Browsing by Author "Peiris, C.N"

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Embargo
Effects of Coconut Water on Micropropagation of Caladium Bicolour Cv ’Thai Beauty’
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2022-09-15) Ratnayake, R.D; Peiris, S.E; Malwattage, G; Peiris, C.N
Caladium bicolour (Aiton) Vent. is an attractive commercial ornamental plant in the horticulture industry which is popular as potted plants for homescaping and as garden plants for landscaping. Propagation of this attractive plant through micropropagation has more benefits than conventional propagation. The current study describes an in vitro multiplication of Caladium bicolour cv ‘Thai Beauty’ with coconut water as a supplement. Shoots derived from leaf explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 mg/L (6- Benzylaminopurine) with and without 120 mL/L of coconut water. The results showed that coconut water (CW) with 0.5 and 1.5 mg/L BAP in the medium increased caladium shoot multiplication having an average of 6.67 and 7.75 shoots /shoot, respectively, with a large number of high-quality shoots. Coconut water alone in the medium also produced average of 3.42 shoots/ shoot. Hence, the current protocol provides a direct, cost-effective mass propagation method for large-scale commercial cultivation of caladium.
Open Access
Green Synthesis, Characterizati on of Cu Nano Units and Evaluati on of Anti bacterial Properti es towards the Bacterial Blight Control in Anthurium andraeanum Lind under In-vitro and In-vivo Conditions
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2024-12-04) Wanaguru, S; Peiris, C.N; Peiris, S.E; Jayasinghe, S
Most types of metal nanoparti cles exhibit anti bacterial properti es. Copper nanoparti cles can generate reacti ve oxygen species (ROS) within bacterial cells, initi ati ng a cascade of events that lead to bacterial cell death. In this study, copper nano units (Cu NUs) were synthesized through green synthesis method using anthurium leaf extract toward the control of bacterial blight disease in Anthurium andraeanum cv ‘Rainbow’ plants. Synthesized Cu NUs were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diff racti on (XRD) techniques. Anti bacterial properti es of 30, 50 and 100 ppm of Cu NUs against Xanthomonas sp. which cause bacterial blight in anthurium plants were studied under invitro conditi ons using well diff usion test. Moreover, anti bacterial properti es of said NUs were studied at in-vivo levels by spraying Cu NUs at concentrati ons of 50, 100 and 200 ppm on bacterial blight infected anthurium cv ‘Rainbow. According to SEM and TEM analysis, synthesized NUs remained within size of 25.36 ± 12.55 nm length and 16.18 ± 3.75 nm width exhibiti ng a polygonal shape. In well diff usion test, opti mized 30 ppm concentrati on of Cu NUs formed an inhibiti on zone with a diameter of 20.6 ± 0.94 mm. In comparison, the anti bioti c sulfamethoxazole (positi ve control) formed an inhibiti on zone with a diameter of 26.3 ± 0.47 mm. At in-vivo level, 200, 100 and 50 ppm all three concentrati ons were able to control disease in 90% of treated plants within 5, 6 and 7 weeks respecti vely. Overall, this research highlights the potenti al of Cu NUs as an eff ecti ve alternati ve for controlling bacterial blight disease in anthurium cv ‘Rainbow’.
Embargo
In Vitro Antibacterial Activity of Sulphur Nanoparticles as a Possible Application to Control Bacterial Blight Caused by Xanthomonas spp. in Anthurium
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2022-09-15) Peiris, S.E; Malwattage, G; Ratnayake, R. D; Seneviratne, K .L; Peiris, C.N
Anthurium blight is caused by Xanthomonas spp. which is regarded as the most threatening disease to the anthurium industry worldwide. Therefore, the current study was carried out to determine whether the application of sulphur nanoparticles (SNPs) is a possible solution for treating anthurium cultivars infected with Xanthomonas spp. The bacterium Xanthomonas was isolated using standard methods and a single bacterial colony was isolated using nutrient agar. The colonies were identified as Xanthomonas spp as they were gram-negative, motile rods due to the colony characters like yellow color because of the xanthin produced. The symptoms appeared in the pathogenicity test which was carried out by injecting purified Xanthomonas sp. into disease free anthurium plants confirmed the identification of the bacterial strain. Time-kill assay was conducted using Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and isolated Xanthomonas spp to investigate the behavior of SNPs. The results showed that suspension treated with 1g of SNPs for 30 minutes inhibited growth of Staphylococcus aureus colonies showing mean number of 7.92 CFU/ml compared to the control (mean number of colonies 9.09 CFU/ml ) treatment following 12 hours incubation. However, Escherichia coli, and isolated gram-negative rods (Xanthomonas spp) did not show positive influence for SNPs when compared to the control treatment. Therefore, further investigation is required to reach firm conclusions about this matter because the antimicrobial activity of SNPs varies depending on the type of target microorganisms, method and solvent used to dissolve SNPs.
Open Access
Increasing Efficiency of Liquid Fertilizer via Incorporating Beneficial Microorganisms
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2023-11-01) Wellala, H.C; Vinushayini, R; Herath, L; Peiris, C.N
The growing trend in organic agriculture has boosted the public awareness of organic fertilizer. The present study focused on isolating plant growth promoting microorganisms from the soil samples and incorporating beneficial plant growth promoting microbial (PGPM) strains to a provided liquid organic fertilizer to improve the efficiency of current formula. After isolating plant growth promoting microorganisms, experiments were conducted qualitatively and quantitatively to evaluate the efficacy of those species. Five phosphorous solubilizing bacteria and fungi, one potassium solubilizing bacteria, one potassium solubilizing fungi, six free living nitrogen fixing bacteria from different regions including Hambanthota, Mahiyanganaya, Galaha, Welimada, Rathnapura Sri Lanka were isolated using serial dilution plating on specific growth media and screened for various plant growth-promoting traits. The highest phosphate solubilization (67.8 mg/ml) was exhibited in PH.1 which also exhibited the highest phosphorous solubilization index (PSI) of 2, isolated from the soil sample received from Hambanthota district. Alginate encapsulation as small beads were produced from bacterial inoculum of PH.1 phosphorous solubilizing bacteria with sodium alginate, cellulose, and calcium chloride. A series of different percentages of cellulose (3% - 6%) was used during bead formation to evaluate the effect of cellulose on encapsulation efficiency of beads. Alginate beads were applied to the liquid fertilizer, incubated, and plated periodically to evaluate the efficiency of this formulation. The number of released cells of PH.1 reached 7.36 X 10 6 CFU/ml after 48 hours of incubation in the 0.25 X diluted liquid fertilizer which resulted from the bead formulation of 4% (w/v) Alginate + 3% (w/v) cellulose. The cellulose supported the entrapment of bacterial cells (plant growth-promoting bacterium) PH.1 as biofertilizer in the matrix, which reduced cell loss. The highest entrapment efficiency of 5.441% was obtained at 3% (w/v) cellulose, Overall, the appropriate content of cellulose mixed with alginate is conducive to changes in the morphology of microcapsules and increases the amount of biological encapsulation. This indicates that the beads-based biofertilizer can partially replace chemical fertilizers.