Saxifraga moorcroftiana (Seringe) Wallich. ex. sternb. Family : Saxifragaceae Bhutanese medicinal name : Bri- ta- sa- zin Distribution area: Bhutan, Nepal to S.W. China. Alt. 3,600-4,500m. Alpine slopes; common, Aug. - Sept. Description : An erect perennial 10-40 cm., with terminal clusters of few bright yellow flowers and with ovate clasping upper stem leaves and narrower stalked lower leaves. Flowers several, in a terminal cluster; petals 7-10 mm, broadly oblong - ovate; sepals broadly ovate, shorter, glandular, hairy; flower - stalks glandular, hairy. Lower leaves hairless with elliptic to lanceolate blades 3-5 cm; upper leaves 2-4 cm, progressively smaller above, glandular hairy. Part Used: Aerial parts Medicinal use: Maintain balance of bile and is antipyretic.

BIOTECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENT OF NEEM Priyanka Srivastavaa, Mithilesh Singha and Rakhi Chaturvedi*a *aDepartment of Biotechnology Indian Institute of Technology- Guwahati Guwahati - 781039, Assam, India *Corresponding Author *Department of Biotechnology Indian Institute of Technology- Guwahati Guwahati - 781039, Assam, India Tel: +91-361-2582211 (off)/ 2584211 (res) Fax: +91-361- 2582249; 2690762 Email: rakhi_chaturvedi@iitg.ernet.in rakhi_chaturvedi@yahoo.co.uk 2 BIOTECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENT OF NEEM ABSTRACT Azadirachta indica A. Juss or Neem (Meliaceae) is a versatile tropical, evergreen tree,which has attained worldwide prominence in recent years due to its therapeutic and insecticidal properties.

More than half of the world’s population, especially women and preschool children are victim of micronutrient malnutrition, primarily resulting from the consumption of diets with lower bio-available vitamins and mineral. The costs of these deficiencies in terms of lives lost and poor quality of life are shocking. To achieve the Millennium Development Goal of slashing-half the proportion of undernourished people by 2015, new technologies and approaches are needed to help address the problems. Plant breeders may tackle these problems by producing staple foods with improved bio-available minerals and vitamins, a process referred as “biofortification”.

PLANT TISSUE CULTURE AND APPLIED PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY A Kumar and S Roy Plant biotechnology, especially genetic transformation, represents one of powerful tools for the improvement of various important crops through introduction of foreign genes into the plant genome. The present book aims at bringing out concise account of applications of plant biotechnology and role of plant tissue culture in it. The book has 4 sections. The first section deals with recent developments in use of Agrobacterium mediated gene transfer in some of the recalcitrant plant species like Mulberry, Oil palm, Cork oak and Neem using plant tissue culture. Two candidate genes have the potential to control plant height from the oil palm ESTs database.

Ashwini Kumar Alexander von Humboldt Fellow Energy Plantation Demonstration Project Centre. Department of Botany, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur – 302 004, INDIA Phone : 0141-2711654 (Off.) 0141-2654100 (Resi.) 09461663610 (Mobile) E-mail : Ashwanikumar214@gmail.com ABSTRACT: Fossil fuel consumption produces green house gases and use of biofuels helps in green house gas mitigation. Global climate change has stimulated efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. During last decades we have developed agrotechnology for the biofuels: hydrocarbon yielding plants, oil yielding plants and wood biomass and three tier system has been developed encompassing all the three biofuel producing components.

Way back in 1982 in USA  I had a chance to discuss with the old botanist Laetsch  who published scholarly research paper detailing structure of chloroplasts in C4 plant using electron microscope and most of his pictures find way in most of the text books. He clearly demonstrated spatial separation of enzymes in mesophyll and bundle sheath cells . The mesophyll cells have PEPcase enzyme in their cytoplasm and initially fix the Carbon di oxide from HCO3  into Oxaloacetate which is rapidly converted into malate . I further recall a discussion reportedly between Melvin Calvin from California USA and Hatch and Slack from Australia who reported C4 cycle for the first time some decades ago.