Journal of Environment and Sociobiology

Arnab Kumar De ¹

Affiliations
1 Dept. of Botany, Calcutta University, 35, Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata-700 019, IN

Abstract

The modern food industry aims at an increase in cheaper, healthier and more convenient food products. This paves the way to the use of natural products and raw materials like microalgae and sea weeds which contain polyunsaturated fatty acids and antioxidant pigments as their main biochemical constituents along with other organic and inorganic compounds. They exhibit vital properties to reduce the occurrence of chronic diseases and increase the nutritional value of food. Algae can be grown in vast quantities to facilitate the nutritional requirements of the exponentially expanding population of the world. The use of algae in food products for human consumption is a cost effective method to substitute the conventional ingredients of existing food products. Microalgae and sea weeds can be used as colouring agents in food products. They can be incorporated in snacks and various delicacies around the world. They are used to create dietary supplements that have revolutionized the world of food production and pharmacognosy. In the present paper, the nutritional properties of these algae are highlighted as they are therapeutically important organisms due to their chemical constituents that can curb various diseases.

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Arnab Kumar De ¹

Affiliations
1 Plant Physiology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of Kalyani, Nadia-741235, West Bengal, IN

Abstract

A free floating aquatic fern Azolla pinnata R.Br. was selected from natural resources of urban forests as a significant herbicide bioaccumulating plant which directly or indirectly phytoremediating the environmental hazards from forest floor including macro/micro flora of piscicultural ponds as well as swamp forest floor. With bioaccumulation of residual herbicide these Azolla plants could stabilize the growth attributes reflecting stable assimilation rate along with the different physiological properties. For the present topic, the residual herbicide affecting the environment was 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D). A significant amount of reactive oxygen species with its concomitant induction of anti-oxidising enzymes indicates the tolerance against the herbicide. Plants recorded a significant nitrogen metabolism due to the presence of nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria Anabaena azollae which becomes more beneficiary to the phytoremediatory aspect. The physiological responses of floating fern Azolla emerged as a potential phytoremediator for residual effects of herbicides in soil. Besides all these, some physiological features of herbicidal interactions of Azolla pinnata R.Br. were studied to establish the species as a potent xenobiotics tolerant one. The plant can be used as aresidual herbicide quencher species from aquatic forest floor. Here the Azolla pinnata was used as enviromental clean up plant for the management of aquatic forest floor contaminated by residual herbicides.

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