Journal of Research and Development

Centre of Research for Development

University of Kashmir

Print ISSN: 0972 - 5407 Online ISSN: 0972 - 5407

Streamflow trend is a robust indicator of the changes in meteorological inputs at a catchment scale and provides vital information about the seasonal and long-term storages of water in soil, snow and glaciers. Due to the mountainous terrain of the Kashmir Himalaya, the network of meteorological observatories is very scanty and inadequate. Therefore, the trends in the observed streamflows, temperature and precipitation shall provide a composite indication of the impact of changing climate at the basin level. Mann-kandall test was used to determine the trends in the annual, seasonal streamflows and meteorological variables (temperature and precipitation) from 1980-2010. Pearson correlation test was used to analyze the relation among the three hydro-meteorological variables. Results from the four observation stations revealed that the Jhelum streamflows have decreased in spite of the increase in the glacier-melt due to the rising temperature. Overall, the precipitation has marginally decreased in the Kashmir valley during the observation period. A good correlation was observed between the winter precipitation (snowfall) and spring streamflows at all the observation stations. The results indicated that the depleting streamflows in the Jhelum river is influenced by the seasonal precipitation and increasing temperature and consequent glacier loss in the Jhelum basin. It is believed that, if, the trend continues, the depleting streamflows will have adverse impact on the water-dependent sector like agriculture, horticulture, and tourism in the Kashmir Himalaya.

Breeding parameters of Indian pond heron, a resident bird of Old World origin and widely distributed in the wetlands and other water bodies of the world were recorded in the breeding season of 2015, which extended from March to September in Hokersar Wetland, Kashmir. Information on nesting sites, clutch size, egg dimensions of abandoned and rolled off eggs, incubation period, hatching success, breeding success and nesting success was yielded through direct observations in the field. Nest site selection initiated in the month of April in willow plantations. Nests were more or less like a platform with slight depression. Average clutch size was 3.28 ± 0.80 eggs per nest (n = 60) and the mean egg dimensions of 30 (abandoned and rolled off) eggs were 38.78 x 30.48 mm. Volume and shape index of the same eggs were 27.80 ± 1.92 cm3 and 76.10 ± 2.74 respectively. Both sexes incubated eggs and the mean incubation period was 20.9 ± 1.18 days. Hatching was asynchronous. The hatching, nesting and fledging success were 71.56 %, 73.33 % and 64.40 % respectively. Overall the breeding success was 64.38%.

Herbal medicines are being used by about 80% of the world population primarily in the developing countries for primary health care. They have stood the test of time for their safety, efficacy, cultural acceptability and lesser side effects. The chemical constituents present in them are a part of the physiological functions of living flora and hence they are believed to have better compatibility with the human body. Bergenia ciliata is one of the important medicinal plants of Kashmir Himalaya. The plant is reported to contain numerous phytochemicals which show diverse medicinal properties. The bioactive compounds which were present in the methanolic extracts of rhizomes and leaves of B. ciliata include alkaloids, amino acids, carbohydrates, glycosides, phenolics, steroids and tannins. However, the extracts showed negative results for terpenoids, flavinoids and saponins.

Pollution of water bodies affects all the biotic communities including fish. The chemical fertilizers and pesticides are the main sources of water pollution. The general effects of water pollution on fish may be considered as physical effects, oxidation effects, toxic chemical effects etc. As fish is excellent indicator of water quality and parameters such as fish population size, growth rate, condition factor and diversity are also indicative of the total health of water. Toxic chemicals generated through man‟s industrial agricultural and domestic activities eventually reach aquatic environment and cause a major threat to the inhabiting organisms. Since the aquatic environment is fragile and hence sensitive to the toxic effects of chemical pollutants including hydrophobic pollutants. Pollutants such as pesticides are known to alter the behavioural pattern, growth and reproductive potential and resistance to disease of aquatic organisms by effect on a variety of biochemical and physiological mechanisms. The toxicity of sodium cyanide (free cyanide) to the fresh water fish, C. gachua was studied using static bioassay method. The LC50 in 96 hours was found to be 33μgL-1. Behavioural changes when exposed to lethal concentration of sodium cyanide showed increased opercular movement, increased surface behaviour, loss of equilibrium, change in body colour, increased secretion of mucus, irregular swimming activity, rapid jerk movement, partial jerk and aggressiveness. The swimming behaviour was in a cork screw palter, rotating along horizontal axis. In sub-lethal treatment, the schooling behaviour of the fish was slowly disrupted, the ventilation rate was increased. The fish C. gachua at 21st days of exposure exhibited balanced swimming and active feeding and behaved in normal way. Hence, oxygen consumption was decreased in lethal concentration (-22.64 -70.13%), but in sub lethal concentration decreased trend was improved and reached normal level at 21st day (-25.10-2.19). Alterations in oxygen consumption may be due to respiratory distress as a consequence of impairment in oxidative metabolism. Fish in sub lethal concentration were found under stress but that was not fatal.

