Restoration of saline land by halophytes for Indian soils

Usually saline soils were reclamized by chemical or mechanical remediation, since the cost of leaching technique for saline soil reclamation is higher in India. In the present study an attempt has been made to investigate to identify the fast and luxuriantly growing halophytic herbs which are salt accumulators and to assess the feasibility of salt bioaccumulation. From the results it is concluded that among six species studied Suaeda maritima and Sesuvium portulacastrum exhibited greater accumulation of salts in their tissues as well as higher reduction of salts in the soil medium.     

Isolation and partial characterization of bacteriophages infecting Vibrio harveyi from shrimp farm effluent water

Bacteriophage isolated from the semi-intensive culture of Pacific white leg shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei infects the luminous bacteria Vibrio harveyi. Lytic activity and lytic spectrum results revealed that the isolated phage had strong lytic activity in V. harveyi, V. parahaemolyticus, and V. vulnificus. Biofilm inhibition activity was performed against different pathogenic vibrios on high-density polyethylene (HDPE) template and the result revealed that the phage effectively inhibited the biofilm formation in V. harveyi. Spectrophotometric assay performed for lytic activity of the isolated phage in V. harveyi liquid culture showed that the phage significantly decreased the V. harveyi cell densities at different time intervals (P?<?0.05). To study the stability of phage at different temperature and pH revealed that the phage withstands the temperature ranged between 40 and 70 °C and the pH of 4 and 9 at a significant level (P?<?0.001). One-step growth curve depicted that the burst size gradually increased to a significant level and reached the maximum of 90% at 180 min (P?<?0.05). This study concluded that the isolated phage had specific activity against pathogenic V. harveyi infections.

     

Sodium chloride stress on organic constituents of Sesuvium portulacastrum L., a salt marsh halophyte

Certain organic constituents, amino acids, protein, proline, glycinebetaine, sugars, and starch in the leaves of Sesuvium portulacastrum, which was grown under varying levels of sodium chloride (NaCl) was determined. Total amino acids lowered at increasing levels of NaCl while the protein content increased moderately up to 600 mM and thereafter increased and decreased, respectively; however, 600 mM level of NaCl significantly differed from the untreated control plants. The concentration of total sugars declined with the increasing levels of exogenous addition of NaCl up to 600 mM. Starch content increased significantly up to 600 mM NaCl and thereafter declined slightly. Proline and glycinebetaine contents were accumulated with the corresponding increase of salinization.