ChiLCV Siege - How Guntur Farmers Fight to Save India's Chilli Crown Guntur district, popularly known as the “Land of Chillies” in Andhra Pradesh, represents the core of India’s chilli economy, producing export-oriented. In recent years, chilli production in this region has been increasingly threatened by Chilli Leaf Curl Virus (ChiLCV), a begomovirus transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci. The disease induces severe leaf curling, stunting, reduced flowering and drastic yield losses, particularly when infection occurs during early vegetative stages. Favouring the high cost of chilli cultivation, frequent disease outbreaks result in substantial economic losses (60-98%) for farmers and prompting shifts to other crops. Strengthening integrated disease management, vector surveillance, extension support and development of virus-tolerant cultivars is crucial for increasing productivity and ensuring long-term resilience of the Guntur chilli production system.

]]> Whitefly, begomovirus, chilli production, yield loss, Integrated control POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 IST Happy Seeder based Lentil cultivation - An emerging option to manage crop residues Adoption of Happy Seeder for lentil cultivation increases overall productivity and reduces cultivation costs. Many farmers used to burn the crop residues after harvesting, addressing pollution of environment and soil health. The Happy Seeder helps to overcome the issues by managing crop residues, land preparation, and sowing seeds at a single time, saving labour, time and other inputs resulted in enhancing production efficiency.

]]> Crop Residue Management, Sustainability, Lentil, Yield POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 IST Bird of Paradise – A Profitable Flower Crop in Yercaud Region Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) is a high-value ornamental flower gaining popularity in floriculture due to its unique appearance, vibrant colours, and long vase life. The favorable agro-climatic conditions of Yercaud in the Shevaroy Hills such as moderate temperatures, well-drained soils, and adequate rainfall make it highly suitable for its cultivation. The crop requires well-drained, fertile soil, moderate sunlight, and semi-cool temperatures for optimal flowering. It is relatively low-maintenance, though proper fertilization, support for flower stalks, and pest and disease management are essential for good yield. Plants begin flowering in 2–3 years and can produce economically for up to 8–10 years. With increasing demand in urban markets for floral arrangements and decorations, Bird of Paradise offers strong market potential. It provides good income opportunities for tribal farmers, especially in hill regions like Yercaud, and contributes to livelihood improvement through diversification, employment generation, and sustainable agriculture.

]]> Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae), Profitable Cut Flower, Yercaud Hills POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 IST Coriander Seed Wasp - A Hidden Enemy in Seed Production Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) is an economically important spice crop cultivated worldwide for its aromatic seeds, which are extensively used in culinary, medicinal, and industrial applications. The production of high-quality coriander seed is often constrained by several insect pests, among which the coriander seed wasp (Systole sp.) is considered one of the most destructive. Adult females oviposit inside developing seeds, and the emerging larvae feed internally on seed tissues, leading to hollow and damaged seeds. Such infestation results in reduced seed weight, poor germination, and considerable losses in seed yield and quality. The impact of this pest is particularly severe in seed production systems where high seed viability and genetic purity are critical. Therefore, a clear understanding of the biology, damage symptoms, and management strategies of the coriander seed wasp is essential for safeguarding coriander crops and ensuring the production of high-quality seeds for the spice and seed industries.

]]> Coriander, Seed Wasp, Hidden Enemy, Seed Production POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 IST A special campaign to reach farmers door step Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan (VKSA) Pre-Kharif Campaign,2025 Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Cachar To fulfil the needs and to recognize farmers field level problem, A special campaign was executed in national level covering each state and district. In Barak Valley zone of Assam, the district Cachar smoothly performed this Vikshit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan Programme from 29th May to 12th June, 2025 covering 15 revenue blocks and more than 350 villages and 13,283 farmers. Various government officials, Line departments, finance departments, Banking Institutions, Insurance Agencies actively participated in this programme. Awareness programme, method demonstration, on spot registration, face to face interaction, electronic media etc. various tools were used to reach maximum farmers and coverage. During the interaction with farmers various issues were identified like lack of irrigation facilities in potential areas, practice of monocropping even in medium land situation, limited availability of agricultural inputs, unaware about various government sector schemes viz., PMKISAN, PMFBY, PMKSY etc. Small and marginal land holdings, Dominance of clay soils with high acidic range. etc. Various issues were also addressed during the Campaign as different line department officials took up this matter seriously and acted accordingly. Such kind of campaign not only create awareness among farmers but also provide famers to express their field level problems.

]]> special campaign, Barak Valley, Assam, Cachar POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 Jan 2026 00:00:00 IST The Grasspea Genome Sequence - A Blueprint for Grasspea Improvement Lathyrus sativus commonly known as grasspea is a nutrient dense legume crop with tolerance for various abiotic stresses like drought and flood and has potential for climate smart agriculture. It is also a reservoir of nutrients and pharmacological compound that can contribute to human health. Grasspea has received little attention from breeders and researchers in the past due to the presence of neurotoxic compound in its seeds and other plant parts that causes a disease called neurolathyrism. However, in the current climate change scenario, interest on grasspea research is renewed due its hardiness to both drought and flooding. Several genomic resources in grasspea have been developed from the last 10 years. As per NCBI data, 246 transcriptome sequences of grasspea have been published. Two genome assemblies and one reference genome sequence have recently been published. This article discusses about currently sequenced grasspea genomes and how it can be utilized for improving the grasspea.

]]> Grasspea. Genome Sequence, Blueprint Grasspea, Grasspea Improvement POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 IST Fusarium spp. Associated with Cucurbit Diseases Fusarium spp. is a group of soil-borne fungi with many different species. In cucurbits, this genus cause major diseases out of which vascular wilt disease and fruit rot are of highly significance on the basis of the economic losses it causes annually to the cucurbit crops. Vascular wilt of cucurbits is caused by Fusarium oxysporum which has a host specific formae speciales (f. sp.) such as F. oxysporum f. sp. melonis which cause vascular wilt of melon (muskmelon and cantaloupe). These formae speciales also show cross-infectivity and can infect other non-host species in the family cucurbitaceae. Fruit/crown/foot rot of cucurbits is due to F. solani which is a post-harvest disease and infects mostly pumpkin and squash. The formae specials in this disease is common to the family cucurbitaceae i.e. Fusarium solani f. sp. cucurbitae. Although less specific to the cucurbits, other species of Fusarium such as F. proliferatum, F. equiseti, F. pallidoroseum F. semitectum, F. verticillioides etc. can also be found associated with the cucurbit diseases. F. oxysporum and F. solani are the primary culprits, whereas several other Fusarium species contribute to diseases in cucurbits, hampering its yield as well as quality. 

]]> Fusarium, Cucurbit Diseases, soil-borne, fungi, different species POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 IST Nanotechnology - An Approach for Crop Protection Nanotechnology holds significant promise in addressing numerous challenges faced by today’s modern agriculture, including crop protection, nutrient management, as well as environmental sustainability. This the novel technology that revolutionizes crop protection by enabling target-based delivery of pesticides, early pest/pathogen detection, and controlled release of nutrients through nanomaterials, nanobiosensors, nanocapsules etc. Nanoparticles have dimensions ranging from 1-100 nanometers (nm) that act differently in comparison to their bulk-sized counterparts as they are smaller in size, have a larger surface area, greater charge, increased solubility and more stability. This leads to decreased usage and better efficacy of chemicals, minimized environmental contamination, as well as improved plant resilience against several stresses eventually increasing food security. Through minimizing the chemical load, it also reduces pollution and improves water usage. It also offers advanced monitoring which leads to smart farming. Hence, nanotechnology is the key for success to a long-term future in crop protection which can transform the agricultural sector more effectively and sustainably.

]]> Nanotechnology, Approach, Crop Protection,challenges, modern agriculture POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 IST Mycoplasmosis in Goats and Sheep Goats and sheep play a vital role in supporting rural livelihoods through milk, meat, wool, and income generation. However, their productivity is severely threatened by mycoplasmosis, a group of diseases, caused by Mycoplasma species, which lack a cell wall and are difficult to diagnose and treat. These infections can affect multiple organs, leading to pneumonia, mastitis, arthritis, eye infections, and reproductive problems, often resulting in economic losses and animal suffering. Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP) and Contagious Agalactia (CA) are among the most damaging conditions, particularly in goats. Diagnosis relies on laboratory confirmation using culture, PCR, or serological methods, as clinical signs often resemble other diseases. Since success of treatment varies greatly, prevention is key. Vaccination (where available), strict hygiene, biosecurity, and responsible antibiotic use are essential to limit outbreaks. Educating farmers to recognize symptoms and practice early intervention can protect herd health, safeguard milk yield, and ultimately sustain rural farming communities.

]]> Goats, Sheep, Mycoplasmosis, Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP), Contagious Agalactia (CA), Mastitis POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 IST Cultivation of Biofortified Pearl Millet Varieties - A way for Achieve Higher Profitability under Rainfed Condition - Success Story Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is third important millet crop in Tamil Nadu after Maize and Sorghum. The total cultivable area in Tamil Nadu is 185083 ha. Farmers getting lower yield due to Lack of adoption of improved varieties and lack of awareness about Improved Production technologies. KVK introduce COH 10 high yielding pearl millet hybrid with Integrated Crop management Practices though Front-Line Demonstration. The CO H 10 Pearl millet hybrid recorded 35 percent higher grain yield than others farmers practice under similar conditions. It also recorded the higher net income Rs.625590 and BCR of 4.06 due to higher market preference. The adoption of new short-duration pearl millet hybrid along with good practices like MN mixture application, changing the time of sowing and other drought management practices leads the yield up to 35 percent under rainfed situations. Regarding the Post Harvest Management and Value Addition aspects the selected farmers and farm women were trained and equipped with practical skills in processing, packaging, branding, and quality control. They also gained enhanced knowledge (4-81%). Simple method for nurturing and promotion of Agri Enterprises is Start Small, Scale Gradually - Pilot → learn → improve → expand and continuous technical and handholding support which help the entrepreneurs for building confidence and Sustainable growth.

]]> Pearl Millet, Varieties, Higher Profitability, Rainfed Condition SUCCESS STORY Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:00:00 IST Bionomics, Damage Dynamics, and Resilient Management Approaches for Spotted Pod Borer [Maruca vitrata (Geyer)] - An Emerging Threat to Indian Pulses The maruca pod borer (Maruca vitrata) is recognized as a highly destructive arthropod, inflicting harsh damage on a broad spectrum of pulse crops and leading to substantial economic losses. As it can thrive on a diverse range of hosts and adaptability, it remains a persistent pest throughout the year under varying agro-climatic conditions. This insect attacks multiple plant parts, including leaves, flowers, and pods. Its seasonal occurrence varies across crops and growing seasons; however, larval infestation typically peaks during the flowering and pod formation stages. Females oviposit flattened, scale-like eggs on floral buds, blossoms, foliage, leaf axils, developing pods, and apical shoots. The caterpillars are translucent, bearing distinct dark-brown markings on across all body segments. The caterpillar period extends for about 11–21 days, whereas the complete life span ranges from 27 to 36 daylights, varying with the host plant. Adoption of cultural methods such as mixed cropping, properly timed weed control, optimum sowing period, and appropriate plant spacing has been shown to reduce its incidence in crops like cowpea. Botanical insecticides, including neem-based formulations including neem kernel extract (NSKE) and neem oil besides bio-pesticides like Bacillus thuringiensis, have exhibited distinct degrees of effectiveness across grain legumes Similarly, the effectiveness of insecticides belonging to various chemical classes against this pest has been well documented.

]]> Bionomics, Damage Dynamics, Resilient Management, Spotted Pod Borer, Emerging Threat, Indian Pulses POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 IST Ocean Superfoods - The Nutraceutical Power of Seaweeds Mr. Seaweeds are macroscopic marine algae, rich in vitamins, minerals and amino acids. They contain many trace elements and essential nutrients needed to fight against many human diseases, including heart problems, hypertension, sugar problem and cancer. They are characterized by a thallus organization and the absence of true vascular tissues. Taxonomically seaweeds are distributed in major algal groups i.e. in green algae (Chlorophyta), red algae (Rhodophyta) and brown algae (Phaeophta). Red seaweeds are more abundant in subtropical and tropical waters, whereas brown seaweeds predominate in temperate regions. The capability of rapid biomass production and presence of favourable nutritional composition, makes seaweeds a significant contributor of nutritional security, pharmaceutical industry, aquaculture feed, biofertilisers and other agricultural amendments. These attributes are particularly relevant in the context of declining arable soil fertility, stagnating crop yields in many regions, and growing global population pressures that increase the risk of food insecurity. Many coastal states possess extensive bays and lagoons that are suitable for marine farming, yet large-scale cultivation of seaweeds remains underdeveloped.  Seaweed culture typically requires relatively low capital and input intensity, can deliver high returns per unit area, and provides opportunities for local employment making it an attractive livelihood option for coastal communities. Strategic investment in cultivation infrastructure, species selection, post-harvest processing, and product development and value-chain integration can increase domestic supply, expand exportable products, and generate socioeconomic benefits for coastal populations. With targeted R&D and investment, countries such as India could become significant producers of seaweed-derived products, enhancing both national food and nutritional security and fisheries export value.

]]> Aquaculture, Macroalgae, Nutraceuticals, Kombu, Carrageenan POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 IST Absorption of Nutrients by Plant Roots and their Interaction with Soil Solution in Relation to Soilless Cultivation Efficient nutrient absorption is a key determinant of plant growth and productivity. In conventional soil-based systems, plant roots absorb essential macro- and micronutrients from the soil solution, a dynamic medium influenced by pH, microbial activity, and nutrient availability. Soilless cultivation systems, including hydroponics, aeroponics, and nutrient film techniques, provide an alternative approach that allows precise control over nutrient delivery, water availability, and environmental conditions. These systems offer several advantages, including higher nutrient uptake efficiency, consistent plant growth, elimination of soil-borne pathogens, and reduced fertilizer losses, making them environmentally sustainable and resource-efficient. However, the absence of soil buffering necessitates careful monitoring of solution pH, electrical conductivity, and oxygenation to prevent nutrient imbalances and optimize root function. Root morphology, particularly the presence of fine roots and root hairs, plays a critical role in nutrient acquisition. Controlled soilless environments often stimulate denser and more branched root systems, enhancing nutrient and water absorption. Empirical studies indicate a strong correlation between root biomass and the uptake of key nutrients such as potassium, calcium, and nitrate in crops like lettuce and tomato. This review highlights the physiological mechanisms of nutrient absorption, the interaction of roots with the growth medium, and the advantages and challenges of soilless cultivation, providing insights for optimizing plant productivity in controlled agricultural systems.

]]> Soilless cultivation, Hydroponics, Nutrient absorption, Root morphology, Nutrient solution management, Plant productivity POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 IST Scope and Importance of Protected Agriculture Agriculture and allied sectors are central to India’s economy, providing livelihood to a majority of the population. While the Green Revolution significantly increased crop productivity, it also exposed agriculture to new challenges, including emerging biotic stresses (pests and diseases) and abiotic stresses (drought, extreme temperatures, salinity). Protected cultivation techniques, which involve growing crops in controlled environments, help overcome these challenges by providing optimal conditions for plant growth. Rising food demand, the need for year-round production, and increasing urbanization further emphasize the importance of protected cultivation. Among various methods, greenhouse cultivation has emerged as a key approach, offering high efficiency and productivity. Polyhouse-based farming, in particular, has become a strategic tool in modern Indian agriculture.

]]> Greenhouse, polyhouse, nutrient film technique (NFT), controlled environment, off-season crops, protected cultivation POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 IST Achievements of MIDH Scheme at HRS, Yercaud and Success Story of a Women Farmer in Yercaud The Front-Line Demonstration (FLD) on organic farming of black pepper, implemented under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) at the Horticultural Research Station (HRS), Yercaud, has been effectively operational for over a decade. This initiative has played a pivotal role in promoting awareness and adoption of organic spice cultivation among farmers. By showcasing practical, eco-friendly farming techniques under real field conditions, the FLD serves as a vital platform for knowledge dissemination and capacity building. The demonstration continues to attract and benefit a wide range of visiting farmers, reinforcing sustainable horticultural practices in the region. For over 22 years, a woman farmers Mrs. Premalatha and her family has nurtured a 3.4-hectare plantation in the serene hills of Semmanatham, Yercaud, Tamil Nadu. While organic practices were followed intuitively in the early years, a deeper commitment to organic farming began around five years ago. Through training at HRS, Yercaud, exposure to demonstration units, and learning from experienced farmers, she gradually transformed her approach. This journey has led to healthier crops, enriched soil, and a thriving ecosystem. A recent harvest of 2.70 tons of green pepper from 342 vines marks a significant milestone. More than a livelihood, the land has become a place of learning and inspiration, reflecting the rewards of mindful, patient cultivation.

]]> Front Line Demonstration (FLD), MIDH, Organic Farming, Black Pepper, Success Story SUCCESS STORY Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 IST Improved Wheat Varieties for Farmers of Maharashtra - Useful for Upcoming Rabi Season Wheat is one of the major Rabi crops in Maharashtra, cultivated under diverse sowing windows and varying climatic conditions. To meet the needs of farmers across these production environments, improved wheat varieties have been developed for specific sowing conditions and agro-climatic zones of the state. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research–Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (ICAR-IIWBR), in collaboration with State Agricultural Universities and All India Coordinated Wheat and Barley Improvement (AICRP) Centres, has played a pivotal role in this process. These improved varieties not only enhance adaptability and resilience but also ensure higher productivity, making them particularly useful for adoption in the upcoming Rabi season by the farmers of Maharashtra.

]]> Wheat Varieties, Farmers, Maharashtra, Rabi Season POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Aug 2025 00:00:00 IST Empowering Climate-Resilient Agriculture in Samastipur - A Custom Hiring Center Success Story Mr. Sanjit Kumar Rai, a farmer from Chakobhindi village in Morwa block, Samastipur, struggled to generate sustainable income despite owning 15 acres of land and machinery. Limited technical knowledge and poor linkages hindered profitability. Under the Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA) programme, KVK Birauli provided skill-based training on custom hiring center (CHC) management and mechanization. With KVK's support, Mr. Rai established a CHC, offering services like zero tillage, raised bed planting, spraying, and reaping. This significantly enhanced farm mechanization in the region. His annual income rose to Rs. 7.77 lakh, benefiting both himself and neighboring farmers. The CHC model proved instrumental in improving livelihoods and promoting climate-resilient practices.

]]> Empowering, Climate-Resilient, Agriculture, Samastipur, Hiring Center, Success Story SUCCESS STORY Thu, 31 Jul 2025 00:00:00 IST Sesame - A Vital Crop for Farmers and the Global Economy Sesame (Sesamum indicum), one of the world’s oldest cultivated oilseed crops, plays a vital role in global agriculture and the economy. Rich in oil and nutrients, sesame is valued for its diverse industrial uses, spanning food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and biofuel. Major producers including Sudan, India, Myanmar, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and China contribute to a thriving international trade driven by growing demand for sesame seeds, oil, and processed products. However, challenges such as climate variability, pest and disease infestations, price fluctuations, and limited mechanization impact its production and profitability. Advancements in drought-tolerant and high-yielding varieties, alongside better agronomic practices and policy support, offer promising solutions to enhance sesame productivity. Continued research and investments in sustainable cultivation, value addition, and market linkages will ensure sesame’s enduring contribution to food security, farmer livelihoods, and the global agricultural economy.

]]> Sesame, Vital Crop, Farmers, Global Economy POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 IST Phule Shashwat - Resilient, Reliable, and Ready for Late Sowing The Agricultural Research Station, MPKV, Niphad (Maharashtra), has developed a high-yielding bread wheat variety, Phule Shashwat (NIAW 4114), specifically suited for late-sown irrigated conditions in the Peninsular Zone of India. This variety stands out for its superior grain quality and excellent chapati-making properties, meeting both farmers' and consumers' expectations. Notably, Phule Shashwat exhibits resistance to both stem and leaf rusts, making it a reliable option under disease-prone environments. The variety was identified and recommended for release during the Varietal Identification Committee Meeting held virtually on 7th October 2024, under the chairmanship of Dr. D. K. Yadava, ADG (Seed), ICAR. It was subsequently released and officially notified by the Central Sub-Committee on Crop Standards through Gazette Notification S.O. 2128(E), dated 13th May 2025, for cultivation in the target agro-climatic region.

]]> Phule Shashwat, Resilient, Reliable, Ready, Late Sowing POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 IST Cassia occidentalis: An Eco-Friendly Solution for Pest Control Cassia occidentalis, commonly known as coffee senna, is a widespread weed recognized for its medicinal properties and potential as a biopesticide. This study assesses the pesticidal and fungicidal efficacy of C. occidentalis against various agricultural pests, including aphids, caterpillars, and termites and fungal pathogens. The plant contains several bioactive compounds, which contribute to its insecticidal and fungicidal properties through mechanisms such as disruption of cell membranes and interference with metabolic processes. Experimental results in available literature demonstrate that extracts from C. occidentalis significantly reduce pest populations, enhancing crop health and yield. The application methods, including aqueous extracts and powdered formulations, prove effective across varying concentrations, underscoring the adaptability of this plant as a natural pesticide. Furthermore, the environmentally friendly nature of C. occidentalis provides an alternative to synthetic pesticides, minimizing the risks associated with chemical residues on food and non-target organisms. This article highlights the potential of C. occidentalis as a sustainable pest management strategy that aligns with integrated pest management practices. Future studies should focus on optimizing extraction methods, application ratios, and understanding the interactions between C. occidentalis and diverse pest populations to fully harness its potential in agricultural systems.

]]> Cassia occidentalis, biopesticide, pesticidal efficacy, sustainable agriculture, pest management POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 May 2025 00:00:00 IST Towards Sustainable Acid Lime Production in Tamil Nadu - Constraints and Strategic Approaches Acid lime is an important fruit crop in Tamil Nadu, extensively cultivated in several parts. Grown across diverse soils, including heavy clays, it is sensitive to frost, waterlogging, and prolonged wet spells. The area under cultivation has expanded due to rising demand and regional adaptability. Despite this, productivity remains inconsistent due to biotic and abiotic stresses, suboptimal orchard practices, and poor-quality planting materials. Addressing these challenges through improved varieties, integrated nutrient and pest management, and disease-free nursery techniques is crucial for enhancing sustainable acid lime production in the state.

]]> Acid lime, biotic and abiotic stresses, productivity, quality POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 IST Biochemical Edge - Transforming Agribusiness for A Greener and Profitable Future Growing worldwide food demand calls for sustainable agricultural advances. This article examines how microbial technology and biochemical remedies are revolutionizing current agriculture. Biostimulants, biopesticides, and biofertilizers improve soil fertility, insect control, and stress tolerance while lowering reliance on artificial agrochemicals. Through biochemical processes like osmolyte buildup, antioxidant defense, and RNA interference, genetically modified (GM) crops further promote resistance and productivity. Better yields, input efficiency, and environmental sustainability are demonstrated by Syngenta, Bayer, IFFCO, and Cargill's practical applications. However, widespread adoption is hampered by financial considerations, legal limitations, and low awareness. Along with circular bioeconomy models, future directions include CRISPR gene editing, microbial consortia, and AI-powered precision farming. Together, these developments present a possible route to agribusiness that is profitable, climate-resilient, and sustainable.

]]> Biochemical innovations, Microbial applications, Genetically modified crops, Sustainable agribusiness POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 IST Meta-Analysis and Its Applications in Agricultural Sciences Meta-Analysis (MA) is one of the emerging and advanced methodology for quantitatively reviewing literatures for research that provides a wider picture of a research problem. The methodology combines secondary data from various primary studies and estimates the overall effect of an intervention or treatment. Though, it was first used in the field of medical sciences and psychology, its application has become wider and common even in agricultural sciences, especially economics and extension. MA helps in estimating the impact of an intervention by taking two different groups for comparison viz., Control and Treatment. Researchers frame certain criteria (Inclusion-Exclusion) in order to decide the studies to be included or excluded for analysis. Once the number of studies to be included are finalized, the analysed data from these studies are pooled and analysed again through various Meta-Analytical methods. These methods include Basic MA and Advanced MA which involves calculation of effect sizes, heterogeneity tests, moderator and sensitivity analysis and publication bias assessment. The inference of an MA can be derived from the overall effect sizes (estimates of MA) which indicates the amount of effect or impact an intervention has on the sample. Therefore, MA by aggregating data from various primary studies is said to have higher statistical power and hence reveals increasing prominence in social sciences as well as in efficient policy making process.

]]> Agriculture, Effect sizes, Quantitative, Policy making, Review, Social Sciences POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 IST Nitroplast : A New Eukaryotic Organelle that Holds Great Promise for Sustainable Agriculture Nitroplast is a recently discovered eukaryotic organelle that functions in nitrogen-fixation. The first report of nitroplast was from the marine algae Braarudosphaera bigelowii, in which the endosymbiotic relationship of a nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria evolved into an organelle. Like other organelles, during the course of evolution, the genome of  the  endosymbiotic organism lost many important genes and hence it cannot exist independently. As the B. bigelowii  genome encodes most of the proteins required for the nitroplast, it is now regarded as an organelle. Engineering nitroplast enables autotrophic nitrogen fixation in crop plants, which in turn reduces the usage of chemical fertilizers, thereby leading to sustainable agricultural practices.

]]> Nitroplast, organelle, endosymbiont, sustainable agriculture POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 IST Insight into the various Mapping Populations in Crop Improvement A mapping population can be used to map genetic markers through linkage. Thus, the population can be constructed by hybridizing two dissimilar genotypes. It identifies the distance between the two linked genes, which in turn is used to construct a genetic map. Primary mapping populations are constructed by hybridizing two homozygous lines with distinct characters, while the secondary mapping population consists of hybridizing the individuals from a developed mapping population.

]]> Mapping Population, Genetic Analysis, QTL map construction POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 IST Microbial Biosensor - A Tool for Monitoring Environmental Pollutants The environmental quality of water, soil, and air is increasingly degraded, making it essential to enhance pollution prevention through environmental monitoring. Several methods exist for monitoring environmental quality, with a particular focus on biological approaches. Biological methods evaluate environmental health by analyzing the presence of diverse species, such as bacteria, virus, insects, plants, and fish, as indicators. Microbial biosensors are capable of detecting substances in the environment due to the specific biological reactions of microorganisms or their components. The growing emphasis on sustainable development and environmental conservation has fuelled interest in biomonitoring as a proactive approach to managing pollution. Furthermore, technologies such as bioinformatics and genetic engineering enable the way for designing highly sophisticated and efficient microbial biosensors capable of detecting environmental pollutants with greater precision and sensitivity.

]]> Biosensor, pollutants, enzyme, transducer and bioluminescence POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 IST Arsenic Contamination in Rice - Health Implications and Sustainable Mitigation Strategies Arsenic (As) is a toxic environmental pollutant that occurs naturally in soil and groundwater as inorganic and organic forms. The global dietary preference and high grain As accumulation potential in rice, proclaims rice as one of the chief source of As entry in food chain. Among all the cultivated crops rice has more than 10-fold tendency to accumulate carcinogenic arsenic.  Rice is majorly grown under reduced state which favors inorganic arsenic (As+3) availability in soil, its uptake and accumulation in grains. However, this problem is becoming worse as most of the places in India are affected by severe arsenic contamination and Chhattisgarh state is one of them. Persistent consumption of arsenic can cause severe health issues like chronic cancer and various neurological disorders. Effective measures must be taken to reduce and mitigate this concern for As-safe rice. Most of the approaches on reducing accumulation of arsenic in rice utilizes agronomic, and biotechnological approaches but undermining natural variation can be the most economical way to mitigate this concern. This article comprehensively summarizes different ways to reduce arsenic in rice grains.

]]> Arsenic, Rice, Natural variation, Mitigation strategies POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 IST Maize Ear Rot - Identification and their Management Strategies Maize (Zea mays L.) productivity is severely impacted by ear rot diseases, primarily Fusarium ear rot (FER) and Aspergillus ear rot (AER). These diseases not only reduce yields but also lead to mycotoxin contamination, posing significant health and economic risks. Favourable environmental conditions, insect damage, and agronomic practices contribute to disease severity. Integrated management, including host plant resistance, cultural and biological control, and judicious chemical applications, is crucial for disease mitigation. Sustainable pre- and post-harvest strategies can minimize mycotoxin contamination, ensuring food safety. This article highlights the epidemiology, symptoms, and management of maize ear rots to support sustainable maize production.

]]> Maize, Ear rots, Epidemiology, Integrated Management POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 IST Emerging Technologies for Post Harvesting to Extend Fruits and Vegetables Shelf-Life Fresh produce's quality and shelf life frequently deteriorate during the postharvest phase due to inadequate postharvest facilities. Modern postharvest techniques, such as pulsed electric field (PEF), active packaging, vacuum impregnation, dipping, conventional heating, high hydrostatic pressure (HPP), and cold plasma, as well as biocontrol methods, have been used in recent decades to maintain the safety and nutritional value of fresh produce. Implementing these strategies after harvesting helps to address the loss of product quality caused by the drawn-out transit of goods to distant markets. New technologies like near-infrared spectroscopy, electronic noses, and image analysis are prime examples of non-invasive, contactless approaches to quality control. These methods have many benefits over conventional, damaging processes and are essential for maintaining fresh produce's freshness, cutting down on losses, and minimizing waste. This article explores the post-harvest approaches to increasing the self-life of fruits and vegetables. Moreover, edible packaging, artificial intelligence technologies including e-nose and quality monitoring also be discussed.

]]> Post-harvest technology, non-thermal plasma, pulsed electric field, microwave, physical treatments POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 IST Exploring the Indian Dwarf Wheat - Triticum sphaerococcum an Ancient Hexaploid Wheat of Indian Subcontinent Triticum sphaerococcum has deep historical roots in the Indian subcontinent, where it was once widely grown and considered a distinct species of wheat. The species was particularly suited to the semi-arid conditions of the north-western parts of the Indian subcontinent. This spherical grain feature likely played a role in its cultivation in regions where drought resistance and efficient water use were important. However, by the late 19th and early 20th centuries, T. sphaerococcum saw a significant decline in cultivation as other wheat varieties, especially the more productive, began to dominate. The spread of modern high-yielding wheat varieties, changes in agricultural practices, and the introduction of irrigation contributed to the replacement of Indian dwarf wheat in many regions. Though its cultivation has declined over the past century due to the rise of high-yielding modern wheat varieties, this ancient species still holds immense potential. Its drought tolerance, heat resistance, and ability to grow low input agriculture make it a key genetic resource for future wheat breeding programs, particularly in the context of climate change and the need for sustainable agricultural practices.

]]> Triticum sphaerococcum, Gene Bank, Drought, Heat tolerance POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 IST Conservation Agriculture - A Sustainable Approach for Enhancing Small and Marginal Farmers' Livelihoods Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a sustainable farming approach addressing declining soil health, resource degradation, and climate change. Defined by minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and diverse crop rotations, CA improves soil structure, water-holding capacity, and biological activity, enhancing agroecosystem resilience (FAO, 2020; Smith et al., 2019). No-till farming and crop residue retention positively impact crop performance and soil sustainability (Babu et al., 2018). Additionally, permanently raised beds improve soil moisture, minimize waterlogging, and enhance aeration (Yadav et al., 2019). Globally practiced on over 180 million hectares, CA has been adopted on approximately 4 million hectares in India, majorly in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Zero-tillage and residue management in wheat-rice systems have improved yields, water-use efficiency, and soil carbon levels. Government programs like the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) and advanced tools like happy seeders and laser land levelers have accelerated adoption. Despite its benefits, CA faces challenges, including high initial costs, limited farmer awareness, and region-specific requirements. Addressing these through capacity building, subsidies, and public-private partnerships can enhance adoption. With its potential to improve resource-use efficiency, mitigate climate impacts, and sustain agricultural productivity, CA offers a robust pathway for India’s small and marginal farmers. Scaling up this approach is essential for achieving climate-resilient and sustainable agriculture.

