The laboratory and nursery experiments were conducted for two consecutive years (2016-17 and 2017-18) to evaluate the effect of seed pelleting on seed quality parameters of bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) using cv. Solan Bharpur. There were 15 different pelleting treatments used and replicated four times in the laboratory and nursery studies. The results revealed that seed pelleting significantly influenced the seed quality parameters. Maximum germination (93.87 % and 87.00 %), seedling length (10.12 cm and 11.12 cm), seedling dry weight (2.96 mg and 5.79 mg), seedling vigour index-Length (950.25 and 967.86) and seedling vigour index-Mass (278.22 and 504.13) were recorded in seed pelleted with zinc sulphate (P4) under laboratory and nursery conditions, respectively. However, the speed of germination was recorded only under nursery conditions and maximum speed of germination (38.99) was recorded in unpelleted seeds (P0).

Background: Staphylococcal infections, especially the infections caused by Methicillin Resistant Strains have become a big concern due to its increasing resistance to several other antibiotics. Macrolide–lincosamide streptogramin B (MLSB) antibiotics are used as an alternative to vancomycin to treat such infections. However, widespread use of these antibiotics has also led large no. of staphylococcus strains resistant to them. Methods: This study was conducted for a period of a year from January 2017 to December 2017. Phenotypic detection of Methicillin resistance Staphylococcal isolates was detected by cefoxitin disc diffusion method and Inducible Clindamycin resistant was detected by erythromycin and clindamycin disc approximation test (D-test). Results: Among the 217 clinical isolates of Staphylococcus spp. 90(41.4%) were found to be Methicillin resistant, 28(21.8%) were inducible MLSB phenotype (MLSBi), 78(60.9%) were constitutive MLSB phenotype (MLSBc) and 22(17%) were Macrolide Streptogramin (MS) phenotype. Conclusion: It emphasizes the need of D-test to be performed as a routine test while using clindamycin as an alternative choice to anti-Staphylococcal antibiotics in the treatment of Methicillin resistant Staphylococcal infections. There is also a need to monitor the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern and judicious use of antibiotics to reduce the incidence of these infections.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) is a legume crop belonging to the family Fabaceae and subfamily Faboideae. It is the world’s second most extensively grown legume after, common bean. Among the several soils borne fungal diseases of chickpea, dry root rot (DRR) caused by Rhizoctonia bataticola Taub (Butler) is the most severe diseases in the central and southern zone, where the crop is mostly grown under rainfed. The disease generally appears around flowering and podding stage. The indiscriminate use of most of the synthetic fungicides has created different types of environmental and toxicological problems. This work can help in exploitation of botanicals as novel chemotherapeutants in plant protection. However, garlic (Allium sativum) appeared significantly most effective and suppressed the radial mycelial growth followed by Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) and Adusa (Adhatoda vasica) with radial growth of mycelium, recorded as 13.96mm, 44.25mm and 57.94mm respectively.

The study was carried out the identify major insect-pest in different crop stages and evaluating the performance of improved cultivars with scientific package and practices on production and productivity of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.). Cluster frontline demonstrations (CFLDs) were conducted during kharif 2018 with K-6 (kadri-6) variety of groundnut. It was observed that 11 species of insect- pests were found to infest the different growth stages of groundnut crop. Most of the major and minor pests infested during the vegetative to pre-maturity stages (45-95 DAS) and the maximum infestation occurred during pod formation and pod filling stages (50-80 DAS) of the crop. The average yield of groundnut under recommended practices were 18.05 q ha-1 as compare to 15.28 q ha-1 recorded in farmer’s practice, average yield increase of 18.13 per cent and additional return of 14240.03 Rs ha-1, respectively. The results revealed that the benefit cost ratio (B:C) of recommended practice (CFLDs) were 1.46 as compared to 1.22 in farmers practice. The extension gap 2.77 q ha-1 and technology gap 1.95 q ha-1 was recorded. Therefore, the results clearly indicates that the use of improved varieties and package and practices with scientific intervention under frontline demonstration programme contribute to increase the productivity and profitability of oilseeds in Chhattisgarh state.

Global warming in the last 100 years is said to be closely associated with increases in the concentration of atmospheric CO2 from 280 ppm in the pre-industrial era to almost 398.6 ppm at present. Agro ecosystems plays important role in sequestration of carbon (C) to reduce the emission of atmospheric CO2. Carbon sequestration is usually measured in terms of the total organic carbon stored in the soil. Among the different approaches and strategies, microbial modulation has been considered as one of the strategy to enhance soil C-sequestration. Soil microbial communities are an integral component of many ecosystem processes of which fungal and bacterial dominances, mycorrhizal associations, microalgae and oligotrophs (k- strategies) vs copiotrophs (r-strategies) has been attributed as contributors of soil C-sequestration. In prairie ecosystem high population of fungi and bacteria helps in accretion of carbon in soil. Mycorrhizal fungi have a special protein called glomalin which is secreted by the hyphae and spores of such fungi. Glomalin involves in aggregate stability and C storage in soil. In addition to the fungal dominance and mycorrhizal associations, microalgae have been exploited as potential and promising method for CO2 capture and storage. The present review highlights the key role that soil microbes can play as an ecosystem service provider in mitigating global carbon-di-oxide emission.

Pyocyanin is a blue pigment, redox active secondary metabolites produced by sponge associated bacteria. The aim of this study was to investigate the bioactive potential of pyocyanin from Pseudomonas sp. a sponge associated bacterium. A total of 23 pigmented bacterial strains were isolated from a sponge Callyspongia sp. All the colonies were screened for their antimicrobial activity against human bacterial and fungal pathogens by cross streaking method. For antioxidant activity, DPPH method was adopted, whereas the cytotoxicity property was checked by MTT assay. The pigment production medium was also optimized with different nutritional sources. Out of 23 strains tested, only 3 strains were chosen based on the good activity and finally one strain (PA1) was used for the study. This strain was tentatively identified as Pseudomonas sp., through biochemical characterization. The results revealed that the pigment pyocyanin exhibited high activity than commercial antibiotics. It was found that Klebsiella pneumoniae was inhibited high with the diameter of 20 mm followed by S. aureus (22 mm), Salmonella typhi (26 mm), E.coli (20 mm), and Bacillus subtilis (19 mm). It was also found that the pyocyanin inhibited the growth of Candida krusei (10 mm), Aspergillus flavus (12 mm) and Candida albicans (16 mm). The minimum inhibitory concentration was observed between 10 and 20 µg/ml. The antioxidant activity was observed at lower concentration of 0.2 µg/ml. In MTT assay on viability of HepG2 cells, the toxicity was found at 100 µg/ml. The active compound was identified and the results showed that the presence of alkali and most of the functional group was OH-C=N and CH3.This confirms the presence of pyocyanin. Thus, this pigment pyocyanin may be a potential drug candidate for future studies.