Carbon isotope composition (delta(13)C) is a useful surrogate for integrated, plant water-use efficiency (WUE) when measured on plants grown in a common environment. In a variety of species, genetic variation in delta(13)C has been linked to the distribution of genotypes across gradients in atmospheric and soil water. We examined genetic variation for delta(13)C in seedlings of honey mesquite (...

The objective of this study was to compare stem flow and porometer methods of measuring transpiration of honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) trees on a semiarid site. Stem flow was measured using heat balance stem flow gauges. Porometer measurements of leaf stomatal conductance (gs) were made within foliage layers of each stem and scaled to transpiration values for the entire stem (Estern) usi...

Prescribed burning is a commonly advocated and historical practice for control of woody species encroachment into grasslands on all continents. However, desert grasslands of the southwestern United States often lack needed herbaceous fuel loads for effective prescriptions, dominant perennial graminoids may have poor fire tolerance, and some systems contain fire-tolerant invasive species. We exa...

allergy to prosopis juliflora (mesquite) pollen is one of the common causes of respiratory allergy in tropical countries. mesquite is widely used as street trees in towns and ornamental shade trees in parks and gardens throughout arid and semiarid regions of iran. the inhalation of mesquite pollen and several species of amaranthus/chenopodiaceae family is the most important cause of allergic re...

Prosopis cineraria (L.) Druce, commonly called ‘‘khejri’’ (synonyms: jambi, jambu, shumi, jandi) is a leguminous, multipurpose tree species distributed in the arid and semi-arid regions of India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Arabia. Since all parts of the tree are useful, it is called ‘Kalptaru’. Prosopis cineraria (L.) Druce is an important herbal plant as mentioned in ancient literature. I...

The extraction of high-quality genomic DNA from Prosopis spp for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification is complicated, owing to the presence of a high percentage of secondary metabolites that bind to or co-precipitate with nucleic acids. In the present study, we report a modified sodium dodecyl sulfate/phenol protocol that eliminates the use of liquid nitrogen in the maceration process,...

Browsing is an important mortality factor in seedlings and small plants. However, the induced changes in the architecture of plant survivors may influence subsequent browsing, opening the possibility of compensating for the damage done. How jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) browsing affects the growth and architecture of small individuals of honey mesquite, Prosopis glandulosa var. torreyana, a t...

The present paper aims to identify the distribution of Microsatellite markers (SSRs)/Single Nucleotide Polymor-phism (SNPs) as resource tools for the analysis of interspecies hypervariability in Prosopis spp. Microsatellites are ubiquitously repeated extension of 1-5 bp motif extended throughout the genome. The dbEST division of Genbank contains 1467 ESTs of Prosopis juliflora which have been u...

The present study investigated the in vitro antiprotozoal activity of sixteen selected medicinal plants. Plant materials were extracted with methanol and screened in vitro against erythrocytic schizonts of Plasmodium falciparum, intracellular amastigotes of Leishmania infantum and Trypanosoma cruzi and free trypomastigotes of T. brucei. Cytotoxic activity was determined against MRC-5 cells to a...