EVERYMAN’S

SCIENCE
Vol. LI No. 5 (December’16 - January’17)

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD EDITORIAL BOARD

Dr. Ashok K. Patra (Bhopal) Editor-on-Chief

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(Earth Sciences, Engineering & Materials Science)
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COVER PHOTOGRAPHS
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 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

CONTENTS
EDITORIAL :
Oral Rehydration Therapy: Gaps and Challenges
S. Kanungo and M. K. Chakrabarti 284

ARTICLES :

Scientific Inspirations from Nature

Partho Pratim Chatterjee 286

Agroforestry: A Sustainable Land-Use System for Food and Wood

Alok Kumar Patra 290

Silvipasture Model of Agroforestry in Augmenting Fodder Production and

Livelihood Improvement
S.Gunasekaran and K.Viswanthan 297

Prospects of Noni Cultivation in North East India

TN Manohara, Jesminwara Begum and Gayatri Gogoi 300

Molecules Behind Flowering

Sanjukta Mondal Parui and Amal Kumar Mondal 306

Non Apparel Uses of Textile – A Different Perspective

Madhu Sharan 311

Vermicomposting at Dairy Farm for Sustainable Agriculture

Sanjay Kumar, Kaushalendra Kumar, Rajni Kumari, R. R. K. Sinha and Chandramoni 317

Chemicals What Life is All About

Prasanta Kumar Ray 320

104th Indian Science Congress Awardees for 2016-2017 328

KNOW THY INSTITUTIONS 336

CONFERENCES / MEETINGS / SYMPOSIA / SEMINARS 340

S & T ACROSS THE WORLD 342

 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

ISCA PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS (1998 TO 2003)

President Title of Presidential Address*

Prof. P. Rama Rao Science and Technology in Independent India: Retrospect

th
85 Indian Science Congress and Prospect
1998, Hyderabad

Dr. (Mrs.) Manju Sharma New Biosciences: Opportunities and Challenges as We move
th
86 Indian Science Congress into the Next Millennium
1999, Chennai

Dr. R.A. Mashelkar New Panchsheel of the New Millennium

th
87 Indian Science Congress
2000, Pune

Dr. R.S. Paroda Food, Nutrition and Environmental Security

88th Indian Science Congress
2001, Delhi

Prof. S.S. Katiyar Health Care, Education and Information Technology

89th Indian Science Congress
2002, Lucknow

Dr. K. Kasturirangan Frontier Science and Cutting-Edge Technologies

90th Indian Science Congress
2003, Bangalore

* Available in the Book “The Shaping of Indian Science” Published by University Press (India)
Pvt. Ltd., 3-5-819 Hyderguda, Hyderabad 500 029.

A per decision of Council meeting held on May 03, 2014, Presidential Address will not be
printed henceforth in Everyman’s Science as they are already printed in the above mentioned
book.

283
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
EDITORIAL
Oral Rehydration Therapy: Gaps and Challenges
Nearly nine million children under five years of
age die each year throughout the world. Diarrhoea is
second only to pneumonia as the cause of these
deaths, most of which occur in the developing
countries. This is an alarming reminder of the
exceptional vulnerability of the children in these
countries, where lack of safe drinking water,
sanitation and hygiene, along with poor overall
health and nutritional status put these children at
higher risk.
The dehydration caused by severe diarrhoea
requires fluid replenishment, either by intravenous
route or by mouth. But intravenous route requires
intervention and that too through an expert medical
hand. Thus it seems almost impractical and difficult
to combat childhood dehydration at large scale using
intravenous fluid alone. It was in the late 60s and
early 70s, researchers could show that the fluid when
mixed with glucose and salt in appropriate
proportion can be absorbed through intestinal wall.
The combination of electrolytes and sugar stimulates
water and electrolyte absorption from the gut. It
therefore prevents or reverses dehydration and
replaces lost salts in conditions such as diarrhoea and
vomiting. It is an epoch making concept in a way
that anyone suffering from diarrhoea could replace
the lost fluids and salts simply by drinking this
solution. This concept of oral rehydration was
successfully implemented in early 70s among the
war displaced refuges in Bangladesh war, where
more than 90% of the patients suffering from
dehydration due to diarrhoea could be saved through
this simple oral rehydration solutions. Not only that,
home-made versions of ORS are not difficult to make
and can help prevent diarrhoeal dehydration.
Families can also use the rice water from the cooking
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December’16 - January’17
pot to prevent dehydration. ORS, however, is the best
to treat dehydration when it occurs, as well as to
prevent it.
S e v e r a l f o r m u l a t i o n s w i t h d i ff e r e n t
concentration of salt have been developed which
showed equal efficacy regarding reduction of
mortality, especially in children. Oral rehydration
salts contain a variety of salts (electrolytes) and
sugar. During the 1980s, UNICEF launched a
comprehensive program to save children's lives,
targeting four areas such as growth monitoring,
breastfeeding, immunization, and the use of Oral
Rehydration Salts (ORS) -- the best way of
combating the dehydration caused by diarrhoea. .The
Lancet hailed ORS as "potentially the most
important medical advance of this century."ORS is
available in the market in a powder form in sachets/
readymade solutions or one can also easily make it at
home as well. ORS Day is celebrated every year on
29th July to highlight the importance of Oral
Rehydration Salts (ORS) as a cost-effective method
of health intervention. Around half of all diarrhoea
cases in the world's poorest countries are now treated
with Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT). This is a vast
improvement in usage at the beginning of the 1980s.
But there is still an urgent need to make ORT more
accessible.Not only that, there also exists a gap in
knowledge about ORS and its actual use, both among
the medical fraternity as well among primary
caretakers.
In India alone it saves the lives of over 500,000
children every year. Despite this great impact,
diarrhoea still accounts for over 600,000 deaths
every year (1,666 deaths every day) in India. Many of
these lives could have been saved had these children
been given ORS from the onset of diarrhoea. The
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
Diarrhoeal Disease Control programme envisioned
that improvement in caregivers' awareness about
home management of diarrhoeal illnesses through
the use of ORS and appropriate food would be the
key to reduce diarrhoea-related mortality. In
practice, however, it did not turn out to be such a
simple solution. For example, although women's
knowledge about ORS packets in India increased
substantially over time, as revealed by different
rounds of National Family Health Survey (43% in
NFHS-1, 62% in NFHS-2 and nearly 75% in NFHS-
3), it did not translate into action. The National
Family Health Survey (NFHS-3, 2005-06) showed
that 39% of under-five children suffering from
diarrhoea received ORT; in fact, ORS solution was
received by only 26%, which again varied greatly
from state to state (65% in Meghalaya and 58% in
Tripura to 15% in Assam and 13% in Uttar Pradesh).
This scenario remained practically unchanged since
A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from
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December’16 - January’17
NFHS-2 conducted during 1998-99. Even the use of
home available fluid is not great. As World Health
Organization suggested for intake of an increased
amounts of almost any fluid which can also help
prevent dehydration, when ORS is not available, in
India, on the contrary, less than 10% of children with
diarrhoea actually received an increased amount of
fluids, as revealed by World Health Survey
2003.Moreover, during 2000-2007 the UNICEF also
noted that when ORT was considered along with
continued feeding for under-five children suffering
from diarrhoea, India's performance was the poorest
among many of its neighboring countries. Thus,
despite our strong evidence-based knowledge that a
simple measure like ORT can save lives of children
suffering from diarrhoea, more stress should be put
on its use, through inter sectorial approaches,
combining several intervention programs.
S. Kanungo
Dr. M. K. Chakrabarti
NICED, Kolkata
others, Be a carrier.
- Tom Stoppard
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

SCIENTIFIC INSPIRATIONS FROM NATURE

Partho Pratim Chatterjee

Emulated from nature, many materials can be developed for scientific applications. In this back drop, the
paper dwells upon few nano structured materials found in nature whose emulation for scientific
applications could prove indispensable for benefit of the mankind. A few such inspirations include lotus
leaf, chameleon's colour change, moth's anti reflective eyes, gecko (wall lizard) feet, salvania's leaf,
Namib desert beetle's water harvesting mechanism, etc. The paper attempts to establish that there could
be amazing applications of these bio mimicked imitations in real-life scientific applications if harnessed
techno- economically. The article is followed by possible future applications and suggestions in real life
situations.

INTRODUCTION

N ano structured materials are materials

having properties defined by dimensional
features smaller than 100 nm. Aerogel, graphene,
nano bonded refractories, carbon nano tubes, smart
dust, photonic crystal, etc., are some of the
commonly used nano materials. These materials
offer exciting properties like fracture strength,
toughness, reflectivity, electrical conductivity, etc.
These properties can be controlled by altering the
nano scale dimensional features. The advantages of
nano structured materials is that the small elements
allow better control of size, which leads to better
hierarchical organization and structuring. As
smaller object occupies lesser volume and hence
more elements can fit into the given space. Also, in
the case of small spaces, the proportion of empty
spaces is less. Hence strength of the nano material is
more as dislocations face more obstruction in their
motion because of less empty spaces. The better
optical properties in nano materials may be attributed
to the fact that the empty spaces in nano structured
materials are of the dimensional order of the
wavelength of visible light, therefore, diffraction and
selective scattering become easier which is not
possible in large materials. The improved properties
manifest themselves in the form of better fracture
Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad- 502285, E mail :
cppartho@yahoo.co.in
strength, optical properties and local surface
kinetics.
Lotus leaf, chameleon's colour change, moth's
anti reflective eyes, gecko (wall lizard) feet,
salvania's leaf, Namib desert beetle's water
harvesting mechanism, etc., are few naturally
occurring nano structured materials whose imitation
in scientific applications could prove indispensable.
Replicating their excellent properties in real life
applications may be of widespread scientific interest.
As we all know, ductility and strength do not go hand
in hand. To obtain high ductility, strength has to be
compromised and vice-versa. However, in human
bone, both high strength and ductility are found. This
may be attributed to the presence of hydroxyapatite
and collagen in bones. The hydroxyapatite gives rise
to excellent strength whereas the collagen gives rise
to excellent ductility. Emulating the structure,
materials having both high strength and ductility can
be developed. Similarly, lotus leaf possesses
excellent hydrophobic and self cleaning properties
which can inspire water-resistant structures. The
excellent anti-reflective properties of moth's eyes
can inspire better efficiency in solar cells. The
excellent adhesion properties of geckos (wall lizard)
feet can be emulated to give rise to pads which can
adhere to all types of surfaces, whether smooth or
rough. The combination of hydrophobic and
hydrophilic properties in Salvinia's leaf can lead to

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 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
the development of air trapping mechanisms in deep
water. A similar combination can also be used for
effective water harvesting in desert areas, as in
Namib Desert Beetles.
LOTUS LEAF
Lotus leaf has excellent self-cleaning and
water repellent properties. The water repellent
properties are attributed to the combination of
epicuticular wax and the epidermal hairs of the
papillae. The roughness of the hydrophobic papillae
reduces the contact area between the surface and a
liquid drop with droplets residing only on the tips of
the epicuticular wax crystals on the top of the
papillose epidermal cells1.
This is because as the roughness increase,
coefficient of friction increases, which promotes
rolling motion of the droplets instead of sliding.
Lotus has the highest density of papillae. Lotus
papillae have much smaller diameters which reduces
the contact areas with the water droplets. The contact
area between the droplet and the lotus leaf depends
also depends on the velocity with which the droplets
strike the surface of the lotus leaf. Further, the
varying height of the papillae also reduces the
contact area of the droplets, as an inhomogenous
structure prevents the droplet from sticking easily on
the surface.
The hierarchical nanostructure of lotus can be
emulated to make superhydrophobic steels. The hot
dip Galvanized steel or electro galvanised steel can
be coated by nanowires structures of irregular
lengths having a Poly Di Methyl Siloxane (PDMS)
coating. These steels will possess excellent self-
cleaning and superhydrophobic properties. These
steels will find uses in structural steels in humid
areas. The lotus leaf structure can also be copied to
produce anti-fogging glasses, car screens which do
not get wet even during heavy inundations.
CHAMELEON'S COLOUR CHANGE
Chameleon is known for changing colour from
green to red when it encounters dangerous situation.
The colour in chameleon is attributed to the change in
the distance between guanine nano crystals present
in its skin2.
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December’16 - January’17
The size of the guanine crystal does not change
in case of a stimulus, but the distance between the
guanine crystals changes. The natural pigmented
skin colour of chameleons is yellow. In the non-
exited state, the distance between the guanine nano
crystals is less. Thus, the light that is reflected from
the guanine nano crystals present in chameleon is of
shorter wavelength i.e blue. Blue combines with
naturally present yellow coloured pigments to form
green colour. But in the exited state, the spacing
between the guanine nano crystals increases. This
causes the selected wavelength to be longer i.e. red
colour. Red combines with naturally present yellow
coloured pigments to exhibit orange/ reddish orange
colour.
Chameleon's colour change from green to red
can be emulated to make cloaks for soldiers and
robots for defence applications where the idea of
camouflaging with the surroundings can be used to
circumvent the enemy. Other applications of this
inspiration include torches which can produce
different colours from the same incident beam.
MOTH'S ANTI-REFLECTING EYES
Moth has anti-reflective eyes on its rear part of
the body, which helps it to disguise itself from
predators. Moth eyes have very fine nanostructures,
and distance between the nanostructures is
comparable to the wavelength of visible light3. This
results in diffraction of the incident light instead of
reflection. Diffraction and the subsequent reflection
from these fine nanostructures confines the incident
light beam to the nanostructure and results in 99.9 %
absorption.
This structure can be emulated for development
of more-efficient solar cells as almost all the incident
sunlight is absorbed instead of getting reflected. This
augments the efficiency of the solar cell. It may also
lead to the development of invisible armours and
cloaks because almost no light is reflected back to the
observer.
GECKO (WALL LIZARD) FEET
Gecko (wall lizard) has structure called spatula
in its feet to increase contact area and maximize
adhesion. Gecko has spatula in the setae which
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
remain parallel to the contact surface to maximize
adhesion. The reason for adhesion is Van Der Walls
Force which acts between the spatula and the
surface4. This enables the gecko to firmly adhere to
any surface (smooth or rough) irrespective of its
nature. Thus, the gecko can easily climb on walls
swiftly against gravity. The detachment mechanism
in gecko is equally interesting. The feet of the gecko
make an acute angle with the surface during
detachment and this leads to stress concentration at
the tip of the spatula, which leads to easy detachment.
The attachment and detachment mechanism of
gecko can be emulated to build human fins, special
gloves, etc. for defence applications. It can also be
used to make robotic arms and feet fins which can
easily move in any terrain, whether rough or smooth,
dry or moist.
SALVANIA LEAF
Salvania leaf shows an exemplary inspiration
of retaining air in water. Salvania has hydrophobic
structure consisting of waxy coating, which prevents
water from entering within the structure and
subsequent damage. On the upper part, Salvania has
egg-beater like structure in which the terminal cells
of the four hairs are compressed to form a patch of
four dead cells5. This results in the formation of a
hydrophilic end at the top and a hydrophobic end at
the bottom. This causes the droplets to remain on top
of the hydrophilic end without penetrating into the
structure. This arrangement prevents air bubbles
from escaping the structure and gives a silvery
appearance to the salvania leaf.
The Salvania leaf structure can be emulated to
make air retaining apparatus in under water and other
marine applications.
NAMIB DESERT BEETLE
Namib desert beetle uses its forewings for
water harvestation, whereas the hind wings are used
for flying. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
analysis of the beetle shows that it has waxy troughs
but wax free bumps. The wax free bumps give rise to
hydrophilicity (i.e water attraction) and the waxy
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December’16 - January’17
troughs give rise to hydrophobicity (i.e water
repulsion)6 . The bumps captures the water droplet
which gets propelled by the hydrophobic troughs to
its mouth. During the morning fog, the beetle tilts its
back at different angles with the ground. Greater the
angle of tilt, higher is the probability of adhesion of
the water droplets. Due to higher probability of
adhesion of the water droplets, the probability of
blowing away of water droplets by wind is less. This
ensures that the removal of the water droplet by wind
is more difficult because higher velocity of the wind
is required for large angle of inclination. Also, the tilt
causes the water droplet to trickle down easily from
the fore wings to the mouth.
This arrangement can be emulated in making
desert water harvesters like aquatic mats and desert
water bottles used by military personnel. It can also
be used to make turbines which generate electricity
from atmospheric moisture.
CONCLUSION
The nature inspired materials could be the
elixir for next generation science and technology if
harnessed techno-economically.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author gratefully acknowledges the
valuable suggestions and insights provided by Dr.
Mudrika Khandelwal, Assistant Professor, Dept. of
Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad during
her classroom lectures which greatly influenced the
formulation and shaping of the article. Also, the
author express his heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Pinaki
Prasad Bhattacharjee; Head and to all faculty
members of the Department of Materials Science and
Metallurgical Engineering, Indian Institute of
Technology, Hyderabad for their support.
REFERENCES
1. A. Marmur, Langmuir, 20, 3517–3519, 2004.
2. J. Teyssier, S.V. Saenko, D.V. Marel, M.C.
Milinkovitch, Nature Communications, March
2015.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

3. K.H. Kim, Q.N. Park, Scientific Reports, 5. W. Barthlott, T. Schimmel, S. Wiertz, K. Koch,
August 2012. M. Brede, M. Barczewski, S. Walfeim, A.
4. GS Watson, D.W. Green, L. Schwarzkopf, X. Weis, A. Kaltenmier, A. Leder, H.F .Bohn,
Li, B.W. Cribb, S. Myhra, J.A Watson, Acta Advanced Materials, April 2010.
Biomaterialia, July 2015. 6. T. Norgaard, M. Dacke, Frontiers in Zoology,
July 2010.

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 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

AGROFORESTRY: A SUSTAINABLE LAND-USE SYSTEM FOR

FOOD AND WOOD
Alok Kumar Patra

The enormous population growth during the last few decades has caused considerable reduction in both
crop and forest area, and the requirement of basic needs seems to be inadequately met through the
existing land use system. Agroforestry, a combination of agriculture and forestry, is now recognized as a
land-use system which is capable of yielding food, fruit, fodder, fuel and timber, and at the same time
conserving and rehabilitating the ecosystems. With the modern day crisis of shortage of agricultural and
forest land, agroforestry is well positioned to provide a perfect balance and a solution.

