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The data obtained show the potential for retaining quality parameters of roselle leaf under suitable drying methods.

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Basella rubra L. (Basellaceae) commonly known as Malabar spinach is a leafy vegetable which accumulates pigments in its fruits. To find out the feasibility of utilizing pigment rich extracts of its fruit as natural food colourant, fruits at different stages were analysed for pigment profiling, carbohydrate content, physical dimensions and weight. Total betalains content increased rapidly from early (green) through intermediate (half-done red-violet) to matured stage (red-violet). Maximum pigment content was observed in ripened fruits (143.76 mg/100 g fresh weight). The major betalain pigment characterized was gomphrenin I in ripened fruits (26.06 mg), followed by intermediate fruits (2.15 mg) and least in early fruits (0.23 mg) in 100 g of fresh deseeded fruits. Total carbohydrates content and the chroma values (redness) were also increased during ontogeny of B. rubra fruits. The textural characters of developing fruits showed the smoothness of green fruits with lower rupture force (0.16 N/s) than ripe ones (0.38 N/s). The pigment-rich fruit extract was used as natural colourant in ice-cream, to evaluate its effect on physicochemical properties and acceptability of the product. After six months of storage at −20°C, 86.63 % colour was retained in ice-cream. The ice-cream had good overall sensorial quality and was liked by consumers indicating that addition of B. rubra fruit extract did not alter the sensory quality of the product. The colour values also indicate that there was no significant decrease of this pigment-rich extracts of fruits for its incorporation in food products.

Digital Polymerase Chain Reaction (dPCR) is used to quantify nucleic acids and its applications are in the detection and precise quantification of low-level pathogens, rare genetic sequences, quantification of copy number variants, rare mutations and in relative gene expressions. Here the PCR is performed in large number of reaction chambers or partitions and the reaction is carried out in each partition individually. This separation allows a more reliable collection and sensitive measurement of nucleic acid. Results are calculated by counting amplified target sequence (positive droplets) and the number of partitions in which there is no amplification (negative droplets). The mean number of target sequences was calculated by Poisson Algorithm. Poisson correction compensates the presence of more than one copy of target gene in any droplets. The method provides information with accuracy and precision which is highly reproducible and less susceptible to inhibitors than qPCR. It has been demonstrated in studying variations in gene sequences, such as copy number variants and point mutations, distinguishing differences between expression of nearly identical alleles, assessment of clinically relevant genetic variations and it is routinely used for clonal amplification of samples for NGS methods. dPCR enables more reliable predictors of tumor status and patient prognosis by absolute quantitation using reference normalizations. Rare mitochondrial DNA deletions associated with a range of diseases and disorders as well as aging can be accurately detected with droplet digital PCR.