Modeling Sunflower Productivity and Profitability in Relation to Adequate and Limited Sulphur Availability under Semiarid Irrigated Conditions

Inadequate and/or imbalanced fertilization has been identified as one of the critical bottlenecks holding oilseeds production and productivity. Sustainable production requires efficient use of inputs maintaining optimum yield and high quality product. The present study aims at defining the quantitative relationship between the fertilizer S applied and the sunflower yield obtained using a polynomial function. The analysis was done to allocate the S fertilizer for maximization of net profit over fertilizer cost depending on the availability of the fertilizer. The results indicated that the cost effective economically optimum dose of sulphur for sunflower cultivation was found to be 36.70 kg S/ha under its full availability. The expected sunflower yield at this dose was worked out to be 2.619 t/ha. However, it is advisable to uniformly distribute the fertilizer to all over the cultivable area under its limited availability for exploiting the desired yield potential and maximum net monetary returns

Integrated Nutrient Management for Sustainable Production of Rice-Wheat Cropping System in Sodic Soils

To keep the pace of sustainable crop production without depleting the natural resource base seems to be a big challenge under the current scenario. Nutrient cycling in the soil-plant ecosystem is an essential component for sustaining the agricultural enterprises productions. Integrated nutrient management i.e. combined use of organic and inorganic fertilizer sources, is quite helpful in sustaining the system productivity and soil quality. The INM concept is now being broadened to make it more context-specific for the local environmental conditions, farm mechanization, conservation agriculture, shift towards organic agriculture, and the updated soil maps. An innovative approach like INM can harness natural resources appropriately, bring about food security, and improve the livelihood. The provision of appropriate policies, for e.g. providing incentives to adopt INM, and easy and quality availability of organic inputs will motivate the farmers to adopt INM practically.Directorate of Extension, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of Indi

Insights into Physiological, Biochemical and Molecular Responses in Wheat under Salt Stress

Globally, wheat is a major staple food crop that provides 20% of food calories for 30% of the human population. Wheat growth and production are significantly affected by salt stress at various stages and adversely affect germination, vegetative growth, stomatal conductance, photosynthesis, reproductive behavior, protein synthesis, enzymatic activity and finally hampered grain yield. Maintenance of low Na+/K+ ratio, antioxidants and hormonal regulation, and accumulation of compatible osmolytes such as glycine betaine, proline and trehalose help the wheat genotypes to mitigate the negative effects of salt stress. Recent studies have reported various mechanisms at the physiological, biochemical and molecular levels to adapt the salinity stress in various ecologies. Salt tolerant genotypes can be developed by conventional breeding approaches and through biotechnological approaches. This chapter reviews the updates on mechanisms and recent approaches to structure the salt-tolerant and high-yielding genotypes

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The research was carried out in my previous organization at PAU LudhianaA comprehensive long-term study (2006–2010) was undertaken to develop a balanced and integrated nutrient supply system for sunflower-based cropping sequence considering the efficient utilization of residual and cumulative soil nutrient balance along with added fertilizers by the crops grown in rotation. The fertilizer application was done in potato and sunflower while greengram was raised as such on their residual effect. Significant response in yield was observed with 150% of the recommended nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) or inclusion of farmyardmanure (FYM) with the recommended NPK in the cropping sequence indicating 6.2–7.0% gain in system productivity over the existing recommendations. Each additional unit of P and K nutrition prompted system productivity by 18.9 and 11.0 kg kg−1 of applied nutrient, respectively. Apparent yield decline was observed in K and PK omission plots to the extent of 15.8 and 27.4% in potato, 10.5 and 23.9% in sunflower and 4.2 and 8.3% in greengram, respectively, compared to the recommended fertilization. The superiority of the FYM along with the recommended NPK (potato/sunflower) was evident on the overall profitability and sustainability of the system, highlighted by the significantly higher productivity (7.16 t SFEY ha−1), sustainability yield index (SYI; 0.76), production efficiency (PE; 27.85 kg SFEY ha−1 day−1) and net returns (2520 USD ha−1) with a B:C ratio of 2.91. Apparent change in potassiumpermanganate (KMnO4)-N was negative in all the treatments while N and P balance was positive with 150% NPK fertilization. Nutrient uptake exceeded the replenishment with 100% NPK application and maintained net negative soil nutrient stock for all the primary nutrients, indicating the need for revalidation of the existing recommendations in the system perspective. Conspicuous improvement in residual soil fertility in terms of maximum buildup of soil organic carbon (14%) and enhancement in soil KMnO4-N (4.2%), Olsen-P (19.4%), ammonium acetate (NH4OAc)-K (5.8%) and dehydrogenase enzyme activity (44.4%) was observed in FYM-treated plots over the initial values. The study suggested that the inclusion of legumes and FYM application with the recommended NPK in potatosunflower cropping sequence will sustain the system’s productivity through the efficient use of nutrients, enhanced microbial activity and improved soil health while combating escalating prices of fertilizers as well as environmental issues in the Indo-Gangetic plains of India and similar environments.Not Availabl

Modeling sunflower productivity and profitability in relation to adequate and limited sulfur availability under semiarid irrigated conditions.