INTRODUCTION

M an's association with forest is much older

than with agriculture. First man was a food
gatherer and hunter in forests. Then he realized that
the seeds of the fruits he collected germinated, grew
into plants and bore the fruits again and thus man
started to cultivate foods. Thus, the process of human
evolution has been from forests when man learnt the
art of domesticating plants and animals. Man's desire
to live in a community created settled agriculture.
But acceleration in growth of human and livestock
population necessitated acquisition of more and
more forest land for cultivation. So the origin of
agroforestry practices, i.e. growing trees and shrubs
with food and fruit crops and grasses is traditional
and very old. Since then the pressure on the
agricultural lands has increased manifolds due to
urbanization and industrialization process.
Gradually soil is losing its productivity, and the
biodiversity is threatened. To increase the land
productivity, chemical fertilizers and pesticides are
applied in higher proportion, causing environmental
pollution hazards.
In these rapidly changing situations, man has
two ways to live – one is to tolerate the conditions and
the other one is to change them. Now the existence of
life is in danger due to pollution, climate change,
disease, loss of biodiversity and so on. Under all
Directorate of Research, 2nd Floor, Administrative Building,
Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology,
Bhubaneswar- 751003, Odisha. E-mail:alokpatra2000@yahoo.
co.in / alokpatra2000@gmail.com
these circumstances agroforestry has shown that
besides sustainable agriculture it can also help
promote a better environment. Agroforestry has been
recognized as a land-use system which is capable of
yielding both food and wood and at the same time
conserving and rehabilitating the ecosystems. It has
the capability to increase the productivity, maintain
the nutrient balance in the soil as well as protect the
nature. It has two major roles to play, the productive
role and the service role. Trees have the dominant
role to play in all agroforestry systems for sustainable
agriculture and environmental protection.
PREMISES OF AGROFORESTRY
The premises on which the concept of
agroforestry is based are partly biological and partly
socioeconomic.
Biological premises
Agroforestry has a beneficial effect on the soil
through efficient nutrient cycling. The roots of trees
take up nutrients from the soil, convert and utilize
them for the production of plant material and then
return them to the soil in the form of tree litter. This
litter is transformed into humus and later
incorporated into the soil. In a well managed
agroforestry system, the relatively more efficient
nutrient cycle minimizes the leakages of nutrients
from the system. Trees are generally deep-rooted
than agricultural crops and are often able to trap and
utilize nutrients that have been leached from the
upper layers of the soil. Some tree species have the

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 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
capacity of 'pumping' nutrients from layers that are
not normally tapped by agricultural crops. The
compacting effects of falling rain on the soil are
reduced in an agroforestry system decreasing soil
erosion and thus another possible source of leakage
of nutrients from the system is plugged.
Agroforestry is a system of land management
in which tree crops are grown together with
agricultural crops, one of its objectives being to
optimize and sustain the total yields of the
component crops. Competition among the different
components of the system is not great enough to
affect the total productivity of the system in an
adverse manner. Water, nutrients and light are the
limiting factors in an agroforestry system. The forest
and agricultural species that are utilized in the system
should be compatible and should complement each
other during most stages of their lives. More
specifically, with respect to water they should be
unequal in competitive ability; with respect to
nutrient, they should vary in ability to utilize the
nutrients in different forms; and, with respect to light,
those species should be selected which display
growth patterns, rates of growth, phenology, and
architecture permitting maximum interception of
light by both the agricultural and forest crops at any
one time.
Socioeconomic premises
Forests are being felled in by farmers who
require the land to produce food for their very
existence. These areas are basically unsuitable for
arable agriculture, either because of the inherent
infertility of the soils, or because the sites are prone to
accelerated erosion, or because of a combination of
these two factors. The people who clear the forests to
produce food are often aware of the possible
deleterious effects of their practices upon the
ecosystem. But they persist with such practice due to
lack of suitable alternatives for their survival.
The failure to develop the marginal lands often
leads to retardation in the rate of improvement of the
general economy. The developmental and
technological options are fewer in marginal areas
than in most other ecosystems. When the biological
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December’16 - January’17
influences and services of forests are considered
along with the specific socioeconomic problems of
those who exist in marginal areas, the technological
package should include agroforestry systems. If the
economic returns from the agroforestry systems are
significant and if these are designed to optimize the
joint productivity of wood and food from the same
unit of land with careful choice of agricultural and
forest species and suitable management practices,
the socioeconomic developmental problems of the
area would be addressed adequately.
BENEFITS FROM AGROFORESTRY
Benefits from agriculture and forestry are
limited. But benefits from Agroforestry are infinite -
food, fruits, feed, fodder, fuel, fiber, fertilizer,
favourable climate and many others.
l Reduction in pressure on forest
l Efficient recycling of nutrients through mining
by deep- rooted trees
l Better protection of ecological systems
l Reduction of surface run-off, nutrient leaching
and soil erosion
l Improvement of microclimate, such as
lowering of soil surface temperature and
reduction of evaporation of soil moisture
through mulching and shading
l Increment of soil nutrients through addition
and decomposition of litter-fall
l Improvement of soil structure through
constant addition of organic matter from
decomposed litter
l Increment in outputs of food, fuel wood,
fodder, fertilizer and timber
l Reduction in incidence of total crop failure,
common to single-cropping or monoculture
systems
l Increase in levels of farm incomes due to
improved and sustained productivity
l Improvement in rural living standards from
sustained employment and higher incomes
l Improvement in nutrition and health due to
increased quality and diversity of food outputs
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
NEED OF AGROFORESTRY
Decreasing land resources
The land resources are decreasing due to
various reasons and there is hardly any scope to
increase food production by increasing the area
under cultivation. A management system therefore,
needs to be devised that is capable of producing food
from marginal agricultural land and is also capable of
maintaining and improving the environment. The
shrinking of per capita land availability, huge
demand supply gap of various kinds of woods, food
products as well as fodders are making agroforestry
viable and an alternative land use option.
Limiting carrying capacity of the land
The carrying capacity of the arid and semiarid
regions is overstressed. The consequence
is destruction of environment leading to
desertification. Agroforestry interventions hold the
key to check soil erosion and leaching loss of
nutrients and to improve the soil productivity
through biological nitrogen fixation, organic matter
addition and efficient nutrient cycling.
Overgrazing
The problem overgrazing is acute in arid and
semiarid regions. Integrating cultivation of fodder
tree species with suitable grasses in the wastelands
would address the problem of overgrazing and thus
check the desertification effectively.
Soil erosion and pollution
Soil erosion is the major cause of land
degradation and loss of productivity. Trees fight soil
erosion, conserve rainwater and reduce water runoff.
Tree roots bind the soil and their leaves break the
force of wind and rain on soil. Trees also absorb
dangerous chemicals and other pollutants that have
entered the soil. Trees can either store harmful
pollutants or change the pollutant into less harmful
forms. Thus, agroforestry practices are most suited
for sustainability of soil productivity.
Overexploitation of land resource
Heavy fertilization coupled with high
irrigation frequencies leads to soil loss, nutrient loss
and degradation of land whereas under forest cover
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December’16 - January’17
land upgradation is a continuous process. It restores
soil and conserves moisture and thus, there is a gain
from all angles. Taking advantages from both forest
and agriculture, agroforestry concept itself becomes
a profitable enterprise.
Fuelwood crisis
There is a global crisis of energy and man is
striving hard to find out some alternative source of
energy. Fuelwood is one of the established sources to
meet energy requirement. About 90% people in the
developing countries depend upon wood as source of
fuel. But in these regions deforestation is five times
more than afforestation. So the only solution is to
promote tree plantation through agroforestry.
Depletion of forest
Forest area is decreasing alarmingly due to
population growth and infrastructural developments
causing thereby environmental pollution, ecological
imbalance, global warming and climate change. The
per capita availability of forests in India is one of the
lowest, 0.08 hectares as against an average of 1.07
hectares for developed countries and 0.64 hectares
for the world as a whole. Thus, if both agriculture and
forest are integrated then farmers can very easily
adopt it as there will be no substantial reduction in
agricultural output.
LIMITATIONS OF AGROFORESTRY
l Trees in agroforestry systems often compete
with agricultural crops for light, water and
nutrients from the soil which may reduce crop
yields.
l The use of farm machines is more difficult in
the confined space in an agroforestry field.
l This system is very difficult to manage and
needs more accuracy with highly skillful
management practices.
l Increased susceptibility to pests and diseases
often leads to dependence on potentially
harmful pesticides.
l Some of the ecological functions played by the
trees in the natural forest may be lost when
trees are used in an agroforestry system.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
l Damage to food crops during tree harvest
operations.
l Trees serve as hosts to insect pest and diseases
that are harmful to agricultural crops.
.l Rapid regeneration by prolific trees which may
displace food crops and take over the entire
field.
l Agroforestry systems are very labour intensive
which may cause labour scarcity at times of
other farm activities.
l Longer period is required for tree components
to mature and acquire an economic value.
l Farmers are usually unwilling to displace food
crops with trees, especially where land is
scarce.
l Agroforestry is more complex, less understood
and more difficult to apply as compared to
monocropping.
SCOPE OF AGROFORESTRY IN INDIA
l Forest cover in the country is 67.71 million ha,
constituting 20.60% of its total geographical
area against the ideal coverage of 33.33%. Out
of this, very dense forest (>70% canopy
density) constitutes 5.44 million ha (1.66%),
moderately dense forest (40-70% canopy
density) 33.26 million ha (10.12%) and open
forest (<40% canopy density) constitutes
28.99 million ha (8.82%). The forest cover in
the hilly districts is only 35.85% compared
with the desired 66.66% area. Thus to bridge
the gap between desired and available forest
coverage in the country, agroforestry is the best
intervention.
l Areas presently not available for arable
cropping can be put to agroforestry practices.
According to the estimation of National
Wasteland Development Board, 123 million
hectare area of land is lying as wasteland in
India. The extent of degraded forests in the
country is more than 40 million ha. Besides,
about 50 million ha area is degraded due to
mining activity. These areas can be reclaimed
by adoption of suitable agroforestry practices.
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December’16 - January’17
lLarge area is available in the form of farm
boundaries and field bunds, where also
agroforestry systems can be adopted.
lSince land holding is becoming smaller and
smaller due to demographic pressure, forest
area in the vicinity of the thickly populated
villages is diminishing with increasing human
demands for fuel, fodder, small timber and
other minor products met from the forest.
Thus, by adopting agroforestry in the
community lands near the villages, the
pressure on natural forest could be greatly
reduced.
lThe agroforestry plot remains usually
productive for the farmer and generates
continuous revenue, which is not feasible in
arable land. Agroforestry also allows for the
diversification of farm activities and makes
better use of environmental resources.
lAbout 87% of the annually harvested wood in
India is used as firewood. In addition, at
present in rural India 60-80 million tonnes of
dry cow dung is utilized as fuel, equivalent to
300-400 million tonnes of freshly collected
manure. Thus, there is a vast scope to meet the
acute shortage of fuelwood through
agroforestry.
lThe grazing lands in almost all parts of the
country have to support animals beyond their
carrying capacity. Repeated grazing by
animals hardly leaves any vegetational
element to survive unless specially protected.
Inclusion of fodder tree species with suitable
grasses in the agroforestry system will check
overgrazing.
lAgroforestry provides employment with
relatively less investment and that too for
unskilled rural community. It has a tremendous
potential for rural employment generation due
to great diversity of products from
homegarden which provides opportunities for
development of small scale rural industries and
creation of off-farm employment and
marketing opportunities.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
DIFFERENT AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS
IN INDIA
Based on the nature of components,
agroforestry systems can be broadly classified into
agrisilvicultural (agricultural crops + trees),
silvipastoral (trees + forage crops), agrisilvipastoral
(agricultural crops + trees + forage crops) and other
systems like aquaforestry, mushroom in mixed tree
species and apiculture with trees. A few common
Fig.1. Gmelina arborea + Arrowroot
agroforestry systems practiced in our country are
given below.
Multispecies tree gardens
In this system of agroforestry, various kinds of
multipurpose tree species (MPTS) are grown. The
major function of this system is production of food,
fodder and wood products. Major woody species
planted in this system are Acacia catechu, Phoenix
Fig.2. Acacia mangium + Pineapple
dactifera, Artocarpus spp, Cocos nucifera,
Mangifera indica, Syzygium aromaticum, etc.
Alley cropping
Alley cropping, also known as hedgerow
intercropping, involves managing rows of closely
planted (within row) woody plants with annual crops
planted in alleys in between hedges. The primary
purpose is to maintain or increase crop yields by
improvement of the soil and microclimate and weed
control. Tree products are also obtained from the
hedgerows. Right kind of tree species is to be planted
at right spacing, with proper management to reduce
competition between trees and agricultural crops for
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December’16 - January’17
Fig.3. Acacia mangium + Aloe vera
nutrients, moisture and light. Alley cropping usually
includes leguminous trees to improve soil fertility
through nitrogen fixation. The suitable species are
Fig.4. Acacia mangium + Guinea grass
Cassia siamea, Leucaena leucocephala, Glyricidia
sepium, Calliandra calothyrsus and Sesbania
sesban.
Multipurpose trees and shrubs on field bunds
MPTs like Acacia nilotica, Acacia albida,
Casuarina equisetifolia, Azadirachta indica, Acacia
senegal, Cocos nucifera, Leucaena leucocephala
and Acacia mangium are planted on field bunds and
boundaries.
Agroforestry for fuel wood production
In this system, fuel wood species are planted in
or around agricultural lands. Tree species commonly
used as fuel wood are Acacia nilotica, Albizia
Fig.5. Aquaforestry (Coconut + Rice + Pisciculture)
lebbeck, Casuarina equisetifolia, Prosopis juliflora,
Cassia siamea, Eucalyptus tereticornis, etc.
Protein bank
In this silvipastoral system of agroforestry,
MPTs (protein-rich trees) are planted on or around
farmlands and rangelands for fodder production to
meet the feed requirements of livestock during the
fodder-deficit period in winter.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
Trees and shrubs on pasture
In this silvipastoral system of agroforestry,
MPTs are scattered irregularly or arranged according
to some systematic pattern, especially to supplement
Fig. 6. Acacia mangium + Guava + Colocasia
forage production. Perennial woody fruit crops may
also be included which is called hortisilvipastoral
system.
Home gardens
This is the oldest agroforestry practice. Home
gardens are characterized by a high species-diversity
and usually 3-4 vertical canopy strata. Many species
of trees, bushes, vegetables and other herbaceous
Fig. 7. Multistoried agroforestry
plants are grown in dense and random arrangements.
But some rational control over choice of plants, and
their spatial and temporal arrangement should be
exercised to reduce competition among the plants
and to increase the production. Most home gardens
also support a variety of animals (cow, goat, sheep,
pig) and birds (chicken, duck). Fodder and legumes
are widely grown to meet the daily fodder and feed
requirements. Thus, home gardens represent land-
use systems involving deliberate management of
multipurpose trees and shrubs in intimate association
with annual and perennial agricultural crops, and
livestock within the compounds of individual
houses, the whole crop-tree-animal unit being
intensively managed by family labour.
Apiculture with trees
In this system, various honey or nectar
producing trees frequently visited by honeybees are
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December’16 - January’17
planted on the boundary of the agricultural field. The
primary purpose of this system is to produce honey.
Api-silviculture with Eucalyptus, Glyricidia,
Fig.8. Acacia mangium in rice field bunds
Grevillea, Gmelina, Leuceana and Albizia species
were more remunerative and a good source of
generating additional farm income in rural areas.
Aquaforestry
In this system, various trees and shrubs
preferred by fish are planted on the boundary and
around fish ponds. Leaves of these trees are used as
feed for fish. The primary role of this system is fish
production and bund stabilization around fish pond.
Ex. Leucaena leucocephala, Morus alba, etc.
C O N S T R A I N T S I N A G R O F O R E S T RY
TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION
Institutional constraints
All the forest lands including hilly, deforested
and degraded lands that deserve rehabilitation
through agroforestry systems are under the
jurisdiction of state forestry departments. In many
cases, the forestry officials stick to the classical
forestry concept and regard agroforestry systems as
incompatible. They believe that farmers'
participation is neither suited nor needed. However,
people's participation through agroforestry practices
could be a potent means of restoring both protective
and productive woody vegetation in barren areas.
Government policy related constraints
In India, there is no well defined agroforestry
policy either by the state governments or the central
government. Even there is no specific policy for
felling of trees. Very often the private growers are not
allowed to harvest the trees from their own lands at
their need which discourage strongly to go for tree
cultivation. A clear-cut government policy is also
lacking for inter-state transport of forest products
including timber, small timber and other minor forest
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
products. Although tree farming requires high initial
investment and return is usually delayed there is no
policy for financial support to the tree growers or
agroforesters through nationalized banks.
Sociocultural constraints
Majority of farmers in developing countries
own or cultivate small sized farms. Their immediate
priority is food production from each inch of land.
They resist displacing food crops with trees. Farmers
prefer only high utility perennial species like
bamboo and coconuts. Agroforestry systems are also
very labour intensive which may cause scarcity at
times for other farm activities. Farm families have
traditionally developed labour strategies to use
family members at various times of the year for
different tasks. Thus, they resist changes in the
labour practices of the farming system into which
they are introduced.
Socioeconomic constraints
Social acceptability of agroforestry is very
closely linked to the economic feasibility of the
system. Direct and immediate income that can be
derived from a land-use system will be an important
criterion in the appraisal of its social acceptability.
However, a longer period is required for trees in an
agroforestry system to grow to maturity and acquire
an economic value. The traditional farmers also do
not prefer agroforestry as it requires high initial
investment and risk factors are involved for
economic returns.
Market related constraints
There are no adequate wood based enterprises
with low to medium range investments which affect
the farmers the most. Marketing is a big issue for
forest products as no privilege is allowed in tree
marketing like in case of agricultural marketing.
Usually minimum support price for the tree products
and other forest products is not fixed by any
government agency.
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December’16 - January’17
AGROFORESTRY AND THE FUTURE
National Agricultural Policy, 2000 underlines
the need for diversification in agriculture which will
ensure protection of environment, food and
livelihood securities, poverty alleviation and
mitigation of the adverse impacts of pollution and
health hazards. In spite of the limitations and
constraints, agroforestry has now been recognized as
an effective tool to meet these needs. The only
weapon that can be used in the war against hunger,
inadequate shelter and environmental degradation is
the adoption of agroforestry practices. With the
modern day crisis of shortage of land for forestry and
agriculture, agroforestry is well positioned to
provide a perfect balance and a viable solution.
Agroforestry today has become a sustainable method
to manage forest and agriculture together, while
being economically and environmentally viable.
This has the potential to reduce regional disparity,
bring desirable peace, prosperity and happiness and
ensure an optimistic future for the generations to
come. Thus, the need of the hour is to invest in further
research and development in this new science.
REFERENCES
1. A. K. Patra, Agroforestry: Principles and
Practices, 248, 2013, New India Publishing
Agency, New Delhi.
2. A. K. Patra, Science Horizon, 1, 7, 24-27, 2011.
3. A. M. Filius, Agroforestry Systems, 1, 29-39,
1982.
4. D. E. Mercer, and R. P. Miller, Agroforestry
Systems 38, 177-193, 1997.
5. K. G. Tejwani, Agroforestry in India, 233,
2001, Concept Publishing Company, New
Delhi.
6. P. K. R. Nair, An Introduction to Agroforestry,
499, 2008, Springer (India) Pvt. Ltd., New
Delhi.
7. www.overstory.org
8. www.worldagroforestry.org
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
SILVIPASTURE MODEL OF AGROFORESTRY IN AUGMENTING
FODDER PRODUCTION AND LIVELIHOOD IMPROVEMENT
S.Gunasekaran* and K.Viswanthan
This article deals with fodder production for livestock through Silvipasture model of Agroforestry.
INTRODUCTION
L ivestock rearing is one of the major
occupations in India and is making
significant contribution to the country's GDP. The
livestock population has shown a steady growth (i)
increase in the number of stall feeding based
livestock viz. buffaloes and hybrid cattle, and (ii)
increase in the number of free grazing based
livestock like goats and sheep that can survive on the
fast degrading pasture. India has a long history of
shortage of fodder for livestock which is the result of
low productivity, ruthless exploitation of available
grazing resources and preference by the farmers in
raising cash crops than fodder crops.
To overcome this shortage, growing food and
fodder crops on the same unit of land in rain fed
situations and integrating trees and grasses with crop
farming on marginal and sub marginal land with
improved technology deserve high priority. The
solution to combat the challenge of sustained food
security and meet the energy requirement for
domestic purpose lies in encouraging scientific
agroforestry techniques in available land resources.
Agroforestry will play very effective roles in the
utilisation of the natural resources in a most effective
manner for sustainable crop production and socio –
economic upliftment of farmers.
S I LV I PA S T U R E M O D E L O F A G R O -
FORESTRY
Important agroforestry models are agrisilvi
culture, silvihorti culture, silvi pasture, hortipasture,
agrisilvi pasture. One of the agroforestry models
*Institute of Animal Nutrition, Kattupakkam, Tamil Nadu,
Veterinary and Animal Sciences University Email: gunaj2
@gmail.com, / ian@tanuvas.org.in
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December’16 - January’17
namely silvipasture is commonly defined as growing
ideal / suitable combination of grasses, legumes and
preferably fodder trees for producing forage, timber
and firewood on a sustainable basis by optimizing
land productivity, conserving plants, soils and
nutrients. This system combines livestock and trees
that offer two main advantages for the animals. First,
trees modify microclimatic conditions including
temperature, water vapour content or partial
pressure, and wind speed, which can have beneficial
effects on pasture growth and animal welfare.
Second, trees also provide alternative feed resources
during periods of low forage availability.
A significant role of woody vegetation is its
contribution to a pastoral economy by providing
arboreal fodder. Among the various sources of feed
for livestock, tree fodder is the cheapest one. Tree
leaves are useful as protein supplements for ruminant
animals. So the concept of integrating the fodder
tress in the above land without affecting the cash crop
production (agroforestry system) is getting
momentum.
ANIMAL INTEGRATION STUDIES IN
AGROFORESTRY
The project AICRP on agro-forestry with
integration of livestock was initiated at Institute of
Animal Nutrition, Kattupakkam, is the only centre
where a livestock is integrated in agroforestry system
which is coordinated by National Research Centre
for Agroforestry, Jhansi, during the year 1996.
Tree Fodders
Depending on rainfall and soil fertility, fodder
trees like Acacia nilotica, Acacia leucocephala,
Albizzia lebbeck, Leucaena leucocephala, Lannea
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
coromandalica could be integrated in silvipasture.
These trees / shrubs grow well even under drought
conditions and produce fodder in two years. About
10 MT of leaf fodder can be obtained annually from
trees raised in one hectare. The shrubs like Leucaena
leucocephala, Gliricidia etc could be harvested for
leaf fodder for 6-7 times annually. As leaves and pods
of Acacia trees contain about 11-15% of crude
protein, such fodders are very good for livestock,
especially sheep and goat.
Pasture grasses
Cenchrus grass can also be grown in rainfed
condition between the fodder trees. They can be
raised with seeds or slips. As seeds fall down and
grow on their own, no reseeding is required. Initially,
about 7-10 kg of seeds is required per hectare. This
grass yields forage of about 15-20 t/ha. As it contains
9% crude protein and sufficient amounts of calcium,
it is a good source of green fodder for livestock.
Leguminous plants like Stylosanthus can also be
integrated along with fodder trees. About 20-25 kg of
seeds is needed per hectare. About 10-20 MT of
forage per hectare can be obtained in drylands. This
fodder contains 18-20% of crude protein.
In silvipasture, it is possible to get about 18-20
MT of green fodder per hectare by integrating
Cenchrus with Stylosanthus together with fodder
trees. With this about 12-16 sheep/goat can be raised
annually which will fetch Rs. 36,000 income per
hectare to the farmers.
Animal integration
Browse from trees and shrubs plays an
important role in feeding ruminants in many parts of
the World, particularly in the tropics, and there has
been considerable research into the nutritional
potential and limitations of many tropical fodder
species3. Feeding mixture of tree leaves containing
equal proportion of Albizia lebbeck, Ficus
bengalensis and Leuceana leucocephala along with
green grass at 1:1 ratio significantly improves the
feed efficiency by 27 percent in sheep. Mixed
silvipasture (Leucaena leucocephala, Gliricidia
sepium, Azadirachta indica, Stylosanthus) system
was able to support about 53g of daily weight gain in
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December’16 - January’17
sheep when compared to 35g daily weight gain in
natural grazing land without supplementation.
Leuceana leucocephala leaves and grass were fed at
50% level each, the sheep gained 49.1 g body weight
per day against 41.5g when fed with grass alone.
ECOLOGICAL BENEFITS
Alternate land use systems such as
agroforestry, agro-horticultural, agro-pastoral, and
agro silvipasture are more effective for soil organic
matter restoration4. Tree -based agro ecosystems
have more closed nutrient cycles that help conserve
soil productivity. Planting and pruning N-fixing
legumes is a feasible way to add nitrogen to the
systems .There is robust evidence that agroforestry
systems have potential for improving water use
efficiency by reducing the unproductive components
of the water balance6. Trees and shrubs in
agroforestry models play a vital role in maintaining
an ecological balance and improving the livelihood
of people in the arid regions. These prevent soil
erosion supply, forage for livestock and act as source
of fuel wood and timber.
LIVELIHOOD IMPROVEMENT
The livelihoods improvement through natural
resource management seeks to understand individual
or household strategies through which they make
long term progress towards a better quality of life2,5.
The adverse impact of climate change may be more
severely felt by poor people who are more vulnerable
than rich. Appropriate policy responses combining
the agro ecosystems as key assets can strengthen
adaptation and help build the resilience of
communities and households to local and global
change1. It has been shown in different studies that
the multiple use silvipastoral system is more
economically attractive in addition to multiple
ecological benefits. Leucaena leucocephala
,Gliricidia sepium and Cenchrus ciliaris silvipasture
in dry land yielded 10.47 t dry fodder biomass/ha.
When 30 lambs were fed with the fodder harvested
from silvipasture for 9 months, the growth rate of
lambs was increased by 68% and the animal holding
capacity was increased by 50% as compared to
natural grazing land. By integrating the livestock
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
with agroforestry the farmers can improve their
livelihood by increase in their revenue.
CONCLUSION
l Popularising the agroforestry models among
farmers can reduce the fodder shortage crisis
for livestock
l Agroforestry model can bring about better
livelihood in farmers.
REFERENCES
1. AFD, ADB, DFID et al., Poverty and Climate
Change: Reducing the Vulnerability of the
Poor Through Adaptation, DFID, London,
2003.
2. B. M. Campbell and J. A. Sayer (eds.),
Integrated Natural Resource Management:
Linking Productivity, the Environment and
Development, CABI Publishing, Wallingford,
UK, 315 pp, 2003.
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3. C. Devendra, Nutritional potential of fodder
trees and shrubs as protein sources in ruminant
nutrition. In: Speedy, A., Pugliese, P.L. (Eds.),
Legume Trees and Other Fodder Trees as
Protein Sources for Livestock. FAO, Rome,
1992.
4. M. C. Manna, P. K. Ghosh and C. L. Acharya,
Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 21, 87-
116, 2003.
5. J. N. Pretty, J. I. L. Morison, and R. E. Hine,
Agricultural Ecosystem Environment, 95,
217-234, 2003.
6. N.C Turner, and P.R. Ward, Agricultural.
Water Management, 53, 271-275, 2002.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

