Customized fertilizers for higher yield and income: Evidences from on-farm validation in coconut – tuber crop intercropping system

Fifteen on-farm experiments were conducted in tropical tuber crops intercropped in coconut gardens in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts, Kerala, during 2018-2021 for the validation of customized fertilizers formulated from on-station developed Site-Specific Nutrient Management (SSNM) practices. The validation experiments were done under the aegis of ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, in a project funded by Coconut Development Board, Kochi, Kerala.Three treatments viz., T1: SSNM technology using customized fertilizers (CF) (SSNM), T2: present POP recommendation (POP) and T3: farmer's practice (FP) was evaluated in cassava, elephant foot yam and greater yam intercropped with coconut. System productivity and profitability were worked out for the different treatments based on yield and income from coconut and tuber crops in the respective treatments. Pooled analysis indicated that the coconut yield under intercropping with tuber crops under SSNM using CF was higher by 12-23% in comparison to coconut monocrop maintained unscientifically by the farmers. Tuber yield under CF proved superior over POP by 9.3% and FP by 37.4%. On an average, the net income from coconut-tuber crop intercropping system under SSNM using CF was ₹ 270396 per ha, whereas it was ₹ 198047 in POP and ₹146358 in FP and significantly outperformed sole coconut (₹ 7764).Thus, the results of the validation experiments indicated that the use of customized fertilizers in tuberous intercrops offered resilience with higher system productivity and profitability from coconut gardens

Organic management of tuberous intercrops for resilience, higher yield and profit from coconut plantations: Insights from validation experiments in Kerala, India

Fifteen on-farm experiments were conducted in tropical tuber crops intercropped in coconut gardens in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts, Kerala, during 2018-2021 for validation of organic production technologies. The validation experiments were performed under the aegis of the ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, in a project funded by the Coconut Development Board, Kochi, Kerala. Three treatments viz., T1: organic farming technology (OF), T2: POP recommendation (POP) and T3: farmer's practice (FP) were evaluated in cassava, elephant foot yam and greater yam intercropped with coconut. System productivity and profitability were worked out for the different treatments based on yield and income from coconut and tuber crops in the respective treatments. Pooled analysis indicated that the coconut yield under intercropping with tuber crops in organic mode was high by 7-13% in comparison to monocrop of coconut maintained by the farmers. Tuber yield under organic management was superior over POP by 14% and FP by 27%. On an average, the net income from coconut-tuber crop intercropping system under organic management was ₹ 2,36,133 ha-1, whereas it was ₹ 1,56,904 ha-1 in POP and ₹ 1,32,706 ha-1 in FP and significantly outperformed sole coconut (₹ 7,764 ha-1). Thus, the results indicated that organic management of coconut-tuber crop system offered resilience with higher system productivity and profitability

Rare case series: iniencephaly, conjoined twins and anencephaly

A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind. This quote is true when we happen to see certain rare cases which we could not diagnose unless we are aware. The aim of this presentation is to bring attention of cases like Iniencephaly, conjoined twins, Anencephaly to our medical fraternity and the need to focus still more on health need of the women in reproductive age group in particular. This is also to highlight the benefits of periconceptional Folic acid supplementation and need for intense antenatal surveillance programmes and proper genetic counselling to affected parents

Physically, physiologically and conceptually hidden: improving the description and communication of seed persistence

Seed persistence is a trait that is difficult to observe or measure and consequently, has remained conceptually obscure for 40 years since Grubb’s influential description of the regeneration niche. Seed persistence is the ability of seeds to persist in a viable state post-dispersal and is relevant to current research in plant community dynamics and conservation. However, categorisations of seed persistence as transient, short-term or long-term persistent do not acknowledge the variation in persistence times as a result of deterministic processes and are difficult to apply in a predictive capacity. Consequently, a more robust understanding of seed persistence is needed in niche descriptions that are temporally explicit and in predicting the distributional changes of species in the current and future climate. We surmise an alternative to the categorizations of seed persistence on the basis of seed bank type and argue that it is best expressed as a continuous variable. We review the methods available for estimating seed persistence in situ and provide a number of testable hypotheses to contribute to the development of this important research topic. We maintain that seed persistence has not been incorporated adequately into niche theory and highlight that it can make several contributions including properly defining metapopulation niche, population growth definition. This holistic approach by integrating seed persistence into niche theory would allow us to better predict the survival of plants in a changing environment

Validation of organic management in cassava intercropped in coconut plantation in the humid coastal tropics of Kerala, India

