Promising Technologies for dry land Agriculture

Not AvailableNatural Resource Management has important research agenda in view of the climate change, degradation of land and declining productivity in greenrevolution areas. Efficient methods of soil and rain water conservation and water harvesting become important areas of dryland agriculture research to achieve sustainability. Variation in crop yields is more in dry lands due to non receipt of timely rainfall and prolonged dry spells during crop periods. Adoption of soil and moisture conservation measures and improved management practices will help in getting higher yields.A large number of location specific practices for insitu moisture conservation, water harvesting and supplemental irrigation have been developed and tested successfully at All India Co-ordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture (AICRPDA), Agricultural Research Station, Ananthapuramu. Dryland Agriculture occupies a prominent place in rural livelihoods of Andhra Pradesh. In Andhra Pradesh out of 92.04 lakh ha of cultivable land an area of 34.56 lakh ha is under rainfed agriculture, mainly in scarce rainfall and southern agro climatic zones. AICRPDA, ARS, Ananthapuramu is continuing efforts to generate location specific technologies in the areas of rain water management, integrated nutrient management, cropping systems, farming systems, alternate land use and energy management.Not Availabl

Influence of Rice Husk Ash on Mechanical Properties and Stress-Strain Behaviour of Standard Grade Self Compacting Concrete

Self compacting concrete is a recently developed concept in which the ingredients of the concrete mix are proportioned in such a way that it can flow under its own weight to completely fill the formwork and passes through the congested reinforcement without segregation and self consolidate without any mechanical vibration. The basis of SCC is high content of ultra fines which consists of one or more varieties of mineral admixtures and chemical admixtures. An attempt has been made in the investigation reported in this paper to study the influence of rice husk ash on the fresh, hardened properties and stress-strain behaviour of standard grade (M 30) SCC. Three SCC mixes with optimized quantities of mineral admixtures like fly ash(FA), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) and combination were designed based on Nan-Su method of mix design and are taken for investigation. To these optimized mixes rice husk ash (RHA) was added in different proportions and tested in fresh and hardened states. Incorporation of small quantity of RHA has shown considerable reduction in flowability of SCC. Significant improvement in the compressive, tensile and flexural strengths is observed due to the addition of RHA to SCC mixes. It is observed from the Stress-Strain response that blending of RHA to SCC mixes have shown improved stress values for the same strain level

Evaluation of simple pre-determined length insertion technique (SPLIT) with conventional method for oral fibreoptic intubation: A randomised cross-over study

Background and Aims: The difficulty during flexible fiber-optic bronchoscopy (FOB) guided tracheal intubation could be because of inability in visualising glottis, advancing and railroading of endotracheal tube. Several methods are available for visualising glottis, but none is ideal. Hence, this randomised controlled study was designed to evaluate the simple pre-determined length insertion technique (SPLIT) during oral FOB. Methods: Fifty-eight patients were randomised into Group C and Group P. General anaesthesia was maintained with sevoflurane and oxygen in spontaneous respiration. In Group C, conventional flexible fiberoptic laryngoscopy was done followed by SPLIT and vice versa in Group P. The time to visualise the glottis (T1), from glottic visualisation to pass beyond glottis (T2) and from incisors to pass beyond the glottis (T3) were noted from the recorded video. The time interval was analysed using Wilcoxon matched pairs test and Mann–Whitney U-test. Results: The T1was significantly less in SPLIT as compared to conventional technique (13 [10, 20.25] vs. 33 [22, 48] s). The T3was significantly less in SPLIT (24.5 [19.75, 30] vs. 44 [34, 61.25] s). The T1by SPLIT was comparable between residents and consultants (P = 0.09), whereas it was significantly more among residents than the conventional technique. The SPLIT was preferred by 91.3% anaesthesiologists. Conclusion: The SPLIT significantly lessened the time to visualise the glottis than conventional technique for FOB. The SPLIT was the preferred technique. Hence, we suggest using the SPLIT to secure the airway at the earliest and also as an alternative to conventional technique