Variability in total antioxidant capacity, antioxidant leaf pigments and foliage yield of vegetable amaranth

Twenty vegetable amaranth genotypes were evaluated for total antioxidant capacity, antioxidant leaf pigments, vitamins, and selection of suitable genotypes for extraction of juice in a randomized complete block design（RCBD） with three replications. Vegetable amaranth was rich in chlorophyll, β-cyanins, β-xanthins, betalains, carotene, ascorbic acid and total antioxidant. The genotypes VA14, VA16, VA18, VA15, and VA20 could be selected as amaranth vegtable varieties with high yields and abundance antioxidant leaf pigments and vitamins to produce juice. The genotypes VA13 and VA19 had above-average foliage yield and high antioxidant profiles while the genotypes VA2, VA3, VA9, VA11, VA12, and VA17 had a high antioxidant profiles and below-average foliage yield. These genotypes could be used as a donor parent for integration of potential high antioxidant profiles genes into other genotypes. The correlation study revealed a strong positive association among all the antioxidant leaf pigments, total antioxidant capacity and foliage yield. Selection based on total antioxidant capacity, antioxidant leaf pigments could economically viable to improve the yield potential of vegetable amaranth genotypes. Total carotene and ascorbic acid exhibited insignificant genotypic correlation with all the traits except total antioxidant capacity. This indicates that selection for antioxidant vitamins might be possible without compromising yield loss.

Morphological and biochemical responses of Oryza sativa L.(cultivar MR219) to ion beam irradiation

Objective: Heavy ion beam, which has emerged as a new mutagen in the mutation breeding of crops and ornamental plants, is expected to result in the induction of novel mutations. This study investigates the morphological and biochemical responses of Oryza sativa toward different doses of carbon ion beam irradiation. Methods: In this study, the dry seeds of O. sativa were irradiated at 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, and 120 Gy, followed by in-vitro germination under controlled conditions. Morphological and biochemical studies were conducted to investigate the morphological and physiological responses of O. sativa towards ion beam irradiation. Results: The study demonstrated that low doses(10 Gy) of ion beam have a stimulating effect on the height, root length, and fresh weight of the plantlets but not on the number of leaves. Meanwhile, doses higher than 10 Gy caused reductions in all the morphological parameters studied as compared to the control samples. The highest total soluble protein content [(2.11±0.47) mg/g FW] was observed in plantlets irradiated at 20 Gy. All irradiated plantlets were found to have 0.85% to 58.32% higher specific activity of peroxidase as compared to the control samples. The present study also revealed that low doses of ion beam(10 and 20 Gy) had negligible effect on the total chlorophyll content of O. sativa plantlets while 40 Gy had a stimulating effect on the chlorophyll content. Plantlets irradiated between 40 to 120 Gy were shown to be 0.38% to 9.98% higher in total soluble nitrogen content which, however, was not significantly different from the control samples. Conclusions: Carbon ion beam irradiation administered at low to moderate doses of 10 to 40 Gy may induce O. sativa mutants with superior characteristics.