Benefits of Improved Groundnut Technologies to Resource-poor Farmers: A Participatory Approach

Considering that non-adoption of improved groundnut technologies by the small and resource-poor farmers is due to non-availability of quality seeds, poor knowledge, inappropriateness of technologies, etc., in the current study, improved groundnut technologies have been implemented through participatory mode so as to generate awareness about improved technologies among them. The participatory approach could make the farmers to learn, adopt and spread new technologies. The economic indicators have shown that a net return of Rs 7104 per ha was realized by adopting improved varieties and integrated crop management (ICM) package during kharif season, and it is higher than the returns realized by growing local variety (AK-12-24) with local practice (Rs 2010/ha). The cost of production has been found to be Rs 11.04/kg and 13.98/kg among the improved practice and farmers’ practice, respectively. A similar trend of higher net returns (Rs 13820/ha) and lower cost of production (Rs 8.86 per/kg) has been observed with improved practice during the rabi season, compared to the lower net returns (Rs 6309/ha) and higher cost of production (Rs 11.34 per/kg) with farmers’ practice. The informal seed supply system implemented through seed bank operation in a participatory mode has increased the improved groundnut seed availability at the village level. The seed multiplication programme could increase the spread of improved varieties from 32 ha to 69 ha in the adopted villages and from 15.9 ha to 85 ha in the neighbouring villages within a period of three years. It will help increase productivity levels of crops and income of farmers. The informal seed supply system implemented through seed bank operation has been found very successful in the faster technology spread. Hence, this model may be replicated in other areas to provide improved seeds to small and marginal farmers. It will also help in achieving self-sufficiency in improved varietal needs at the village level.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Explicit evaluations of Ramanujan's remarkable product of theta-function.

On Page 259 of his second notebook [3], Ramanujan recorded many cubic modular equations of degree 2. In this paper we establish several cubic modular equations of degree 2 akin to those in Ramanujan’s work.As an application of our results, we also establish some new P − Q etafunction identities

Some Identities for Ramanujan-Göllnitz-Gordon Continued Fraction

In this paper, we obtain certain P--Q eta--function identities, using which we establish identities providing modular relations between Ramanujan-Göllnitz-Gordon continued fraction H(q) and H(q^n) for n= 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 23, 25, 29 and 55

Evaluation of a porous hydroxyapatite alloplast in the management of grade II furcation defects in molars: a case series

Introduction: The present case series evaluates the efficacy of a hydroxyapatite graft material in the management of grade II furcation involvement in first molars. Materials and methods: Eight patients presenting with a total of 9 grade II furcation defects in relation to the facial aspect of either maxillary or mandibular first molars were treated with a porous hydroxyapatite alloplast. The clinical outcomes were measured in terms of change in probing pocket depth and clinical attachment level (vertical and horizontal) at 6 months post-operatively. Radiographs were used as supplements. Results: At 6 months, there was a mean pocket depth reduction of 3.12±1.25 mm, a mean vertical attachment gain of 2.75±1.17 mm, and a mean horizontal attachment gain of 3.25±1.28 mm. Radiographs showed bone fill at all treated sites. The outcomes were better in mandibular teeth compared to maxillary teeth. The use of hydroxyapatite graft is effective in reducing pocket depth and bringing out gain in attachment levels when used in grade II furcation defects

Shell Banding Pattern and Chromosomal Studies on the Giant African Snail, Achatina Fulica (Bowdich) (Achatinidae: Gastropoda)

A pioneer report on the shell banding, chirality (shell coiling) and chromosomal studies on populations of the giant African snail, Achatina fulica (Bowdich) (Achatinidae: Gastropoda) occurring in Bengaluru region is detailed in this paper. Shell coiling in A. fulica was found to be dextral and significant variation in banding pattern within and between populations was observed. The chromosome number from well spread diakinesis and metaphase stages of meiosis in ovotestis is found to be n=30 and 2n=60, which is similar to earlier works, also the similarity in different stages is in agreement with the earlier reports

Identification of bacterial pathogen associated with red stripe/top rot disease of sugarcane in Punjab, India

