Abiotic stresses collectively are responsible for crop losses worldwide. Among various abiotic stresses, drought and salinity are the most destructive. Different strategies have been adopted for the management of these stresses. Being complex traits, conventional breeding approaches have shown less success in improving salinity and drought stress tolerance. Roles of compatible solutes in salinity and drought stress tolerance have been studied extensively. At physiological level, osmotic adjustment is an adaptive mechanism involved in drought and/or salinity tolerance and permits the maintenance of turgor pressure under stress conditions. Increasing evidences from series of in vivo and in vitro studies involving physiological, biochemical, genetic, and molecular approaches strongly suggest that osmolytes such as ammonium compounds (polyamines, glycinebetaine, b-alanine betaine, dimethyl-sulfonio propionate and choline-O-sulfate), sugars and sugar alcohols (fructan, trehalose, mannitol, D-ononitol and sorbitol) and amino acids (proline and ectoine) perform important function in adjustment of plants against salinity and drought stresses. Thus, aim of this review is to expose how to osmoprotectants detoxify adverse effect of reactive oxygen species and alleviate drought and salinity stresses. An understanding of the relationship between these two sets of parameters is needed to develop measures for mitigating the damaging impacts of salinity and drought stresses.

Cyanobacteria and algae having complex photosynthetic systems can channelize absorbed solar energy into other forms of energy for production of food and metabolites. In addition, they are promising biocatalysts and can be used in the field of “white biotechnology” for enhancing the sustainable production of food, metabolites, and green energy sources such as biodiesel. In this review, an endeavor has been made to uncover the significance of various metabolites like phenolics, phytoene/terpenoids, phytols, sterols, free fatty acids, photoprotective compounds (MAAs, scytonemin, carotenoids, polysaccharides, halogenated compounds, etc.), phytohormones, cyanotoxins, biocides (algaecides, herbicides, and insecticides) etc. Apart from this, the importance of these metabolites as antibiotics, immunosuppressant, anticancer, antiviral, anti-inflammatory agent has also been discussed. Metabolites obtained from cyanobacteria and algae have several biotechnological, industrial, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic uses which have also been discussed in this review along with the emerging technology of their harvesting for enhancing the production of compounds like bioethanol, biofuel etc. at commercial level. In later sections, we have discussed genetically modified organisms and metabolite production from them. We have also briefly discussed the concept of bioprocessing highlighting the functioning of companies engaged in metabolites production as well as their cost effectiveness and challenges that are being addressed by these companies.

Aim:The study was conducted to know the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites of captive wild animals at Bir Moti Bagh Mini Zoo (Deer Park), Patiala, Punjab.Materials and Methods:A total of 31 fecal samples from eight species of captive animals including Civet cat (Viverra zibetha), Porcupine (Hystrix indica), Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), Spotted deer (Axis axis), Black buck (Antelope cervicapra), Sambar deer (Cervus unicolor), Hog deer (Axis porcinus), and Barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak) were screened using classical parasitological techniques including sedimentation and floatation technique.Results:Out of 31 fecal samples examined, 20 were positive for parasitic ova/oocysts of different species indicating an overall prevalence of 68.0%. The six different types of parasites observed in the study included strongyle (67%), Strongyloides spp. (14%), coccidia (38%), Trichuris spp. (19%), ascarid (10%), and Capillaria spp. (10%). Strongyles were the most common parasites observed (67%) followed by coccidia (38%). Mixed helminth and protozoan infection were observed in 48% of animals. No cestode or trematodes were detected during the study.Conclusion:The high prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites without overt clinical signs of disease or mortality as observed in this study is suggestive of subclinical infection. The findings will help in formulating the appropriate deworming protocol for parasitic control in these captive animals.

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The hydrogeochemical study of surface water in Pratapgarh district has been carried out to assess the major ion chemistry and water quality for drinking and domestic purposes. For this purpose, twenty-five surface water samples were collected from river, ponds and canals and analysed for pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids (TDS), turbidity, hardness, major cations (Ca 2? , Mg 2? , Na ? and K ? ), major anions (HCO 3 -, F -, Cl -, NO 3 -, SO 4 2-) and dissolved silica concentration. The analytical results show mildly acidic to alkaline nature of surface water resources of Pratapgarh district. HCO 3 -and Cl -are the dominant anions, while cation chemistry is dominated by Na ? and Ca 2? . The statistical analysis and data plotted on the Piper diagram reveals that the surface water chemistry is mainly controlled by rock weathering with secondary contributions from agriculture and anthropogenic sources. Ca 2? -Mg 2? -HCO 3 -, Ca 2? -Mg 2? -Cland Na ? -HCO 3 --Cl -are the dominant hydrogeochemical facies in the surface water of the area. For quality assessment, values of analysed parameters were compared with Indian and WHO water quality standards, which shows that the concentrations of TDS, F -, NO 3 -, Na ? , Mg 2? and total hardness are exceeding the desirable limits in some water samples. Water Quality Index (WQI) is one of the most effective tools to communicate information on the quality of any water body. The computed WQI values of Pratapgarh district surface water range from 28 to 198 with an average value of 82, and more than half of the study area is under excellent to good category.