Diversity of Potential Orphan Plants in Health Management and Climate Change Mitigation from Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh), India

Abstract

Crop species which are adapted to hot and dry climates will become increasingly important as the world worms. The Krikhouse Trust* supporting research and education in the biological Sciences is devoted for agricultural crop improvement for the relief of poverty, with a focus on legumes. The trust has supported research on legumes because of their importance in providing high quality protein in the diets of resource-poor farmers. Among these crops are many stress tolerant legume species found in India and Africa, which are relatively minor and neglected crops. A new programme called -Stress Tolerant Orphan Legumes‖ (STOL) for KT aims to support systematic studies of their potential to address the loss of agricultural productivity in areas of the globe that are suffering the greatest climate stresses. There are clear signs that climate change is already having severe effects on the agriculture where several crops are failing as result of the changed climate. In addition to direct effects of heat and drought on crops, the country is suffering soil loss due to increase in desert area per year. Over grazing, intensive cultivation, removal of tree cover, poor water management have all been as a reasons for this loss which cannot be compensated by any means. One more versatile fact remains that large tracts of land are being taken out of production for different types of constructions by the governments for the people as well as by the people for their settlements in urban areas. There are three possible ways to mitigate this looming disaster. First one is the adoption of stress tolerant legume species which may help farmers to fight the ravages of climate stress: production of grain to feed the family and also provide income; fodder and forage to livestock; ground cover as remedy for soil degradation. For this reason there should be a diversity of species where some crops may prove to be multipurpose, providing grain and fodder, forage and other crops may be specialized for other function such as soil remediation. In this study, only twelve orphan legumes are taken, viz., Cajanus cajan, Lablab purpureus,

Developments and Prospects in Imperative Underexploited Vegetable Legumes Breeding: A Review

“…Globally, underexploited legumes are known as nutritious resources and can be intended to improve health [ 4 ] and minimize disease risks [ 5 ]. They have a specific profile with high nutrient and protein content alternatives to maintain farmers’ livelihoods and soil protection [ 6 ]. In comparison, underexploited legumes are a less utilized potential source to improve protein and micronutrient content in comparison to cereals which provided ample calories but insufficient micronutrients [ 7 ].…”

In vitro Cytotoxicity, Antimicrobial, Antioxidant Activities and HPLC Finger Print Analyses of the Extracts of Ceiba insignis Leaves Growing in Egypt

“…These plants are traditionally used for many health disorders, e.g., headache, fever, diabetes, diarrhea, parasitic infections, peptic ulcer and rheumatism [4] . Biologically, it was reported that some Ceiba species possess wide range of useful anti-inflammatory, hepato-protective, cytotoxic, antioxidant and hypoglycemic with high safety margins [5,6] . Free radicals are a kind of high-energy unstable reactive substances that contain odd numbers of electrons, which can penetrate human cells and tissues and cause abnormal cell growth [7] .…”

Ancient orphan legume horse gram: a potential food and forage crop of future

“…Horse gram [Macrotyloma uniflorum (Lam.) Verdc] is an orphan and/or underutilized crop largely grown locally by communities as cultural heritage in special niches in developing countries (Chahota et al 2013;Uma et al 2013;Bhartiya et al 2015;Cullis and Kunert 2017;Ellis 2016;Mall 2017;Fuller and Murphy 2018). Although this orphan legume serves as an important component of diets of resource-poor masses to provide balanced nutrition, feed for animals in drought-prone regions along with their potential health and environmental benefits, it has been typically overlooked in terms of resources for their promotion as well as not being traded internationally due to the limited economic importance in the global market (Bhartiya et al 2015;Cullis and Kunert 2017).…”