Evaluation of rice–legume–rice cropping system on grain yield, nutrient uptake, nitrogen fixation, and chemical, physical, and biological properties of soil

To achieve higher yields and better soil quality under rice–legume–rice (RLR) rotation in a rainfed production system, we formulated integrated nutrient management (INM) comprised of Azospirillum (Azo), Rhizobium (Rh), and phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) with phosphate rock (PR), compost, and muriate of potash (MOP). Performance of bacterial bioinoculants was evaluated by determining grain yield, nitrogenase activity, uptake and balance of N, P, and Zn, changes in water stability and distribution of soil aggregates, soil organic C and pH, fungal/bacterial biomass C ratio, casting activities of earthworms, and bacterial community composition using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprinting. The performance comparison was made against the prevailing farmers’ nutrient management practices [N/P2O5/K2O at 40:20:20 kg ha−1 for rice and 20:30:20 kg ha−1 for legume as urea/single super-phosphate/MOP (urea/SSP/MOP)]. Cumulative grain yields of crops increased by 7–16% per RLR rotation and removal of N and P by six crops of 2 years rotation increased significantly (P < 0.05) in bacterial bioinoculants-based INM plots over that in compost alone or urea/SSP/MOP plots. Apparent loss of soil total N and P at 0–15 cm soil depth was minimum and apparent N gain at 15–30 cm depth was maximum in Azo/Rh plus PSB dual INM plots. Zinc uptake by rice crop and diethylenetriaminepentaacetate-extractable Zn content in soil increased significantly (P < 0.05) in bacterial bioinoculants-based INM plots compared to other nutrient management plots. Total organic C content in soil declined at 0–15 cm depth and increased at 15–30 cm depth in all nutrient management plots after a 2-year crop cycle; however, bacterial bioinoculants-based INM plots showed minimum loss and maximum gain of total organic C content in the corresponding soil depths. Water-stable aggregation and distribution of soil aggregates in 53–250- and 250–2,000 μm classes increased significantly (P < 0.05) in bacterial bioinoculants-based INM plots compared to other nutrient management plots. Fungal/bacterial biomass C ratio seems to be a more reliable indicator of C and N dynamics in acidic soils than total microbial biomass C. Compost alone or Azo/Rh plus PSB dual INM plots showed significantly (P < 0.05) higher numbers of earthworms’ casts compared to urea/SSP/MOP alone and bacterial bioinoculants with urea or SSP-applied plots. Hierarchical cluster analysis based on similarity matrix of DGGE profiles revealed changes in bacterial community composition in soils due to differences in nutrient management, and these changes were seen to occur according to the states of C and N dynamics in acidic soil under RLR rotation

Determining the sign of Δ31\Delta_{31} at long baseline neutrino experiments

Recently it is advocated that high intensity and low energy $(E_\nu \sim 2 GeV)$ neutrino beams should be built to probe the $(13)$ mixing angle $\phi$ to a level of a few parts in $10^4$. Experiments using such beams will have better signal to background ratio in searches for $\nu_\mu \to \nu_e$ oscillations. We propose that such experiments can also determine the sign of $\Delta_{31}$ even if the beam consists of {\it neutrinos} only. By measuring the $\nu_\mu \to \nu_e$ transitions in two different energy ranges, the effects due to propagation of neutrinos through earth's crust can be isolated and the sign of $\Delta_{31}$ can be determined. If the sensitivity of an experiment to $\phi$ is $\epsilon$, then the same experiment is automatically sensitive to matter effects and the sign of $\Delta_{31}$ for values of $\phi \geq 2 \epsilon$.Comment: Title changed and paper rewritten. 4 pages, 1 figure, revte

