Indian Journal of Biology

Phyllanthus amarus is a traditional medicinal herb of India and belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae. The roots, leaves and stem contain several bioactive compounds which have therapeutic potentials. During last two decades there has been a surge of scientific validation of medicinal property of P. amarus. The present review summarizes information concerning the morphology, ecology, ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, biological activities, and clinical applications of P. amarus. This review aims at gathering the research work undertaken till date on this plant in order to provide sufficient baseline information for future works and commercial exploitation

Keywords: Phyllanthus amarus; Antioxidant; Phyllanthin; Pharmacological.

Objective: The aim of this cross-sectional, community-based survey was to investigate the prevalence of hypertension isolated systolic hypertension (ISH), Isolated diastolic hypertension(IDH) and pre hypertension according to socio demographic features among the members of Santal Tribal Community of the district Purulia, West Bengal, India, in individuals aged 20 to 70 years. Methods: A door to door survey work was conducted by the authors. Detailed information was collected from participants who were interviewed using a systematic random sampling method and a pretested structured questionnaires. Standard instruments were used to obtain data on weight, height and blood pressure. Data were analyzed using standard statistical method. Results: The prevalence of hypertension (Systolic Diastolic Hypertension) according to different risk factors in the study population (N=519) is presented in Table 1. The overall crude prevalence of hypertension ( BP>= 140/90 mmHg, based on the VII report of American JNC,2003 and WHO criteria for 18 years old or above) is 15.41%. The pre-hypertensive (BP =120 -139 / 80 – 89 mmHg) condition is about 32.76%. Isolated Systolic hypertensive (BP>= 140/ <90 mmHg) and Isolated Diastolic Hypertensive (BP <140 / >=90 mmHg) rates are 13.87% and 3.85% respectively. 34.10% of the total study population is known to have normotensive pressure level (Table 1 and Fig 1). The additional dietary salt intake is defined as those individuals who take extra salt per meal excluding the previously added salt to meal during preparation. The prevalence of hypertension is higher in additional dietary salt consumers as compared to those not taking extra salt. The prevalence of hypertension is 67.01% in the salt intake group of >11 gm/day than the <7 gm/day (65.48%) salt consuming group (Table 1, Fig 5). BMI and WHR were significantly higher in the hypertensive group compared to the non-hypertensive group. Conclusion: The results of this investigation clearly indicate that there was a significant role of dietary salt in the development of hypertension.

Keywords: Hypertension; Schedule tribe community; Tribal community; Purulia; Cardiovascular diseases; Systolic and diastolic blood pressure; Anthropometric measurement.

Goat is one of the main live stock animal it has much adaptive capabilities to disease resistance. Goat mainly used as protein source which combat the malnutrition as well as employment generation in the west Bengal. Some time few microorganism can infect the goat as well as protein is lost. The role of protein, as a lipostatic signal makes it one of the best physiological markers for body weight, food intake, energy expenditure and reproduction. Information regarding molecular characteristics of protein in different animal species is scarce. With the aim of characterizing the protein of Black Bengal goat of normal and healthy at molecular level, the present study was designed to isolate goat protein from its adiposites of both normal and diseased and molecular characterization of the same, subsequently. In the present study, chemical treatment and ultra-sonication technique was used for isolating protein from goat adipose tissue. The isolated protein are subjected to SDS-PAGE from both normal (healthy) and diseased goat (PPR Infected) respectively. There were protein profile variation in both normal (healthy) and diseased goat (PPR Infected).

The paper reports on the status of avifaunal diversity of Sanaghagara forest ecosystem. The diversity was studied from July 2008 to June 2013 in the particular forest ecosystem, Keonjhar, Odisha, India on the basis of observational method. This forest is inhabited by a variety of resident birds and migratory birds. A total of 71 birds were recorded representing 33 families. Highest number of egrets, common myna and common crows were recorded in three seasons namely pre- monsoon, monsoon and post monsoon.

Keywords: Biodiversity, Avifauna, Sanghagara forest ecosystem.

Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch) is a common fresh water air breathing fish available in India. Due to continuous use in agriculture, the fish is constantly exposed to urea. The work was carried out to study the effect of this inorganic fertilizer on the liver protein of H. fossilis. The fish were exposed to 0.0078, 0.0156, 0.03125, 0.0625, 0.125 mg.l-1 concentration of urea for 7 and 14 days. Fish of both treated as well as control groups were killed by a severe blow on the head and liver was isolated for total protein estimation. Lowry et al (1951) was followed for protein( no particular protein was isolated, total amount protein which present in the extraction was estimated) estimation. The experiment was replicated five times. The study revealed that the amount of protein increased in most of the doses, indicating the resistance capacity of this fish to the sublethal doses of urea.

Keywords: Heteropneustes fossilis; Urea; Sublethal doses; Liver protein.

