Crop diversification in black pepper gardens with tuber and fodder crops

With an objective to augment the income from black pepper plantation by intercropping tuber and fodder crops, a field experiment was conducted in RBD at Ambalavayal (Kerala) for two years 2007 to 2009. Based on yield performance , tuber crops such as cassava, elephant foot yam , coleus, and spices like ginger and turmeric, and fodder crops viz. hybrid napier grass, guinea grass, congo signal grass were selected as treatments apart from a control (sole crop of black pepper). The results indicated that higher black pepper yield was obtained under intercropping situation compared to sole crop. The maximum black pepper equivalent yield (1,147 kg/ha) was recorded by elephant foot yam followed by ginger (956 kg/ha). In the case of fodder crops, maximum pepper equivalent yield was recorded by hybrid napier grass Co 3 (2,633 kg/ha) followed by guinea grass (2,347 kg/ha). Maximum net return of ` 2, 70, 230/ ha was obtained from black pepper + elephant foot yam followed by black pepper + ginger (` 2, 60,657/ ha). Among the fodder crops, hybrid napier grass recorded maximum net return (` 2, 05,950/ ha) followed by guinea grass. Benefit: cost ratio was higher for inter cropping hybrid napier grass (3.7) followed by ginger (3.5) and elephant foot yam (3.4) in black pepper gardens

Feasibility of intercropping medicinal plants in black pepper garden

The feasibility of cultivating medicinal plants in black pepper (Piper nigram L.) plantation was studied at Ambalavayal (Kerala). The plants tested were Adhatoda beddomei, Desmodium gangeticum, Pseudarthria viscida, Ayapana triplinervis, Pogostemon cablin and Plumbago rosea in a fifteen year old black pepper plantation. The results indicated that black pepper yield (2100 kg ha-1) was higher under intercropping situation compared to sole crop (1675 kg ha-1). Among the medicinal plants, maximum black pepper equivalent yield (PEY) (2100 kg ha-1) was recorded in P. rosea followed by P. cablin (2000 kg ha-1). Maximum net return was obtained from black pepper + P. rosea followed by P. cablin. The benefit: cost ratio was highest for inter cropping P. rosea (3.5) followed by P. cablin (3.3) and A. triplinervis (3.3). &nbsp

The Monarch Initiative in 2024: an analytic platform integrating phenotypes, genes and diseases across species.

Bridging the gap between genetic variations, environmental determinants, and phenotypic outcomes is critical for supporting clinical diagnosis and understanding mechanisms of diseases. It requires integrating open data at a global scale. The Monarch Initiative advances these goals by developing open ontologies, semantic data models, and knowledge graphs for translational research. The Monarch App is an integrated platform combining data about genes, phenotypes, and diseases across species. Monarch\u27s APIs enable access to carefully curated datasets and advanced analysis tools that support the understanding and diagnosis of disease for diverse applications such as variant prioritization, deep phenotyping, and patient profile-matching. We have migrated our system into a scalable, cloud-based infrastructure; simplified Monarch\u27s data ingestion and knowledge graph integration systems; enhanced data mapping and integration standards; and developed a new user interface with novel search and graph navigation features. Furthermore, we advanced Monarch\u27s analytic tools by developing a customized plugin for OpenAI\u27s ChatGPT to increase the reliability of its responses about phenotypic data, allowing us to interrogate the knowledge in the Monarch graph using state-of-the-art Large Language Models. The resources of the Monarch Initiative can be found at monarchinitiative.org and its corresponding code repository at github.com/monarch-initiative/monarch-app

Food Legumes and Rising Temperatures: Effects, Adaptive Functional Mechanisms Specific to Reproductive Growth Stage and Strategies to Improve Heat Tolerance

Ambient temperatures are predicted to rise in the future owing to several reasons associated with global climate changes. These temperature increases can result in heat stress- a severe threat to crop production in most countries. Legumes are well-known for their impact on agricultural sustainability as well as their nutritional and health benefits. Heat stress imposes challenges for legume crops and has deleterious effects on the morphology, physiology, and reproductive growth of plants. High-temperature stress at the time of the reproductive stage is becoming a severe limitation for production of grain legumes as their cultivation expands to warmer environments and temperature variability increases due to climate change. The reproductive period is vital in the life cycle of all plants and is susceptible to high-temperature stress as various metabolic processes are adversely impacted during this phase, which reduces crop yield. Food legumes exposed to high-temperature stress during reproduction show flower abortion, pollen and ovule infertility, impaired fertilization, and reduced seed filling, leading to smaller seeds and poor yields. Through various breeding techniques, heat tolerance in major legumes can be enhanced to improve performance in the field. Omics approaches unravel different mechanisms underlying thermotolerance, which is imperative to understand the processes of molecular responses toward high-temperature stress

Magnetic hysteresis in two model spin systems

A systematic study of hysteresis in model continuum and lattice spin systems is undertaken by constructing a statistical-mechanical theory wherein spatial fluctuations of the order parameter are incorporated. The theory is used to study the shapes and areas of the hysteresis loops as functions of the amplitude (Ho) and frequency (a) of the magnetic field. The response of the spin systems to a pulsed magnetic field is also studied. The continuum model that we study is a three-dimensional (CP2)’ model with 0 (M symmetry in the large4 limit. The dynamics of this model are specified by a Langevin equation. We find that the area A of the hysteresis loop scales as A - H:66f20,33 for low values of the amplitude and frequency of the magnetic field. The hysteretic response of a two-dimensional, nearest-neighbor, ferromagnetic Ising model is studied by a Monte Carlo simulation on 1OX 10, 20x20, and 50X 50 lattices. The framework that we develop is compared with other theories of hysteresis. The relevance of these results to hysteresis in real magnets is discussed

Hysteresis in model spin system

The aim of this paper is to construct a nonequilibrium statistical-mechanics theory to study hysteresis in ferromagnetic systems. We study the hysteretic response of model spin systems to periodic magnetic fields H(t) as a function of the amplitude H0 and frequency Ω. At fixed H0, we find conventional, squarelike hysteresis loops at low Ω, and rounded, roughly elliptical loops at high Ω, in agreement with experiments. For the O(N→∞), d=3, (Φ<SUP>2</SUP>)<SUP>2</SUP> model with Langevin dynamics, we find a novel scaling behavior for the area A of the hysteresis loop, of the form A∝H<SUP>0.66</SUP>0Ω<SUP>0.33</SUP>. We carry out a Monte Carlo simulation of the hysteretic response of the two-dimensional, nearest-neighbor, ferromagnetic Ising model. These results agree qualitatively with the results obtained for the O(N) model

Hysteresis in model spin system

The aim of this paper is to construct a nonequilibrium statistical-mechanics theory to study hysteresis in ferromagnetic systems. We study the hysteretic response of model spin systems to periodic magnetic fields H(t) as a function of the amplitude H0 and frequency Ω. At fixed H0, we find conventional, squarelike hysteresis loops at low Ω, and rounded, roughly elliptical loops at high Ω, in agreement with experiments. For the O(N→∞), d=3, (Φ<SUP>2</SUP>)<SUP>2</SUP> model with Langevin dynamics, we find a novel scaling behavior for the area A of the hysteresis loop, of the form A∝H<SUP>0.66</SUP>0Ω<SUP>0.33</SUP>. We carry out a Monte Carlo simulation of the hysteretic response of the two-dimensional, nearest-neighbor, ferromagnetic Ising model. These results agree qualitatively with the results obtained for the O(N) model