PROSPECTS OF NONI CULTIVATION IN NORTH EAST INDIA

TN Manohara, Jesminwara Begum and Gayatri Gogoi

Morinda citrifolia L. popularly known as 'Noni' is an important food and medicinal plant. It contains
about 196 nutraceuticals and has good antioxidant potential. It is reported to have antidiabetic,
anticancer, anti arthritis properties and help to reduce the blood pressure. Rain Forest Research Institute
has introduced some elite planting materials of noni from Central Agricultural Research Institute
(CARI), Port Blair in Assam, Mizoram and Tripura and they are showing promising results. North East
India has a rich diversity of medicinal plants and a majority of the rural population depends largely on
herbal medicines. As noni has huge market potential and health benefit, promoting its cultivation and
consumption of noni juice will help the farmers to increase their income on the one hand and also gain
health benefits.

INTRODUCTION

M orinda citrifolia L. (Noni) Family:

Rubiaceae is an important food and
medicinal plant, native to Indonesia and Australia.
Noni has a long history related to medical uses in
Southeast Asian countries. In India it is found
naturally in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is
introduced to Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and
Andhra Pradesh. Different parts of the plant such as
leaves, stem and roots are used as medicine. In
Polynesia and Southeast Asia it is used to cure cough,
cold, pain, liver disease, malaria and blood pressure1.
Considering the medicinal value of the plant,
National Medicinal Plant Board, Govt. of India, has
included noni in the list of plants approved for
cultivation. Noni is found to contain 196
nutraceutical compounds, is rich in health attributes
as antioxidant, antidiabetic, anticancer and has
vitamins and amino acids. Noni is also useful for
relieving the misery of rheumatoid arthritis. There is
a great demand for noni products- noni juice, noni
capsules and noni creams in the market and their cost
is very high. Noni juice is available in market for @
Rs. 1500/- per 800 ml. In North East India there is no
commercial cultivation of noni. NE India with
tropical humid climate is very much suitable for noni
cultivation.
Rain Forest Research Institute, Jorhat, Assam -785001. Email:
manohara_tn@yahoo.com
Recently, under National Medicinal Plant
Board, New Delhi funded project Rain Forest
Research Institute, Jorhat, has introduced some elite
clones of noni from Central Agricultural Research
Institute (CARI), Port Blair in Assam, Mizoram and
Tripura. The plants are showing promising results.
RFRI has standardized the nursery techniques and
developed package of practice of noni cultivation. As
noni is new to this region, RFRI is making efforts to
popularize noni among the local populace and to
promote noni cultivation in NE India.
PROPAGATION OF NONI
Noni is propagated through seeds or stem
cuttings.
NURSERY AND CULTURAL PRACTICES
Seed collection and storage:
Noni fruits are climacteric and mature on plant
itself. Only soft, ripened noni fruits should be chosen
for seed collection. The seeds must be separated from
the fibrous fruit flesh by rubbing the fruit fragments
and vigorous washing with water. One kg of fruit
yields around 200g of clean seeds. Noni seeds are
reddish-brown, oblong-triangular, and have a
conspicuous air chamber. They are buoyant and
hydrophobic due to this air chamber and their
durable, water-repellent, fibrous seed coat. The seed

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 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
coat is very tough, relatively thick, and covered with
cellophane-like parchment layers. Germination
percentage ranges from 65-90%. The viability of the
seeds can be prolonged for one year if stored in
sealed bottles and kept in refrigerator.
Seed treatment: Mechanically scarified seeds
treated with 800 ppm GA3 for 24 h will shows 80-
85% germination in 20-30 days. Nursery beds with
Sand: Soil: FYM in 1:2:1 ratio will be ideal. 30 days
old seedlings (~10 cm in height) can be transplanted
to the poly bags with sand: soil: FYM in 1:1:1 ratio.
Vegetative propagation: Semi-hard stem cuttings
(5-7cm dia, 12-18cm length with 2-3 nodes) with a
dip in IBA (4000 ppm) for 15-30 seconds shows good
rooting and shooting in about 3-4 weeks. 90-120
days old seedlings (20-25cm height) and cuttings are
ideal for field transfer. The best season for planting is
May-July.
RAISING OF PLANTATIONS
Noni cultivation
Soil: Noni can be grown in a variety of soils and
environmental conditions except water-logging and
frost. Well drained sandy loam soil rich in humus is
ideal.
Climate & Temperature: Noni can be grown in
wide climatic conditions such as tropical,
subtropical, dry and humid climates. It comes up
very well between 20-38oC temperatures. It can be
grown from sea level to 2000 m above mean sea
level.
Planting Season: The ideal season for planting is
May to September or it can be planted in February to
April where irrigation facilities are available.
Plantation practices
Planting design: Block planting at 3m x 3m spacing
is preferable. Needs about 1111 seedling / hectare
and pit size is 1 cubic foot (length x width x height).
Preparatory Cultivation: Ploughing and leveling
the land to optimum field condition is necessary.
Irrigation: Noni plant thrives with moderate
irrigation and can survive even in drought conditions
once the plant is established. Regular irrigation
301
December’16 - January’17
during the early stage of the planting enables the
plant to establish better.
Weeding: It can be controlled by intercropping and
weeding when necessary.
Harvest: Noni plant starts flowering 8-10 months
after planting. Seed raised plants will start flowering
and fruiting after 3 years. But it is suggested for
removing all the flowers up to 18 months for better
growth and bushy plant. Flowering and fruiting
occurs from April to November. But 60% of the yield
will be from August to October. Noni Plant (3 years
old) is capable of giving up to 5-7 kg/plant under
ideal cultivation as observed in RFRI noni
plantation. It is a perennial crop and gives yield up to
40 years and yield will be maximum during 10-25
years age (as observed in other parts of India). Noni
fruits can be harvested when they change their colour
from green to yellowish green or creamy white.
Fruits are at this stage harvested by hand picking the
individual fruits with pedicel from the branches.
Noni fruits do not bruise or damage easily and need
not be refrigerated.
Nutrient management: Noni requires only limited
application of fertilizers. Use of 20-30 kg Neem cake
and compost per hectare in two doses per annum
once during February – March and again in
September-October will be effective.
INTERCROPS
Noni cultivation should be purely organic. In
order to diversify the income sources as well as
permit polycultural options it is suggested to grow
beneficial companion crops and / or intercrops which
do not demand pesticide- insecticide application.
Depending upon their tolerance to root and light
competition, the compatible crops can be grown.
Farmers are suggested to grow intercrops such as
Areca nut, Ginger, Turmeric, Stevia, Gymnema,
which are used as additives in various beverages and
also the rare wild fruit plants like Flacourtia
jangamos, Garcinia semialata, Dimocarpous
longan, Rhus semialata on the bunds, as they are in
great demand, thereby helping in conservation and
sustainable utilization of bioresources.
 Everyman’s Science
PESTS, DISEASES AND THEIR.......
MANAGEMENT
Plant protection: Noni is resistant to pests and
diseases. Grass-hoppers, larvae of moths and
coleopteran beetles are the common insect-pests
encountered which feed on leaves. The damage is
negligible. Regular weeding and application of neem
cake and sprinkling with neem cake soaked water
will help to deter the pests. In case of severe attack of
insect-pest neem oil (15ml/L+ 2-3 drops of
detergent) spray will be effective.
DISEASES OF NONI
Noni anthracnose
Pathogen: Colletotrichum sps.
Symptoms
Large expanding leaf spots with dark to tan centres
and diffuse irregular margins. Infected leaves may
drop prematurely. Fruits and stems are not
susceptible to infection.
DISEASE DISTRIBUTION
This disease is likely to become established
wherever noni is grown in areas that receive frequent
or high rainfall.
Epidemiology
Noni anthracnose is favoured by warm, wet weather
and high relative humidity. The fungal spores are
dispersed primarily by wind and splashing rain
water.
Control: Sanitation, moisture and humidity
management, protective spray applications of
approved fungicides and avoiding spread of
pathogen through hands and tools during harvest
operations.
BLACK FLAG OF NONI
Pathogen: Phytophthora sps.
Symptoms: Severely diseased plants have
characteristic “black flags” wherein the blackened,
wilted, or completely necrotic leaves hang from
blackened petiole and stems. Advanced fruit
infections may result in dry, shrivelled fruit
“mummies”, they may have a fuzzy or silvery
surface.
Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17
DISEASE DISTRIBUTION
Black flag outbreaks occur during prolonged
periods of wet weather. The disease subsides during
dry spells. Water congestion of tissues enhances
infection and disease development. Sporangia and
zoospores of the pathogen are dispersed between
plants by flowing water. Noni plants can recover
from the disease during dry periods by resprouting
new growth from previously diseased stems.
Epidemiology
Phytohthora has the ability to infect plants during
very wet periods and to survive over dry periods by
producing oospores.
Control: By integrated cultural and preventive
methods such as pruning, sanitation, avoidance, and
an appropriate cropping system, providing good air
circulation to ensure rapid drying of leaves and fruits,
by maintaining wider spacing between the plants;
reducing relative humidity; planting of disease-free
plants; maintaining good plant nutrition and foliar
spray application of phosphorous acid.
MINERAL NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY......
DISEASES
Molybdenum (Mo) deficiency: Narrow leaves
with interveinal yellowing on older leaves.
Treatment: application of Ammonium molybdate /
Sodium molybdate.
ECONOMICS OF CULTIVATION
Output /Return:
Harvest starts from 24th month onwards (seed
raised plants) with increased fruit yield year after
year. Noni plant yields up to 40 plus years. Noni is a
highly profitable crop compared to other commercial
orchard crops like mango, sapota, etc.
Table. 1. Estimated yield of noni plants
Month Yield per tree
Up to 24 months No
nd 5 - 6 kg
2 year
rd 10 - 15 kg
3 year
th 15 - 20 kg
4 year
th 25 - 30 kg
5 year
302
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

Table 2. Estimated expenditure of noni cultivation per hectare of land

Planting Land Manure Weeding Total Total Total Profit
cost preparation (Compost and expenditure values of values of (?)
Seedling and + Neem watering fruits (? ) Juice
@ making cake 2:1 02 labours (? ) (? )
? 10/- plot ratio 500 once in 15
and ready; pit - 1000g days= 40
transpor- digging per plant labours
tation and in two (Winter
planting dose. months
cost. (20 Neem- Dec. -
labours cake ? January
@ ? 300/-) 40/- Kg) weeding
not
required).
1st year ? 15,000 ? 6,000 ? 15,000 ? 12,000 ? 48,000 Nil NA (-)
? 48,000
2nd NIL NIL ? 15,000 ? 12,000 ? 27,000 Nil NA (-)
Year ? 27,000
3rd Year NIL NIL ? 15,000 ? 12,000 ? 27,000 5500 kg 500-600 (+)
onwards fruit @ L juice ? 3,13,000
? 1,10,000 ? 20 per valued at
(procuring kg ? 7,25,000
of fruits) ? 1,10,000
? 2,00,000
(Transporta
tion, value-
addition
and
marketing).