Probing the matter term at long baseline experiments

We consider (\nu_\mu --> \nu_e) oscillations in long baseline experiments within a three flavor framework. A non-zero measurement of this oscillation probability implies that the (13) mixing angle `phi' is non-zero. We consider the effect of neutrino propagation through the matter of earth's crust and show that, given the constraints from solar neutrino and CHOOZ data, matter effects enhance the mixing for neutrinos rather than for anti-neutrinos. We need data from two different experiments with different baseline lengths (such as K2K and MINOS) to distinguish matter effects unambiguously.Comment: 9 pages including three figure

Solar Neutrinos and the Eclipse Effect

The solar neutrino counting rate in a real time detector like Super--Kamiokanda, SNO, or Borexino is enhanced due to neutrino oscillations in the Moon during a partial or total solar eclipse. The enhancement is calculated as a function of the neutrino parameters in the case of three flavor mixing. This enhancement, if seen, can further help to determine the neutrino parameters.Comment: 24 Pages Revtex, 8 figures as one ps file. To appear in Phys. Rev. D; Some typos corrected and a reference adde

Prospect for UV observations from the Moon

Space astronomy in the last 40 years has largely been done from spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO) for which the technology is proven and delivery mechanisms are readily available. However, new opportunities are arising with the surge in commercial aerospace missions. We describe here one such possibility: deploying a small instrument on the Moon. This can be accomplished by flying onboard the Indian entry to the Google Lunar X PRIZE competition, Team Indus mission, which is expected to deliver a nearly 30 kgs of payloads to the Moon, with a rover as its primary payload. We propose to mount a wide-field far-UV (130--180 nm) imaging telescope as a payload on the Team Indus lander. Our baseline operation is a fixed zenith pointing but with the option of a mechanism to allow observations of different attitudes. Pointing towards intermediate ecliptic latitude (50 deg or above) ensures that the Sun is at least 40 deg off the line of sight at all times. In this position, the telescope can cover higher galactic latitudes as well as parts of Galactic plane. The scientific objectives of such a prospective are delineated and discussed.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figure

Constraints on mixing angles of Majorana neutrinos

By combining the inputs from the neutrinoless double beta decay and the fits of cosmological models of dark matter with solar and atmospheric neutrino data, we obtain constraints on two of the mixing angles of Majorana neutrinos, which become stronger when coupled with the reactor neutrino data. These constraints are strong enough to rule out Majorana neutrinos if the small angle solution of solar neutrino puzzle is borne out.Comment: Some corrections and clarifications adde

Neutrinos from Stellar Collapse: Effects of flavour mixing

We study the effect of non-vanishing masses and mixings among neutrino flavours on the detection of neutrinos from stellar collapse by a water Cerenkov detector. We consider a realistic framework in which there are three neutrino flavours whose mass squared differences and mixings are constrained by the present understanding of solar and atmospheric neutrinos. We also include the effects of high dense matter within the supernova core. We find that the number of events due to the dominant process involving electron-antineutrinos may change dramatically for some allowed mixing parameters. Furthermore, contributions from charged-current scattering off oxygen atoms in the detector can be considerably enhanced due to flavour mixing; such events have a distinct experimental signature since they are backward-peaked. Hence, mixing has a non-trivial effect on the signature of neutrinos (and antineutrinos) from stellar collapse.Comment: 22 pages Latex file, with 6 postscript figures, minor changes made in tex

Relation between CPT Violation in Neutrino masses and mixings

The neutrino parameters determined from the solar neutrino data and the anti-neutrino parameters determined from KamLAND reactor experiment are in good agreement with each other. However, the best fit points of the two sets differ from each other by about $10^{-5}$ eV$^2$ in mass-square differenc and by about $2^\circ$ in the mixing angle. Future solar neutrino and reactor anti-neutrino experiments are likely to reduce the uncertainties in these measurements. This, in turn, can lead to a signal for CPT violation in terms a non-zero difference between neutrino and anti-neutrino parameters. In this paper, we propose a CPT violating mass matrix which can give rise to the above differences in both mass-squared difference and mixing angle and study the constraints imposed by the data on the parameters of the mass matrix.Comment: 10page