Inadequate and/or imbalanced fertilization has been identified as one of the critical bottlenecks holding oilseeds production and productivity. Sustainable production requires efficient use of inputs maintaining optimum yield and high quality product. The present study aims at defining the quantitative relationship between the fertilizer S applied and the sunflower yield obtained using a polynomial function. The analysis was done to allocate the S fertilizer for maximization of net profit over fertilizer cost depending on the availability of the fertilizer. The results indicated that the cost effective economically optimum dose of sulphur for sunflower cultivation was found to be 36.70 kg S/ha under its full availability. The expected sunflower yield at this dose was worked out to be 2.619 t/ha. However, it is advisable to uniformly distribute the fertilizer to all over the cultivable area under its limited availability for exploiting the desired yield potential and maximum net monetary returns

Halophytes as new model plant species for salt tolerance strategies

Soil salinity is becoming a growing issue nowadays, severely affecting the world’s most productive agricultural landscapes. With intersecting and competitive challenges of shrinking agricultural lands and increasing demand for food, there is an emerging need to build resilience for adaptation to anticipated climate change and land degradation. This necessitates the deep decoding of a gene pool of crop plant wild relatives which can be accomplished through salt-tolerant species, such as halophytes, in order to reveal the underlying regulatory mechanisms. Halophytes are generally defined as plants able to survive and complete their life cycle in highly saline environments of at least 200-500 mM of salt solution. The primary criterion for identifying salt-tolerant grasses (STGs) includes the presence of salt glands on the leaf surface and the Na+ exclusion mechanism since the interaction and replacement of Na+ and K+ greatly determines the survivability of STGs in saline environments. During the last decades or so, various salt-tolerant grasses/halophytes have been explored for the mining of salt-tolerant genes and testing their efficacy to improve the limit of salt tolerance in crop plants. Still, the utility of halophytes is limited due to the non-availability of any model halophytic plant system as well as the lack of complete genomic information. To date, although Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and salt cress (Thellungiella halophila) are being used as model plants in most salt tolerance studies, these plants are short-lived and can tolerate salinity for a shorter duration only. Thus, identifying the unique genes for salt tolerance pathways in halophytes and their introgression in a related cereal genome for better tolerance to salinity is the need of the hour. Modern technologies including RNA sequencing and genome-wide mapping along with advanced bioinformatics programs have advanced the decoding of the whole genetic information of plants and the development of probable algorithms to correlate stress tolerance limit and yield potential. Hence, this article has been compiled to explore the naturally occurring halophytes as potential model plant species for abiotic stress tolerance and to further breed crop plants to enhance salt tolerance through genomic and molecular tools

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An experiment was conducted during 2003–05 to assess the production potential, biological and economic feasibility of intercropping maize with blackgram in different row proportions under rainfed conditions. Intercropping blackgram with maize, irrespective of row arrangements was found to be beneficial in increasing the system’s total productivity and yield advantage to the tune of 9.3–48.0% under different intercropping systems compared to monocultures of both maize and blackgram. Among the intercropping systems, maize (50 cm) with blackgram in 1 : 1 row proportion was proved to be the most efficient, productive and remunerative as it gave the highest mean maize equivalent yield (3 430 kg/ha) and also accounted for highest values for land equivalent ratio (1.34), relative crowding co-efficient (4.49), area-time equivalent ratio (1.23), income equivalent ratio (1.52), sustainability yield index (0.90), production efficiency (36.9 kg/ha/day), net returns (8.54×103 Rs/ha) and B: C ratio (1.78) compared to other intercropping systems, thus, can be suggested as a biological and economically sustainable intercropping system for higher productivity and profitability under rainfed conditions. Magnitude of reduction in yield of the base crop due to intercropping of blackgram was the highest (41.8– 46.2%) when maize was widely planted either at 75 or 90 cm in 1: 2 row ratios as against the 21.8–27.1% for maize planted at 50/60 cm in 1: 1 row proportion. Paired row planting showed yield reduction to the extent of 29.0–29.8%.PAU Ludhian

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Not AvailableSalinity hinders the crop growth right from germination to maturity of crop plants by altering the water relations, nutrient balance, specific ion toxicity etc. Agronomic practices, though cannot reclaimed or remove the salts from the soil, but have potential role in managing the salt and water balance in the crop root zone and apart escaping and tolerance mechanism to the crop plants grown. Adoption of package of best agro-techniques like selection of appropriate crop and its varieties, priming of seed prior to sowing, sowing with appropriate methods, irrigation with minimized salt load in soil, balanced fertilization etc. can sustain the yield of salty soils.Directorate of Extension, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of Indi

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We studied the effects of sodic irrigation on growth, physiological parameters and mineral partitioning in Zizyphus rotundifolia (ZR) and Z. spina-christi (ZS) seedlings used as rootstocks for Indian jujube scion cultivars. Plants grown in normal soils were irrigated with fresh (control) and three kinds of sodic waters having residual sodium carbonate (RSC) levels of 3, 6 and 9 meq/l. Both the species displayed appreciable decreases in fresh and dry weights of shoots and roots at RSCiw level of 9 meq/l. Leaf chlorophyll and chlorophyll fluorescence also decreased with increasing sodicity. While leaf proline content remained unchanged up to RSCiw 3 meq/l, plants treated with 9 meq/l sodic water had nearly twofold higher leaf proline than control indicating that it could play a major role in osmotic adjustment in salt stressed plants. Na+ and Cl- contents increased while K+ and Ca2+ declined in different plant parts with increase in RSCiw. Na+: K+ ratio was higher at a given RSCiw in leaves and roots of ZS and in stems and roots of ZR reflecting better Na+ exclusion by ZR. ZR leaves also had less Cl- than ZS at a given RSCiw. Owing to these adaptive traits, both the species could tolerate RSCiw up to 6 meq/l.RKV