]]> Conservation, Agriculture, Sustainable POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 IST Phule Anurag - A New Blast Resistant Bread Wheat Variety for Farmers of Maharashtra and Karnataka Agricultural Research Station, Niphad recently developed a new bread wheat variety Phule Anurag (NIAW 4028) which is resistant to wheat blast as well as both stem and leaf rusts. The variety was identified and recommended by Varietal Identification Committee Meeting in 62nd AGM of All India Coordinated Research Project on Wheat & Barley held at MPUAT, Udaipur during Aug. 26, 2023 to Sept. 01, 2023. It has been released and notified by Central Sub Committee on Crop Standards, India vide Gazette Notification No. S.O.1560 (E), dated 26th of March, 2024 for cultivation in Peninsular Zone under restricted irrigation condition.

]]> Phule Anurag, New Blast, Resistant Bread, Wheat Variety, farmers of Maharashtra, Karnataka POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 IST Animal Energy in Indian Agriculture - Impact and way forward Livestock is essential to human civilisation and supplied many needs. Since ancient times, animals have provided food, power, and manure to humans. They helped humanity survive at the time. Domesticated for hunting, the animals were later employed for transportation, farming, and food. Animal energy has been utilised for ploughing, tillage, transporting agricultural produce, etc. Over time, humans developed implements to use animals efficiently. However, with advancement of technology different efficient power sources like engines and electric motors made the agricultural activities easier and less time consuming.  Tractors and power tillers have almost replaced farm animals from agricultural activities. In extremely remote and hilly areas where machinery fail, poor farmers rely solely on animals. Again, small sized agricultural land and topography also affect agricultural machine efficiency. Moreover, machine overuse harms soil microbiology and fertility. In recent times, again people are more concerned about the organic products and organic farming requires animal power and dung as fertilizer. Hence, farmers are returning to old acquaintances for farming. The Indian government has also promoted indigenous cow breeds like Red Sindhi, Sahiwal, Tharparker, and others whose male offspring can be used as animal power. Considering animal ethics and cruelty, animal-friendly equipment must lessen animal pain and be efficient in agricultural activities. Animal-drawn implements developed by agricultural scientists have shown promising outcomes when used instead of machine-operated implements. There is still potential to improve animal-drawn equipment and machines' utility, efficacy, and ease of use.

]]> Animal Power, Mechanization, Indian Agriculture, Animal drawn equipment POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 IST Long Pepper - A Guide to its Cultivation After the COVID-19 pandemic, a substantial increase in respiratory diseases has been noted. People are now aware of the side effects of synthetic medicines and are opting for a natural and safer method of health care. Long pepper is an important medicinal plant renowned for its efficacy in treating many diseases, especially respiratory diseases. The cultivation practices of long pepper are dealt with in this article.

]]> Thippali, Spike, Roots, Respiratory diseases POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 IST Parameters of Wheat to be Considered for Biscuit and Bakery Purposes Wheat is a primary ingredient in biscuits and bakery products, where its quality parameters significantly influence the final product's characteristics. This article explores the key attributes of wheat, including protein content, gluten strength, starch quality, and moisture levels, which impact dough handling, texture, and shelf life. Additionally, the role of enzymatic activity and ash content in determining flour's suitability for bakery applications is discussed. Emphasis is placed on the selection of soft and medium-hard wheat varieties for biscuits and cakes, ensuring optimal crumb structure and tenderness. The article also examines milling techniques and flour treatments that enhance performance for specific bakery purposes.

]]> Parameters, Wheat, Biscuit, Bakery POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 IST Nanoparticles and their Role in Agriculture Nanoparticles are emerging as a new age material for revolutionizing present agriculture. With the world's population expanding and farming area becoming less available, nanoparticle-mediated improved agriculture undoubtedly looks like a great option to improve the future. Nanoparticles are small sized large surface area particles which possess distinctive physicochemical properties. Farmers prefer nanoparticles because of their small size, ease of handling and transportation, extended shelf life, and superior effectiveness. In the present scenario, agriculture has been facing a lot of challenges such as erratic climate change, soil contamination with a variety of harmful environmental pollutants like pesticides, fertilizers etc. Nanoparticles provides a solution to that and opens up new possibilities for improving the current farming practices through enhanced plant germination, higher disease resistance, better nutrient utilization and increased crop production. Nanoparticles can actually provide several benefits in comparison to the conventional agricultural practices and helps in slow, controlled and targeted delivery of its constituents resulting in improved crop productivity. Hence, nanoparticles deliver a better solution to improve agriculture and food security.

]]> nanoparticles, agriculture, top-down approach, bottom-up approach, nanofertilizers, nanopesticides POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 IST Silver Nanoparticles in Fungal Plant Pathogen Management Fungal plant pathogens are a major threat to global agriculture, contributing to significant crop losses worldwide. The management of fungal pathogens is needed for the security of agricultural products against the diseases caused by them. Present efforts are focused on searching for the non-chemical and effective methods of plant disease management which will not pose any damage to the environment nor does it cause any kind of imbalance in the existing biota. In order to overcome this problem, nanoparticles can be used as an alternative strategy for controlling the plant pathogens due to their effectiveness and environmental-friendly nature. It enables the development of innovative strategies for the control of fungal pathogens that can significantly affect crop yields. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are considered to be the most prominent and effective nanoparticles incorporated with widespread applications, on account of their distinctive characteristics. Hence, they can be employed for effective and eco-friendly disease management, making them an attractive option for managing the plant diseases safely. Besides, being acting as a nanofungicide, it also acts as nanofertilizer enhancing the seed germination as well as plant growth and has the potential to boost the plant metabolism.

]]> Plant pathogens, silver nanoparticles, fungi, nanofungicide, management POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 IST Areca Palm - A Par Excellent Indoor Plant The Areca Palm (Dypsis lutescens), also known as the Butterfly Palm or Golden Cane Palm, is a highly regarded ornamental plant native to Madagascar. Valued for its graceful appearance and adaptability, it thrives in both indoor and outdoor environments. With moderate care, the Areca Palm is suitable for a variety of light conditions and is non-toxic to pets, making it an excellent choice for homes and offices. Its compact growth pattern, long lifespan and versatility further contribute to its popularity. Additionally, the palm's role in improving indoor air quality and creating a calming atmosphere underscores its significance in modern indoor gardening. Overall, the Areca Palm emerges as one of the best options for enhancing indoor environments, combining beauty with practical benefits.

]]> Areca Palm, indoor plant, air purification, log life span and humidity booster POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 IST Blooming Beauties - A Summer Flowering Ornamental Trees In this article it is overviewed about the ornamental trees, which flowers during summer months in Indian geographical conditions. Their significant features like their family, biology, their habit, habitat, important uses, types and variance in their varieties and their major role as an ornamental tree has been discussed. These trees are now majorly used in the urban areas for the urban reconstruction like green infrastructure and sustainable landscaping. More likely the trees listed below are grown in avenue planting in the road sides and in the working environment like educational institutions, office buildings, apartments for their harmonious and elegant look.

]]> Ornamental trees, summer month, landscape, fast-growing tree, beauty POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 IST A Review on Amino Acids Based Surfactants Amino acids, essential building blocks of proteins and life, possess both hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties that make them versatile components in the synthesis of surfactants. The 20 standard amino acids, along with others not typically involved in protein biosynthesis, provide a wide range of functionalities for designing anionic, cationic, and zwitterionic amphiphiles. Their interactions with surfactants, mediated by hydrophobic forces, hydrogen bonding, and electrostatic attractions, are critical to many chemical and biological processes. These interactions allow amino acids to encapsulate within surfactant micelles or associate with their surfaces, impacting protein folding, stabilization, and overall biochemical functionality. Understanding these molecular dynamics is crucial for advancing the application of amino acids and surfactants in various industrial and biological systems.

]]> Amino acids, Surfactants, Interaction, Amino acids based surfactants, biological systems POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 IST Mahua (Madhuca longifolia L.) Tree - A lifeline for Tribes of Madhya Pradesh Mahua is a multipurpose tree that furnishes the tribals with all-inclusive resources for livelihood sustenance. It bestows the rural inhabitants with basic requirements of food, fuel and timber as well as fodder, beverage, edible oil, traditional medicine, and farm applications. Mahua and its uses are embedded deep into the culture, customs, and traditions of ethnic communities in Madhya Pradesh. The spirit obtained from the distillation of its flowers is the predominant alcoholic beverage consumed by locals. The sale of Mahua, mainly flower and seed, and their derivative products, offers considerable income generation in addition to subsistence. The cultivation of mahua across various systems-whether in monoculture plantations, agroforestry frameworks, or ornamental horticulture exhibits significant potential for enhancing the socioeconomic conditions of tribal communities in Madhya Pradesh.

]]> Mahua, tribal livelihood, livelihood sustenance POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Nov 2024 00:00:00 IST Rice Bean - A promising and Resilient Crop with Significant Agricultural Potential Rice bean (Vigna umbellate) is a prospective legume crop grown in many parts of south east Asia. Rice beans are resilient enough to adapt to various environments, from hills to marginal areas, where other crops may not acclimatize themselves easily. Rice beans are tolerant to many abiotic stresses and survive well in warm climates. It can be grown as a sole crop in the field or as a mixed crop with maize or wheat for better produce. Rice bean is a potent food and fodder crop. It serves as a genetic resource for a wide range of genes which are tolerant to biotic and abiotic stress. Rice beans are spread from the Indo-China region to the rest of the world. Being a rich source of albumin and globulin, it is crucially beneficial as a food and fodder crop in the Indian circumstances. Rice bean is now gaining the prevalence due to its adeptness to yield, aversion to various biotic stress, resilience to grow in various conditions and accessible domestication to a new environment with good sustenance potential, which makes rice bean an inexpensive substitute for the common conventional pulses.

]]> Rice bean, Potential crop, Perennial legume, Food and fodder POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Nov 2024 00:00:00 IST Efficient Dairy Farm Management for Optimizing Milk Production Dairy farm management plays a pivotal role in the milk production ability of dairy animals. There are many factors like use of quality breeds, feeding management, housing management, health management, culling and replacement of animals, labour management etc., which directly and/or indirectly affect the economics of dairy farming. In this article, the role of those dairy farm management factors in optimizing milk production is briefly discussed which should be strictly followed to increase the production potential of dairy animals, and ultimately, to make the dairy business as a successful enterprise. 

]]> Dairy Farm, Milk Production, dairy animals, farm management POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Nov 2024 00:00:00 IST Nutritional Requirements of Dairy Animals for Efficient Milk Production Feeding management of animals is one of the most important components of dairy farming. Scientific feeding and management of dairy animals favours in maximizing milk production through receiving balanced nutrients like protein, energy, fat, minerals, vitamins and salt in appropriate proportions and at the proper stage. This article highlights about the importance of proper nutrition for milk production, nutrient requirements at various stages of lactating animals, measures to be taken into account to supply various nutrients, the way of formulating diets and feeding management of dairy animals to achieve optimum lifetime milk production which should be followed by every dairy farmer to make dairy business economically viable. 

]]> Nutritional Requirement, Dairy Animals, Milk Production POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Nov 2024 00:00:00 IST Health Benefits of Fermented Millet Foods The millets are the renewable source of the all-essential nutrients and mineral that are necessary part of the human’s functional health. Millets are a traditional staple food that consumes dominantly as standard diet in the dry land regions (mostly semi-arid tropical regions of Asia and Africa) of the world. Sorghum, Pearl millets, Finger millet, Foxtail millet, Common millet, little millet, Barnyard millet and Kodo millets and other minor millets included in millets group. Among the minor millets, finger millet, proso millet, and foxtail millet considered more importance. In most of the under developed nations, nearly all millets are consumed by humans; while, in wealthy nations, its main application has been as animal feed. In addition to the nutritional disadvantages of dairy products, like their high cholesterol and lactose content and the global predominance of gluten & lactose intolerance to dairy-based products, plant-based diets that connect environmental sustainability to human health have been created a market for such plant-based products. Hence the fermented millets foods, their bioactive ingredients, and the bacteria that surrounds them, all of which may enhance human health.

]]> Millet, fermented foods, Lactic acid bacteria, Health benefits POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Nov 2024 00:00:00 IST About Redgram - The Climate Resilient Crop Cajanus cajanifolius is the progenitor of the cultivated species Cajanus cajan – the redgram. The protein content is 22%. The centre of origin is India. On mountain slopes, it is cultivated for erosion control.  Optimum temperature range is 20-280C. 58 growing degrees are required for redgram as against the 70-75 degree days of soybean and groundnut. This crop can’t tolerate waterlogging and frost. Well, adapted to drought condition. Salinity tolerant; thrives well in 5-8 pH. The salinity tolerant gene from rice is inserted in to the redgram. LAI is in the range of 4-6. Profuse flowering is observed. Flower dropping is more resulted in poor pod setting ratio. Harvest index is very less 0.11 to 0.22. 90x30 cm and 50x20 cm are the recommended spacings. 20-30 kg is the seed rate recommended. Ragi+ redgram, sorghum + redgram, pearlmillet + redgram and groundnut + redgarm are some of the intercropping systems practiced in India. 90% yield loss is obtained due to weeds. 30 days is the critical crop weed competition period. Pod borer is the major pest of redgram. Prophylactic spray of indoxacarb is recommended. Wilt is the major disease for which resistance varieties are evolved.

]]> Redgram, Climate Resilient Crop, Intercrop POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Oct 2024 00:00:00 IST Revolutionizing Agriculture - The Power of Agricultural Drones The current state of agriculture appears promising, but beneath this bright outlook lie significant challenges such as labour shortages, effective crop monitoring, and the timely application of chemicals. Additionally, the precise use of agricultural inputs like fertilizers, pesticides, and growth regulators is crucial for maximizing benefits while minimizing environmental impact. In this context, drones have emerged as a valuable technological tool for agricultural practices and related activities. Their use not only helps reduce input costs and improve monitoring but also opens up new opportunities for jobs and entrepreneurship. By adopting this technology, farmers can unlock new possibilities, optimize their operations, and contribute to a more resilient and food-secure future.

]]> Revolutionizing Agriculture, Agricultural Drones POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Oct 2024 00:00:00 IST Variability in Wheat Crop in Peninsular India Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important staple crops worldwide, providing a substantial portion of the daily calorie intake for millions of people. In India, wheat is second only to rice in terms of cultivation and consumption. Historically, wheat production has been concentrated in the northern Indo-Gangetic plains, but in recent years, there has been growing interest in wheat cultivation in Peninsular India. This region, which includes the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, has unique agro-climatic conditions that present both challenges and opportunities for wheat production. This article delves into the genetic variability, agro-climatic adaptability, and breeding efforts in Peninsular India that aim to enhance wheat productivity in this relatively underexplored region.

]]> Variability, Wheat Crop, Peninsular India POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Oct 2024 00:00:00 IST The Importance of Wheat Biofortification in India - Enhancing Nutrition for a Healthier Future Biofortification of wheat is a crucial strategy to combat global micronutrient deficiencies, particularly in regions where wheat is a staple food. By enhancing the nutrient content of wheat through conventional breeding, genetic engineering, and agronomic practices, biofortification can improve public health by reducing deficiencies in essential nutrients like iron and zinc. This sustainable approach offers long-term benefits, including better health outcomes, reduced healthcare costs, and increased resilience to climate change. Despite challenges such as public acceptance and accessibility, biofortified wheat has the potential to contribute to global food security and nutrition significantly.

]]> Wheat Biofortification, India, Enhancing Nutrition, Healthier Future POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 30 Sep 2024 00:00:00 IST Role of AM Fungi on Growth and Yield of Foxtail Millet (Setaria italica) under Elevated CO2 Climate change accelerated events force scientists to develop alternative strategies to cope up the situation without affecting food security. Foxtail millet is a model C4 plant, their properties such as drought tolerance, improved nutrient content with limited inputs makes this a potential crop for climate resilient studies. The C4 metabolism, growth, physiology and development of foxtail millet under elevated CO2 revealed that the yield can be improved with alterations in photosynthetic machinery. Further, the foxtail millet is drought tolerant; its potential of yield and under different water stress can be more beneficial. Moreover, from the literatures it can be evident that P and N nutrition supplementation enhances the drought tolerant capability of foxtail millet. Researchers across the globe has studied impact of elevated CO2 on the growth physiology and nutrient quality of seeds of this model C4 plant fox tail millet. However, microbial mediated climate smart agriculture is gaining momentum, research has sown AM fungi could tolerate and multiply on elevated CO2 and increase yield of crops.

]]> Foxtail millet, AM fungi, elevated CO2, climate change POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 30 Sep 2024 00:00:00 IST Aflatoxin contamination in agricultural products and their decontamination strategies Mycotoxins, also known as aflatoxins, are low molecular weight secondary metabolites that are mostly produced by Aspergillus species fungi, including A. flavus, A. parasiticus, and a few others, including A. pseudotamarii, A. bombycis, A. nomius, and A. ochraceoroseus. Numerous crops like groundnuts, cereals, fruits and vegetable and other processed products are prone to aflatoxin contamination, produced by fungi belonging to the Aspergillus section Flavi fungi. The presence of aflatoxins in crops leads to both health and economic challenges in numerous areas. Many countries have established specific thresholds (ranging from 2 to 20 ppb) for permitted levels of aflatoxin contamination in their food and agricultural products intended for human or animal consumption. A number of techniques have been used to get rid of aflatoxins from contaminated food and feed.

]]> Aflatoxin; Aspergillus sp; Agricultural Crops; Health issues POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 30 Sep 2024 00:00:00 IST Success Story of Farmer - Organic Farming Practice Krishi Vigyan Kendra is the centre for transfer of season specific technologies to farmers, farm women, rural youth. Recent days KVK has given main focus on organic farming. Various trainings programmes, method demonstration on organic input production, front line demonstrations, frequent field visits and regular advisory services conducted. Farmer   Th.S. Kulandaivel KVK trained farmers and having believed on organic farming. Started doing organic practice on since last three years. He is the president of Semmankadu KVK Farmers' Group and doing service to his group members. He earns profit of R.3000/day from Roses and Chillies sales at daily market.

]]> Success Story, Farmer, Organic Farming, SUCCESS STORY Mon, 30 Sep 2024 00:00:00 IST Observation of Pollen Mother Cells (PMC) and Microspores at Meiotic Cell Division in the Inflorescence of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) As a part of the course, PBG 112 – Principles of Genetics and Cytogenetics (2+1), by the students of B.Sc., (Hons.) Horticulture (2023 Batch) at Adhiparasakthi Horticultural College, the study was undertaken on the behaviour of chromosomes at meiosis. In this context, we have observed the Pollen Mother Cell (PMC) and Microspores. For which, the inflorescence of rice was used as an experimental material for studying the behavior of chromosomes at meiotic cell division. Both the cells were observed at 40 X magnification.

]]> Mother Cells, Microspores, Meiotic Cell Division, Rice POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 Aug 2024 00:00:00 IST Underutilized Plants used as Functional Foods The quest is continuous for effective health-promoting ingredients in the fields of culinary innovation and nutritional research. The increasing consumer demand for functional foods - those offering additional health benefits beyond basic nutrition has propelled researchers and food technologists to explore new, natural ingredients. Over the past decade, the commercial, academic, and governmental sectors have all shown a greater interest in the creation of functional foods. Consumers readily accept food items with health claims attesting to their functional potential to enhance health beyond the supply of vital nutrients, which probably lowers morbidity and mortality and improves the overall population quality of life.

]]> Plant, Functional Foods POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 Aug 2024 00:00:00 IST Micro-RNA Mastery: Boosting Secondary Metabolite Production in Plants Plants have been indispensable for their nutritional and health benefits, serving as primary sources of natural products used in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, flavors, fragrances, and more. The beneficial properties of plants are largely due to secondary metabolites, compounds essential for modern medicine and various industries. This article examines the role of microRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression, in controlling the biosynthesis of these valuable secondary metabolites. The miRNAs influence plant developmental activities, stress responses, and various biological processes, including secondary metabolite production. By understanding and manipulating miRNA pathways, the production of these compounds can be enhanced. Effective techniques such as artificial miRNAs (amiRNAs) are widely used for targeted gene silencing and modification of small RNA biosynthesis pathways. The article discusses the potential of miRNA technology to revolutionize the production of plant-derived compounds, paving the way for innovations in medicine, agriculture, and industry through more efficient and sustainable practices. 

]]> Micro-RNA, Secondary Metabolite, Plants POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 Aug 2024 00:00:00 IST Beyond the Shore: The Unsung Heroines of Marine Fisheries Marine fisheries play a crucial role in the sustenance and livelihood of coastal communities worldwide. Women, who make up a significant portion of the workforce, are deeply involved in various activities across the fisheries value chain, from pre-harvest to marketing. However, their contributions often go unrecognized, and they face numerous challenges, including social, economic, and environmental constraints. This article explores the essential roles of fisherwomen in marine fisheries, the myriad challenges they encounter, and their transformative impact on the industry.

]]> Shore, Marine, Fisheries POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 Aug 2024 00:00:00 IST Wheat Crop: Evolution and Present Research Status in India Wheat (Triticum spp.) is one of the most important cereal crops globally and holds significant economic and nutritional value. It has been a cornerstone of human civilization, tracing its origins to the Fertile Crescent and evolving through centuries of cultivation and breeding. This paper examines the evolutionary journey and domestication of wheat, highlighting its transformation from wild grasses to modern cultivated varieties. Special attention is given to the historical and cultural significance of wheat in India, where it is the second most important cereal crop after rice. The Green Revolution marked a pivotal era in Indian wheat production, leading to significant yield improvements. Currently, wheat research in India focuses on addressing challenges such as climate change, disease resistance, and nutritional enhancement. By exploring these facets, the paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of wheat's evolution, domestication, and its current status in India, underscoring the crop's vital role in the nation's food security and agricultural landscape.

]]> Wheat, Evolution, Present Research, Status in India POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 IST Nano Biosensors Nano biosensors have emerged as powerful analytical tools at the forefront of biosensing technology, offering unparalleled sensitivity and specificity in detecting biochemical substances at nanoscales. Comprising a bio-receptor sensing element and a transducer component, nano biosensors convert biological and biochemical signals into quantifiable physical signals using optical, electronic, thermal, or magnetic methods. The effectiveness of these sensors is contingent upon the precise attachment of the biological component to the transducer, ensuring stability and selectivity in analyte detection. By incorporating nanomaterials, nano biosensors enhance stability, sensitivity, and catalytic activity, revolutionizing biosensing capabilities. This article elucidates the working principles, classification, and applications of nano biosensors, emphasizing their pivotal role in diverse fields such as agriculture and biomedical diagnostics. From detecting soil pathogens to diagnosing severe diseases like cancer and diabetes, nano biosensors offer unprecedented opportunities for precise and efficient detection, marking a significant advancement in biosensor technology.

]]> Nano Biosensors, biosensing, biochemical substances POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 IST From Chemical Dependence to Integrated Pest Management - A Path Forward for Paddy Cultivation Pests and diseases cause significant crop losses every year, despite the fact that rice (Oryza sativa) is the staple food for more than half of the world's population. Paddy farmers use various pesticides to combat these issues, but their indiscriminate use has led to environmental and health problems, including insecticide resistance, pest resurgence, ecological imbalances and negative impacts on beneficial organisms and biodiversity. In India, heavy reliance on pesticides can make paddy farming uneconomical when pest control fails. In spite of the introduction of integrated pest management, chemical control is still the predominant method used by paddy farmers to manage pests. This trend has escalated significantly, leading to pesticide resurgence and resistance in insect pests such as leafhoppers brown plant hoppers, and rice leaf folder. Additionally, there is a risk of pesticide residues in grains. Therefore, it is crucial to encourage the use of less toxic chemicals, biopesticides, and practicable cultural methods while maintaining crop yields. This shift requires governmental support and the effective dissemination of scientific knowledge to farmers.

]]> Integrated Pest Management, Paddy POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 IST Wheat Research in the Peninsular Zone of India: Present Status, Opportunities and Future Directions The Peninsular Zone characteristically has varied agro-climatic conditions. Growing wheat in this zone presents some unique challenges and characteristics. The crop suffers due to heat stress, temperature fluctuations, and variable rainfall. Typically, the tropical climate makes this region different from other wheat-growing regions in India. The soils of this zone are lateritic, red and black. Black soils (Regur soils) are moisture-retentive and fertile. Considering these constraints development of heat tolerant, disease resistant, high yielding and drought tolerant varieties have been bred to address the challenges. The discussion aims to inform policymakers, researchers, and farmers about strategic priorities and potential interventions to achieve long-term improvements in wheat farming in the Peninsular Zone.

]]> Wheat Research, Peninsular Zone, India, Present Status, Opportunities, Future Directions POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 IST Doubling Farmers Income through Integrated Farming System with Nutritional Garden at Sarongdeupur Village of Karimganj District Mrs. Rabia Begam, a 40 years old farm woman from Sarongdeopur village of Karimganj district has adopted Double Cropping System along with Integrated Farming System (IFS) by incorporating different components of crops and livestock. Earlier she was solely growing mono-crop like paddy by following traditional farming system and kept her land fallow till next season. After coming in touch with KVK, Karimganj and with the scientific intervention, she has started the practices of Double Cropping System i.e.  “Paddy followed by Rajmah” with efficient utilization of resources and increases the income. For nutritional security and diet diversification, she established 200sqm Nutritional Gardens at her backyard to meet round the year vegetable requirements of her family. Later she integrated improved livestock and fishery component along with horticultural crops and provides additional income for her livelihood. Mrs. Rabia is now earning approximately Rs. 1,87,000.00 from an area of 1.5 ha by integrating different component (agriculture, horticulture, fish production, dairy farming, backyard poultry and duck farming) together which provide her stable income and improve living standard of her family. Mrs. Rabia determinations help her to adopt the innovative and sustainable farm practices within a short stretch of time and area which can be role model for the emerging Farming community. During the last three (2020-21 to 2022-23) years study it has shown that the income of Rabia Begum has increased around or more than double.

]]> Doubling Farmers Income, Integrated Farming System, Nutritional Garden, Sarongdeupur Village, Karimganj District SUCCESS STORY Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 IST Propagation Techniques in Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) The cucumber is indigenous to India. It is commonly cultivated by seeds. The prices of hybrid cucumber seeds were about thrice compared to seeds of open pollinated varieties.  The cucumber hybrids are developed by hybridizing gynoecious lines with monoecious lines. After removal of anthers in the female lines, pollination was carried out by bees. Two to three bee hives per acre are installed for effective pollination and fruit set. The ratio between female and male lines in the field should be 3:1. Well matured fruits at 65 days after anthesis are separated from the plant for extraction of seeds. Minimum isolation distance of 1000m from other cucurbits is needed for certified seeds and 1500m for foundation seeds. Haploids were produced by growing of anthers in the growing media added with 2,4, D and BA at different combinations through somatic embryogenesis.

]]> Propagation Techniques, Cucumber, Cucumis sativus POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 IST Development of Inbred Lines for Hybrids Development in Bottle Gourd (Lagenaria siceraria M.) through Doubled Haploid Technique Monoecious and andromonecious nature in bottle gourd leads to higher levels of cross pollination. This mechanism favours wide diversity. Several varieties were evolved through selection from the native germplasm in bottle gourd. However, development of hybrids with high yield by using heterosis breeding is need of the hour. Conventional crop improvement strategies take longer time and require huge man power for the development of inbreds used as parents. Tissue culture techniques are being followed in vegetables to minimize the time taken for the development of inbred. Doubled haploids are developed through regeneration of haploid plants by using tissue culture protocols. Subsequently, these haploid plants are developed into homozygous conditions by doubling of chromosomes. It is time saving process and minimizes the time and resources required for raising many generations. Several studies have been conducted in cucumber, squash and muskmelon. However, few regeneration protocols are available in bottle by using cotyledons as explant. So, there is an immediate need for standardization of haploid development protocols in bottle gourd as similar to other Cucumis species.

]]> Development, Inbred Lines, Hybrids Development, Bottle Gourd, Lagenaria siceraria, Doubled Haploid Technique POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 IST Propagation Techniques in Sponge Gourd The sponge gourd is native to Indian sub-continent. The fruits of sponge gourd are having smooth and black seeds. It is commercially propagated by seeds. Inadequate germination of seeds is one of the important constraints in sponge gourd. The seeds should be soaked in water for one day before sowing enhances germination. An average of 1.5-2.0 kg of seeds is required for one acre area. At present, the seedlings are raised in plug trays for transplanting. Foliar spraying of Ethrel @ 250 ppm at 2-4 leaf stage favours the production of female flowers. Generally, the seed yield will be 25 g/fruit during the summer season and 10 g/fruit during the rainy season. The certification procedures issued by seed certification department should be followed. The fully developed fruits are harvested at 65 days after anthesis and the seeds are separated by opening the pods. Fruits may be stored as such till next sowing. The dried fruits are cut for collection of seeds. These seeds are dried for one or two weeks in a cool, dry and dark place. The seeds can be viable up to four years.

]]> Propagation Techniques, Sponge Gourd POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 IST Propagation Techniques in Dolichos Bean The Dolichos bean can be used as a vegetable and pulse. These beans are commercially propagated by seeds. For seed production, the field should be free from of volunteer plants. The off-types and diseased plants should be rogued out from the main field at all stages based on morphological features. Adequate amount of water should be provided during reproductive stage for getting good quality seeds. The isolation distance of 50 m and 25 m will be maintained for foundation and certified seed production respectively. Fully matured pods are collected and threshing is carried out by beating with wooden mallet. Then the seeds are cleaned by winnowing. Usually, the seeds are viable for 24 months under room temperature. The cloth bags are used for short term storage and thick polythene bags are used for long-term storage.

]]> Propagation Techniques, Dolichos Bean POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 IST Production Technology of Tuberose Tuberose flowers are commonly used as a loose flower and extraction of perfumes. It is commercially propagated by bulbs. These bulbs should be treated with GA3 @ 200ppm for early flowering, high yield with good quality flowers. The well drained sandy loam soils with a soil pH of 6.5 - 7.5 is highly suitable for tuberose. The bulb size of 1.5-2.0 cm in diameter is ideal for planting with a spacing of 0.3m x 0.3m. Basal application of FYM @ 25 t, 200 kg N, 400 kg P2O5 and 200 kg K2O per hectare is suggested. Irrigation should be given at once in seven days during summer and once in 10 days during winter seasons. Harvesting of tuberose flowers commences from 80 to 100 days after planting and harvested from July onwards. The flower yield ranges between 15 to 20 t/ha in the first year, 20 and 25 t/ha in the second year and 7.5 to 10 t/ha in the third year.

]]> Production Technology, Tuberose POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 IST Abiotic Stress in Vegetables Vegetables are naturally very sensitive, they are impacted by a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses. Abiotic stress is defined as any negative impact that non-living substances have on living organisms inside a certain ecosystem. The severe events of climate change, such as heat stress, water stress, drought, heavy rainfall, salinity, etc., have a significant impact on the productivity and production of vegetable crops. The numerous nutrients included in vegetables assist to reduce the risk of a number of ailments, including diabetes, blood pressure, cancer, and heart disease. Since most vegetables are over 90% water, they are extremely vulnerable to climate change. The quality and yields main of vegetables are directly lowered by abrupt changes in climatic conditions, such as temperature, which impacts all phases of plant development, pollination, flowering, and fruiting. When temperatures rise to such high levels, especially when there is wind or dryness, vegetable crops like tomatoes or beans may lose parts of their flowers, which will result in a poor fruit set. Elevated temperatures can disrupt the pollination process of sweet corn, leading to corn ears that are not fully filled. Cucurbits, the family that includes squash and pumpkins, usually grow largely male flowers under high temperatures, therefore few fruits are produced.

