Persistant Organic Pollutants in Soil and Its Phytoremediation

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) of soil mainly exhibit toxic characteristics that posses hazard to whole mankind. These toxic pollutants includes several group of compound viz., polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated biphenyls, polychlorinated dibenzofurans, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, organophosphorus and carbamate insecticides, herbicides and organic fuels, especially gasoline and diesel. They can also be complex mixture of organic chemicals, heavy metals and microbes from septic systems, animal wastes and other sources of organic inputs. Phytoremediation is an emerging technology which can be used for remediation of soil from organic pollutants. In this chapter an attempt has been made to discuss about the sources of organic pollutants, factors that influenced the uptake of organic pollutants by plants, the different mechanism responsible for organic pollutants, phytoremediation of organic pollutants and their advantages and limitation

Agronomic efficiency and productivity of transplanted kharif rice (Oryza sativa) as influenced by fertilizer briquettes

An experiment was conducted during rainy (kharif) season of 2022 at the research farm of Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam to evaluate the effect of fertilizer briquettes on growth and productivity of transplanted rice. The field experiment was laid out in RBD comprising of 13 treatments, replicated thrice. Growth of rice, panicles/m2 and yield were subjected to significant variation under different fertilizer management practices. Higher plant height, tillers/ m2, panicles/m2, yield and agronomic efficiency were recorded under FDP, 120% RDN + 100% P and K + ZnSO4 @10 kg/ha + biofertilizer (T12). This might be owing to reduced losses  of nutrients and efficient uptake by plants compared to broadcasted method of fertilizer application where most of the applied fertilizers were susceptible to various losses availing lesser amount of nutrients for crop uptake

Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) performance under tillage and weed management in rice (Oryza sativa)-based cropping sequence

The present field experiment was conducted at Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam with Sesbania-winter rice (Oryza sativa L.)-Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) cropping sequence during 2017–2019 comprising 20 treatment combinations of tillage and weed management practices. The study revealed that seed, stover and oil yield of Indian mustard were increased in the year round minimum tillage with rice residue retention by 35.97, 23.41 and 38.90%, respectively due to higher crop growth characteristics and yield attributes as compared to conventional tillage. Among weed management practices, integrated weed management (IWM) showed higher weed control efficiency (WCE) and weed control index (WCI) as well as improved seed and oil yield by 39.66 and 39.61%, respectively as compared to weedy check. Combination of minimum tillage along with rice residue retention and IWM enumerated higher oil yield (6.40 q/ha) of Indian mustard grown after direct seeded rice (DSR) under minimum tillage. The findings of the experiment implied that minimum tillage with rice residue retention along with integrated weed management encouraged crop growth and productivity of Indian mustard (IM) as a succeeding crop after direct seeded rice grown under minimum tillage condition