Crop diversification and alternatives like organic farming assume importance for sustainable food production, especially during climate change. Besides, organic farming enables environmentally benign and clean food production. Cassava, an important food-cum-nutritional security crop with diversified uses in feed and industrial sectors, is a common intercrop in coconut plantations. On-station field experiments at ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (ICAR-CTCRI), Thiruvananthapuram conclusively proved that organic management promoted productivity, tuber quality and soil properties in cassava. Cost-effective technologies were also developed, which required large scale field validation. Hence, a field experiment was conducted under Network Project on Organic Horticulture during 2015-2017 at the Research Farm, ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod, to validate the ICAR-CTCRI developed organic farming technologies in cassava under intercropping in an organically raised mature coconut garden. Three varieties of cassava (Sree Vijaya, Vellayani Hraswa and H-165) were tested under four production systems viz., traditional, conventional, integrated and organic, and replicated thrice in split-plot design in a 48-year-old coconut (var. Kera Keralam) garden. Organic and conventional practices were equally efficient in crop growth, yield, tuber quality and soil chemical properties. Averaging over the years, yield under organic management was 76 per cent of conventional farming. The domestic and industrial varieties of cassava performed similarly under the different production systems, with almost the same yield reduction (24%) under organic over conventional management. The organic technology package comprising farmyard manure, green manure cowpea, cassava crop residue and biofertilizers, resulted in significantly higher available N in soil and improvement in P, K, Mg, Mn and Zn contents in cassava tubers. However, cassava var. Vellayani Hraswa under an integrated production system resulted in the highest net income (` 1,97,830 ha-1) and B:C ratio (1.99) when intercropped in coconut

Ultrasensitive and selective non-enzymatic electrochemical glucose sensor based on hybrid material of graphene nanosheets/graphene nanoribbons/nickel nanoparticle

A fast, highly sensitive and selective non-enzymatic electrochemical glucose sensor based on graphene sheet/graphene nanoribbon/nickel nanoparticles (GS/GNR/Ni) hybrid material modified electrode was fabricated. The hybrid material was synthesized via facile in-situ chemical reduction and characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The GS/GNR/Ni/GCE showed high electrochemical activity towards the oxidation of glucose in a 0.1 M NaOH solution. At an applied potential of +0.5 V, it displayed wide linear amperometric response towards glucose from the range of 5 nM–5 mM, with a detection limit of 2.5 nM and sensitivity of 2.3 mA/mM cm 2 . Moreover, the modified electrode was relatively insensitive to commonly interfering species such as dopamine, ascorbic acid, sucrose, uric acid and Cl - ions. The fabricated sensor with better reproducibility, good long term stability, makes it a promising electrode for the development of effective glucose sensor

Survey of campylobacter, salmonella and mycoplasmas in house crows (Corvus splendens) in Malaysia

House crows (Corvus splendens) in Selangor, Malaysia were examined for the presence of Campylobacter species, Salmonella species, Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Mycoplasma synoviae by serology, culture and pcr. For the detection of Campylobacter and Salmonella species swabs were taken either from the intestine or cloaca. For the detection of mycoplasmas, swabs were taken either from the choanal cleft or trachea for culture and pcr and serum samples were tested by the rapid serum agglutination (rsa) and monoclonal antibody-blocking elisa (mbelisa) for antibodies to M gallisepticum and M synoviae. For campylobacter, 25·3 per cent of the crows were positive by culture, and the species identified were Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli. No Salmonella species were isolated. Four of 24 swabs were positive for M gallisepticum dna but none gave positive results for M synoviae dna. No M gallisepticum or M synoviae antibodies were detected by rsa but 60 per cent of the sera gave positive reactions for M gallisepticum and 13 per cent gave positive reactions for M synoviae by mbelisa

Generating Classes of 3D Virtual Mandibles for AR-Based Medical Simulation

Simulation and modeling represent promising tools for several application domains from engineering to forensic science and medicine. Advances in 3D imaging technology convey paradigms such as Augmented and Mixed Reality (AR/MR) inside promising simulation tools for the training industry. Motivated by the requirement for superimposing anatomically correct 3D models on a Human Patient Simulator (HPS) and visualizing them in an AR environment, the purpose of this research effort is to derive method for scaling a source human mandible to a target human mandible. Results show that, given a distance between two same landmarks on two different mandibles, a relative scaling factor may be computed. Using this scaling factor, results show that a 3D virtual mandible model can be made morphometrically equivalent to a real target-specific mandible within a 1.30 millimeter average error bound. The virtual mandible may be further used as a reference target for registering other anatomical ! models, such as the lungs, on the HPS. Such registration will be made possible by physical constraints among the mandible and the spinal column in the horizontal normal rest position