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This project was planned to study the production of cholesterol lowering drug mevastatin by Aspergillus terreus GCBL-03 on pretreated substrate bagasse in solid state fermentation. Bagasse was pretreated by potassium hydroxide to delignify the substrate to readily become available to microorganism. It was noticed that pretreated bagasse exhibited 13.69±0.64 mg/100mL yield of mevastatin and 6.63±0.48 g dry cell mass as compared to nontreated substrate that showed 7.04±0.81 mg/100 mL and 6.04±0.24 g dry cell mass. The fermentation profile like pH (5.5), temperature (30 °C), moisture contents (60%) inoculum size (2 mL), and incubation time (72 h) showed the optimum production (30.63±1.24 mg/100 mL) of mevastatin. Furthermore, fermented drug showed noteworthy antifungal activity against battery of selected fungal strains assessed by disc diffusion and measurement of minimum inhibitory concentration by micro dilution method. It was concluded from the study that fermented mevastatin was effective against fungal strains.

Seven indigenously isolated fungal strains (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus terreus, Penicillium citrinum, Penicillium notatum, Pleurotus ostreatus and Trichoderma viradae) were tested for their potential to produce cholesterol lowering drug lovastatin by using different agro-industrial wastes (Corn cobs, corn stover, banana stalk, wheat straw, wheat bran, bagasse) in submerged as well as solid state fermentation. Aspergillus terreus showed maximum production of 18.74 mg/100 mL by wheat bran in solid state fermentation. The fermentation parameters (pH, temperature, Inoculum size, moisture contents and fermentation time) were also optimized for optimum production of lovastatin. It was found that Aspergillus terreus could produce 27.14 mg/100 mL lovastatin under optimum condition of pH (6), temperature (30°C), Inoculum size (2 mL), moisture contents (60%) and fermentation time (120 hrs) in solid state fermentation. The optimized lovastatin was extracted from fermented broth and orally administered to rats. The hypocholesterolemic effect of fermented lovastatin was evaluated on serum ALT, AST, HDL-C, LDL-C, TG and TC level of rats. It was concluded from the study, fermented lovastatin effectively lower the cholesterol level of rats.

Six cultivars of safflower which were (PI-387820, PI-251978, PI-170274, PI-387821, PI-386174 and Thori-78) grown in net house of NIAB under salinity (10 ds m⁻¹) and drought (60% field capacity) conditions and compared to their oxidative damage and antioxidative responses. Plant samples (leaves) were collected for the determination of malonidialdehyde (MDA), antioxidative enzymes (catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase, and peroxidase), proline, and photosynthetic pigments. Salinity and drought decreased the chlorophyll a and b contents but a decrease in chlorophyll a and b was less in safflower variety (THORI-78) which could be a useful marker for selecting a stress tolerant variety. Both stresses considerable increases the accumulation of proline in PI-251978, PI-170274, PI-387821, PI-386174 and THORI-78 varieties of safflower whereas the proline accumulation did not appear to be an essential part of the protection mechanism against salinity and drought in variety PI-387820. Enzyme activity measurements revealed that THORI-78 can tolerate salinity and drought stress well by increasing the activity of catalase and APX enzymes whereas variety PI- 386174 showed increased activity of glutathione reductase enzyme under salinity and drought and appear to be very crucial antioxidative defenses during intense stress conditions. The results indicate that the photosynthetic pigments, proline and activities of the enzymes are important mechanism for the stress tolerance in safflower plant and can be considered as genetic improvement for the plant in salinity and drought soil conditions.