Several morpho physiological traits are traditionally used as screening criteria for drought tolerance such as relative water content (RWC), stomatal index, water use efficiency (WUE) etc. Crop WUE can be improved by optimizing crop transpiration. Several workers have proposed carbon isotope discrimination (CID), ash content and canopy temperature depression (CTD) as selection criteria for transpiration efficiency (TE), which may serve as the surrogate measures for improvement in grain yield.To identify suitable physiological traits useful in wheat breeding under water stress environment is the major thrust area of present investigation. For this, Durum and aestivum genotypes were selected from the breeding material of ARI, Pune (MS, India).Experimental trials on Triticum durum were conducted under three different water regimes viz. residual soil moisture stress (RSMS), post anthesis water stress (PAWS) as limited irrigation (LI) and well watered (WW) conditions.Data were collected for agronomical and physiological characters. Soil water balance model 'BUDGET' (Raes et.al. 2006) has been used for deriving WUE using meteorological, rainfall and irrigation data of (2004-05)and(2006)

The species of Chlorophytum Ker-Gawl. are known as drug safed musali in different indigenous system of medicine, such as Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Tibbi. Ayurveda is an ancient Indian System of medicine, which generally deals with plants and plant extracts. This form of medicines involves treating various diseases by the active ingredients present in plant. Pharmacognosy is a highly applied branch of science, which involves the number of scientific disciplines for solving problems pertaining to the identity, purity, quality and preservation of the drugs of plant, animal and mineral origin. There are various methods designed to distinguish authentic crude drugs from their adulterants, based on there pharmacognosy. All these methods are useful to provide pharmacopoeial standards for the authentic drugs. Hence, in the present investigation detailed pharmacognostic study of six species of Chlorophytum have been carried out.

This book presents the results of pharmacognostic investigations of six antidysenteric leafy medicinally important plants of Kerala, India. These plants have also been extensively utilized in different systems like Ayurved, Unani & Vaids of medicine to treat dysentery. In addition to these, histochemical & phytochemical screenings were carried out for secondary metabolites such as tannins, saponins, anthroquinones, glycosides & alkaloids. Along with that anti-microbial activity data using common pathogenic bacteria is also furnished. The subject is divided into six major chapters to have continuity in reading like introduction, review of literature, material & methods, results & discussion etc. Several tables & figures are provided along with for a better understanding of the concept. The reader would certainly appreciate these. This book provides primary but authentic first hand information about the usages of this traditional medicinal knowledge. This information will be helpful in further studies. Also the voluminous data presented here in this book would be of immense use for the up-gradation and validation of age-old knowledge.

The book includes the studies on important herbal drugs. These drugs are utilized as a native medicine in different formulation or in organ form in different systems of medicine in India. It is used in different ailments. The present study highlights the morphology of selected plants, association of fungi with crude drugs under storage condition and effect of relative humidity on fungal growth. The medicinal properties of the herbal drugs depend upon their chemical constituents and these therapeutically active chemical constituents may substantially diminish their therapeutic values due to threat of fungi. Investigations were also carried for the phytochemical screening of six herbal crude drugs to find out the biodeterioration of chemical constituents under storage as well as under infestation condition. The drugs were also screened for aflatoxins detection. It emphasizes the concepts in a concise and systematic manner to formulate a background and arouse interest among the readers. The subject matter has been given in a simple style which would beneficial for the students and researchers in the field of mycology (Botany)

This book highlights the new approaches in Ethnobotany with the aid of Pharmacognosy. The book reports exhaustive studes on Korku and Pawra tribes of Satpura hills of Maharashtra, India. It includes information on 505 medicinal plants. About 249 prescriptions on 198 species for medicine which are found to be less known or unknown are presented in the book. In addition 80 plants are reported as an addition to the local flora, Flora of Nandurbar and 08 plants to the Flora of Melghat. Investigations were also carried out on the phytochemical screening of five plant species. Few plant species were screened for therapeutically active chemical compound 'L-dopa' and five plants were investigated for their antimicrobial activity. Book also highlights the efforts towards conservation of threatened medicinal plants. It includes some rare plants reported after several years, some new records at state as well country level and a novel plant species. In summary, the book as most of the readers will find, is simple and student-friendly which would benefit the students and researchers in the field of Ethnobotany, Pharmacognosy and drug development.