Characterization of rice straw lignin phenolics and evaluation of their role in pollen tube growth in L.

Rice straw lignin was extracted alkaline hydrolysis and structurally characterized using FT-IR and H NMR spectra. Ethyl acetate extract of acid solubilized lignin was found to contain -coumaric acid, ferulic acid and caffeic acid as major phenolic acids which were isolated and characterized using spectral data. Amides of isolated phenolic acids were synthesized by their reaction with propyl and butyl amines using microwave irradiation and analysed using spectral studies. Phenolic acids and amides were evaluated for their effect on pollen germination and tube growth in pumpkin. Pollen tube length was significantly increased with N-butyl-3-(3, 4-dihydroxyphenyl) acrylamide and -butyl-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl) acrylamide at 5 ppm concentration than the control. These results could be utilised in increasing pollen tube length of while making interspecific cross between and in order to transfer hull-less character of to virus resistant genotypes.