Status of organic forming in agro ecosystems in India

Organic farming is the form of crop growing that relies on techniques like crop rotation, green compost, manure and biological pest control. This study was an initial attempt to know the status of organic farming in pesticide use predominant 28 districts in 12 Indian states. Doctors, pesticide vendors and agricultural officers of regions were interviewed to study the status of organic farming in the selected areas. Data were collected through pre-tested schedules by trained field investigators. A total of 1577 samples from 290 randomly selected villages were keyed in to Visual Basic front end in MS Access data base. In this study only 3% of the respondents across the country reported that they had practiced organic farming only, whereas 51% of respondents practiced chemical farming and 46% of respondents had taken up both organic and chemical farming. Appropriate research and extension services need to be developed to make available to farmers all the relevant information on organic farming

Nutmeg ( Myristica fragrans Houtt.) essential oil: a review on its composition, biological, and pharmacological activities

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade de Vigo/CISUGMyristica fragrans (Houtt.) is an evergreen tree native to the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. M. fragrans kernel is extensively used in Indian traditional medicines to treat various diseases. Several studies attempt to compile and interpret the pharmacological potential of Myristica fragrans (Houtt.) aqueous and various chemical extracts. Thus, the pharmacological potential of nutmeg essential oil has not been reviewed phytochemically and pharmacologically. Therefore, the present study aimed to share appropriate literature evidence regarding the plant essential oil chemical composition and therapeutic potential of Myristica fragrans essential oil (MFEO). MFEO of leaf, mace, kernel, and seed were used worldwide as potential Ayurvedic medicine and fragrance. MFEO extracted by various methods and oil yield was 0.7–3.2, 8.1–10.3, 0.3–12.5, and 6.2–7.6% in leaf, mace, seed, and kernel. The primary chemical constituents of MFEO were sabinene, eugenol, myristicin, caryophyllene, β-myrcene, and α-pinene. Clinical and experimental investigations have confirmed the antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiinflammatory, anticancer, antimalarial, anticonvulsant, hepatoprotective, antiparasitic, insecticidal, and nematocidal activities of MFEO. It is the first attempt to compile oil yield, composition, and the biological activities of MFEO. In future, several scientific investigations are required to understand the mechanism of action of MFEO and their bioactive constituents

Research and Higher Education Scenario in Select Indian State Universities: An Analysis

This article presents results of an analysis of higher education and research scenario in ten state universities of India during 2000 to 2006. Calcutta University ranked first in terms of published research articles, on an average 664 articles in a year in peer reviewed national and international journals. Similarly Madras, Panjab, Rajasthan, Mysore, Gauhati, Pune, Mumbai, Patna and Sikkim Manipal Universities published 600, 582, 538, 328.33, 221, 184.33, 112.5, 47 and 5 articles respectively. The ratio of number of faculty to research publication varied from 1:0.05 to 1:1.9 in the selected universities. University of Madras, Panjab, Rajasthan and Calcutta have ratio more than 1:1. University of Madras received the maximum research funds of 41.46 crore rupees and ranked first among the selected ten universities. Considering the overall performance of universities in our analysis, Calcutta University and Madras University captured the first two places respectively

Reading the agricultural landscape in a river basin: Integrating agro-ecological and social perspectives.

Agricultural landscape of a river basin is constituted by interlinkages between resources used and social relations, both within the basin and linking the basin to the non-basin areas. Expanding scarcities of land and water resources, and the human response to these scarcities, make it imperative to freshly examine these concepts of resource interrelationships, basin unity and stewardship concerns in an agrarian landscape of a river basin from an integrated agroecological and social perspective. The trajectories of change in agricultural resource use at the river basin is conceptualized as influenced by and carried out within multilevel networks of social relations that exchange resources and engage in reciprocal interactions within and outside the river basin

Farmer's health externalities in pesticide use predominant regions in India.

The use of pesticides in Indian agriculture, though beneficial in reducing crop loss both before and after harvest, has been associated with threats to human health often due to the misuse of these chemicals. This study was an initial attempt to explore health externalities of farmers and agricultural labourers in pesticide use predominant 28 districts in 12 Indian states. Doctors, pesticide vendors and agricultural officers of regions were interviewed to study the health externalities related to pesticide use. Data were collected through pre-tested schedules by trained field investigators. From a total sample size of 1577 and analysed. The results revealed a steady decrease in overall consumption of pesticides since 1990. About 19.4% of the respondents had experienced negative side effects on health after handling pesticides. The symptoms include headache, weakness, dizziness, fever, blurred vision, and nausea/vomiting. Most of the respondents are aware of pesticide-related symptoms and possible routes of absorption, during application of pesticides. Farmers make only short-term assessments of pesticides and spray these chemicals without taking proper protective clothing. Records on serious pesticide poisoning cases were available only in a few government hospitals, but such details were not even accessible from private hospitals as pesticide poisoning incidences are subjected to medico-legal cases. Training for agriculture and health workers in safety measures, recognition, and management of pesticide-related ill health is a matter of exigency. There is a tremendous scope for agricultural extension activity through which pesticide stewardship can be achieved in India

Farmers’ education and perception on pesticide use and crop economies in Indian agriculture

