Natural insecticide

Natural oils present in a medicinal and aromatic plant that grows widely in southern India can help fight crop pests, including the American bollworm that gets the better of cotton. Oils found in Chloroxylon swietenia — known as East Indian satinwood — can reduce insect growth and feeding, says a team of researchers from Osmania University and the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, both based in Hyderabad. The findings were reported in the journal Current Science. The researchers say that the oils — whose insecticidal properties are comparable to the common insecticide monochlorophos — could be an environmentally safe method to control plant pests.

Anti-cancer agent in rice

Agricultural scientists in Kerala have identified and isolated a gene fragment from an Indian rice variety that expresses a protein which is believed to have anti-carcinogenic properties, particularly against breast cancer. The protein — called the Bowman-Birk Trypsin Inhibitor (BBTI) protein — has earlier been isolated from a few other crops such as soybean, barley and sunflower. But it’s for the first time that it has been found in a rice variety in the country, say researchers at the Kerala Agricultural University. The Ayurveda system of medicine has already been using njavara — the particular rice variety found in Kerala — in the treatment of neurological disorders, rheumatism and arthritis. The scientists say they had been able to identify segments of the gene that encodes the chemo-preventive protein, but not a full gene. Interestingly, the protein has 94 per cent resemblance to the BBTI protein found in Japonica rice in China. However, it is for the first time that it has been discovered in an Indian rice variety.