Regeneration Behaviour of Degraded Pasture of \u3cem\u3eLasiurus sindicus\u3c/em\u3e Grass under Different Cultural Practices in Extreme Arid Conditions of Jaisalmer, India

The agriculture of seventies in the hot arid zone of India (western Rajasthan) was chiefly the subsistence farming involving rearing of livestock in association with rainfed cultivation of guar, moth and pearl millet. Pasturelands dominate among different land use systems and provide main support to the huge livestock population of the region (Kar et al., 2009). With the advent of Indira Gandhi Canal and commencement of tube-well technology in 1985, livestock based economy saw a change in the land use and large tracts of sewan grass (Lasiurus sindicus) came under the plough. Further, in arid zone as a whole, the density of livestock increased from 50 animal per 100 hectares of grazing land in 1951-52 to 154 during 2012. According to livestock census (2012), the number of animals in the arid zone increased by 41 % between 1951 and 1961 and by 15 % between 1995 and 2012. In terms of adult cattle units (ACU) the livestock pressure was 9.58 million in 1983, which increased to 11.27 million in 2001 and 11.65 in 2012. Local grazing pressures are surpassing the recommended stocking rates of the rangelands at an enormous pace. The pressure was 0.87 ACU/ha in 1981 which increased to 1.02 ACU /ha in 2001 and 1.55 in 2012 against the optimum desirable density of 0.2 ACU/ha (Tiwari and Arya, 2006). The grasslands face two threats: one from land coming under water-intensive agriculture, and the other from indiscriminate use of water from the canal to irrigate these pastures. The increase in grazing pressure and shrinkage of grazing area resulted in severe degradation of the sewan pastures to as low as 0.1 t/ha/yr in the desert areas (Roy and Roy, 1996). Since the economy of the hot arid zone is livestock based and improvement in the productivity of the animal husbandry is directly correlated with the improvement in native degraded pasturelands (Sharma, 2013). Burning was recognized as one of the important techniques for the grassland management (Chatterjee and Das, 1989), but burning at large scale found environmentally unsafe. Thus, present study was conducted to find out the effect of different cultural practice on the rejuvenation behaviour of degraded sewan pasture at Chandan (Jaisalmer), Rajasthan (India) during summer 2010

Soil conservation issues in India

Despite years of study and substantial investment in remediation and prevention, soil erosion continues to be a major environmental problem with regard to land use in India and elsewhere around the world. Furthermore, changing climate and/or weather patterns are exacerbating the problem. Our objective was to review past and current soil conservation programmes in India to better understand how production-, environmental-, social-, economic- and policy-related issues have affected soil and water conservation and the incentives needed to address the most critical problems. We found that to achieve success in soil and water conservation policies, institutions and operations must be co-ordinated using a holistic approach. Watershed programmes have been shown to be one of the most effective strategies for bringing socio-economic change to different parts of India. Within both dryland and rainfed areas, watershed management has quietly revolutionized agriculture by aligning various sectors through technological soil and water conservation interventions and land-use diversification. Significant results associated with various watershed-scale soil and water conservation programmes and interventions that were effective for reducing land degradation and improving productivity in different parts of the country are discussed

Innovations of controlling desrtfication and renewable energt

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Announcement Brochure of ICAR Winter School on Solar photovoltaic and thermal applications for energy-water-food security in agriculture organized by CAZRI from September 19 - October 9, 2018Announcement Brochure of ICAR Winter School on Solar photovoltaic and thermal applications for energy-water-food security in agriculture organized by CAZRI from September 19 - October 9, 2018Not Availabl

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Not Availableराजस्थान के थार मरूस्थल में पशु आहार उबालने, फल-फूल सब्जी को सुरक्षित रखने के लिए शीतल कक्ष, कृषि उत्पादों को सुखाने एवं पौधों में कीटनाशक छिड़काव के लिए बिजली से चलने वाले उपकरण काम में लिए जाते है लेकिन हमारे देश के कई गांवो मे बिजली नही है और अगर कहीं उपलब्ध है तो वह काफी महंगी पड़ती है जो कि एक साधारण किसान की आर्थिक क्षमता के बाहर है लेकिन हमारा यह सौभाग्य है कि यहां शुष्क क्षेत्र में सौर ऊर्जा प्रचुर मात्रा में उपलब्ध है, जिसका उपयोग पशु आहार उबालने एवं फल व सब्जियों को सुखाने के लिए किया जा सकता है। इन उपरोक्त समस्याओं को हल करने के लिए केन्द्रीय शुष्क क्षेत्र अनुसंधान संस्थान (काजरी) ने सौर ऊर्जा का उपयोग कर कम कीमत का सौर फोटो-वोल्टिक (पीवी) छिड़काव यंत्र (स्प्रेयर) एवं सौर पीवी भुरकाव यंत्र (डस्टर) बनाए गए हैं । मैन्युअल रूप से तैयार विकसित सौर पीवी स्प्रेयर के प्रदर्शन को क्षेत्र में परीक्षण किया गया है और विभिन्न शुष्क फसलों में कीटनाशक का छिड़काव करने के लिए संतोषजनक पाया गया है। विकसित स्प्रेयर विशेष रूप से इस क्षेत्र में भारतीय कृषि परिदृश्य में किसानों के लिए एक वरदान हो सकता है जहां सौर ऊर्जा भरपूर मात्रा में उपलब्ध है। काजरी का यही उद्देष्य है की काजरी में निर्मित सौर यन्त्रों का लाभ सीधे खेतों मे पहुंचा कर किसानों की आमदनी बढाई जा सके।Not Availabl