]]> Abiotic stress, Vegetables, Effect POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 IST 3D Ocean Farming - A Key to Challenge Global Food Security and Environment Sustainability Seaweeds are the essential component of marine ecosystem which are rich source of protein and other nutrients along with its bioremediation activity to clean the polluted marine ecosystem. 3D Ocean farming is an Integrated Multi-Tropic Agriculture (IMTA) which seeks production of sea weeds, shellfish, mussels, clam, oysters, sea vegetables and so on. It provides maximum output with minimum investment and can be a life changing farming idea to marine farmers and fishermen to transform their income and life to a better and sustainable future. This regenerative farming can give abundant production with minimum investment and maintains clean marine ecosystem by absorbing the heavy metals, carbon, nitrogen leading to sustainable agriculture practices.

]]> 3D Ocean farming, Seaweeds. Bioremediation, IMTA, Regenerative, Food POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 IST Ant-Plant Mutualism Ant-plant mutualism represents a symbiotic relationship where both parties benefit, showcasing a remarkable example of ecological interdependence. Ants and Plants have mutualistic relations with each other. It may be facultative or obligate.  Ants are provided with food and shelter by plants, such as extrafloral nectar and food bodies. While ants offer protection against herbivores and pathogens. Some plants, known as myrmecophytes, have evolved specialized structures to house ants, enhancing the mutual benefits. The benefits to plants include reduced herbivory, improved nutrient acquisition, and enhanced seed dispersal, while ants gain consistent food supplies and nesting sites. Ongoing research aims to deepen understanding of the molecular mechanisms and broader ecological impacts of ant-plant interactions, with attention to how environmental changes may affect these relationships. Ant-plant mutualism exemplifies the complexity of ecological networks, emphasizing the need for biodiversity conservation to sustain these vital interactions.

]]> Mutualism, Obligate, Facultative, biodiversity, nectar POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 IST Significance of Amino Acids as Plant Bio-Stimulant Bio-stimulants, also known as plant conditioners or bio-effectors, are chemicals, microorganism cultures, and material mixes that stimulate agricultural plant growth. These substances, which include biofertilizers and plant growth regulators, can be artificial or natural and are effective at low concentrations. They enhance plant growth, improve resilience to abiotic stress like drought, and reduce fertilizer needs, resulting in higher yields and quality products. Studies show bio-stimulants' efficacy in seedling development, stress-resistant growth, and saline environments. Key ingredients include hormones, humic acids, algal extracts, growth-promoting bacteria, and amino acids. Various researcher has used amino acids as bio-stimulants and found that these bio-stimulants can reduce the need of fertilizers and help in environment conservation. Present article discusses about the significance of amino acids as plant bio-stimulant.

]]> Bio-stimulants, Amino Acids, Plant Growth POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:00:00 IST Swotting the Behaviour of Chromosomes at Mitotic Cell Division in the Root Tip of Onion As a part of the course, PBG 112 – Principles of Genetics and Cytogenetics (2+1), by the students of B.Sc., (Hons.) Horticulture (2023 Batch) at Adhiparasakthi Horticultural College, the study was undertaken on the behavior of chromosomes at different phases in mitosis. In this context, we have observed the three different phases of mitosis viz., Prophase, Anaphase, and Telophase. For which, the onion root tip was used as an experimental material for studying the behavior of chromosomes at different phases in Mitotic cell division. All three phases of mitosis were observed at 40 X magnification.

]]> Swotting, Behaviour, Chromosomes, Mitotic Cell Division, Root Tip, Onion POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 IST Propagation Techniques in Watermelon Watermelon is cultivated for sweet and delicious juice during summer. Generally, watermelon is propagated by seeds. In watermelon, triploid seeds are produced by honeybee aided pollination and the manual pollination methods. The male fertile plants can be rogued out easily in the tetraploid female plants i.e. tetraploid male sterile plants. The Male and female parents are raised at 1:3 or 1:4 ratio.  Generally, the fruits development and the color of seeds changed from brown to black at 60 days from the day of pollination.  The seeds should be completely washed and separated from the flesh during extraction. The seeds should be dried in shade on nylon net and followed by sunlight. The seeds also dried in the forced-air dryer to maintain the quality. These seeds are graded by using specific gravity separator based on their density Watermelon seeds can be viable for three to four years if they are stored at 10 - 15 per cent moisture with a temperature of 14 - 20°C. Seven per cent moisture content for normal open storage and six per cent for moisture proof storage conditions should be maintained. The Lagenaria leucantha is highly suitable root stock with water melon as a scion to protect the watermelon plants from soil borne diseases and favours early harvest of the fruits.  Few attempts are made to multiply tetraploid watermelon by using tissue culture protocols. 

]]> Propagation Techniques, Watermelon POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 IST Propagation Techniques for Cluster Bean Cluster bean is cultivated for vegetable, extraction of cum, fodder and green manure in the dry tracts of India. Being a self-pollinated crop, hybrid seed production is not followed in cluster bean. Sexual propagation by seeds is the only method followed in cluster bean. Sowing of seeds during July - August is most ideal for seed production. The routine cultural operations followed in commercial vegetable production also applicable to the seed crop. However, the standards recommended by regulating agencies should be followed. The plants infected with bacterial blight should not be removed periodically to get disease free quality seeds. From, one hectare area, ten quintals of seeds will be obtained. The harvested seeds should be graded by using prescribed sieves and graded seeds should be treated with fungicides and botanicals. These treated seeds can be stored up to two years in moisture proof containers with eight per cent moisture.

]]> Propagation Techniques, Cluster Bean POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 IST Success Story about Role of Coconut Climber in Drudgery Reduction in Coconut Cultivation Supplied under SC-SP Scheme KVK, Namakkal has been adopted Naraikinaru village as a DFI and SC-SP village located at Namagiripettai block, Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu since 2019.  After the completion of survey regarding agriculture and its allied activities, various interventions like integrated crop management practice includes agronomic package of practice, integrated nutrient, pest & disease management, integration of all enterprises like dairy, goat farming and fish farming and vermicompost technology were taught and needed critical inputs were supplied. At the same time coconut is plantation crop cultivating in and around the border of fields for income generation and culinary purpose. Labour shortage for timely harvesting of nuts is the major issue faced by the farmers and paid Rs.40-50/tree/harvest. Hence farmers requested to suggest alternate options and suitable machineries to do the above said operations. KVK, Namakkal under the sponsorship of Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur SC-SP budget, purchased 10 multi-tree climbers and distributed the same to SC farming community. By using climber, farmers could save Rs.300/tree/ year/six harvests as one of the expenditure involved in cost of cultivation of coconut.

]]> Success Story, Coconut Climber, Drudgery Reduction, Coconut Cultivation SUCCESS STORY Fri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 IST Certification of Agricultural Commodities for Better Export Prospects The certification of agricultural commodities has become increasingly crucial in global exports, particularly for producers navigating complex import regulations and standards imposed by destination markets. Certification serves as a vital assurance that the production process of a commodity complies with specific norms or standards, facilitating trade between geographically separated producers and consumers. There are three primary methods of verifying compliance: first-party verification, wherein companies internally adhere to standards; second-party verification, involving companies instructing suppliers to comply; and third-party verification, where external agencies ensure supplier adherence. In India, certification is mandatory for exporting various products such as fish, dairy, poultry, meat, and honey, typically based on Food Safety Management Systems. Furthermore, European and US markets impose quality standards on fresh produce, specifying criteria like size, shape, defects, color, and organoleptic qualities. Such certifications not only ensure safety but also align with stringent quality requirements demanded by discerning international buyers. This article examines the significance of certification in agricultural exports, emphasizing its role in meeting diverse market standards and enhancing trade viability.

]]> Trade, Certification, GAP, ASEANGAP POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 30 Apr 2024 00:00:00 IST Melatonin - An Effective Remedy for Abiotic Stress in Plants and Microbes Melatonin, also known as N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine, is a biological indolamine with important plant biology consequences. Its synthesis happens naturally in plants, which contributes to its potential use in promoting sustainable agriculture. Melatonin, which acts as a modulator as well as a bio-stimulator and plant growth regulator, has a wide range of beneficial effects for plants. One of its important functions is to increase a plant's resistance to biotic and abiotic stressors. Drought, waterlogging, severe temperatures, salt, and alkalinity are examples of stressors. This article emphasizes the significance of melatonin-synthesizing microorganisms and dives into the role of exogenous melatonin in giving abiotic stress tolerance. It also investigates melatonin's reactivity to microorganisms and its role in phytoremediation processes.

]]> Melatonin, Phytomelatonin, Rhizosphere, Abiotic stress, Microbes, POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 30 Apr 2024 00:00:00 IST Comprehending the History, Development, and Growth of Tea Factory at Ooty As a part of Study tour program concerning the course HOR 201, this manuscript reveals the History, Growth and Development of Tea Factory at Ooty (Dodabetta). There we had a good exposure to the processing of Tea from the step of harvesting to packaging. There we learned about the History, Growth, and Development of Tea. In addition, we learned about the Origin of Nilgiris Tea and the foundation of railways for the transportation of tea. This manuscript covers briefly the history and development of tea.

]]> Study tour, History, Development, Growth of Tea Factory, Ooty POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 30 Apr 2024 00:00:00 IST Essential Oils - Future Prospects in Seed Insect Pest Management Storage insect pests and their infestation on crop seeds are of great concern in quality seed production programs. Damage caused by these insect pests is absolute and irrecoverable, since the pest feeding causes qualitative as well as quantitative losses, such as seed weight loss, loss of seed viability due to poor germination capacity of seeds, poor seedling vigour, invasion by secondary pathogens etc., leading to crop loss. Essential oils extracted from different aromatic and medicinal plants especially act as an insecticide against these storage pests and are considered as an eco-friendly pest management option. Hence, essential oil extracted from such plants can offer an effective solution for controlling storage pests with minimal health impacts and contradicting insect pest resurgence issues.

]]> essential oil, Seeds, storage pests, management POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 30 Apr 2024 00:00:00 IST Propagation Techniques in Vegetable Cowpea Cow pea (Vigna unguiculata) is a long bean with thin pods and is commonly grown throughout India and belongs to the family Fabaceae. Cowpea is cultivated in India for grains, vegetables and haulms as fodder. To sow one hectare area a quantity of 15 kg of seeds are required. The seeds should be treated with Rhizobium bacterial culture 600 g before direct sowing. Ripe and dry pods are harvested at half to two thirds of maturity by manually for seed collection. The seed production fields are to be inspected by seed certification agencies at appropriate stages of the crop growth as per seed and field certification standards. The cloth bags are used for storage of small quantity seeds, gunny bags are used for storage of large quantity and polythene bags are used for long term storage. The seeds are treated with one per cent of activated clay by weight of the seed or two grams of carbendazim 50% WP for one kilo gram of seed and combination of five parts of calcium hypochlorite + four parts of lime + one part of leaf powder of Albizzia amara @ 3 g/kg of seed. These pre-treated seeds are stored for eight months in cloth bag and 16 months in water proof bags without bruchid infestation. Few attempts were made to develop micro-propagation protocols in cow pea and there is no commercial tissue culture techniques followed.

]]> Propagation Techniques, Vegetable, Cowpea, Seed storage POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 30 Apr 2024 00:00:00 IST Biological Control Approaches Against the Invasive Pest, Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda in Maize Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E Smith) (Noctuidae, Lepidoptera) is a native pest to North and South America. It was reported out of its native region from Africa in 2016. Since then, FAW has invaded most of Africa and parts of the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. Their biological parameters, viz., strong flying capacity, climate adaptability, and wide host range, make them a better colonizing agent than other species of armyworms. In India, it was reported in 2018 and has emerged as a key pest, dominating the existing pests within the span of 2–3 years. It has also become a threat to food security as it could also attack the other key food crops, viz., rice, sorghum, soyabean, cotton and vegetables. Lack of larval diapause and the rapid development of resistance to insecticides and Bt toxins are also alarming factors. Hence, it is not an easy job to tackle the FAW with a single intervention. Many countries have realized that the integrated use of numerous viable management options is of greater importance than the intensive use of a single tactic. Integrated pest management (IPM) programmes targeting the FAW were formulated, emphasizing the utilization of biocontrol agents and bio-pesticides.

]]> Biological Control Approach, Invasive Pest, Fall Armyworm, Maize POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 IST Mini Tractor - Multiple Roles in Sugarcane Farming Hand weeding, earthing up, detrashing and propping are the special field operations required for sugarcane production hence its cultivation is a labour consuming and expensive. Mini tractor attached with rotoweeder is highly efficient in removing weeds. Besides weeding mini tractor can also do Earthing up which is very much important field operation indirectly manage the weeds and insects and strength the plant form from lodging during its maturity phase. By using mini tractor on field operations like weeding and earthing up totally we can reduce the cost to Rs. 30,200/ha. Besides this mini tractor attached with rotovator can also shred the sugarcane trashes after harvest for ratooning, instead the farmers practice of burning.

Sugarcane is one of the most important commercial crop of sugarcane cultivated for sugar in an area of 0.35 mha and a production of 35 mt with a productivity of 100t/ha in Tamil Nadu. Sugarcane is one of the crops which needs more care and inturn require more field operations for its growth and development. More labours are required for its cultivation during its crop growth period. Hand weeding, earthing up, detrashing and propping are the special field operations required for sugarcane production. Earthing up is the important field operation done for reducing lodging and pest like borers and white grubs in sugarcane. During the crop growth period to reduce the weed pressure 4 weedings has to be done at 30 days interval up to 120 DAP, which is the critical crop weed competition period for sugarcane. Atrazine was sprayed at 1k/ha on 3 DAP and which will be active for 21 days in reducing the weed emergence. Either a POE or hand weeding has to be done to arrest the weed growth. The choice of POE is narrow only limited selective herbicides are available to kill emerging weeds.

]]> Mini Tractor, Multiple Roles, Sugarcane Farming POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 IST Short Internodes Reduces the Weight of the Cane Sugarcane is an important commercial crop of India. In a field experiment it was found that short internode (7.2 cm) recorded a lesser cane yield of 0.657 kg. However, long internodes (12.1 cm) yielded 1.705 kg/individual cane. Hence management practice to be developed to increase the internode length of the cane and varieties with long internodes should be developed to improve the productivity of the cane.

]]> Short Internodes, Reduces the Weight, Sugarcane, improve the productivity POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 IST Ultra-Processed Foods - are they Addictive? Suggested by the evidence, consumption of high ultra-processed foods (UPF) can lead to a rise in non-communicable diseases, diabetes, hypertension, heart, overweight and obesity. Ultra-processed foods (UPF) are rich in energy, non-nutritional products, less fiber and are rich in saturated fat, salt and sugar which are injurious to our health. Increased in consumption of UPF decreases our nutrition uptake from food. Study also suggests that the ultra-processed foods are highly addictive for which youths are acquainted with those foods.

]]> Ultra-Processed Foods, Addictive, rich in energy, non-nutritional, less fiber, rich saturated fat, salt, sugar, injurious to health POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 IST Assessment of Suitable Yellow Mosaic Virus Resistant Black Gram Varieties Yellow mosaic virus is the most prevalent and destructive viral pathogen in black gram which resulted in decrease in area of blackgram cultivation. It causes yield loss up to 70-80 per cent and also reduces the seed quality. Therefore, suitable blackgram varieties with Yellow mosaic virus (YMV) resistance suitable for Tiruvallur district is need to be assessed. Hence on farm assessment for blackgram varieties resistance to YMV study was carried out in Tiruvallur district during 2022-2023. The results revealed that lower disease incidence of 5.5 per cent was recorded in VBN 11 which was superior to other varieties followed by 11.5 per cent in TBG 104 and highest of 25.50 per cent disease incidence was recorded in farmers practicing variety T 9. Variety VBN 11 recorded higher yield of 8.30 q/ha with higher net return of Rs. 32,125/ha and benefit-cost ratio of 2.49. Hence VBN 11 would be a better variety resistance for YMV and for enhancing the productivity of black gram in Tiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu.

]]> Assessment, Yellow Mosaic virus, Black Gram, Resistant varieties, Tiruvallur POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 IST Scope of Crop Diversification in Tea To maintain sustainability in tea cultivation, there is a need to implement novel ideas to ensure additional revenue generation, intensive land use and minimise the effect of fluctuation of green leaf price as well as price of processed tea. Crop diversification in tea provides an opportunity to achieve the desired goal under changing scenario. There is a possibility of growing some horticultural crops along with tea which is going to be a viable option for the growers of Assam. The Department of Tea Husbandry & Technology, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat has been working on economic efficiency of tea based inter-crop at Experimental Garden for Plantation Crops for the benefit of tea growers. A few models are discussed below-

  • Tea with Arecanut
  • Tea with Agarwood
  • Tea with Pepper using shade tree as standard
  • Tea with Indian Gooseberry
]]> Scope, Crop Diversification, Tea, inter-crop, Assam POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 IST Fodder production - Importance in Dairy Farming and its Scope in Eastern India Dairy farming has great potential in enhancing income, employment, nutrition security and livelihood of people in eastern India. Feeding of dairy animals with green fodders plays important role in economical dairy farming. India is bestowed with highest cattle population in the world but the productivity per animal is very low. Unavailability of quality feeds and fodders in their ration is the major reason. As the cost of components of concentrate feed are very high, green fodders are used to the maximum level in the ration to fulfil the nutrient requirements of dairy animals and to reduce cost of feeding. Inclusion of quality green fodders from both cereal and legume source not only reduce the cost of feeding but also increase the availability of nutrients which help in reproduction and milk production. Due to the shortage of land for sole fodder production for dairy animals in the eastern India, either intercropping method or mixed cropping method or marshy/low land may be used for fodder production. Hay and silage feeding are also the alternatives of dairy animal feed resources. Keeping the above things in mind, fodder calendar for year-round fodder production (YRFP) may be prepared to make availability of green fodders for dairy animals.

]]> Fodder, Livestock, Year Round Fodder Production POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 IST The Significance of Sunflower in Ecology and Agriculture Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is a significant oilseed crop cultivated worldwide for its versatile uses in the food, industrial, and pharmaceutical sectors. It is renowned for its high oil content, nutritional value, adaptability to various climates, and environmental benefits. This paper aims to provide an overview of the sunflower plant, its cultivation practices, economic significance, nutritional properties, industrial applications, and future prospects.

]]> Significance Sunflower, Ecology, Agriculture POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 IST Role of Social Media in Transforming Indian Agriculture Social media has undeniably emerged as a powerful tool in the arsenal of the modern farmer, offering a multitude of benefits that extend far beyond the conventional boundaries of agricultural practices. Its role in facilitating knowledge exchange, market access and community support is particularly significant in the context of Indian agriculture, where such resources can dramatically influence productivity and sustainability. As digital literacy and access continue to improve, the potential of social media to transform the agricultural landscape remains vast, promising a future of enhanced efficiency and connectivity for the farming community. When the country’s farming is standing at a vulnerable condition due to rapid change of climate, it may be a right moment to inform them about climate resilient farming practices in the fastest way possible- the social media can become the best utility for that.

]]> Role, Social Media, Transform, Indian Agriculture, modern farmer POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 IST Biological Control of Fusarium Wilt of Cucurbits Cucurbits are economically important vegetable crops throughout the world, and Fusarium wilt disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum has become the major limiting factor in the cucurbit production. The disease causes serious economic losses to the crop and infects at all stages of plant growth. Due to the soil-borne nature of the pathogen, its management is quite difficult. Although there are several management practices available for Fusarium wilt disease, but biological control offers a safe and environmental friendly management of the disease. Association of biological control agents with the plants stimulate plant defense mechanisms and causes induction of systemic acquired resistance (SAR) as well as induced systemic resistance (ISR) in the plants. Due to its several benefits, there is an increasing demand for biologically based management practices specially for soil-borne diseases like Fusarium wilt disease of cucurbits.

]]> Biological Control, Fusarium Wilt, Cucurbits POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 IST Cross-pathogenecity of formae speciales of Fusarium oxysporum in Cucurbits Fusarium oxysporum is a devastating pathogen which causes huge economic losses to several crops including cucurbits. F. oxysporum has different formae speciales (f. sp.) which have similar morphological characters, but in general they are host-specific. The f. sp. of F. oxysporum pathogenic to cucurbits are mostly host-specific and distinguished on the basis of host species. However, some exceptions to the concept of host specificity of the f. sp. are there, where cross-pathogenicity exists in the formae specials infecting cucurbits. Mostly, the f. sp. of F. oxysporum is not pathogenic to single host plant only, but is also able to infect other plants in the family cucurbitaceae. However, aggressiveness of cross-pathogenicity may vary according to the host plant it infects.

]]> Cross-pathogenecity, formae speciales, Fusarium oxysporum, Cucurbits POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 IST Gypsum - “A Multifaceted Mineral” for High-Yielding Groundnut Cultivation Gypsum, when judiciously applied, proves instrumental in enhancing soil structure, mitigating salinity, and improving water infiltration in groundnut fields. The amendment's positive influence extends to nutrient availability, particularly calcium, fostering healthier and more resilient groundnut plants. This, in turn, translates to increased yields and improved nut quality. Additionally, gypsum's ameliorative effects on soil structure contribute to enhanced aeration and root development, optimizing nutrient absorption and water utilization. Overall, the application of gypsum in groundnut cultivation emerges as a promising agricultural practice promoting increased productivity.

]]> Gypsum, Multifaceted Mineral, High-Yielding, Groundnut, Cultivation POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 29 Feb 2024 00:00:00 IST Artificial Intelligence in Food Industry Talking about issues facing the food sector doesn't usually bring up the topic of technology.  But in the current environment, automation in the food business is essential to the production and distribution of food. The way that food is produced, distributed, and consumed has been completely transformed by the application of AI in the food sector. Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, such as computer vision, data analytics, and machine learning, are revolutionizing conventional agriculture methods, streamlining supply chain operations, and raising food safety standards.

]]> Artificial Intelligence, Food Industry, Technology POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 29 Feb 2024 00:00:00 IST Horticultural Crops Suitable for Coconut Planting Systems Intercropping between coconut palms significantly enhances coconut yield without root competition. This mutually beneficial practice boosts overall profitability. Many horticultural crops of annuals and perennials including fruits, vegetables, spices, plantation crops, medicinal plants, green manure crops and cover crops can be grown as intercrops in coconut plantations. In essence, intercropping optimizes coconut plantation productivity, offering diversified income streams and enhancing overall agricultural sustainability.

]]> Coconut Plantations, Inter Crops, Horticultural Crops POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 29 Feb 2024 00:00:00 IST Exploring the Significance of Cowpea: An Essential Pulse Crop Cowpea is an integral pulse crop with multifaceted significance in agricultural, nutritional, and ecological domains. Cowpea stands out for its exceptional nutritional profile, rich in protein, dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals. It plays a pivotal role in bolstering food security, particularly in regions vulnerable to food shortages and malnutrition.

]]> Cowpea, nutritional benefits, agro-ecological benefits POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 29 Feb 2024 00:00:00 IST Significance of desi Cotton (Gossypium arboreum) - A Brief Review Gossypium arboreum, commonly known as tree or desi cotton, holds significant importance in the realm of cotton production and agricultural sustainability. This paper provides a concise review of the significance of G. arboreum cotton, highlighting historical relevance, agronomic attributes, economic importance, and potential applications. The review explores the unique traits of G. arboreum cotton, such as its drought tolerance, pest resistance, and fiber quality, which contribute to its adaptability and resilience in diverse environmental conditions.

]]> Gossypium arboreum, importance, textile quality, sustainability POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 29 Feb 2024 00:00:00 IST Imagine Agriculture without Technology Technology has contributed significantly to the integration of agricultural practices with improvement and challenges. Innovations led to improvements in productivity and efficiency, with significant improvements in crop cultivation, irrigation, and land use practices. Traditional practices and agricultural scientific knowledge have contributed to sustainable change with the help of modern technology. Farming with modern technology like machinery, post-harvest technology, Internet of Things, irrigation technology, and so on, has benefited the farmers as well as industry. Lot of technology contributed to a significant impact on food security, production, and protection practices of crops. Technological advancements keep on changing the nature of farming practices and moving towards compensating the human population and food demand.

]]> machinery, post-harvest technology, IoT, irrigation technology, Artificial intelligence POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 29 Feb 2024 00:00:00 IST Sugarcane Based Integrated Farming System Sugarcane based Integrated Farming system can improve the economics of sugarcane farmers and a way towards organic agriculture. Instead commercial Agriculture, Sustainable Agriculture can be adopted in the farmers field through Integrated Farming System. Sugarcane is a 12 months old crop and no part of cane is commercial except Sugar production. This Integrated Farming system includes the Farm pond with fishes Tilapia, grass crap, common crap for additional revenue and as rain water storage in both rainfeds and irrigated system of farming. Livestock, goat, honey bee, azolla, mushroom, vermicompost can be interlinked for effective recycling of resources. The output of one component should be the input of other component. All the crop residues will be converted to organic manure through vermicomposting and this manure is applied to the sugarcane, this in turn reduces the cost of fertilizers and improves the yield and soil fertility. Goat component is a remunerative enterprise in a ratio of 20+3 (female + male) per hectare.

The goat pellet can be manure for sugarcane and the weed problem will be reduced on goat grazing during land preparation.  Milch animals is also integrated, detopped cane is now a very great fodder for cattle nearly 0.3mha of sugarcane area is available in Tamil Nadu, detopped cane can be green fodder meets the demand of livestock atleast for one month during harvesting.  The inter cropping of blackgram, green gram, groundnut and sorghum can also meet the fodder demand of the cattle.  Azolla is now turning in to livestock and fish feed hence, this also added as a component in sugarcane based intercropping system. Honey bee supplements the iron requirement of the family members and an additional income as this can be reared on borders of farmpond and can collect nectar form the seed crop of green manure or intercrops of blackgram or green gram. Flowchart is clearly depicts the flow and recycle of resources in sugarcane based farming system.

]]> Sugarcane, Integrated Farming System, organic agriculture POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:00:00 IST Micro Greens - A Novel Nutrient-Packed Venture for the Improvement of Health and Income Microgreens are a stage between sprouts and fully grown greens, often known as Thalirkeerai in Tamil. About 4 to 40 times more nutrients are available in micro greens than their mature counterparts. Even picky eaters, especially kids, can enjoy them, offering a solution to malnutrition issues. Starting a microgreens business is affordable, with an initial investment of Rs. 5000 to 10000 only. Microgreens cultivation is ideal for women at home or students due to its low labor requirements. Seeds like fenugreek,  mustard, sesame (black & white), wheat, barley, rye, green gram, black gram, horse gram, green and red amaranth, radish, cabbage, beetroot etc. can be used for micro greens purpose. Media used for cultivation of micro greens are potting mixture, coca peat, hydroponic, tissue paper etc.

]]> Micro Greens, Nutrient-Packed, Venture, Improvement of Health, Income POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:00:00 IST Transforming Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Living by Vertical Gardening Due to overpopulation in cities, excessive use of chemicals on crops poses health risks. To combat this, urban residents are turning to establish and maintain small home gardens, even utilizing limited spaces like balconies. Recognizing the significance of home gardens, people are exploring alternatives like terrace gardening and vertical gardening when space is scarce. A model vertical system namely Arka Vegetable Garden Structure for growing vegetables, flowers, and herbs in small urban spaces, was developed by Indian Institute of Horticultural Research located at Bengaluru.

]]> Transforming, Urban Agriculture, Sustainable Living, Vertical Gardening, arka vertical garden POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:00:00 IST Nursery Management in Cocoa Cocoa is multiplied by seeds. The seeds are separated from fruits. Cocoa fruits require 5-6 months from pollination to reach the maturity stage for harvest. The change of pod colour from green to yellow (Forastero) and red to yellow (Criollo) are the harvest indices of cocoa. The seeds are to be collected from biclonal or polyclonal seed gardens by utilizing elite self-incompatible parents is suggested to maintain genetic superiority of planting materials. In this article, the commercial propagation method of cocoa is well explained with selection of mother plant, selection of seed nut, seed extraction and nursery practices.

]]> Nursery Management, Cocoa POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:00:00 IST Improved Rainfed Paddy Cultivation Practices - A Climatic Resilient Package for Higher Productivity in Paddy Paddy is the main food crop for 60 % of the world population. Asian countries presently accounts for nearly 60% of the world population and 92% of world rice production. Asian population consume 90 % of the rice in the world. 30 % of paddy production in India comes under the rainfed cultivation. In Tamil Nadu, 30 % of total rice production under rainfed condition. Particularly southern part of Tamil Nadu. More than 90 % of paddy growers in the rainfed cultivation getting lower yield than average yield.  This yield gap was due to production constrains like economical status of the farmer, availability of technologies. Ramanatahapuram, Sivagangai and Viridhunagar district of Tamil Nadu are the major districts cultivating paddy under rainfed situation. Onset of north east monsoon is the best season for cultivation with shorter duration and high yielding paddy varieties. Summer ploughing and seed hardening are the prime factor for drought tolerance. Sowing with improved paddy seeder save the seed cost and labour cost. Weed management with bispyribac -sodium during 3- 4 leaf stage followed by hand weeding at 40 – 45 days after sowing recorded weed free condition under rainfed paddy. Application of Nano urea along with recommended dose of fertilizers leads to higher plant growth and yield.

]]> Improved Rainfed, Paddy Cultivation, Practices, Climatic Resilient, Higher Productivity, Paddy POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 IST Recommended Wheat Varieties for Peninsular Zone of India Wheat varieties are developed as per three sowing conditions and climatic conditions of wheat growing zones in India. ICAR- Indian Institute of Wheat Barley Research, Karnal, state agricultural universities and different All India Coordinated Wheat & Barley Improvement (AICRP) Centres developed wheat varieties as per the requirement of farmers.

]]> Wheat Varieties, Peninsular Zone, India POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 IST Success Story of an Agriculture Graduate in Production of Millet and Fruit Cakes  Salem Krishi Vigyan Kendra has been working through various programs to improve the economy of farmers and farm women in Salem District. Need based trainings are being conducted continuously related to processing and value addition of horticultural crops and minor millets to develop entrepreneurs among farmers, farm women, unemployed rural youths etc., Mrs. Sujatha, an agriculture graduate from Salem district, who attended this training, was motivated and inspired after gaining awareness about value addition techniques in horticultural crops and minor millets. With motivation and enthusiasm from KVK Scientists, she started a cake making business under the name of Tamizh Cakes. She was introduced to other farmers, farm women and entrepreneurs by KVK, Salem as a budding entrepreneur.  

]]> Success Story, Agriculture Graduate, Production of Millet, Fruit Cakes SUCCESS STORY Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 IST Hi-Tech Vegetable Production System - Hydroponics  A quantity of 160g/day/person vegetables is consumed against the ICMR recommendation (300g/day/person). Area expansion for vegetable crops is very limited, because cultivable lands are utilized for non-agricultural activities. Alternate growing medium may be used for stable vegetable production to save the natural resources. Under this scenario, hydroponics is one of the alternate production system for raising the crops in nutrient solutions. The media required for hydroponics are coir compost, peat, perlite, sand, vermiculite and rock wool. Majority of these units function automatically to manage the movement of water, fertilizers and light requirements for various crops viz., tomato, cucumber, chilli, brinjal, strawberry and lettuce. 

]]> Hi-Tech, Vegetable Production System, Hydroponics, vegetable crops POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 IST Production Technology of Geranium Geranium was originated from Cape Province in South Africa. Most important types of geranium are Algerian or Tunisian and Reunion types. Among these two types, Algerian types have delicate odour than Reunion type. However, Reunion type is widely raised in the Nilgiris and Anamalai. Warm winter with mild summer temperature and uniform distribution of total annual precipitation from 1000 -1500 mm are most suited to this crop. The cuttings taken from terminal stem with 20 cm long (eight nodes) is the best planting material for multiplication. A total of 30,000 cuttings are required to plant one hectare area.

