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Anand Agricultural University, Anand

Anand Agricultural University (AAU) was established in 2004 at Anand with the support of the Government of Gujarat, Act No.(Guj 5 of 2004) dated April 29, 2004. Caved out of the erstwhile Gujarat Agricultural University (GAU), the dream institution of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr. K. M. Munshi, the AAU was set up to provide support to the farming community in three facets namely education, research and extension activities in Agriculture, Horticulture Engineering, product Processing and Home Science. At present there seven Colleges, seventeen Research Centers and six Extension Education Institute working in nine districts of Gujarat namely Ahmedabad, Anand, Dahod, Kheda, Panchmahal, Vadodara, Mahisagar, Botad and Chhotaudepur AAU's activities have expanded to span newer commodity sectors such as soil health card, bio-diesel, medicinal plants apart from the mandatory ones like rice, maize, tobacco, vegetable crops, fruit crops, forage crops, animal breeding, nutrition and dairy products etc. the core of AAU's operating philosophy however, continues to create the partnership between the rural people and committed academic as the basic for sustainable rural development. In pursuing its various programmes AAU's overall mission is to promote sustainable growth and economic independence in rural society. AAU aims to do this through education, research and extension education. Thus, AAU works towards the empowerment of the farmers.

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Subject: Botany × End date: 2021 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: Ph.D ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    STUDIES ON ENZYMES RELATED TO PHENOLIC ACIDS IN PLANT TISSUE CULTURES
    (AAU, Anand, 1976) Shah, Rajendra R.; Mehta, A. R.
    Abstract not Available
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    THE CHANGES IN NUCLEIC ACIDS IN RELATION TO AUXINS, KINETIN AND SUGAR DURING GROWTH IN CULTURES OF CUCUMIS MELO L. AND DATURA METEL L.
    (AAU, Anand, 1969) VAJRANABHAIAH, S. N.; MEHTA, A. R.
    Abstract not Available
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS OF HETEROSIS IN BIDI TOBACCO (nicotiana tabacum L.)
    (AAU, Anand, 1998) Chavda, Jaysinh Chandrasinh; Mehta, K. G.
    The present investigation on Physiological basis of heterosis was carried out by comparing two hybrids viz. ms GT 5 X 259-51-31 (SH) and GT 5 x 259-51-31 (FH) with their parents in Randomized Block Design with six replications at the Bidi Tobacco Research Station, Gujarat Agricultural University, Anand during 1995-96 and 1996-97 crop season. The positive heterotic effects exhibited by both the hybrids for growth and developmental characters viz., plant height, number of leaves/plant, leaf length and breadth, leaf area as well as dry weight/unit area, indicated that hybrids were superior to their respective parents but for days to topping/flowering they were inferior to their better parent. The hybrids had very low but positive heterotic effect in relative growth rate (RGR) and leaf area ratio (LAR). However, maximum heterotic effect was noticed in leaf area duration (LAD) and leaf area index (LAI) during all the stages of growth. Incase of net assimilation rate (NAR) low and negative heterotic effect was observed. The high and positive heterotic effect in chlorophyll contents (a, b and total) indicated more photosynthetic activity in the leaf of hybrids as compared to their parents during entire growth period. The data on chemical constitutents of leaf viz., nicotine and reducing sugar per cent indicated small but positive heterotic effect in both the hybrids, which is good from the quality point of view. The results of nutrient contents (NPK) in leaf indicated that hybrid cointained higher nutrients than parents, which showed more nutrient requirement and uptake by the hybrids, which inturn has reflected in vigour as assessed by growth parameters and final dry weight of leaf. Correlation coefficient studies indicated that leaf length and breadth and thereby leaf area, LAI, LAD as well as dry weight/unit leaf area were significantly correlated with yield at most of the growth stages, while RGR, LAR and NAR were correlated only at certain stages of the crop growth. In general, the sterile source of cytoplasm (SH) was equally good and remained at par with fertile source (FH) in mean performance indicating that both were similar in respect to most of the characters studied. As both the hybrids were equally good and gave significantly higher yield (about 19 %) than parents without impairing the leaf quality of the produce, the cms lines could safely and proiitably be used in heterosis breeding programme in bidi tobacco crop. The present investigation led us to believe that the heterosis is a complex phenomenon governed by raorphophysiological characters and bio-chemical reactions. Based on the above findings it is suggested that more emphasis should be given to leaf area, dry weight/unit leaf area and chlorophyll contents of the leaf in bidi tobacco hybridization programme as leaf is the main economical part of the crop.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    GENETIC DIVERSITY ANALYSIS IN Plantago ovata (Forsk.) AND ITS ALLIED SPECIES THROUGH CYTOGENETICAL, BIOCHEMICAL AND DNA BASED MOLECULAR MARKERS