This study was aim to identify the pathogen associated with the red stripe/top rot disease. The isolates were collected from major sugarcane growing districts of Punjab. Molecular identification of the pathogen was carried out to confirm the associated organism with this disease. Of the different sets of specific PCR based molecular markers were used, primer sets SeQ1 (Aaa) and SeQ2 (Aaa) amplified the expected 550bp of ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacer) region of the rDNA which revealed the pathogen as Acidovorax avenae pv. avenae, whereas the primer set Aaaf3 and Aaar2 are specific to strains that infect rice crop did not amplify any fragment. Our studies confirmed Acidovorax avenae pv. avenae as the causal bacterium associated with the red stripe/top rot of sugarcane in Punjab

Isolation, partial purification and evaluation of bioactive compounds from leaves of Ageratum houstonianum

The present study deals with the isolation and partial purification of bioactive compounds from the crude methanol extracts of the leaves of Ageratum houstonianum (Asteraceae). The quantification and the identification of compounds in the crude extract and active bands isolated by preparative TLC were accomplished using GC-MS analysis. The most important compounds identified in the crude extract and active bands (AB-1 and AB-2) were 6-acetyl-7-methoxy-2, 2-dimethylchromene, hexadecanoic acid and squalene, respectively. Crude extract and active bands (AB-1 and AB-2) were investigated for their antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The crude extract, AB-1 and AB-2 showed maximum zone of inhibition (10-13 mm) against Staphylococcus epidermidis, however, the antibacterial potential of active bands was slightly higher as compared to the crude extract. Dose-dependant increase in antioxidant potential was noticed in crude extract as well as with both active bands measured by DPPH free radicals, ion chelation and total antioxidants capacity. Our study reports various bioactive compounds in the leaves of the A. houstonianum with significant antioxidant and antibacterial potential

Identification of Shocks in the Spectra from Black Holes

We study the spectral properties of a low angular momentum flow as a function of the shock strength, compression ratio, accretion rate and flow geometry. In the absence of a satisfactory description of magnetic fields inside the advective disk, we consider the presence of only stochastic fields and use the ratio of the field energy to the gravitational energy density as a parameter. We not only include `conventional' synchrotron emission and Comptonization by Maxwell-Bolzmann electrons in the gas, but we also compute these effects due to power-law electrons. For strong shocks, a bump is produced due to the post-shock flow. A power-law spectral components due to the thermal and non-thermal electrons appear after this bump.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Astronomy and Space Science (in press), Proceedings of the Hong Kong Conference (2004) Edited by Cheng and Romer

Automatic Discovery and Ranking of Synonyms for Search Keywords in the Web

Search engines are an indispensable part of a web user's life. A vast majority of these web users experience difficulties caused by the keyword-based search engines such as inaccurate results for queries and irrelevant URLs even though the given keyword is present in them. Also, relevant URLs may be lost as they may have the synonym of the keyword and not the original one. This condition is known as the polysemy problem. To alleviate these problems, we propose an algorithm called automatic discovery and ranking of synonyms for search keywords in the web (ADRS). The proposed method generates a list of candidate synonyms for individual keywords by employing the relevance factor of the URLs associated with the synonyms. Then, ranking of these candidate synonyms is done using co-occurrence frequencies and various page count-based measures. One of the major advantages of our algorithm is that it is highly scalable which makes it applicable to online data on the dynamic, domain-independent and unstructured World Wide Web. The experimental results show that the best results are obtained using the proposed algorithm with WebJaccard

Benchmarking farmers' economic and social status in Anantapuramu and Kurnool arid districts of Andhra Pradesh for probable introduction of potato crop.

India has experienced rapid growth in potato production during recent past and the country has almost doubled its potato production during 2003–2013. The potato productivity improved 31.4% over this period of time. However, potato production scenario in southern states of India is quite grim and with the result potato consumers of these states always have to purchase potatoes at very high prices compared to the national average prices. With the objective to augment potato production in southern states this study was carried out for analysing socio-economic characteristics of potential potato growers in non-traditional Anantapuramu and Kurnool districts of arid region in Andhra Pradesh. A long list of socio-economic factors viz. education level, occupation pattern, house condition, tractor ownership, food security level, access and affordability to civic amenities, children's education type, possession of household amenities, expenditure pattern and level of mechanization adoption were studied in this study so that most suitable are