]]> Production Technology, Geranium POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 IST Microgreens The micro greens have only one central shoot and the same will cut in the collar region at the time of harvesting. They have completely grown cotyledon leaves with one pair of very small, immature true leaves. They are cut within two weeks days from the date of sowing. Red cabbage, Amaranthus and radish greens are raised as microgreen and these crops having maximum ranges of vitamins C, K and E respectively. They are rich in flavour and raised in diversified shapes, textures and colours of leaves.

]]> Microgreens, central shoot, cotyledon leaves POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 IST Speed Breeding Approach in Vegetable Crops The present developments in genetics and plant breeding gave a flexible way for sequencing, tagging, mapping and introgression of a gene for the required character at cheapest price, but it takes long time. Speed breeding combined with other tools lead to reduce the breeding cycle, generation advancement and accelerates the development of varieties in minimum period. Combination of speed breeding with other genetic tools like genome editing, marker assisted backcrossing, transgenic approaches to develop homozygous inbred lines followed by crossing will facilitate rapid cycling, genetic gain and rapid development of improved cultivars.

]]> Speed Breeding, Approach, Vegetable Crops POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 IST Multifarious uses of Buckwheat (Fagopyrum spp.) Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) originated in the Tibetian Plateau or nearby mountain of Yunnan, SW China. It is associated with the Family Polygonaceae and comes under the category of dicot pseudo-cereals which is quite different from monocot cereals. In India two species of buckwheat i.e F.esculentum and F.tataricum are commonly cultivated. It is Gluten free Super food which is rich in vitamins B1, B2, E, protein, fibres, carbohydrates and minerals. Among its health benefits it may improve heart diseaces, promote weight loss, helps in sugar control and an alternative for Celiac disease. However, cereal products are deficient in lysine and protein contents which are high in this crop. It performs multiple functions such as green manure crop, nutrient conserving crop, break crop, smother crop and as land reclamation crop. Generally, people during religious fasting days consume many products made out of this crop in India. The grains and flour is used in making chapattis, biscuits, noodles etc. It has the potential to suppress insect-pest life cycle and also root pathogens in soil. It has Rutin and Fagopyrin which helps in curing various human diseases such as hemorrhage, edema, purpurea, kidney disorders, carcinogenic and stabilizes high blood pressure.

]]> Buckwheat, Pseudo-Cereal, Kutu atta, Fagopyrum esculentum, Diabetic, Rutin, Polygonaceae, Fagopyrum, Human health POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 IST Fish and Prawn Pickle Production - A Tale of Women Led Fishpreneurship in Balasore District of Odisha Pisciculture contributes immensely to the agricultural income of Balasore district occupying a water spread area of 3942 ha. The district of Balasore comes under North Eastern Coastal Plain agro-climatic zone between 20-210 North latitude to 84-870 East longitude surrounded by neighbouring Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak & Bay of Bengal. The inland fish production solely comes from the carp culture activities undertaken in the tanks and ponds available in the district. Women folk of this particular area also involved in selling fishes & drying the marine fishes at the time of huge catch. But their profit was less due to unhygienic practices during preparation. After taking training & demonstration from KVK, Balasore the members of Samuka dry fish producers group started to prepare fish pickle with scientific practices &generated income of more than 40,000/-rupees.

]]> KVK Balasore, demonstration, Fish Pickle, Producers Group, Value addition SUCCESS STORY Tue, 31 Oct 2023 00:00:00 IST Marketing of Green Leafy Vegetables Greens are an important part of our diet. Its nutrients, minerals and fibre make it a compulsory inclusion in Indian food menu. The greens are currently marketed fresh and corner street vendors and bicycle vendors are the major retailers of greens. There is no large scale marketing and no processing involved. However ‘Keerai Kadai’ shows that the potential for marketing greens in packages and powdered forms are many. Government’s role in supply chain management is also improving and there are lots of opportunities in marketing of greens for farmers.

]]> Green Leafy, Leafy vegetables, marketing POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Oct 2023 00:00:00 IST Biochar: A Promising Technology for Sustainable Soil Health and Climate Change Mitigation The main threats of the 21st century are land degradation and climate change, which harm crops as well as animals. Biochar application to soil has been widely advocated as an approach to enhancing soil health and reducing climate change. Biochar also acts as a sink for atmospheric CO2 in the soil due to its unique characteristics. Biochar also offers a lot of environmental solutions to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, by converting agricultural and other waste into a potent soil supplement is a promising method for improving soil health and minimizing climate change effects, as well as for increasing food and feed security, preventing deforestation, and lowering fertilizer needs.

]]> Biochar, Promising Technology, greenhouse gas, Soil health, climate change POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Oct 2023 00:00:00 IST Salt Tolerant Mechanism in Crops Salinity often construed as one of the serious constraint in crop production under ground level source of irrigation. Ambiance of salinity mechanism utters negative impact on crop production process, growth and development. Also, plant adapt on saline situation triggering salt tolerant genes to face the osmotic or oxidative reactions induced by soil salinity. Further, genetic improvement of pulses under increased salinity is quite complex and less proven progress. Gene alteration for saline resistant considered as a  quite complex phenomenon besides the advances in resign the crop phenotype for this trait over years construed very dawdling in nature. Cited data on crop genetics and genomics failed to project innovative ideas on the synthesis of saline tolerant genotypes. Though substantial advancement have been made in studying the crop mechanism on abiotic stresses, still obstacles remain trendy elaborating the translation and molecular behavior of individual crop.

]]> Salt Tolerant, Mechanism, In Crops POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Oct 2023 00:00:00 IST Ley Farming: A Way to Restore Soil Fertility and Green Fodder Production in Dry Land Areas Ley farming is a system of farming in which grasses and legumes are cultivated in a proper rotation for the production of hay and silage to meet the needs of livestock and enhance soil fertility. This system involves the use of various annual and perennial grasses and legumes which grown in short-term and long-term to manage the soil. Addition of perennial grasses or legume component which has different duration in rotation with arable crop is a main approach of poor farmers to restore soil fertility and improve food and fodder availability.

]]> Ley Farming, Way to Restore, Soil Fertility, Green Fodder Production, Dry Land Areas POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Oct 2023 00:00:00 IST Alley Cropping - A Way to Overcome the Green Fodder Constraints in Dry Land Tracts Alley cropping is the production of arable crops between rows of trees or shrubs. In this system trees are often pruned to reduce shading effect on the agricultural crops. Alley cropping system is generally recommended for humid tropics condition. Moreover, in semiarid regions of India alley cropping provides feed to the livestock especially during the off season. The primary objective of this cropping system is to provide green fodder for livestock, effective utilization of off season rainfall and to reduce soil and water erosion.

]]> Alley cropping, Green Fodder, Constraints in Dry Land, Dry Land Tracts, arable crop POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 IST Quality Wheat Seed Production using Improved Varieties under Different Sowing Conditions in Peninsular Zone of India According to the climatic and geographical requirements of each of the wheat growing zones, ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal and other agricultural universities produce different varieties to provide good quality seeds to the farmers. Farmers can produce good quality seed at their own field by selecting improved varieties and following standard package of practices as per sowing conditions.

]]> Quality Wheat, Seed Production, Improved Varieties, Different Sowing Conditions, Peninsular Zone, India POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 IST Different Methods of Weed Management A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals. Weed management is one of the most crucial aspects of agriculture and land maintenance, aiming to control and minimize the impact of unwanted plants or “weeds”. The main objective is to mitigate weed competition with desirable crops, ensuring optimal growth and yield. Farmers and land managers employ various methods, such as cultural practices, mechanical cultivation, use of herbicides, mulching, and biological control, to suppress weeds effectively. Integrated weed management combines multiple practices to reduce the reliance on any single method, promoting sustainability and minimizing environmental harm. Effective weed management not only enhances crop productivity but also conserves soil health, water resources, and biodiversity, making it an essential practice in modern agriculture and land stewardship. Weed management involves various methods and strategies to control and reduce weed populations.

]]> Different Methods, Weed Management, herbicides, mulching, biological control POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 IST Centella asiatica and its Adulterants Centella asiatica is a traditional medicinal herb which is called as Indian pennywort and Asiatic Pennywort in English, Mandukaparni in Sanskrit and Vallarai in Tamil. As the pharmaceutical and cosmetic importance of Centella asiatica is being explored, the other species being mixed by its name is also surging out. The article discusses on the plant species being used or misidentified in the name of Indian Pennywort.

]]> Centella asiatica, Adulterants, Indian pennywort, medicinal herb, Asiatic Pennywort POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 IST Good Agricultural Practices in Sesame - An Approach for Achieving Higher Production  In the Indian Agricultural economy, oilseeds are the second largest sector next to cereals. India places the top rank in the production in the world. Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is the oldest oilseed crop in India with holds the longest history of cultivation. Sesame oil is traditionally valued oil due to the high amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids, oleic acid, and linoleic acid present in oil. The productivity of sesame in India is 431 kg/ha. This was due to the non-adoption of improved cultivation practices. The primary reasons for lower productivity in sesame are mainly cultivated under the rainfed situation with poor crop management practices. Lack of availability of location-specific varieties, varieties resistant to pests and diseases also the reason for low yield. The weather abnormalities lead to increases in the incidence of pests and diseases which leads to yield reduction. In this aspect to manage all the issues in sesame cultivation we must implement good agricultural practices to achieve a higher yield and economics. 

 

]]> Good Agricultural Practices,Sesame, Approach, Achieve Higher Production POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 IST Lisianthus Blooms Bright in Tamil Nadu - A New Floral Darling Takes Root Eustoma, also known as lisianthus, is a graceful, versatile flower with delicate petals, soft color palette, and symbolism. Originating in the US and Mexico, it gained popularity in the 1930s. Its rose-like appearance, long vase life, and symbolism make it ideal for expressing admiration or heartfelt sentiments. Eustoma is used in various cultures, including Japan, Western culture, and China, where it symbolizes appreciation and gratitude.

]]> Lisianthus, Blooms Bright, Tamil Nadu, New Floral, Darling Takes, Root POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 IST Multipurpose Tree Manila Tamarind  The Manila tamarind (Pithecellobium dulce (Roxb.) Benth) belongs to the family Fabaceae. This species have several medicinal and nutritional properties. The fruits are having sweet and sour pulp which is eaten as fresh in India. It is one of the minor fruit tree and highly suitable for alley cropping. This can be planted as ornamental shade trees in pathways and hedges in gardens. It is a fast growing medium size tree grown up to a height of 10-15m. This species is drought tolerant and grown in wide range of soil and climatic conditions. Naturally this plant species can be multiplied by seeds and grafting techniques also standardized for propagation.  

]]> Multipurpose Tree, Manila tamarind, medicinal value, nutritional value, sweet and sour pulp POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Aug 2023 00:00:00 IST Levelled Ploughing Improves the Moisture Content than Unploughed! Tillage was for most of recorded agriculture history, a concept of achieving a finely divided soil by fragmenting clods using cultivation tools. The plough was key from historic times. Ploughing improves the moisture content of the field and as well as the field needs a perfect levelling to avoid the uneven distribution of moisture content in the same field; as in the same field observed with a moisture content of 4.8% to 20.1%. Observation showed that ploughing has increased the moisture retention capacity. Ploughed field without slope has recorded a moisture percentage of 15% and almost the same as in the castor field. Summer ploughed fields with weeds has recorded an average moisture percentage of 12.5%. This showed that current ploughed field without weeds has the advantage in retaining good moisture content over summer ploughed fields with weeds. Pastures with a textural class of red sandy soil has recorded a moisture percentage of 8.3% which is also good and was 7% lesser moisture percentage.

]]> Levelled Ploughing, Improves, Moisture Content POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Aug 2023 00:00:00 IST The MAFAP Method of Price Incentive Analysis  Generally the prices of any commodity is determined by the equilibrium between supply and demand in the global market. It indicates that the prices of commodities should also be same in different countries across the world. On the contrary, they vary from country to country mainly because of the government intervention through various schemes and policies regarding trade aspects. Owing to this reason, the domestic prices deviate from the international prices generating either incentives or disincentives to the actors in the supply chain. The measurement of this gap in the domestic and international prices as incentive or disincentive to the players is the main aim of the MAFAP methodology. Ordinarily price incentives are the external prompts such as subsidies, Minimum Support Prices (MSP), etc., provided to the producers to encourage their production despite the price fluctuations. Nevertheless, in accordance to MAFAP methodology, price incentives are the effects of food and agricultural policies that have an impact on domestic prices at different levels across the globe.

Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies, abbreviated as MAFAP was developed by FAO in the year 2009 to monitor and analyse African country policies. The application of MAFAP to analyse policies in the member countries of Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) upon their request was also observed in the later years. The major focus of the MAFAP analysis is on policy measuring and monitoring, systematic analysis of government policies and their effects. The frame work of MAFAP methodology for price incentive analysis comprises of identifying the type of policies that are supporting production and marketing of the commodities taken for analysis, identifying the factors that causes difference between domestic and international prices for the commodities, measuring the effect of policies on prices at different points of value chain and knowing the level and type of inefficiencies in the agricultural markets.  

]]> MAFAP Method, Price Incentive Analysis POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Aug 2023 00:00:00 IST Success Story of a Farmer Producer Company in Moringa value Addition Venture in Salem District Sarabanga Farmer Producer Company of Kadayampatti block in Salem District started a sales centre for selling organic inputs to the farmers of their own company. Turmeric powder is one of the major value added products of Sarabanga FPC since Salem and Erode is the hub of turmeric cultivation. The raw turmeric were dried for two days in the Solar dryer and then used for pulverizing without extracting oleoresin or oil. Apart from turmeric powder, this FPC also producing value added products from coriander, chilli and masala products like Sambar podi, mutton masala, chicken masala, moringa pod powder, moringa soup powder etc., With regard to marketing of the value added products of moringa, the company has sold the products of moringa to Uzhavar Shandies of Salem City, Sales center of their own inputs. If the market is expanded to other important places of domestic market and foreign markets as well, the nutrient and medicinal properties of Moringa will reach all the people soon.

]]> Sarabanga FPC, Value addition, Tumeric and Moringa SUCCESS STORY Thu, 31 Aug 2023 00:00:00 IST Miracle of Probiotic in Human Health Understanding about the microorganism in our body might be beneficial or even necessary for us can be a challenging but at the same time that is the reality. A great number of beneficial bacteria live throughout our entire body, but mainly in our intestines, where they serve a vital and diversified function in maintaining our health. Probiotics is a special food that develops abundant number of beneficial microorganism inside the gut. This article discovered role of probiotic food in human health and types of probiotic foods.

]]> probiotic, Human health, Microorganisms, fermentation, gut biota POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Jul 2023 00:00:00 IST Integrated Solid Waste Management in Mango Fruit Processing Industries Integrated solid waste management (ISWM) is a critical approach for addressing the environmental and health challenges associated with the waste generated in mango fruit processing industries. This abstract provides a concise overview of ISWM in the context of mango fruit processing, highlighting key strategies for waste reduction, recycling, treatment, and regulatory compliance Mango fruit processing industries generate significant amounts of solid waste, including peels, seeds, pulps, and packaging materials. To effectively manage this waste, ISWM focuses on waste characterization to understand its composition and design appropriate management strategies. Source reduction techniques, such as improved processing methods and optimized raw material utilization, help minimize waste generation. Recycling and resource recovery play a pivotal role in ISWM. Mango peels and other organic waste can be converted into valuable products through composting or anaerobic digestion. Packaging materials can be recycled or reused. Treatment and disposal methods are implemented for waste streams that cannot be recycled or recovered, with consideration given to safe and responsible practices. Compliance with waste management regulations and creating awareness among stakeholders and employees are crucial components of ISWM. Adhering to legal requirements and promoting waste segregation and handling practices ensure effective waste management. In conclusion, implementing ISWM in mango fruit processing industries is essential for minimizing environmental impact, promoting resource recovery, and complying with regulations. By adopting comprehensive waste management strategies, these industries can contribute to a more sustainable and environmentally conscious future.

]]> Integrated solid waste management, Mango fruit processing, Recycling, Sustainability POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Jul 2023 00:00:00 IST Automation in Agriculture Automation in agriculture, powered by modern technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence, and advanced machinery, has emerged as a trans-formative force that offers immense potential to revolutionize the way we cultivate and produce food. Automation in agriculture represents a transformative approach to address environmental concerns associated with food production. By enhancing resource efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conserving biodiversity, optimizing land use, and promoting soil health, automation can pave the way towards a more sustainable and resilient agricultural system.

]]> Automation, Agriculture, modern technologies, robotics, artificial intelligence, advanced machinery POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Jul 2023 00:00:00 IST Food Groups and their Functions Food is made up of various essential elements like carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals. These elements are necessary for the proper growth, development, and overall well-being of the human body. The food pyramid is a graphical representation in the shape of a pyramid, illustrating the ideal quantity of servings recommended daily from various basic food groups. Foods have contained Antioxidant, Micronutrients and Macronutrients, Phenols and other constituents which serving are decided on the basis of food groups. Balance Diet for the specific people is recommended by using food groups accordingly to anthropometric measurement and type of works. Food from the lower levels of the food pyramid should be consumed in bigger portions than food from the higher levels. From top to bottom, the six levels correspond to the following dietary groups on top to bottom are: sweets, salty snacks, and sweetened or alcoholic beverages, Oils, fats, and nuts; milk, dairy products, meat, fish, and eggs; fruit and vegetables, whole grain products and pulses; other cereals and potatoes. The real lesson is to consume a diet that is as varied as possible and includes items from each level of the food pyramid in the proper proportions. The advice need not be followed every day, but rather over a lengthy period of time, such as a whole week.  

]]> Food Groups, Functions, Nutrients, Antioxidant, Anthropometric, Beverages POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Jul 2023 00:00:00 IST Demonstration of PKM 1 Moringa Leaf Production in Salem District of Tamil Nadu In Tamil Nadu, the Salem district established in the year 1790 and it has got 20 blocks with maximum temperature of 32oC and 19.6oC minimum, with humidity ranging from 39 to 85%. In Salem, during South West monsoon, a rainfall of 545 mm and during North East monsoon 564.2 mm was recorded. Area under vegetable crops is more than 15250 ha and area under different green leafy vegetables is around 750 ha in Salem District. Area under Moringa cultivation in Salem district is around 50 ha in which one tenth of the area is under leaf production of moringa. The farmers growing moringa in Salem district especially in Veerapandi block are only small and marginal farmers and are getting only lower net profit (in spite of better yield) because of the involvement of middleman in the supply chain of moringa as vegetable to the consumers. To overcome this problem, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Salem, intervened with demonstrations on semi intensive production techniques like high density planting systems with a spacing of 1.2 x 1.2m for leaf production in moringa PKM 1 variety and conducted many trainings on production techniques of moringa for leaves. The semi intensive system of moringa leaf production is more appropriate for small farmers of Veerapandi block of Salem district and it yields more (about 15t/acre) with lesser maintenance cost when compared to the cultivation of moringa for the purpose of pods. Lesser maintenance cost is due to the need of lesser number of irrigation, less labour for intercultural operations, less cost on manures and fertilizers (application of more of nitrogenous fertilizers only as its cultivation is only for leaf and not for the purpose of pod) and lesser cost on transport from the field to the market. The only disadvantage in moringa leaf production is shedding of leaves (shedding of leaflets from the compound leaf of moringa which has no market value) which will go as waste, if it has not been marketed on time.

Hence, demonstrations and trainings conducted by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra imparted moringa growers’ knowledge on cultivation techniques of moringa for leaf which enhances the farmer’s income and net profit.

]]> PKM 1, Moringa Cultivation, Leaf Production, Demonstrations, Trainings, Salem District POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Jul 2023 00:00:00 IST Production Technology and Medicinal Properties of Bael Bael is native to Indian sub-continent and widely distributed in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and other South East Asian countries. It is rich in minerals, fat, fibre, protein, carbohydrate, vitamins, protein substances and fats. It is being used in many traditional medicinal systems. Important varieties of Bael are NB 5, NB 7, NB 9, NB 16, NB 17, CISH B -1, CISH B -2, Goma Yashi, Pant Aparna, Pant Shivani, Pant Sujata, Pant Urvashi, Thar Divya and Thar Neelkanth. Patch budding and soft wood grafting are commercially feasible methods of Bael propagation. The spacing adopted for bael is 6 x 6 m. The leaf, fruit, bark and roots of bael is widely used in Indian Systems of medicine.

]]> Production Technology, Medicinal Properties, Bael, Indian sub-continent POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 30 Jun 2023 00:00:00 IST Role of Artificial Intelligence in Integrated Pest Management The purpose of integrated pest management (IPM) is to reduce the use of chemical pesticides while boosting the use of environmentally friendly farming techniques. Thorough monitoring and decision-making are critical to the effective implementation of IPM, and both can be enhanced by the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI can analyze large amounts of data and make predictions based on historical patterns to help farmers control pests more effectively. In this article, we'll look at how artificial intelligence (AI) is employed in IPM and how it is helpful in adopting ecologically friendly farming practices. One of the most important applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in integrated pest control is pest monitoring and detection. Visible inspections and trapping are two typical but time-consuming ways of pest detection, however they are only based on subjective perceptions. By collecting data on insect numbers and behaviour, the integration of cameras and sensors in AI-based pest monitoring systems enables more precise and rapid identification of infestations. Furthermore, forecasting pest outbreaks and enhancing pest control are two other applications for AI. By analyzing data on insect populations, weather trends, and crop health, AI systems can foresee future pest outbreaks and advise on the most effective treatment techniques. In this context, several Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools offer greater potential than traditional integrated pest control methods, and so have the ability to revolutionize the existing pest management paradigm.

]]> Integrated pest management (IPM), Artificial Intelligence (AI), ecologically friendly farming, pest management POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 May 2023 00:00:00 IST Intensity of Insect Pests on High Density Planting System in Citrus In the recent years, various crop production strategies are adopted for increasing production and productivity of agriculture and horticulture crops. One such concept is the adoption of closer planting density for enhanced utilization of resources thereby reducing the gestation period and increasing the productivity of the crop. Right selection of different components like suitable cultivars-rootstock, canopy management measures, space/land utilization, irrigation mode and scheduling nutrition delivery system, orchard planning and its layout is also very important in this context.

]]> Intensity, Insect Pests, High Density, Planting System, Citrus POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 May 2023 00:00:00 IST Abandoned, Lost or Otherwise Discarded Fishing Gears (ALDFG): Hidden Killers in the Sea Abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gears are fishing gears/parts which are lost into water due to various reasons. These lost gears are a global concern to the marine ecosystem as they continue to capturing fishes and other aquatic organisms leading to their mortality known as Ghost fishing. Ghost fishing mostly occurs due to passive gears such as gillnets, trammel nets, lines and traps. As most of the fishing nets are made of synthetic, non- biodegradable materials, nets can remain active in water for several years and continue fishing even when they are lost into seas. From Indian waters also investigation were carried out by ICAR-CIFT regarding fishing gear losses and ALDFG. Those studies points towards the importance of the issue in the country as well as the need for developing mitigation measures to address the harmful impacts of ALDFG.

]]> Abandoned, Lost, Fishing Gears, ALDFG, Hidden Killers, Sea POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 May 2023 00:00:00 IST The Environment and Malnutrition Malnutrition is a serious global health problem that affects millions of people, particularly in low-income countries. The environment plays a significant role in contributing to malnutrition, as poverty, limited access to clean water and sanitation, and exposure to environmental toxins can all impact nutrient absorption, utilization, and metabolism. Climate change is also a growing concern, as it can affect crop yields, food availability, and the nutritional quality of foods. Addressing the environmental factors that contribute to malnutrition requires a comprehensive approach that considers the social, economic, and environmental determinants of health. This may involve improving access to clean water and sanitation, promoting sustainable agriculture and food production, and reducing exposure to environmental toxins. Additionally, improving access to education and healthcare can also help to prevent and treat malnutrition by increasing knowledge about healthy eating habits and providing medical interventions as needed. Overall, addressing the environmental factors that contribute to malnutrition is essential for promoting optimal health and well-being, particularly in vulnerable populations.

]]> Environment, Malnutrition, undernutrition, overnutrition, poverty, food security, nutrient-rich foods, healthy dietary patterns, access to healthcare, education, global health POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 May 2023 00:00:00 IST Honey Bee Decline - Losing the Grip of Future This study provides a brief note on the key elements that causes lowering of honey bee population in the world. Rapid development of cities has caused deforestation, lesser farming and more pollution which directly affects the honey bee communities. The ground reality is that people are not aware of the uses and benefits the bees provide, they are an excellent source of nutrition to all every animals in wild and also in the cities. Planting extra flowering plants will boost the insurgence of honey bee movement in that region which will lead to increased bee population.

]]> Honey Bee, Decline, Losing, Grip of Future, less population, deforestation POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 May 2023 00:00:00 IST An Inspirational Innovative Farming As part of the undergraduate course Rural Agricultural Work Experience (RAWE), students involved with farming community on their stay place to experience the agricultural and horticultural conditions in the rural areas. Students conducted demonstartion on zero energy cool chamber, panjakavya, Agri expo, organic food exhibition and tree planting for government school children in orathy. Students also met a farmer Mr. Ramachandran who was involved in the successful organic farming in perennial tree crops at vadamanipakam village. They collected the information about his innovational farming method and discussed with this article.

]]> Inspirational, Innovative Farming, RAWE, organic farming, perennial tree SUCCESS STORY Wed, 31 May 2023 00:00:00 IST Nutri-Cereals: Lifeline for Humans Food habits have been one of the biggest changes owing to concerns over human health. We forgot our indigenous foods and were chasing standardisation. In this regard, millets were once considered too primitive to be used, forgetting our own roots. But today a lot of efforts are being put to increase the demand of millets in India and the world, including changing the mind-set of the people.

]]> Nutri-Cereals, millets, Food habits, Humans POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 30 Apr 2023 00:00:00 IST Rice Root-Knot Nematode - Major Threat to Rice More than half of the world's population relies primarily on rice (Oryza sativa L.) as a food source. Majorly rice crop was affected by biotic factors such as weeds, insects, diseases, and nematodes which contribute to lower productivity. Among these biotic factors, rice root-knot nematode Meloidogyne graminicola infestation causes up to 72% yield loss in rice crop production. The rice root-knot nematode adapted well to flooding conditions and causing risk to all rice ecosystem. Recently, it is found in Italy and added to the EPPO (European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization) Alert List.

]]> rice, Root-Knot, Nematode, Meloidogyne graminicola, Symptoms, Management, Yield losses POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 30 Apr 2023 00:00:00 IST ICT Tools in Agriculture Agriculture is a vertebra of our Indian economy. ICT tools stands for Information and Communication Technology in agriculture. ICT plays an important role in agriculture. ICT is one which is major tool to give information daily to the farmers based on their requirements. This revolution in Information technology has given entrance to the details easily and cost - efficient.

]]> ICT Tools, ICT in Agriculture, E-Agricultural POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:00:00 IST Vaccination against Emerging Unwelcome Lumpy Skin Disease in Cattle The B.sc.,(Hons.) Agriculture Final year students of Adhiparasakthi Agricultural College, Kalavai attending the Rural Agricultural Work experience (RAWE) Programme at Walajabad Block. The students have been to several locations to learn from farmers about field and cultivation techniques. The students have participated in conducting demonstrations, organizing rallies, camps, meetings, etc. as a part of this program. The students from the Walajabad block performed a veterinary camp, which is detailed in this article.

]]> B.Sc., (Hons.) Agriculture Students, Lumpy Skin Disease, Adhiparasakthi Agricultural College, RAWE programe. POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:00:00 IST Market-Led Extension Market-led extension is an approach, via which extension system will reach to the clientele on an end to end basis, starting from package deal of practices for manufacturing to promoting of produce to the consumers’ door in order that the farmers can get remunerative expenses for his or her produces. There is shift from production-led extension where focus is only on production of crops to Market led extension in which farmers are sensitized on numerous elements on quality, consumer’s preferences, marketplace intelligence, processing, value addition and marketing information in order to assist farming groups to attain remunerative prices. This article shows light on opportunities and challenges in agricultural marketing and role of extension agent in promoting market led extension.

]]> Market-led Extension, Value addition, Extension workers POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:00:00 IST Fusarium Wilt- A Major Problem in Cucurbits Cucurbitaceae family is a large and oldest group of vegetable crops including 118 genera and 825 species. India is one of the largest producer of vegetables worldwide. It contains rich amounts of carbohydrates, protein and (90%) water. There are a number of factors which hampers its production among which plant diseases are a major concern. Cucurbits are attacked by a large number of plant pathogens among which Fusarium wilt is the most destructive one. It is responsible for causing heavy economic losses to the crop around the world. The fungus is soil borne in nature. Soil borne diseases are economically very important as these are responsible for significant decline in fruit yield. The pathogen is host specific and infects only its particular host therefore each species has a specific formae speciales. Due to stress of fruit load, the disease shows high severity later in the season.

]]> Cucurbits, Fusarium Wilt, Cucurbitaceae POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 Mar 2023 00:00:00 IST Microalgae in Modern Agriculture - A Green Technological Approach  Green technology is applied to mitigate the devastation that mankind inflict on the environment. When executed correctly, they will nourish the world’s population and propagate valuable cultivation techniques to the forthcoming generation. Because they lessen environmental harm, produce fewer fossil fuel byproducts, and support the development of sustainable agriculture, green technology is essential for the agricultural industry. Sustainable agriculture depends on renewable energy sources. A natural resource that can replenish itself after being used up is called renewable. There is no end to the renewable resource. Currently, the majority of agricultural equipment uses fossil fuels, which contribute to climate change by releasing greenhouse gas emissions into the environment. If we adopt renewable energy sources and associated technology, we could reduce this environmental harm. Renewable energy and agriculture go well together since these natural resources can be harvested indefinitely. These may provide farmers with a steady stream of income. Microalgae in agriculture are one of the promising green technologies. It can be used for producing biofuels, treating wastewater, reducing pollution, and resource recovery systems. The primary energy source for human activity today is biofuel. The research of microalgae-based biofuel has successfully demonstrated how it is feasible to attain the sustainable growth and clean energy sources. Microalgae-based green technology advancements added value as animal feed and biofertilizer in addition to environmental benefits (Yap et al., 2021).  

]]> Green technology, Microalgae, Modern Agriculture POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 IST Rice Weevil: Eco-Friendly Non-Chemical Methods of Management Larger dependence on synthetic pesticides for storage pest management has led to considerable problems like residues in products, pest resurgence and resistance in insects. A fast, more sensitive and economically feasible method for detection of infestation by seed storage pests is the need of the hour. In this context, few nonchemical methods gain importance as an alternative to chemical fumigants which may have a deleterious effect on the seed quality parameters.

]]> Rice Weevil, Eco-Friendly, Non-Chemical Methods POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 IST Cold Wave and Fog - Criteria, Causes, Impact and Warning Northwest India has been hit by a deadly cold wave. Red and yellow alerts have been issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in a number of locations, including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand. Severity and average number of cold waves are increasing day by day due to climate change. Disastrous Weather Event of 2018 issued by India Meteorological Department IMD reported loss of about 280 human lives due to cold wave out of that 135 were from Uttar Pradesh and 121 from Bihar. Additionally, it also caused death or injured to the livestock. During the Rabi cropping season, cold waves cause sudden freeze and frost, which has an impact on crops, horticulture plantations/orchards, and other agricultural support services. Hence Central as well as State Government needs to take necessary action regarding early warnings, alert and in making policies in favor of farmers in case of crop failure due to cold wave.