    (AAU, Anand, 2006) RAMESH KUMAR SOLANKI; Dr. R. S. Fougat
    Plantago ovata Forsk., commonly known as “Isabgol” in Hindi and “Blond Psyllium” in English is an important medicinal crop of the Indian subcontinent. Its numerous medicinal properties and its use as a natural laxative and capacity to control blood cholesterol has exponentially increased its demand in the World market. Among all the medicinal plants, Isabgol (Plantago ovata Forsk.) is a crop of high export value for our country. Moreover, India is the largest producer and exporter of Isabgol seed and husk. About 90 percent of the total production (worth Rs. 250 crores) is exported. At present, states of Rajasthan and Gujarat together produce about 1 lakh tonnes of Isabgol seed out of which about 30,000 tonnes husk is obtained which is mostly processed in Gujarat. Looking to its high commercial value, various crop improvement programmes in isabgol are going on in the country. However, crop suffers with many natural inherent constrains which has hindered its improvement. The small size of the genome (2n=8) and large part of it being heterochromatic has made the genetic base of P. ovata very narrow, resulting in insufficient amount of genetic variability required to break the present yield plateau through selection. The floral morphology of Isabgol also does not permit easy emasculation to perform manual crossing. The flower size is so small that proper handling is very tedious and being delicate, the chances of flower drop are very high Though, many efforts to broaden the narrow genetic base through induced polyploidy and mutations have been made in the past, but the performance of induced polyploids and mutants has been comparatively poor as they turned less stable to the existing varieties. Therefore, the change in breeding approaches is frequently advocated for Isabgol improvement and one among them could be the use of allied species for gene introgression. The genus Plantago as such has very broad genetic base consisting of nearly 256 species, known to have three different basic chromosome numbers i.e., x=4, x=5 and x=6. Before utilization of these gene pools for gene introgression into cultivated species, the genetic relationships between these species need to be worked out which is still not well understood. Therefore, the present investigation was conducted to estimate the extent of genetic homologies and the diversity existing in the genus Plantago and to work out the phylogenetic relationships among its six species having different basic chromosome numbers i.e., 2n=2x=8 (P. ovata), 2n=2x=10 (P. coronopus) and 2n=2x=12 (P. lanceolata, P. indica, P. aranaria and P. psyllium) . Morphological diversity measured using D2 Statistic showed that traits like flowers per spike, number of tillers, seed yield and length of spike contributed more to diversity. Phylogenesis based on D2 values of 53 lines + 2 state released varieties showed presence of very less variability within species P. ovata. Inter-specific diversity analysis showed a single species viz., P. lanceolata to be morphologically nearer to P. ovata. Cytogenetical characterisation and giemsa C banding analysis revealed a predominance of a symmetrical karyotype in all the six genomes. No, Intraspecfic variation for C-bands was observed within P. ovata. All the species showed presence of high amount of heterochromatin concentrated near centromeric and telomeric regions. The distinctness of short arm of one chromosome nearly devoid of heterochromatin in three species i.e., chromosome I in P. ovata, chromosome III in P. lanceolata and chromosome IV in P. aranaria, suggested a strong phylogenetic relationship among these species. On the other hand, the quantitative data of cyto-morphological parameters revealed a close relationship between P. ovata and P. indica, followed by P. coronopus. Estimates of three metabolites viz., TSS (Total Soluble Sugar), FAA (Free Amino Acid) and total phenol showed similarity between P. ovata with P. aranaria. Activity of various antioxidant enzymes showed that CAT (Catalase) had higher activity in the branching