Spices biotechnology

In recent times, biotechnological tools have supplemented various conventional approaches in conservation,characterization, improvement and utilization for increasing production and productivity of spices. In manyspices, viable micropropagation technologies are available for commercial production and generation of disease - free planting material. Somaclonal variation is important in crops where natural variability is low and a few useful somaclonal variants have been identified in ginger, turmeric and vanilla. Protoplast technology is also available for capsicum, black pepper, fennel, fenugreek, garlic, saffron and peppermint. In vitro cryopreservation, Synseed and Micro-rhizome technologies are available for safe propagation, conservation, movement, and exchange of spices germplasm. Studies are in progress for in vitro production of flavour and colouring compounds like capsaicin, vanillin, anethole, crocin, picrocrocin, saff'ranal, etc. using immobilized and transformed cell cultures. Use of molecular markers for crop profiling, fingerprinting, molecular taxonomy, identification of duplicate hybrids, estimation of genetic fidelity and tagging of genes for marker aided selection (MAS) is gaining importance. Isolation of important and useful genes and development of transgenics is in the preliminary stage

Institutional and policy process for climate-smart agriculture : evidence from Nagaland State, India

A critical global policy question is how the environmental management interventions could be repurposed to meet the sustainable development goals and their target for food security, climate protection, and environmental sustainability. A common challenge facing food systems in developing countries is to improve agricultural productivity to ensure food security for all without increasing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from agriculture. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) approaches help to reduce GHG emissions from agriculture and address the challenges of climate change (CC) and food insecurity. Yet, CSA lack understanding of the institutional arrangements and policy processes. This paper examines 38 aspects to assess the institutional and policy status for CC mitigation and adaptation and CSA in Nagaland, India. Furthermore, we use these aspects to develop a scale to measure the policy and institutional environment for mitigation and adaptation of CC and implementation of CSA. Nagaland is relatively in a better position in nine aspects, although it can improve. Methodologically, the scale developed in this paper and the identified factors can help study the institutional and policy status of a country, state, or region. We identify several implications for understanding CC and CSA institutions and policies for informing policy research and practice.This paper is an outcome of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) funded research project on ‘Institutional and Policy Process on Climate Change and Formulation of Extension Strategy on “Climate-Smart Agriculture” in Nagaland, India’ and some part of this paper also taken from the final report of the project.https://iwaponline.com/jwcchj2023Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Developmen

Chemotaxonomy of South Indian Piper

A chemotaxonomical study was carried out on South Indian taxa of Piper to understand their interrelationships. Fourteen taxa were analysed for their flavonoids and based on presence or absence ofthese compounds, percentage similarity indices were calculated. The results in general supported the species delimitation and taxonomical relationships arrived at by conventional taxonomy using morphological characters. A chemical dichotomy was evident between the two sub genera - Pipali (having erect spikes) and Maricha (having pendant spikes) thereby supporting the validity of the sectional classification. &nbsp

Chemotaxonomy of South Indian Piper

A chemotaxonomical study was carried out on South Indian taxa of Piper to understand their interrelationships. Fourteen taxa were analysed for their flavonoids and based on presence or absence ofthese compounds, percentage similarity indices were calculated. The results in general supported the species delimitation and taxonomical relationships arrived at by conventional taxonomy using morphological characters. A chemical dichotomy was evident between the two sub genera - Pipali (having erect spikes) and Maricha (having pendant spikes) thereby supporting the validity of the sectional classification. &nbsp

Effect of storage of fresh turmeric rhizomes on oleoresin and curcumin contents

The turmeric varieties Suvarna (PCT·B), Suguna (PCT·13) and Sudarshana (PCT·14), were harvested and stored for a period of nine months. Samples were analysed forcurcumin and oleoresin at monthly intervals. Curcumin and oleoresin levels were not affected by sotrage. The marginal increase in these constitutents after sprouting is only relative as the nutrients like carbohydrates ge t progressively depleted with the progress of sprouting and growth of the sprout. The distribution of curcumin in mother rhizomes and fingers are also discussed. &nbsp

Climate change effects on Chickpea yield and its variability in Andhra Pradesh, India

Farmers usually do not know the precise output that is affected by climatic factors such as temperature and rainfall and are characterized by inter-annual variability, part of which is caused by global climate change. No study covers the influences of climate factors on yield and yield risk in the context of chickpea farming in Andhra Pradesh, India. In this context, this study aimed to investigate the trends in climate change variables during Rabi season (October to January, 1996-2020) and evaluated their variability on chickpea yields across different agro-climatic zones in Andhra Pradesh by employing Just and Pope production function. Four non-parametric methods-Alexandersson’s Standard Normal Homogeneity Test, Buishand’s Range Test, Pettitt’s Test and Von Neumann’s Ratio Test are applied to detect homogeneity in the data. Mann–Kendall (MK) test and Sen’s slope (SS) method were employed to analyze monthly rainfall trends and minimum and maximum temperature trends. Results of Just and Pope (panel data) quadratic and Cobb-Douglas methods revealed that monthly minimum temperature positively influenced the mean yield of chickpea (0.22% and 0.16%, respectively). However, rainfall (-0.41% and -0.31%) and maximum temperature (-0.08% and -0.04%) negatively influenced the mean yield of chickpea under quadratic and Cobb-Douglas models, respectively. Accordingly, rainfall (0.08% and 0.06%) and maximum temperature (0.83% and 0.72%) positively influenced the yield variability and minimum temperature (-0.77% and -0.67%) reduced yield variability of chickpea under quadratic and Cobb-Douglas models respectively. In view of these findings, it is imperative to advocate the farmers about the importance of cultivating drought-tolerant chickpea varieties, drought-proofing and mitigation strategies, micro-irrigation practices and improving their access to agro-meteorological information towards sustainable chickpea cultivation in Andhra Pradesh

Comparative effectiveness of inter-simple sequence repeat and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA markers to study genetic diversity of Indian Garcinia

A study to compare the effectiveness of inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiling was carried out with a total of 65 DNA samples using 12 species of Indian Garcinia. ISSR and RAPD profiling were performed with 19 and 12 primers, respectively. ISSR markers generated a total number of 156 bands with 92 polymorphic bands, while RAPD markers produced a total of 134 bands with 80 polymorphic bands. Percentage of polymorphic loci in RAPD profiling was 60.4% while in ISSR profiling, it was 59.3%. Heterogeneity index was similar for the markers, 0.86 for ISSR and 0.89 for RAPD, indicating that both the marker systems are effective in determining polymorphism in Garcinia. ISSR markers showed clear distinction among the species whereas RAPD markers showed segregation based on geographical location as well as species based.Key words: Garcinia, genetic diversity, inter-simple sequence repeats, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA, principal component analysis

Morphometrical studies on black pepper (Piper nigrum L.). II. principal component analysis of black pepper cultivars

Forty four cultivars and seven wild accessions of black pepper (Piper nigrum) (51 Operational Taxonomic Units) were analysed adopting Principal Component Analysis to determine the nature and extent of divergence aniong them. Eight principal components emerged from the analysis and the dispersion pattern of Operational Taxonomic Units between the principal components (in principal component plots) showed the characters involved in the divergence of various cultivars. Dispersion of Operational Taxonomic Units between principal components showed that certain cultivars remain as independent entitles thereby indicating their divergence from other cultivars. The majority of cultivars are distributed around the central point, and this group is comparable to the group D obtained by the centroid clustering. Computation of inter and intracluster - D2 helped to establish further the extent of relationships among the clusters. &nbsp