Impact of Organic Farming on Yield and Quality of BASMATI Rice and Soil Properties

The management of soil organic matter is critical to maintain a productive organic farming system. No one source of nutrient usually suffices to maintain productivity and quality control in organic system. In addition, the inputs to supplement nutrient avail-ability are often not uniform presenting additional challenges in meeting the nutrient requirement of crops in organic systems. With this concept, a field experiment was conducted at the research farm of Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India during 2003-06 in rice-wheat-green gram cropping system. In this experiment, different treatments comprising organic amendments such as Blue Green Algae (BGA) 15kg/ha, Azolla 1.0 tonne/ha, Vermicompost and Farm Yard Manure (FYM) 5.0 tonne/ha each applied alone or in combination were tested in organic crop production. These treatments were compared with absolute control (N0P0K0) and recommended dose of chemical fertilizer (N80P40K40). In wheat crop Azotobacter replaced Azolla, but other treatments remained same. For rice, a scented variety ‘Pusa Basmati 1’ and for wheat and green gram HYVs were taken. Biomass of green gram was incorporated in soil after picking of pods and wheat was sown using zero tillage practice. The obser-vations on grain yield, contents of Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu in rice grains, insect pest inci-dence, soil nutrients and microbial activity were taken. Results revealed a significant enhancement in grain yield of rice over absolute control due to the application of different organic amendments applied alone or in combina-tions. Rice grain yield increased by 114 to 116.8% over absolute control when all the 4 organic amendments were applied altogether. The rice grain yield (4.0 t ha-1) obtained under combined application of four organic amendments was at par with the yield recorded under recommended dose of chemical fertilizer application. An interesting observation recorded was that there was no serious attack of any insect pest or dis-ease in organically grown crop. Soil microbial population (Actinomycetes, Bacteria, Fungi and BGA) enhanced due to the application of organic amendments in compari-son to absolute control as well as recommended fertilizer application that in turn re-sulted in a notable enhancement in soil dehydrogenase and phosphatase enzyme activity. Soil organic carbon and available phosphorus contents were also found to be significantly increased due to organic farming practice over control as well as chemical fertilizer application. Rice grain analysis for nutrients viz. Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu showed a significant increase in Fe and Mn content in the treatments having 2 or more organic amendments over control. Zn and Cu content also increased but the increment was significant with combined application of 3 or 4 organic amendments. The study revealed that addition of four organic amendments viz. BGA, Azolla, FYM and Vermicompost could give the optimum yield (4.05 t/ha) of organic Basmati rice and improve grain and soil quality

Total lipid accumulation and fatty acid profiles of microalga Spirulina under different nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations

Nutrient limitation in terms of nitrogen and phosphorus increased lipid accumulation under depleted growth in Spirulina strains. Nitrogen limitation was found more effective than phosphorus in accumulating lipid. The fatty acid profile was variable: palmitic (48%), linolenic (21%) and linoleic acids (15%) were the most prevalent types. It was interesting that nitrogen limitation was more effective in increasing total lipid content, whereas phosphorus limitation had more effect on the fatty acid profile. Fatty acid ratios were different under the two conditions of nutrient limitation, with γ -linolenic acid being accumulated in higher quantities under nitrogen than phosphorus limitation

Molecular Analysis of Disease-Responsive Genes Revealing the Resistance Potential Against Fusarium Wilt (Fusarium udum Butler) Dependent on Genotype Variability in the Leguminous Crop Pigeonpea

Fusarium wilt (FW), caused by Fusarium udum Butler (FU), is among the challenging factors in the production of pigeonpea. Therefore, exploring a superior pigeonpea genotype from landraces or local cultivars through the selection of innate resistance to FW using different biological and molecular approaches, and validating its resistance response, could be an alternative to sustainable crop improvement. Five distinct pigeonpea genotypes, with resistant (ICP2894) and susceptible (ICP2376) controls, were selected on the basis of the incidence percentage of FW, from three different states of India. Among them, the cultivar Richa, which displayed low incidence of FW (10.0%) during the genotype evaluation, was further examined for its innate resistance to FW. Molecular characterization of antioxidant (AO) enzyme [APX and SOD] and pathogenesis-related (PR) protein [CHS and b-1, 3-glucanase] families were performed. The obtained results of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction-based expression study and in silico analysis showed a higher level of induction of PR and AO genes, and the strong interaction of their putative proteins with fungal cellobiohydrolase-c protein established their antifungal activity, conferring early plant defense responses to FU in Richa. Our study demonstrated a strong and combinatorial approach involving biological assay, molecular experiments, and in silico analysis to identify a superior pigeonpea genotype that was resistant to FW across a major biogeographic region

Total lipid accumulation and fatty acid profiles of microalga Spirulina under different nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations

Nutrient limitation in terms of nitrogen and phosphorus increased lipid accumulation under depleted growth in Spirulina strains. Nitrogen limitation was found more effective than phosphorus in accumulating lipid. The fatty acid profile was variable: palmitic (48%), linolenic (21%) and linoleic acids (15%) were the most prevalent types. It was interesting that nitrogen limitation was more effective in increasing total lipid content, whereas phosphorus limitation had more effect on the fatty acid profile. Fatty acid ratios were different under the two conditions of nutrient limitation, with γ -linolenic acid being accumulated in higher quantities under nitrogen than phosphorus limitation

Charge and energy spectra of cosmic-ray nuclei with <i>Z</i> = 10–28

An improved method of charge determination of heavy primary cosmic rays of nuclear charge Z = 10–28 has been obtained by measuring the Fowler–Perkins parameter in less-sensitive G-2 and G-0 emulsions for the determination of the primary ionization. It is found that reliable measurements of the primary ionization can be made for ionizations as high as ~1 000 times minimum. The average errors in the charge determinations by this method were found to be about 0.5, 0.7, and 1.0 unit of charge for H1 (Z = 10–15), H2 (Z = 16–19), and H3 (Z = 20–30) groups of nuclei, respectively. This method has been applied to the study of the H1, H2, and H3 groups of nuclei in an emulsion stack exposed over Fort Churchill, Canada, on June 18, 1963 at 4.3 g cm−2 of residual atmosphere for 11.1 h. The results are based on an analysis of 340 nuclei with [Formula: see text]. The charge composition and relative abundances of the H1, H2, and H3 nuclei were obtained. The differential energy spectra of the H1, H2, H3, and [Formula: see text] groups of nuclei were determined in the energy interval 250–1 000 MeV/nucleon and integral fluxes for energy &gt; 1 000 MeV/nucleon. </jats:p