]]> Cold Wave, Fog, Criteria, Causes, Impact and Warning POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 28 Feb 2023 00:00:00 IST Carbon Sequestrations with Cocoa Production  Tree crops like cocoa offer significant environmental and economic benefits. Small farmers can grow cocoa under tree share to create continuous income from coca fruit harvesting. This also prevents the burning of forest areas and the destruction of biodiversity habitats. Protection of these standing forests with cocoa offers an immediate solution to sequester carbon. In degraded areas, tree crops are planted to improve soil filtration and erosion reduction and offset carbon. The incorporation of compost and the adoption of organic techniques for enhancing soil fertility and control of pesticides also allow for increased carbon storage. Sequestration can become an additional income for the farmers. 

]]> Carbon sequestrations Cocoa plantations, compost, litter addition POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Jan 2023 00:00:00 IST Antibiotics use in Livestock and its Linkages to Poisoned Food Cycle: Current Status and Way Forward  The phrase "antibiotics" refers to a broad category of chemical compounds produced naturally, semi-synthetically, and artificially, and used to prevent (bacteriostatic) or eradicate bacterial development (bactericidal). They are divided into two categories: narrow- and broad-spectrum antibiotics, depending on whether they have bactericidal or bacteriostatic properties. Additionally, the tetracyclines, aminoglycosides β-lactams, lincosamides, macrolides, pleuromutilins, and sulphonamides are among the classes of antibiotics that are more commonly used in agriculture globally and that are the subject of growing scientific concern with regard to their possible side effects and risk management strategies. As the years advance, the use of antibiotics is increasing at a rapid pace. The antibiotics are not only used for humans but for food animals too to promote growth and prevent infection. This improper use of antibiotics has an influence on the selection of microorganisms that are resistant to them. These bacteria, which are antibiotic-resistant, are spread from food animals to humans, milk, meat, soil, and water. The author reviews the extent of antibiotic worldwide and the mechanism by which the microorganisms develop resistant against the antibiotics. The spread of antibacterial resistant bacteria and mechanism of gene transfer from one bacteria to other has also been discussed. Preventive measures that can be taken to reduce the antibiotic use in food animals and reduce the antibiotic resistance in the mere future have also been highlighted. 

]]> Antibiotic, livestock, feed-efficiency POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Jan 2023 00:00:00 IST Enam Activity in Vanthavasi Block, Tiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu Visited by Students at Rural Agricultural Work Experience (RAWE) Programme Final year students studying in Adhiparasakthi agricultural college, Kalavai, Ranipet district going through RAWE programme 2022 at Vandavasi block of Tiruvannamalai district. In this programme students undergone experiential learning by visiting farmers and diffusion of new technologies about agricultural field practices by demonstrations conducted by the students to farmers. In this article we discussed about e-NAM activities and roles that we have visited on 22/12/2022.

]]> Final year students, RAWE, Regulated market, e-NAM, Adhiparasakthi agricultural college POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 IST Success Story of Tharani Nursery in Vanthavasi Block, Tiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu Visited vy Students at Rural Agricultural Work Experience (RAWE) Programme Final year students studying in Adhiparasakthi agricultural college, Kalavai, Ranipet district going through RAWE progamme 2022 at Vandavasi block, Tiruvannamalai district. In this programme students undergo experiential learning by visiting farmers and diffusion of new technologies about agricultural field practices by demonstrations conducted by the students to farmers. In this article we discussed about success story of Tharani nursery in Vandavasi block, Tiruvannamalai district visited by Students at Rural Agricultural Work Experience (RAWE) Programme.

]]> Final year students, RAWE, Tharani nursery, Adhiparasakthi Agricultural college. SUCCESS STORY Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 IST Constraints in Transfer of Fisheries Technology in North Bihar Sitamarhi districts of north Bihar situated in northern part of Bihar state; it’s also connected with international boarder of Nepal. Awareness regarding impotence of diet in human health is increasing day-by-day. Bihar has emerged as a state in fisheries and aquaculture sector in India through development and production of host technologies for increasing fish production. Even with vast in increasing in production over the year it’s able to provide about 9kg/ kaput to percent population (taking 56% at fish eater) against nutritional requirement of 11kg / kaput. The study focuses on the constraints on fish production in Bihar. It has vast water reservoirs in the form of river, lakes, ponds and reservoirs. The utilisation of compound water resources is 2.3 lakh ha. Although there are a good amount of transferable technologies available for transfer in farmer’s field, there are some constraints in transfer of fishery technology, they are: (i) Flood (ii) Presence of Wet Land (iii) Unavailability Quality fish seed (iv) Unorganised marketing (v) Poor infrastructure facilities (vi) Poor cold chain maintenance (vii) Lack of awareness about scientific fish farming (viii) Lack of extension activities (ix) Dominance of Bighead (Aristichthys nobilis) species.

]]> Constraints, Transfer of Fisheries Technology, North Bihar POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 30 Nov 2022 00:00:00 IST Planning of Vermicompost Unit Vermicomposting is considered as a quality input in organic farming and it is considered residue free. Most of us know that fresh waste can directly be used for vermicomposting but it needs pre-composting. Addition of waste materials without pre-composting will increase the temperature up to 75 degree Celsius. In this temperature the earthworm gets killed. Hence it should be pre-composted for 30 days by mixing cow dung slurry with waste at the ratio of 3:1. This means that every three parts of waste and one part of cow dung slurry should be mixed and heaped for thirty days to reduce heat formation in the bed.

]]> vermicompost, earthworms, Precomposting , planning of vermicopsting unit POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 30 Nov 2022 00:00:00 IST Socio-Economic Gap Noticed in Women Ex-Trainees of Mainpuri KVK A study was conducted in Mainpuri district with the objective to find out the socio-economic gap noticed in women ex-trainess who had under taken training arrangement by KVK, Mainpuri. Selection of district, block, panchayat, village and respondents has been done by purposive and random sampling procedure. The selected sample size was 120. Data was collected from each individual respondent through pretested interview schedule and use suitable statistical tools like Frequency, Rank order, Percentage and Mean average score, Percentage increase etc. Were used in the research study it was found that 49.17 percentages of trainee respondents were of young age group. Education level at primary level was 53.33 percent and 65.84 percent respondents were having joint family type and 79 percent of families had more than 4 members. Occupation of 48.34 percent of respondent was farming and 53.33 percent of the sample respondents had semi pucca housing pattern. Annual income was (5000-20000) for 48.33 percent of respondent and 68.33 percent respondents were marginal farmers with land (up to 1 ha.) 68.33 percent. 44.16 percent of respondent had draft animas like buffalo and scientific aspiration gap in social participation of the respondents was 61 percent. In this study it was observed that many actions of women training like training contents, approaches, consciousness, exposure visits etc. It were not adequately performed by the KVK for the broad improvement of women.

]]> Impact of training, knowledge, Adoption, Socio-economic status, Explication of communication POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 30 Nov 2022 00:00:00 IST Recycling of CO2 from Vegetable Market Waste Composting into Crop Produce for Circular Economy  Climate change and global warming made drought and flooding disasters. This may be due to industrialization and use of synthetic fertilizers that released greenhouse gases from the storage pool. In agriculture we are doing chemical farming without adding organic manures as compost. The quality available water is also decreasing. Hence are recommending millets. Similar to this we can raise aerobic rice. Moreover, we are having endless waste in different sources. Hence market waste can be composted by adopting aerobic heap method. This can be applied to soil at the rate of 5 tonnes per hectare to the aerobic rice without any yield reduction. 

]]> Market waste compost, aerobic rice, TPS 5 rice variety, Carbon sequestration POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Oct 2022 00:00:00 IST Conserving Traditional Paddy Varieties - A Passionate Effort by Ms. Sivaranjini of Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu  The conservation of traditional varieties is very much essential to maintain diversity and protect nature from calamities. Various institutions across the globe maintain seed banks to conserve the germplasms from extinction. Farmers also try to conserve their preferred varieties and land races in their own ways. One such conservator is Ms. Sivaranjini of Arivar Seeds Centre, Kuravapuram, Vedaranyam, Nagapattinam. She has collected more than 1250 varieties and is conserving in-situ in the field. The seeds are collected through the community of seed collectors and conservators across India without money involvement but through pure passion for conservation. Minimum quantity of seeds are exchanged free of cost like the barter system of the olden days. Her expertise in identifying the origin of the varieties by the physical appearance of the plant is highly commendable. Ms. Sivaranjini received the Chief Minister’s State Youth Award 2022 for this huge effort in conservation and spreading of traditional paddy varieties.  

]]> Paddy, Traditional varieties, Cauvery Delta, Conservation POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Oct 2022 00:00:00 IST Role of Fishery Co-Operatives in Augmenting Income of Fishermen Cooperatives are the shield against social as well as economics exploitations for the poor and weak peoples. Importance of cooperative is well documented for the cause of social-economic upliftment of one the most downtrodden community in India, the fishermen. Indian fishermen are among the latest fishery technologies are the contributing factors for their miseries. This vicious critical is further strengthened by lack of institutional support extended in the form of infrastructure development and finance. Consequently, fishermen are subjected to exploitation by middleman who acts as money lenders, traders and contractors. Fishermen discovered co-operatives could spare them from exploitation and improve their socio-economic conditions. In India, fisheries co-operative societies are regulated by a separate set of rules for channeling the government assistant on the principle of self-help and management. They are broadly three-tiered system consisting of a primary cooperative for village, a district or regional federation and a state level cooperative federation. In India, these cooperative societies are helping fish farmers in implementing the various programme pertaining to horticulture-forestry-cum-fish farming, duck based fish farming, fish-cum-poultry farming, fish-cum fig integration, goat-cum-fish system, fish-cum-cattle farming and aquatic-plant-cum-fish farming. Effort made in this direction has yielded good results in some areas but strengthening of the cooperative movement in fisheries will certainly improve income as well as socio-economic status of those involved in this sectors. 

]]> Income and living standard, Horticulture and forestry cum-fish farming, Live Stock fish farming, aquatic plant-cum-fish farming POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Oct 2022 00:00:00 IST In-Situ Conservation of Valuable Underutilized Leafy Vegetables Through Village Seed/ Gene Bank Approaches  Leafy vegetables are rich in iron, zinc, anti-oxidants, vitamins, dietary fibres and proteins. The Gene/ Seed banks are to be established for conservation and maintenance of leafy vegetables. It enables participatory approaches for selection and multiplication of locally adapted lines of leafy vegetables. This village level gene/ seed bank methods offer conservation of valuable genetic stocks in-situ without losing their genetic characteristics of low and no input responses. 

]]> Leafy vegetables, Seed banks, conservation and maintenance, village level gene/ seed bank POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Oct 2022 00:00:00 IST Breeding for Organic Responsiveness in Aggregatum Onion (Allium cepa var. aggregatum) Selection platforms for organic responsiveness need to be created by following incorporation of crop residues and allowing them to decomposition by application of crop waste decomposers or cow dung slurry mixed with cow urine (fermented form). The selected field plot should be analysed for available nutrients, microbial load and other chemical parameters initially. Soil physical, chemical and biological properties needed to be normalized before taking up the breeding programmes. Germplasm lines should be screened under organic responsive field plots created and extreme types should be identified followed by crossing, generation of segregating populations and fixing the selection parameters based on the breeding objectives.

]]> microbiome, nutraceuticals, nutrients mobilization, organic responsiveness, rot complexes POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Oct 2022 00:00:00 IST Climate Change in the Recent Years – Where do We Stand? Climate change is far reaching, fast and heightening. That is the critical finding of the most recent logical report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It tracks down changes in the World's environment in each area and across the entire environment framework. Many changes are remarkable in thousands, in the event that not countless years. Some, like proceeded with ocean level ascent, are irreversible over hundreds to millennia. The report focuses areas of strength to supported decreases in outflows of carbon dioxide and other ozone depleting substances to restrict climate change. Hotter temperatures likewise cause more outrageous climate, which incorporates longer and more regular dry seasons as well as additional violent storms, floods, and heavy snowfall. These climate variations present different challenges. Crop development turns out to be seriously difficult, natural surroundings for plants and creatures change, and water sources are diminished. Climate change similarly causes more perpetual and outrageous destructive occasions, for instance, typhoons, floods, cyclones, heat waves and dry season. Geoengineering innovation has been put forth these days to decrease environmental change influences however, they have legal and unexpected issues in carrying out.

]]> Climate change, extreme weather, geoengineering, climate change reversal POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Oct 2022 00:00:00 IST Need and Status of Organic Farming in India Organic farming is a method of farming that focuses on biodiversity, natural cycles, and healthy inputs rather than destructive ones. It uses organic fertilisers including compost manure, green manure, and bone meal. It has resulted in a profitable and rapidly increasing Organic Food Industry. Its goal, unlike other farming methods, is not only to increase yield and improve the economy. The total production of major organic commodities produced and exported during the 2020-21 fiscal year was 3.2 million MT, which included oil seeds, fibre, sugar, cereals, spices and condiments, pulses, medicinal plant products, fresh fruits and vegetables, tea, coffee, flowers, dry fruits, fodder, on farm processed food, tuber products, and others. The Government of India announced a plan and a form of organic certification, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), in 2015, with the goal of supporting and promoting organic farming and therefore improving soil health. Continuing advancements in organic farming led to Sikkim becoming India's first organic state in 2016. As a result, organic farming and agriculture should be viewed as the sole path to a more sustainable food future in order to address the existing environmental consequences and public health challenges.

]]> Organic farming, APEDA, Sustainability, Ecological, Profitability POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Oct 2022 00:00:00 IST CO 51 Paddy Variety - Profitable Rice Production in Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu is the major Paddy grown state in India. The total area under Paddy cultivation is 21.65 lakh hectares in Tamil Nadu. 74.7 % of Paddy cultivation under Samba (Aug- Jan) season. Tamil Nadu is the fourth Major state in Paddy Production. The major Paddy Growing Area in the Tamil Nadu is Villupuram, Nagapattinam, Thiruvarur, Thanjavur and Thiruvannamalai districts.  The total Paddy production in Tamil Nadu was 74 lakhs tonnes.  The average production per hectare in Tamil Nadu is 3494 kg/ha. There was an urgent need to reduce water consumption and implement the good agricultural practices for rice cultivation while enhancing productivity. CO 51 Paddy variety was shorter duration with 110 days duration with white medium slender grains. Split application of Nitrogenous fertilizer, installation of pheromone traps, Drought mitigation strategies and Integrated Disease management technologies implementation increase the yield.  Foliar application of PPFM reduces the rate of evapo transpiration and increase the Shoot growth. These technologies will be a step forward in increase the Paddy yield. The installation of pheromone trap used for monitoring the yellow stem borer incidence and reduce the incidence up to 12 %. Application of methylobacteria reduces the evapotranpiration rate and increases the crop withstand ability. The yield obtained from demonstrated plot was 78 q/ha. This was higher 16 % higher than farmers practice.

]]> CO 51 Paddy, Profitable Rice, Tamil Nadu, Paddy cultivation POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 30 Sep 2022 00:00:00 IST Impact of Bioinformatics Advances in Agricultural Sciences Over the past decades, a large amount of scientific data has been generated, especially in the fields of genomics and molecular biology. Bioinformatics, an interdisciplinary scientific field that applies information technology in the form of advanced computational tools, can be effectively used to the processing and management of biological data. Biological and agricultural sciences have evolved into data-driven sciences due to extraordinary technological innovations over the last few decades. The opportunities, challenges and consequences of this revolution are enormous and can only be seen in the long term. Bioinformatics offers greater insight into the underlying biological mechanisms and how biological processes influence the networks of genes, proteins, and metabolites that regulate biological processes in organisms. Extensive omics data such as genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics have been generated from various field of agriculture that includes crop science, livestock, fisheries and horticultural science. Bioinformatics tools and methods can be used in a variety of ways to extract meaning information of such huge collection of data. In this article, we have attempted to highlight the importance and impact of application of bioinformatics advances in agriculture and discuss some of the computational resources relevant to the field of agro-informatics.

]]> Bioinformatics, Agriculture, Omics, Agro-informatics POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 30 Sep 2022 00:00:00 IST Rural Entrepreneurship Through Mushroom Farming in Balasore District Prabin Kumar Roul, a native of Langaleswar GP under Baliapal block was engaged in paddy cultivation to support his family but due to frequent natural calamities, he was facing heavy loss every year. His visit to KVK and knowledge gained about mushroom farming motivated him to give it a try. After attending the training programme, Prabin Roul, aged 33 started mushroom farming in his backyard. Mushrooms are edible fungus which can be grown by using plant, animal and industrial waste. In Odisha, either paddy straw or oyster mushroom is produced by using paddy straw as substrate. Amongst all the enterprises, it is the only farming which can double the income within a fortnight thereby strengthening the livelihood along with improving the nutritional security of marginal farmers. At first, he has started paddy straw mushroom cultivation on an open area followed by oyster mushroom cultivation. His produce is regularly sold in the local market of Langaleswar, Nayabazar market of Balasore & Baripada market, with remunerative price.

]]> Mushroom, KVK, Balasore, Livelihood, Farming SUCCESS STORY Fri, 30 Sep 2022 00:00:00 IST Selection of Deoni Cattle for Milking Characters Selection of animals during purchase is a very important part of any dairy business. We select animals based on their performance ant the performance is reflected by the records, for a successful selection program, record keeping is very important. A dairy entrepreneur/ breeder should take some points into consideration while selection of cattle. There are number of specification for choosing the exotic animals for dairy purpose, however, choosing of animals for dairying from the indigenous draft type breeds pose some very typical considerations. Some of the specifications during selection of Deoni cattle have been discussed herein.

]]> Deoni Cattle, Milking Characters, selection of cattle, dairy business POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Aug 2022 00:00:00 IST Pesticide use in India - Current Trends and Future Perspectives India’s agricultural yields have improved due to the adoption of intensive agriculture practices that gained popularity after the green revolution. Interestingly, the yield loss estimates due to pests also showed a substantial increase between the early 1960s and early 2000s. The adoption of monoculture of commercial crops and intensive agricultural practices are the prime reasons for higher pest attacks. The yield loss due to pests, which was about 25 per cent in fruits, 18 per cent in cotton, and 10 per cent each in rice and sugarcane in the early 1960s, took a rapid stride to reach the level of 50 per cent in cotton, 30 per cent in sorghum and millets, 25 per cent in rice and 20 per cent in sugarcane. The situation thus warrants the use of suitable pesticides to control crop loss.

]]> Pesticides, Insecticides, Bio-pesticides, Food security POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Aug 2022 00:00:00 IST Genetic Improvement of Cucurbitaceous Vegetables through Speed Breeding Approaches  Cucurbits largely consist of economically and nutritionally important vegetables and their genetic improvement can be enhanced and intensified by speed breeding approaches viz., shortening life cycles by precocious floral induction and anther culture based double haploid techniques.  

]]> Genetic Improvement, Cucurbitaceous Vegetables, Speed Breeding POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Aug 2022 00:00:00 IST Scientific Seed Production Techniques of Multiplier Onion Onion is one of the important bulbous vegetable crop grown in India and it is a vital constituent of Indian cookery. Indian average productivity is 16.80 Mt/ha.  However when compared to other countries, the Indian average yield is very low. The main difference between the bulb and seed propagated types is, investment on seed component.  In bulb propagated type, farmer requires 500 to 600 kg of seed bulbs for planting an acre which is higher in cost. Whereas in seed propagated type, it requires only one kg of seeds for an acre which is cheaper as compared to seed bulbs. This will minimize the cost of cultivation, reduction in diseases incidence, enhance the drought tolerance and more income to the farming community.

]]> Multiplier onion, bulb propagated and seed production POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Jul 2022 00:00:00 IST Role of Molecular Markers in Plant Variety Protection Act Protection of Plant varieties and Farmers Rights Act (PPV & FR) is a unique law that India has passed to safeguard plant varieties through registration. To protect plants from environmental effects and to use molecular markers that are dependable, quick and affordable, it is crucial to identify and register plant varieties. The traditional method for the identification of variety involves recording of morphological traits, which is time consuming, labor intensive and highly influenced by environmental factors. The extensive use of molecular markers in all the major crops has created a new opportunity for their application in the recognition and preservation of plant varieties.

]]> Molecular Markers, Roles, Plant Variety Protection Act, Protection of Plant varieties and Farmers Rights Act, PPV & FR POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Jul 2022 00:00:00 IST Dissecting the Complex Agronomic Traits using the QTL Mapping Approach Quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping is an analysis of the number, genomic locations, effects, and interactions of quantitative trait loci (QTL). When examining a set of quantitative traits, QTL mapping looks at the link between genotype at various genomic regions and phenotype. Finding the chromosomal regions that significantly affect how quantitative traits differ among populations is the primary objective of QTL mapping. This localization is crucial for both the eventual identification of the implicated genes and our comprehension of the genetic mechanisms behind the variance.

]]> Complex Agronomic Traits, Quantitative trait locus, QTL Mapping Approach POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Jul 2022 00:00:00 IST Effective Microorganism Technology: A New Avenue in Organic Fertilization Effective microorganism technology is a method in which mixed culture of beneficial microorganisms is applied to soil as an inoculant, which increases microbial diversity; enhance soil quality as well as growth, yield and quality of crops. The necessity for chemical fertilisers and pesticides is lowered since EM cultures expedite the decomposition of organic wastes, increase the availability of mineral nutrients and desirable organic compounds to plants, and augment the activity of beneficial microorganisms. Due to its eco-friendly nature and minimal demand on resources like inputs and money, EM has a pretty broad range of applications in many facets of human society. Therefore, effective microorganism technology can be considered as an effective method in organic fertilization.

]]> organic agriculture, effective microorganisms, Organic Fertilization, Microorganism Technology POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Jul 2022 00:00:00 IST Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.): Countless Benefits and its Scientific Evidences Coconut is consumed in the daily diet in several part of the world. All parts of the coconut tree have medicinal properties. Many phytochemicals are present in different parts. Coconut water contains phenols and flavonoids. Pharmacological properties of coconut kernel, flower, husk, tender coconut water and virgin coconut oil were proved through in vitro and in vivo techniques. Ozone treatment and UV coupled polyamide membrane system could be used to improve shelf life of coconut water. Many value added products and nutraceuticals can be produced using coconut.

]]> Coconut, Indigenous medicinal properties, Phytochemicals, Pharmacological properties, Value addition, Nutraceuticals POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Jul 2022 00:00:00 IST NIDW-1149 - A New durum Wheat Variety for Peninsular Zone under Restricted Irrigation Condition  NIDW 1149 is a durum wheat variety developed by Agricultural Research Station, MPKV; Niphad (MS) having IC No IC 635346 has pedigree NIDW 295 (Godavari) X NIDW 15 (Panchvati). The variety was identified and recommended by Varietal Identification Committee Meeting in 59th AGM of All India Coordinated Research Project on Wheat & Barley held on 24th August, 2020. It has been released and notified by Central Sub Committee on Crop Standards, India for cultivation in Peninsular Zone (Maharashtra and Karnataka states) under restricted irrigation condition vide Gazette Notification No. SO 500 (E) dated 29th January 2021.  

]]> NIDW-1149, durum wheat variety, Agricultural Research Station, Peninsular Zone, Restricted Irrigation Condition POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 IST 3 Heat Wave - Causes, Consequences and its Mitigation India is well-known for being extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The country has been experiencing an increasing trend of heat waves in recent years. Due to a severe heat wave that has affected most of the country, the harvest prospects for several crops, particularly wheat, have been reduced this year. The government had previously expected wheat production of 111.32 million tonnes, but due to a strong heat wave in mid-March, it reduced the prediction to 105 million tonnes in May. The recent heat wave in India is having repercussions around the world in terms of food supplies, as the country has pushed to limit wheat exports. The early-summer heat wave serves as a wake-up call for all agencies and policymakers to take the required precautions in terms of prevention, readiness, and community outreach in order to preserve the lives of the general public, livestock, and wild animals.

]]> climate change, heat wave, crop, food supply POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 IST Chicory - A Multipurpose Herb Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) belongs to an Asteraceae family is an aromatic, medicinal biennial or perennial herb. It is well-known worldwide for its culinary, medicinal, and nutritional benefits. It is grown as weed in berseem during rabi cultivation and having the robust regenerative capacity which infest the berseem crop sown with berseem/lucerne seeds in the field. The plant can also be used to augment cattle feed that mixed with beseem/lucerne forage at the time of harvesting.

]]> Chicory, Asteraceae family, aromatic, Multipurpose Herb, augment cattle feed POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 IST A Review on Success Story and Farmer's Meeting  Rural Horticultural Work Experience (RHWE) is a course offered to undergraduate students to get associated with the farmer's community and to understand the Agricultural / Horticultural conditions in the rural areas. In addition to the demonstration, we conducted farmers meeting viz., Azolla cultivation, and Diary farming. We also met a farmer who was involved in the integrated farming system and we collected the information regarding the integrated farming system in Kaveripakkam village.   

]]> RHWE, Success stories, Farmers meeting on kaveripakkam POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 IST RKVY Farmer FIRST Project in Maharashtra - An Overview Farmer's recent technological and institutional needs are not being adequately met, according to a rising impression. Furthermore, the research system frequently does not recieve appropriate response to plan and conduct demand driven research, resulting in large disparity between the quality of research output required at the farm level and that being created. It is also believed that the research system should be pro-active approach in reaching out to the farmers to acquire first-hand information, farmer perception and feedback on existing technologies, as well as develop new, more relevant procedures, methodologies and technologies for diverse environments. To overcome these problems MPKV, Rahuri University introduced Farmer FIRST Project proposed under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. This article attempts first-hand information about the project.

]]> Farmer FIRST, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 IST Management of Root Knot Nematode, Meloidogyne incognita in Tuberose using Liquid Formulations of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Paecilomyces lilacinus The yield reduction up to 20 – 40 % was noticed in the tuberose growing areas due to root knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita. The infestation occurred during rainy season especially after the sucker formation. The FLDs conducted in Thirumanoor village of Panamarathupatty block of Salem Dt in an area of 4 Ha. Attempt was made to demonstrate the management of root knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita in tuberose using liquid formulations of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Paecilomyces lilacinus. Reduction in damage due to root knot nematode was 13.5 % in demo plot as compared to 38.9 % in control.

]]> Root Knot Nematode, Tuberose, Meloidogyne incognita, Liquid Formulations POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 IST Popularization and Women Empowerment through Backyard Poultry Rearing Backyard poultry production system is an enterprise with minimal initial investment with higher economic returns and considered as socio economic improvement among the weaker sections and marginal farm women's. It is evident from the project that the livelihood of farm women has been increased by getting an additional income of Rs.1,025/month from the backyard poultry unit which is several folds higher than conventional rearing and the livelihood of farm women has been increased by getting an additional income of Rs.1,025/month from the backyard poultry unit which is several folds higher than conventional rearing.

]]> Women Empowerment, Backyard Poultry Rearing, minimal initial investmen, higher economic returns, socio economic improvement POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 IST Impact of Farm Field School on Rice Integrated Crop Management FFS Rice ICM there integrated approach focused on Integrated pest management, integrated weed management and integrated nutrient management which will lead to improved sustainable yield, grain quality and environmental conservation. ETL based application insecticides and fungicides enhance the natural enemies’ population and also reduce the cost of cultivation. Reduction in pesticide spray results in resurgence of natural enemy’s population. Seed treatment with antagonistic bacteria pseudomonas protects the crop from diseases as well as reduces the cost on plant protection chemicals. LCC based N application minimizes the urea application this reduces the production cost as well as protect the crop from insect pest and diseases.

]]> Farm Field School, Rice Integrated Crop, FFS Rice, Integrated Crop Management POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 IST Impact of Farm Field School on Rice Integrated Pest Management in Rice The role of integrated pest management in rice pest management has obvious advantages in terms of effectiveness, safety to non-target organisms and cost of cultivation with special reference to plant protection cost. The rice pests can be effectively managed using combination of different management tactics. ETL based application of insecticides protects the crop from insect pests and diseases as well as conserves the natural enemy’s population and reduces the cost of cultivation. Reduction in pesticidal spray helps in the resurgence of natural enemy’s population. LCC based application of Nitrogenous fertilizers reduces the production cost as well as protects them from insect pests and diseases.

]]> Farm Field School, Rice Integrated, Pest Management in Rice, ETL based application, LCC based application POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 IST Brinjal Pest Management by using New Generation Pesticides The Present study conducted at Vegetable Research Station, Cuddalore District during 2019-20 by using new generation pesticides molecules in brinjal pest management in seed production field.  Brinjal variety used for seed production plot is PLR 1. Nursery was raised in raised bed and sowing was done after seed treatment by Pseudomonas @ 10 g per 1.0 kg of seeds. During 15 Days after Sowing, at nursery bed, hoppers (white and Green) were noticed, to manage the hoppers damage, Neem Oil (Azadirachtin EC 300 ppm) was sprayed @ 3.0 ml/litre of water. During 25 days old seedling, again one spray of Neem Oil (Azadirachtin EC 300 ppm) was spayed @ 40 ml for 10 litre of water to manage the sucking pest problems. After 30 days, the brinjal seedlings were transplanted at main field. At 25 days after planting, white fly and hoppers were noticed, for these problem, Flonicamid 50%WG (Ulala) was prayed @ 60g/ acre. At 45 days after planting, the shoot and fruit borer damage was noticed, to manage this, Thiocloprid 21.7%SC was sprayed @ 250 ml per acre. After 10 days intervals, Chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC was sprayed. During 75 days, the fruit borer damage was observed, for this problem, Spinosad 45%SC was sprayed to manage the fruit borer damage. After Spinosad spraying, 10 to 15 days, the fruit borer damage was drastically reduced. Again sucking pest problems were noticed, to minimize the white fly and hoppers damage, Diafenthuron 50%WP was sprayed @12.5g per 10 litre of water. During fruit harvesting stage (after 100 days), Chlorantraniliprole 18.5%SC and Spinosad 45%SC was sprayed repeatedly in 10 to 15 days intervals to minimize the fruit borer damage.

]]> Brinjal Pest Management, New Generation Pesticides POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 IST Varietal Influence of Sree Athulya against Red Spider Mite Tetranychus cinnabarinus (Boisduval) (Acarina: Tetranychidae)  The red spider mites, Tetranychus cinnabarinus (Boisduval) (Acarina: Tetranychidae ) is one of the serious mite pest causing heavy infestation result in blotching and bronzing of leaves followed by premature leaf fall cause severe yield loss of 48.1 to 64.8 per cent in tapioca. Outbreak and heavy population of this mite was recorded during dry summer periods in Salem and Namakkal districts of Tamil Nadu. The mite population build up was low in Sree Athulya   planted plots (4.5 mites /cm2 leaf area) and higher in Mulluivadi planted plots 28.6 mites /cm2 leaf area. Sree Athulya variety prevented the buildup of mite population as compared to local cultivar Mulluvadi.  The yield in the Sree Athulya   planted plots was ranging from 37.2 to 34.0 ton/ ha compared to 26.6 ton/ha in the farmers practice.  

]]> Red Spider Mite, Tetranychus cinnabarinus, Varietal Influence, Acarina: Tetranychidae, Boisduval POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 IST Fish Cum Makhana Farming- A Success Story of Progressive Farmer In the Saharsa district, an Integrated Farming System Model was built by combining fish and water chestnut with fox nut on 125 acres of land. The net advantage of the system was Rs.65,650 when compared to the conventional system, which consisted solely of fox nut production. In cropping system mode, the field-based Makhana agriculture system was standardized with other crops such as fish, rice and water chestnut. The gross returns from Fox nut-fish, Fox nut-rice and Fox nut-water chestnut cultivation were Rs.2,80,250, 2,70,175, and 3,50,280 per ha, respectively, while Fox nut cultivation alone yielded a gross return of Rs.1,30,450.

