The present study aims to determine the relationship between plant species and environmental variables. The location of the study was the natural forests of Rajkandi Hill Reserve, Bangladesh. There were sampled in total 50 circular plots 13m radius for the collection of functional and vegetation data. Cluster analysis using PC-ORD, ver.6 has been used to determine the communities, and DCA and CCA analysis using CANOCO- 4.5 have been used to determine the species distribution pattern and relationship with environmental variables. In total 90 plant species belonging to 50 families were identified. Family Moreceae and Verbenaceae comprise higher species numbers in comparison to other families. By the Cluster analysis, three different communities were identified. Lippia alba-Clerodendrum viscosum community consists of the highest number sample plots (21), and 67 plant species belonging to 34 families which mostly occur in the valley land with moderately acidic soil. Amomum corynostachyum-Mallotus roxburghianus community represents the highest number of unique species in comparison to other communities has the strong preference for hill ridge site. DCA analysis clarified 18.4% of the variance in species data and CCA ordination clarified 67.2% of the variance of species-environmental relation and identified that Disturbance, soil P, and K are the significant variables that govern species compositional variation in the Rajkandi Hill Reserve. Rajkandi Hill Reserve forest has high structural complexity and shows a distribution pattern of plant communities. Each community indicates the habitat types and species-environmental variables relation which would be helpful for conservation purposes.

Crithmum maritimum known with several popular names as finocchio marino, critmo, cretamo, spaccasassi, bacicci, basiggia, erba di San Pietro and salissia, is a perennial halophyte, thrives on coastal cliffs and sometimes in sandy beaches along the Mediterranean, Pacific and Atlantic coasts.
This plant, native to southern Europe, survives also under salinity conditions, so it is considered a promising biosaline crop. However, its commercial cultivation potential is not yet fully exploited and there are few studies regarding the agricultural management and best practices to grow this crop in the Mediterranean environment [1].
Sea fennel is an emerging vegetable crop also thanks to its increasing food uses [2]. This is due to its aromatic traits, for instance to make pickles and to flavour and season soups, sauces and salads. The connections between cultivation and nutritional value were investigated. Since the natural environment of the sea fennel has a high concentration of iodine, a biofortification experiment was performed to evaluate the effect on nutritional values [3].
For the reasons mentioned above, interest in this plant is growing and different studies have been performed to understand the total chemical profile of the vegetable.
This work aims to provide a complete quantitative and qualitative overview of the extract obtained from the aerial parts of C. maritimum, provided by a Mediterrean firm. For this purpose aerial parts were dried, ground and extracted by percolation with ethanol 70% at 60°C. The purification was done using an Amberlite® XAD7HP sorbent resin. For the quantification was used an UHPLC-DAD-MS/MS system, equipped with electrospray ionization (ESI) and a Zorbax ODS (250 x 4.6 mm, 5 μm) column.
From the results emerges that the purified extract is richer than the unpurified one, furthermore the extract was mainly composed of phenolic compounds, among which hydroxycinnamic acids and flavonoids were the two main chemical classes. Among the former, chlorogenic acids, including 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid (10.5-22.36 mg g^-1), 3,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid (5.99-15.82 mg g^-1) and 4,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid (5.09-15.35 mg g^-1), were the most abundant ones. Among flavonoids, rutin (1.60-4.33 mg g^-1) and kaempferol-3-O-rhamnoside (0.07-0.33 mg g^-1) were the main constituents.
These results support the use of this plant as a functional food or in nutraceuticals, thanks to the abundance of antioxidant compounds. This also suggests the study of the relation between cultivation systems and nutraceutical values.