UTILITY AND POTENTIALS
Noni is distributed in more than 50 countries
across the globe. Its health benefits have been
realized by millions of consumers. All parts of noni
are marketed as different products sold as noni juice,
soap, capsules, cosmetics etc. Over 200 companies
are marketing the noni products. As there is
substantial profit to the farmers who cultivate noni, it
can be considered as blessing for the farmers of all
categories. Noni is one of most important botanical
and dietary supplement traded in international
market. Noni is considered as miracle drug plant.
Different parts of the tree, including the fruit, have
been used traditionally as a folk remedy for many
diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and cancer 2,4.
The Polynesians utilized the whole Noni plant in
various combinations for herbal remedies5,6 such as
arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, muscle aches
and pains, menstrual difficulties, headaches, heart
disease, AIDS, cancers, gastric ulcers, sprains,
mental depression, senility, poor digestion,
antherosclerosis, blood vessel problems and drug
addiction. The damnacanthol, a compound found in
noni is able to regulate certain types of malignancies.
Noni also finds application in treatment of arthritis,
as a pain reliever and as detoxifier. Noni proved that
it is the most powerful antioxidant because it
contains all the antioxidant vitamins like vitamin-A,
vitamin-E, vitamin-C, and rich with antioxidant
betacarotenoids.

303
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
BIOPROSPECTING AND DEVELOPMENT
OF TECHNOLOGIES
Preparation of Noni juice:
Freshly harvested ripened fruit can be directly
used for the preparation of juice or it can be subjected
to fermentation/aging to give good quality juice.
Freshly picked noni fruits after washing are allowed
to air dry and they are processed for juice. Fruit juice
is extracted by crushing the fruit pieces and straining
the pulp through muslin cloth. The Total Dissolved
Salt (TDS) can be recorded with TDS meter and
adjusted <500 ppm with suitable dilution. The pH of
juice is to be recorded with pH meter. The pH of juice
shall be 3 to 4. If the pH of the juice is >5 it indicates
contamination. Product development, value addition
and by product utilization and developing quality
standards needs to be looked. The ripe fruit is
characterised by a large amount of carboxylic acids,
304
December’16 - January’17
Noni Juice Preparation
Fresh ripened fruit
Washing with clean water and surface sterilizing with ozone
Air dying at room temperature
Storage in air tight glass container for 3-6 months
Filtration
Noni Juice ready to use- after dilution and value addition
Flow chart of Noni juice preparation.
especially octanoic and hexanoic acids. During aging
a large percentage of the over-ripe fruit simply
disappears into the juice; the residual fruits are
mashed into a puree, and the juice is filtered to
remove any remaining sediment. The dark brown
juice is then ready for use. The changes which take
place during the fermentation/aging process are
gradual. The major acids, octanoic and hexanoic,
and methyl esters gradually decrease in their
concentration, while alcohols and ethyl, butyl and
hexyl esters increase during the process. At 60 days
there occurs stability in the composition (volatile
compounds). The noni juice contains a low amount
of oil, simple sugars mainly glucose and fructose and
traces of sucrose besides many minerals, alkaloids,
active molecules and protein.
CONCLUSION
The cultivation of Noni in NE India has a huge
potential to generate livelihood and impart health
benifits to the local populace. However, there is need
for greater support from all stakeholders, farmers,
NGOs and other enthusiasists in popularisation and
large scale cultivation Noni in NE India.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3. Y.C. Blanco, et al. Journal of food Composition

The authors are grateful to the National and Analysis, 19, 645-654.
Medicinal Plant Board, New Delhi, for providing 4. O. Potterat and M. Hamburger, Planta Med,
grant-in-aid to carry out the research work on Noni. 73, (3), 191-199, 2007.
Thanks are due to Director, RFRI, for the 5. M.Y. Wang, et al. Acta Pharmacologica Sinica,
unwavering support and facilities. 23, 1127-1141.
REFERENCES 6. W. McClatchey, Integrative Cancer Therapies,
1, 110–120, 2002.
1. A.R. Dixon, H., McMillen and N.L. Etkin,
Ecological Botany, 53, 51–68, 1999.
2. S. Sang, et al. Chemical components in noni
fruits and leaves (Morinda citrifolia L.). p. 134-
150. (ACS Symposium Series, 803) ACS
Publications, Washington: 2002.