]]> Makhana, IFS, Fish, Agricultural Land and Pond SUCCESS STORY Tue, 31 May 2022 00:00:00 IST Wealth from Waste - A Success Story in Organic Manure Production Unit “Bio + Madikai” Kasaragod district being officially declared organic, there is a huge demand for organic fertilizers in the district. Farmers experience a huge shortage of good quality organic manure in the district. Krishnan Prakodal an NRI started an enterprise for production of organic manure from agricultural and allied waste. ICAR KVK, Kasaragod demonstrated the coirpith composting technology and recommended fortification using wood ash, cow dung and urine to enhance the quality. The agripreneur further refined the technology by incorporating poultry and fish waste. After further refinement, the raw materials being used now in the preparation of the manure are poultry waste, fish waste, goat manure and other organic wastes. The enterprise named Bio + Madikai was started during 2016-17. Bio plus Madikai organic manure product is now available all over the state. The unit has produced 1400 MT of organic manure in five years which effectively replaces the use of chemical fertilizers in an area of 1400 hectares benefiting 12000 farmers. In addition to Bio + Madikkai organic manure unit, Krishnan also runs Sopanam Agricultural Farm, Plant Nursery for Seedling and Ornamental garden production, Custom hiring centre  and Value addition of farm products.

]]> Organic manure, Composting, Agripreneur, Farm waste SUCCESS STORY Tue, 31 May 2022 00:00:00 IST MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry: A Technique for Identification of Foodborne Pathogens Food safety is of major concern in any of the food processing industries as most of the freshly packed foods are subjected to microbial attack leading to growth of microorganisms. Growth of microbes leads to change in taste, smell, odour of packaged foods which is the huge loss for food industries as it is unfit for consumption. Therefore, there is need to identify and detect these microbes thus ensuring food safety. Several conventional methods are available, but all these methods are time consuming and laborious. But in recent years MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry is gaining popularity because it is more accurate, rapid method of microbe detection and identification.

]]> Food borne pathogens, Laser beam, Mass analyser, Detection POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Apr 2022 00:00:00 IST Application of Plant Tissue Culture Techniques for the Genetic Improvement and Yield Maximization in Moringa (Moringa oleifera) Moringa is a popular vegetable for curry, gravy and side dish preparations, both leaves and fresh pods are used in culinary purposes. The important breeding objectives in moringa are development of short statured drought and saline tolerant annual types with higher number of pods and higher levels of iron and zinc. Besides these, off season production is also one of the important breeding objectives. Applications of conventional breeding approaches in Moringa are very difficult due to its highly cross pollinated nature and heterozygosity expressions. Hence, biotechnological approaches are the best option for further improvement of Moringa. Micro-propagation and Doubled haploid techniques will pave the way for genetic improvement in Moringa for genetic uniformity.

]]> Plant Tissue Culture Techniques, Genetic Improvement, Yield Maximization in Moringa POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Apr 2022 00:00:00 IST Coconut Root Feeding – A Way to Realise Farmer’s Dreams The coconut tree is the only living species of the genus Cocos from the family Arecaceae. It is cultivated widely in tropical areas for its edible fruit called the coconut. The term "coconut" can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is botanically as drupe, not a nut. Coconut palms are found in tropical coastal areas and its being one of the most predominant crops of the tropics. The countries like Philippines, India and Indonesia are the major copra producers in the world. Coconuts are mostly cultivated for their oil. The oil is extracted from the endosperm and is used for cooking. Coconut is a source of food, beverages, medicine, natural fiber, wood and raw materials for units producing a variety of goods and items. The assessment of crop loss is necessary for sensible planning for making research and developmental policies. Coconut crop yield losses due to insect pests particularly Opisina arenosella, it can be as high as 45% and it will take upto 4 years to regain normal yield after heavy infestation.

]]> Coconut Root Feeding, genus Cocos, coconut palm, Opisina arenosella POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Apr 2022 00:00:00 IST A glance at the demonstration of Rural Horticultural Work Experience (RHWE) program Rural Horticultural Work Experience (RHWE) is a course offered to the undergraduate students to get associated with the farmers community and to understand the agricultural / Horticultural conditions in the rural areas.  In this programme students performs some demonstrations related to the farm practices. Here we have performed 10 demonstration viz., Demonstration of zero energy cool chamber, Seed ball technique, Soil sample collection, Coconut mulching, Compost preparation, Air layering technique, Intercultural practices in banana, Kitchen gardening, Organic pesticides making, and Kisan call centre at various places in kaveripakkam village. This supports the farmers to gain a good knowledge about farm practices using low cost investment.

]]> RHWE, Demonstration, Farmers field, Kaveripakkam POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 30 Apr 2022 00:00:00 IST Integrated Farming System in Dry Land for Sustainable Livelihood: A Success Story of A Farmer The Major contribution of the agriculture income is to uplift the livelihood status of the farmers. Many farmers are running behind the various government and non-government organizations every season in search of good services and information. However, in view of large gap between production and supply, some of the farmers are resorting to locally available Advisories. Hence, adoption of Integrated farming system to production under the supervision of extension personal approach can improve farmers’ income besides ensuring the good quality life style. This article narrates how the resource poor farmer to produce high number farm activities to double the farmer’s income as compared to that of normal agrarian.

]]> Integrated Farming System, Dry Land, Success Story of A Farmer, Sustainable Livelihood SUCCESS STORY Sat, 30 Apr 2022 00:00:00 IST Realizing Oil Seed Self Sufficiency Through Systematic Interventions  Oil seeds production and productivity remains static over period of time in India. Every year major portion of requirement is imported from other countries. The decrease in area under production of oilseeds is in alarming rate. India is the major oil seed producing country (20% in area and 10% in Production). Annual production of oil seeds is 32.0 MT and annual total requirement of oilseeds is 45.64 MT. Hence, to minimize the shortfall in requirements, every year is 10-15 MT of oilseeds is imported. Percapita consumption of oil seeds is 8 Kg/year. Increase of production to 60 MT, will definitely decrease the oilseeds import. Major oil seed crops viz., groundnut, rapeseed, soybean, mustard, sunflower, and sesame Increase in area, production and productivity oilseeds need systematic approaches from policies to technological interventions.  

]]> Oil seeds, Self Sufficiency, Systematic Interventions, Oil seeds production POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:00:00 IST Zinc Deficiency Management in Rice for Higher Productivity  Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the highly sensitive crops to zinc deficiency. Zinc is the most important micronutrient limiting rice growth and yield next to nitrogen and phosphorus. Soil having coarse texture, low organic matter content, high pH and presence of CaCO3 are prone to zinc deficiency. Zinc deficiency usually appears in 2 to 3 weeks after transplanting rice seedlings. It affects tiller production, plants remain stunted and in severe cases complete crop loss may occur. Also it increases the spikelet sterility and time to crop maturity. It can be managed by soil application and foliar spray of zinc fertilizers. Soil application of zinc sulphate through broadcasting and incorporation proved more efficient and economical method for correcting the zinc deficiency. 

]]> Zinc Deficiency Management, Rice, Higher Productivity, highly sensitive crops POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:00:00 IST Mini Review on RAWE Programme RAWE – Rural Agricultural Work Experience. This programme imparts quality, practical and production oriented  knowledge to all the agricultural graduates by allotting the Village Stay Programme at various districts and studying the practical agricultural work with the farming communities, identifying their problematic situation and transferring the new agricultural technology with the help of various extension tools. RAWE programme makes the agricultural students understand their theoretical part in a practical way and lays a path for understanding the current market situation.

]]> RAWE, Demonstration, Agriculture, Technology transfer POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:00:00 IST Resistant Starch in Food - A promise to a better health  Resistant Starch (RS) are those parts of our ingested food which are not digested by our digestive enzymes and are passed into the intestine where they get fermented. According to their digestive activities against α-amylase, RS can be of five types- RS1 (physically inaccessible), RS2 (native), RS3 (retrograded), RS4 (modified) and RS5 (amylose-lipid complex). Some of them can be digested partially after processing and cooking. RS have various beneficial effects on our digestive system, like maintaining intestinal microbial flora, restricting colon cancer, insulin level, glycemic index, etc. It also acts as a good source of fiber and enhances color and taste of food. Thus, it finds a huge application in processed food industries and healthcare sector for its unique physicochemical characteristics. 

]]> α-amylase, colon cancer, glycemic index, resistant starch POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:00:00 IST AIoT - New TechnologyDose Ready to Boost Business Immunity of Agri Startup Integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with the Internet of Things (IoT) provides a platform for creating truly intelligent, networked devices and applications. The Artificial Intelligence of Things" (AIoT) is working to develop cost-effective, intelligent, and scalable solutions for a more sustainable, interconnected society. In other words, using IoT sensing and AI decision-making skills enable large-scale industrial automation that is self-healing and self-managed. At the same time, AIoT assists enterprises in promoting learning and customization. AIoT synergizes solutions for a successful digital transition by enabling for the addition of more advanced predictive capabilities. AIoT can employ data analytics to make appropriate recommendations or take appropriate actions.

]]> AIoT, Platform, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, devices, decision making, data analysis POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:00:00 IST Mechanism Promoting Pollination There is a universal fact that every individual plant species in this world will multiple into several new species or copies either through sexual or asexual reproduction. For this sexual reproduction to be taking place, pollination has a pivotal role in each & every flowering plants. The male gametophytes are present in the pollen grains & are produced in the anthers & the female gametophytes are present in the stigma on which the male gametophyte the pollen grains are attached & thus pollination takes places in flowering plants. Homozygosity of crop species can be increased by autogamy. Autogamy leads to heterosis but do not show inbreeding depression. Allogamy shows considerable amount of heterosis & show mild to severe inbreeding depression. They are highly heterozygous. Considering the tremendously increasing population, the world can’t be survived if there is no pollination in the flowering plants. This makes us to realize,” how much precious is the pollination is”.

]]> Flower type, Pure race, Inbreeding depression, Hybrid varieties, New varieties, Desirable characters POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:00:00 IST Penetrating Glance of Street Foods A street food is characterized by ready to eat foods which is sold by vendors or local people located in street or road side or city. It is one of the fast moving foods consumed by busiest population. Even though street foods are good in taste, flavor, texture and ready to take away, the vulnerability of these foods is very dangerous. Street foods are associated with harmful microorganisms. This article elaborated penetrating glance of street foods and its associated harmful microorganisms.

]]> Street foods, harmful microorganisms, food safety, consumption POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:00:00 IST Permaculture Permaculture is the type of farming in eco-friendly manner which comprises of diversity of plants which can withstand climatic changes, agroforestry, silviculture, agropastoral system, water harvesting including micro-catchment area, aquaculture, sustainable and zero budget farming and livestock rearing. Resource recycling is the common process in permaculture. The yield is more in permaculture than conventional farming as it focuses not only in yield of main crops but also on yield of by-products because in permaculture wastes produced were used in efficient way. When compared to conventional farming, permaculture produces 35 times the amount of food per square meter than conventional farming with less usage of resources which is less than 20%. It aims at curtailing dependence on inputs for cultivation.

]]> Diversity of plants, Zones, Zero carbon emission, Ecological sustainability, Green Oasis POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:00:00 IST Heat Generating Textile Products for Human Clothing Electronic textiles (e-textiles) are textile products that have electronics and interconnections embedded into them. Components and connections are a part of the fabric and thus are much less visible and, flexible with the material and comfort to the wearer. ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology CIRCOT, Mumbai is a pioneer organization working on the post-harvest processing and value addition of cotton along with the application of recent technological advancement for fibre manufacturing. The institute is engaged in conducting research and development to manufacture many smart textile products.

]]> E-textile, Conductive yarn, Conductive ink, Smart textiles POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:00:00 IST Terrace Gardening  Terrace gardening is a practice of having a garden in any open space at top of the building. It has good aesthetic purpose and may provide fresh self-cultivated produce; it reduces the house temperature and can also be a habitable place for some wilds. In India most houses have flat roof tops. Well those can be transformed into beautiful recreational terrace gardens. Increasing population trends in India stressing each and every farming product into greater demand and making its quality very low. Hence the better way to recover our lost nature and to conserve the remaining ecology terrace gardening is the prime alternative.  

]]> Aesthetic, rooftop garden, plants, lawn, vegetables POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:00:00 IST Savory Diet Fungus Morchella Morchella is a savory diet fungus. It is also known by the name Morel and is the world’s most prized edible fungus. About 400 Morchella species have been reported from various parts including Asia, USA and Europe. True morel (Morchella spp.) which includes edible Morchella has health values because of presence of phytochemicals in its tissues besides phenolic compounds and vitamin D.  It is the flavor of this mushroom which makes it savory and medicinal value as a perfect diet.

]]> Diet, Morchella, Morel, Phytochemicals POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:00:00 IST Relation Between the Population Growth and the Practice of Soilless Culture Cultivating enough food to feed the world’s population comes with high environmental tag. “Agriculture is the backbone of India”. Food is the primary source of energy for every living organism in the world. Due to the increase in the population growth of world, the requirement of energy source and food need is rapidly increasing. This population rise leads to increase in industrialization and in need of comfortable living space. So, that the land area requirement is quite reducing for cultivation of agriculture produce. To meet the supply and demand, there is in need to increase the intensity of crop production with no compensation in quality and quantity of the produce. This paves a way for the soilless culture to meet the demand of food scarcity.

]]> Soilless Culture, Population Growth, Food, Agriculture, population rise POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:00:00 IST Haploids Induction Mediated Through Genome Editing  Rapid generation of homozygous lines in genetical studies and crop improvement programmes are aimed for the stability to study the expression of traits and selection of superior lines in segregating populations for the development new crop variety. Functional genomics studies involving T DNA tagging, insertional mutations, CRISPR-Cas 9 mediated genome editing is being utilized for identifying the mechanism of gene actions. Homozygous lines will be having stable expressions and opted materials for transcriptomic, metabolomics and structural genomic studies. Rapid development of mapping populations viz., recombinant inbred lines, near isogenic lines and homozygous lines are necessary for structural genomic studies. Homozygous lines respond well to nutrient uptake studies, plant pathogenic interaction studies, and abiotic stress tolerances. In vivo methods like MATL and CenH3 mediated haploid inductions are genotypic independent and easy system to generated larger number of stable DH lines for crop improvement and genetical studies. 

]]> Genome Editing, Rapid generation, Haploids Induction Mediate, T DNA tagging, homozygous POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:00:00 IST Management of Nematodes in Horticultural Crops The plant parasitic nematodes are the hidden enemies of many crops causing huge losses by infecting individually or causing complex disease by interacting with other plant pathogens. The horticultural crops are the cash crop of growers and because of their high nutrient value, the production cost is also high. For getting off-season products, protected cultivation is getting beneficial for handsome earning of cultivators but due to plant parasitic nematodes, the quality and quantity of these produce are hampered and proper return could not be achieved in market. Since these organisms are microscopic and most of them are found in soil so, they could not get noticed. Their population could not be irradicated because of their high population and very well developed survival strategy. So, managing them below economic damaging level, certainly helps in enhancing the quality of produce and good return to the farmers.

]]> Fruits, flowers, plant parasitic nematodes, management, vegetables POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:00:00 IST Aerobic Rice Development - Prospects, Challenges and Scope  Breeding of rice for low water requirement is a long term goal and it can be achieved with development and cultivation of aerobic rice genotypes. Component traits of aerobic rice needed to be genetically and phenotypically characterized for the successful incorporation. Traits viz., seedling vigour, salinity tolerance, water use efficiency, root exudation, microbiome association, nutrients mobilization and utilization, nutrients use efficiency, higher temperature tolerance, spikelet fertility. These traits should be phenotypically characterized and genomic regions regulating the traits should be identified for successful incorporation to evolve an aerobic rice genotype suitable under tropical upland rice ecosystem with increased productivity levels and less water requirement abilities. Screening methods should be standardized with controlled water application methods, and temperature regulations during critical stages of growth. Magical populations should be evolved by crossing multiple divergent parents to bring the wider genetic pool in one genetic background for the introgression of component traits of aerobic rice genotypes. 

]]> Aerobic Rice Development, Prospects, Challenges, Scope, Breeding of rice, low water requirement POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 28 Feb 2022 00:00:00 IST Eradicate Loranthus and Save Neem Trees Neem is a traditional tree that grows well in all tropical areas. It is a deciduous tree with wide spreading branches. Spreading branches of the trees form crowns which spreads 20 m across. The leaves fall only during summer and in other seasons the tree remains evergreen. The roots of the tree penetrate deeply into the soil and remain live for more than twenty five years. Loranthus is the only parasitic weed that grows on the branches of the trees. It mainly spreads through birds. The colorful flower of the parasite attracts birds which eats the berries of the loranthus and spreads it through its fecal matter. It produces haustoria which penetrate deeply into the tree branches which sucks nutrients and moisture from the host tree. As days passes it will lead to death of the tree. Cutting the infected branch and applying copper-oxychloride to prevent secondary fungal infection is one of the best ways to control the spread of the parasitic weed.

]]> Neem, stem parasite, Loranthus, control POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Jan 2022 00:00:00 IST Health Benefits of Black Rice Rice is the most well-known cereal, a starchy grain that is utilised as a staple food by more than half of the world's population, owing to its wider adaptability and availability. Nowadays lifestyle-related disorders leading to oxidative stress and diseases such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease have become more common in humans. On the other hand, pigmented rice types such as black rice exhibit anti-inflammatory and antioxidant characteristics, making rice a possible choice for neutraceutical and functional food alternatives. The presence of various bioactive compounds in black rice have been linked to the medicinal effects and therapeutic properties extending its role in treatment of ailments and disorders.

]]> Health Benefits, Black Rice, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Jan 2022 00:00:00 IST Diversity of Mushrooms in Kashmir Himalayas The UT of Jammu and Kashmir has distinct agro climatic zones comprising subtropical, intermediate, temperate and cold arid zones. The Kashmir Valley falls under temperate zone and the forests consists of both conifers as well as broad leaved tree species. Besides tree species, several types of mushrooms are found in Kashmir Valley. Kashmir possesses a prime place in the variety and galaxy of macro fungi due to wide agro-climatic variations, diverse physiographic and undulating topography. However, the documentation of mushroom flora is still in pioneer stage and a large number of fungi are yet to be un-recorded from the area. Mushroom season in Kashmir can be witnessed best from the spring up to the early snowfall. Kashmir is the best place for mushroom cultivation and processing. Most of the people in Kashmir belong to rural background and have little resources to meet their essential needs. Mushroom cultivation on commercial scale can help the landless, small and marginal farmers of these hilly areas to increase their income, which can help them to diversify their economic activity. It can provide and raise sufficient employment opportunities for the unemployed youth, and weaker sections of the society.

]]> Kashmir, Mushrooms, Documentation, Employment POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 Jan 2022 00:00:00 IST A Success Farmer Share his Tactics with Agriculture Scholars The final year B.Sc., (Hons.) Agriculture students (2018-19 Batch) of College of Agricultural Technology, Theni have undergone Village Stay Programme (VSP) as a part of the course Rural Agricultural Work Experience (RAWE) at Nilakkottai in Dindigul District of Tamil Nadu, India for about 90 days. They have been allotted 12 Revenue villages to gather experience with the famers. In that, they got an inspirational experience by a progressive farmer Mr. A.Kennadi of Silukkuvarpatti Village of Nilakkotttai Block. The success story of abovementioned farmer is briefed in this topic.

]]> RAWE Students, VSP, Progressive farmer, Jasmine grower SUCCESS STORY Mon, 31 Jan 2022 00:00:00 IST Plant - Based Antibiotic Adjuvants - A Roadmap to Combat Antibiotic Resistance Multidrug-resistant bacteria have now emerged as a global threat due to the emergence of new or re-emergence of old pathogens. This alarming situation demands either to find new/modified effective antibiotics or alternatives to reduce the overall load of infectious diseases both in the veterinary and public domain. Antibiotic adjuvants are non-antibiotic compounds that potentiate the existing antibiotic activity. The Himalayan region being a big basket and hot spot of biodiversity, inhabiting a diverse flora of medicinal plants/herbs can be evaluated for antibiotic adjuvants. These adjuvants work either by blocking the main bacterial resistance mechanisms or enhancing the antimicrobial action of the drug. The adjuvants assist in polypharmacy on bacteria by de-energizing the efflux pump channel of bacteria to escape antibiotic action and by allowing antibiotics to have greater internal access. Thus, the plant-based antibiotic adjuvants have the potency to re-empower the existing antibiotics, restoring their activities against target pathogen that too with minimal side effects/toxicity being natural in origin.

]]> Antibiotic resistance, antibiotic adjuvants, antibiotic potentiation, efflux pump channel POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 Dec 2021 00:00:00 IST Polyphenols in Rice Phenolic compounds are the secondary metabolites synthesized in plants. Basically in chemical composition it is a heterogeneous molecule with phenol group in its basic structure. Polyphenols exists in various forms like simple molecules to polymerized structures like phenolic acids to tannins respectively. The major phenolic compounds were phenolic acids, flavonoids and anthocyanins.

]]> Polyphenols, Rice, secondary metabolites, heterogeneous molecule POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 Dec 2021 00:00:00 IST Speed Breeding New technologies on multiple scales are re-engineering to increase the number of crop cycles to achieve multiple generations of crops per year. The integration of speed breeding to existing crop breeding methods will expedite the research studies through rapid generation of crops. The time period for the crop varieties development could be reduced significantly. Also, it accelerates the progress of plant research in the activities viz., crossing, development of mapping population and adult plant phenotyping. Furthermore, this technique accelerate the introgression breeding for the pyramiding of traits.

]]> Speed Breeding, crop cycles, rapid generation of crops POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 31 Dec 2021 00:00:00 IST Ikshu PSB – A Potential Phosphate Solubilizing Microbial Inoculant for Plant Growth Promotion and Increasing Cane Yield in Sugarcane Crop Sugarcane crop is commercially cultivated across the country. Uttar Pradesh state has approximately 23 lakh hectare sugarcane area of the 50 lakhs sugarcane area of the country. In recent years, this state has achieved a better position in sugar production in the country. During sugarcane cultivation, farmers are applying quantum chemical fertilizers besides the recommended dose of fertilizers. The recommended dose of fertilizers for sugarcane cultivation in the sub-tropical region of the country is in the ratio of 150:60:60 (N,P,K). Phosphatic and potassic fertilizers are applied at the time of planting as a basal application. Only one-time application is done to fulfill the requirements of these plant nutrients. Nitrogenous fertilizers are applied in three split doses and advised to be used within 90 days of the crop or before the onset of the monsoon. To reduce our dependency on phosphatic fertilizers, minimize the cost of cultivation as well as enhance crop yield, a phosphate solubilizing microbial product named Ikshu PSB was developed and validated in experimental trials. Field level demonstrations were conducted at ICAR-Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow, and Farmers Field of Lakhimpur district, Uttar Pradesh. It was recorded that Ikshu PSB treated field had better cane yield. The increased cane yield was 23.74 percent higher than the standard control. Based on this, net income was calculated and found a 57.67 percent increase compared to non-treated fields. The monetary return was also 24.41 percent higher. Besides this, it was noticed that crop loss caused by biotic factors mainly due to diseases was negligible in treated fields. While some borer damages were noticed by in both treated and non-treated fields. The technology was demonstrated to sugarcane growers, students, and researchers during various institutional activities. The technology has been commercialized with a private agency for its mass multiplication and distribution to the benefit of sugarcane growers in the subtropical regions of the country.

]]> Ikshu PSB, Sugarcane Crop, Sugarcane, Microbial Inoculant, Phosphate Solubilizing POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 30 Nov 2021 00:00:00 IST Organic Farming - A Step Towards Sustainability Organic farming is a much needed step for our present and future generation. Organic farming is a strategy which is adopted to protect the human's birds and our environment through sustainable agriculture. Organic farming helps to keep out the chemicals from the farm and curtail the use of inorganic fertilizer. It is a high time that farmers should start to adopt organic farming. Organic agriculture has fewer yields but it enhances the quality of what we consume.

]]> Organic farming, Sustainable agriculture, Environment POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 30 Nov 2021 00:00:00 IST Agronomic Interventions for Enhanced Productivity of Minor Millets Minor millets consist of a group of small seeded cereal species that are genetically diverse and adapted in varied range of agro-climatic conditions where major cereals such as rice, wheat and maize were relatively uneconomical. Millets played an important role in traditional farming and food culture in many developing countries like South Asian and African countries. Minor millets include fingermillet (Eleusine coracana L.), foxtailmillet (Setaria italica L.) Beauv), prosomillet (Panicum miliaceum L.), kodomillet (Paspalum scrobiculatum L.), barnyardmillet (Echinochloa frumentacea Roxb., Link) and littlemillet (Panicum sumatrense Roth.ex Roem. and Schultz).

]]> millets, Agronomic, cereal, Minor millets, fingermillet, foxtailmillet, prosomillet, kodomillet, barnyardmillet, littlemillet POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 30 Nov 2021 00:00:00 IST A Mini Review on RHWE Programme RHWE- Rural horticultural work experience it is a programme which provide exposure to horticulture students by settling down in an allotted village working with farm families and identifying the problems in agriculture / horticulture crop production and providing recommendation to the farmers RHWE prepares horticultural graduates for better career in horticulture/horti business management. RHWE also helps horticultural graduates to face challenges by accruing knowledge and skills through hands on experience.

]]> RHWE, horticulture, agriculture, experience, better career SUCCESS STORY Tue, 30 Nov 2021 00:00:00 IST RHWE – Success Story The raising demand for nutritious healthy intake has led many entrepreneurs to give a shot on growing fruits like Apple, Dragon fruit, Date palm, Tissue culture Teak and Coconut in Tamil Nadu. Apple cultivation, long associated with the Himalayan foothills is heading south to the tropics.  India is the largest importer of dates in the world. Cultivation of Date palm in India is very limited. Now Date palm can also be grown in the southern tropics. With the suitable varieties, a farmer can grow any crop anywhere. The time has come for the farmers to move forward with different crops.

]]> RHWE, Apple, Dragon fruit, Date palm, Tissue culture Teak, Coconut SUCCESS STORY Tue, 30 Nov 2021 00:00:00 IST Lavender Cultivation - A Way Forward to Jammu's Purple Revolution  Lavender (Lavandula spica) is an ornamental plant economically valued for its highly fragrant flower. Lavender oil extracted from flowers is an important ingredient in many commercial products.  Cultivation of lavender in the hills of Jammu has changed the face of farming and brought in scent of profit to farmers. Aroma mission launched by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 2016 envisaged to bring transformative change in the aroma sector through interventions in the areas of agriculture. It is expected to enable Indian farmers and aroma industry to become global leaders in the production and export of essential oils. 

]]> Lavender, ornamental plant, aroma industry, essential oils, fragrant flower, Lavender oil SUCCESS STORY Tue, 30 Nov 2021 00:00:00 IST Diversification of Agriculture Through Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Effectiveness of medicinal and aromatic plants is well established for the ancient time in the world. Manifold effect of these herbs for curing the chronic diseases is well established. Industries are now moving forward to collaborate with the farmers to transfer new and effective technologies. High value Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) now can be produced through active participation of company and farmers. Wasteland can also be used by MAPs since it has ability to well performed because in coming years scarcity of natural resources and other inputs can be prominent. Isolation of bio-molecules from MAP’s and improving their contents in plants would further enhance the demand, consequently the profit as these molecules may find use in wide range of applications. The systematic, organized, complementary and globally accepted marketing channel will enhance the socio-economic level of billions people. The basic need is to involve the international industry to develop products through organic cultivation for better effectiveness. The time has come for growers to diversify their traditional grain crops with high value medicinal and aromatic crops.

]]> Diversification, high value, Medicinal, Aromatic plants POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Oct 2021 00:00:00 IST Phule Satwik (NIAW 3170) - A New Soft Bread Wheat Variety for Biscuit Purpose Phule Satwik (NIAW 3170) is a bread wheat variety developed at Agricultural Research Station, MPKV; Niphad (MS) having IC No IC 632135. It is derived through selection from Elite Spring Wheat Yield Trial and has pedigree SKOLL X ROLF 07. The variety was identified and recommended by Varietal Identification Committee Meeting in 58th AGM of All India Coordinated Research Project on Wheat & Barley. It has been released and notified by Central Sub Committee on Crop Standards, India for cultivation in North Western Plain Zone and Peninsular Zone under restricted irrigation condition vide Gazette Notification No. SO 3482 (E) dated 07th October 2020.

]]> Phule Satwik, NIAW 3170, Soft Bread Wheat Variety, Biscuit Purpose, Agricultural Research Station, MPKV Niphad POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Oct 2021 00:00:00 IST Tree Based Fodder for Livestock - A Contingent Feed Source The area under fodder crops in India is 8.6 million ha. which is less than five per cent of the area under cultivation in the country. Green fodder supply in twenties is reported to be 406 million tonnes whereas the demand is 1134 million tonnes. This shows a deficiency by 65 per cent of the demand in India. Additionally, the major concern with regard to feeding livestock arises due to the lower yields of field fodder crops during hot summer. In this scenario, tree fodders act as an important contingent fodder source for livestock. Various tree fodders viz., subabul, gliricidia, bauhinia, calliandra, mulberry, etc., serves as potential feeding source for livestock in our country. Use of tree fodders has numerous advantages viz., easy to grow, available round-the-year, reduced feed costs, improvement in soil properties, cattle production per hectare etc.

]]> Tree Based Fodder, Livestock, Contingent Feed Source, feeding livestock POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Oct 2021 00:00:00 IST Pesticide Free Vegetable Production  In India, insect pests are major constraints in vegetable production. The vegetable growers using chemical pesticides to minimize the loss due to pest and diseases, several alternate ways are available for the pests and they may yield pesticide free vegetable produce. The cultural methods viz., preparation of land, following crop rotation, selection suitable variety, crop management practices and use of traps may give better response in reducing the pest incidence. The biological methods like use of plant products, predators, parasitoids, and microbial bio-agents are now a days a boon in pest management in vegetable. Hence, combined application of cultural as well as biological methods against the pests can be way for production of pesticide free vegetables. 

]]> Vegetables, pesticide use, biological methods, Pesticide Free, Vegetable Production POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Oct 2021 00:00:00 IST Suitability of Turmeric Varieties Against Fungal Diseases in Cuddalore District - Tamil Nadu The turmeric crop is affected by three major fungal diseases and the yield of rhizome varied due to the incidences of disease and variety performance. A study was conducted to assess the suitability of varieties against fungal diseases in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu. Three varieties viz., CO2, IISR pragathi and Attur ruling variety were used to assess the performance against the fungal diseases under field condition. The growth parameters and incidence of rhizome rot in turmeric was recorded from the on farm trial and the results indicated that rhizome rot incidence was low in CO2 variety (2.12 %) and which was followed by IISR pragati (4.51%). The highest yield of rhizome was recorded by CO2 variety and which was followed by attur local variety. In the experiments, IISR pragati matured very earlier than other variety used in the study.  The CO2 variety given higher net profit and B: C ratio in the study. The disease incidence viz., rhizome rot, leaf blotch and leaf spot were noticed in all the three varieties; however, rhizome rot incidence was very low in CO2 variety and followed by IISR pragati. The incidence of leaf blotch and leaf spot were comparatively less in IISR pragati when compared to CO2 variety.

]]> Turmeric, Varieties, Fungal diseases, performance POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Oct 2021 00:00:00 IST Forest Governance under Forest Rights Act in Jammu and Kashmir The Forest Rights Act, 2006 was extended to the UT of Jammu and Kashmir on 31st October 2019. The act was passed by the Parliament of India on 18th December 2006 and received the assent of the president on 29th December 2006. The act recognizes the Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes (FDST) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFD) as an important and integral part for the conservation of forests and thereby the goal of forest conservation is best served by letting them stay on their lands and not by evicting them.  Under this act, the members of the Scheduled Tribes dwelling forests along with other traditional residents will have the right over forest land. Soon after the implementation of this act in J&K, several reports surfaced in Jammu and Kashmir which clearly showed that the Forest dewellers are not getting their rights properly. The Gujjar and Bakarwal families alleged that they being forcefully evicted from their traditional forest areas and a lot of videos and photos emerged on the social media platforms from the various parts of the UT, which invited the attention of rights activists and intense media scrutiny. Forest Rights act should be properly implemented in Jammu and Kashmir. This act will help in ensuring a dignified life to the tribal population. It is duty of government and Forest department to take all the necessary steps by virtue of which people can enjoy the benefits of this act.