[1] Zenobi S, Fiorentini M, Zitti S, Aquilanti L, Foligni R, Mannozzi C, Mozzon M and Orsini R. Crithmum maritimum L.: First Results on Phenological Development and Biomass Production in Mediterranean Areas. Agronomy. 2021 April.
[2] Pereira AG, Fraga-Corral M, García-Oliveira P, Jimenez-Lopez C, Lourenço-Lopes C, Carpena M, Otero P, Gullón P, Prieto MA, Simal-Gandara J. Culinary and nutritional value of edible wild plants from the northern Spain rich in phenolic compounds with potential health benefits. Food & Function. 2020 Oct 21; 11(10):8493-8515.
[3] Sarrou E, S.Siomos A,Riccadona S, Aktsoglou D, Tsouvaltzis P, Angeli A, Franceschi P, Chatzopoulou P, Vrhovsek U, Martens S. Improvement of sea fennel (Crithmum maritimum L.) nutritional value through iodine biofortification in a hydroponic floating system. Food Chemistry, 296, 150-159. October 2019.

Tamarillo (Solanum betaceum Cav.) is a Solanaceae tree cultivated for its edible fruits. Under specific stimuli, indirect somatic embryogenesis (SE) originates distinct calli: embryogenic (EC) and non-embryogenic (NEC). Both types proliferate, but only EC originates somatic embryos. The presence of secondary metabolites is known to influence induction and embryogenic competence. The objective of this work is to study some of these compounds on SE.

Leaf segments from in vitro established clones were cultivated on solid Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with sucrose (26 mM) and picloram (20 µM). Phenolic acid influence was tested using caffeic acid (896 and 448 µM), flavonoid were assayed with rutin (197.5 and 98.75µM). Anthranilic acid, an amidobenzoic acid, was also tested (1164.8 and 582.4 µM). Additionally, previously induced EC and NEC lines were grown in liquid medium with the highest concentrations of each compound.

Results showed highest dedifferentiation rates (>90%) in the control and when rutin and caffeic acid were tested, whereas lower concentrations inhibit dedifferentiation. In contrast, the compounds seem to inhibit growth of established calli without affecting protein, phenolic acids and flavonoid levels, measured by spectrophotometric methods. Anthranilic acid completely inhibited both induction and calli growth.

The results seem to present a correlation of some secondary metabolites with dedifferentiation rates during induction and a tendency to inhibit growth of established calli, probably related to metabolic effects. Further studies are underway to further characterize the dose-response relation of these compounds and molecular mechanism underlying this phenotypic effect.

Selenium plays a important role in regulating soil-plant ecosystem functions. Is an essential element with antioxidative activity however its presence in plants is scarce. In this context, a technical itinerary was implemented in the rice variety (Ariete) through foliar pulverization with two selenium concentrations (50 and 75g Se.ha^-1) of sodium selenate (Na₂SeO₄) and sodium selenite (Na₂SeO₃). Regarding the interaction of Se with other nutrients namely Zn the contents were analyzed in paddy and refined flours. It was found that in the refined flours there was an antagonistic relationship with the element Zn: an increase of Se in the grain, 29.9 to 77.9 g Se.ha^-1_., and a decrease of Zn content from 16.6 to 9.01 g Se.ha^-1_.

Plants contain significant amounts of bioactive compounds which have potential benefits to livestock and humans. This study evaluated the phytochemicals of some plant materials that have potential animal nutrition values. In this study, fresh samples (6 samples per each) of four leaves: Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata L.), African basil (Ocimum gratissimum L.), waterleaf (Talinum triangulare Jacq. Willd), and Mexican sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia Hemsl. A. Gray) were air-dried (between 27 and 31 ^oC), oven-dried (at 65 ^oC) or freeze-dried (at -80 ^oC). The leaves were milled in a 1.0 mm sieve and the phytochemical contents of each leaf sample (in triplicates) were quantified. Phytochemicals quantified were flavonoids, tannins, beta carotene, and xanthophylls for each of the leaves. Data were subjected to Analysis of Variance and significant means separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test. Flavonoids, tannins, and xanthophylls were found to be the highest (P < 0.05) in most air-dried leaf samples compared to oven-dried and freeze-dried ones. Flavonoids, tannins, beta carotene, and xanthophylls in the leaves showed that all leaf samples appear to have good potentials to be used as natural feed additives such as egg yolk colourants in laying chicken feeds. In-vivo studies using birds were recommended.