Impact of Regulation on the Physico-chemical Features and Zooplanktonic Diversity of Central Himalayan River Tawi in Udhampur (J&K) INDIA

Flow of rivers become impeded and are regulated due to construction of dam. This brings about change in abiotic and biotic factors compared to unregulated river. The post-impoundment physical, chemical and biological parameters of the parent river Tawi (upstream, within reservoir and downstream) were analysed for the first time and data thus generated was compared to reveal influence of dam on this regulated river. It was observed that the water temperature, pH, transparency and carbon dioxide content of the parent river were influenced by the dam and significant differences in these parameters were observed among the main zones sampled. The zooplanktonic community of river Tawi was also influenced by variations in abiotic features and its highest planktonic diversity was recorded in reservoir (lentic zone) of dam due to reduced water current, higher transparency  and long resident time where as downstream river exhibited low diversity due to lotic conditions

Creating Scientific Temperament through Children’s Science Congress in Uttarakhand, India

Science and Technology provide hands-on guidance in every field such as agriculture, medical sciences, health care, innovations, public utility services, internal and external security, education, entertainment; information and technology, etc. The awareness related to science through informing, educating, and sharing knowledge for promoting sustainable development is known as science communication. The basic aim of science popularization is to expose the society and upcoming generations to the virtues of scientific development and to help them understand the science in their daily life and surroundings as well. Motivating school children towards science is an important aim of science communication at the school level. The National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, New Delhi has been organizing the “Children’s Science Congress (CSC)” as one of the mega flagship programmes at the block, district, state, and the national level throughout the country since the last 27 years. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to compile the experiences of three consecutive years (2017, 2018, and 2019) of Children’s Science Congress organized by the State Council for Science and Technology. It was categorized under seven themes in 2017, while two themes were merged in 2018 and 2019. A total of 11 districts of Uttarakhand participated in the 25th Children’s Science Congress during 2017, while in 2018 and 2019, all (thirteen) districts participated in the Children’s Science Congress. The total number of child scientists from different districts were found to be diverse – 107, 142, and 138 during the 25th, 26th and 27th Children’s Science Congress of Uttarakhand held in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. In the present paper an attempt has been made to understand the impact of Children’s Science Congress (CSC) for creating scientific temper among child scientists and mentors

Creating Scientific Temperament through Children’s Science Congress in Uttarakhand, India

146-160Science and Technology provide hands-on guidance in every field such as agriculture, medical sciences, health care, innovations, public utility services, internal and external security, education, entertainment; information and technology, etc. The awareness related to science through informing, educating, and sharing knowledge for promoting sustainable development is known as science communication. The basic aim of science popularization is to expose the society and upcoming generations to the virtues of scientific development and to help them understand the science in their daily life and surroundings as well. Motivating school children towards science is an important aim of science communication at the school level.   The National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, New Delhi has been organizing the “Children’s Science Congress (CSC)” as one of the mega flagship programmes at the block, district, state, and the national level throughout the country since the last 27 years. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to compile the experiences of three consecutive years (2017, 2018, and 2019) of Children’s Science Congress organized by the State Council for Science and Technology. It was categorized under seven themes in 2017, while two themes were merged in 2018 and 2019. A total of 11 districts of Uttarakhand participated in the 25th Children’s Science Congress during 2017, while in 2018 and 2019, all (thirteen) districts participated in the Children’s Science Congress. The total number of child scientists from different districts were found to be diverse – 107, 142, and 138 during the 25th, 26th and 27th Children’s Science Congress of Uttarakhand held in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively.   In the present paper an attempt has been made to understand the impact of Children’s Science Congress (CSC) for creating scientific temper among child scientists and mentors

Insights into salt tolerance of mustard (Brassica juncea L. Czern & Coss): A metabolomics perspective

Salt stress is one of the key abiotic factor which leads to reduced global agricultural productions through negatively impacting the growth and development of crops. Indian mustard (Brassica juncea), the most important cruciferous crop with significant nutritional and medicinal values, is majorly affected by salt stress. In this study, we explored the global metabolomic response of two Indian mustard genotypes, CS 60 and CS 245–2–80–7 grown under salt stress for different time periods to unleash the role of differentially accumulated metabolites and relevant metabolic pathways involved in the salt tolerance mechanism. A total of 608 known compounds were detected from 4119 metabolites using DionexUltiMate® 3000 Ultra High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic System combined with “Q Exactive™ Plus Orbitrap™ Mass Spectrometer (UHPLC-MS/MS) analysis, from which 111 significantly altered metabolites in both genotypes were selected based on t-test and VIP score values. Using MetPa from MetaboAnalyst 5.0 platform, metabolic pathways with significant impact values were considered to be involved in the salt tolerance mechanism. Increased accumulation of metabolites and detected relevant pathways majorly regulating the anti-oxidant defense system gives CS 60, a high yielding variety, an edge against the genotype CS 245–2–80–7, which might be the chief tolerance mechanism to withstand salt stress