SchizotetranychusbaltazariRimando is a common pest of citrus in many parts of India and its feeding causes the appearance of yellowish white striplings on the leaves which later wither and defoliate. The occurrence of this pest on citrus plants grown in the orchard of Narendrapur campus was seen during the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods during 2008-2011. Since information on its life cycle is unavailable and as this pest is going to be a menace in citrus orchards, attempts were made to study life cycle of this pest mite at three varying temperatures, viz. 25, 27 and 29ºC on citrus under laboratory condition and the results thereof are presented in this paper.
This paper discusses the duration of different stages besides incubation, preoviposition, oviposition and post oviposition periods, fecundity, longevity, percentage of hatching, percentage of larva attaining adulthood etc. at three temperature regimes, 25, 27 and 29ºC. Incubation period was shorter at higher temperature and so also was the larval, protonymphal and deutonymphal periods. So far as egg-adult period is concerned, the duration was 13.70±0.21 days, 10.20±0.72 days and 7.30±0.76 days at 25, 27 and 29ºC, respectively. The preoviposition period was shorter (1.80±0.21 days) at 29ºC as compared to other two temperatures where it was 2.00±0.00 days and 2.00±0.45 days at 25 and 27ºC, respectively. The maximum oviposition period was 24.00±0.02 days at 29ºC and the minimum was 15.80±0.19 days at 25ºC. The postovipositionperiod(2.12±0.24days) was also higher at 29ºC as compared to other two temperatures. Fecundity both in case of mated and unmated females was much higher at 29ºC as compared to that at 25ºC but in case of 27ºC the difference was almost nil in case of mated female though in case of unmated female, the difference was quite noticeable. The longevity was more or less closer in males at all the temperatures but in case of female though there were differences but the values were quite close. So far as percentage of larva attaining adulthood and percentage of hatching, 29ºC proved to be better as compared to the other two temperatures. This indicated that 29ºC was more preferred by this mite as compared to 25ºC and 27ºC.

Keywords: Life cycle; Varying temperatures; Schizotetranychusbaltazari; Citrus; Sapota; West Bengal, India.

Vermibiotechnology is a boon for sustainable agriculture. In this study the animal wastes (Red Sindhi variety cow and Ellichpuri variety buffalo) composted with leaf litter of Ficus benghalensis. The probiotic was used at two concentrations (10%, 20% and 30%) to enhance the composting process. For each waste, viz., cow and buffalo were inoculated with 1kg earthworms (Eudrilus eugeniae) of similar size per 800 g of waste. The total heterotrophic bacterial (THB) populations were screened at regular interval (0, 15, 30 and 60 days) under identical laboratory conditions during the composting process. Total heterotrophic bacterial population was found to be high in the vermicompost processed with the wastes of Red Sindhi cow variety at 10% probiotic concentration.
Keywords: Vermicompost; Eudrilus eugeniae; Probiotic; Heterotrophic bacteria; Sustainable agriculture.

Obesity (BMI>30), a medical condition, results from excess deposition of fat in the body. It has manifold negative impacts on health and has been found to be mainly associated with cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and diabetes. In developing nations, the main causes of obesity are sedentary lifestyle, physical inactivity and consumption of high calorie food, although genetics also plays a part in it. The aim of our pilot study was to estimate the tendency of getting overweight and obese in the age range of 20-24 years in an urban area of West Bengal. For this, we studied randomly 100 individuals and their height, weight, waist hip ratio, food habit and lifestyles were noted. Interestingly, obesity was not observed in our study population which was contradictory to some previous studies. So we hypothesize that age related stress and associated cortisol may be another factor for weight gain in the future.

Keywords: Obesity; Medical condition; Life style; Urban area.

India has a good number of Black Bengal goat populations, which has an significant role in the lives of local goat rearers. The aim of the present study is to find out the effects of changing seasons on some biochemical parameters of Black Bengal goat (Capra aegagrus hircus) in two different agro-climatic zones in India. The highest mean value of temperature (42.6 ± 1.5 ºC) has been reported during the month of April and May in the season of pre-monsoon. However, the lowest value of temperature (8.6 ± 0.9 ºC) has been reported during the month of December and January in the season of post-monsoon. The parameter studied here are T3 and T4 hormones as well as blood pH, blood glucose level, concentration of Hb, RBC count, PCV, MCV, MCH and MCHC. Data has analyzed for the effect of seasonal variation and the current findings implies that seasonal variation plays the major role to influence the thyroid activity, erythrocytic indices as well as biochemical parameters of Black Bengal Goats.

Keywords: Goats; Pre-monsoon; Post-monsoon; Purulia.

Hematological analysis of birds reveals the health condition which may differ due to difference in age, sex breed etc. This present study aims at the evaluation of hematological parameters of eight breeds of chicken namely Aseel, Black Rock, Dahlem Red, Kadaknath, Red Cornish, Rhode Island Red, Vanaraja and White Leghorn available at poultry farms of Odisha. Five adult males and five adult females from each breed were considered for this work. Hematological parameters such as Hemoglobin per cent, Total Leukocyte Count, Total Erythrocyte Count, Packed Cell Volume, Mean Corpuscular Volume, Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin, Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration and Differential Leukocyte Count were taken into account. The data were subjected to ANOVA and Duncan’s Multiple Range test. The hematological parameters varied within and between breeds with a sexual dimorphism. The parameters were significantly different among and between the breeds at p<0.05 and p<0.01. This investigation shows normal hematological parameters of the stated breeds of chicken. The variations recorded may be due to difference in breeds, sex, feed etc.

Keywords: Hematology; Chicken; Breeds; Comparison; Parameters.

The present investigation was carried out at find out the impact of fly ash amended soil on germination, growth and yield of chick pea (Cicer arietinum Linn). The soil having pH around 5.8 was used for the study. The growth of chickpea plants was significantly affected by different fly ash amendments. The maximum response was induced by a 60% level (600 g) of fly ash, where an increase in all the parameters of growth were recorded. Fly ash at 100%level (1000 g) was harmful for plant growth. The result was quite promising as germination was found to be highest in 40% level(400g) of fly ash amendment and all other characters of growth and yield suggested 60% amendments was the best amendment over control.

Keywords: Fly ash; Kolaghat Thermal Power Plant; Chick Pea; DAS; Germination.