Indian Journal of Biology

Recent studies of phycological researches have shown that marine algae should be given with the equal consideration like any other groups of plant kingdom, primarily because these groups of plants also play or can also play a great role in human life when used in a sustainable manner. Thereby, finding of algal resources has evolved to be a chief necessity for phycological research. Along with the biodiversity assessment, comparing those survey works that has already undertaken can provide more information regarding with the establishment of new species, vanishing off of existed species, migration or invasion of species etc. Current paper reviews marine algal wealth along southern coasts of India and the comparative analysis of distribution, occurrence and richness of species along the different coastal areas of the southern coast.

Keywords: Phycological; Marine alga; Invasion.

Common, available and widely sold fruit juices, milk product soft drinks differ from common carbonated soft drinks available in India, significantly with reference to sodium and potassium ions, the two important elements among the eleven bulk essential elements present in our body. For present study along with physicochemical parameters like pH, total dissolved solid (TDS), conductance etc. Sodium ion concentrations and potassium ion concentrations within some common, available and widely sold fourteen packed drinks in India are considered. These are mainly fruit drinks, energy drinks, packaged coconut water & Amul brand milk products. The variation of pH, TDS, salinity, conductance, sodium ion concentrations and potassium ion concentrations are significant among these packaged drinks.

Keywords: pH, Conductance, Salinity, TDS, Sodium, Potassium, packed drinks.

The present investigation was carried out on the long term rainfall data from 1981 to 2015 recorded at NEBCRC, GBPUA & T, Pantnagar, situated in Udham Singh Nagar district. The data pertaining to annual rainfall shows an increasing trend of rainfall over the period only during rainy season however the number of number of rainydays shows a declining trend for this season. During post monsoon season and summer season a decreasing trend in rainfall anomaly was found at ther rate of 0.11/year and 0.26 mm per year respectively. During all the season a decreasing trend in rainyday anomaly was found. August received average annual rainfall highest and November the minimum. Average number of rainy days found highest in July and minimum in November

Keywords: Rainfall, rainy day, anomaly, trend analysis, seasons, variability, Pantnagar, climate change.

Naturally occurring surface active compounds drived from microorganism also called Biosurfactant. They offer several advantages over the chemical surfactants. Such as low toxicity, inherent good biodegradability and ecological acceptability. Biosurfactant which are revealed to be produced by bacteria, yeast and fungi can serve as green surfactants. The biosurfactant synthesizes by environmental isolates also has promising role in the agricultural industry. Based on the above assets, selected two oil degrading fungal species from the laboratory for the further studies. The selected microbes Aspergillus oryzae and Penicillium chrysogenum play major role in oil recovery, environmental bioremediation and pharmaceuticals owing to their unique properties such as biodegradability. The ability of oil degrading fungal species utilize neem cake to produce biomass and biosurfactant. Neem cake as it is the cheapest carbon source as compared to glucose, fructose, and other petroleum based substrate for the production of biosurfactant. The energy sources of neem cake contain different biological active compounds which undergoes by the microbial activity can provide added benefits. This will be helpful for environmental safe agricultural development. Fungal species such as Aspergillus oryzae and Penicillium chrysogenum could grow well in stone medium using water and hexane soluble fraction of neem cake in the presence of (NH4)2HPO4 seemed to be important for better production of biomass and biosurfactant under laboratory and neutral pH conditions. Hence, the present study aims to find out, oil degrading microbes for maximizing biosurfactant productivity using neem cake as an energy source.

Keywords: Biomass; Biosurfactant; Oil degradation; Neem press cake; Hydrocarbon-degradation.

The tensile strength of bone derived from collagen fibres, extend primarily along the lines of tensile force. For normal development and function of human skeleton, thyroid hormones are vital, which evidently visible in hyperand hypothyroid conditions. Earlier studies suggest that, Thyroid effect on collagen is dose dependent, tissue specific and sometimes controversial. Hypothyroidism causes impaired bone formation and growth retardation whereas hyperthyroidism may retard collagen synthesis and decelerate the bone mass. Hydroxyproline and hydroxyllysine are essential for the collagen cross linking and strength of the bone. Hydroxyproline estimation is considered as an index of collagen metabolism. The aim of the present study is to find out the changes in collagen characteristics in bone tissue of thyroxine treated common Indian toad. As common toad (Duttaphyrnus melanostictus) is studied extensively to have an elementary knowledge on the anatomy of vertebrates, the above species is used as the experimental organism in the present study. The method of Neuman and Logan (1950) modified by Leach (1960) was used to find out the hydroxyproline content from which the collagen contents were found out at two different doses of thyroxine (2.0 μg/gm & 0.5 μg/gm).

Keywords: Bone; Collagen, Thyroxine, Hydroxyproline.