Sarbjit Kaur

Lead in the scales of cobras and wall lizards from rural and urban areas of Punjab, India

The shed skins of cobras and scales of wall lizards collected from heavily polluted urban areas are shown to contain significantly higher levels of lead than those of the same animals from rural areas.

Nodule metabolism in cold stress tolerant and susceptible chickpea cultivars

Early maturing short duration cold-tolerant chickpea cultivars are being introduced to avoid yield loss from spell faced by crops. However, the biochemical basis of the low temperature stress tolerance is not known. In the present study carbon and nitrogen metabolizing enzymes in nodules along with physiological indices were measured in early maturing short duration cold- tolerant chickpea cultivars (ICCV 93929 and ICCV 88503) and in normal cold - susceptible (PBG1 and GPF2) cultivars. The higher biomass in nodules of cold-tolerant cultivars might act as a greater sink for attracting photoassimilates to fuel N2-fixation. The simultaneous increase of sucrose synthase and alkaline invertase in nodules of ICCV 93929 and ICCV 88503 at the stage corresponding to lower temperature, ensures hexose supply for meeting the energy and reducing power demands for active nitrogen fixation. The greater activity of glutamine synthetase observed in nodules of cold tolerant cultivars at stages exposed to lower temperature indicates an efficient assimilation of the symbiotically fixed nitrogen into amino acids. The total protein and amino acid contents were also higher in cold tolerant cultivars. There was a greater and more rapid dry matter accumulation in ICCV 88503 and ICCV 93929 as compared to PBG1 and GPF2 in which biomass accumulation extended up to 70 DAS. Sustainable photosynthetic efficiency and activities of carbon and nitrogen metabolizing enzymes for a longer period in ICCV 93929 and ICCV 88503 even after flowering and during the onset of pod setting indicates that period of active nitrogen fixation is extended in cold tolerant chickpea cultivars due to allocation of photosynthates for longer period. This will lead to more transfer of reduced N as amino compounds towards the shoots which will lead to more nitrogen availability to seeds and ultimately better seed filling. The molecular diversity characterized by using RAPD primers and clustering method revealed a greater similarity between cold tolerant cultivars than between the cold susceptible cultivars.

Lead and cadmium in maternal blood, umbilical cord blood, amniotic fluid and placenta of cows and buffaloes after foetal death (abortion) and after normal parturition

The cause of abortion in dairy animals is not yet exactly known. Concentrations of lead and cadmium in maternal blood, umbilical cord blood, amniotic fluid and placenta under foetal death (abortion) conditions and after normal parturition has demonstrated that these tissues in aborting cows and buffaloes accumulate much more lead and cadmium as compared to the normally delivering cows and buffaloes. It is believed that the toxic metals cause damage to the placenta and thus foetal death.

Response of ricebean to single and combined inoculation with Rhizobium and Glomus in a P-deficient sterilized soil

Ricebean (Vigna umbellata (Thumb) Ohwi and Ohashi, cv. RBL-1) was inoculated withGlomus fasciculatum andRhizobium leguminosarum and grown on a sterilized sandy loam soil, deficient in plant avalable P. Dual inoculation caused a significantly greater increase in VAM colonization, N and P content of the host plant, nodulation, growth and yield of ricebean as compared to the inoculation with either of the endosynbiont. Response of ricebean to dual inoculation supported the phenomena of synergistic interaction and tripartite association between the Host-VAM fungus-Rhizobium system.

Effect of environmental pollutants on human semen

With the increased release of numerous chemical substances into the biosphere, careful assessment of health effects of polluted environment must be made for maintaining and enhancing the quality of human life on this earth. Significant number of malformed children are born each year. Sixty-five to 70% of all birth defects have an unknown etiology. More than one-third of early human conception and up to 15% of recognized pregnancies are terminated by spontaneous abortion. The extent of the effect of environmental pollution on human reproductive performance is for the most part unknown. Of the approximately five million chemicals in existence, humans could be expose to a sufficient quantity of an estimated 53,000 for toxicity to be of potential problem. Methods that do not require autopsy or surgery such as semen analysis would be attractive for assessing the effect of environmental toxicology on quality of human life. Therefore, the present study was conducted to observe the effects of heavily polluted environment of industrial area of Ludhiana and relatively clean, pollution free environment of Chandigarh on the human semen quality. It was believed that the function of the male reproductive system may often be the most sensitive to toxic effects.

Effects of Aluminium Chloride on Human Spermatozoa

Aluminium (Al), which is the most prevalent metal in the earths crust, has been implicated as an etiological factor in a variety of clinical disorders. Only recently Al has been discussed in the pathogenesis of the parenteral nutrition - associated liver disease. Included in this report are the preliminary findings on its effects on the reproductive functions of human beings.