Plant Growth Regulator, Immunity and DNA Fingerprinting of Biofield Energy Treated Mustard Seeds

What is it about?

Among the oilseeds grown around the world, mustard is one of the important crop worldwide due to its wide adaptability and high yielding capacity. Owing to the importance of its utilities as condiment, cooking oil and some medical aids, the demand for its seed production is too high. The present study was carried out to evaluate the impact of Mr. Trivedi’s biofield energy treatment on mustard (Brassica juncea) for its growth-germination of seedling, glutathione (GSH) content in leaves, indole acetic acid (IAA) content in shoots and roots and DNA polymorphism by random amplified polymorphic-DNA (RAPD). The sample of B. juncea was divided into two groups. One group was remained as untreated and coded as control, while the other group was subjected to Mr. Trivedi’s biofield energy treatment and referred as the treated sample. The growth-germination of B. juncea seedling data exhibited that the biofield treated seeds were germinated faster on day 5 as compared to the control (on day between 7-10). The shoot and root length of seedling were slightly increased in the treated seeds of 10 days old with respect to untreated seedling. Moreover, the major plant antioxidant i.e. GSH content in mustard leaves was significantly increased by 206.72% (p<0.001) as compared to the untreated sample. Additionally, the plant growth regulatory constituent i.e. IAA level in root and shoot was increased by 15.81% and 12.99%, respectively with respect to the control. Besides, the DNA fingerprinting data using RAPD revealed that the treated sample showed an average 26% of DNA polymorphism as compared to the control. The overall results envisaged that the biofield energy treatment on mustard seeds showed a significant improvement in germination, growth of roots and shoots, GSH and IAA content in the treated sample. In conclusion, the biofield energy treatment of mustard seeds could be used as an alternative way to increase the production of mustard.

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Why is it important?

Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) is a winter oilseed crop grown across the Northern Indian plains. Among the various oilseed crops, it is one of the important because of its potential utilities in the growing biofuels industries [1]. Mustard seed is widely used as a condiment and as an edible oil. The pungency of mustard oil is due to the presence of allyl-isothiocyanate. The low pungency of mustard oil can be obtained after inactivating the myrosinase enzyme present in it and used as a filler component in various processed meat products [2]. Glucosinolates are the major class of bioactive phytocontituents mainly rich in mustard. The hydrolytic product of glucosinolates plays an important role in plant defense against microorganisms and insects. However, it itself may act as nutrients as an essential component of nitrogen and sulfur [3]. Based on the literature, it was reported that the mustard seeds extract have the potential chemo-preventive and chemotherapeutic activities in vitro by scavenging the hydroxyl radicals, it also induces apoptosis of cancer cells [4]. Several studies have reported the antioxidant activities of mustard seeds extract [1, 5]. Rance and Morisset et al. reported the allergic reactions of mustard such as atopic dermatitis, urticaria and angioedema accounts 1.1% of total food allergy in children [6, 7]. The agricultural productivity depends on the most vital abiotic stress factor; salinity i.e. dissolved salts in water. The metabolic impairment in the plant cell occurs due to the osmotic and toxic effects of salt concentration in water. The different levels of salinity have affected the lipid components of mustard seeds. With increasing the salinity, phospholipids and glycolipids content were increased, while total and neutral lipids content were declined [8]. Generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is the main output of such metabolic impairment during salinity stress [9, 10]. The ROS such as superoxide radical (O2-), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and hydroxyl radical (OH-) are produced through the reduction of molecular O2 during aerobic metabolism in mitochondria. Apart from the metabolic derived ROS, plant cell also produces singlet oxygen (1O2) in the chloroplast during photosynthesis [11, 12]. Among the various antioxidant pathways, the ascorbate–glutathione (ASC–GSH) cycle has been played an important role [13]. In plants, GSH is crucial for biotic and abiotic stress management. It is a pivotal component of the ASC–GSH cycle, a system that reduces poisonous hydrogen peroxide produced during photorespiration in peroxisomes. GSH and GSH-dependent enzymes represent a regulated defense against oxidative stress not only against ROS but also against their toxic products. Recent advances in molecular biology, development of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and DNA sequencing have resulted in a powerful technique that can be used for the characterization of genetic diversity. Besides, the genetic diversity can also be assessed by the study of morpho-agronomic variability for plant breeders. For characterization of genetic profile a powerful tool has been developed as the molecular marker, so called DNA fingerprinting [14]. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), allows the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapies like biofield energy as an alternative in the healthcare field. About 36% of US citizens regularly use some form of CAM [15], in their daily activities. CAM embraces numerous energy-healing therapies; biofield therapy is one of the energy medicine used worldwide to improve the overall human health. Mr. Trivedi’s unique biofield treatment (The Trivedi effect®) has been extensively contributed in scientific communities in the field of agricultural science [16-19] and chemical science [20]. Due to the necessity of mustard as the food resource, and to improve the overall productivity of mustard plants an effective control measure need to be established. Under these circumstances, the present work was undertaken to evaluate the effect of biofield energy treatment on mustard in relation to germination growth in seedlings, level of GSH and IAA and the molecular analysis using DNA fingerprinting.

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