Showing papers on "Strychnos potatorum published in 2017"

Harvesting of microalgae Botryococcus sp. through phycoremediation of bathroom greywater

Abstract: Malaysia has been experiencing water pollution crisis over a decade and one of the causes is direct discharge of greywater into the drains. Therefore, phycoremediation of greywater especially from bathroom sources with microalgae is proposed. The objectives of this research are to measure the efficiency of Botryococcus sp. in assimilating pollutant load, to optimize the flocculation process and investigate the interactive effects of experimental factors through Response Surface Methodology (RSM) design expert software. Botryococcus sp. was inoculated in bathroom greywater with 4.5 x 106 cell/mL for phycoremediation process. Microalgae Botryococcus sp. grown in bathroom greywater from House A, House B and House C and tested for reduction of pollutant. Results shown that the highest reduction for COD was at House A with 87 %, BOD5 was reduced to 96 % at House C which is the highest reduction, NH4 + highest was reduced at House A with 98 % and PO4 3- highest reduction occurred at House C with 88 % on the 21st day of phycoremediation respectively. Whereas, Moringa oleifera and Strychnos poatatorum were used in harvesting Botryococcus sp. in bathroom greywater via flocculation technique. A central composite design, which is the standard design of response surface methodology (RSM), was used to evaluate the effects and interactions of three factors, i.e. coagulant dosage, settling time and pH on the harvesting efficiency. Lastly, the biomass recovery was conducted via optical density to calculate the biomass recovery for M. oleifera and S. potatorum. The optimal conditions obtained from the compromise of one desirable responses, turbidity was at coagulant dosage of 10 mg /L, settling time of 120 min, and pH 9 respectively. The biomass recovery percentage for Botryococcus sp. by using Moringa oleifera and Strychnos potatorum were 97 % and 81 % accordingly. Therefore, this study proved that the cultivation of microalgae in bathroom greywater was successful in reducing the amount of pollutant tested in this research.

Seed dormancy and Storage Behavior of Strychnos potatorum-A Fast Depleting Tree resource

Abstract: As a first step to develop an ex-situ conservation strategy, the seed storage behavior of the species was studied. The initial moisture content of mature seeds was 37.14 per cent with a germination of 56 per cent. Freshly matured seeds had physiological dormancy which could be overcome by use of GA3 when germination was enhanced to 81 per cent. Seeds did not tolerate desiccation and lost viability. Storage of fresh seeds in wet vermiculite helped retain seed viability for only ten days beyond which viability declined rapidly. Considering seed size, shape, weight, moisture content and inability to withstand desiccation the storage behaviour of S. potatorum seed is predicted as recalcitrant with simple non-deep morphophysiological dormancy.

A new method of propagation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in field cropped sesame ( Sesamum indicum L.)

Abstract: Though arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are indigenous to agricultural soils, their beneficial effects to host plants could be further improved by inoculation with efficient species. The method of AM propagation described in the present study uses oil cake as a supporting medium for the simultaneous delivery of sesame seeds and AM inoculum to the field. Experiment was conducted in a farmer’s field located at Avoor, Kerala, India where sesame was cultivated as a winter crop in rice fallows. Oil cake entrapped with sesame seeds (var. Tilatara) and AM fungus (Funneliformis dimorphicus) inoculum was prepared by thoroughly mixing sterilized coconut cake and neem cake (5:1 v/v), surface sterilized sesame seeds and sterilized spore sieving of F. dimorphicus from a pot culture in a 10% solution of a polysaccharide gum obtained from the seeds of Strychnos potatorum L. Entire mix was moulded into 2.5 cm cubes (ca. 5g) containing approximately 25–30 seeds and 200–300 spores cube−1 and shade dried before application. The cubes were broadcast @ 600 kg ha−1 in inoculated treatments. In uninoculated treatments, the oil cake cubes devoid of the fungal component was used. Harvested root samples from the inoculated treatments showed a high frequency (%F) and intensity (%M) of colonization by AM fungi as well as frequency of vesicles (%V) and arbuscules (%A) compared to uninoculated control. The growth (root length, shoot length and leaf area) and yield characters (pod number, seed number, seed weight and oil content) of sesame plants were significantly (p=0.05) improved under the present method of AM propagation indicating its viability under field condition.