Agri-voltaic system: A novel technology for doubling the farmer?s income in hot arid ecosystem of western Rajasthan, India

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Not AvailableSoil supports plant growth by supplying nutrients and water and thus plays a key role in agricultural production system. Therefore, sustainable management of soil resources is very important to meet the food production targets. Soil nutrient statuses are generally monitored on regular basis to apply additional nutrient requirement for plant growth through manures and fertilizers. Similarly, soil hydraulic properties e.g. hydraulic conductivity, water retention etc are to be characterized in order to apply right amount of irrigation water at right time. Conventionally, soils are characterized through field sampling followed by their laboratory analysis. However, considering the spatial variation of soil properties and time required to measure these properties in laboratory, it if often found difficult to collect multiple samples from field and then to determine soil properties in laboratory. With the advancement in digital technology specifically the artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, there is huge scope to apply these technologies to assess soil properties in field in a quick time. Here, we discusses few potential options of artificial intelligence and digital technology to apply in soil science. Digital camera can be used to prepare digital soil library and then applying machine learning tools on the large database on digital photographs may be possible to relate soil properties with colour. Machine learning tools e.g. random forest regression, support vector machines, regression tree etc. can be applied to prepare digital soil maps using legacy soil data after considering the ‘scorpan’ factors of soil formation. The available information of soil resources as well as the information generated through machine learning tools can be made available to stakeholders through soil information system in different platforms e.g. android application in smart phones, web GIS in desktops etc. Further, handheld devices may be developed to quickly measure soil properties in field. Therefore these technologies have huge potentials in agriculture and coworking robots (cobots) is a futuristic option.ICA

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Not AvailableConsiderable amount of fruits and vegetables have been wasted due to non-availability of appropriate processing facilities in farmers field, in spite of high production in India with second rank in the world. A little of total fruit and vegetable productions in the country have been processed in industries. It has been noted that food crisis in most parts of the world is due to non-availability of processing and preserving facility rather than due to low production. Spoilage of fruits and vegetables can be reduced by drying and preserving them by suitable solar devices. Keeping in mind this requirement, a simple solar dryer has been fabricated at ICAR-CAZRI, Jodhpur. The dryer comprises a drying tray (0.75 m 0.53 m) made of wooden frame and SS wire mesh and a glass sheet (4 mm thick) fitted on a wooden frame and a couple of hinges with opening and closing arrangements. Suitable openings for entry of ambient air and exit of water vapour have also been provided. The cost of the dryer is about Rs. 800. The drying tray serves dual purpose of solar collector and drying chamber. The maximum stagnation temperature observed inside the drying chamber was 63 °C on loading of 3 kg ber (Ziziphus sp.). It was 49 °C, when the outside ambient temperature was 27 °C on a clear sunny day (from 10 am to 4 pm) in the month of December–January. For drying of 3 kg ber fruits to a final weight of 1 kg using the developed dryer, it took about 7–8 days. It has been observed that the drying time for Ziziphus (ber) decreased by 50% in comparison to open sun drying. The developed dryer was also successfully tested to dry spinach (Spinacia oleracea), grated aonla (Phyllanthus emblica) and beetroot (Beta vulgaris). This solar dryer would be very useful for small and marginal farmers.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableAgriculture sector consumes about 7-8% of total energy consumption of India. Pumping of irrigation water, use of heavy machineries for different farm operations, processing and value addition of farm produces etc. are major activities by which energy is consumed in agriculture sector. With the advancement of food production system from agrarian to a futuristic technology-driven system, there has been rapid increase in energy use in agriculture. It has been expected that energy use in agriculture in Indian needs to be increased from its present value 1.6 kW ha-1 to 2.5 kW ha-1 to meet the production target of next 20 years. In this context, we need to harness and use more renewable forms of energy, especially solar energy that is plentiful on most part of the country. Agriculture sector has great scope in meeting the solar energy installation targets at different parts of the world. This can be achieved through major two ways. First is the replacement of fossil fuel based farm operations with solar energy based devices and implements. Second is the contribution in renewable energy generation from agriculture sector. The first approach includes replacing diesel operated or grid-tied electric pumps with solar PV pumping system, use of solar devices for processing and value addition of foods, increasing use of solar PV driven tools and implements etc. The second approach is through contribution in renewable energy generation may be achieved through either cogeneration of food and energy using agri-voltaic and solar-wind hybrid system or utilizing biomass and agro-wastes for energy generation.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableCracking of pomegranate fruit is a general problem throughout its growing areas and among all varieties, however, the magnitude of the problem is more in arid region. Relative water content and water potential of leaf as indicative of water stress directly affect the magnitude of cracking in pomegranate fruits. Also, both these physiological parameters are likely to be influenced by high temperature stress as measured by canopy air temperature difference (CATD) and fruit air temperature difference (FATD). Percent fruit cracking in different pomegranate varieties ranged from 18.3% in P23 to 62.6% in Jodhpur Red. However, irrespective of cultivars on an average 36% fruit get cracked under prevailing conditions of experimental site. Canopy temperature was lower than air temperature, whereas, fruit surface temperature was higher than air temperature. Both CATD and FATD were significantly correlated with leaf water potential and relative water content. The cultivar having higher leaf water potential and RWC reflected lowest fruit cracking and vice-versa. Stepwise regression analysis indicated that temperature mediated leaf water potential had direct impact on incidence of fruit cracking in pomegranate as with increasing leaf water potential; cracking percent reduces across the varieties studied in present investigation. Such relationships may help in future to identify suitable cultivars for a specific region as well to adopt suitable preventive measures to reduce fruit cracking in pomegranate.Not Availabl