]]> Forest Rights Act, J&K, Implementation, Forest Dwellers POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Oct 2021 00:00:00 IST Small-Scale Mushroom Cultivation for Additional Income Generation In India, mostly farmers are with small and marginal holding. To improve their agricultural productivity and income generation, crop diversification is required. Mushroom cultivation as an enterprise has the potentiality to generate additional income. Sri Hariom Prasad Jaiswal, a farmer of Begusarai district started small scale mushroom cultivation along with his traditional agricultural practice. He generated an additional income of Rs. 19,000.00/- in a season from mushroom production along with his regular income from traditional farming. Considering limited land with farmers, mushroom cultivation could be a promising option for supplementary income generation for small-holding farmers.

]]> Mushroom cultivation, Farm women & rural youth, income generation SUCCESS STORY Sun, 31 Oct 2021 00:00:00 IST Zero Tillage Technology - An Opportunity for Small Farmers to Enhance Livelihood Zero tillage can be a way to minimize the cost of cultivation in wheat crop. Sri Ram Jeewan Pandit, from Sakrauli village in Cheriya Bariyarpur block of Begusarai district, is a small land holding farmer. In 2019, frontline demonstration programme on “sowing of wheat by zero tillage method” on 0.74 acre land of Sri Ram Jeewan Pandit has been demonstrated by KVK Begusarai. In zero tillage method more production was observed than traditional method of cultivation. The production was 23q/acre and 20q/acre in case of zero tillage and traditional method respectively, correspondingly the total income in case of zero tillage was Rs. 39,100 which was found 15 percent more than traditional method. Similarly overall benefit in case of traditional method was Rs. 22,920 and in case of zero tillage technology was Rs. 32,260.

]]> Zero tillage, wheat cultivation, conservation technology SUCCESS STORY Sun, 31 Oct 2021 00:00:00 IST Banana Fibre Extraction - The Best Way for Village Waste Management and Livelihood Promotion of Poor Marginal Farmers Banana fiber extraction technique can give a boost for rural economy. From the waste farmer can make money and variable product in the form of fiber, paper, clothes etc., can be made. This technique can provide social as well as economical security to lesser privileged people of society. Mostly in the banana growing areas waste management through banana fiber creating a new scenario for the rural poor women farmers.

]]> Banana cultivation, fiber extraction, craft preparation SUCCESS STORY Sun, 31 Oct 2021 00:00:00 IST Honey Bee’s Insect Pests, Diseases and their Management  Wax moth, wasp, hornets, small hive beetle and ants are insect pests of honeybees. American and European foulbrood are bacterial diseases. Thai sac brood is viral disease. Nosemosis and amoebic disease is caused by protozoan. Tracheal mite, Varroa mite and brood mite is non-insect pest of bees. American foulbrood, European foulbrood, Thai sac brood, Nosemosis and amoebic disease are the diseases of honey bees. Make weak colony strong by uniting 2 colonies, regular cleaning of bottom board and increased monitoring of bee hive are management practices for pest and diseases of honey bees. 

]]> Honey Bee’s, Insect Pests, Disease Management, Wax moth, wasp, hornets, small hive beetle POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Sep 2021 00:00:00 IST Cover Crops- Keeping Soil in Productive Condition Cover crops help to increase the productivity of future row crops by enhancing the physical, chemical, and biological qualities of the soil. The goal of this essay is to analyze current advancements in cover crop practice in terms of potential benefits and drawbacks for annual crop yield and long-term soil quality. A cover crop's desirable characteristics include its ability to establish quickly under less-than-ideal conditions, provide adequate dry matter or soil cover, fix atmospheric nitrogen (N), establish a deep root system to facilitate nutrient uptake from lower soil depths, and produce organic matter with a low carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio. Cover crops can be leguminous or non-leguminous. Leguminous cover crops supply a significant quantity of biologically fixed nitrogen to the primary crop, as well as a low C/N ratio that facilitates decomposition. Legume cover crops can also assist increase the concentration of plant nutrients in the soil's surface layers by absorbing low accessible nutrients in the soil profile. Because some non-leguminous cover crops have a higher N scavenging capability than leguminous crops, and because the growth of these scavenging grass cover crops is often limited by N deficit, planting grass/legume mixes appears to be the ideal method for maximizing cover crop advantages.

]]> Cover Crops, Leguminous, Soil erosion, Biodiversity POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Sep 2021 00:00:00 IST Drudgery of Pastoral Women in the Trans-Himalayan Region of Zanskar, Ladakh Historically, highland pastoralism (Doksa) has been the predominant means of livelihoods in Zanskar which is primarily based on transhumant practices and entails cyclical migration of cattle from lowlands to highlands for judicious exploitation of seasonal reachable pastures at high altitudes in the Himalayas. This study demonstrates the Doksa activities, consequential fatigue and drudgery and gender discriminations of the pastoralist women and strategic interventions to solve the problems. Pastoralist women undoubtedly perform all the Doksa activities including milking twice a day, churning yoghurt, making and packing butter, drying chhurpey, collecting dung and making dung cakes etc. Due to the lack of modern techniques, the pastoral women are still sticking to their traditional methods for performing the job. The works they accomplish are cumbersome, back-breaking, repetitive, manual, laborious, time-consuming and non-remunerative to efforts made. Introduction of improved cattle production technologies and working methods can minimize their drudgery by saving time and energy. The pastoralist women are worst affected by acute poverty, gender inequality, drudgery and socioeconomic discriminations. The Doksa based livelihoods are threatened by increasingly hostile environmental conditions due to heavy pressure over pasture resources, underprivileged socioeconomic empowerment and lack of alternative income-generating activities. Overcoming unfair patriarchal family structures, unfavourable attitudes and related inequality against women remains a challenge. Strengthening women’s role in decision-making, supporting women‘s empowerment in cattle production system and creating income-generating activities are the major aspects which needs to be addressed for socioeconomic improvement and livelihood diversification of pastoral women and hence, some policy perspectives needs to be implicated.

]]> Doksa, pastoral women, drudgery, women empowerment, livelihood, Zaskar, Ladakh POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Sep 2021 00:00:00 IST Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) - A Climate Resilient Technology DSR is the cost effective and eco-friendly technology which implies on time saving, water saving, labour saving and resource conservation in paddy cultivation. It is a sustainable alternative technology over conventional puddled transplanted rice (CT-PTR) to tackle the adverse climatic changes. It maximizes the net income of farmers by decreasing the cost of cultivation per unit area. The quantitative and qualitative yield can be obtained by timely sowing, selection of suitable cultivars according to land profile, optimum seed rate, weed and water management. In future, it mitigates the hunger and food insecurity by adopting economical feasible technology as compare to conventional puddle transplanted rice.

]]> Direct Seeded Rice, DSR, Climate Resilient Technology, eco-friendly technology, cost effective, paddy cultivation POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Sep 2021 00:00:00 IST Aromatic Rice Landraces of Tamil Nadu Aromatic rice always fetches a premium price in the market and therefore occupies an important position in the society. Scented or fragrant rice are regarded as auspicious in our country. Normally aromatic rice denotes basmathi rice possessing long slender grains and a very good aroma. However there are several small and medium grain aromatic or scented rice genotypes which are classified under a separate group popularly called as non-basmati aromatic rice. These types of indigenous fragrant rices were abundantly present in India.

]]> Aromatic rice, Landraces of Tamil Nadu, basmathi rice, good aroma, non-basmati aromatic rice POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 30 Sep 2021 00:00:00 IST NMPB Medicinal Plants for COVID-19 Care India is an emporium of medicinal plants. Indian systems of medicine as well as folkloric systems are utilizing medicinal plant wealth from very ancient times for combating a wide array of human ailments. There exists a history of facing several pandemics including Small pox, Tuberculosis, Spanish Flu, Malaria etc. using traditional herbal medicines. National Medicinal Plant Board had suggested selected twenty medicinal plants including Amla, Aswagandha, Basil, Giloe, Cinnamon, Clove etc. as a prophylaxis or support therapy for curing COVID-19 related ailments. In addition, in silo, in vitro and pre-clinical evidences exhibiting the anti-COVID-19 activity of these medicinal plants revealed the scope for development of plant derived anti-COVID drugs.

]]> COVID-19, Medicinal Plants, NMPB, traditional herbal medicines, curing COVID-19, Amla, Aswagandha, Basil, Giloe, Cinnamon, Clove POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Aug 2021 00:00:00 IST Fundamentals of Agricultural Extension and Education Agricultural extension is a form of rural development that relies on non-formal education. It is an old curriculum that works hand in hand with applied and academic agricultural scientific research. There is a wide debate about the necessity of separating the skills of the researcher from those of the agricultural extension worker. This study demonstrates what a scientific specialist needs to be a crucible that combines academic foundation, research mastery, and agricultural advisor skills. In this popular article, a quick presentation of the contents of 11 academic lectures separated into 10 sections on agricultural extension targeting master's students in plant protection at the University of Debrecen, Hungary. In the summary, a skilled agricultural supervisor needs broad academic capabilities, integrated research, scientific applications skills, and social characteristics, as well as the use of various media to understand the needs of the local community and build extension plans to affect the adoption of qualitative technologies that contribute to rural agricultural development. The article recommends the necessity to raise awareness on the importance of combining the characteristics of an academic, researcher, and agricultural advisor in agricultural societies.

]]> Agriculture, Education, Extension POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Aug 2021 00:00:00 IST Hybrid Rice in the Perspective of Climate Change Rice the major principal food crop for the half of the world population. As the world population increases alarmingly, agricultural scientists are striving towards development of an “evergreen revolution” to ensure the food security in the future. To increase the productivity of rice, many deliberate research programmes are being adopted by using all the technologies prevailing currently. Among the all technologies, hybrid development is a popular technology to increase the rice productivity. In the future also these hybrid development technologies will contribute major portion for the food security. The crop scientific community should be ready to face the challenges come from climatic changes viz., high temperature stress, CO2 elevation, etc., Hence, the development of the hybrids in the aspect of future climatic factors will help to overcome the food shortages.

]]> Hybrid Rice, Perspective Climate Change, food crop, evergreen revolution, ensure food security POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Aug 2021 00:00:00 IST Genotype and Environment Genes of the crop reacts to the environment and gives the trait expression accordingly. The environment viz., climate, soils, abiotic and biotic factors are influences the total output of the crop traits. Knowledge of the relative contributions of genotype (G), environment (E), and genotype and environment interaction are very important for a breeder to select the superior lines in the breeding programmes. Every plant breeder facing challenges to partition the genotypic and environmental effects and their interaction effects during the breeding programmes to select the heritable traits. The Genotype and environment interaction gives effects on yield and quality of the grain yield in any crop crops.

]]> Genotype, Environment, Genes, crop reacts, climate, soils, abiotic, biotic factors POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Aug 2021 00:00:00 IST Health Benefits of Medicinal Rice The invention of green revolution made high yielding rice varieties more popular than the traditional varieties. In India, Ayurvedha and Unani medicinal system depends on the medicinal properties of rice. Traditional rice varieties has been extensively used to control high blood pressure, regulating blood sugar level, body balance, diarrhoea in children, digestive system disorders, skin inflammation, and certain other specific diseases. And also rice milling place a major role in the nutrient condent. It is done for polishing rice grain, involves discarding bran or brown outer layer of rice kernel which has considerable nutritional value and health benefits. Processed rice is lacking in many important minerals namely phosphorus (for strong bones and dental health), potassium (maintains blood pressure), manganese (required for various chemical processes in the body) and sulphur (main constituents of proteins in our body). So Polishing should be kept to a minimum during milling.

]]> Health Benefits, Medicinal Rice, Traditional rice varieties, blood pressure, blood sugar, body balance, diarrhoea, digestive system, skin inflammation POPULAR ARTICLES Tue, 31 Aug 2021 00:00:00 IST AI and IOT in Smart Farming Agriculture is backbone to our country. Farmers have to take innumerable decisions at each phase of cultivating the crop.  Even though there is vast advancement in the information technology, acceptable and adoptable tools are still not available to farmers to support their decision making at each and every stage of crop growth period. The recent advancement in the field of software technologies especially Artificial Intelligence (AI), IOT and mobile based applications have opened up new challenges as well as opportunities to fulfill the needs of farmers for up-to-date and precise information. Hence, an intelligent mobile based application is needed to reach farmers easily and generate quick decisions for real time problems facing at the field level. Coupling AI, IOT and mobile based applications there is a need to develop adoptable tools to farmers to help them in real time decision making.

]]> AI, IOT, Smart Farming, Agriculture POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 Jul 2021 00:00:00 IST RLB Chana Kabuli 1: A Chickpea Variety for Southern India Kabuli chickpea variety ‘RLB Chana Kabuli 1’, is a new variety of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) developed by Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi which is notified for cultivation in the South Zone. In multi-locational trials of ICAR- All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Chickpea for three years, it recorded an average grain yield of 15.49q/ha which was higher than the checks. The variety RLB Chana Kabuli 1 (RLBGK 1) has shown resistance against fusarium wilt, moderate resistance against dry root rot and stunt disease at different zones.

]]> RLB Chana Kabuli, Chickpea Variety, Kabuli chickpea, AICRP, RLBGK 1 POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 Jul 2021 00:00:00 IST Optimum Sowing Window of Small Tuber Potato in Assam An experiment was conducted under All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Dry land Agriculture (AICRPDA), Biswanath Chariali Centre of Assam Agricultural University to optimize the sowing window of both red eyed and white eyed small tuber of potato in Assam. The experiment was conducted at AICRPDA research field of Biswanath College of Agriculture  in three years from 2013, 2014 and 2015 consisting four dates of sowing (1st  October, 16th October, 1st November and 15th November) and two variety of small tuber (Red eyed and white eyed) and Kufri Pokhraj (recommended improved variety) as control. From the study it has been observed that yield of the small tuber potato reduces with advancement of the dates of sowing and benefit cost ratio was comparatively more in 15th October sowing than 30th October in both red eyed and white eyed tuber. Similar trend of results was also observed in On-Farm Trials (OFT) conducted in three Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam and optimum sowing window of small tuber potato was found best within the month of October , however but 15th October sowing was superior in yield and B:C ratio over 30th October sowing.

]]> Sowing window, On Farm Trial, White eyed, Red eyed, Small tuber POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 Jul 2021 00:00:00 IST Makhana-Fish Integration  Fish farming and livestock production are combined in integrated fish farming. Animal excrement is dumped straight into a fish pond as fertilizer, allowing photosynthetic organisms to thrive. Feed containing growth promoters is frequently fed to livestock, namely chickens and pigs. The impact of integrated fish farming on the levels of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in a pond environment was explored in this study. The article discusses a method for synchronizing two crops in a pond: fish and makhana (Euryale ferox Salisb). Both crops gain from such environmentally friendly combination. Organic matter is formed when makhana crop plant pieces decompose, releasing nutrients into the pond to boost plankton population. Organic detritus offers a good substratum for the growth of zooplankton, insect larvae, nematodes, and gastropods, as well as providing food for bottom-dwelling fishes (mrigal and common carp). 

]]> Fish farming, integrated, pond, makhana POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 Jul 2021 00:00:00 IST Female Agricultural Workers in North East India: From the Perspective of Ergonomics and Safety in Agriculture Agriculture plays a vital role in the development of any economy in rural India where the women contributions are very significant. Women are always involved in various stages of agricultural operations, such as, crop production including the sowing and transplanting of paddy, weeding manually as intercultural operations, harvesting followed by the threshing, winnowing and other post-harvest activities, cultivation of horticultural crops, tea planting, agro forestry and fish farming, etc. With time, the technological development in the sectors of agriculture brings out a significant change both in technology adoption and labour employments in terms of the rural women employability. As most of the rural women are engaged major part of their time either in their domestic activities or in the management of livestock, poultry, sericulture, aquaculture, dairy, apiculture and other agri-allied activities. However, they are not being rewarded at par with their male counterparts in terms of economic benefits. Due to these reasons, the productive activities done by the women went unnoticed or unrecorded in most of the cases, though they are contributing economically inn one way or the other. In a patriarchal society of state like Assam, the roles of women in agriculture and agri-allied are undervalued and under estimated. In a country like India with multilingual states, the involvement of workforce in agriculture varies from region to region, and the participation of the women is almost the same throughout the country. But, some regions had a different scenario, where the involvement of women is based on the caste system, classes and socio-economic status of the families. The development of improved agricultural tools by considering the ergonomical factors, modernization and digitalization provides the women with better income source and earning opportunities in the unexplored sectors, displacing them from their age old traditional roles in the rural community.

]]> Agriculture, agri-allied, ergonomics, modernization, digitalization POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 Jul 2021 00:00:00 IST AWS: Boom in Agriculture Weather and climate play the important role in agricultural output. It has a overpowering impact on the growth, development and yield of a crops. Pest and disease incidence, needs of water and fertilizer requirement in terms of differences in nutrient mobilization due to water stress and other cultural operations on a crop. Adverse weather has affected the quality of produce during transportation, viability and vigour of seed and also planting material at the time of storage. The quality and valuable properties of crop produce during movement from field to storage and transport to markets mostly depend on weather. Properly recording of weather data improve the better forecasting at small scale. Accurate forecasting has protected and enhances the farmer produce.

]]> AWS, Meghdoot, Agromet advisory, climate change POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 Jul 2021 00:00:00 IST Cherry Tomato-A Good Snack of the Season The small sized cherry tomato is a new crop to India, which is gaining popularity in metropolitan markets; is consumed as raw fruit in five star hotels owing its size and shape. The red coloured small fruits of cherry tomato having antioxidants and well flavour along with loads of minerals, and is also offering a broad range of nutraceutical benefits.

]]> Cherry Tomato, Good Snack, market, antioxidants, well flavour, loads of minerals POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 Jul 2021 00:00:00 IST Fermented Products from Sugarcane Juice - Beyond Ethanol and Sugar Sugarcane juice is predominantly used for the industrial production of sugar and ethanol. Some other commercially significant products obtained from sugarcane involves molasses, bagasse, khandsari (brown sugar) and gur (jaggery). Often sugarcane juice is blended with citrus lime, pine apple juice, ginger extract, gooseberry juice, mint leaves extract and served fresh as a refreshing drink in street markets and also in supermarkets as a bottled beverage. The art of preservation of sugarcane juice by fermentation yields value added products such as sugarcane toddy wine, vinegar and distilled products like rum and beverages similar to rum are Cachaca, Aguardiente and Guaro. Traditionally fermented sugarcane juice products are Sidhu in India, Basi in Phillipines, Australian sugarcane ginger beer. The industrial by-products obtained after ethanol production are vinasse and dunder.

]]> sugarcane juice, fermentation, wine, vinegar, toddy, rum POPULAR ARTICLES Sat, 31 Jul 2021 00:00:00 IST Trash Mulching Importance in Moisture Conservation in Sugarcane under Drought Situation Moisture stress is one of the most important and wide spread limiting factors for successful sugarcane cultivation. However, under severe stress, yield loss could be as high as 60-70 per cent. Trash mulching is one of the techniques to conserve the moisture. De-trashed and harvested sugarcane trash utilized as trash mulching. Experiment results revealed that mulching @ 3 t/ha and irrigation given in alternate furrows recorded higher cane yield in sugarcane under drought situations.

]]> Sugarcane, trash mulching, moisture conservation, weed control POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 IST Agro Techniques for Yield Maximization in Sugarcane Adoption of proper time of planting with suitable red rot disease free varieties with drip irrigation and use of organic manures and timely fertilizer management weed management enhances sugarcane productivity.

]]> Agro Techniques, Sugarcane, Yield Maximization POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 IST Organic Farming of Pigeonpea : Diseases and Management Pigeonpea is a major Pulse crop of our Country and grown in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. The crop is rich in Carbohydrates, Vitamins, Calcium, Minerals and useful for human health. This crop is also affected by many diseases and pests and how to control them also given in this article besides the agronomical practices followed. However, good crop yield is obtained by raising the crop with organic methods.

]]> Organic Farming, Pigeonpea, Diseases Management, Carbohydrates, Vitamins, Calcium, Minerals POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 IST Seed Production of Onion and Disease Management Onion is a vegetable crop grown in India and used for making subji, pickles, eaten raw, etc. It is rich in vitamin C, Calcium, phosphorus and potassium. There are two different methods of seed production in the plains of North India. This crop is affected by major Pests, Diseases and their Control is given in this popular article.

]]> Onion, Seed Production, Disease Management, pests Control POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 IST Integrated Farming System – Sustains and Maintains Farm Family Agriculture is the back bone of Indian economy. Farmers work very hard to increase the production of crops to feed the growing population. Even though they work hard, they get less for their produce after spending all the inputs (seeds, livestock breeds, fertilizers, pesticides, energy, feed, labor, etc.). Growing crops alone does not make more profit for the farmer likewise rearing animals without crop. Integrating various farm enterprises (crop +livestock) will improve the farmer’s livelihood. Integrating various enterprises in turn improves the usage of farm waste effectively and reduces the usage of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides which cause harm to ecosystem. Integrated Farming System (IFS) is the commonly used term to explain the integrated farming approach compared to monocropping. It integrates crop and livestock or crop + livestock + fish or Crop + fish + mushroom + ducks and sometimes known as integrated biosystems. It is an inter-related approach where waste from one component is used as an input for another component. This reduces input cost and improves income. It utilizes waste as a resource/input which reduces input cost and ensures overall increase in overall productivity of the farm.

]]> IFS, Productivity, Waste utilization, off farm inputs POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 IST Glomalin: A Good Soil Aggregator Glomalin Related Soil Protein (GRSP) is an insoluble, hydrophobic, proteinaceous extended hyphae combined with soil Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi play an important role in the soil health and quality by improving the soil fertility, plant nutrition, soil aggregation and stabled soil structure. The efficacy and concentration of GRSP in soil to form extensive strong and thick mycelia association with soil particles like sand, silt and clay is mainly depends on soil AM fungal isolate and colonies. These AM fungal and GRSP association is directly affect and influence the soil aggregates and soil structure stability by hyphen envelopment of sand, silt and clay particles. This indicates the GRSP effect in soil aggregation and stability. Selection of good isolate of AM fungus from soil ecosystem plays a significant part in improvement of soil quality, health, and land reclamation and restoration activities.

]]> Glomalin, Soil Aggregator, GRSP, Arbuscular mycorrhizal, healthy soil, Soil Protein POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 IST Hybrid Castor: A Novel Crop and Money Spinner for Rainfed Farmers of Perambalur District  Looming water crisis owing to uncertainty  monsoonal rainfall coupled with intermittent dry spell during critical stages, paucity of skilled labourers, steep increase in wages coupled with emerging problems like fall army worm in hybrid maize and pink boll worm in Bt cotton greatly affects the crop productivity in North Western region of Tamil Nadu. Under these circumstances, farmers in these region looks for an alternate crop which has drought hardy, high water use efficiency, water productivity and monitory returns with less cost of production. Consequently, Tapioca and Castor Research Station, Yethapur intervened and hybrid castor was introduced during Kharif season through cluster demonstrations under NMOOP scheme against maize and cotton. The outcome of the cluster demonstrations on castor showed that higher productivity with less cost of production was the key factor for obtaining higher monitory returns over maize and cotton. Moreover, there was no middlemen involvement in procurement process, since most of the produce was sold in regulated market. Even, if its fetches low market price during peak harvesting season, farmers could store their produce for long period without any storage pest.  Thus, castor hybrid is lucrative crop under changing climatic condition.  

]]> Castor hybrid, alternate crop, yield and returns SUCCESS STORY Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 IST Integrated Farming System Increases Additional Income- Success Story of Women Farmer in Tamil Nadu Integrated farming system takes care of optimal utilization of resources which integrate livestock and crop production or integrate fish and livestock along with cropping. The farm wastes of one enterprise become an input for another component. Judicious mix of agricultural enterprises which increases the additional income of the farmers and improves their socio-economic conditions and livelihood options. Keeping this in view under the AICRP on Home Science centre functioning at Community Science College and Research institute, TNAU, Madurai has trained the women farmers in the integrated farming system and distributed vanaraja chicks for the additional income. Mrs. Thamizharasi a dedicated and innovative farm women have got additional income out of IFS and motivated many women farmers in the village to adopt IFS Model. Five IFS models have been established in Madurai District of Tamil Nadu.

]]> farm women, Integrated farming system, adoption, additional income SUCCESS STORY Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00:00 IST Low Cost Soilless Crop Production Using Matric Irrigation System for Problem Soil Areas Tamil Nadu has the waste land area of about 8.25 lakh hectares. Utilization of these wastelands with conserved water use under matric suction irrigation system using soilless container media to grow vegetables will be a boon to the farmers. Organic substrates and industrial by products have the potential to support plant growth as growing media. Here conservation of water is achieved, because for growing a vegetable crop only 80 mm of water is required per season. Similarly, enhanced fertilizer use efficiency is achieved through the use of slow release fertilizers/ water soluble fertilizers. Horticultural crops play a vital role in completing the problems of malnutrition by contributing to national income by sharing almost one fifth of the total income from agricultural produce. Growing horticultural crops generates employment in rural areas. By this method, problematic salt affected areas can very well be used for cultivation of vegetables in containers laid on open land, alternative to conventional soil tilling and sowing methods. By managing the cultivation of crops, farmers will be benefitted by gaining experience in the new technology of efficient nutrient and water management as well as crop production and protection aspects of soilless container media cultivation.

]]> Soilless culture, matric suction, problem soil, vegetables POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 May 2021 00:00:00 IST Production of Banana (Grand Naine) Through Tissue Culture Technology Tissue culture is a recent and advanced technology that has proved as a spring board for the multiplication and regeneration of most of the horticultural crops, particularly, banana. The traditional production systems of banana often fall short to commercial demands; therefore, there is need to produce tissue cultured plantlets to meet the demand of virus free and true to type plantlets. Among the various varieties of bananas, the Grand Naine is a high yielding one and is gaining more popularity. Banana can be harvested after 10 to 11 months from the tissue cultured raised plantlets by adopting good agronomic practice and integrated pest & disease management. This Popular article incorporates importance of Grand naine variety of banana, involved techniques in their tissue culture and agronomic practice.

]]> Banana, Grand Naine, Tissue Culture, advanced Technology POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 May 2021 00:00:00 IST Seri-Business: New Emerging Entrepreneurship Model in Sericulture Sericulture is a labor-intensive and commercially desirable agro-cottage, forest-based industry that falls under the cottage and small-scale market. It offers revenue and jobs to the vulnerable in rural areas, especially small-scale farmers, other vulnerable and poorer members of society. In Jammu and Kashmir UT, sericulture holds a special place. This is India's only conventional Univoltine belt capable of processing silk with qualities equal to the finest imported raw silk of standard quality available on foreign markets. Silk worm rearing offers part-time jobs to around 30,000 households, in addition to providing permanent employment to 5,000 people in the public sector. India's silk and silk-related exports totaled US$ 291.36 million in 2018-19 and US$ 243.52 million in FY20 (till December 2019). Source: CSB Bangalore. Sericulture, as an agro-based company, has a major impact on rural people's economic prospects. The industry encompasses a wide range of on-farm and non-farm activities, necessitating a wide range of expertise, as well as a varied population from all walks of life are brought together to work on silk processing. To inspire young people to engage in Seri-entrepreneurship ventures, a variety of methods has been used. Many young people today have business ideas, but only a small percentage of them have the capacity and opportunity to transform such ideas into profitable enterprises.so in this industry there is large scope of entrepreneurship development in India and J&K UT.

]]> Sericulture, on farm, off farm, encompasses, impact, seri-entreprenurship, silk processing POPULAR ARTICLES Mon, 31 May 2021 00:00:00 IST Intervention of KVK in Animal Husbandry Results Increased Farm Income and Livelihood of North and Middle Andaman Farmers Knowledge level and the production cost associated with the technology plays a vital role in adoption of technology by the farmers. This is more evident with small and marginal farmers with small land holdings and poor resources in the region of North and Middle Andaman. These farmers are always not ready to invest more in enterprises fearing the risk associated. Hence, farmer’s friendly technology with low investment and environment friendly technology find place for implementation and are successful in this region. Climate of North and Middle Andaman district is tropical humid with annual rainfall upto 3300mm. Due to incessant rain and unpredictable weather, farmers grow paddy in kharif and vegetable and pulses in rabi season in low land and plantation crops in hilly land. Most of the farmers rear livestock for consumption in home and additional income to family, and also as insurance in situation of crop loss. Lack of knowledge, unavailability of improved breed, high cost of livestock feed and non-availability, improper health management, and unpredictable weather conditions are some of the factors responsible for slow pace of growth in animal husbandry in the region. Keeping in view the challenges faced by farming community suitable low cost intervention by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra like backyard rural poultry farming, day old chicks production using mini-hatching units, improved pig farming practices, supplementation of chelated mineral mixture in dairy ration, and deworming in goat were adopted by the farmers and significantly increased income of farmers.

]]> Marginal farmers, Tropical humid, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Livestock, Low cost intervention SUCCESS STORY Mon, 31 May 2021 00:00:00 IST Variety Utkarsha Boost Green Gram Production Through Cluster Frontline Demonstrations  The demonstrations of green gram on cluster basis were implemented by Farm Science Centre, Malegaon in village Vaygaon of Baglan block during kharif seasons. The results revealed that  improved practice- seed Utkarsha 10kg, micronutrient-Zinc sulphate  25kg, weedicide-Quizalofop ethyl 5% @ 750ml, insecticide-Dimethoate 30% EC @ 500ml, fungicide- Sulphure 80% WP @ 1250g per hectare recorded highest average seed yield 8.94q/ha whereas in farmers practice it was 6.20q/ha. There was 30.64% increase in yield observed over farmers practice. Similar results were observed in gross and net monetary return which was rupees 39321.9 & 24007.9 and for control 27262.4 & 12448.5 per hectare. Demonstrations shown higher benefit cost ratio (2.59) over control (1.85). Demonstrations concluded that farmers need to be encouraged to use improved technology to increase the production of pulses, which is used in the cluster frontline demonstrations. This intervention not only showed good income but also made seed available to the locality to make the crop more popular in the nearby villages. 

]]> Group baseline demonstrations, seed yield, Integrated Crop Management SUCCESS STORY Mon, 31 May 2021 00:00:00 IST Green Graduation - A New Initiative at Global Scale!!! Green graduation is a new vista in the field of tree planting where every graduating student from an Agricultural University may have to plant a sapling as soon as he/she enters the university and nurture it until his/her stay. Being a four year professional course, the sapling planted can get established by the time student completes the degree. This act shall help in increasing the green cover, feeling for students to be close to nature and also help in biodiversity conservation. If the species are chosen and include some endangered species, green graduation can also act as a conservation of endangered species. Further, if it is made as mandate by ICAR, it can be eventually a big program at national level towards biodiversity conservation. One such initiative designed from UAS, Raichur has been discussed in the present report.

]]> Green graduation, biodiversity conservation, tree planting POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 30 Apr 2021 00:00:00 IST Sustainable Pest Management for Food Safety and Security On the global scale of food security and safety and the continuous growth of the population worldwide, potential agriculture production is pre requisite to meet the global demand in a sustainable manner. As, majority of world population belongs to developing and under developed countries where undernourishment is common, it needs keen attention of government, industry and consumer in procuring food in right proportion to every individual. In order to meet the per capita food requirement of vast population some degree of technological innovation should be effectuated such as adoption of biotechnological tools and the implementation of IPM (Integrated Pest Management) methods keeping in view the concerns of environment and public welfare. For the decade, climate change and uneven use of agrochemicals has equally affected the agricultural land, the produced food grain as well as human health. The irrational application of chemicals since 1960s to double the produce has definitely achieved the food requirement of the population to some extent but it has added serious health issues among every section of the country. Hence, to curb the global issue of pest management it requires active coordination among nation to speculate and devise the alternatives to overcome the future consequences of the present. Allocating the whole responsibility in one’s hand is precarious so it is the responsibility of every individual nation to speculate and derive better means to evaluate the sensitive issue of today to harness the healthy tomorrow. On the part of it, international organizations would play crucial role as they excel in capacities, they better manage and coordinate and take the leadership on behalf of the rest of the country.