305
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
MOLECULES BEHIND FLOWERING
Sanjukta Mondal Parui* and Amal Kumar Mondal**
Florigen the flowering hormone has long bedeviled and tantalized our scientists. Earnest efforts are being
made to identify and characterize this flowering stimulus. The following paper reports the recent
developments into the identity of the chemical nature of this floral stimulus, the mechanism of its
functioning and the genetic basis of flowering.
INTRODUCTION
A mong God's most beautiful creations are the
colourful flowers blooming around us,
adding to the ecstatic beauty of our surroundings. But
what is it that makes the buds bloom? Is it 'Florigen' –
the signal that causes plants to flower? The identity
of this putative stimulus - 'Florigen' is still one of the
closely guarded secrets of Nature.
The subject of flowering has long fascinated
our scientists because of its considerable theoretical
as well as practical significance. Understanding the
flowering concepts has immense importance in
agriculture, as flowers are the precursors of fruits. If
flowering can be controlled, plants can be
manipulated to remain in the vegetative or flowering
state. Not only that, flowering can be accelerated,
which can eventually lead to a much shorter growing
season, an important advance for plant breeders as
well as growers. Last but not the least, understanding
flowering has no doubt immense significance for the
floriculture industry.
Florigen is the term used for the hypothesized
hormone-like molecules that control and/or trigger
flowering in plants. Florigen was first described by
Russian plant physiologist Mikhail Chailakhyan in
1937, who demonstrated that floral induction can be
transmitted through a graft from an induced plant
(flowering plant) to one that has not been induced to
2 Box 1. The effect of a brief exposure of red light
flower (non-flowering plant) .He first coined the
name 'florigen' and it was 46 years later that he
*Department of Zoology, Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata-700
017, Email: sanjuktaparui@gmail.com,**Department of Botany
& Forestry, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore-72112, Email:
amalcaebotvu@gmail.com,
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December’16 - January’17
patented a method of extracting florigens. However
in spite of his prolific scientific effort, he did not
succeed in the chemical identification of florigen.
The question that arises now is what exactly is
florigen? Is it a peptide, a protein, a nucleic acid, or
any other molecule? Is it synthesized as such or as a
larger precursor? Is it modified later after synthesis
or does it consist of two molecules? The only thing
that we knew about the florigen hypothesis is that
sunlight invokes a leaf-generated stimulus and there
is simultaneous availability of an active meristem for
evocation and flower induction. Thus, an analysis of
the phloem sap could give an answer to our queries.
Recent advances and development of new
sophisticated and sensitive techniques such as
microbore, capillary HPLCs (high performance
liquid chromatography) and mass spectrometers
have helped in detection and identification of small
molecules, peptides, proteins and nucleic acids apart
from sugars in the phloem.
during dark and light periods on flowering in a
short day plant.
Majority of the grafting experiments in
Nicotiana sp. proved the existence of florigen – the
signal necessary for stimulation of flowering or for
suppression of flower formation, and generated
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
within the leaves. Nicotiana sylvestris is a long day
plant and Nicotiana tabacum var. Maryland
Mammoth (M.M.) is a short day plant. Most other
6
Nicotiana tabacum species are day – neutral . It was
found that if N. sylvestris was cultivated under short-
day conditions, it did not flower. However if a leaf of
N. tabacum M.M., that was cultivated under short-
day conditions is grafted to N. sylvestris, then it was
stimulated to flower. This result shows that the leaf of
N. tabacum M.M. had produced a substance that was
transferred to the recipient N. sylvestris after
grafting, and that caused its flower formation. This
proved the existence of florigen. Similar results were
obtained by grafting leaves of N. sylvestris grown
under long day conditions on to N. tabacum M.M.
cultivated under long day conditions. Not only this,
experiments with other species from several other
genera also yielded similar results.
Box 2. Structure of the Pr and Pfr forms of the
chromophore (phytochromobilin) of phyto-
chrome and the peptide region bound to the
chromophore through a thioether linkage.The
chromophore undergoes a cis-trans isomerization
at carbon 15 in response to red and far-red light.
Plants use the phytochrome system to sense
day length or photoperiod. Many flowering plants
use this system to regulate the time of flowering
based on the length of day and night
(photoperiodism) and to set circadian rhythms.
Phytochrome is a pigment, which acts as a
photoreceptor, and the plant uses it to detect light. It
is sensitive to light in the red and far-red region of the
visible spectrum. Two isoforms of phytochrome
have been identified5. These are Pr (inactive form)
and Pfr (active form). Phytochrome is synthesized in
the Pr form in plants. The Pr isoform absorbs red light
(at 660 nm) while the Pfr form absorbs far-red light
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December’16 - January’17
Box 3. Structure of the phytochrome dimer, based
on a type of X-ray scattering that does not require
crystallization. The monomers are labeled I and
II. Each monomer consists of a chromophore-
binding domain (A) and a smaller protein domain
(B). The molecule as a whole has an ellipsoidal
rather than globular shape.
(at 730 nm). The chromophore of phytochrome
absorbs light, and as a result changes conformation,
thereby changing from one isoform to the other.
During the day, as sunlight contains a lot of red light,
the Pr form is converted to Pfr form. Alternatively,
during night, as moonlight produces a greater
percentage of far-red light than sunlight, Pfr form is
slowly converted into its inactive Pr form. Thus more
phytochrome is converted to its inactive form in a
longer night, allowing the plant to measure the length
of the night. This is how phytochromes helps in.
detecting the length of day and night. The
phytochromes are synthesized in the cytosol as Pr,
which is inactive. When Pr form is converted to its
Pfr form on light illumination, it is translocated to the
cell nucleus. This implies that Pfr passes on a signal
to other biological systems in the cell and has a role in
controlling gene expression.
So the florigen hypothesis implicates three
crucial factors for flowering. Firstly, the synthesis of
floral stimulus, which is synthesized in a cyclic way
in the leaves. Secondly, the preponderance of the
floral stimulus over the flower inhibitors. After the
onset of the floral cycle, flowering is delayed or
prevented if the inhibition activity is stronger than
the stimulus. Thirdly, the activity of the bud in
synchrony with the floral cycle. The role of
phytochromes thus being established, the question
that now arises is, what exactly is this floral stimulus
or florigen?
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
Box 4. The absorbance spectra of the two isoforms
of Phytochrome (Pr and Pfr).
Studies of Anton Lang and others in the 1950s,
put forward gibberellins (GAs), a candidate for
florigen. However this view of the role of
gibberellins as floral stimuli, has been disputed on
the grounds that flowering occurred under conditions
where there was no stem elongation, thus no
gibberellin action. However measurements of the
changes in endogenous content of gibbererellin at the
minute apex of the grass shoot of Lolium
temulentum 4, support the claim that gibberellins are
at least one of the floral stimuli in long day flowering
responses. Of the various bioactive gibberellins Ga5
and GA6 have been found to meet the requirements
to be called floral stimuli in grasses and increase in
the apex at the time of long day – induced floral
evocation. Later Chailakhyan proposed two classes
of flowering hormones in his florigen hypothesis.
These include gibberellins and anthesin. He
postulated that during noninducing photoperiods,
long-day plants produce anthesin, but no gibberellin
while short-day plants produce gibberellin, but no
anthesin. The floral stimuli are generated in the
leaves and move to the shoot apex where they evoke
flowering. Although the florigen hypothesis has been
tested in several herbaceous, photoperiod-sensitive
species, this hypothesis has not been generally
accepted for the woody perennial species because
flowering in trees is regulated in several ways
different from the herbaceous annuals. However,
strongest support for the florigen hypothesis in tree
fruits has been provided in mango. Experiments have
shown that vegetative receptors of several cultivars
can be graft-induced to flower in off-season by
grafting on donor, off-season cultivars. The flower-
inducing stimulus has been found to emanate from
the leaves to the donor.
308
December’16 - January’17
A major breakthrough in the identification of
florigen has recently come from the studies of Brian
Ayre, a faculty member at the University of North
Fig. 1. The mystic beauty of the rose in full bloom.
Texas and his postdoctoral advisor, Robert Turgeon,
Cornell professor of plant biology. According to a
report published by them in the journal Plant
Physiology in the August, 2004 issue, a plant protein
CONSTANS may be the signal florigen or plays an
important role in generating the signal. Turgeon's
research focus has been to understand how
molecules move in the phloem1. He was working
with the promoter of the galactinol synthase gene, a
genetic factor that drives expression of genes
specifically in the vein of the leaf so that they can
enter the phloem. Their studies involved two
approaches, from which they finally concluded that
Fig. 2. The full bloomed flower of Hibiscus
flowering almost round the year
CONSTANS is a signal involved in flowering. In the
first approach, they introduced a copy of the
CONSTANS gene under the control of the galactinol
synthase promoter, which causes the protein to be
synthesized only in a leaf, into an Arabidopsis plant
in which all CONSTANS protein had been
abolished. They found that CONSTANS was
synthesized in the Arabidopsis plant and had a
dramatic effect on flowering. Their results suggest
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
that either CONSTANS is moved to the site of
flowering through phloem or CONSTANS reacts
with another factor inside the phloem that is
transported to the site of flowering. In the second
approach they grafted Arabidopsis plants that
contained no CONSTANS protein onto plants
synthesizing CONSTANTS in their leaves. They
found that CONSTANS or another factor that it
interacts with moved through the graft junction to
signal flowering in parts of the plant that previously
did not contain any of the protein. From these studies
it is clear that CONSTANS, or another downstream
factor such as a protein called FT with which it reacts,
is an important factor in generating the flowering
signal.
Fig. 3a. The seasonal flowers of (a) Chrysanthimum-
short day plant.
Flowering is thus caused by a stimulus
generated in the leaves in a cyclic way. This stimulus
is transmitted across phloem to the site of flowering.
The actual result depends on qualitative/ quantitative
strength of the inhibitory and promontory factors.
Sunlight is one of the common factors necessary for
the synthesis of the floral stimulus and the inhibitory
factors seem to be the light. However, light effect is
Fig. 3b. The seasonal flowers of Dahlia – short day
plant.
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December’16 - January’17
non photosynthetic. The floral stimulus is labile and
during the floral cycle if the buds are not active to
perceive it, they escape the stimulus resulting only in
vegetative flush later. Florigen thus conducted to the
shoot meristems stimulates them to pass
fromvegetative growth to flower formation .
Fig. 4. The buds of Fuchsia hybrida- yet to receive
the message to flower.
Florigen is not species- specific. It can be easily
transferred to members of the same species, or from
members of one genus to members of different
genera. Florigen is also physiologically not specific.
It can be easily exchanged between short-day, long-
day and day-neutral plants. It also seems quite likely
that another transferable substance called
antiflorigen, which appear to be an antagonist of
florigen, exists in several long-day plants that is
produced under short-day conditions and suppresses
flower formation.
There is another aspect to this flowering
process, which cannot be overlooked. One may
wonder how plants know that it is time to bloom. This
question has also long baffled plant scientists. From
the genetic point of view, two phenotypic changes
that control vegetative and floral growth are
programmed in the plant. The first genetic change
involves the switch over from vegetative to floral
state and the second involves the commitment of the
plant to form flowers. This sequential development
of the various organs of the flower suggests that there
exists a genetic mechanism, in which a series of
genes are turned on and off sequentially. Coming to
the first genetic change i.e. switch over from
vegetative to floral state, scientists have reported a
gene VIN3 in the plant Arabidopsis, which is widely
used as a model organism in plant biology and
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
genetics. This VIN3 gene is expressed only after
plants are exposed to cold i.e. to conditions effective
for vernalization. Once activated, the gene starts the
process of vernalization whereby the plant becomes
competent to flower after exposure to cold. This
suggests that VIN3 gene functions as an alarm clock
rousing biennial plants to bloom. Similarly scientists
at CSIRO Plant Industry have recently identified a
gene called WAP1, which is the major gene
responsible for determining the timing of flowering
in cereal crops, like wheat and barley. Likewise FLC
gene is the master flowering gene that operates in the
Brassica family including canola and mustard. Both
WAP1 and FLC genes respond to information about
the plants developmental stage and external
environmental conditions like temperature changes
and day length, to determine when to trigger
flowering. Coming to the second aspect i.e.
commitment of the plant to form flowers, similar
responsible genes have also been identified,
Fig. 5. A flowering twig of Fuchsia hybrida showing
both the buds and a flower in full bloom.
particularly in Arabidopsis3. Researchers have
identified a mutant in Arabidopsis called LEAFY,
which do not develop floral meristems and when the
commitment to a floral meristem is made, flower
develop but they partially resemble normal flowers.
The flowers contain sepal and carpel-like structures
but lack petals and stamens. This suggests that the
LEAFY gene is responsible not only for the floral
meristem development but also for the development
310
December’16 - January’17
of petals and stamens. An analogous gene of LEAFY
has been identified in snapdragon called floricaula
(flo). The flo mutants fail to undergo the transition
from inflorescence to floral meristem and the flowers
have the appearance of an inflorescence shoot.
Similar other mutants have also been discovered like
Fig.6. Arabidopsis- A plant Guinea pig.
CAULIFLOWER, APETALA1, etc., which do not
show the normal floral development.
With so many questions yet to be answered and
with such a wide lacunae still remaining in the
physiology of flowering, the search for florigen and
its identity has thus become the 'holy grail' for our
plant scientists.
REFERENCES
1. B.G. Ayre and R. Turgeon, Plant Physiology,
135, 2271–2278, 2004.
2. M. K. Chaïlakhyan, Biologia Plantarium,
27,4–5, 292–302, 1985.
3. D. H. Kim, and S. Sung, Plant Cell, 25, 2,
454-69, 2013.
4. K. E. King, T. Moritz, and N.P. Harberd,
Genetics, 159, 2, 767-76, 2001.
5. T. S. Walker, and J.L. Bailey, Biochem J. Apr;
107, 4, 603–605, 1968.
6. J. A. D. Zeevaart, Annual Review of Plant
Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology 27,
321–348, 1976.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
NON APPAREL USES OF TEXTILE – A DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVE
Madhu Sharan
Textile has been invented, researched, modified for apparels initially. Its versatility has extended the
application to many other areas. This article gives an over view of the non apparel use of the textiles.
INTRODUCTION
“T extile is a global text which has the extra
style of applications in all fields-feel it and
endure it”. Mankind knows textiles by generations.
The history of textiles can be traced back to the age
when human beings tried to cover their body for
safety and protection- even well before the
production of fabrics and other products started on
machines. On a broad outlook it appears that textiles
have no application other than apparel purposes. The
time of thinking fibres as a source of producing
clothing and home textile products is still vibrant in
the market, however, the wave of innovation is
inundating higher. Land, water and air all are
witnessing the fascinating services of textiles1 .
Today, it is one of the gigantic disciplines of product
development for non-apparel applications. In terms
of the material performance, textiles can be seen
working at the interdisciplinary level by offering the
several technical advantages that may not be
accumulated in a single material traditionally known.
But as a matter of fact, there are also non-apparel uses
of textiles such as technical applications.
Textile materials are generally lightweight,
flexible and unique in many ways as compared to
other materials. Most importantly, they are
omnipresent in our lives. Textiles are necessary next
to our skin as well as in our environment. They are
used for comfort and protection as well as for
fashion. All the textile materials possess some type of
performance and function2. Performance is generally
defined as the resistance against a physical
Clothing and Textiles Department, Faculty of Family and
Community Sciences, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of
Baroda, Vadodara, E-mail : madhusharan @ yahoo.co.in
311
December’16 - January’17
stimulus ad /or chemical stimulus caused by different
constraints. On the other hand function is the action
of induction or conversation of quality under the
influence of an outer stimulus. Today applications of
textiles have crossed many barriers beyond the
regular use which man never expected. What has
turned the textile materials to be in demanding
position for out of home articles? It is the functional
character in producing the desired performance.
There are several factors supporting the increased
consumption of textiles in special applications. Over
the past several decades, textile fibres have captured
an inevitable position in composition and as an
integral part of product structure. In the near future,
almost all textile products including what we wear
and walk on, seem destined to be transformed from
their present to multifunctional, adaptive and
responsive systems. It is well known that textiles
have their own language that is tactile, sensorial as
well as visual, which textile and fashion designers
have traditionally exploited to engineer or express a
look, a concept or idea, by carefully composing and
manipulating the many facets of its special
vocabulary.
All textile materials possess some type of
performance and function. Based on the performance
and function, the textiles can be classified into four
categories, which are;
1) Apparel textiles,
2) Home textiles,
3) Interior textiles,
4) Technical textiles.
Textiles that is primarily used for its
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
performance or functional not for its appearance or
aesthetic is known as technical textile3. The market
of technical textile is significant and expanding as
the products are being put to and even increasing
umber of end uses in various industries. Technical
textiles in the form of fabrics account for about
70%of product consumption. Of this, nonwovens
have the lion's share due to their better economy and
suitability for varied applications. Fiberfill is popular
for residential and industrial applications where
unspun fibers are used. Only about 29% of technical
textiles manufactured worldwide are made from
natural fibers such as cotton, silk and wool. The rest
is from man-made/organic fibers. The projected
global market size of technical textile by 2010 is in
the region of $20-$130 billion. The technical textiles
industry is growing. The textile industry
developed countries are focusing on technical
textiles for high-specification products partly in
response to the approaching end of the multi-fiber
arrangement. The integration of smart functionality
into clothing and other textile products will
fundamentally change cultures of clothing and
interior products. As an emerging economic power,
India has tremendous potential for production,
consumption and export of technical textiles.
Presently technical textiles are classified into 13
groups as per their field of application. They are:
1. Agriculture and forestry,
2. Air and space,
3. Armaments and defense,
4. Construction,
5. Engineering works,
6. Fisheries and marine,
7. Health and medicine,
8. Information and communication,
9. Packaging and conveyance,
10. Production,
11. Traffic and transport,
12. Sport and leisure,
13. Smart textiles.
December’16 - January’17
AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY
Application of textile materials in agriculture
field is known as agro textile. The practice of textiles
is also now widen to safeguard the agro products like
plants, vegetables and fruits from weather, weed and
birds. Agriculture and textiles can play a duo by
complementing the strengths of each other, to
produce a new evolution of 'agro textiles' revolution.
Applications of agro textiles:
1. Sunscreens
2. Bird protection net
3. Plant net
4. Ground cover
5. Windshield
6. Insect meshes
of 7. Turf protection net
8. Packaging material for agricultural products
Wide varieties of agro textile products are available
and the selection of suitable type of products depend
on the protection that the crop requires and is greatly
influenced by the geographical location. For
agricultural products man made fibres are preferred
over the natural fibres due to their favourable price
performance ratio, ease of transport, space saving
storage and long service life.With the use of high
quality agro textiles quality and yield of agro
products can be enhanced.
Properties required for agro-textiles:
1. Withstand ultra- violet radiation,
2. Withstand solar radiation,
3. Bio degradability,
4. High potential to retain water,
5. Protection property.
Man made textiles in the form of knitted
fabrics are extensively used for many agricultural
end uses. Warp knitting is the major technology route
for Agrotech. Nylon, polyester, polyethylene and
polyolefin are the fibre materials for agro tech.
AIR AND SPACE
The design, manufacture and applications of
textile composites in space and aerospace have
become one of the most predominant aspects in
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 Everyman’s Science
present-day textiles.
The astronauts travel to the space with the help
of spacecraft, which is designed using high
performace metals and textile composites. Based on
3D reinforcement, a narrow range of materials is
used as textile composites. Today almost all
commercial jets, military aircrafts and space crafts
encompass a wide range of textile composites in
them. The aer spacing uses the broad range of
polymer composite materials with textile
reinforcements from woven, non-crimp fabrics to 3D
textiles.
The most required properties of textile
composites in aerospace structural applications are:
1. High specific modulus
2. High specific strength
3. Resistant to chemicals and organic solvents.
4. Good fatigue
5. Thermal insulated and thermal resistant
6. Impact and stress resistant
7. Better dimensional stability and
conformability
8. Low flammability
9. Non-sensitive to harmful radiations
Va r i o u s r e s e a r c h e r s , d e s i g n e r s a n d
manufactures are involved in the development of
new products with textile composites. Some of the
textile materials are used for manufacture of
aerospace structure are carbon fibres. kevlar fibres,
alumina-boria-silica fibres and Nylon6,6 material.
Based on the properties like strength, resistance to
heat and chemicals, these textiles have a wide range
of applications when concerned with aerospace
structures e.g.
1. Carbon fibre, which is lightweight and non-
flammable, with it's advantage of the stiffness
and strength can be used for construction of
light weight aircraft combined with other high
performance fibres.
2. Jets have their brakes made from carbon
composites as they are the only ones which can
withstand the high temperature generated, if
the take off is aborted all of sudden.
Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17
3. Nonwoven felt liners are used as fire barriers to
cover the urethane foam seats on all the
aircrafts.
4. Carbon and other high performance fibres are
used in the rocket exhausts and nose cone
covers for space shuttles.
ARMAMENTS AND DEFENCE
With the new advancements, the utility of
textile composites in various aircrafts predominantly
increased. These textile composites are reinforced in
the chasis, seats, wings, fans and other parts of the
aircraft. Though the percentage of usage may vary,
they vastly improve the strength, performance and
fuel economy which are the basic for the aircraft.
Armaments include the weapons and supplies
of war with which a military unit is equipped and the
act of defending or the state of being defended
,protected is the defence. Textile products for
defence and armaments includes: Bulletproof
jackets. Helmet, armor, ballistic vest etc.
Packaging and conveyance: Textiles have been
used for packaging since ages. It ranges from heavy
weight woven fabric used for bags, packaging sacks,
flexible packaging, wrapping for textile bales and
carpets to the light weight non woven used as durable
papers, tea bags and other food and industrial
products wrapping.
The demand for packaging material is directly
proportional to economic growth, industrial
production and trade as goods are produced and then
distributed both locally and internationally.
Industries which uses packaging textiles are: cement,
fertilizer, chemical, paper, sugar etc
Packaging textiles are also known as packtech
and it includes :
1. Flexible intermediate bulk containers (FIBC)
for powdered and granular materials.
2. Laundry bags and other bulk packaging
products
3. Sacks for storage
4. Woven fiber strapping, lightweight mailbags.
5. Soft luggage.
6. Twine and string for tying packages (non-
agricultural).
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 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
7. Non-paper tea bags and coffee filters.
8. Food soaker pads.
9. Net packaging for storing, packing,
transporting, retailing foodstuffs and toys.
The current wave of economic developments
in India is being seen from all over the world. As
infrastructure, manufacturing ,agriculture and
services grow at high rates the packaging industry is
also showing great variety and depth in its growth.
Today, packaging is produced more quickly and
efficiently. It is generally lighter in weight, uses less
material, is easier to open, dispense from reseal, store
and dispose. Packaging has evolved from a relatively
small range of heavy, rigid containers made of glass,
steel or wood to a broad array of rigid and flexible
packaging options increasingly made from
specialized lightweight material.
FISHERIES
The term fishing is applied to catching of fish
and aquatic animals. In addition to providing food,
modern fishing is also a recreational sport. Materials
required in fisheries include – Nets, hooks, floats,
reels, rods, ropes, wire and line. Textile components
in this industry include :
1. Fluorocarbon and nylon filaments ---- for
fishing reels
2. Fiberglass and carbon fiber ---- for
fishing rods
3. Nylon, wool and silk fiber ---- for
fishing net
SMART AND INTELLIGENT TEXTILE
Shifts in the textiles, electronics and
information and communication technology sectors
have given rise to the area of smart, intelligent
textiles and clothing. There is a substantives
difference between the terms. The material and
structure which have sense or can sense the
environmental conditions or stimuli are smart
textiles whereas intelligent textiles can be defined as
textile structures which not only can sense but also
react and respond to environmental conditions or
stimuli. These stimuli as well as response could be
thermal, chemical, mechanical, electric, magnetic or
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December’16 - January’17
from other source.
The promise of smart fabrics is that every day
clothing will be able to perform the task of comfort
and protection more effectively . The role of smart
textiles have now come along far away from only
protection of body from harsh temperature. These are
next generation textiles.
Smart textiles can be constructed from almost
any kind of textiles-from organza to lycra.
Conductive polymers and nanocomposites are used
to make sensors. The sensors placed anywhere on the
garment that's logic can take readings of a person's
heart rate, body temperature, odor etc. and then users
can manipulate that data to be used for any purpose
they would like.
New smart textile and clothing systems can be
developed by integrating sensors in the textile
constructions. Application fields for these added-
value products are protective clothing for extreme
environments, garments for the health care sector,
technical textiles, sport and leisure wear, wearable
technology for bio-chemical analysis of body fluids
during exercise, electroactive fabrics for distributed,
comfortable and interactive systems, health
monitering fabric,clothes that sense and interprets
movements, clothes that relieve itch and prevents
bacteria build up, intelligent clothing inspired by
pine cones to control body temperature, clothing that
shields from germs, smart fabric glowing in response
to allergens and strain sensing fabric for hand posture
and gesture monitoring Some products have already
been introduced on the markets, but generally it can
be stated that the development is only in its starting
phase, and the expectations for the future are big. The
integration part of the technologies into a real SFIT
product is at present stage on the threshold of
prototyping and testing.
ELECTRONIC TEXTILE
Electronic textiles can be described as textile
products with integrated electronic capabilities. It
involves the use of conductive fibres to produce
fabric in many applications. Conductive fibre as
electric yarns is used where a polymer fiber is given a
metalized coating. Multiple fibre are then wrapped
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
together to form light, supple strands that conduct
electricity. These fibres can carry virtually any
necessary current. Coupled with lightness and
flexibility, this is very useful in space applications
where electronics battle small space and severe
stress, these properties are also ideal for EMI
shielding, aerospace wiring and other applications
that need strong, lightweight conductivity.
Conductive fibres also reduces the cost of metal
wiring, maintenance cost of commercial planes,
military aircraft and missile guidance wires. These
are used in powerlines, lightweight deployable
antennas and airbag wiring in cars. Textile product
and fabric level integration of electronics seem to be
more common today. Electronic textiles are being
developed for many applications, including
biomedical sensing, wearable computing and large
a r e a s e n s o r s .
Based on the current state of electronic textiles
research it can be assumed that in the short term, the
field of electronic textiles would involve attachment
of electronic devices, sensors etc. to conductive
elements integrated into a textile to form flexible
electronic products. The future electro textiles
products not only include wearable to address
individual needs but also sensor arrays useful for
civilian and military applications.
SAFETY TEXTILES
Not only the defense but the safety clothing
covers garments and accessories intended to protect
people from dangerous or hazardous materials and
processes during the course of their work or leisure
activities. These textiles enhance performance by
ensuring wind or water proofing, flame retardancy ,
breathability lightness etc. in the clothing4. The
major applications are:
l Tents, sleeping systems, weapon rolls,
bandoleers to combat foul weather.
l Fire service equipment, bullet-proof jackets,
army tents, parachutes, extinguishing blankets.
l Fabrics with waterproof and breathable
membrane.
l Mountain safety ropes, climbing harness.
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December’16 - January’17
l Clothing for protection from fire, bullet etc.
l Special jackets, attire to combat severe
temperatures.
l Fabrics for disposable garments worn to provide
protection against harmful chemicals and gases,
pesticides etc.
l Fluorescent and phosphorescent fabrics for
trousers.
GEO TEXTILE
Geo textile is a synthetic permeable textile
material used with soil, rock or any other geo
technical engineering related material. The needle
punched, staple fibre manufacturing technique
produces geo textile which exihibits high strengths,
superior puncture resistance and greater
survivability.
These are generally made up of woven, non-
wovens and knitted type of fabrics. Geo-textiles are
the largest group of geo-synthetics in terms of
volume and are used in geo-technical engineering,
heavy construction, building and pavement
construction, hydro-geology, environment
engineering.
Uses of different types of geo-textiles
1. Woven geo-textile- are generally preferred for
applications where high strength properties are
needed, but where filtration requirements are less
critical and planar flow is not a consideration.
Under heavy traffic and construction loads,
woven geotextile reduce localized shear failure in
weak subsoil conditions, improving construction
over soft subsoil and providing access to remote
areas through separation. Concrete bases used
for coastal works, water ways, and in forming
geo cell for roads.
2. Non-woven geo-textiles- is needle puched,
continous filament engineering fabric capable of
providing palanar water flow in addition to their
soil stabilization and separation functions. used
for filteration, drainage, reinforcement between
soil stone and aggregate ad in roads, railways
works, erosion prevention and separation, as the
filter fabric for dams, under drainage system
liners for pile foundatio.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
3. Knitted geo-textiles- Knitted bags for protection
of dams riverbank. Warp knitted fabric used in
automobile and marine application.
NANOTECHNOLOGY
Already nanotechnology is being used to
improve the functionability of many consumer
products. Nanotechnology improved products rely
on a change in the physical properties when the
feature sizes are shrunk.
Nanotechnology in Textiles
One trend in the textile industry is that more and
more clothes are manufactured in low-cost countries.
High-cost countries like western Europe can only
compete in this industry if they produce high-tech
clothes with additional benefits for users. This
includes windproof and waterproof jackets, where
nanotechnology already plays a role. For the future,
clothes with additional electronic functionalities will
be“smart clothes,wearable electronics”, etc.
Nanotechnology, could provide features like
sensors (which could monitor body functions or
release drugs in the required amounts), self-repairing
mechanisms or access to the internet. Simpler
realisations are readily available, which make
clothes water-repellent or wrinkle-free. A ski jacket
based on nanotechnology is produced . The
windproof and waterproof properties are not
obtained by a surface coating of the jacket but by the
use of nanofibres5.
Wrinkle Resistant Nanotechnology Fabrics:
Wrinkle-resistant and stain-repellent fabrics are
produced by attaching molecular structures to cotton
fibres. Textiles with a nanotechnological finish can
be washed less frequently and at lower temperatures.
High-performance functional clothing is an
increasingly important feature of the workplace.
Nanotechnology has been used to integrate tiny
carbon particles membrane and guarantee full-
surface protection from electrostatic charges for the
wearer.
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December’16 - January’17
Nanotechnology in Sports Equipment
A high-performance ski wax, which produces a
hard and fast-gliding surface, is already in use. The
ultra thin coating lasts much longer than
conventional waxing systems. The racket
manufacturers have introduced a racket with carbon
nanotubes, which lead to an increased torsion and
flex resistance. The rackets are more rigid than
current carbon rackets and pack more power. Long-
lasting tennis-balls are made by coating the inner
core with clay polymer nanocomposites. These
tennis-balls have twice the lifetime of conventional
balls.
CONCLUSION
Each new step forward is paving the way to
further advancements. At the present time, these
kinds of textiles are making a significant
contribution to the increasing market of textiles.
Hence, with the progressing steps and emerging
trends in the textile industry, greater attention will be
drawn from every nook and corner of the world,
which ultimately improves the economic strategy of
the world to a larger extent, proving that textiles are
not only linked to the regular use of protection and
safety but also to technological advances satisfying
the needs of mankind globally.
REFERENCES
1. P. Ghose, Fibre Science and Technology, Tata
Mc Graw Hill, Publishing Company Ltd, New
Delhi.
2. L. Jules, Textile origins and usage, The
Macmillan Co., New York.
3. S. Mishra, Fibre Science and Technology, New
age International publisher, New Delhi.
4. S. Roy, Fundamentals of Textile Fibre,
Random Publications, New Delhi.
5. V. Arora, Textile Chemistry, Abhishek
Publication, New Delhi.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

VERMICOMPOSTING AT DAIRY FARM FOR SUSTAINABLE

AGRICULTURE
Sanjay Kumar, Kaushalendra Kumar, Rajni Kumari1, R. R. K. Sinha2
and Chandramoni
In India, the integration of crops and livestock and use of manure as fertilizer were the basis of farming
systems. But development of chemical fertilizer industry during green revolution period created
opportunities for low-cost supply of plant nutrients in inorganic forms which led to rapid displacement of
organic manures derived from livestock excreta. The deterioration of soil fertility through loss of
nutrients and organic matter, erosion and salinity, and pollution of environment are the negative
consequences of modern agricultural practices. Animal wastes also significantly contribute to the excess
bacteria and nitrates that are frequently found in ground water.

