Integrated systems approach for enhancing resilience of arid farming systems in South Asia

This paper aims to share the methods and processes of designing resilient farming systems to improve livelihoods under the drylands in South-Asia. The study is based on 250 randomly selected farm households along the rainfall gradient from Jodhpur- Barmer-Jaisalmer districts in Western Rajasthan in India. Our analysis demonstrates that the dryland smallholder farming systems occur within diverse agro-ecological and socio-economic environments and develop different livelihood strategies driven by opportunities and constraints encountered. Multiple livelihood assets determine different land use patterns and agricultural management practices in dryland systems in south Asia. Well-designed household survey on socio-economic and agroecological variables and statistical approach helped capture the diversity of livelihood assets to categorize households into homogenous farm types. The follow up FDG’s with farmers and stakeholder were equally important to validate farm typologies and prioritization of interventions. Engaging the innovation platform for identification of potential innovation options and their prioritization at district level; involving farmers for each farm typology, and ex-ante assessment of promising options led to the on-farm assessment of farm type specific most appropriate interventions in the action villages. Landscape and community level options were prioritized with the village development committee and proactive farmers. The institutional platforms experimented at village to regional level has strengthened the capacity of the community/stakeholders to innovate to improve the farming systems resilience and economic viability. An ex-post assessment demonstrates significant increase in farming systems productivity, household income and development of value chains as well as sustainable management of natural resource including common pastures. This study contributes to the understanding of how research for development through integrated systems approach can contribute towards stabilizing farm incomes, sustainable intensification and smoothening livelihood of resource poor farmers in vulnerable dry regions

RNAi-Mediated Downregulation of Inositol Pentakisphosphate Kinase (IPK1) in Wheat Grains Decreases Phytic Acid Levels and Increases Fe and Zn Accumulation

Enhancement of micronutrient bioavailability is crucial to address the malnutrition in the developing countries. Various approaches employed to address the micronutrient bioavailability are showing promising signs, especially in cereal crops. Phytic acid (PA) is considered as a major antinutrient due to its ability to chelate important micronutrients and thereby restricting their bioavailability. Therefore, manipulating PA biosynthesis pathway has largely been explored to overcome the pleiotropic effect in different crop species. Recently, we reported that functional wheat inositol pentakisphosphate kinase (TaIPK1) is involved in PA biosynthesis, however, the functional roles of the IPK1 gene in wheat remains elusive. In this study, RNAi-mediated gene silencing was performed for IPK1 transcripts in hexaploid wheat. Four non-segregating RNAi lines of wheat were selected for detailed study (S3-D-6-1; S6-K-3-3; S6-K-6-10 and S16-D-9-5). Homozygous transgenic RNAi lines at T4 seeds with a decreased transcript of TaIPK1 showed 28–56% reduction of the PA. Silencing of IPK1 also resulted in increased free phosphate in mature grains. Although, no phenotypic changes in the spike was observed but, lowering of grain PA resulted in the reduced number of seeds per spikelet. The lowering of grain PA was also accompanied by a significant increase in iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) content, thereby enhancing their molar ratios (Zn:PA and Fe:PA). Overall, this work suggests that IPK1 is a promising candidate for employing genome editing tools to address the mineral accumulation in wheat grains

Strengthening governance of agriculture to enhance competitiveness of farmers in Pacific Islands countries

Effectiveness of governance and its regulatory quality matter for agricultural development in Pacific islands countries. Agriculture in these countries is important but is poorly developed and suffers due to weak agricultural institutions and governance issues. A stronger performing agriculture is crucial but its development depends on the enabling environment. There is need to facilitate the farmers by enhancing their competitiveness and bargaining power. Needed actions for strengthening the governance in PICs are: investment in rural and market infrastructures and services, ensuring quality of farm enterprises, strengthening the extension capabilities and promotion of regional brand for niche products

A rare case of unruptured live second trimester ovarian ectopic pregnancy

Ovarian ectopic pregnancy is an extreme rare entity in all the cases of ectopic pregnancies. Before, the end of first trimester, it usually ends with rupture. It is such a unique and rare presentation that only 3% of all ectopic pregnancies are reported due to an ovarian cause. In this case report, authors have presented a patient with ovarian ectopic pregnancy which was found unruptured, live at the second trimester. The patient presented with abdominal pain and after routine check-up and ultrasound abdomen, patient was taken for an emergency explorative laparotomy and the ovarian pregnancy was excised and sent for histopathological examination, the histopathological examination further confirmed the diagnosis of the same. In some researches it has been seen that ovarian pregnancies are rising, considering that, the findings of the report may help frame future diagnostic and treatment guidelines.

Expedient method for oxidation of alcohol by hydrogen peroxide in the presence of amberlite IRA 400 resin (basic) as phase-transfer catalyst

Amberlite IRA 400 (strongly basic), a classical polymer imparts phasetransfer catalysis in the oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols by hydrogen peroxide to give excellent yields of the corresponding carbonyl compounds or carboxylic acids in acetonitrile solvent at reflux temperature in 4–6 h. The catalytic system is inert to other susceptible oxidation sites such as carbon–carbon double bond