Pramod Kumar Jha

Tribhuvan University · Central Department of Botany

This study was carried out to determine the effects of different treatments and harvesting period on the germination behavior of seeds of Zanthoxylum armatum. Treatments including mechanical stratification, acid treatment, gibberellic acid (GA3) and sowing seeds harvested at different time period were evaluated. Several experiments including variou...

Microbes in the rhizosphere interact with each other. These interactions operate through different modes of action improving soil fertility and crop productivity, which are key issues for the sustainability of natural as well as agro-ecosystems. Mycorrhizal fungi interact with almost all organisms in the mycorrhizosphere including beneficial, plant...

This work is aligned with the main purpose of the REDD+ reward but it needs sufficient records of carbon to develop the Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) system and reference emission level. Hence, the objectives of the study are to compare the carbon stocks of different aged public plantations with respect to neighbouring sites, to see t...

The leaf-feeding beetle, Zygogramma bicolorata Pallister, one of the biocontrol agents against Parthenium hysterophorus L., having been established at several locations of Nepal. However, the damage to P. hysterophorus by the beetle has not been assessed quantitatively under different climatic conditions so far. The study was carried out at two loc...

The aim of this research was to analysis status of high altitude surface water bodies (lakes, springs as well as rivers) of the Sagarmatha National Park, Khumbu region from different sampling points ranging from 1900m to 5300m altitude. To understand the entire riverine environment, it is one of the uniqe tools which do not replace the existing riv...

Buckwheat is minor crop of Nepal. Due to their multiple uses, short growing periods, high nutritional and medicinal values, wide adaptability has become popular not only to researcher but also for farmers and consumers globally. It grows in a wider range from low land Terai to higher mountains of Nepal. Maxent modelling was used to quantify the cur...

The urban air pollution is a major environmental concern, particularly in the developing countries and in their major cities. In the present study an attempt has been made to assess the air pollution effect on micromorphological and biochemical parameters of Callistemon citrinus and Lagerstroemia indica. Biochemical parameters were analyzed by usin...

A field experiment was conducted to determine the comparative efficacy of different eco-friendly management practices against maize stem borers, Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) and Sesamia inferens (Walker) in maize under field condition during spring season for two consecutive years, 2017 and 2018. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete bl...

With increasing globalization, trade, and human movement, the rate of alien species introduction has increased all around the globe. In addition, climate change is thought to exacerbate the situation by allowing range expansion of invasive species into new areas. Predicting the distribution of invasive species under conditions of climate change is...

Background Finger millet, a subsistence food crop, is a unique cereal with high nutritional quality particularly in hilly regions in Nepal. Hence, grain nutrients (protein, calcium, and iron percent) of ten different landraces of finger millet and soil quality (SOC, N, P and K) at different altitudes in central Nepal were analyzed. Methods Triplic...

The Chitwan Annapurna Landscape (CHAL) is the central part of the Himalayas and covers all bioclimatic zones with major endemism of flora, unique agro-biodiversity, environmental, cultural and socioeconomic importance. Not much is known about temperature and precipitation trends along the different bioclimatic zones nor how changes in these paramet...

Background Parthenium hysterophorus is a noxious invasive weed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, including Nepal. Among 11 species of biological control agents released to control P. hysterophorus in Ausrtalia, winter rust Puccina abrupta var. partheniicola arrived fortuitously and has established in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, nearly...

The fruits of Zanthoxylum armatum DC. were collected from different altitudes (1000-2000 m) and populations (wild and cultivated) from Salyan district, Nepal. The essential oil was extracted by Clevenger apparatus and the components were analyzed through GC-MS. The yield of essential oil obtained from hydro-distillation of fruits ranged from 2.72 t...

Depending upon altitudinal gradient in the Himalayas, the rate of climate change varies from lowland to upland. The Chitwan Annapurna Landscape (CHAL) is the central part of the Himalayas and covers all bioclimatic zones. Analysis of time series data (1970-2019) of temperature and precipitation was carried out in seven bioclimatic zones extending f...

Finger millet is one of the food crops with rich nutritional composition. It has been cultivated from 85 m to 3130 m altitudes of Nepal. A total of 121 household surveys were conducted in 11 villages of two ecological zones (Tarai /Siwalik and Mid-hills) of Central Nepal from September 2017 to March 2018 using questionnaire to document the ethno-me...

Crude methanol extracts of fruits, seeds, and bark of Zanthoxylum armatum were investigated in vitro for antimicrobial activities against 9 different bacterial strains: Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecalis, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Shigella dysenteriae, Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant Staphylococc...