INTRODUCTION

V ermicomposting is a simple biotech-

nological process of composting in which
certain species of earthworms are used to enhance the
process of waste conversion and produce a better end
product. Vermicomposting differs from composting
in several ways1. It is a mesophilic process, utilizing
microorganisms and earthworms that are active at
0
10-32 C (not ambient temperature but temperature
within the pile of moist organic material). The
process is faster than composting ; because the
material passes through the earthworms gut, a
significant but not yet fully understand
transformation takes place, whereby the resulting
earthworm castings (worm manure) are rich in
microbial activity and plant growth regulators and
fortified with pest repellence attributes as well. In
short, earthworms, through a type of biological
alchey are capable of transforming garbage into
2,3
“gold” .
Million tons of livestock excreta are produced
every year in India. This is causing concern due to
odour and pollution problems. The US geological
survey found that the increase in in-stream loads of
nitrogen and phosphorous was strongly correlated
with increased animal concentrations.
Department of Animal Nutrition, BVC, Patna-14, 1DLFM,
ICAR-RCER, Patna-14, 2Department of Livestock Production
and Management, Bihar Veterinary College, Patna-800014,
E-mail: sanjayvet29@rediffmail.com
Eutrophication from animal waste run off has been
linked to the outbreak of toxic microorganisms and
has been implicated in massive destruction and
diseases. Animal wastes also significantly contribute
to the excess bacteria and nitrates that are frequently
found in ground water.
Soil fauna and dairy farm waste play a
prominent role in regulating soil processes and
among these the earthworms play a vital role in
maintaning soil quality and managing efficient
nutrient cycling. Microorganism and earthworms are
important biological organisms helping nature to
maintain nutrient flows from one system to another
and also minimize environmental degradation.
Earthworms from a major component of the soil
system have been efficiently ploughing the land for
millions of years assisting in the recycling of organic
nutrients for the efficient growth of plants. The
effects by earthworms on plant growth may be due to
several reasons apart from the presence of
macronutrients and micronutrients in their secretions
and in vermicompost in considerable quantities.
Certain metabolites and vitamins release into the soil
by earthworms may also be responsible to stimulate
plant growth. Now there is a growing realization that
the adoption of ecological and sustainable farming
practices can only reverse the declining trend in the
global productivity and environment protection4,5,6 .

317
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

It is estimated that in cities and rural areas of India THE STEPS FOR PREPARATION OF
nearly 700 million ton organic waste is generated VERMICOMPOST ARE AS FOLLOW
7
annually which is either burned or land filled . I. Selection of site:
In recent years efforts have been made by It should preferably black soil or other areas
scientist to exploit earthworms in recycling of with less of termite and red ant activity, pH
nutrients, waste management and development of should be between 6 to 8.
vermicomposting systems at commercial scale. The II. Collection of wastes and sorting:
benefits and preparation of vermicompost at dairy
for composting, raw materials are needed in
farm presented in brief.
large quantities. The waste available should
BENEFITS OF VERMICOMPOST be sorted in to degradable and non-degradable
1. When added in clay soil, vermicompost (be rejected) parts.
loosens the soil and provides the passage for III. Pre-treatment of waste:
the air. a. Dungs and waste materials dumps in layers,
2. The mucus associated with the cost being sandwiched with soil followed with watering
hygroscopic absorbs water and prevents for 10 days to make the material soft and
water logging and improves water holding acceptable to worm.
capacity. b.Mixing animal dung properly for
3. In the vermicompost, some of the secretions vermicomposting.
of worms and the associated microbes act as IV. Insecticidal treatment to site:
growth promoter along with other nutrients. Treating the area as well as beds with
4. Improves physical, chemical and biological chlorpyriphos 20 EC @ 3.0 ml/ litre to reduce
properties of soil in the long run on repeated the problem of ants, termites and ground
application. beetles.
5. The organic carbon in vermicompost releases V. Filling of beds with organic wastes:
the nutrients slowly and steadily in to the Wastes are to be filled in the pits layer by layer
system and enables the plant to absorb these and each layer should be made wet while
nutrients. filling and spray water as per the requirement
6. The multifarious effects of vermicompost continuously for next 10 days.
influence the growth and yield of crops. A thick layer if mulch
7th layer (Top of bed)
7. Earthworm can minimize the pollution with fodder straw
th
hazards caused by organic waste by 6 layer A layer of fine soil (Top of bed)
enhancing waste degradation. th
5 layer A layer of Dung (Top of bed)
METHOD OF VERMICOMPOSTING AT th
DAIRY FARM 4 layer Waste of a green fodder (Top of bed)
rd
In general, following method of vermi- 3 layer Dry fodder waste material (Top of bed)
composting at dairy farm using dung and other waste nd
(Top of bed)
2 layer A layer of Dung
is most common.
(Bottom of
Pits: The optimum sized of ground pits is 10 X 11 X 1st layer Dry and green fodder
waste material bed)
0.5m (L X W X D) can be effective for
vermicomposting bed. Series of such beds are to be Excepting 3rd and 4th layer (which is the
prepared at one place as per the requirement / waste material to be degraded) each layer should be 3 to 4
materials availble at farm.

318
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
inch thick so that the bed material is raised
above the ground level. Sufficient quantities
of dry and green wastes are to be used in the
beds.
VI. Introduction of worms in to beds:
The optimum number of worms to be
introduced @ 100 No. / m. length of the bed.
The species of earthworms that are being used
currently for compost production world wide
are Eisenia foetida, Eudirlus eugeniae,
Perionyx excavatus, Lumbricus rubellus etc.
VII. Provision of optimum bed moisture and
temperature:
Bed moisture: By watering at regular
intervals to maintain moisture of 60 to 80%
till harvest of compost Temperature
o
requirement for optimal results is 20 to 30 C
by thatching (during summer).
VIII. Monitoring for activity of natural enemies
and earthworms and management of enemies
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December’16 - January’17
with botanicals, Promising products: Leaf
dust of neem, Acorus calamus rhizome dust,
neem cake etc.
IX. Harvesting of vermicompost and storage:
Around 60-90 days after release of worms,
the beds would be ready for harvest. Stop
watering 7 days prior to harvest so that worms
settle at the bottom layer. Collect the compost,
shade dry for 12 hours and bag it in fertilizer
bags for storage.
X. Harvest of worm bio-mass:
The worms are to be collected and used for
subsequent vermicomposting.
REFERENCES
1. M. Gandhi, V. Sangwan, K. K. Kapoor and N.
Dilbaghi, Environment and Ecology, 15, 432-
434, 1997.
2. http://www.vermico.com/summary.htm
3. http://www.dainet.org/livelihoods/default.
htm.
4. Jim.Aveyard, Journal of Soil Conservation,
New South Wales, 44, 45-51,1988.
5. S. P. Wani, and K. K. Lee, Fertilizer
Development and Consultation
Organisation, New Delhi, India, 91-
112,1992.
6. S. P. Wani, O.P. Rupela and K. K. Lee, Plant
and Soil, 174, 29-49, 1995.
7. M. R. Bhiday, Indian Farming, 43, 12, 31-
34,1994.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
CHEMICALS WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT
Prasanta Kumar Ray
INTRODUCTION
C hemistry and chemicals are very
fundamental to our understanding of Life.
All living matters are composed of chemical
elements, in pure and/or in compounded form1 .
BIOLOGICALLY IMPORTANT ELEMENTS
a. There are 92 naturally-x occurring,
biologically important elements like Sodium
(Na), Calcium (Ca), Potassium (K) etc.
b. At least 25 of them are very essential for our
lives.
i. It has been learnt that elements like C
(Carbon), O (Oxygen), H (Hydrogen) and
N (Nitrogen) make 96% of all living
matters.
ii But Ca ( Calcium), P (Phosphorus), K
(Potassium), S (Sulphur), Na (Sodium), Cl
(Chlorine), Mg (Magnesium) and other
trace elements—are also needed by the
remaining 4%.
iii.Trace elements—A group of element
which are needed in very low quantities,
but are absolutely essential for the
sustenance of life processes. Some of
themare –B (Boron), Cr (chromium), Co
(Cobalt), Cu (Copper), F (Fluorine), I
(Iodine), Fe (Iron), Mn (Manganese), Mo
(Molybdinum), Se (Selenium), Si
(silicon), Sn (strontium), V (Vanadium)
and Zn (Zinc) etc. apart from others.
The elements gradually made complex
compounds by combining two or more elements
together, but in a fixed ratio, such as water (H2O) with
two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.
Interestingly, compounds, such as NaCl - sodium
Ex- Director, Bose Institute, Kolkata, E-Mail: pkray2000@
yahoo.com
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December’16 - January’17
chloride, also known as common salt, has unique
properties that differ from the elements they were
formed, such as Na and Cl.
Let us try to know why we need various
elements.
Oxygen (65%) and hydrogen (10%) are
predominantly found in water, which makes up about
60 percent of the body by weight. It's practically
impossible to imagine life without water.
Carbon (18%) is synonymous with life. Its
central role is due to the fact that it has four bonding
sites that allow for the building of long, complex
chains of molecules.
Nitrogen (3%) is found in many organic
molecules, including the amino acids that make up
proteins, and the nucleic acids that make up DNA.
Calcium (1.5%) is the most common mineral
in the human body — nearly all of it arefound in
bones and teeth. Ironically, calcium's most important
role is in bodily functions, such as muscle
contraction and protein regulation. In fact, the body
will actually pull calcium from bones (causing
problems like osteoporosis) if there's not enough of
the element in a person's diet.
Phosphorus (1%) is found predominantly in
bone but also in the molecule ATP, which provides
energy in cells for driving chemical reactions.
Potassium (0.25%) is an important electrolyte
(meaning it carries a charge in solution). It helps
regulate the heartbeat and is vital for electrical
signalling in nerves. Sulphur (0.25%) is found in two
amino acids that are important for giving proteins
their shape. Sodium (0.15%) is another electrolyte
that is vital for electrical signalling in nerves. It also
regulates the amount of water in the body. Chlorine
(0.15%) is usually found in the body as a negative
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
ion, called chloride. This electrolyte is important for
maintaining a normal balance of fluids. Magnesium
(0.05%) plays an important role in the structure of the
skeleton and muscles. It also is necessary in more
than 300 essential metabolic reactions. Iron
(0.006%) is a key element in the metabolism of
almost all living organisms. It is also found in
haemoglobin, which is the oxygen carrier in red
blood cells. Half of women don't get enough iron in
their diet. Fluorine (0.0037%) is found in teeth and
bones. Zinc (0.0032%) is an essential trace element
for all forms of life. Several proteins contain
structures called "zinc fingers" help to regulate
genes. Zinc deficiency has been known to lead to
dwarfism in developing countries. Copper
(0.0001%) is important as an electron donor in
various biological reactions. Without enough copper,
iron won't work properly in the body.Iodine
(0.000016%) is required for making of thyroid
hormones, which regulate metabolic rate and other
cellular functions. Iodine deficiency can lead to
goiter and brain damage. Selenium (0.000019%) is
essential for certain enzymes, including several anti-
oxidants. Chromium (0.0000024%) helps regulate
sugar levels by interacting with insulin. Manganese
(0.000017%) is essential for certain enzymes, in
particular those that protect mitochondria.
Molybdenum (0.000013%) is essential to
virtually all life forms. In humans, it is important for
transforming sulfur into a usable form.
Cobalt (0.0000021%) is contained in vitamin
B12, which is important in protein formation and
DNA regulation.
Some terminologies would help in our
understanding the topic we are discussing here.
Matter - anything having mass and occupying space
is called matter.
Mass - it is a measure of the amount of matter that an
object contains.
Mass Weight - Weight is the measure of how strongly
an object is pulled by the Earth's gravity and
consequently varies as a function of distance from
the Earth's Centre. Mass does not vary with its
position.
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December’16 - January’17
EVOLUTION
The modern theory of evolution was
developed by Charles Darwin3, an amateur English
naturalist, in the 19th century. He proposed that all of
the millions of species of organisms present today,
including Humans, evolved slowly over billions of
years, from a common ancestor by way of Natural
Selection3. This theory further explained that the
individuals best adapted to their habitat passed on
their Traits ( Genetic Characteristics) to their
offspring.
Over a period of time these advantageous
qualities accumulated and transformed the
individual into a species entirely different from its
ancestors (e.g. humans from apes, birds from
reptiles, whales from bears etc.).
THE EVOLUTIONIST'S PERSPECTIVE ON
THE HISTORY OF EARTH
According to the theory of evolution, earth
was formed 4.6 billion years ago. Its atmosphere
probably contained very little of free oxygen, but a
lot of water vapour and other gases, such as carbon
dioxide and nitrogen were there. The atmosphere
was extremely hot at that time. By about 3.9 billion
years ago, earth cooled down enough for water
vapour to condense, allowing millions of years of
rain that formed the Earth's oceans3.
THE ORIGIN OF LIFE
In the 1930s, a Russian Scientist, Alexander
Oparin4 hypothesized that life began in the Oceans
on early earth between 3.9 to 3.5 billion years ago. He
suggested that first, simple organic molecules
containing carbon was formed.
Today we know that Carbon is the most
important element to living organisms because it can
form large compounds by joining one carbon with
another through its four bonds.
ALL LIVING THINGS CONTAIN CARBON
IN ONE FORM OR OTHER
Carbon is the primary component of
macromolecules (larger molecules) including
proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates. All
of them are very large compounds.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
Carbon's molecular structure allows it to bond
in many different ways and with many different
elements.
The carbon cycle shows how carbon moves
through the living and non-living parts of our
Environment.
CARBON CYCLE
The physical cycle of carbon through the
earth's biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and
atmosphere etc. includes such processes as
photosynthesis, decomposition, respiration and
carbonification. Carbon is one of the most
Fig. 1. shows how the carbon is cycled from one
form to another- From atmosphere plants fixes it
through a process called Photosynthesis. Through
microbial decomposition and respiration carbon
dioxide is released in the atmosphere. Ocean
uptake of carbon dioxide is returned again in the
atmosphere.
abundant element in the Universe and is the building
block of life on earth. On earth, carbon circulates
through the land, ocean, and atmosphere, creating
what is known as the “Carbon Cycle”.
In a non-living environment, carbon can also
exist as carbon dioxide (CO2), carbonate rocks, coal,
petroleum, natural gas, and dead organic matter.
Plants and Algae convert carbon dioxide to organic
matter through a process known as Photosynthesis,
the energy from light is drawn in the process.
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December’16 - January’17
The diagram above shows the movement of
carbon between land, atmosphere, and oceans in
billions of tons per year. Yellow numbers are natural
fluxes, red are human contributions, white indicate
stored carbon. Note this diagram does not account for
volcanic and tectonic activity, which also sequesters
and releases carbon.
CARBON IS PRESENT IN ALL LIFE-
FORMS
Carbon exists in many forms in a plant leaf,
including in the Cellulose to form the leaf's structure
and in Chlorophyll, the pigment which makes the leaf
green.
How does the Chlorophyll molecule (the
green colouring matter) on the plant leaves make
plant foods (carbohydrates) using carbon dioxide
and tapping energy from the sun, has been a mystery
before the scientists for a long time.
Fig. 2. Chlorophyll molecule on the plant leaves
make plant foods using carbon dioxide and
tapping energy from the sun.
CARBON IS IMPORTANT TO LIFE
In its metabolism of food and during
respiration, an animal consumes Glucose (C6H12O6-
the energy- giving molecule), which combines with
Oxygen (O2) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2), water
(H2O), and energy, which is given off as heat. The
animals have no need for the carbon dioxide and so it
releases it into the atmosphere.
A plant, on the other hand, uses the opposite
reaction to that of an animal through a process called
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
Photosynthesis. It takes in Carbon dioxide, water,
and energy from the sun to make its own Glucose
(food or energy giving molecule). Thisglucose is
used for chemical energy, which the plant
metabolizes in a similar way to an animal. The plant
then emits the remaining Oxygeninto the
environment. We use this Oxygen during our
Respiration. Nature has made this system of GIVE
and TAKE for the living beings.
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
CARBON DIOXIDE AND OXYGEN CYCLE
TO THE SURVIVAL OF PLANTS AND
ANIMALS?
The carbon dioxide and oxygen cycle is
critical to life on Earth. Humans, and most
otherorganisms, need oxygen to survive. When we
inhale, oxygen moves from our lungs into ourblood.
Oxygen travels through the blood to all the cells in
the body. The cells use oxygento complete important
jobs. For example, you are using oxygen right now as
you read thissentence. The muscles that control your
eyes use oxygen. Without oxygen, you could notuse
any of your muscles. In fact, our cells die quickly if
they do not receive oxygen. That iswhy it is so
important to help someone who cannot breathe by
providing them with oxygen.
Plants and other organisms that perform
photosynthesis rely on animals for carbon
dioxide.Every time you exhale carbon dioxide, you
are providing a plant with a building block itneeds to
make its own food.So you can appreciate that
MotherNature balances itself by absorbing the toxic
carbon dioxide from the environment that we release
during our respiration and gives us back Oxygen that
we breathe in for our very survival.
GLOBAL WARMING
Human usage of fossil-fuel burning, plying
too many vehicles on the roads, increasing industrial
operations, cement-industry operations, petroleum
industries etc. are causing serious damages to our
environmental conditions, releasing Green- house
gases (see diagram below). As a result, the World is
facing “GLOBAL WARMING” phenomenon, due to
the increase in various harmful gases such as Carbon
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December’16 - January’17
dioxide, Methane, Nitrous oxide, Chloro-fluoro
carbons, and other gases.
Fig. 3. Major Greehouse gases from People`s
Activities.
COMPOSITIONS OF ANIMAL AND PLANT
CELL
Animal and Plant Cells are made up of many
complex molecules called Macromolecules, which
include proteins, nucleic acids (DNA and RNA),
carbohydrates, and lipids. The macromolecules are a
subset of organic molecules (any carbon-containing
liquid, solid, or gas) that are especially important for
life. The fundamental component for all of these
macromolecules is Carbon as have been said above.
The carbon atom has unique properties that
allow it to form covalent bonds to as many as four
different atoms, making this a versatile element ideal
to serve as the basic structural component, or
"backbone," of many different macromolecules.
STRUCTURE OF CARBON
The Carbon atoms can form up to four
covalent bonds with other atoms. The Methane
molecule provides an example: it has the chemical
formula CH4. Each of its four hydrogen atoms forms
a single covalent bond with the carbon atom by
sharing a pair of electrons. This results in a filled
outermost shell.
Structure of Methane molecule (Fig 4) where
with one Carbon four Hydrogen atoms are bound
It has been learnt that Energy from the sun,
lightning, and earth's heat triggered chemical
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
reactions to produce small organic molecules from
substances present in the atmosphere. These
molecules were organized by chance into complex
organic molecules such as proteins, carbohydrates,
and nucleic acids that are essential to life.
Fig. 4. Pictorial Demonstration of the Structure
of Methane.
Thus, there exists tremendous importance of
Chemicals and Biochemicals and their reactions and
interactions, not only in the very early formation of
matter, but it has also tremendous importance in our
everyday life. In fact, Life itself started through
reactions and interactions between and among
chemical elements and compounds3.
From time immemorial, and during the early
stage of EVOLUTION, there existedsome basic
elements, such as Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen,
Carbon, Sulphur and Phosphorous. Simple molecule
like Water was formed by combining Hydrogen
withOxygen. Carbon did bind with Oxygen to form
Carbon dioxide; and Nitrogen bound with hydrogen
to form Ammonia, hydrogen also formed hydrogen
sulphide binding with sulphur. These are known to be
some of the early and simple forms of chemical
compounds.
Gradually, as a result of chemical reactions
and their interactions, large number of chemical
molecules came into existence which supported the
life processes. It took hundreds and thousands of
years when smaller animals, plants and then larger
animals, and ultimately human beings surfaced on
this planet, earth.
OTHER USEFUL CHEMICALS WE NEED
IN OUR EVERYDAY LIFE
Drugs we use are nothing but chemical compounds.
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December’16 - January’17
Plants and fruits which we use as our food are
composed of a large number of chemical
compounds. They provide us with vitamins, proteins,
fats and oils, minerals etc. These are all chemical
compounds. Many of them have also medicinal
values. In fact, all the biological molecules are
composed of chemical compounds.
Right from the animals, plants and humans,
all of our foods are composed of complex chemical
molecules like Carbohydrates, Proteins, Vitamins,
Fats and Oils and various minerals - all are nothing
but chemical compounds including Spices, Fats and
Oils which we use every day to cook food, in order to
make it delicious and palatable .
We use Pesticides/insecticides/weedicides/
rodenticides etc. to kill cockroaches, mosquitoes,
insects, mice etc. to save our produce in the field as
well as ourselves from various types of infections.
We use soaps, detergents, paints, varnishes,
steel, various engineering goods etc. almost every
day. These are all chemicals and everything comes
under the science of Chemistry. In fact, Chemistry
forms the very root of life. Without chemicals we
would not be where we are today.
We use ink to write and paper is used for
printing books; pencils, rubber, various colours etc.
are used by every of us every day. These are all
composed of chemicals. We use preservatives to
store our food items for a long time. These are all
chemicals.
It is quite apparent that chemicals have made
our life possible and made us comfortable as well.
Sometimes these chemicals become responsible for
rendering various types of toxicities in our body as
well, and could be very dangerous at times.
HOW DOES LARGER CHEMICAL
MOLECULE LIKE PROTEINS ARE
FORMED?
Please note that larger chemical compounds
like Proteins, Carbohydrates, Nucleic acids, Fats and
oils etc. are grouped under BIOLOGICAL
MOLECULES as they occur in the biological
systems like animals, plants, microbes etc.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

