Texasweed (Caperonia palustris (L.) St. Hil.) interference and management in drill-seeded rice

Field research was conducted from 2006 to 2009 to study Texasweed [Caperonia palustris (L.) St. Hil.] interference and management in Cocodrie rice. Texasweed interference at 10 plants/m2 caused 24 to 31% rice yield reduction. The maximum possible yield loss was estimated to be 81%. Rice yield reduction was primarily due to a reduction in culms/m2 and filled grains per panicle. For maximum yield, Texasweed must be removed by two weeks after emergence and managed until permanent flood establishment. Shade had no effect on Texasweed emergence but significantly reduced growth and reproduction. At 100 days after emergence, 50, 70, and 90% shade reduced dry matter per plant by 31, 47, and 90%, respectively. Texasweed height increased with increasing shade up to 70% and then decreased. After 28 DAI, Texasweed height in 70% shade increased 15 to 21% compared with 0% shade. Texasweed seemed to mitigate the adverse effect of shade on growth by increasing specific leaf area and leaf biomass. In a flood depth study, Texasweed plants were able to survive and produce seeds in flood depths up to 30 cm; however, growth and fruit production were reduced. A 76 and 41% reduction in total dry matter per plant was recorded for Texasweed flooded at two- to three-leaf and four- to five-leaf stage, respectively. Increasing flood depths resulted in an increase in plant height and greater biomass allocation to the stem. Texasweed plants produced adventitious roots and a thick spongy tissue, secondary aerenchyma, in the submerged roots and stem, which may play a role in its survival under flooded conditions. For Texasweed control, bensulfuron-methyl interacted synergistically with both penoxsulam and bispyribac-sodium. Bensulfuron-methyl, therefore, can be mixed with either penoxsulam or bispyribac-sodium to improve Texasweed control. V-10142 provided excellent PRE and EPOST activity on Texasweed. V-10142 at 224 g ai/ha by itself, applied to four- to five- leaf Texasweed, was not effective but improved Texasweed control when mixed with bispyribac-sodium at 29 g ai/ha or penoxsulam at 40 g ai/ha

E-governance for small and medium enterprises

Computing, Information Technology and Web-based Technology have become an integral part of the modern day society. They have brought about a revolution in the way different human endeavours are undertaken. Who had imagined that millions of tiny businesses owned and managed by individuals for earning their day to day living (such as small shop keepers, hawkers, small vendors, collies, helpers, small transport operators, household servants amongst many others who are an integral part of every society in the world) would be using mobile phones, tiny devices for communication, playing music, watching videos, internet, record keeping, banking and making business transactions using internet and web based systems? It appears that the pervasive computing has entered the psyche of people and absence of those tiny devices will leave them almost helpless and may even render them ineffective. Is this the right trend? Has technology determinism become a reality, much to the discomfort of those free-minded people who believe that human beings create technologies and hence can control the way their own life can be influenced by them? Is e-governance an issue only for government organisations and other large entities who are driven by set rules and regulations or is this going to find a place in these tiny, small and medium enterprises (for convenience referred to as SMES) also? If the later come out to be true, how it might affect the nature of theses enterprisers and will they be subject to the influence of technology determinism in the same way as almost all other large organisations are? This paper examines some of these questions and also provides a framework of continual innovation that can lead e-governance to succeed in identifying key innovative strategies for the SMEs and providing more than expected services in a cost effective and efficient way to the stakeholders

The Availability of Essential Antimicrobials in Public and Private Sector Facilities: A Cross-Sectional Survey in a District of North India

(1) Background: There is a need to assess the availability of essential antimicrobials, as the availability of an antimicrobial is a critical element of its rational use. We aimed to assess the availability of antimicrobials listed in the National List of Essential Medicines 2015, India (primary list), and a selected (secondary) list comprised of agents indicated for commonly encountered infectious illnesses in various healthcare settings and to identify the reasons for their non-availability. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 25 public, private, and other sector pharmacies was carried out in Rohtak, a district of the North Indian state of Haryana, from April to June 2022. (3) Results: Most of the antimicrobials surveyed were optimally available in various sector pharmacies with the exception of benzathine benzylpenicillin, benzylpenicillin, cloxacillin, cefazolin, cefuroxime, cefadroxil, amphotericin B, and antimalarials. The most frequent reasons for limited availability were low demand, no prescriptions, and the non-listing of drugs in the state’s essential medicine list. (4) Conclusions: Enough evidence needs to be generated with respect to the status of availability of essential antimicrobials from different regions of India as well as other lower-middle-income countries to devise measures for ascertaining better availability of these agents, especially antibiotics at regional, national, and global scales

