Opuntia ficus indica cladodes are used in traditional medicine of many countries for their cicatrisant activity. The major components of cladodes are carbohydrate-containing polymers, which consist of a mixture of mucilage and pectin. In this paper we studied the cytoprotective effects of cladodes on experimental ethanol-induced ulcer in rat. The O. ficus indica cladodes administration gives ri...

In this study, the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (G. mosseae) and endosymbiont (P. indica) colonized Zea mays were treated with calcium phosphate nanoparticles (CaPNPs) and evaluated for their plant growth promotion efficiency. It was observed that CaPNPs in combination with both G. mosseae and P. indica are more potent plant growth promoter than independent combinations of CaPNPs+G. mosseae,...

Diabetes mellitus can be defined as a group of metabolic diseases characterized by chronic hyperglycemia, resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. The present work was aimed to evaluate the effect of single and combinational herbal formulation containing leaf extract of Leea indica and fruit & leaf extract of Lagerstroemia speciosa for antihyperglycemic activity. Le...

Leea indica is a medicinal plant used traditionally to cure cancer. In this study, the cytotoxic compounds of L. indica were isolated using bioassay-guided approach. Two cycloartane triterpenoid glycosides, mollic acid arabinoside (MAA) and mollic acid xyloside (MAX), were firstly isolated from L. indica. They inhibited the growth of Ca Ski cervical cancer cells with IC(50) of 19.21 μM (MAA) an...

Introduction: In India, mango, neem and babool chewing twigs are considered a common way of cleaning teeth. Dental caries is steadily increasing in the underdeveloped and developing countries. These twigs possess medicinal properties. The present study was conducted to evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of these chewing sticks on the caries causing microorganism, Streptococcus mutans. Aim: An ...

In the present study, aqueous extract of eight plants, namely Azadirachta indica A. Juss, Melia azedarach Linn., Lantana camara L. Moldenke., Cannabis sativa Linn., Nerium indicum Mill., Eucalyptus sp., Ricinus communis Linn. and Solanum nigrum Linn. were tested for antifeedant and toxic effects against Pieris brassicae (Linn.). The ethanol extract of four potential plants were further tested f...

Canna indica Linn. (Cannaceae) is used both as medicine and food. Traditionally, various parts of C. indica are exploited to treat blood pressure, dropsy, fever, inflammatory diseases etc. However, to date there is no reliable micropropagation protocol for C. indica. We present here a regeneration technique C. indica with banana micropropagation medium (BM). BM supplemented with 3% sucrose, 0.7...

The infectivity of four species of entomopathogenic nematodes, Steinernema carpocapsae (Weiser) [Breton strain], Steinernema riobrave Cabanillas, Poinar & Raulston [Weslaco strain], Heterorhabditis bacteriophora Poinar [HP88 strain], and Heterorhabditis indica Poinar, Karunakar & David [Coimbatore strain] was examined in the laboratory against two subterranean termites: Reticulitermes flavipes ...

Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar) and related species have caused millions of dollars in damage to southern California vineyards in recent years through the vectoring of Pierce's disease. However, the effects of surrounding vegetation on the dispersal and distribution of H. vitripennis are poorly understood. Therefore, the relationship between dispersal rates and patch quality was tested, as wel...