Production Potential of Different Pasture Grasses under Off-Season Rainfall in Arid Conditions of Bikaner, India

Livestock rearing is the important source of livelihood in arid region of Rajasthan where the crop production is unstable due to low and erratic rainfall. The rangelands and pastures are important land use system and provide main support to the livestock in the arid region of Rajasthan. Grazing of livestock is a common practice in arid zone as about 50 % of total area of western Rajasthan is available for grazing mainly for cows, sheep and goat, however, the availability of green fodder is restricted to monsoon and post monsoon months only and during rest of the period livestock graze on dry grasses and crop residues available in cultivated, fallow and wastelands and other grazing lands. The perennial grasses like Lasiurus sindicus, Cenchrus ciliaris, C. setigerus, Panicum turgidum, P. antidotale etc. with some annuals are dominated in the rangelands and pastures in the arid zone of Rajasthan. Generally these grasses are grown during rainy season but also regenerated during off-season condition when sufficient moisture is available through rainfall or irrigation and provide fodder during the lean period. Productivity of these pasture grasses were assessed during rainy season but information of the production potential during off-season is not available in literature. Therefore, present study was conducted during March to May 2015 at Arid Region Campus of CSWRI, Bikaner to assess the production potential and regeneration of different grasses during off-season under arid condition

Exploring the potential of enhanced organic formulations for boosting crop productivity, nutrient utilization efficiency, and profitability in baby corn-Kabuli gram-vegetable cowpea cropping system

The preparation of enriched formulation by integrating of agricultural wastes such as paddy husk ash (PHA) and potato peel with organic fertilizer such as farmyard manure (FYM), compost can enrich the soil with essential plant nutrients, leading to higher yields in subsequent crops and potentially reducing the dependence on farmyard manure/compost alone. However, there is lack of adequate research findings regarding the impact of different formulations generated from agricultural waste on productivity, nutrient utilization efficiency and profitability of baby corn-kabuli gram-vegetable cowpea cropping system. Therefore, a two-year field experiment (2020–2022) was conducted ICAR-IARI, New Delhi with baby corn-kabuli gram-vegetable cowpea cropping system. Seven nutrient sources were tested in Randomized Block Design and replicate thrice.The results showed that treatment T4 (100% recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) through PHA based formulation) had significant effect on crop yield grown in rotation, followed by treatment T6 (100% RDN through potato peel compost (PPC) based formulation) and T2 (100% RDN through FYM). The increase in yield was 75.0, 44.3 and 33.1% during first year and 72.6, 45.9 and 31.0% during second year, respectively, over control. Treatment T4 also significantly enhanced system uptake of N, P and K as well as system gross returns and net returns, resulting in 65.6, 84.9, 69.5, 50.7 and 55.2% higher returns during first year and 68.6, 80.5, 73.9, 50.0 and 54.2% higher returns during second year, respectively, over control. Furthermore, treatment T4 significantly improved agronomic nitrogen use efficiency and apparent recovery by 151.6 and 2.0% in baby corn, 74.2 and 1.5% in kabuli gram, 55.7 and 13.9% in veg cowpea over T7, respectively, averaged across two years of study. Based on these results, it is recommended to adopt (T4) 100% RDN through PHA based formulation, and (T6) 100% RDN through PPC based formulation in the area with a shortage of FYM but with the availability of rice husk ash or pototo peels for sustainable utilization of the agricultural wastes and improving the agricultural sustainability

Antiglycation and antioxidant properties of Momordica charantia

The accumulation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) and oxidative stress underlie the pathogenesis of diabetic complications. In many developing countries, diabetes treatment is unaffordable, and plants such as bitter gourd (or bitter melon; Momordica charantia) are used as traditional remedies because they exhibit hypoglycaemic properties. This study compared the antiglycation and antioxidant properties of aqueous extracts of M. charantia pulp (MCP), flesh (MCF) and charantin in vitro. Lysozyme was mixed with methylglyoxal and 0–15 mg/ml of M. charantia extracts in a pH 7.4 buffer and incubated at 37°C for 3 days. Crosslinked AGEs were assessed using gel electrophoresis, and the carboxymethyllysine (CML) content was analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The antioxidant activities of the extracts were evaluated using assays to assess DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl) and hydroxyl radical scavenging activities, metal-chelating activity and reducing power of the extracts. The phenolic, flavonol and flavonoid content of the extracts were also determined. All extracts inhibited the formation of crosslinked AGEs and CML in a dose-dependent manner, with MCF being the most potent. The antioxidant activity of MCF was higher than that of MCP, but MCP showed the highest metal-chelating activity. MCF had the highest phenolic and flavonoid contents, whereas MCP had the highest flavonol content. M. charantia has hypoglycaemic effects, but this study shows that M. charantia extracts are also capable of preventing AGE formation in vitro. This activity may be due to the antioxidant properties, particularly the total phenolic content of the extracts. Thus, the use of M. charantia deserves more attention, as it may not only reduce hyperglycaemia but also protect against the build-up of tissue AGEs and reduce oxidative stress in patients with diabetes

Micropropagation of Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba)