Intensive survey involving 1039 farmers belonging to 28 districts in 12 Indian states was carried out in pesticide use predominant regions to study the influence of farmer’s awareness, education and practices related to pesticide use as well as Integrated Pest Management (IPM) measures. Data were collected through pretested schedules by trained field investigators and the data were analysed by suitable statistical package (SPSS). The results revealed that though overall consumption of pesticide decreased, the expenditure incurred on pesticides remained high. Most of the respondents in the surveyed area followed their own spraying schedules and pesticide doses to manage ever increasing insect pests and disease problems. More than 50 % of the respondents applied both single and cocktail pesticides to manage their crop pests. Greater number of the literate farmers had strong perception on the negative impacts of pesticides on soil, water, air and beneficial organisms. Only 20 % of the respondents obtained their information on plant protection aspect from the agricultural extension officer and the rest of 80% of the farmers used unreliable information in crop production of surveyed areas. The respondents in the study regions were of the opinion that chemical methods of pest control are very effective in combating serious pest infestation. In the study area it was observed that only 3 % of the respondents followed organic farming in a successful way. The total area under organic farming in India is negligible. There is a tremendous scope for agricultural extension activity through which stewardship can be achieved in these pesticide predominant regions. Nevertheless, costs on ever increasing safety measures for pesticide applicators would be an additional burden which is to be considered seriously under resource poor small and medium holding systems in India

Occurrence and activity of cardamom pests and honeybees as affected by pest management and climate change

It has been conjectured that global warming will increase the prevalence of insect pests in most agroecosystems. The variability and possible trends in the occurrence and management of cardamom pests climatic variables and productivity were analyzed for cardamom agroforestry system. Analysis showed a general trend of decreasing temperature for temperature maximum since 2000. Year to year variation was noticeable for all parameters analyzed including relative humidity and soil temperatures (15 cm top soil layer) during 2000-2007. Contrary to the general agreement that recent warming had increased the prevalence of insect pests in majority of the agroecosystems, our results showed decreasing incidence of insect pests in cardamom agroforestry system because of calendar-based pesticide spraying. A decrease in natural enemy populations was observed. There has been an increase in number of pesticide sprays by at least one with the passage of each year. The reason for increased rounds of pesticides could be assigned to more prevalence and altered population dynamics of thrips and capsule borers during the study period. This situation has led to higher use of pesticides in cardamom agroecosystem

Environmental Impacts of Intensive Cardamom (Small) Cultivation in Indian Cardamom Hills: The Need for Sustainable and Efficient Practices

The recent intensification of small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton) farming, and the prospects of intensification, will have the major detrimental impacts on the Indian cardamom hills (ICH) ecosystem. The increased (4 fold) cardamom production during the past 30 years was associated with a several fold increase in the consumption of fertilizers and pesticides as well as drastic reduction in erstwhile rainforest land and canopy cover. Based on simple linear extension of past trends, and the anticipated future demand of cardamom would be associated with approximately 3 fold increase in both nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer rates as well as pesticides ( 4-5 fold increase in number of spray rounds) and further reduction in forest canopy cover (40%). These projected changes would have dramatic impacts on the functioning of the cardamom ecosystem because of complete loss of biodiversity and land and forest degradation. The largest impacts would be on fresh water ecosystem, which would be greatly eutrophied by high rates of nitrogen and phosphorus release from cardamom and tea plantations, and contaminated with various toxic pesticides. These detrimental environmental impacts of intensive cardamom agriculture can be minimized only if there is much more efficient use and recycling of nutrients between forest and soil

Effect of heavy metal and nutrient uptake by soils in Indian cardamom hills

Indian cardamom hill soils were studied to understand nutrient and heavy metal uptake and consequent fertility level changes. Extensive cultivation of cardamom and conversion of forest land to cardamom agriculture resulted in decline of OM and lower pH. Application of chemical fertilizers in the recent past helped enhance the available phosphorus (P). This is surprisingly contrary to the general observation of low P fertility and availability of tropical humid forest soils. Available nutrient concentrations with respect to potassium (K), magnesium (Mg) and sulphur (S) were low in cardamom soils while micronutrient concentrations were well above the proposed critical limits. Agricultural intensification through use of mercurial fungicides and other pesticides in Indian cardamom hill soils has resulted in continuous loading of heavy metals in leaves, seeds and rinds. Such a situation could soon lead to a level sufficient to cause serious fertility and environmental problems

Cardamom agro-environmental interrelationships analysis in Indian cardamom hills

The rainfall pattern seen in the Indian Cardamom Hills (ICH) has been extremely variable and complicated, with El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) playing a crucial role in shaping this pattern. In light of this, more investigation is required through improved statistical analysis. During the study period, there was greater variability in rainfall and the frequency of rainy days. About 2,730 mm of rainfall was reported in 2018, while the lowest amount (1168.3 mm) was registered for 2016. The largest decrease in decadal rainfall (>65 mm) was given by the decade 1960–1969, followed by 1980–1989 (>40 mm) and 2010–2019 (>10 mm). In the last 60 years of study, there has been a reduction of rainy days by 5 days in the last decade (2000–2009), but in the following decade (2010–2019), it registered an increasing trend, which is only slightly <2 days. The highest increase in decadal rainy days was observed for the 1970–1979 period. The smallest decadal increase was reported for the last decade (2010–2019). Total sunshine hours were the highest (1527.47) for the lowest rainfall year of 2016, while the lowest value (1,279) was recorded for the highest rainfall year (2021). The rainfall characteristics of ICH are highly influenced by the global ENSO phenomenon, both positively and negatively, depending on the global El Nino and La Nina conditions. Correspondingly, below and above-average rainfall was recorded consecutively for 1963–1973, 2003–2016, and 1970–2002. Higher bright forenoon sun hours occurred only during SWM months, which also reported maximum disease intensity on cardamom. The year 2016 was regarded as a poorly distributed year, with the lowest rainfall and the highest bright afternoon sun hours during the winter and summer months (January-May). Over the last three decades, the production and productivity of cardamom have shown a steady increase along with the ongoing local climatic change. Many of our statistical tests resulted in important information in support of temporal climatic change and variability. Maintaining shade levels is essential to address the adverse effects of increasing surface air temperature coupled with the downward trend of the number of rainy days and elevated soil temperature levels