]]> Food security, Sustainable, IPM, climate change POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 30 Apr 2021 00:00:00 IST Role of Plant Based Edible Oils for Human Diet In India there are seven edible oil seed crops, namely groundnut, rapeseed & mustard, soybean, sunflower, sesame, safflower and niger, blessed by the benefit of the diverse agro-climatic areas. Oilseeds are important segment of tropical agriculture as they provide access to nutrition through protein and oil to humans and livestock. Edible oils are crucial for human nutrition, as they are energy dense with a high fat content. Human body needs some of the vital acids like Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA), which are not synthesized by the human body on its own, which obligates us to take from external sources. As vegetable oils are excellent source for PUFA, Mono-unsaturated fatty acids, Vitamins and others, an attempt was made to highlight the core health benefits of major vegetable oils.

]]> Plant Based Edible Oils, Human Diet, seed crops, groundnut, rapeseed & mustard, soybean, sunflower, sesame, safflower POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 30 Apr 2021 00:00:00 IST Eco-friendly Practices on Utilization of Oil Palm Waste Oil palm not only high in its oil production, but also produce large quantity of agriculture wastes like oil palm leaves, empty fruit bunches and trunk. The more fibrous wastes generated from empty fruit bunch, leaves etc. are generally make use in different purposes like a mulching of leaves around the palm basins to conserve moisture as well to add organic matter to the soil. For production of biodiesel and biofuel the oil palm byproducts like shells, trunks etc. waste matter produced from oil palm. The organic rich waste products of oil palm can be utilized for electricity generation, piggery industry, as a fuel in boilers as an eco-friendly fuel and in many ways. The waste generated from the palm oil mills like decanter cake, empty fruit bunches after oil extraction, waste water from mill, mesocarp fibre, left over kernel cake after oil extraction, shells etc. byproducts plays an important environmental effects globally. As a consequence over there, the oil palm waste management in different stages is very essential to tackle this waste eco-friendly.

]]> oil palm, biomass, waste, empty bunch POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 30 Apr 2021 00:00:00 IST Constrains on Seedless Watermelon Development Since the demand for the seedless watermelon is increasing in the international market, there is a need for the development and production of the seedless hybrids. The seedless watermelons have high commercial value currently and also in future. Plant breeding programmes needs more precise and advanced techniques for the improvement especially in the watermelon crop improvement such as tetraploid development. Tetraploid development is the first and typical phase for the seedless watermelon hybrid development. Generation of meiotically stable tetraploid lines development and stabilization is a big and tedious task in the seedless watermelon development programmes.

]]> Seedless Watermelon Development, Constrains, commercial value POPULAR ARTICLES Fri, 30 Apr 2021 00:00:00 IST Mangroves: an Underestimated Ecosystem? Mangrove is a type of tree / shrub / fern / palm, generally found in the estuarine margins or in the intertidal zones of coastal areas or wetlands, and are regularly inundated by tidal water. They are halophyte in nature and can tolerate salt content to a great extent. This ecosystem aids in sustaining the livelihood in the coastal areas by several means such as by providing food, fodder, fuel, timber, etc. Some of the mangrove species have medicinal properties and are used against many ailments. They also ensure water security by protecting intrusion of saltwater into aquifers or freshwater. Mangrove forest acts as a habitat for various organisms and hence conserves biodiversity. Their entangled root system acts as a filter and collects debris between them thereby preventing it from washing away into the water body. It removes toxic heavy metals from the water via phytoremediation and most importantly it sequesters carbon from the atmosphere leading to the reduction in global warming and ultimately climate change. Mangrove ecosystem acts as a shield against natural catastrophe such as tsunami, floods, storm and cyclone. Regardless of its several advantages, its indiscriminate use for various economic activities has jeopardized this ecosystem. Every year this ecosystem has been declining at a rate of 2 per cent. The realization of the problems arising from the lack of such ecosystem has led to the development of several strategies emphasizing on its preservation and restoration.

]]> Mangroves, Ecosystem, estuarine margins, intertidal zones of coastal areas, wetland, inundated by tidal water POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Mar 2021 00:00:00 IST Bio-Fertilizers Improves Soil Health and Crop Productivity Soil health is a serious concern for sustainable crop production because of the magnitude of chemical fertilizers non-judiciously applied in agricultural crops. Besides this, the availability of organic soil carbon content is also decreasing very fast. For the management of soil organic carbon, the addition of agricultural waste and other organic material is an immediate requirement. For the management of chemical fertilizers, reduction in chemical fertilizers application can be done through the application of bio-fertilizers. Bio-fertilizers are live microbial formulations and have the potential to solubilise, mobilize and even fix plant nutrients for the benefits of crop plants. Besides this, bio-fertilizers are reported for increasing crop growth and yield. In India, a large number of bio-fertilizers are being produced at Govt. institutions/organization, state agricultural universities, NGOs and private agencies. Quality of bio-fertilizers should be procured, and applied in agricultural crops at a proper rate and method. In this article, we have here tried to provide basic information on bio-fertilizers and application in sugarcane crop.

]]> Bio-Fertilizers, Improves Soil Health, Crop Productivity, sugarcane crop POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Mar 2021 00:00:00 IST Sulphur Nutrition for Sugarcane Sugarcane is a commercial crop grown for the production of sugar and other by products like baggase, molasses, filter cake etc. Being a C4 plant assimilates larger biomass and exhausts the large quantities of macro and micro nutrients from the soil. Hence, the balanced application of nutrients is essential for achieving the higher cane and sugar production for sustaining the soil fertility level. Sulphur deficiency is exhibited in sugarcane crops where ever the oil seed crops are grown in the previous season. The critical level of available sulphur is fixed as 20 ppm for sugarcane. Hence, sulphur application is needed to achieve higher productivity in sugarcane.

]]> Sulphur Nutrition, Sugarcane, macro and micro nutrients, higher productivity POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Mar 2021 00:00:00 IST Citrus Genomes: Enigma Code Breaker A genome is the complete set of instructions needed to build an organism and allow it to grow and develop. The genome sequence of any organism helps to understand its evolution and lays a foundation for the functional characterization means for understanding the genetic basis of differences between plants and other eukaryotes, and provides the foundation for detailed functional characterization of plant genes. The discovery of DNA as a genetic material has revolutionized the science and researchers striving to decode the genetic information. The arrival of next generation sequencing technologies has reduced the time and cost required to generate draft genomes. In citrus group, 9 species were sequenced, several assemblies were available in public domain and several were in pipeline. The analysis of genomes unraveled the origin, evolution of citrus species and identification genes involved in the characters typical to citrus like apomixis, vitamin C synthesis.

]]> Citrus Genomes, Enigma Code Breaker, genetic information POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Mar 2021 00:00:00 IST Multipurpose Trees: A Way to Boost Tree Farming in Semi-Arid Regions of India The fast-growing multi-purpose trees species are universally recognised as a natural gift and play imperative benefits to environment due to their exultant adaptation and survival capacity in the harsh weather. Water is a highly limiting factor in semi-arid regions. Trees are having special traits or mechanisms to adopt themselves in harsh climatic condition like deep tap rooting, leaf shedding in summer, leaf wax coating, sunken or closed stomata and short and small leaf size etc., in order to minimise the loss of water through transpiration loss. The identified / enlisted multipurpose tree species are the most commonly grown and preferred species for semi-arid agro- ecological regions viz., Neem - Azadirachta indica, Karanj (Pongammia pinnata), Desibabool (Acacia nilotica), Shisham (Dalbergia sissoo), Subabul (Leucaena leucochephala), Bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus), Anjan (Hardwickia binnata), Glyricidia (Gliricidia sepium), Senna siamea (Cassia siamea), Khejedi (Prosopis cineraria), Siris (Albizia lebbeck), Kachnaar (Bauhenia racemosa) White Babul (Acacia leucopholea). Few improved and easily adopted agroforestry practices have been identified and it will be useful to small and medium farmers such as silvipasture, alley cropping, wood lot and protein bank and bamboo plantation for livelihood generation and wind-breaks/shelter-belt plantation to protect crop and animals from heavy blowing dusty winds. Also multipurpose perennials shrubs provide green cover/forage during summer season when grasses are almost dried under semi-arid rainfed conditions for balanced utilization of resources to provide other ecosystem benefits too. Multiple trees are ideal trees for meeting multiple needs of the farmers/ landholders. So, integration of tree species is essential component to be incorporated in landuse farming systems for effective utilization of land on multiple ways.

]]> Multipurpose Trees, Boost Tree Farming, Semi-Arid Regions, fast-growing, India POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Mar 2021 00:00:00 IST A Study on Various Strategies to Improve Crop with a Reference to Haryana State With activities like "Make in Haryana" and "Happening Haryana", the territory of Haryana has intended to build up itself as a chief speculation, assembling and food handling centre. The motivation behind this paper is to dissect the horticultural patterns in Haryana in the developments of creation, gross and net region under creation, editing power, yield, degree of water system and surveying the spread of agrarian R&D and expansion administrations, credit creation and harvest protection in similarity with practical rural turn of events and homestead family government assistance. Our technique for examination will incorporate expanded information mining and breaking down the agrarian development patterns utilizing progressed measurable and business investigation instruments in Microsoft Excel. This paper additionally investigates expected open doors in direct showcasing, contract cultivating, market combination, food handling and bundling, development of warehousing and storerooms in similarity with rising speculation openings in these areas under the "Make in Haryana" activity powerful human endeavors in light of the fact that the locales vary regarding their requirements and asset gifts. Since there has been a developing agreement about the need of region level rural arranging, it would hold any importance with measure the degree of horticultural movement at locale level. An examination at the region level will be valuable to define region explicit horticultural arrangements. It is additionally enlightening to comprehend the progressions in trimming design throughout the long term. The reality of arising intense local irregular characteristics has not yet gotten the public consideration, it merits. The principle point of the examination is to pick up knowledge into the greatness of endeavors expected to accomplish adjusted farming development in Haryana.

]]> Various Strategies, Improve Crop, Haryana State, farming development POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Mar 2021 00:00:00 IST Does Agriculture can be Carbon Neutral Agriculture is a source and sink to green house gases (GHGs). Fuel, inorganic fertilizers, pesticides and intensive tillage that are used in agriculture emit GHGs that can result in climate change. It is a well-known fact that climate-smart farming will increase agricultural production by reducing carbon emissions. Some of measures for offsetting carbon emissions are: fossil-free farming, using renewable energy, preventing nutrient loss, improving carbon sequestration, and maintaining biodiversity.  Farmers can therefore advise to adopt these practices to protect the environment and render agriculture carbon neutral.

]]> Agriculture, Carbon Neutral, green house gases, GHGs, climate change, fuel, inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, carbon emission, climate-smart farming POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Mar 2021 00:00:00 IST Fruit Cracking in Subtropical Fruits: Causes and Remedies Fruit cracking is a severe physiological condition that has a detrimental effect on fruit quality. Cracks on the fruit surface allow fungi to infect it, as well as promote rapid moisture loss and shriveling, lowering market quality and storage life. Fruit cracking happens when the plants have plenty of water after a prolonged drought, as well as when the temperature and humidity are high in the summer. In different fruit crops, different methods are used to regulate fruit cracking, such as drip irrigation, mulching, fertilizer management, resistant cultivars, bagging, different packaging materials, and timely harvesting, as well as spraying micronutrients and growth regulators.

]]> Fruit Cracking, Subtropical Fruits, Causes and Remedies, fruit quality POPULAR ARTICLES Wed, 31 Mar 2021 00:00:00 IST Underutilized Vegetables of Arunachal Pradesh - A New Source of Nutrition and Income Arunachal Pradesh is one of the eighth states of North East India stretching over an area of 83,730 sq.km between 26030’N and 29030’N latitude, and 91031’E and 97030’E longitude. It has varied climate, ranging from sub-tropical in the south to alpine in the north and receives an annual rainfall of about 2000 to 5000 mm. Arunachal Pradesh, one of the North East Indian states is the 12th mega biodiversity region of the world which is a part of Indo-Burma and Himalaya biodiversity hotspot. It has a rich reservoir of wild edible plant species that has an immense potential to be used for development of new crops through domestication, besides being prospective source of broad gene pool of useful genetic resources essential to plant breeders.

]]> Underutilized Vegetables, Arunachal Pradesh, New Source of Nutrition, Income, North East India, biodiversity region POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 IST Phytotron- An Enclosed Research Facility for Study Interactions Between Plants and the Environment Global climate warming can have a major impact on the functioning of crops and plants in the natural environment. A higher temperature during night time has resulted in decreased crop yields globally. It has been predicted that in the future the temperature during night time is warmer than the daytime. Due to the booming world population and increased industrial activities, it is predicted to change in the future (Smith et al., 2002). According to Meehl et al., 2007, the atmospheric CO2 concentration is predicted to reach 730 to 1020 ppm by 2100. At the same time, it is expected to increase in global mean temperature between 1.8 and 40oC, due to the rising CO2 concentration and other greenhouse gases. Since both CO2 and temperature are key factors affecting the growth and developmental phenomenon of plants. Due to their crucial role and have potential influences of climate change on plant growth, global food supply, and disease risk are attracting considerable research interest in many countries (Myneni et al., 1997; Harvell et al., 2002). Nowadays various methods have been used to study the impact of climatic parameters on plant growth and development such as temperature gradient tunnel, open-top chambers, growth chambers, glasshouses, Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE), Free-Air Temperature Enrichment (FATE), and Free-Air CO2 and Ozone Enrichment (FACO). Among all the experimental setups, phytotron is the enclosed research facility that permits the study of effects of climate variables on the plants in a precise manner.

]]> Phytotron, Research Facility, plants and environment, Global climate, FACE, FATE, FACO POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 IST Physical Purity Test in Paddy Physical purity test is an essential part of routine seed testing (physical purity, moisture, germination and other distinguishable variety) done by recognised seed testing laboratory, Government of India. Though various purity components such as pure seed, inert matter, weed seed and other crop seed, are identified in this test, seed samples are also tested for presence of other distinguishable variety (ODV), objectionable weed seed and huskless seed so as to determine the quality of a seed lot required for meeting the seed standards for seed certification so as to deliver superior quality seed to the beneficiary.

]]> Physical Purity Test, Paddy, seed testing, Oryza sativa, quality seed POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 IST Intrinsic Factors of Soybean Seed Quality Loss and Practical Approach to Tackle the Problems Soybean occupies first position among the oil seed crops in terms of acreage and production in India. Besides contributing substantially to the edible oil needs of the country, it earns valuable foreign exchange by way of export of soy meal. Soybean has changed the economic status of the farmers who are growing soybean; still farmers are struggling with the problem of loss of seed quality of soybean. Good field emergence is being a problem due to one or other reasons. Soybean seed is very delicate in nature due to its structural limitations. Chemical composition high protein and high oil content also makes it vulnerable to biochemical degradation during maturity and storage. Maintaining the quality of seed produced during month of Oct-Nov up to the next sowing time in the month of June-July is a difficult task in tropical and subtropical countries like India. The climatic variability leading to delay in monsoon, drought spells of different duration at various growth stages, water logging conditions and above normal temperatures particularly at seed fill stage are the main reasons of low productivity of soybean in India. Poor germination potential of soybean seed and faster deterioration of its seed quality under ambient storage are major problem. In this article, intrinsic factors of soybean seed quality loss and practical approach to tackle the problems have been explained.

]]> Intrinsic Factors, Soybean Seed Quality, Loss, Practical Approach POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 IST Quality Seed Production Techniques of Newly Released Wheat Varieties under North West Plain Zone Conditions Quality seed plays crucial role in realising true genetic potential of the any variety and transferring genetic gain to the farmers. New varieties developed by breeders backed by apt seed production programme leads to rapid spread of new varieties at farmers’ doorstep. It is well proven fact that, use of quality seed of improved varieties contributes towards 15-20% increase in agricultural productivity. Therefore, it is imperative that quality seed production at farmers’ field to be strengthened and maximum number of farmers to be encouraged for quality seed production at own farm. These will results in assured seed supply of newly released varieties at faster pace and genetic gain achieved by plant breeding can be effectively transformed up to farmers’ field. However, farmer’s awareness towards use of quality seed needs to be improved in order to achieve higher Seed Replacement Rate (SRR) and varietal Replacement Rate (VRR) of the country. Efforts are being made by various Govt. agencies, State Department of Agriculture, ICAR Institutes and SAU’s to engage farmers through participatory seed production programme and extension programme and disseminate know- how of quality seed production at faster rate.

]]> Quality Seed, production techniques, Newly Released, Wheat Varieties, North West Plain, Conditions, SRR, VRR POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 IST Sacred Groves: The Fading Footprints of Nature Sacred groves, which are regarded as the miscellany of climax vegetation, form a vital part of the life support system of our planet earth. They ensure that we get clean air to breathe, wholesome food and medicines and clean drinking water, not only for human beings but also for the innumerable species surviving on this earth. Studies have enumerated 13,270 sacred groves in India. Out of this, 138 ha come under undisturbed vegetation and 3,188 ha under vegetation with open canopy. Sacred groves are treasures of numerous trees and epiphytes and other living organisms like amphibians, reptiles, butterflies and birds. The trees in sacred groves are more protected due to the traditional belief and respect associated with them. However, this is absent for the ordinary trees. Sacred groves are valued and revered for several ecosystem services ranging from its role as source of food and water, mitigation of flood and drought, role in carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling and supporting the society with recreational and spiritual services. However, with modernization and changing beliefs among the younger generation, many of the groves are in the verge of extinction. There is a need to revalorize the ancient philosophy of the traditional conservation customs validating it with sound scientific back up, highlighting the ecosystem dynamics and ecological functions of the sacred groves.

]]> Sacred Groves, Fading Footprints, Nature, climax vegetation POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 IST Grey Water Recycling and Utilization In the developing countries like India, waste water management remains the most important cause for many pollution and disease spread due to poor sanitation. Grey water is the domestic waste water excluding toilet waste water gains attention in the present scenario for recycling and reuse. Application of this grey water after proper treatment can be put to many uses in urban areas thereby reducing the demand for fresh clean water. Treated grey water is well advocated in agriculture for crop cultivation. Of the total grey water generated in the country, 10% is contributed through kitchen waste water that accrues from households. Since this waste water is low in contamination, treatment through any methods is possible and feasible for reuse. Regarding the chemical composition, grey water is very less in nitrogen levels than sewage water. Unlike rainwater harvesting, grey water is not dependent on unpredictable cycles of monsoon and variability of rainfall and is therefore a reliable water resource. Further, the high nitrogen and phosphorus content that is harmful to aquatic life, when used in irrigation can make a good nutrient or fertilizer source.

]]> Grey Water Recycling, Utilization, cause pollution, disease POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 IST Science Behind Iron Deficiency in Sugarcane Sugarcane is an important cash crop which produces higher biomass and therefore its nutrient requirement is also high. Intensive cane cultivation and inadequate supply of organic matter has led to some micronutrient deficiency. Iron is an important micronutrient which aids in photosynthesis. The occurrence of iron chlorosis is very common in Tamil Nadu. Excessive calcium influences iron chlorosis and hence it is frequently noticed in calcarious soils and is referred as lime induced chlorosis. Application of ferrous sulphate as basal fertilizer or foliar spray leads to correction of iron deficiency and paved the way for increasing cane yield.

]]> Science Behind, Iron Deficiency, Sugarcane, higher biomass, increasing cane yield POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 IST A Snapshot of Citrus in India India is rich in genetic diversity of citrus and soil and climatic factors prevailing in the country favours its cultivation. It is cultivated throughout tropical and sub-tropical regions of the country. Citrus is the third most important fruits and mandarin, sweet orange and acid limes are the predominating citrus species commercially cultivated in India. Lemons, pummel, and grapefruit are cultivated in limited scale, mostly in home gardens. However, the productivity is far behind when compared to Brazil, China, USA, Turkey, Spain and other countries. Non-availability of disease free quality planting materials, poor orchard management, phytophthora root rot, citrus greening, citrus tristeza virus, canker, salinity, drought, alkalinity, extreme temperatures, etc., are affecting the Indian citrus industry. Use of rootstocks tolerant to different biotic and abiotic stresses and better nutrient, pest and disease management, and adoption of drip irrigation, the production and productivity can be increased in the future.

]]> Snapshot of Citrus, India, sweet orange, acid limes POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 IST ICM in Groundnut  Among the oilseeds, groundnut is an important crop grown nearly in 6000 ha in Srikakulam district, of north coastal Andhra Pradesh during rabi season. Non adoption of certain recommended practices is highly influencing the production of groundnut in Srikakulam district. KVK, Srikakulam has demonstrated Cluster Frontline Demonstrations to address the ICM practices in groundnut in two clusters each with 25 farmers. Yield advantage of 18.8% was noticed by farmers after adopting the ICM practices, and Rs.18320/- increase in net income per ha.  

]]> ICM, Groundnut, rabi season, oilseeds, north coastal Andhra Pradesh, increases Yield SUCCESS STORY Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 IST Promotion of Resistant Varieties of Wheat and Disease Monitoring for Enhanced Productivity A three days training programme was organized by the ICAR- Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal in collaboration with Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur and Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Coochbehar during 19th-20th January, 2021on virtual mode. The aim of the programme was to create awareness for wheat disease management among farmers and promotion of newly released resistant wheat varieties in NEPZ; Preparedness of the cooperating centres for tackling diseases in wheat of NEPZ and Interaction meeting with state officials of Agri. Departments, NSC and State Seed Corporations of NEPZ. During this programme, more than 50 farmers from Nadia, Murishadabad, Malda, Dinajpur & Coochbehar districts of West Bengal participated and series of lectures on disease monitoring and disease management in wheat. During the programme information on recent varieties of wheat (DBW187, HD3249 and DBW252) and barley variety (DBW137) was disseminated to the state departments so that the varietal replacement rate in the region can be increased.

]]> Promotion, Resistant Varieties, Wheat, Disease Monitoring, Enhanced Productivity, disease management REPORTS Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 IST Soil Management for Sustainable Crop Production and Soil Health Importance of soils to human well-being and cultural enrichment is glorified in the ancient Indian scriptures dating back to the drawn of civilization. In the developing countries like India, a large proportion of the land area shows clear evidence of advanced and continuing degradation seriously affecting the country’s productive resource base. As ecosystem consist of soil, plant, animal and human, an adverse impact on any of the component is likely to have various effects on the other component of system. Continuous adoption of conventional farming practices based on intensive tillage, especially when combined with crop residue burning or removal have exaggerated soil erosion losses and degraded the soil resource base steadily. Soil carbon changes of a crop production system are a very important aspect as it indicates whether a production system is a C restorative process or not. Hence, the need to protect our soil environment against degradation will necessarily involve the knowledge and the use of natural soil functions so as to ensure higher quality soils and better produce quality through the appropriate management of soils.

]]> Soil Management, Sustainable Crop Production, Soil Health, cultural enrichment, higher quality POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Jan 2021 00:00:00 IST Macro Focus on MicroNutrients Looking back the history, to sustain the life, mankind was completely depended on hunting and gathering. When the exponential increase of population started, the food needs also got increased which paved a way for organized agricultural practices with its core focus on food security. Over last few years, the risk of death rates due to famine and food shortages have been decreased gradually but the micronutrient malnutrition status has been increased. It shows that the food needs of the population got its necessary focus whereas the balanced diet didn’t. A balanced diet should contain adequate quantity of macro and micro nutrients that a human requires in a day. The awareness and usage of macronutrients in food has got its importance whereas the micronutrients were often neglected. An attempt has made to furnish the role and importance of micronutrient in soil, plant or human health.

]]> Macro Focus, MicroNutrients, soil, plant, human health, importance POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Jan 2021 00:00:00 IST Success Story of Cluster Frontline Demonstration on Kharif Pulses - Blackgram var. PU-31 at Karimganj District of Southern Assam In Karimganj district, fields are remained mostly vacant during Sali rice fallow condition.  However, only in few areas are cultivated with Blackgram with local variety. KVK, Karimganj has done extensive and adequate field survey and selected suitable areas for Blackgram cultivation under  Cluster  Front  Line Demonstration  (CFLD)  Programme during Kharif season of  2019- 2020.  A  cluster frontline demonstration was taken up with Blackgram variety  PU-31.  The demonstration was taken up at farmer’s field of  Shamakul  Roy of  Brajendranagar village of Karimganj district of  Southern  Assam.  The success point was barren areas converted into Blackgram grown areas after  Sali rice cultivation. The field data on demonstration of PU-31 and farmers’ local variety were recorded. The yield data of  PU-31 was recoded as  7.2  q/ha  with potential yield of 12.0  q/ha whereas farmers’ variety were recorded as 5.5q/ha.  The district yield average was documented as 5.0 q/ha whereas state yield average was 6.0q/ha.

]]> Cluster Front Line Demonstration (CFLD), Blackgram var. PU-31, Sali rice fallow, Karimganj, South Assam SUCCESS STORY Sun, 31 Jan 2021 00:00:00 IST Mechanized Groundnut Production to Overcome Human Labour Complications  Groundnut is cash crop and most important oil seed in India. Groundnut is grown over an area in India 39.31 lakh ha during 2019-2020. Groundnut crop need well till soil preparation for good extend roots penetrate and increasing the yield. Tillage is a process of field preparation by ploughing and levelling the hard pan of field soil into fine pulverized. In groundnut production primary and secondary tillage operation plays an important role in improving the production through good soil operations. Seed sowing is the process of placing the good quality of viable seeds into soil at optimum depth for its healthier establishment. Weed management plays significant role in improving crop production and productivity by eliminating the crop and weeds competitions. Tractor drawn weeder will cover 4-5 ha day-1 and large area will be weeded in limited time. Groundnut is a single harvest crop and whole field attain maturity at same time. Application of harvester viz., groundnut digger, shaker cum windrower, groundnut fresh pod thresher, groundnut fresh pod stripper, dry pod thresher and groundnut combine harvester can be done. Separation of kernel or seed from the harvested dried pods with fine quality is called decortication. The groundnut mechanization is used to increasing the groundnut production and cost saving operation. 

]]> Groundnut, Mechanization, tillage, intercultural, harvesting POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Jan 2021 00:00:00 IST Biology and Life Cycle of Cattle Face Fly Parasitic Nematode, Heterotylenchus Parasitic nematode, Heterotylenchus autumnalis associated with the face fly, Musca autumnalis, which is deleterious to livestock producers around the world. The parasitic nematode can transmit several eye diseases and parasitic to cattle.

]]> Musca autumnalis, face fly, Heterotylenchus POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Jan 2021 00:00:00 IST Climate Resilient Agriculture Climate-resilient agriculture is a technique of using existing natural resources in a sustainable manner with agriculture and livestock farming system to achieve increased long-term productivity and farm profits in the view of climate variability. It practices mainly consist of structured methods for managing essential inputs such as land, water, crop production, and livestock management. It appears that inventions and organizations are important in accelerating the adoption of Climate-resilient agriculture practices. In the face of globalization, this practice helps future generations avoid poverty and starvation. These approaches have the potential to implement a new situation and sustain agriculture on a local, regional, and global scale, particularly when done in a sustainable way. Climate-resilient practices lead to increased access to and usage of technology, open trade regimes, increased use of resource management technologies, and enhanced crop and livestock adaptation to extreme forms.

]]> Climate Resilient, Agriculture, technique, long-term productivity, farm profits POPULAR ARTICLES Sun, 31 Jan 2021 00:00:00 IST Discover the Potential of Functional Foods Functional foods are foods that have a potentially positive effect on health beyond nutrition. It promotes optimal health and helps to reduce the risk of diseases. Functional food covers a variety of foods like; minimally processed, whole foods along with fortified, enriched or enhanced foods can all be functional foods. In the main, these foods have a potentially beneficial effect on health when consumed on a regular basis and at certain levels. This article elaborates on the importance of functional foods, health benefits, types and various sources of functional foods.

]]> Functional foods, positive effect, health benefits, nutrition POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:00:00 IST Biomass Carbon Capture and Sequestration Biomass refers to the mass of all living matter in a given area that includes all flora and fauna. There are different methods to measure the biomass. Fossil fuel burning releases CO2 which enters the atmosphere and increase the atmospheric CO2 concentration. According to IPCC report, forest ecosystem would release about 100 billion tonnes of CO2 by the next 50 years. Using forest residues (thinnings and logging slash) for bioenergy is an opportunity to restore forest health, wildfire resiliency, and wildlife habitat. Silvicultural operations to improve forest conditions can help revitalize rural economies while providing renewable energy feedstocks. CO2 storage is an integral part of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) chain, and therefore it is important to quantify the storage potential of geological sites such as coal fields, oil and gas fields, and deep saline water-bearing reservoir rocks. India has joined a number of international initiatives to speed up the development and dissemination of CCS technologies, notably the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF), which provided a mandate for the involvement of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), and effectively engaged with industry experts. Popularizing the CCS technology is the only option to reduce the emissions and save the planet.

]]> Biomass, Carbon Capture, Sequestration, Fossil fuel, CSLF, DST, CCS technology POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:00:00 IST Brimato - New Recombinant Grafted Innovation Vegetable grafting is very old concept in some Asian countries like Japan and Korea but it is a relatively new technology in India which is being seen as an alternative technique to combat biotic and abiotic stresses in vegetable cultivation. New recombinant plants are another sphere of interest of growers. Pomato (Tomato on Potato) has been successfully grown and being popularized for indoor cultivation under protected structures. Similarly, Brimato (Brinjal on Potato) has been a successful recombination. Increasing population and industrialization of agricultural land has forced the growers to grow more from small or limited area. New technologies such as vertical farming, hydroponic, aeroponic,vegetable grafting are being promoted or encouraged. Brimato will provide an opportunity to growers to get two crops from a single plant.

]]> Brimato, Pomato, Vegetable grafting, alternative technique, biotic, abiotic stress, two crops, single plant POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:00:00 IST Smart Farming by Cultivating Azolla – An Innovative Information to Farmers from KVK Chinnasalem Available arable land is limited and the nitrogenous fertilizers are polluting the environment. Currently the use of biofertilizers in crop production is gaining importance to reduce the pollution. It is important that cropping systems must be developed which do not rely on inorganic nitrogen based fertilizers. The Azolla is a well-known biofertilizer as an alternate source for the nitrogen based fertilizers. Since its rapid growing, N -fixing symbiosis, potential productivity phenomenon helps the farmers to reduce nitrogen based fertilizer application cost. Besides, due to its nutritional property, it can be used as feedstock for the animals such as poultry, pigs, dairy, fish, goat, and sheep.  

]]> Smart Farming, Cultivating Azolla, An Innovative Information, Farmers, KVK, Chinnasalem, rapid growing, N -fixing POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:00:00 IST Urban Gardening for the Pandemic  As the century witnesses rapid urbanization and the year 2020 witnessing a hard pandemic it necessitates new ways of gardening. This article emphasizes that by designing and planning for a green space, it is possible to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic. By arranging, for appropriate gardening and related activities to the people staying inside at home, the impact of severe mental illness claimed by the Indian psychiatric Society could be minimized. Special types of gardening like Terrariums etc., lessen the threat of children’s addiction towards the gadgets. The article has provided important tips for the beginners who wish to start the gardening.  In addition, the overall goal of this article was to make the urban and peri- urban people to have a safe and healthy life with greeneries. 

]]> Urban Gardening, Pandemic, green space, safe, healthy life POPULAR ARTICLES Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:00:00 IST