Weed management using crop competition in the United States: a review

Exploiting the competitive ability of crops is essential to develop cost-effective and sustainable weed management practices. Reduced row spacing, increased seeding rates, and selection of competitive cultivars can potentially manage crop-weed competition in cotton, soybean, wheat, and corn. These cultural weed management practices facilitate a more rapid development of crop canopy that adversely affect the emergence, density, growth, biomass, and subsequently the seed production of weeds during a growing season. These cultural practices can also favour the weed suppressive ability of the crop by influencing the canopy architecture traits (plant height, canopy density, leaf area index, rate of leaf area development, and leaf distribution). These crop-competition attributes can potentially reduce the risk of crop yield losses due to interference from weed cohorts that escape an early- or a late-season post-emergence herbicide application. Furthermore, reduced row spacing, increased seeding rates, and weed-competitive cultivars are effective in reducing reliance on a single site-of-action herbicides, thereby reducing the selection pressure for development of herbicide-resistant weed populations in a cropping system

Natural farming: Is it safe to march ahead?

Due to the increasing global population, advancement in farming techniques to meet the global food demand is the need of the hour. Conventional farming techniques have increased the yield over the past few decades, but those techniques also have adverse effects on natural resources. In this scenario, many other alternatives have emerged as a solution, natural farming being one among them. The presented article delivers crucial information regarding the targeted farming technique i.e., natural farming. Multiple scientifically-proven natural techniques and ecological approaches are discussed for different aspects of farming. In addition, criticisms related to Natural Farming are illustrated along with a basic introduction to zero budget natural farming (ZBNF). Furthermore, the article describes multiple proven technologies for weed, pest and disease management approaches through natural practices. Lastly, the article gives recommendations on implementing and introducing natural farming to the farming community

Seed Germination Ecology of Chenopodium album and Chenopodium murale

Chenopodium album L. and Chenopodium murale L. are two principal weed species, causing substantial damage to numerous winter crops across the globe. For sustainable and resource-efficient management strategies, it is important to understand weeds’ germination behaviour under diverse conditions. For the germination investigations, seeds of both species were incubated for 15 days under different temperatures (10–30 °C), salinity (0–260 mM NaCl), osmotic stress (0–1 MPa), pH (4–10), and heating magnitudes (50–200 °C). The results indicate that the germination rates of C. album and C. murale were 54–95% and 63–97%, respectively, under a temperature range of 10 to 30 °C. The salinity levels for a 50% reduction in the maximum germination (GR50) for C. album and C. murale were 139.9 and 146.3 mM NaCl, respectively. Regarding osmotic stress levels, the GR50 values for C. album and C. murale were 0.44 and 0.43 MPa, respectively. The two species showed >95% germination with exposure to an initial temperature of 75 °C for 5 min; however, seeds exposed to 100 °C and higher temperatures did not show any germination. Furthermore, a drastic reduction in germination was observed when the pH was less than 6.0 and greater than 8.0. The study generated information on the germination biology of two major weed species under diverse ecological scenarios, which may be useful in developing efficient weed management tactics for similar species in future agri-food systems

Short impact on soil microbiome of a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens QST713 based product that correlates with higher potato yield across USA

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is considered one of the most widely consumed crops worldwide, due to its high yield and nutritional profile, climate change-related environmental threats and increasing food demand. This scenario highlights the need of sustainable agricultural practices to enhance potato productivity, while preserving and maintaining soil health. Plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) stimulate crop production through biofertilization mechanisms with low environmental impact. For instance, PGPB promote biological nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, production of phytohormones, and biocontrol processes. Hence, these microbes provide a promising solution for more productive and sustainable agriculture. In this study, the effects of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens QST713 based-product (MINUET™, Bayer) were assessed in terms of yield, soil microbiome, potato peel and petiole nutrient profile as a promising PGPB in a wide range of potato cultivars across the United States of America. Depending on the location, potato yield and boron petiole content increased after biostimulant inoculation to maximum of 24% and 14%, respectively. Similarly, nutrient profile in potato peel was greatly improved depending on the location with a maximum of 73%, 62% and 36% for manganese, zinc and phosphorus. Notably, fungal composition was shifted in the treated group. Yield showed strong associations with specific microbial taxa, such as Pseudoarthrobacter, Ammoniphilus, Ideonella, Candidatus Berkiella, Dongia. Moreover, local networks strongly associated with yield, highlighting the important role of the native soil microbiome structure in indirectly maintaining soil health. Our results showed that treatment with B. amyloliquefaciens based product correlated with enhanced yield, with minor impacts on the soil microbiome diversity. Further studies are suggested to disentangle the underlying mechanisms of identified patterns and associations