The chemical composition of hydro-distilled essential oil from rhizomes of Curcuma amada was analysed. Nineteen compounds representing 77.31% of the total essential oil were identified by GC and GC-MS. Rhizomes were extracted by various solvents with different polarities using various antioxidant assay systems. The petroleum ether extract showed potent DPPH radical scavenging activities (IC 50 = 18.98 ± 0.05) and reducing power (A 700 = 0.861 ± 0.001). Ethyl acetate extract exhibited remarkable nitric oxide radical scavenging activity (IC 50 = 5.97 ± 0.09) higher than that of ascorbic acid (IC 50 = 6.05 ± 0.02). The essential oil showed promising superoxide radical scavenging activities (IC 50 = 15.30 ± 0.03 μg/ml) as compared with ascorbic acid (IC 50 = 15.28 ± 0.01). The results indicate that the oil and organic extracts from rhizomes of C. amada could serve as an important bioresource of antioxidants for food and pharmaceutical industries.

Peppery, crispy mustard greens are indeed one of the most nutritious green leafy vegetable available during the winter season. The mustard greens similar to spinach and fenugreek are the storehouse of the number of phytonutrients and have health promotional and disease prevention properties. Five selections from germplasm lines from Uttarakhand hills were evaluated for leaf traits, micronutrient profile and anti-oxidative properties. These lines were very tall, late maturing and slow-growing. The maximum leaf area was found in EEC-1 (590.42 cm 2 ) by virtue of its broadleaf (21.89cm) with high protein (26.68%) and zinc content (2.73mg). EEC-5 showed the highest fresh leaf weight (66.53g) and maximum content of iron (20.23mg). With maximum leaf length (40.72cm), EEC-4 was identified as an excellent source of â-carotene (6480µg) which is precursor of vitamin A. Leafy mustard selection EEC-3 possessed the highest amount of micronutrients like phosphorous (720mg), calcium (240mg) and manganese (6.49mg). Fresh mustard greens were found to be an excellent source of antioxidant like flavonoids (EEC-4, 4.88mg) and also show very high total antioxidative activity (EEC-5, 20.09mg). Therefore, from the above investigation, it was found that green mustard leaves can serve as a healthy alternative to most of the winter season leafy vegetables with their high nutraceutical and disease defensive role.

Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Columbia was used as a host in order to investigate the involvement of MAP kinase machinery in the pathogenesis of Alternaria blight. Semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and quantitative real time PCR based approaches were used to determine the change in transcript profile of MAP2K9 and MAPK6 in leaves of A. thaliana ecotpe Columbia at early, middle and late stages of Alternaria blight infection. It was observed that the expression of both MAP2K9 and MAPK6 simultaneously increased up to middle stage of disease progression. There was observed a positive correlation between the expression of MAPK6 and MAP2K9 as disease progressed from initial to middle stage of infection. Then, the expression of MAP2K9 decreased and that of MAPK6 increased as disease progressed towards late stage of infection. The increased levels of MAP2K9 and MAPK6, seem to be necessary for plant to defend the pathogen up to middle stage of infection. However, MAP2K9 may be down regulated at late stage of infection by pathogen to promote it's efficient colonization. Since MAPK6 expression remains unaltered till late stage, it suggests that it's expression is not only regulated by MAP2K9 but also by other MAP2K's. The above results are consistent with observations of earlier studies. In conclusion, the present study has suggested MAP2K9/MAPK6 module as possible target, which is influenced during pathogenesis of Alternaria blight in A. thaliana ecotype Columbia. Hence genetic modulation in expression levels of these components in Arabidopsis or Brassica could be a possible strategy for engineering defense against Alternaria blight disease.

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Five varieties of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera L. (Dunal) i.e. Chetak, Pratap, Nimithli, Poshita and Jawahar-20 were analysed for withanolide A and withaferin A. These components were evaluated from leaf, stem, root and seeds using HPLC. These components were present in all these tissues. However, their content varies from tissues to tissue and variety to variety viz (Chetak, Pratap, Nimithli, Poshita and Jawahar-20). Withaferin A and withanolide A contents were found to be highest in Poshita followed by Jawahar-20. Withaferin A and withanolide A contents were also evaluated and compared in field grown and in-vitro grown plants of Poshita and Jawahar-20. Callus derived from Poshita root showed highest withaferin A content however, withanolide A was found to be highest in callus derived from Jawahar-20 leaf. Thus this study indicates that promoting an elite variety through tissue culture with consistency in the withanolide contents can be a promising approach to meet the growing demand of Ashwagandha.