This paper describes the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities and phenolic components of different solvent (absolute methanol, absolute ethanol, absolute acetone, 80% methanol, 80% ethanol, 80% acetone and deionized water) extracts of leaves, flowers and bark of Gold Mohar [Delonix regia (Bojer ex Hook.) Raf.]. The extract yields from leaves, flowers and bark ranged from 10.19 to 36.24, 12.97 to 48.47 and 4.22 to 8.48 g/100 g dry weight (DW), respectively. Overall, 80% methanol extract produced from the leaves exhibited significantly (P < 0.05) higher antioxidant activity, with high phenolic contents (3.63 g GAE/100 g DW), total flavonoid contents (1.19 g CE/100 g DW), inhibition of peroxidation (85.54%), DPPH scavenging capacity (IC₅₀ value 8.89 μg/mL) and reducing power (1.87). Similarly, this 80% methanol leaves extract also showed superior antimicrobial activity. HPLC analysis of the 80% methanol extracts for individual phenolics revealed the presence of gallic, protocatechuic and salicylic acid in leaves; gallic, protocatechuic, salicylic, trans-cinnamic and chlorogenic acid in flowers, and gallic acid in bark as the main (amount > 1.50 mg/100 g DW) phenolic acids. Besides, small amounts ( < 1.50 mg/100 g DW) of some other phenolic acids such as sorbic, sinapic, p-coumaric, m-coumaric, ferulic, caffeic, 3-hydroxybenzoic, 4-hydroxycinnamic and 4-hydroxybenzoic acids were also detected. The extracts of the tested parts of Gold Mohar, especially, the leaves, might be valuable for functional food and therapeutic applications.

The present investigation was carried out to appraise the levels of total phenols and vitamin C as well as antioxidant potential at three different ripening stages (un-ripe, semi-ripe and fully-ripe) of guava (Psidium guajava L.) fruit collected from three different geographical regions of Pakistan (Islamabad, Faisalabad and Bhakkar). The antioxidant potential of guava fruit extracts was assessed by means of different in-vitro antioxidant assays, namely inhibition of peroxidation in linoleic acid system, reducing power and radical scavenging capability. Overall, fruit at the un-ripe stage (G1) exhibited the highest levels of TPC, TFC, reducing power and DPPH radical scavenging activity, followed by the semi-ripe (G2) and fully-ripe (G3) stages. On the other hand, vitamin C content increased as the fruit maturity progressed, with highest value seen at the fully-ripe stage (G3) followed by the semi-ripe (G2) and un-ripe stage (G1). The concentration of vitamin C in fruits varied as: Faisalabad (136.4–247.9 mg 100 g⁻¹), Islamabad (89.7–149.7 mg 100 g⁻¹) and Bhakkar (73.1–129.5 mg 100 g⁻¹). The results showed that different stages of maturation and geographical locations had profound effects on the antioxidant activity and vitamin C contents of guava fruit.

In this work a field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of coloured plastic mulch on growth and yield of chilli from October 2005 to April 2006. The plastic mulches were transparent, blue, and black and bare soil was the control. Different mulches generated higher soil temperature and soil moisture under mulch over the control. Transparent and blue plastic mulches encouraged weed population which were suppressed under black plastic. Plant height, number of primary branches, stem base diameter, number of leaves and yield were better for the plants on plastic. At the mature green stage, fruits had the highest vitamin-C content on the black plastic. Mulching produced the fruits with the highest chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b and total chlorophyll contents and also increased the number of fruits per plant and yield. However, mulching did not affect the length and diameter of the fruits and number of seeds per fruit. Plants on black plastic mulch had the maximum number of fruits and highest yield. Thus, mulching appears to be a viable tool to increase the chilli production under tropical conditions

A total of 125 (ready to eat) processed food samples (70 intended for infant and 55 for adult intake) belonging to 20 different food categories were analyzed for aflatoxins contamination using Reverse Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC) with fluorescent detection. A solvent mixture of acetonitrile-water was used for the extraction followed by immunoaffinity clean-up to enhance sensitivity of the method. The limit of detection (LOD) (0.01–0.02 ng·g⁻¹) and limit of quantification (LOQ) (0.02 ng·g⁻¹) was established for aflatoxins based on signal to noise ratio of 3:1 and 10:1, respectively. Of the processed food samples tested, 38% were contaminated with four types of aflatoxins, i.e., AFB1 (0.02–1.24 μg·kg⁻¹), AFB2 (0.02–0.37 μg·kg⁻¹), AFG1 (0.25–2.7 μg·kg⁻¹) and AFG2 (0.21–1.3 μg·kg⁻¹). In addition, the results showed that 21% of the processed foods intended for infants contained AFB1 levels higher than the European Union permissible limits (0.1 μg·kg⁻¹), while all of those intended for adult consumption had aflatoxin contamination levels within the permitted limits.

An ethnobotanical study at Moyo Island, West Nusa Tenggara was carried out to record the traditional knowledge and utilization of plant species there. It is expected that traditional knowledge can play a role in natural resource management systems which can be used in conservation programs. This research was conducted with field observational methods in the Moyo forest and interviews with local people that have knowledge about utilization of plants. There are about 48 species of plants which are utilized by the Brangkuah Community in Moyo Island. Most of them are collected from the forest and 21% (10 species) are cultivated. Local people also use plants for medicine 41% (21 species), food 39% (20 species) and building materials 16% (8 species). The Brangkuah have started to cultivate several plants which are used as building material and food plants which previously collected from the forest. The Brangkuah community has conserved useful plants for their daily life. It is expected that the forest is sustainable. J Bangladesh Agril Univ 17(3): 325–337, 2019

Different doses of paclobutrazol (PBZ) and different bulb sizes of onion were evaluated to determine their effect on growth and seed production of onion. Onion variety ‘Taherpuri’ with three-bulb sizes – small, medium and large – was used. Four doses of PBZ were 0 (control), 20, 40, and 80 mg l⁻¹. The two-factor experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Application of PBZ significantly reduced the plant height, tillers per bulb, leaves per plant and length of scape. However, in other parameters such as the number of flowers, umbels per bulb, umbel diameter, 1000-seed weight and seed yield, there were no significant influences of PBZ concentrations used (p < 0.05). On the contrary, plant height, number of leaves per plant, length of scape, effective fruits per umbel, percentage of fruit set, and seed yield were positively influenced by different bulb sizes of onion. Higher values were obtained for the above-mentioned parameters from the larger-sized bulbs and values were decreased as the bulb sizes decreased. The maximum seed yield was recorded in plants grown from the large-sized mother bulb. The interaction between the PBZ doses and bulb sizes were also significant for some variables while it was not significant for others.