Background: Finger millet is the fourth major crop in Nepal and is cultivated in a traditional integrated subsistence system. Timely rain and appropriate temperature predominately affects crop distribution and yield. Climate change is evident in Nepal and it is imperative to understand how it affects habitat suitability of finger millet. Main obje...

Natural antioxidants present in several medicinal plants are responsible for inhibiting the harmful effects of oxidative stress. ese plants contain polyphenols and flavonoids that act as free radical scavengers and reduce oxidative stress and may be an alternative remedy to cure various harmful human diseases. is study aims to quantify the total ph...

Background: Finger millet is the fourth major crop in Nepal and is cultivated in a traditional integrated subsistence system. Timely rain and appropriate temperature predominately affects crop distribution and yield. Climate change is evident in Nepal and it is imperative to understand how it affects habitat suitability of finger millet. Main objec...

Natural antioxidants present in several medicinal plants are responsible for inhibiting the harmful effects of oxidative stress. These plants contain polyphenols and flavonoids that act as free radical scavengers and reduce oxidative stress and may be an alternative remedy to cure various harmful human diseases. This study aims to quantify the tota...

Urban air pollution is an environmental concern, particularly in developing countries and in their cities. The present study was mainly aimed to study the effect of air pollution on the micromorphological characteristics of the leaf of Euphorbia pulcherrima and Jasminum mesnyi from heavily polluted and less polluted areas of Kathmandu district. Dif...

Variation in the composition of leaf essential oils of Zanthoxylum armatum in relation to altitude and soil chemistry was analyzed in Nepal. The essential oil was extracted by Clevenger apparatus and the components were analyzed through GC-MS. The results showed that: Yield of the essential oil obtained from the hydro-distillation of dried leaves r...

Background: Finger millet is the fourth major crop in Nepal and is cultivated in a traditional integrated subsistence system. Timely rain and appropriate temperature predominately affects crop distribution and yield. Climate change is evident in Nepal and it is imperative to understand how it affects habitat suitability of finger millet. Mapping th...

Abstract Vultures provide essential ecosystem services, yet they are among the most threatened groups of birds worldwide. In Nepal most of the researches on vulture species is focused on the small area mostly on lowland but research on landscape level is limited. So the study was conducted to assess altitudinal/seasonal distribution, document nest...

Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape (CHAL) in central Nepal is known for its rich biodiversity and the landscape is expected to provide corridors for species range shift in response to climate change. Environmental assessments have identified biological invasions and other anthropogenic activities as major threats to the biodiversity in the CHAL. One of th...

Nepal, a country in Central Nepal, has an elevational range of 60-8848 m in an average 180 km north-south distance. The lowland (Tarai and Siwalik) in southern part of the country is quite close to the tropical zone, which once had rich and well-known forest and wildlife area in Asia, but it has been tremendously transformed into an agricultural la...

Parthenium hysterophorus L. is a globally significant environmental and agricultural weed that is rapidly spreading from its native range in the tropical Americas to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents. We analyzed temporal and spatial patterns of research done on this weed across the world. Research articles were accessed from onlin...

A wide range of habitat conditions including elevation determine adaptative variation in a species. The study was carried out to investigate the anatomical variation of two common species of Rhododendron (R. anthopogon and R. lepidotum) growing between 3200 and 4700 m asl in Gokyo valley of Sagarmatha National Park, Khumbu, eastern Nepal. Seven ana...

The views of local people on climate change along different ecological regions are relatively unexplored in Nepal. This study was conducted in 13 villages in central Nepal at different altitudes to document the views of small holder farmers and compare their perception with trends of climatic variables, finger millet yield, natural disasters, plant...

The plant growing in range of environmental conditions exhibits phenotypic plasticity that reflects the ability of the plant to allow its establishment in different areas. Centella asiatica, an important medicinal plant, is widely growing in tropical and subtropical belt of Nepal. We measured phenotypic characters (density, petiole length, stolon l...

Biological invasion is increasing worldwide and the management of invasive species is becoming an important priority for vegetation managers. Success of invasive species management depends on a thorough understanding of the biology of the organism in question and the effectiveness of current management efforts, in order to identify the best practic...

Household survey was done with randomly selected 148 respondents from three districts, representing the altitudinal variation focusing to maize growing areas in inner terai (Chitwan), mid (Kaski), and high (Mustang) hills of Nepal to explore the farmers' perception on climatic variabilities and maize production relating to the insect diversity. Dat...

The common method of propagation is through seeds but seed germination in Zanthoxylum armatum is very low due to the presence of hard seed coat, which might be a great hurdle for large scale production of plantlets. So an attempt was made in this study to see the effect of different growth hormones, their concentrations and different rooting media...

