Drought Stress in Millets and Its Response Mechanism

Drought is a major abiotic stress that diminishes crop yield and weakens global food security, especially in the current emerging situation of climate change as well as increases in the prevalence and severity of stress elements. Millets are nutrient-dense and capable to resist variety of harsh environmental conditions, including lack of moisture. Millet’s crop has evolved dynamically in terms of morphology, physiology, and biochemically that allow them to flee and/or adapt to adverse environmental situations. Drought stress has a significant impact on the vegetative and reproductive phases of plants. Millets generate a very low yield compared to main cereals like wheat and rice, despite their agronomic, nutritional, and health-related benefits. It is necessary to understand how these complex features are regulated and ameliorated the impact of droughts on millet productivity. Keeping this in view, the present work aims to understand the processes used for reducing the negative impacts of droughts in the production of millets varieties using advanced agronomic management strategies (use of information technology) and the biotechnology (improvements in crop genetics)

Rice husk as a fibre in composites: A review

In the last decade due to ever growing environmental concerns, use of natural fibres as fibre materials has gained momentum and acceptance. Natural fibres provide advantage of being economical and environment friendly at the same time. Rice husk, an agricultural waste is being utilized as a natural fibre for development of bio-composites. Present paper attempts to understand the applicability of rice husk as a fibre with various polymers based on the recent research works. It also throws light on various modification techniques that can further enhance the associated mechanical properties by altering the chemical and physical properties of husk. The paper may assist in understanding the phenomenon associated in manufacture of rice husk based bio-composite and provide a critical insight to the future applications of rice husk