The present study was carried out to screen and evaluate antimicrobial activity of leaf extracts of Azadirachta indica A. Juss. Petroleum ether, dichloromethane, chloroform, ethanol and aqueous extract of leaves of A. indica were tested against selected Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial species. Phytochemical leaf extracts of A. indica exhibited significant anti-bacterial activity again...

background and objectives: early watergrass (echinochloa oryzoides) is considered as a new-introduced species and then as a potential invader. investigation of competitive traits of this species, in comparison with barnyardgrass (e. crus-galli), one of the most important weeds in rice fields of guilan province, would be useful to determine its spreading possibility as an aggressive weed. theref...

Cytokinins are plant hormones with profound roles in growth and development, including control of leaf longevity. Although the cytokinin signal is known to be perceived by histidine kinase receptors, the underlying molecular mechanism and specificity of the receptors leading to delayed leaf senescence have not yet been elucidated. Here, we found that AHK3, one of the three cytokinin receptors i...

The effect of cement dust on the growth parameters of brinjal (Solanum melongena) was studied. The cement dust (2 g/plant) exhibited both inhibitory and promotory effects on different growth parameters of the S. melongena. The decrease in the number of leaves (37.19 and 62.28%), leaf area (57.93 and 57.26%), root length (48.21 and 56.75%), shoot length (27.27 and 38.98%), plant circumference (3...

Estimates of canopy height (H) and fractional canopy cover (FC) derived from lidar data collected during leaf-on and leaf-off conditions are compared with field measurements from 80 forested riparian buffer plots. The purpose is to determine if existing lidar data flown in leaf-off conditions for applications such as terrain mapping can effectively estimate forested riparian buffer H and FC wit...

Leaf traits may reflect the adaptation mechanisms of plants to the environment. In this study, we investigated leaf morphological and anatomical traits in nine cold-temperate to tropical forests along a 4,200-km transect to test how they vary across latitudinal gradients. The results showed that leaf dry weight decreased (P < 0.05), while specific leaf area (SLA) increased (P < 0.05) with incre...

While the fundamental trade-off in leaf traits related to carbon capture as described by the leaf economics spectrum is well-established among plant species, the relationship of the leaf economics spectrum to stem hydraulics is much less known. Since carbon capture and transpiration are coupled, a close connection between leaf traits and stem hydraulics should be expected. We thus asked whether...

We are using Flourensia cernua as a shrub model to study how terpenes affect livestock herbivory. Two experiments were conducted to examine distribution of volatile chemicals within a plant in an effort to minimize sample variability. In Experiment 1, leaves (current year’s growth) were collected from 20 tarbush plants. Two leaders were sampled from each of three positions (outer canopy, subcan...

The role of leaf water relations in controlling cell expansion in leaves of water-stressed maize and barley depends on time scale. Sudden changes in leaf water status, induced by sudden changes in humidity, light and soil salinity, greatly affect leaf elongation rate, but often only transiently. With sufficiently large changes in salinity, leaf elongation rates are persistently reduced. When pl...

Three leaf water models (two-pool model, Péclet effect, and string-of-lakes) were assessed for their robustness in predicting leaf water enrichment and its spatial heterogeneity. This was achieved by studying the (18)O spatial patterns of vein xylem water, leaf water, and dry matter in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) leaves grown at different humidities using new experimental approaches. Vein xylem...