<div>Background: Celosia argentea, commonly known as plumed cockscomb, is a herbaceous plant of tropical origin and has 19.78% crude protein and is equal to leguminous fodder. It is highly palatable by animals. The study was designed to find out the chemical composition of the plant at summer and monsoon season and also to conserve it as fodder block for feeding ruminants during feed shortage.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: Fodder block was prepared by using paddy straw (60%), Celosia argentea plant (30%), 7.5% refined wheat flour, 2% mineral mixture and 1% salt. The fodder blocks were assessed for physical, chemical and IVDMD tests. Three treatments such as paddy straw and Desmanthus fodder (T1), paddy straw and Celosia argentea fodder (T2), paddy straw and Celosia argentea block (T3) were used for palatability trial in eighteen cross bred heifers. Trial was conducted for a period of one month. Daily feed intake (kg/day), initial and final body weight was measured. Data was analysed by using SPS software.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Significant variations (P&lt;0.01) were observed in the proximate composition of Celosia argentea fodder between monsoon and summer season. The prepared fodder blocks with Celosia argentea had bulk density of 70.15 kg/m3, relative hardness of 12.36 mm and durability of 89.22%. The chemical composition of fodder blocks (dry matter - 90.3%, crude protein - 10.28%, ether extract - 1.6%, crude fibre - 16.25%, total ash - 13.26%, nitrogen free extract - 58.35%, Ca - 1.05% and P - 0.53%) were found to lie in the normal range. The IVDMD of fodder block is 48.52%. Average daily dry matter intake of heifers fed with T3 was higher (P&lt;0.01) compared to heifers fed with T1 and T2. The body weight of heifers fed with all treatments did not change during trial period. Celosia argentea can be utilized as alternate to Desmanthus fodder and can be preserved as fodder block along with paddy straw for use during fodder deficit seasons.</div>

Feeding Celosia argentea as Fodder Block to Ruminants

<div>Background: As a need of hour around the globe for attaining sustainable solutions, the present investigation validates an easy, economical and time-efficient method to produce silver nanoparticles by natural plant leaf extract of Celosia cristata. 
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Methods: The silver nanoparticles were synthesized and further characterized by visual observation, UV-Vis spectrophotometer, XRD, FTIR and TEM. The response surface methodology was utilized to optimize the operational conditions that prescribe a mixture of 12.5 ml Celosia cristata leaf extract and 87.5 ml 10 mM silver nitrate, to be kept at 37.5&deg; for 120 minutes. 
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Result: The change in colour of plant extract on adding precursor from yellow to brown colour indicates nanoparticles synthesis, which on UV-Vis spectrophotometer shows relevant peak at 424 nm. The X-ray diffraction peaks at 38&deg;, 44&deg;, 64&deg; and 77&deg; correspond to the hkl of (111), (200), (220) and (311) respectively that displays the crystal nature of silver nanoparticle. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicated the presence of alkanes, alkynes, amines, carboxyl groups and methylene compounds functional groups in silver nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscope image depicted their spherical shapes with average nanoparticle size of 22 nm, which were found to be anti-microbial with minimum inhibitory concentration of 0.1562, 0.3125 and 0.625 against Alternaria solani, Fusarium graminearum and Xanthomonas oryzae which are potential plant pathogens. The present work concludes the antimicrobial efficacy of nanoparticles and RSM method to be an efficient tool for detecting the optimized synthesis parameter.</div>

Optimization and Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized by Celosia cristata and Their Potential Application as Antimicrobial Agent against Plant Pathogens

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Background: Flowers are not only for their ornamental, aesthetic purpose but it is a great nutritious to human diet and health. These are rich source of pigments and possess antibacterial and antioxidant properties. Few flowers are used traditionally in diet and there is huge scope to use edible flowers in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and pigment industry. But very less research has been done till date for finding proximate constituent, antioxidant activity and mineral profiling of edible annual flowers. The present work investigated the proximate constituent analysis and antioxidant activity of few annual flowers.

<div>Methods: In this laboratory analysis, different annual flowers were used for the experiment. They were Celosia cristata var. Deep Armor Purple, Celosia cristata var. Twisted Orange, Celosia cristata var. Pink, Celosia argentea var. Cristata Yellow, Celosia argentea var. Plumosa, Celosia cristata var. Bombay Pink, Gomphrena globosa, Gallardia pulchella, Tagetes erecta, Tagetes patula and Calendula officinalis. Proximate constituent analysis and antioxidant activity were performed using Association of Official Analytical Chemist (A.O.A.C) methods.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Among the different annual flowers, the maximum ash content (15.58%) the crude protein content (13.45%) and the crude fibre content (13.39%) were found in Gomphrena globosa flowers, whereas the minimum ash content (7.24%), the minimum crude protein (6.51%) and the minimum crude fibre content (6.63%) were reported in Calendula officinalis flowers. On the other hand, the antioxidant activity was found to be superior in the flowers of Tagetes patula (60.34%) followed by Tagetes erecta (57.99%) and the minimum antioxidant activity (43.89%) was found in flowers of Celosia cristata var. Twisted Orange.</div>

Feeding Celosia argentea as Fodder Block to Ruminants

Optimization and Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized by Celosia cristata and Their Potential Application as Antimicrobial Agent against Plant Pathogens

Proximate Constituent Analysis and Antioxidant Activity of Annual Edible Flowers