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Berberis baluchistanica Ahrendt is a medicinal plant potentially known for the treatment of different diseases. The bioactive, antioxidant, nutritional components, and antimicrobial properties of crude ethanolic root extract of Berberis baluchistanica were evaluated in this study. The extract was analyzed for total phenolic, flavonoid, DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl) scavenging ability, FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power), nutritional, and antimicrobial potentials. The alkaloids, tannins, cardiac glycosides, anthraquinones, coumarin, saponins, phenolics, flavonoids, steroids, and terpenoids were confirmed. The extract possessed DPPH radical inhibition with the IC50 of 1.125 mg/mL and FRAP % reduction activity with IC50 (0.912 mg/mL). Total phenolic 19.897 ± 4.8141   mg GAE/g and flavonoid 12.9876 ± 0.8388   mg QE/g contents were confirmed in the root. The extracts exhibit good antibacterial activity against a broad spectrum of food borne pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. The highest inhibitory activity was against Escherichia coli 23.30 ± 1.16   mm and lowest against Klebsiella pneumoniae 7 ± 0.01   mm . Furthermore, the presence of various phytochemical constituents (plant secondary metabolites) was also confirmed with gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy analysis. Results disclosed the occurrence of more than 70 compounds possessing various medicinal properties supporting the traditional uses of root of Berberis baluchistanica in various medical complications indigenously.

Cotton stalk biomass was treated with NaOH and NaOH-steam pretreatements to get maximum cellulose content. Three factors with three levels such as biomass concentration (5, 10 and 15%), NaOH concentration (1, 3 and 5%) and residence time (4, 6 and 8 h) was performed through Box-Bhenken Design of response surface methodology. The treatment was performed with and without heating at 121oC for 15min and 15psi in an autoclave. Among these two types of treatment, maximum yield of cellulose content 87.80% was observed with 5% w/v NaOH concentration, 10g substrate loading and 4h residence time. The substrate having high cellulose content under optimized pretreatment conditions were analysed through FTIR revealing efficiency of pretreatment. The proposed model for this study was found significant in terms of lower p<0.05 values and findings of this study could be utilized for further processes like saccharification and fermentation to bioethanol. Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res.54(1), 73-82, 2019