It is now known that smaller molecules like lforming structures in the cell -- Ribosomes --
amino acids join together to form larger molecules that are critical for the 'manufacturing' of
like Proteins. proteins
HOW DO FATS AND OILS ARE FORMED? ltransporting amino acids (known as TRNA)--

These are formed by joining various fatty the building blocks of proteins -- to ribosomes
acids .
How do the carbohydrates form? They are
formed by joining sugar molecules (known as
glucose, fructose, mannose etc.).
Larger molecules were intriguing the minds
of scientists for a long time .Large molecules like
haemoglobins, which supply oxygen in each and
every of our cells are nothing but proteins, so also are
various hormones that transmit instructions from the
glands and brain to carry out certain operations in the Fig. 5. Structure of the Wonder Molecule DNA.
body; Thyroid hormones, Sex hormones etc. have The molecular structure of DNA forms a double helix
individual functions in the human body. They with a "backbone" of each strand of the helix
transmit orders to ask cells either to do something or consisting of a repeating ...sugar-phosphate-sugar-
not to do. phosphate... polymer; the sugar is deoxyribose
Modern knowledge in Biotechnology and (James Watson and Crick Model). Watson and Crick7
Genetic Engineering helped considerably in the received Nobel Prize for their work describing the
understanding of how to manipulate many wonder double helix structure of DNA molecule.
molecules to our advantage.
MAKING OF PROTEINS
We now know that Genetic information is
stored in the DNA (Deoxy-Ribo-Nucleic Acid)
molecule, and the expression of this information
requires several steps that flow in one directionas
shown below:

India-born Scientist, Dr.Hargovind Khurana

received Nobel Prize for synthesizing a Gene
(segment of DNA) structure in the laboratory for the
first time6. Various genes direct the production of
RNA (Ribo Nucleic Acid) molecules from DNA to
serve a variety of functions that include-
ldictating the synthesis of proteins as per
instruction received from segments of DNA
to perform a wide variety of functions in the
body.
lregulating (turning on or turning off) the
expression of other genes.
Fig. 6. A-T and G –C Base Pairs.
Attached to the sugar ring is one of four
nitrogen-Containing bases: adenine (A), guanine
(G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T) (Fig 6). Adenine
binds with Thymine and Guanine binds with
Cytosine in the long chain of DNA structure. (For
details the readers may consult any text book of
Biochemistry).
Scientists later got interested to study the
human DNA structure. The famous Human Genome

325
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
Project8,9 (where many countries were involved to
work together) has revolutionised the DNA studies
and has confirmed that the human DNA contains a
little over 3 billion bases, and over 99% of them are
the same in all people.
In 2001, a detailed working draft of the
sequence of human DNA was published7. The
combination of one of these nitrogenous bases, a
sugar molecule, and a phosphate molecule is called a
nucleotide -- the basic building block of the DNA
molecule.
The two strands of DNA wind around each
other, forming a double helix structure that is held
together by weak hydrogen bonds between each
thymine and adenine base, as well as between each
guanine and cytosine base; each of these pairs of
bases is called a base pair, or "bp" for short. The two
strands of DNA, then, are complementary; that is, if
one strand has the sequence GCATGCCTA, the
other strand would be CGTACGGAT. DNA is
coiled very tightly -- in order to fit into the nucleus of
a cell -- into structures calledChromosomes. The
DNA from an adult human would actually stretch out
to be more than 5 feet long though only 50 trillionths
of an inch in width.
Fig. 7. Double Helix structure of DNA.
The DOUBLE HELIX structure of DNA
(Fig 7) has several important features:
lit offers a means of storing and coding vast
amounts of information captured by the
sequence of bases present in the DNA strand;
humans have about 3 × 109 base pairs
326
December’16 - January’17
(or 3,000,000,000 bp) in their genome (the
complete set of genetic information);
lthe complementary structure allows for the
faithful replication of DNA as cells divide --
one strand serves as a template for the
synthesis of the other;
lA mechanism for preventing loss of
information is built into the structure -- a base
that is lost or altered on one strand can be
replaced using the complementary strand to
direct its own repair.
You may know that we all carry our familial
chemical/biochemical messages with us. This gives
us the pride of either having blue blood or keeps us
behind many others because of the caste system
prevailing in various parts of the world. It is the
DESTINY!
DNA is the Software of life. DNA pack all the
genetic information of a cell. DNA and the genes
within it are where mutations (changes in DNA
structure) occur, enabling changes that create new
species.
RNA is the close cousin to DNA. More
accurately, RNA is thought to be a primitive ancestor
of DNA. RNA can't run a life-form on its own. But 4
billion years ago it might have been on the verge of
creating life, just needing some chemical fix to make
the leap. In today's world, RNA is dependent on DNA
for performing its roles, which include coding for
proteins.
RNA to DNA --Some scientists believe that
RNA is in fact the ancestor to DNA, and then they
have figured they could get RNA to replicate itself in
a lab without the help of any proteins or other cellular
machinery.
Some researchers synthesized RNA enzymes
that can replicate themselves without the help of any
proteins or other cellular components, and the
process could proceed indefinitely. The scientists
called them "Immortalized" RNA at least within the
limited conditions of a laboratory. The scientists then
mixed different RNA enzymes that had replicated,
along with some of the raw material they were
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
working with, and let them compete in what's sure to
be the next big hit: "Survivor: Test Tube."When these
mutations occurred, "the resulting recombinant
enzymes also were capable of sustained replication,
with the fit replicators growing in number to
dominate the mixture.
INDEED THE SCIENTISTS ARE KNOCKING
ON THE DOOR OF LIFE
Professor Gerald Joyce10 , under whom this
work was going on, reiterated that while the self-
replicating RNA enzyme systems share certain
characteristics of life, they are not life as we know it.
"What we've found could be relevant to how life
begins, at that key moment when Darwinian
evolution started," Joyce said in a statement. Joyce's
restraint, clear also on a report of the finding, has to
be appreciated. He allows that some scientists
familiar with the work have argued that this is life.
Another scientist said that what the researchers did is
equivalent to recreating a scenario that might have
led to the origin of life.
Joyce insists he and Lincoln have not created
life: "We're knocking on that door," he says, "but of
course we haven't achieved that.”
“Only when a system is developed in the lab
that has the capability of evolving novel functions on
its own can it be properly called life”, Joyce said. In
short, the molecules in Joyce's lab can't evolve any
totally new tricks. He said. “Search is going on and
on.”
Principles of chemistry and /or chemical/
biochemical reactions, therefore, are guiding us in
every moment. It is because of that we are what we
are. However, sometimes the chemicals may be
harmful and dangerous too as has been discussed
earlier.
CREATING LIFE IN THE LABORATORY- A
GREAT STEP FORWARD
These days, with the advent of Genetic
Engineering and Biotechnology, scientists are able to
insert genes from one species to another and get them
expressed. These technologies have opened a new
chapter in the areas of Biology as well as Medicine.
“Test-tube baby”, surrogate mothers carrying
327
December’16 - January’17
somebody else's “Conceptus” etc. are some of the
realities in modern Biology, Genetic Engineering,
Biotechnology and Medicine to-day. Next
generations will see many miracles of these
techniques to cause both benefits as well as harms to
mankind.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My heartfelt thanks are due to all those whose
work were consulted during the preparation of this
manuscript.
REFERENCES
1. Pearsall, Judy; Hanks, Patrick, eds..
"Abiogenesis". The New Oxford Dictionary,
Earth's Beginnings: The Origins of Life,
1998.
2. Eric McLamb, September 10, Dictionary of
English (1st Ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford
University Press. p. 3. ISBN 0-19-861263-X,
2011.
3. Charles Darwin, "On the Origin of Species by
Means of Natural Selection, or the
Preservation of Favoured Races in the
Struggle for Life,", John Murray, London, p.
155, 1859.
4. A. Oparin and V. Fesenkov. Life in the
Universe. New York: Twayne Publishers,
1961.
5. Boundless. “The Chemical Basis for
Life.”Boundless Biology. Boundless, 20 Sep.
2016. Retrieved 13 Oct. 2016 from https://
www.boundless.com/biology/textbooks/
boundless-biology-textbook/the-chemical-
foundation-of-life-2/carbon-52/the-chemical
-basis-for-life-288-11421.
6. H. G.. Khorana, Science. 203, 4381, 614–625,
1979 .
7. J. D Watson and F. H. C. Crick, Nature 171,
737–738, 1953.
8. Eric S. Lander, et al, Nature, 409, 860- 921,
2001.
9. Svante Pääbo, Science, 291, Feb. 16, 2001.
10. MP Robertson, G. F. Joyce, Chem Biol. 21,
238-245, 2014.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

104TH INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS, TIRUPATI

LIST OF ISCA AWARDEES FOR 2016-2017

1. ASUTOSH MOOKERJEE MEMORIAL 9. D. S. KOTHARI MEMORIAL AWARD

AWARD
Dr. Ashok Kumar Saxena
Sir Asutosh Mookerjee Fellow (ISCA) and
Former Emeritus Fellow, U.G.C., Kanpur.
Dr. I. Sathyamurthy
Interventional Cardiologist, Director,
Department of Cardiology, Apollo Hospitals,
Chennai.

2. C.V. RAMAN BIRTH CENTENARY 10. M. K. SINGAL MEMORIAL AWARD

AWARD
No Award.
Professor K. Byrappa
Vice Chancellor, Mangalore University, 11. PROF. R. C. MEHROTRA MEMORIAL
Mangalagangotri. LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

3. S R I N I VA S A R A M A N U J A N B I RT H Prof. B. P. Chatterjee
CENTENARY AWARD Emeritus Professor, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
University of Technology, Kolkata.
No Award.
12. J A W A H A R L A L N E H R U B I R T H
4. S. N. BOSE BIRTH CENTENARY AWARD CENTENARY AWARDS

No Award. Dr. Baldev Raj

Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies,
5. S. K. MITRA BIRTH CENTENARY Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bangalore.
AWARD
Prof. Om Prakash
Dr. N. R. Jagannathan Kurukshetra.
Professor and Head, Department of N.M.R. &
MRI Facility, All India Institute of Medical 13. MILLENNIUM PLAQUES OF HONOUR
Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi.
Prof. Appa Rao Podile
6. BIRBAL SAHANI BIRTH CENTENARY Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad,
AWARD Hyderabad, Telangana.

Prof. Arun Kumar 14. G.P.CHATTERJEE MEMORIAL AWARD

Department of Earth Sciences, Manipur
University, Imphal. Prof. Ramachandra Mohan M
Department of Zoology, Bangalore University,
7. S. S. BHATNAGAR MEMORIAL AWARD Bangalore.

No Award. 15. B.C.GUHA MEMORIAL LECTURE

8. V I K R A M S A R A B H A I M E M O R I A L Dr. B. B. Kaliwal
AWARD Vice – Chancellor, Davangere University
Shivagangothri, Davangere.
No Award.

328
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
104TH INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS, TIRUPATI
LIST OF ISCA AWARDEES FOR 2016-2017
16. PROF. SUSHIL KUMAR MUKHERJEE
C O M M E M O R AT I O N L E C T U R E –
A G R I C U LT U R E A N D F O R E S T R Y
SCIENCES
No Award.
17. PROF. S. S. KATIYAR ENDOWMENT
LECTURE – CHEMICAL SCIENCES /
NEW BIOLOGY
Dr. P. Venkatesu
Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi,
Delhi.
18. P R O F E S S O R R . C . M E H R O T R A
C O M M E M O R AT I O N L E C T U R E –
CHEMICAL SCIENCES
No Award.
19. PROF. G. K. MANNA MEMORIAL
AWARD - ANIMAL, VETERINARY AND
FISHERY SCIENCES
Prof. Mohammed Hafeez
18-1-589/B, I Floor, NAZ VILLA,
Bhavani Nagar, Tirupati – 517 501.
20. PROF. ARCHANA SHARMA MEMORIAL
AWARD – PLANT SCIENCES
Dr. Jitendra Kumar Thakur
Staff Scientist IV, National Institute of Plant
Genome Research, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg,
New Delhi.
21. DR. V. PURI MEMORIAL AWARD –
PLANT SCIENCES
Prof. K. R. Shivanna
INSA Honorary Scientist & ATREE, Honorary
Senior Fellow, Ashoka Trust for Research in
Ecology and the Environment, Bangalore.
329
December’16 - January’17
22. JAWAHARLAL NEHRU PRIZE
No Award.
23. E X C E L L E N C E I N S C I E N C E A N D
TECHNOLOGY AWARD
No Award.
24. PROFESSOR HIRA LAL CHAKRAVARTI
MEMORIAL AWARD – PLANT SCIENCES
Dr. Supriya Tiwari
Department of Botany, Institute of Science,
Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
25. PRAN VOHRA AWARD – AGRICULTURE
AND FORESTRY SCIENCES
No Award.
26. DR. B. C. DEB MEMORIAL AWARD FOR
SOIL/PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY
Dr. Biswajit Pal
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry,
St. Paul's Cathedral Mission College, Kolkata.
27. DR. B. C. DEB MEMORIAL AWARD FOR
POPULARISATION OF SCIENCE
No Award.
28. P R O F E S S O R U M A K A N T S I N H A
MEMORIAL AWARD – NEW BIOLOGY
Dr. Sanjeev Das
Staff Scientist – V, Molecular Oncology
Laboratory, National Institute of Immunology,
Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

104TH INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS, TIRUPATI

LIST OF ISCA AWARDEES FOR 2016-2017

29. P R O F. R . C . S H A H M E M O R I A L 31.D R . ( M R S . ) G O U R I G A N G U LY
LECTURE– CHEMICAL SCIENCES MEMORIAL AWARD FOR YOUNG
SCIENTIST – ANIMAL ,VETERINARY
Dr. Vinod Kumar AND FISHERY SCIENCES
Assistant Professor (Organic Chemistry),
Department of Chemistry, M. M. University, No Award.
Mullana, Ambala, Haryana.
32.PROF. WILLIAM DIXON WEST
30. PROF. (MRS.) ANIMA SEN MEMORIAL M E M O R I A L AWA R D – E A RT H
LECTURE -ANTHROPOLOGICAL SYSTEM
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCES
Prof. J. P. Shrivastava
Dr. Sibnath Deb Professor, Department of Geology,
Professor, Dept. of Applied Psychology,
University of Delhi, Delhi.
Pondicherry University ( A Central University),
V. R. Nagar, Kalapet, Puducherry

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 Everyman’s Science
104TH INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS, TIRUPATI
LIST OF ISCA YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARDEES FOR 2016-2017
S. No. Section
1 Agriculture and Forestry Sciences
2 Animal, Veterinary & Fishery Sciences
3 Anthropological and Behavioural
Sciences (including Archaeology,
Psychology, Education and Military
Sciences)
4 Chemical Sciences
5 Earth System Sciences
6 Engineering Sciences
7 Environmental Sciences
8 Information and Communication Science Abhirup Banerjee
& Technology (including Computer
Sciences)
9 Materials Science
10 Mathematical Sciences (including
Statistics)
11 Medical Sciences (including Physiology)
Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17
Name of the Awardee
Bappa Das
G-7, Natural Resource Management,
ICAR – Central Coastal Agriculture Research
Institute, Old Goa.
Sreekanth G. B.
Fisheries Sciences, ICAR – Central Coastal
Agriculture Research Institute, Old Goa .
Nivedita Som
Biological Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.
Satyabadi Martha
Centre for Nano Science and Nano Technology,
ITER, Siksha O Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar.
Shital P. Godad
CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Goa.
Nandini Bhandaru
Department of Chemical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur.
Praveen Dhyani
G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan
Environment and Development,
Kosi-Katarmal, Almora.
Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
Anjilina Kerketta
Defence Materials & Stores Research & Development
Establishment, G.T. Road, Kanpur , U.P.
No Award.
Sabyasachi Das
Immunology and Microbiology Laboratory,
Dept. of Human Physiology with Community Health,
Vidyasagar University, Paschim Medinipur.
331
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

104TH INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS, TIRUPATI

LIST OF ISCA YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARDEES FOR 2016-2017

S. No. Section Name of the Awardee

12 New Biology (including Biochemistry, Bodhisattwa Saha
Biophysics & Molecular Biology and Bose Institute, Division of Plant Biology, Kolkata.
Biotechnology)

13 Physical Sciences Dharmendra Pratap Singh

Liquid Crystal Research Lab, Department of Physics,
University of Lucknow, Lucknow.

14 Plant Sciences Neha Pandey

CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal & Aromatic
Plants, Lucknow.

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 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

104TH INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS, TIRUPATI

LIST OF ISCA BEST POSTER AWARDEES FOR 2016-2017

S. No. Section Name of the Awardees

1 Agriculture and Forestry Sciences 1. Ganajaxi Math
University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad,
Karnataka.

2 Animal, Veterinary & Fishery Sciences 1. Yashika Awasthi

University of Lucknow, Lucknow

2. Yogita Y. Falak
North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon

3 Anthropological and Behavioural 1. Sangeeta Dey

Sciences (including Archaeology, University of Delhi, Delhi
Psychology, Education and Military
Sciences) 2. Nandini Ganguly
University of Calcutta, Kolkata

4 Chemical Sciences 1. Aarti Dalal

Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra.