Abstract Temperature and rainfall are important climatic variables on which the yield of crops depends. The increase in temperature and changing pattern of rainfall in an area reliably influence the yield of crops. This paper is based on a study conducted in Syangja district of central Nepal and analyses the climatic variables and yields of finger...

Centella asiatica is an important tropical medicinal plant.Although it is not in trade in Nepal but is widely used by pharmaceutical and ayurvedic companies.This plant is also used as a vegetable. Although a number of researches have been done to study its pharmaceutical and clinical importance, the life cycle and biology of this plant is poorly un...

Centella asiatica is one of the widely used tropical medicinal herbs of Nepal. The plant has been used extensively as memory enhancer and brain tonic. This plant has been entirely supplied from wild for traditional as well as industrial uses. There has been no report of commercial cultivation of this plant. Rapid loss of C. asiatica has been taking...

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Zanthoxylum armatum DC. possesses several medicinal properties and has been commonly used in different indigenous medicinal practices to cure several diseases because of its stomachic, carminative and anthelmintic properties. Aim: This review paper aims to provide an update on and analysis of information about the...

Changes in treeline dynamics are, considered reliable indicators of rapidly changing climate in Himalayan mountains. This paper is aimed at exploring treeline forming species in Nepal Himalaya, their growth-climate relationship and shifting response of climate change to improve our understanding on existing methodologies of treeline studies. It was...

Agriculture is main profession of 65% population in Nepal. The main component of agriculture is cereal crops which include paddy, wheat, maize, finger-millet, buckwheat, barley, naked barley, Proso millet and Foxtail millet. Finger millet is cultivated in all 75 districts from 85m to 3130m asl especially in marginal land of hills and high mountains...

div> Till today, the light traps in Nepal are found using with traditional type, which have not being recognized internationally. These light traps were of low efficiency for trapping insects as compared to black light trap (BLT). The black light tube (F10T8/BL) was used in newly constructed trap at National Maize Research Program (NMRP), Rampur, C...

The common method of propagation is through seeds but seed germination in Zanthoxylum armatum is very low due to the presence of hard seed coat, which might be a great hurdle for large scale production of plantlets. So an attempt was made in this study to see the effect of different growth hormones, their concentrations and different rooting media...

p>An investigation has been done with the three Himalayan oak species at Phulchowki Hill Lalitpur Nepal to relate leaf phenology responses of trees to wood water properties. We recorded the wood water content, wood density, water in wood and leaf phenological patterns of three evergreen oak species (Quercus semecarpifolia, Quercus lamellosa and Que...

Buckwheat is a sixth staple food crop after rice, wheat, maize, finger millet, and barley in Nepal. It is considered as an alternate cereal and poor man’s crop, representing an important food supply in remote places of Himalayas. It is the best crop in higher altitude in terms of adaptation to different climatic variables and easily fitted to diffe...

Nepal has an extreme altitudinal range from 60–8850 m with heterogeneous topography and distinct climatic zones. The country is considered a biodiversity hotspot, with nearly a quarter of the land area located in protected areas. Nepal and the surrounding Himalayan region are particularly vulnerable to climate change because of their abrupt ecologi...

p> Background: Intestinal parasitosis still constitutes one of the major causes of public health problems in the world, particularly in developing countries. Nepal is a small, impoverished country prevalent to infectious diseases, including intestinal parasitosis. Poverty, lack of awareness, failure to practice proper hand washing after defecation,...

Centre for Advanced Systems (CAS) is a newly sanctioned DRDO establishment engaged in the production of aerospace vehicle of national importance. Aerospace vehicles are fire and forget type and need rigorous testing and validation at ground before subjecting it to critical flight trial. Aerospace vehicles are very complex in nature and consist of v...

Climate changes are having dramatic ecological impacts in mid- to high-latitude mountain ranges where growth conditions are limited by climatic variables such as duration of growing season, moisture, and ambient temperature. We document patterns of forest vegetative response for 5 major alpine forest communities to current climate variability in th...

Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) is an invasive alien species of global significance which is rapidly expanding in Nepal and other Asian countries with negative impacts on species diversity, health of human and livestock, and productivity of pasture and agriculture. To understand the invasive success of this weed, we analysed soil of its in...

Indian Journal of Nephrology as quinupristin, dalfopristin and linezolid show in vitro and in vivo activity against enterococci including VRE. [7] We report (i) a case of peritonitis, in a CAPD patient, caused by two different species of enterococci with a different antimicrobial susceptibility pattern, especially for vancomycin and (ii) the effect...

