Economics and Marketing of Aromatic Rice - A Case Study of Chhattisgarh

In recent years there has been a serious concern among the farmers, scientists, policymakers and environmentalists regarding the continuous erosion of genetic biodiversity of rice cultivars in Chhattisgarh which has traditionally been known as bowl of scented rices in central India. In view of India’s potential competitiveness in aromatic rices in the international market, it is imperative to understand the dynamics of domestic trade in aromatic rice. In this study, marketing and price-spread patterns of aromatic rice in the state of Chhattisgarh have been examined. A few policy interventions have been suggested for promoting aromatic rices in the state.Crop Production/Industries, Marketing,

National Horticultural Fair 2021-A Success Story

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta, Bengaluru, organized five- day National Horticulture Fair (NHF 2021) from February 8th to 12th   with the theme ‘Horticulture: for start-up and standup India’ in collaboration with several agencies. The fair was held on a dual mode with the approaches of virtual and physical. The virtual mode had the officials of ICAR Institutes, Horticulture Universities, Directors of State Horticulture Departments, Heads of KVKs and representatives from private industry, press personnel, farmers and students attending the event. The event had 255 demonstration plots of various varieties/technologies developed by the Institute. The problems related with the growing of horticultural crops in various regions of the country were addressed by the experts through live video interaction with the help of the demonstration plots.  A total viewing of 54 lakhs was recorded during the five days of this fair, which included one way communication viewing through social media net\\\\work (14,50,000), video conference viewing through 7000 logins in various places of KVK’s, FPO’s and Sri Sri Institute of Agricultural Sciences & Technology Trust accounted for a total primary source viewing was 4,20,000. The reach from the secondary sources through the subscription to our YouTube channel (followers) was 38.20 lakhs. Viewership was also noticed from 11 different countries. The footfall for the physical fair was 56,000. Publicity preceding the fair by way of animated videos, press and media played a great role in making the fair successful as commercialization of 12 technologies also took place. Various private and public institutions as well as entrepreneurs who have purchased the technology from the Institute got an opportunity to display their products. The modus operandi and the details of methodology are discussed

National fruit catalogue of tropical fruit tree diversity (Mangifera, Citrus and Garcinia)

The Indian sub-continent is extremely rich in its plant wealth. It is one among the twelve mega diversity centers in the world, and is also one of the eight centers of origin of cultivated plants and areas of diversity of their wild relatives as classified by Vavilov. In order to protect the diversity of Tropical Fruit Tree Genetic Resources (TFTGR) in situ and through on farm conservation through sustainable management practices which would benefit the rural communities and to develop the capacity and leadership skills for managing this diversity, Bioversity International along with ICAR is executing United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) funded by Global Environment Facility (GEF). This project is being operated in five sites, namely, Amravati (Maharashtra), Chittoor (Seemandhra/Andhra), Malihabad (U.P.), Pusa (Bihar) and Sirsi (Karnataka) on three fruit crops viz., Mango, Citrus and Garcinia. A great amount of diversity has been assembled in Farmers’ fields in situ as well as in gene banks of the ICAR institutes. The identification of the unique varieties of these crops along with the details of the Custodian Farmers (CF) has been documented in the form of a catalogue entitled “National Fruit Catalogue of Tropical Fruit Tree Diversity (Mangifera, Citrus and Garcinia). The catalogues lists 121 mango varieties, 21 Citrus (Pummelo, Lime, lemon, Sweet Orange and Mandarin Orange) and two Garcinia indica. Efforts have been made to register the unique mango varieties through the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA). This is a parallel of the UPOV operating in Europe. Thus the registration of the varieties would benefit the farmers/communities as they would become the legal owners of this

Formation of dense partonic matter in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC: Experimental evaluation by the PHENIX collaboration

Extensive experimental data from high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions were recorded using the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The comprehensive set of measurements from the first three years of RHIC operation includes charged particle multiplicities, transverse energy, yield ratios and spectra of identified hadrons in a wide range of transverse momenta (p_T), elliptic flow, two-particle correlations, non-statistical fluctuations, and suppression of particle production at high p_T. The results are examined with an emphasis on implications for the formation of a new state of dense matter. We find that the state of matter created at RHIC cannot be described in terms of ordinary color neutral hadrons.Comment: 510 authors, 127 pages text, 56 figures, 1 tables, LaTeX. Submitted to Nuclear Physics A as a regular article; v3 has minor changes in response to referee comments. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm

Family history of diabetes and risk of SARS-COV-2 in UK Biobank: a prospective cohort study

Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine risk of being SARS-CoV-2 positive and severe infection (associated with hospitalization/mortality) in those with family history of diabetes. Methods: We used UK Biobank, an observational cohort recruited between 2006 and 2010. We compared the risk of being SARS-CoV-2 positive and severe infection for those with family history of diabetes (mother/father/sibling) against those without. Results: Of 401,268 participants in total, 13,331 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and 2282 had severe infection by end of January 2021. In unadjusted models, participants with ≥2 family members with diabetes were more likely to be SARS-CoV-2 positive (risk ratio-RR 1.35; 95% confidence interval-CI 1.24–1.47) and severe infection (RR 1.30; 95% CI 1.04–1.59), compared to those without. The excess risk of being tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 was attenuated but significant after adjusting for demographics, lifestyle factors, multimorbidity and presence of cardiometabolic conditions. The excess risk for severe infection was no longer significant after adjusting for demographics, lifestyle factors, multimorbidity and presence of cardiometabolic conditions, and was absent when excluding incident diabetes. Conclusion: The totality of the results suggests that good lifestyle and not developing incident diabetes may lessen risks of severe infections in people with a strong family of diabetes

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Not AvailableGenetical studies in papaya were carried out using the variety Coorg Honey Dew. The purification programme in the variety Coorg Honey Dew was taken up and the data were recorded from the S2 to S4 generation of sibmated progenies. The variety Coorg Honey Dew yields big sized fruits of about 1.5-2.0 kg, pulp is yellow in colour and fruits are sweet to taste with a TSS of 12°Brix. The sibmated progenies were studied for uniformity in fruit size and shape. A total of ten half-sib families (25 trees/family) were used for the study. Genotypic variation and phenotypic variation was highest in S2 generation, while in S4 variation it was observed to be low. The PV and GV were observed to decline with the progress of the generation. The genotypic coefficient of variation was lesser than the phenotypic coefficient of variation implying the role of environment influencing the characters. High heritability was recorded for all the characters except inter nodal length and pulp thickness. Very little difference was noticed in the heritability values between S3 to S4 generation. Among the characters, high genetic advance as percent mean was recorded for the characters of fruit weight, fruit length and number of seeds, while other characters exhibit moderate to low. Heritability and genetic advance as percent mean was obtained high for the characters of fruit weight and fruit length. The correlation studies showed that plant height at first fruiting were positively correlated with fruit length and first flowering height. The study indicated that three generation of sibmating considerably reduced the variability in morphological and yield characters.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableMango (Mangifera indica L.), a commercially important and leading fruit crop of India, exhibits both mono- and polyembryony. Most commercial varieties are monoembryonic. Polyembryonic varieties are not commercially cultivated for table purpose, but are believed to produce true-to-type seedlings for use as the rootstock. Besides, unambiguous identification of a variety is essential to germplasm conservation and in breeding programmes. Distinguishing nucellars from zygotic seedlings in germinating stones of polyembryonic varieties is critical for the nurseryman and breeder alike. A study combining stomatal density and SSR markers was made for identifying maternal and sexual embryos in the polyembryonic variety, Moreh, at ICAR-IIHR during 2014-2015. Three trees (Tree No. 13, 14 and 15) were selected for the study. Trees of polyembryonic varieties are traditionally presumed to be clonal in origin, i.e., these are believed to have arisen from polyembryonic stones. This variety can produce up to six seedlings per stone. Stage of leaf development and the specific sector of the leaf to be used for stomatal count were optimized initially in the present study. Petiolar end, median sector (mid-lamina) and leaf-tip end of fully-expanded leaf were optimized for analysis. Stomatal count recorded in three mature trees of ‘Moreh’ was analyzed by the scatter diagram. Significant differences were observed in distribution of stomata within a leaf, with the petiolar-end registering the highest stomatal count/density. Stomatal count in leaf-tip and mid-sector of the leaf were similar in all the three trees as per R2 values. However, Tree number 13 differed from the other two trees in terms of stomatal density. To corroborate this stomatal data, SSR markers were used for generating DNA profiles in the three individuals of ‘Moreh’. Ten polymorphic genomic SSRs were tested for genotyping and allelic data was generated. Results on stomatal density matched SSR allelic data indicating, that, a combination of both these test strategies can help establish unambiguously the identi of a variety. Our study provides information for correct identification of a genotype and is helpful in differentiating mother trees and, in turn, for distinguishing nucellars from zygotic seedlings.Not Availabl