type species viz., P. indica, P. aranaria and P. psyllium. The activity of SOD (Superoxide dismutase) and PPO (Polyphenol Oxidase) showed the relatedness of P. ovata with P. aranaria. A Native-PAGE isozyme profile for esterase alleles revealed that P. ovata is nearly similar to P. lanceolata. Whereas, SOD isoforms profile showed a very intense closeness between P. ovata and P. aranaria. RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) analysis showed lack of molecular variability among 55 lines of P. ovata, reflecting high stability of the genome for distribution of random sequences. Compared to D2 analysis, RAPD results were more informative to display the hidden variability among the P. ovata lines. Molecular diversity estimates as obtained through 12 RAPD primers on six species of Plantago showed presence of very high polymorphism. Total 93 bands were generated of which 43 bands were species specific. One band OPI650bp was present only in species having tillering growth habit (P. ovata, P. coronopus and P. lanceolata). Similarly, another band OPI2100bp was present only in species having branching growth habit (P. indica, P. aranaria and P. psyllium). The only group which did not share any common RAPD loci were species having 2n=2x=8 chromosomes (P. ovata) and 2n=2x=10 chromosomes (P. coronopus) which shows their unrelatedness. ISSR (Inter-Simple Sequence Repeats) banding profiles were generated using three different primers viz., UBC-807, UBC-810 and UBC-827 which amplified a total of 26 amplicons. Of these, 15 bands were species specific. The phylogenetic relationship as revealed by band sharing data of both RAPD and ISSR markers, clearly depicted the nearness of P. ovata (2n=2x=8) and P. coronopus with P. lanceolata, P. aranaria and P. indica (2n=2x=12). The phylogenies obtained through molecular marker data pointed towards the co-evolution of two basic chromosome number i.e. 2n=2x=8 and 2n=2x=10 from a common ancestor with 2n=2x=12 chromosomes, as no similarity exist between P. ovata and P. coronopus. Sucrose transporter gene of Plantago major (PmSUC3) was validated using the flanking primers specific to the open reading frame (orf) of this gene, nearness of P. aranaria and P. major was revealed by this gene. The cumulative analysis of dominant marker data viz., isozyme, RAPD and ISSR showed strong phylogenetic relationship of the cultivated species P. ovata (2n=2x=8) with that of P. lanceolata (2n=2x=12). The pooled analysis of the quantitative data obtained from the above mentioned independent analysis clearly distinguished tillering types from branching type species. The branching of the cluster showed a very close relationship of the cultivated species P. ovata (2n=2x=8) with P. coronopus (2n=2x=10). These two species in turn were very near to P. lanceolata (2n=2x=12). Independent and integrated evaluation of the results obtained in the present study reveals that P. ovata (2n=2x=12) and P. coronopus (2n=2x=10) which morphologically appears to be very near to each other are actually not. Because, at biochemical and molecular level they turned out to be quite different from each other. These two species were found to be more nearer to P. lanceolata (2n=2x=12; tillering type) and P. aranaria (2n=2x=12; branching type). P. lanceolata was found to have a very strong molecular similarity with all the species with basic chromosome number of 2n=2x=12, pointing towards its primitiveness. Therefore, P. lanceolata possibly may prove useful as a bridging species between P. ovata (the cultivated species) and the other allied species to perform inter-specific hybridization between them. The phylogenies obtained through all the marker data pointed towards the coevolution of two basic chromosome number i.e. 2n=2x=8 and 2n=2x=10 in two independent directions from a common ancestor with 2n=2x=12 chromosomes, as no similarity was found to exist between P. ovata and P. coronopus at biochemical and molecular level. The origin of two base number seems to be a result of independent reduction of one and two chromosome pairs, rather then the earlier hypothesis of gradual reduction in the chromosome complement from 2n=2x=12 to 2n=2x=10 and finally to 2n=2x=8. The important information generated through giemsa C-banding, isozyme and molecular markers will prove quite useful to understand the genetic makeup of Isabgol crop more thoroughly. These markers can be successfully used as efficient tools to design linkage maps. The basic information generated through the present study will go a long way in helping Isabgol breeders and shall provide new impetus to research efforts directed towards the improvement of Isabgol through conventional plant breeding methods vis-à-vis newer techniques of plant biotechnology.