2. Pradeep Kumar Brahman

K L University, Guntur.
5 Earth System Sciences No Award.
6 Engineering Sciences No Award.

7 Environmental Sciences 1. Partha Karak

Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan.

2. Priyanka Priyadarshani
ICFAI University of Jharkhand, Ranchi.

8 Information and Communication 1. Mayank Agarwal

Science & Technology (including
Computer Sciences)
Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi.
2. Ajish K. Abraham
All India Institute of Speech and Hearing,
Manasagangothri, Mysore.

9 Materials Science No Award.

333
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

104TH INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS, TIRUPATI

LIST OF ISCA BEST POSTER AWARDEES FOR 2016-2017

S. No. Section Name of the Awardees

10 Mathematical Sciences (including 1. Rishikesh Dutta Tiwary
Statistics) Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad.

11 Medical Sciences (including Physiology)

No Award.

12 New Biology (including Biochemistry, 1. Nandini B.

Biophysics & Molecular Biology and University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysuru.
Biotechnology)

13 Physical Sciences 1. Swarniv Chandra

JIS University, Agarpara, Kolkata.

2. Ajaz Hussain
University of Lucknow, Lucknow.

14 Plant Sciences 1. Debleena Roy

Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata.

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 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

104TH INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS, TIRUPATI

INFOSYS FOUNDATION – ISCA TRAVEL AWARD 2016-2017
LIST OF AWARDEES

Sl No. Name of Student Name of School

1. Tushar Agarwal Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Kanpur.
2. Sheen Parimoo Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Kanpur.
3. Shourya Singh Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Kanpur.
4. Subhanjali Saraswati Mahadevi Birla World Academy,Kolkata.
5. V. Manaswini Montessori English Medium High School, Mahabubabad.
6. Sanjay Bhartiya Vidyabhavan, Tirupati.
7. S. Vidhayini Sree Vidyanikethan International School, Tirupati.
8. Jithendra Bhartiya Vidyabhavan, Tirupati.
9. Praneeth Kumar G Sree Vidyanikethan International School, Tirupati.

10. P. Kapileshwar Marg Chinmaya Vidyalaya,Tiruchnoor Byepass Road,

Tirupati.

335
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
KNOW THY INSTITUTIONS
DEFENCE INSTITUTE OF BIOENERGY RESEARCH (DIBER), DRDO,
HALDWANI (UTTARAKHAND)
Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research
(DIBER), erstwhile Defence Agricultural Research
Laboratory, (DARL) is working under the aegis of
Defence Research & Development Organisation
(DRDO), Ministry of Defence, Government of India.
It has a glorious history of beginning high altitude
agricultural research in India. It was started at
Almora as Technical Cell in April 1960 and was
transferred to DRDO in July 1962, thereby heralding
a new approach in the endeavours of DRDO in
support of men behind the machines. In January
1970, the Technical Cell was upgraded to an
independent Agricultural Research Unit (ARU). The
ARU was upgraded to the status of a Laboratory and
re-designated as Defence Agricultural Research
Laboratory (DARL) in the year 1984. In accordance
with the re-defined and re-scheduled area of work
with the mandate of R&D on bio-energy and bio-
fuel, DARL was rechristened as Defence Institute of
Bio-Energy Research (DIBER) in 2008 with its head
quarter at Haldwani. The Institute is having 03 field
stations in the remote border areas of Uttarakhand
namely DIBER High Altitude Research Station Auli
336
December’16 - January’17
(Joshimath) at an altitude of 3142msl, Harshil
at3243msl and Field Research Station, Pithoragarh,
located at an altitude of 1524msl for multi-location
trials.
Conscious of its societal mission as well as the
requirement of progressive farming communities at
forward areas to adopt the evolved technologies that
in turn can ensure availability of fresh food items to
the troops, the Institute has been disseminating the
technologies to local farmers and had also adopted
few villages for technology demonstration. The
institute is dedicated to undertake research and
development work in frontier areas on Bio-energy
and is having core competence in Bio-resource
conservation, improvement and its judicious
utilization, making bio-products from Himalayan
herbs and R&D on Bio-diesel for defence use.
Notwithstanding its changed mandate, this Institute
still forging ahead in continuing it's over five decade
old legacy of development and dissemination of
suitable agro technologies in support of troops.
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
DIBER in its endeavor of meeting the
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
objectives of its assigned charter of duties in
consonance with its vision, mission and core
competence has made significant and pioneering
scientific contributions in a multitude of
technologies like:
l Biofuel technology
l Greenhouse technology for hills
l Hydroponics
l Developed various vegetable hybrids and
varieties
l Mushroom cultivation technology
l Herbal products from Himalayan
medicinal plants
l Biotechnology for cold tolerant crops
l Angora rabbit breeding for fur and wool
l Pisciculture for hills
Some of the salient features of important
achievements in the form of technologies, products
and processes developed in the area of agricultural
sciences, environmental sciences, herbal medicine
and biotechnology as well as the accomplishments
made under DRDO-Army bio diesel programme are
as under:-
VEGETABLE SCIENCE
l Developed various high yielding
varieties/hybrids in different vegetables
like capsicum, cucumber, cabbage, Bitter
gourd, Bottle gourd and Tomato.
l Developed package of practices for
undertaking vegetable cultivation in high
altitude cold desert (Pooh and Lahul Spiti-
HP).
l Developed low cost green house
technology for off season vegetable
cultivation.
HYDROPONICS
l Successfully standardized and demon-
strated growing of vegetable crops without
soil, in nutrient solution.
l This system has proved very useful in snow
bound hilly and high altitude boarder areas.
Use of a single solution developed by
DIBER made this technology user friendly.
337
December’16 - January’17
l A number of protocols have been
developed and demonstrated for growing of
vegetables in various altitudes.
l The Institute has participated in various
Antarctica missions during 90s and
successfully demonstrated vegetable
cultivation technology.
HERBAL MEDICINES
l Developed herbal products viz; .Lukoskin
for treatment of Leucoderma, Eczit for
treatment of Eczema, Amtooth, for
treatment of dental problems, Hridyasakti
an anti hypertensive herbal preparation,
Herbocare cream, Herbal honey, Herbal
health drink, Hridyamrit.
l Lukoskin for treatment of Leucoderma,
being the flagship product earning huge
amounts of royalty to DRDO.
l Conserved more than 50 important RET
(Rare, Endangered & Threatened) species
of medicinal plants.
MEDICINAL MUSHROOMS
l Developed in vitro culture protocol of
Cordyceps sinensis and this technology was
transferred to Biotech International limited,
New Delhi for its commercialization.
l Two new species of Cordyceps namely C.
kurijimiansis and C. nirtoli were identified
from Central Himalayan region and their
accession numbers were obtained from
International Mycobank.
l Developed lab cultured Cordyceps
mycelium based products named CORDY
POWER and CORDYVIT. Optimized a
new protocol for cultivation of Ganoderma
lucidum on. Saw dust of Alnus nepalensis
(Utis).
ANIMAL SCIENCES
l Developed packages & practices for cattle
rearing in hills and evaluated the
performance of cattle breeds.
l The cross bred cattle (Holstein friesian x
Sahiwal) were found suitable for middle
hills.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
lEstablished a circular hatchery and
breeding of exotic carps was carried out.
l Technology for composite fish culture
hasbeen developed and standardized.
l Three species, namely, silver carp, grass
carp and common carp culture in the ratio of
30:30:40, have been found suitable so as to
utilize the feeding materials available in all
the niches of the pond for maximum
productivity. Maximum fish production has
been achieved to the tune of 3500 to 4000
kg/ha/year under this system of farming.
ANGORA WOOL
l Angora rearing and wool production
technology from Angora rabbit developed
and standardized by DIBER.
l Developed Munsiyari (Pithoragarh), as
wool village by providing wool production
technology from Angora rabbit to the
farmers.
BIOFUEL TECHNOLOGIES
l Identified high oil yielding cultivars of
Jatropha coupled with higher productivity
for semi arid zone and foothills.
l Standardized Micro-propagation protocol
for mass multiplication and transferred to
TERI.
l Upgradation of trans-esterification plant at
project site MF Secunderabad has been
carried out in colloboration with Anna
University.
l Developed new methodology for
detoxification of Jatropha cake and the
detoxified JCM at 5% in animal feed is
found to be safe and non toxic.
l Developed protocol for storage and shelf
life enhancement of biodiesel for extreme
environment (From 06 months to 18
months for hot environment). Anti-freezing
agent was found highly effective to enhance
the storage life in extreme cold condition
(up to – 2000C).
l Technical trials on use of biodiesel in
338
December’16 - January’17
Defence vehicles completed. Camelina, a
short duration non edible oil yielding (40%)
crop introduced through NBPGR (ICAR)
as per protocol.
l During International Fleet Review -2016,
Biodiesel prepared by DIBER was trialed
successfully in navy vehicles.
l Standardized inter-cropping of Jatropha
with Camelina. Scenedesmus sp. has been
identified as promising strain having
biomass yield as dry weight (450
Kg/ha/day) and total lipid productivity of
17.7 mg/l/day.
PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY
l Collected 2958 multi crop accessions (Plant
bio-diversity) from central Himalayas for
exploitation in crop improvement prog-
ramme through molecular biotechnological
tools.
l Screened salt tolerant vegetable genotypes
for cultivation in saline eco system of Thar
desert.
l Cloning and characterization of cold
tolerant and nutritionally important genes
LlaNAC, LlaCIPK, LlaDREB1b, LlaGPAT,
LlaPR, LlaIPK, LlaRan, LlaDRT from
indigenous plant species i.e. Lepidium
latifolium were carried out and genes
transformed in tomato and model plant
tobacco.
THRUST AREAS
l Bio-diesel for Defence use.
l Bio-resource conservation improvement
and judicious utilization.
l Bio-products from Himalayan Herbs.
l Microbiology and Plant Pathology.
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
l DIBER is contributing towards the
development of skill and technical
manpower of the country.
l HRD includes training to PG students in life
sciences, Research opportunities for
research fellows in different disciplines of
life sciences.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
l This Institute is affiliated with Bharathiyar
University, Coimbatore, for Ph.D. Degree
programme.
RELIEF OPERATIONS DURING NATURAL
DISASTERS
Coordinated and contributed in various relief
operations namely Malpa disaster (18-26 Aug 1998),
Odisha cyclone (12 Oct 1999), Chamoli Earthquake
(April 1999) and Kedarnath-Badrinath disaster (June
2013) with the support of other DRDO laboratories.
PATENTS PUBLICATIONS, AWARDS
This Institute has 12 patents, over 400 research
papers in national and international journals, 10
technical bulletins and 36 technical folders and
various prestigious awards. Institute also publishes
339
December’16 - January’17
DIBER newsletter and one Hindi magazine
“Devbhoomi” annually.
CONTACT :
Director
DIBER (DRDO) Goraparao, P. O. Arjunpur,
Haldwani-263139, Nainital (Uttarakhand), Phone :
05946-232532, Fax : 05946-232719 Email. :
director@darl.drdo.in/darl_drdo@rediffmail.com,
Website: www.drdo.gov.in/drdo/labs/DIBER.
l DIBER Field Research Station,Pithoragarh-
262501 (Uttarakhand),Phone : 05964-256156,Fax :
05964-256166
l DIBER High Altitude Field Station,Auli
(Joshimath)-246443,Chamoli (Uttarakhand),Tele-
fax: 01389-223224
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
S & T ACROSS THE WORLD
DESALINATION USING COCONUT SHELL
CARBON
Researchers at National Environmental
Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) in Chennai
have reported desalination of sea water using a
microbial desalination cell (MDC) that utilizes
activated carbon from coconut shells, a widely
available biomass waste. Sea water is salty due to the
presence of sodium chloride. Technologies, such as
reverse osmosis, are currently used to make such
water potable. These technologies are energy
intensive and extensive. MDC, a modified microbial
fuel cell, has a middle compartment to hold saline
water with in anode chamber and a cathode chamber
on either side. It has graphite rods acting as
electrodes. Its working principle is as follows: the
anode chamber is filled with a liquid medium to
support microbial growth. Microorganisms growing
on the anode surface form a biofilm and oxidize the
organic matter in the medium releasing electronics,
which move towards the cathode. To maintain electro
neutrality, cations (positively charged sodium ions)
of the saline solution migrate into the cathode
chamber and anions (negatively charged chloride
ions) move into the anode chamber. The saline water
in the middle chamber is thus desalinated. The
researchers loaded activated carbon derived from
coconut shells into the anode chamber to find higher
desalination and power generations than that from a
normal anode chamber. Further research using
different types of carbon from other biomass sources
might yield interesting results. This may lead to
techno-economically feasible designs that can be
used for simultaneous salt removal from sea water
and electricity generation.
(Source: Nature India Update, 3rd October 2016)
342
December’16 - January’17
HORMONE FOUND TO PREDICT
MOTHER-CHILD BONDING
Levels of a hormone circulating in a pregnant
woman predict how closely she'll bond with her ba-
by, researchers have found.
Humans are hard-wired to form enduring bonds with
others; key among these is the mother-infant bond.
Evolutionarily speaking, it's in a mother's interest to
foster her child's well-being—but some mothers
seem a bit more maternal than others do.
In animals, oxytocin, dubbed the hormone of
love and bonding, is elicited during sexual inter-
course; is involved in maintaining close relation-
ships; and is critical for parenting. Animals with low
oxytocin levels are slower to retrieve wandering
pups, for instance.
But the hormone's role in human bonding has
been studied little, according to Ruth Feldman, a psy-
chologist at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, Isra-
el.
Feldman and colleagues measured levels of ox-
ytocin in the bloodstream of 62 women during their
first and third trimesters of pregnancy, and in their
first month after giving birth.
They also watched the mothers and children in-
teract, rating attachment levels in four categories:
gaze, touch, affect (expression) and vocalization.
The mothers also completed a survey and interview
on their bond-related thoughts, feelings, and behav-
iors. The researchers then computed the link between
oxytocin levels and bonding.
Mothers with high oxytocin early in pregnancy
engaged in more bonding after birth, the researchers
found. Moms with higher levels of oxytocin across
the whole time period, they added, reported more be-
haviors that help form exclusive relationships, such
as singing a special song to the baby, or bathing and
feeding them in a special way. These mothers were
also more preoccupied by thoughts of checking on
the infant, its safety when they weren't around, and its
future.
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
The work, published in the November issue of
the research journal Psychological Science, shows
oxytocin is related to both the mental and the behav-
ioral aspects of bonding—and that it functions simi-
larly across species, Feldman said.
(Courtesy Association for Psychological Science
and World Science staff Oct. 15, 2007)
DIVERSE NATURAL FATTY ACIDS
FOLLOW 'GOLDEN MEAN'
Bioinformatics scientists calculate the number
of theoretically possible fatty acids with help from
the Fibonacci sequence.
Bioinformatics scientists at Friedrich Schiller
University in Jena (Germany) have discovered that
the number of theoretically possible fatty acids with
the same chain length but different structures can be
determined with the aid of the famous Fibonacci
sequence. As they explain in 'Scientific Reports', the
number of possible fatty acids with increasing chain
length rises at each step by a factor of approximately
1.618, and therefore agrees with what is called the
'Golden Mean'. The ability to calculate the number of
possible fatty acids is of great importance for their
chemical analysis ('lipidomics'). This finding can
also be used in synthetic biology and in other
applications.
Mild in flavour and of great nutritional value:
the light-yellow vegetable oil pressed from
sunflower seeds has a wide range of uses and is
extremely healthy, as it contains a large proportion of
unsaturated fatty acids. These are fatty acids with
hydrocarbon chains that contain one or more double
bonds. "As these double bonds can occur at different
places in the molecule, there are fatty acids with the
same chain length, but a different structure," explains
Prof. Stefan Schuster of Friedrich Schiller University
Jena (Germany). The work of the professor for
Bioinformatics and his team is driven by the question
of whether and how the total number of structural
formulas of fatty acids with a given chain length can
be calculated, so as to be able to use this quantity for
analytical processes.
343
December’16 - January’17
The efforts of the Jena University researchers
recently led to an interesting discovery. They were
able to prove not only that the number of naturally
occurring fatty acids with increasing chain length can
be predicted in an elegant fashion, but in the
respected journal 'Scientific Reports', they also show
that this number is in line with the well-known
Fibonacci sequence (DOI: 10.1038/srep39821). In
this sequence, named after the Italian mathematician
Fibonacci (around 1170 to 1240), each number is the
sum of the two previous numbers: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13,
21, etc. "In the case of fatty acids, this means that the
number of possible fatty acid structures increases by
a factor of approximately 1.618… with each
additional carbon atom," explains Schuster. The
longer the chain, the closer the sequence gets to this
factor. While only one structure is possible for chain
lengths with one or two carbon atoms, when there are
three or more carbon atoms, this number increases to
two, three, five, etc. "Six atoms already give us eight
possibilities, with seven carbon atoms there are 13
possible structures, and so on."
The "Golden Mean" in flowers, snail shells and
the human body.
The factor 1.618… describes a ratio that is
known as the 'Golden Mean' (also called Golden
Ratio or Golden Section) and can be observed in
nature, but also in art. It can be found, for example, in
architectural masterpieces, such as the old town hall
in Leipzig, but also in flowers, snail shells, and even
in the human body. If the proportions of parts of
buildings, plants or bodies are in a ratio of 1.618 to
one another, the human eye experiences this as
particularly balanced and 'harmonious'.
“The leaves of many plants or the seeds of the
sunflower are also arranged according to this rule,"
says Prof. Severin Sasso of the Institute of General
Botany and Plant Physiology of the University of
Jena. The Assistant Professor for Molecular Botany
is one of the authors of the recent publication,
alongside doctoral candidate Maximilian Fichtner.
"It is interesting that specific substances contained in
sunflowers - the fatty acids - follow this principle."
However, sunflower oil contains by no means all
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5
possible fatty acids. It consists mainly of fatty acids
with a chain length of 16 or 18 carbon atoms.
According to the calculations done by the
bioinformatics researchers in Jena, there could be
just under 1000 variants of fatty acids with a chain
length of 16 atoms or over 2500 variants for those
with 18 atoms. "Similar correlations also occur in
certain classes of amino acids," adds Maximilian
Fichtner.
344
December’16 - January’17
The findings relating to the Fibonacci sequence
in fatty acids can be applied above all in the field of
lipidomics - the comprehensive analysis of all fats in
a cell or an organism. "An exact knowledge of the
substances that can theoretically occur is essential for
this work," notes Prof. Schuster. Lipidomics is used
to study the metabolic processes and interactions
with other cellular substances in which fats and their
constituent elements are involved.
(Source: Universität Jena - Research News 30 Jan
2017)
 Everyman’s Science Vol. LI No. 5 December’16 - January’17

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