Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda)

The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), originated from America but is reported recently from Africa and the Asia-Pacific. FAW has caused huge international concern since its outbreak in Africa since 2016 and in Asia since mid-2018. The chapter mainly reviews its global distribution, life cycle, identification characters, strains, host plants, nature of damage, economic damage, and integrated pest management strategies available. The pest completes its life cycle on maize in 30 days (in warm summer months); in cooler temperatures, it may extend up to 60–90 days. For effective management of fall armyworm, different tools, viz., cultural control, agronomic management, breeding for resistance, natural enemies, and eco-friendly insecticides, should be used in an integrated approach. As the insect is recently introduced to Africa and the Asia-Pacific, possible management strategies and future cases of action are discussed

Drill biopsy in the diagnosis of lung lesions.

A high speed pneumatic drill was used to perform 190 percutaneous transthoracic biopsies in 161 patients. The resultant cores of tissue provided a definite diagnosis in 146 patients, giving a success rate of 90.7%. Complications occurred in 58 patients, subcutaneous emphysema being the most common, though only seven patients required active treatment, giving a rate of 3.7% for important complications. One patient died within 24 hours of the biopsy procedure owing to asphyxia resulting from aspiration of the contents of an acutely dilated stomach. Our experience clearly establishes that the drill biopsy as used by us is simple and safe and can be carried out in an outpatient department, yielding better overall results than any other procedure for closed biopsy of the lung currently practised

Designing climate resilient agricultural systems with some examples from India

Climate variability is a major source of risk in food production in the semi-arid tropics that are home to almost 2.5 billion people. With other biophysical, socio-economic and political factors, climate risk contributes enormously to food insecurity, economic losses, and poverty. This situation is likely to be exacerbated by the projected changes in climate. Past and ongoing work has enabled us to understand the impacts of climate variability and change on smallholder agriculture and the perceptions and coping strategies being adopted by farmers. Research has also identified a number of potential options that can contribute to improved management of agricultural systems under variable climatic conditions. Agricultural productivity and profitability under these high climate risk environments aretherefore dependent on: (i) the inherent resilience of the farming enterprises which is a function of farm design within the context of the agricultural innovation system (we term strategic); and (ii) how well the farm activities are planned and executedin the context of the climatic risks (we term tactical). The concepts of climate-resilient agriculture or climatesmart agriculture (CSA) have also emerged in response to the need to manage a variable and changing climate and to a large extent, build on well-established agronomic principles and crop improvement. However, the objectives of CSA are much broader and encompass increasing productivity and incomes, adapting practices and technologies to a changing climate and minimising emissions from agriculture, including the capture of greenhouse gases into soils. According to FAO (2021), these objectives may not always be met simultaneously, and consequently, the CSA approach should attempt to reduce trade-offs and promote synergies in their application considering the context. CSA is a broad catch-all term and encompasses actions at all levels from farm through to country and regions, implemented by farmers, the private sector, community organisations and governments. For example, a study by FAO (2021) found that the Climate-Smart Agriculture Investment Investment Plan (CSAIP) for Mali, developed by the Ministry of Agriculture, proposed eight climate-smart crop and livestock investments (value chains for non-timber forest products, flood recession agriculture, livestock, the integration of millet, sorghum and legumes, vegetables, the restoration of degraded lands, sustainable rice intensification and wheat). For the purposes of this short review, we will focus on CSA as it relates to decisions made at the farm level and may encompass single technological innovations (e.g., a more heat or drought tolerant crop variety), packages of innovations (e.g., a bundle of agronomic practices with climate information for decision-making) through to the design of farms and farming systems to cope with climate variability and extreme events. Examples from semi-arid farming systems in India are used