The present study has evaluated the potential of the plant E. arvense against the mutagenic effects induced by cyclophosphamide (chemotherapeutic agent) in the bone marrow cells of mice using the CA in vivo as the biomarker. The study was performed following 3 protocols: pre-treatment, simultaneous treatment and post-treatment with the aqueous extract of the plant. The results demonstrated that the plant extract was not mutagenic and has a protective effect against the mutagenicity induced by cyclophosphamide. Because of its ability to prevent chromosomal damage, E. arvense is likely to open an interesting field concerning its possible use in clinical applications, most importantly in cancer as a chemo preventive agent.

H. perforatum is one of the important medicinal plants. It is reported to have anticancerous and antiviral properties. Northwest Himalayas is a rich source of this medicinal plant. Since only few studies are reported from our region with respect to this plant. Therefore this study was carried out for the investigation of preliminary phytochemicals in H. perforatum. From our studies it was analyzed that H. perforatum contains most of the primary and secondary metabolites. However steroids and glycosides tests were found to be negative.

Among the different predators, coccinellid beetles play an important role in the natural suppression of destructive insect pests. Coccinella septempunctata, an important coccinellid beetle with worldwide distribution is found very active on different insect pests. An experiment was conducted to study the feeding potential of C. septumpunctata (Linnaeus) on Cabbage aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae (Linnaeus) under laboratory conditions [26 ± 2˚C and 65 ± 5% Relative Humidity (R.H)]. The present study was conducted in Entomology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Kashmir during the year 2014-2015. The results revealed that both adults and grubs of C. septumpunctata were found voracious feeders on cabbage aphid. The fourth instar devoured maximum number of aphids. The mean aphid consumption under different host density was observed. Also higher prey consumption rate was observed in adult female as compared to adult male.

European Blackberry (Rubus fructicosus L.) is a prickly, sarmentose shrub found in a variety of habitats including woodlands, hedgerows, gardens, roadsides, wastelands, etc. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the dye yielding potential of the fruits of European Blackberry of Kashmir valley. The stability and colour quality of pigments (anthocyanins and carotenoids) were assessed by quantifying the pigments and recording their colour quality at 10 days interval at 0, 10, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 days after collection under ambient and refrigerated storage conditions. Results revealed that the total anthocyanin content (mg/100 g) and total carotenoid content (mg/100 g) were in a range of 521.04 to 1109.97 mg/100 g and 0.125 to 0.943 mg/100 g. Highest pigment content was recorded during 0 days of storage. Under ambient conditions plant material perished due to fungal attack. With increase in days of storage pigment content decreased in both plant material as well as extract. Pigment degradation was more in the plant material as compared to the plant extract. Colour quality of the plant species changed with increase in days of storage. From the present study it was concluded that European Blackberry fruits contained superior levels of anthocyanin content, thus it can be used as a raw material for extraction of reddish to pink edible food colours.

Climate change is caused by emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) through anthropogenic activities including land-use change, deforestation, biomass burning, draining of wetlands, soil cultivation and fossil fuel combustion. Consequently, the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases and their radiative forcing have progressively increased with increase in human population, especially from the onset of industrial revolution around 1850. Thus, unless necessary steps are not taken to reduce CO2 emissions by increasing carbon sinks in terrestrial ecosystem alone, it is not possible to stabilize or reduce concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Little information exists on breeding Indian moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) in lakes and wetlands of Kashmir Himalaya. We studied the nesting ecology of Indian moorhens inhabiting Hokersar and Eastern foreshore area of Dal Lake. Nesting sites were dominated by Sparganium erectum, Butomus umbellatus, Typha angustata, Phragmites australis and Salix tree species and adjacent foraging areas were primarily composed of Nympheae spp, Nymphoides peltata, Trapa bispinosa, Salvinia spp, Myriophyllum verticillatum, Potamogeton spp, Azolla sp. The mean water depth surrounding nests was 70 cm in Hokersar and 96 cm in Eastern foreshore area of Dal Lake. The population of common moorhen sighted in Hokersar was greater than the population found in the eastern foreshore stretch of Dal Lake as evidenced by the number of birds and nests located from this area.