Background: The incidence of diabetes mellitus round the globe is escalating remarkably. Diabetes mellitus has some deleterious effects on the genitourinary system and render diabetic patients more vulnerable to UTI. Objective: This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of UTI among diabetic patients, the causative pathogens & their anti...

Five evergreen Himalayan trees namely C astanopsis indica, Schima wallichii, Rhododendron arboreum, Quercus lanata and Q. semecarpifolia were studied for their phenological responses to drought. Wood water properties (wood moisture percentage, wood density and water in wood per volume), starch percentage content, specific leaf mass, nitrogen conten...

Investigation has been done to gain evidence on certain chemical properties of water and vegetation in area representative of the various wetland habitats which go under water during rainy season. The measurements were done with edaphic condition, water chemistry, and floristic composition. Water was neutral to alkaline and pH varied from 6.97 to 7...

Seasonal variation of phyllospheric bacteria and their leaf traits of four woody species of subtropical environment were studied at Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park. The four species examined were Alnus nepalensis D. Don., Schima wallichii (DC.) Korth., Rhododendron arboreum Smith. and Gaultheria fragrantissima Wall. The first species is deciduous,...

The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained by hydro-distillation of Centella asiatica (Apiaceae) collected in three different habitats (shady grassland, open grassland, and open agricultural land) of Nepal were analyzed by GC/FID and GC/MS.. The oil had pale yellow color and intensive odor. Fifty two compounds were identified from the t...

Tourism and ecotourism are highly fertile industries not only aboard but also in Nepal. Multi-ethnic and multi-lingual culture of Nepal is potential destination for both inbound and outbound tourists. More investments from government side, more research from academic sectors, and awareness f local people can make the tourism industry successful ahe...

This paper examines the environmental income comes from wild medicinal plant collection and selling, and how does it contributes to total annual household income. The study was carried out during March and April 2012 in Daman Village Development Committee (VDC) of Makawanpur district in Nepal. The data were collected through social science methods...

Nepal is an important source of wild medicinal plants in the world. Nepalese especially rural people have a long tradition of folk practices for utilization of medicinal plants for various purposes. This paper examines the traditional uses and management practices of such plants in the locality. Therefore, a case study was conducted during March-Ap...

Centella asiatica is an important ethnomedicinal plant. Effect of integrated manuring on growth of Centella asiatica was investigated using vegetative clones from Kirtipur, Kathmandu. The plantlets were grown in earthen pots containing soil, with integrated manuring [Urea(%): FYM(%), 75:25; 50:50; 25:75], individual manuring (100 % Urea, 100 % FYM)...

There are some key drivers that favor deforestation and forest degradation. Consequently, levels of carbon stock are affected in different parts of same forest types. But the problem lies in exploring the extent of the effects on level of carbon stocking. This paper highlights the variations in levels of carbon stocks in three different collaborati...

There are some key drivers that favor deforestation and forest degradation. Consequently, levels of carbon stock are affected in different parts of same forest types. But the problem lies in exploring the extent of the effects on level of carbon stocking. This paper highlights the variations in levels of carbon stocks in three different collaborati...

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) is one of the molecular marker tools available for detecting the polymorphism in plant species. It has been used extensively for genetic diversity studies. In the present investigation, the RAPD reaction and cycling conditions were optimized for generating RAPD fingerprints of twenty one ecotypes of Centella....

High-level gentamicin resistance and vancomycin resistance in enterococci, a family of important opportunistic pathogens, have emerged as a significant clinical problem over recent years. The present study was conducted to determine the high-level gentamicin and vancomycin resistance among the clinical isolates of enterococci. A total of 110 phenot...

Over 5,000 standing water bodies, including those <1 ha and spread in 74 districts of Nepal have been scanned on the topographic sheets (scale of 1:125,000). Majority of these lakes or ponds are either in the high altitudes (above 3,000 m) or in lowland Tarai (below 500 m). In a literature review we found over 163 research studies conducted since t...

The influence of water stress on growth and yield of Centella asiatica, a traditional medicinal herb of Nepal, was carried out in a pot experiment. Variation in different growth traits of Centella asiatica was investigated using vegetative clones of one population. The plantlets were grown in earthen pots containing soil, sand and vermicompost and...

The Siwalik range (locally known as Churia hills) in Nepal comprise a total area of 1,886,000 ha, equivalent to 13% of the country’s total area and consists of hills, steep land slopes, gorges, large spans of river and temporary streams. Study of different kinds of plants, soil and climate and the quantitative analysis of vegetation structure and c...

Paris polyphylla Sm. (Satuwa) one of the medicinal plants listed as vulnerable under IUCN threat category was studied in midhills of Nepal with the objective to document its ecological information. The present study was undertaken to document the ecological status, distribution pattern and reproductive biology. The study was done in Ghandruk Villag...

