**, V.P. Uniyal***, Manish Bharadwaj*** and Abesh K. Sanyal***

ABSTRACT : The paper presents faunal account of a small collection of scarab beetles from Govind Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttarakhand, comprising 11 species belonging to 11 genera, 5 subfamilies and 2 families of superfamily Scarabaeoidea. All the species are recorded for the first time from the sanctuary while three species viz. Anomala cantori (Hope), Mimela passerinii Hope, and Oryctes nasicornis (Linnaeus) are new records to the fauna of Uttarakhand. An updated checklist of the scarab beetles under superfamily Scarabaeoidea of Uttarakhand comprising about 167 species belonging to 52 genera, 21 tribes, 9 subfamilies and 3 families is also provided.

7

Authors: Kailash Chandra*, Sandeep Kushwaha**, S. Sambath** and B. Biswas*

ABSTRACT : The present paper is based on a collection of Hemiptera from Veerangana Durgavati Wildlife Sanctuary by different tour party of Zoological Survey of India, Jabalpur. It comprises 24 species distributed among 23 genera over 9 families.

8

Authors: Ali Muhammad Mastoi*, Mithun Sukumaran*, Anila Mastoi**, Anuar Hussan*, Faizah Shaharom* and Anil Chatterji*

fingerlings of red tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus x Oreochromis niloticus) were fed with extracts prepared either by acid hydrolysing process or ethanolic extracts from oyster (Saccostrea cuccullata; Born, 1778) and seaweed (Sargassum baccularia; Mertens). These extracts were mixed at different concentrations in commercial diet and fed to the fingerlings till 15 days. All groups of fishes fed with experimental and normal diets were challenged by a gram-negative bacterium (Aeromonas hydrophila) to see the effects of pathogen. Fishes fed with experimental feed consisting of ethanolic extract of oyster showed better survival as compared to other experimental feeds. Maximum total leucocytes (22 + 43 × 103 cell/mm3) and erythrocytes (32 + 33 × 106 cells/ mm3) were recorded in fishes fed with ethanolic extract of oyster (P < 0.05) which were similar to fishes of control group. Significant (P < 0.05) changes were also observed in the haematological parameters such as; lymphocyte, neutrophil, monocyte and basophil cells in feed incorporated with ethanolic extract of oyster. Similarly, higher values of albumin; amylase; total cholesterol; GGT; glucose; phospholipids; triglycerides; total serum protein; lactase, LDH and lipase in the infected fish were observed as compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Fishes fed with ethanolic extract showed relatively much closer values as observed in control group. Our results strongly suggest that ethanolic extract of oyster (S. cuccullata) could combat the microbial infection by stimulating the non-specific immune response effectively at fingerlings stage of red tilapia.