This review addresses the intersection of water quality policy and benthic macroinvertebrates. Macroinvertebrates, as biological indicators of stream water quality, can be utilized to identify impaired waters, determine aquatic life stressors, set pollutant load reductions, and indicate improvement.

Hyoscyamus niger contains tropane alkaloids such as scopolamine and hyoscyamine which are highly important for medicinal purposes. The present objective was to develop an efficient protocol for shoot multiplication of Hyoscyamus niger L. from nodal segments of in vitro raised seedlings. Seed germination was recorded on MS and GamborgB5media however 100% germination was recorded on Murashige and Skoog (MS) full strength media. Among the combinations of hormones tested, good response of shoot proliferation with maximum shoot number and maximum shoot length was observed from nodal segments on MS + TDZ [14 Micromoles (μM)] + IBA (3.5μM) after 32 days of culture.

Plants are a source of large number of secondary metabolites comprising to different groups such as alkaloids, terpenoids, flavonoids, steroid, tannins, etc. They can act as antibacterial, antioxidant, antiulcer, anti-inflammatory, antiviral and anticancer agents. It is now believed that nature has given the cure of every disease in one way or another. Therefore, the present study was taken conduct the preliminary phytochemical screening, total flavonoid and phenolic contents assays of various leaf extracts (Hexane, methanolic and aqueous) of Juniperus squamata. Total flavonoid content was measured by the aluminium chloride colorimetric assay and total phenolic content was estimated spectrophotometrically by Folin-Ciocalteau method. Preliminary phytochemical screening reveals the presence of phenolics, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, phylobatanins and cardiac glycosides in methanolic and aqueous extracts.While hexane extract was found to contain steroids mainly. Moreover, in all the three different extracts (hexane ,methanolic, and aqueous) highest content of both phenolics and flavonoids was found in the methanolic extract i.e. 427 mg GAE/g and 255 mg RU/g respectively, and hexane extract with the least i.e. 132 mg GAE/g and 64 mg RU/g.

Studies were conducted in the laboratory of aphid management, Division of Entomology, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology - Kashmir, to determine the effect of different prey (aphid) densities (functional response) of second, third, fourth instars of grub and adult of important aphidophagous coccinellid, C. septempunctata (L.) i.e. 20, 40, 80, 100, 200, 400 and 800. The present study revealed that the prey density has significant influence on the preying capacity of the grub and adult of species. Prey consumption by the second, third, fourth instars of grub and adult of C. septempunctata (L.) followed an increasing trend from lower prey density (20) to higher prey densities i.e. 40, 80, 100, 200, 400 and 800, while the percentage of prey consumption decreased with increasing prey (aphid) densities.

The present study deals with the species diversity, density, abundance and frequency of macrophytic vegetation in Dal lake. During the current study a total of 24 species belonging to submerged, rooted-floating leaf type, free-floating type, and emergent were recorded. Among 24 observed species, the maximum number of species were recorded at site 4 (Gagribal basin B) and Site 3 (Gagribal basin A) followed by Site 2 (Nishat basin) and then site 1 (Hazratbal basin). Highest species diversity was found at Site 4. Nymphoides peltatum recorded highest density, frequency, and abundance at Site 1 and Site 2. Salvinia natans recorded highest density, frequency and abundance at site 3. Nymphaea mexicana recorded highest frequency, density, and abundance at Site 4. The overall percentage contribution in terms of population density of the four classes of macrophytes at all four studied sites were as submerged 32%, rooted floating-leaf type 28%, emergent 28% and 12% were free-floating.

The present study was carried in Shallabough wetland Kashmir during 2014. In this paper emphasis were lead on distribution pattern of birds in the wetland. For the purpose of present study the wetland was divided into different study sites. The birds were identified before counting by studying its characteristic features in accordance with available identification keys.Visual census method was used for observing the birds in wetland. Birds were monitored mostly during morning hours when they used to come out for feeding. A total of 68 species of birds were identified among which 24 were residents, 20 were summer visitors, 19 were winter visitors, and 5 species were identified as local altitudinal migrants during the study period. Most number of birds were recorded from family Anatidae followed by Ardeidae.