The National Children’s Science Congress was organised by the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The 31st National Children’s Science Congress was held from 3-6 January 2025 at Bhopal.It was hosted by the MP Council of Science & Technology (MPCST). The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Dr. Mohan Yadav inaugurated the 31st National Children’s Science Congress at the Ravindra Bhawan in Bhopal, on 3rd January 2025.
Prof. Abhay Karandikar,Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, Mr Anurag Jain, Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh and Dr. Suhas Joshi, Director, IIT Indore were also present during the inauguration ceremony. A video message was sent by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of Science and Technology, Govt. of India.
Under the mentorship of Ms. Niva Chhonkar, Head-Biology, the research journey started in 2023, for Nanya Gupta and Aavya Shrivastava of Class IX M who worked in the Zoology Lab, Sri Venkateswara College and DPS RK Puram ,Biology Lab. They cleared the Zonal, District and State level and the journey culminated with Nanya Gupta, the team leader representing the Delhi State as a part of a team with students from 7 other schools. The project was presented in front of eminent judges and judged as one of the 20 ‘Outstanding Project’ out of the 648 projects that were presented by the students from the different states of India.
The Research Project was based on the two simple queries of the student that led to a series of experiments resulting in a series of amazing findings. The queries were ‘Why do dogs eat away lantana plants from my garden and how can I protect sprouted grains from microbial attack and increase shelf life without using synthetic chemicals?
Lantana plant has been of great interest for phytochemical, biological and pharmacological studies.It was to be confirmed that Lantana leaves which have a strong smell, may have antimicrobial activity that is why dogs eat them when they are unwell. Lantana is also identified as an invasive variety of weed in Delhi that has infested 30% of the Delhi ridge area. If the substance / metabolite in the lantana has some medicinal value then this substance can be purified on a commercial scale and used as medicine and on the other hand we can utilize this invasive shrub.
The experiment consisted of 2 phases.First to make leaf extract of Lantana and assess its antimicrobial properties on the bacteria and compare with the already established antimicrobial properties of Neem and Tulsi. Secondly, depending upon the results from the first phase,create Herbal Sanitizing Wraps using Neem,Tulsi and Lantana for growing sprouts.The most common bacteria, E.coli was used for the studies as its doubling time is 20 minutes so it grows faster..Common fungi- Rhizopus (Bread Mold) and Aspergillus (found as black powder on onions these days) was also grown.
Different concentrations of leaf extracts were used to test the bacterial growth inhibition.Bacterial Growth Inhibition was studied in two ways.
After Data Analysis it was interpreted that Lantana has a substance/chemical that inhibits bacterial growth.Surprisingly contrary to our belief,Tulsi was more effective in inhibiting E.coli growth than Neem.
