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Over the past years, the tea industry in India has started to suffer from various drawbacks, i.e. issues regarding low productivity and rising input costs (namely the uneconomic age profile of tea bushes across the tea estates of North Bengal), leading to a decline in the industry and dramatic expansion of small tea growers. Accordingly, the vast expansion of small tea plantations in North Bengal prompted this study to examine the purpose and outcome of such an expansion concept. In the present study, Bhotepatty, Maynaguri (the Jalpaiguri district), was considered due to an immense conversion of agricultural land into numerous small tea plantations in the region. The study focuses on the agricultural shift from potato fields to small tea gardens. Initially, a cumulative approach encompassing the preliminary survey work and analysis of soil physicochemical characteristics was adopted to assess the adequacy of this agricultural shift. The survey conducted revealed the lack of proper land preparation, land rehabilitation before planting, sound soil nutrient management, and soil testing programs after shifting (responsible for the depletion of major nutrients such as potassium and phosphorus in the tea soil, which can be resolved with proper and timely manuring practices). Sulphur and the organic matter, organic carbon and available nitrogen of the top soil were detected in huge amounts compared to the optimum values suggested by the Tea Board of India.

Leguminous shade trees are ubiquitous parts of tea plantations of the Terai region. However, their shed leaves might have an effect on the soil microflora under those shade trees, so it is important to find out how leaf litter affect the soil microflora. Isolation of soil microbial consortia followed by downstream experiments were conducted to observe the tolerance/susceptible pattern of those soil microflora against the fallen leaves. Sample from under Albizia odoratissima has higher organic carbon, organic matter and nitrogen content but the same property was found to be low in the sample collected under Melia azedarach. Isolation of consortia was done on nutrient agar. In vitro tolerance assay was conducted to find out the tolerance pattern against leaf extracts, heavy metal salts, pesticides, antibiotics and antifungals. Heavy metals salts like Arsenic trioxide (AS2O3) and Cupric chloride (CuCl2); and pesticides like Thiamethoxam; Spiromesifen; Phorate etc. showed no inhibition against all the isolated consortia. Co-Trimoxazole and Augmentin have not showed any inhibition except consortia under Derris robusta, whereas no antifungals but Itraconazole had an impact over all the consortia. Shade trees, being a crucial member of the tea plantations, cannot be removed but replacement of these with other species could be a probable option, besides this limited use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers should be taken into consideration strictly to restrain the microbial population in tea garden soil. So, this study has disclosed the acceptability of each and every shade tree used in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mn(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) complexes with the ionic liquid-supported Schiff base 1-{2-(2-hydroxy-5-chlorobenzylamine)ethyl}-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (primary ligand) and 1-methyl imidazole (secondary ligand) and were synthesized and characterized by PXRD, SEM, ESI-MS, UV-Visible, FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13CNMR spectroscopic and various analytical (elemental analysis and magnetic susceptibility measurements) methods. Based on these spectra and spectral data hexa coordinated geometries were assigned for the synthesized mixed ligand metal (II) complexes. Antimicrobial activity of the mixed ligand Mn(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) complexes with respect to the Schiff base against two gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus) and two were gram negative (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae) were conducted to assess their antibacterial activities. The Schiff base along with the mixed ligand complexes exhibited very significant responses for gram positive and negative bacterial samples though maximum inhibition zone was produced by Ni(II) complex while the minimum inhibition zone was produced by Cu(II) complex in plates of Staphylococcus aureus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry is an essential tool for metabolomics. In this research we have selected photosynthetic organs- leaf and sepal of a wild Indian tea tree from north-east India to study wild tea metabolites. The result of this study reveals that photosynthetic parts of wild Indian tea tree are rich in 'patchouli' components unlike established cultivated varieties which are known to be rich in polyphenols or flavonoids. Twenty six compounds were detected in sesquiterpene rich leaf while nineteen were detected in the waxy sepal. The remarkable outcome of this study is presence of fourteen 'patchouli' compounds including patchouli alcohol as the major compound (44.81% in leaf and 19.59% in sepal) which can promote this plant to a top-notch position in fields of botany, pharmaceuticals and essential oil industry by occupying the throne of patchouli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]