Zinc and Iron Nutrition to Increase the Productivity of Pearl Millet-Mustard Cropping System in Salt Affected Soils

The abiotic stresses, such as soil salinity and sodicity are largely responsible for the low productivity of crops mainly due to low availability of micro-nutrients especially as zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe). Therefore, judicious management of plant nutrients in these soils is as important as their reclamation. A field experiment was conducted for 4 consecutive years, consisting of 12 treatments laid out in randomized block design to evaluate the effect of rate and methods of zinc and iron as single or combined soil as well as foliar application in pearl millet-mustard cropping system grown on salt affected soils. Soil application of Zn and Fe were applied at the time of sowing with FYM or without FYM (addition of FYM done only in pearl millet) and foliar application of respective nutrients were also applied at 30 and 45 days after sowing of crops. The results of experiment showed that, application of FYM 10 t ha-1 along with 5 kg Zn+10 kg Fe significantly (p=0.05) improved the yield parameters of pearl millet and mustard followed by 5 kg ha-1 Zn and 10 kg ha-1 Fe as soil application. The results also indicated that combined soil application of 5 kg Zn+10 kg Fe +10 t FYM increased the pearl millet grain yield (36.6 q ha-1) and mustard seed yield (22.7 q ha-1) by 57.1% and 42.8% higher over control, however, yield improvement was 35.6 and 20.7 % due to application of 5 kg Zn+10 kg Fe without FYM, respectively, in pearl millet and mustard over control. Ferrous-iron content in both crops proved to be a better index of Fe nutrition status compared to total plant Fe and DTPA- extractable soil Fe under salt affected soils. Salt affected soils are having vast potential to produce a significant amount of food grain by applying optimum dose of Zn, Fe and FYM in pearl millet and mustard. Combined foliar application of Zn and Fe also increased the yields of pearl millet and mustard grown in saline soils. Ferrous iron (Fe2+) is better indicator for iron nutrition in crops

Modelling and Prediction of Soil Organic Carbon using Digital Soil Mapping in the Thar Desert Region of India

Not AvailableIn the present study, the distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) was investigated using digital soil mapping for an area of ~29 lakhs ha in Bikaner district, Rajasthan, India. To achieve this goal, 187 soil profiles were used for SOC estimation by Quantile regression forest (QRF) model technique. Landsat data, terrain attributes and bioclimatic variables were used as environmental variables. 10-fold cross-validation was used to evaluate model. Equal-area quadratic splines were fitted to soil profile datasets to estimate SOC at six standard soil depths (0-5, 5-15, 15-30, 30-60, 60-100 and 100-200 cm). Results showed that the mean SOC concentration was very low with values varied from 1.18 to 1.53 g kg-1 in different depths. While predicting SOC at different depths, the model was able to capture low variability (R2 = 1–7%). Overall, the Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) values ranged from 0.01 to 0.18, indicating poor agreement between the predicted and observed values. Root mean square error (RMSE) and mean error (ME) were 0.97 and 0.16, respectively. The values of prediction interval coverage probability (PICP) recorded 87.2–89.7% for SOC contents at different depths. The most important variables for predicting SOC concentration variations were the annual range of temperature, latitude, Landsat 8 bands 2, 5 and 6. Temperature-related variables and remote sensed data products are important for predicting SOC concentrations in arid regions. We anticipate that this digital information of SOC will be useful for frequent monitoring and assessment of carbon cycle in arid regions.Not Availabl

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362

Biennial Report (2006-2008) of AICRP on Management of Salt Affected Soils and Use of Saline Water in Agriculture

Indian Council of Agricultural Researc

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Not AvailableThe management of agricultural land to improve farm income in coastal degraded (waterlogged saline soil) areas is quite challenging due natural calamities. Under such fragile environment sustaining the livelihoods of these resources poor farmers become a real challenge both for technology developers as well as policy makers. In the coastal area the land shaping technique, particularly farm pond and paddy-cum fish models, are unique technology for addressing the key challenges like land degradation (salinity), drainage congestion and scarcity of fresh water for irrigation and in turn have the potential to enhancing production, productivity, income and employment. These techniques particularly farm pond, paddy-cum-fish, salt tolerant variety and agronomic practice are a financially viable and attractive proposition for the degraded lands of coastal ecosystem.ICA

All India Coordinated Research Project Management of Salt Affected Soils and Use of Saline Water in Agriculture

Compilation report by different AICRP center of 2006-2008This Biennial report contains the Research results for 2006-2008 carried out at coordinating unit and 8 research centers covering arid, semi-arid, irrigated, rain fed and coastal ecologies on alluvial, vertisols and coastal water logged saline/alkali soils. Site-specific technologies developed by the coordinating and cooperating centers are being applied not only in the states but even beyond the boundaries of the state where centers are located. The technology transfer programme through on-farm testing and Operational Research Projects have yielded rich dividends and provided good insight to the scientists since application of technologies under farmer’s endowment are much more difficult than at the research farms.ICA

Biennial Report (2010-12) of AICRP on Management of Salt Affected Soils and Use of Saline Water in Agriculture

Indian Council of Agricultural Researc

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Not AvailableAgriculture continues to be the most important sector of the Indian economy and agriculture is a more or less a compulsion for livelihood of million of farmers. Land and water resources have almost reached their limits, price of commodities are fluctuating almost every day, profit are negligible for most of the marginal and small farmers and most of all getting information is cumbersome. In Indian most of the population is dependent on agriculture so there is a need to review and revitalize the mechanism for updating the technology. Majority of the Indian farmers are small-scale producers and are often unable to access the information and technological resources that could increase the yield and lead to better prices for their crops and products. In order to tackle this problem the wide spread network of mobile phones came to the rescue. The mobile phone based solution helps in farm management, leading improvement in agricultural yield and helps in care/maintenance of the farms thus leading agriculture field to its zenith. In present day agriculture, soft resources like knowledge and skill are as important as hard resources like inputs, and sometime more important. But estimate indicate that 60% of farmers do not access any source of information for advanced agricultural technologies resulting in huge adoption gap. The requirement of field level extension personnel is estimated to be about 1.3-1.5 million against the present availability of about 0.1 million personnelNot Availabl

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Not AvailableApplication of Zinc and Fe with FYM or without management may be recommended for the quality seed production of mustard for yield sustainability economic profitability and regeneration of soil fertility. Zinc and iron enhance the cation-exchange capacity of the roots which in turn enhance the absorption of essential nutrients. Micro-nutrient fertilization is carefully prescribed for the successful quality seed production of mustard.ICA

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Not AvailableModern spectroscopic methods are complementary and where possible effort should be made to utilize combinations of these methods to confirm and enhance data pertaining to the chemical structure of soil organic materials. A better knowledge of the structural chemistry of soil organic matter (SOM) will help SOM chemists and other soil scientists to better understand the complex chemical and biochemical reactions that occur in soils and will enable them to develop practices that will improve soil management and soil productivity.Not Availabl