Antioxidant-Rich Amaranth Varieties, Arka Samraksha and Arka Varna

Amaranth improvement in India hither to was concerned with development of high-yielding varieties, and hardly any research efforts have been made for its nutritional improvement. Keeping this in view, at Indian Institute of Horticultural Research two high-yielding amaranth varieties, Arka Samraksha and Arka Varna with high antioxidant activity, low amounts of nitrates and oxalates were developed using modified bulk method of selection from segregating population of the crosses IIHR-4 x IIHR-70 and IIHR-7 x IIHR-30 . Arka Samraksha is a high-yielding (10.9 t/ha in 30-35 days), pulling-type variety with green leaves and stem, antioxidant activity of 499mg (AEAC units) and minimum nitrate content of 27.3 mg and 1.34 g oxalates per 100 g fresh leaf weight. Arka Varna also a pulling type, high-yielding variety (10.6 t/ha in 30-35 days) with green leaves and a pink stem, high antioxidant activity of 417 mg (AEAC units), low nitrate content of 37.6 mg and 1.42 g oxalates per 100 g fresh leaf weight

Seed nitrogen and fatty acids reflecting yield variation in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea)

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The Inhibition of Arginase by Proline in Cell-free Extracts of Mouse Mammary Tumour

Arginase activity was found to be increased in precancerous nodules and mammary tumour when compared with the mammary gland. Proline inhibited the mammary tumour arginase and up to 30 mmo1 concentration the inhibition follows first order kinetics. Hill analysis of the inhibition of arginase by proline showed that proline inhibits the arginase activity by competing directly at the active site without conformational change. The inhibition may be of regulatory importanec, involving a feedback mechenism in mammary tumours

High-Yielding Multicut Coriander Variety, Arka Isha

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) is one of the important leafy vegetables having a pleasant aroma. Very little research work has been done on improvement of leafy coriander and only a few local varieties, low-yielding and with low aroma, are available in the market. Research work at Indian Institute of Horticultural Research has resulted in development of a leafy coriander variety, Arka Isha, with a high yield potential and good aroma. It is a multicut variety where the plants are bushy, leaves are broad and leaf lobes are short, and the variety is late flowering. Yield is 3.74t ha-1 by pulling at 40 days after sowing, and 11.98t ha-1 by cutting. Leaves have 167.05mg 100g-1 of Vitamin C, with good aroma and keeping-quality

Genotype dependent response to Azospirillum treatment in yield and nitrogenase activity in Brassica juncea L.

Twelve advanced lines of mustard (Brassica juncea L.) were evaluated for response to treatment with Azospirillum brasilense in yield and a few components. Two lines gave yield increases with concomitant increases in nitrogenase activity and Azospirillum population. In general, there were desirable and significant correlations between plot yield, nitrogenase activity and log, (Azospirillum population). The results point to the possibility of utilizing genotype-dependent response to Azospirillum in breeding programmes and also for exploring new avenues of Azospirillum-based cultural practices in sustaining improved productivity

Climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies for sustainable crop production

Climate change is the main environmental problem facing humanity. Evidences over the past few decades show that significant changes in climate are taking place all over the world as a result of enhanced human activities through deforestation emission of various greenhouse gases and indiscriminate use of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide (CO2) Methane and Nitrous Oxide are the major greenhouse gases. CO2 enters the atmosphere mostly through burning fossil fuels. Methane emissions also result from livestock and other agricultural practices and Nitrous Oxide is emitted during agricultural and industrial activities. Global atmospheric concentration of CO2 has increased from pre-industrial level of 280 parts per million (ppm) to 408 ppm in Feb 2018. Global projections indicate higher temperature of 1.5 to 4.5°C by the year 2050 as a result of enhanced greenhouse gases. There is medium confidence in that the Indian summer monsoon circulation weakens but this is compensated by increased atmospheric moisture content leading to more rainfall. There is medium confidence in an increase of Indian summer monsoon rainfall and its extremes throughout the 21st century under all RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways) scenarios

A Novel Multi-Functional DSTATCOM with Distribution Generation using FRC Controller

Distribution Generation plays a significant role in remote areas where the utility grid is affected and initializing by renewable energy sources to acquire the sufficient power demand. In distribution system, it is very exigent consumer related concern which is confronted due to mis-operation of massive non-linear load apparatus. A multi-functional distributed static compensator incorporates the best choice for enhancing the power quality features with effective control scheme under rambled non-linear loads. Conventional control schemes are more adversed with greater switching losses due to extreme harmonic frequencies in a refernce current component. This paper proposes, a novel multi-objective fundamental reference current control scheme based multi-functional DSTATCOM furnishes the current harmonic compensation at PCC, reactive power compensation, power factor correction, active power exchanging, minimizing the switching losses, incredible efficiency and power factor correction. The validation of proposed multi-functional DSTATCOM with proposed control strategy under rated capacity of distribution generation is evaluated by using Matlab/Simulink platform and simulation results are presented

Ideotype and relationship between morpho-physiological characters and yield in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea)

Twelve genotypes of Indian mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czemj. & Cosson] were evaluated for various yield and morpho- physiological characters during 1990 and 1991. The genotypes were classified basal or non-basal branching type on the basis of the presence or absence of at least 1 productive primary branch within 30 cm height of the plant. A correlation analysis revealed that the traits related to basal branching were positively associated among themselves as well as with the seed yield. There were desirable and negative associations of basal branching characters with flowering time and plant height. Thus breeding for early maturing basal branching plant types with medium height and high yield is possible

Dynamic Analysis and Control of Redundant Manipulator for Agricultural Applications in a Virtual Environment

In the development of automated manipulators for fruit and vegetable picking technologies, the challenge of ensuring an efficient, stable, and loss-free picking process has been a complex problem. In such an environment, manipulators require the most efficient and robust control for effective operations. In this paper, a serial 9-DOF redundant manipulator (1P8R) is proposed with various controllers for trajectory tracking problems in agricultural applications. The dynamic analysis of redundant manipulator has been carried out using the Recursive Newton-Euler method. The joint configurations of the robot are determined using optimization techniques for specific Task Space Locations (TSLs) by avoiding obstacles. The process of generating joint trajectories has been implemented by considering the cubic polynomial function. For the task of controlling the robot trajectory tracking in the virtual agricultural environment, different combinations of Proportional (P), Integrative (I), Derivative (D), and Feed-Forward (FF) controllers are employed, and a comparative analysis has been performed among these controllers. To verify the performance of the manipulator, simulations are carried out in a virtual environment using Simulink software. Results show that the robot is able to reach specific TSL accurately with better control and it is found that the implementation of Feed-Forward and PID-CTC controllers has better performance in a complex environment

Combating Drought through Integrated Watershed Management for Sustainable Dryland Agriculture

In a country like India, where 69% of arable land is rainfed, drought is a constant threat in one or another part of country. Drought is a recurring phenomenon and we need to manage drought effectively using the new knowledge and technology rather than dealing with as a disaster. Historical weather data helps in understanding the patterns of drought occurrence as well as establishing the length of the growing season and fItting the suitable cropping systems accordingly. The nexus between drought, land degradation and poverty could be broken by adopting integrated watershed development approach. The ICRISAT and partners developed an innovative farmer participatory consortium model for efficient and sustainable management of natural resources in the watersheds. The approach adopted is integrated genetic and natural resource management (lGNRM) and watersheds are used as entry points for improving the livelihoods. The results of a case study and scaling-up activities under the Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Program are discussed