Castor is one of neglected African oil crops with little research attention in Nigeria. In the present research, eighty-six castor genotypes were evaluated at three locations in Niger State, Nigeria. The aim was to estimate the extent of genetic variability and also to examine the associations among the seed yield and its components. The treatments were laid out in an Alpha Lattice Design with ...

Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is cultivated mainly for biodiesel production because of its oil-rich seeds; it is assumed to be an anemophylous species. But pollination deficit can lead to low productivity often attributed to other reasons. In this paper, we investigated pollination requirements, pollination mechanism, occurrence of pollination deficit, and the role of biotic pollinators in ...

Seed-specific expression in Arabidopsis thaliana of oleate hydroxylase enzymes from castor bean and Lesquerella fendleri resulted in the accumulation of hydroxy fatty acids in the seed oil. By using various Arabidopsis mutant lines it was shown that the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) n-3 desaturase (FAD3) and the FAE1 condensing enzyme are involved in the synthesis of polyunsaturated and very-long-...

a green house study was conducted to evaluate the comparative efficacy of pasteuria penetrans under the influence of organic amendments of four oil seed cakes namely azadirachta indica (locally known as neem), castor (ricinus communis), mustard (brassica campestris) and citrullus (citrullus colocynthis)on suppression of populations of meloidogyne incognita in chilli. oil seed cakes were applied...

The effect of the aqueous (aq) seed extract of Aframomum melegueta. K. Schum. (Zingiberaceae) on castor oil-induced diarrhea, intestinal fluid secretion, and gastrointestinal transit was investigated in the study. Castor oil (10 ml/kg, p.o.) induced copious diarrhea in all rats 3 h after treatment. Furthermore, it produced a significant increase in the volume of intestinal fluid secretion in ra...

The ER (endoplasmic reticulum) has long been considered the plant cell compartment within which protein disulfide bond formation occurs. Members of the ER-located PDI (protein disulfide isomerase) family are responsible for oxidizing, reducing and isomerizing disulfide bonds, as well as functioning as chaperones to newly synthesized proteins. In the present study we demonstrate that an abundant...

Glyoxysomes, a form of microbody, are present in castor bean endosperm during the first 8 days of seed germination. They have a "typical" microbody form and are shown histochemically to contain catalase. The catalase label is distributed throughout the microbody and is not an exclusive feature of the crystalline or amorphous core.Castor bean endosperm contain a second cytosome, only slightly la...

Leupeptin, a tripeptide inhibitor of some proteinases, was shown previously to maintain the stability of several enzymes (isocitrate lyase, fumarase, and catalase) in crude extracts of castor bean endosperm. This reagent is now shown to inhibit the breakdown of water-soluble and crystalloidstorage proteins of the protein bodies isolated from castor beans by the SH-proteinase and it also inhibit...

conclusions intraventricular hemorrhage followed by comatose state is a rare finding of the castor bean seed ingestion. the patient’s condition improved dramatically after ffp transfusion. introduction castor bean seed is used to control some medical conditions including diabetes mellitus due to popular belief in its effectiveness. however it may cause severe poisoning in humans and animals and...