[Latin Name] Tribulus terrestris

[Specification] Saponins 90%

[Appearance] Brown powder

Plant Part Used: Fruit

[Particle size] 80Mesh

[Loss on drying] ≤5.0%

[Heavy Metal] ≤10PPM

[Storage] Store in cool & dry area, keep away from the direct light and heat.

[Shelf life] 24 Months

[Package] Packed in paper-drums and two plastic-bags inside.

[Net weight] 25kgs/drum

[What is Tribulus terrestris?]

Tribulus terrestris is a vine that has been used as a general tonic (energy) and herbal treatment for impotence, but is found primarily in dietary supplements marketed for increasing testosterone levels in bodybuilders and power athletes. The idea behind tribulus is that it may increase testosterone levels indirectly by raising blood levels of another hormone, luteinizing hormone.

[Function]

1) Enhance men’s sexual ability.

2) Relieving muscle spasm and cramps;
3) Anti-myocardial ischemia and cerebral ischemia;
4) Relieving stress , regulating blood fat, and reducing cholesterol;
5) Promoting sex gland hormones;
6) Anti-aging and anti cancer;
7) Diuretic, anti-calculus of the urethra, reducing the risk of urinary stone disease and disorder;
8) Promoting muscle growth efficiently, helping the body to be strong and letting muscle to play potential role.

Stevia grows best in upland areas in sub-tropical climate. In other places it can be grown as an annual. The plant prefers a lightly textured, well-drained soil to which organic matter has been added. It needs ample water so that the soil is consistently moist, but not wet. In hot, sunny climates it will do best in semi-shade. Propagation is from seed sown in spring, but germination rates can be low-expect half the seeds sown not to germinate. Plant seedlings out once all danger of frost is over. Leaves are best harvested just before flowering. The plants will also grow from cuttings,which are best taken in late winter.The concentration of stevioside in the leaves of Stevia increasing when the plants are grown under long day condition.While, cultivating stevia on a large scale, it can be grown in well-drained red soil and sandy loam soil. The soil should be in the pH range of 6.5-7.5. Saline soils should be avoided to cultivate this plant.

Stevia can be successfully cultivated all around the year all over India expect theareas, which receive snowfall, or temperatures go below 5 degree Celsius in winter.The summer temperatures actually do not affect this plant if the high summer temperatures have already been factored in the cultivation practices.Since seed germination rate is very poor,it is propagated vegetative. Though stem cuttings are used for vegetative tissue culture plants have proven to be the best planting material for Stevia. Tissue culture plants of Stevia are genetically pure, free from pathogens and haveexcellent vigor. The tissue culture plants can be planted throughout the year,expect during peak summer. An ideal planting density is 40,000 plants per acre with spacing of 25×40 cm in a raised bed system. The soil can be enriched with abasal dressing of 25 tons of well rotten farmyard manure/hectare

Soil Type
Stevia requires very good drainage any soil that retain the moisture for very long period of time are unsuitable for Stevia cultivation and should be religiously avoided.Red soil and sandy loam with a 6-7 pH are best for the cultivation of Stevia.

Raised bed preparation
Forming raised beds is the most economical way to grow Stevia. The raised bed should be of 15 cm in height and 60 cm in width. The distance between each plant 23 cm. This would give a plant population of around 40,000 per acre.

Planting Material
There are basically two options for multiplication. The first is the tissue culture and second the stem cutting. Tissue culture is the best option but many farmers are tempted to try the stem cutting method for multiplication. As per practical experience, stem cutting is sometimes more expensive to produce than the tissue culture since the success rate of the stem cuttings establishment is very low, it takes minimum of 25 weeks for the stem cutting to develop in proper feeding roots for transplantation (younger stem cuttings transplants have shown more than 50% mortality in first few weeks of transplants in main field).

Harvesting
Another important aspect of harvesting is the timing of harvest. It should be noted that at no point of time plants should be allowed to flower since after flowering the Stevioside percentage goes down rapidly and leaves are rendered unmarketable. Leaves are harvested by plucking in a small quantity, or the entire plant with the side branches is cut leaving 10 to 15 cm from the base.The first harvesting can be done four to five months after planting. Subsequent harvesting can be done every three months, for five consecutive years. The sweetener in the leaf is maximum till the plant flowers. Just before flowering, the plant should be cut completely leaving 10 cm from the ground. The new flush of leaves will sprout from here. The new plant will be ready for harvest again in three months. The plant yields around 3000 kg of dried leaves from an acre of plantation every year. Harvesting should be done as late as possible, since cool autumn temperatures and shorter days tend to intensify the sweetness of the plants as they evolve into a reproductive state.

Unlocking the sweetness in your harvest
Once all leaves have been harvested it’s required to dry them. This can be
accomplished on a net. The drying process is not one that requires excessive heat;more important is good air circulation. On a moderately warm fall day, stevia crop can be quick dried in the full sun in about 12 hours. (Drying times longer than that will lower the stevioside content of the final product.)
Crushing the dried leaves is the final step in releasing stevia’s sweetening power. The
dried leaves are powdered, sieved and the fine powder is stored in containers. This can be done either by hand or, for greater effect, in a coffee grinder or in a special blender for herbs.

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This is Pandeeswari Jeeva’s application video for the Engage your Audience! 2017 contest, which she participated in during FEMS 2017.

Genetic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for hyaluronic acid production

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is vital for normal growth and development of vertebrate which makes it as a commercially valuable polysaccharide in pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. HA is synthesized by polymerization of two nucleotide sugars UDP-glucuronic acid and UDP-N-acetylglucosamine by the enzyme HA synthase (hasA). Two major genes required for the formation of HA monomers are hasB (UDP-glucose dehydrogenase) and hasD (glucosamine-phosphate acetyl transferase) respectively. Native Streptococcal species are being used for industrial scale production of HA, however, the presence of endotoxins and pathogenic factors renders it unsuitable for medical purposes. Hence, this demands for metabolic engineering of Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) microbes to produce HA. We have chosen Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a host for HA production due to its advantages such as lack of pathogenecity and hyaluronidase. In addition, it does not produce HA or any other polysaccharide that contains glucuronic acid due to absence of hasA and hasB. Thus, it makes S. cerevisiae a superior model system to elucidate HA biosynthesis. Jeong et.al., (2014) has demonstrated the expression of has genes from Xenopus laevis, though with low yield, in Pichia pastoris for HA production. In the current work, we have expressed X. laevis has genes in S. cerevisiae for producing medical-grade HA.