Introduction: Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba) is one of the most important fruit trees in Asia which has been planted from 3,000 years ago in China for medicinal purposes. Jujube belongs to the Rhamnaceae family. The Jujube fruit is used in fresh and dry forms. The fruit is full of vitamin C and has anticancer and medicinal effects. This tree can grow on salty and dry lands in Iran. Therefore, increasing the cultivation area of Jujube can be effective for soil conservation. In the last 20years, cultivation of Jujube is is considerable in Iran specially in the South Khorasan Province and 98 % of total production of Jujube in Iran belongs to this province. The low rate of seed germination and low production of shootlets are the most important problems in Jujube proliferation, so micropropagation of this plant through tissue culture was considered. Materials and methods: In this study, Cangan ecotype of Jujube was used for multiple shoot regeneration. At the end of May, apical buds of shoots were cut from mature trees of the Research Collection of Jujube at Sarbishe, Birjand, South Khorasan Province in Iran. The buds were disinfected with 70% ethanol for 1 min and 2% sodium hypoclorite for 25 min. Then the buds were rinsed with distilled water for 25 min completely. Apical buds were placed on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with different concentrations of BA (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 mg/L) in combination with IBA or NAA (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 mg/L). After one month, the shoots with 3-5 cm length were transferred to rooting media (1/2 MS + IBA or IAA : 0.5, 2, 5, 10 mg/L). The data were recorded after shooting and rooting and were analysed in the facorial experiment. Results and Discussion: The results of variance analysis and mean comparisons showed that there are differences between different levels of IBA and BA alone for the number of shoots and their length (

Behavior of artificially corroded RC beams strengthened with CFRP and hybrid CFRP-GFRP laminates

Steel corrosion is a major degradation factor for the reinforced concrete (RC) infrastructure and necessitates a costly repair after short service life. Predicting the strength of corroded and retrofitted structural elements while under service is a challenging task. For this purpose, the impressed current technique is frequently used to achieve the desired degree of corrosion in RC members in the laboratories. This study investigates the effectiveness of this technique on laboratory-scale RC beams and evaluates the behavior of severely corroded beams rehabilitated with carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP) and the hybrid of CFRP and glass-FRP (GFRP) laminates. Extensive literature is available on the behavior of sound RC members strengthened with FRPs, however, data are scarce on the behavior of corroded-strengthened RC beams. The RC beams were deteriorated by applying an impressed current of 750 µA/cm2 for 15 days. All the beams were tested under four-point bending till failure. The reinforcement mesh was non-uniformly corroded; the flexural bar facing the external cathode experienced a higher degree of corrosion than the opposite bar and the actual applied impressed current reached as high as 2388 µA/cm2. The flexural strength of the degraded beams, with 37 % weight loss on the main rebars, was 41 % less than counter-part sound beams. On the other hand, the CFRP strengthening regained the strength of degraded beams by 45 % compared to the unstrengthened-degraded beams. Whereas the CFRP-GFRP hybrid laminates regained strength up to 60 % compared to the counterpart-degraded beams and 12 % higher than the sound beams. This study demonstrated that a desired degree of corrosion could be achieved on a particular reinforcement portion with the impressed current technique. In addition, CFRP and CFRP-GFRP laminates are effective external strengthening techniques for rehabilitating degraded concrete infrastructure.The funding for this research was provided by the Collaborative High Impact Grant of Qatar University under award no. QUCG-CAM-2018\2019-2, and by the National Priorities Research Program of the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of the Qatar Foundation) under the award no. NPRP 11S-1211-170085. The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Sponsors.Scopu

Assessment of in-vitro antioxidant capacity and polyphenolic composition of frequently used legumes

This study was concerned with the assessment of antioxidant activity and chemical composition of extracts made from nine legume seeds. The legume seeds include : Lablab purpueus (Lab-lab bean), Phaseolus vulgaris (Kidney bean), Vigna radiata (Mung bean, green seed coat variety), Cicer arietinum (Chick pea, dark brown seed coat variety), Vigna radiate (Mung bean, red seed coat variety), Vigna unguiculata (Cowpea, Black eyed bean), Cicer arietinum (Chick pea, white seed coat variety), Trigonella foenumgraecum (Fenugreek), and Phaseolus vulgaris (Black bean). Two methods were used to evaluate antioxidant activity of ethanol extracts of these selected plants: β-carotene bleaching assay and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical method (DPPH). DPPH was also used as a TLC spray to detect separated antioxidant compounds. Ethanol extracts of the five legume seeds showed antioxidant activity with chick pea (Cicer arietinum) exhibiting the highest activity (Fernandez et al.,, 2009). Germination did not increased antioxidant activity as measured by the β-carotene method, in five legumes. However, TLC bioautography clearly indicated that at least four compounds with radical scavenging activity have been biosynthesized during the germination of chick pea seeds. The biosynthesized compounds were more polar compared to those present in ungerminated seeds. This broadens the solubility spectrum of chickpea antioxidants, an advantage for the food industry (Milos and Makhota, 2012). The potential of commercially using legume flours in processed baked and meat products are indicated, adding antioxidant activity to other functionalities. Synergistic studies showed that the antioxidant activity of chick pea could be synergistically increased by addition of the extract of roots of G. Gynandra (Chew et al., 2009) The AlCl3-method was found to be unsuitable for the determination of total flavonoids