Abstract The study was carried out to assess the value of tuberculin skin test for the diagnosis of Tuberculosis (TB) in BCG vaccinated individuals and to find out the sensitivity rate of tuberculin skin test (TST) in comparison to acid fast bacilli positive pulmonary TB. Similar population with high BCG vaccination coverage having both pulmonary T...

Variations in length of vessel element and fiber length of wood of Rhododendron lepidotum and R. anthopogon were studied in relation to altitude in Sagarmatha National Park, eastern Nepal. There was no significant difference in vessel element length (VEL) between two species, but fiber length (FL) was significantly higher in R. lepidotum than in R....

Nepal the "Shangri-La" in the lap of the Himalayas is gearing up for modern times as it starts rebuilding after a decade of senseless violence and destruction. The nation one of the poorest in the global development index is rich in natural resources and biodiversity. Reports of medicinal plants far exceeding those recorded and reported so far are...

Freshly harvested seeds of the species (legumes: Alysicarpus vaginalis and Desmodium triflorum ; grasses. Axonopus compressus and Chrysopogon aciculatus ) failed to germinate even after acid scarification and incubation under different light qualities, whereas seven-nine-month old seeds exhibited germination in the order: D. triflorum (23%) > A. co...

Understanding of the habitat range of threatened Himalayan medicinal plants which are declining in their abundance due to high anthropogenic disturbances is essential for developing conservation strategies and agrotechnologies for cultivation. In this communication, we have discussed the habitat range of two alpine medicinal plants, Aconitum navicu...

Centella asiatica (L) Urban is an important medicinal plant of tropical and subtropical belts of Nepal. Ramet density, stolon length, petiole length, specific leaf area (SLA), leaf nitrogen content, number of flowers in inflorescence and soil nutrients (nitrogen (N), organic carbon (OC) and organic matter (OM) contents of populations of Centella as...

Phenological activities of two canopy tree species (Engelhardia spicata Leschen. ex Blume and Fraxinus floribunda Wall.) and two subcanopy species (Myrica esculenta Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don and Lyonia ovalifolia (Wall.) Drude) of subtropical forest in central Nepal were examined for one year. Myrica esculenta is an evergreen species while other three sp...

This study of the water relations of Shorea robusta Gaertn. (Sal) was conducted in two forests, 6.5 km apart in central Nepal. One, in the Churiya Hills (elevation 730 m), is a protected forest, partially degraded but recovering; the major species are Sal and Chir pine (Pinus roxburghii). The second is a protected natural Sal forest on the plain (e...

Variation in phenology and water relations was studied in Pinus roxburghii Sarg. (chir pine), a co-dominant tree species in the Churia Hills of south-central Nepal. Measurements were carried out from September 1999 to February 2001, at a monthly interval except during the rainy season. Phenology, soil water potential at 15 cm (soil Ψ15) and 30 cm (...

We studied variations in water relations and drought response in five Himalayan tree species (Schima wallichii (DC.) Korth. (chilaune) and Castanopsis indica (Roxb.) Miq. (dhale katus) at an elevation of 1400 m, Quercus lanata Smith (banjh) and Rhododendron arboreum Smith (lali gurans) at 2020 m, and Quercus semecarpifolia Smith (khasru) at 2130 m)...

Field experiments were conducted during 1996 and 1997 monsoon season at Malepatan, Pokhara, Nepal to evaluate the effects of herbicides and manual weeding on yield attributes of two varieties of transplanted paddy (Oryza sativa L. var. Radha 7 and Khumal 5). Pre-emergence herbicides alone was not effective for controlling second flush and late emer...

(Without abstract.)

Air pollution is increasing in urban areas of Nepal, and the major source of this problem is transport sector. Number of vehicles increases at the rate of over 10 percent per year. Nepal distributes unleaded petroleum all over the country but there are records of adulterated fuel supply by dealers thus making the condition worst. Nepal has set vehi...

The Royal Bardia National Park (RBNP) of Nepal has 35% land as riverine forest.Vegetation composition and biomass production in Evergreen Riverine Forest (ERF), and Deciduous Riverine Forest (DFW) of the RBNP were studied by lying quadrats of 25 m x 25 m.The ERF was mainly dominated by Syzygium cumini, Mallotus philippensis, Ficus racemosa, Bombax...

The present paper aims to document botanical knowledge of the Tharu people, living at the south-western part of the Royal Bardia National Park (RBNP), on the use of plant resources. Participatory rural appraisal technique was employed to gather information. The forest areas around the RBNP used by the local people were surveyed. The local people ha...