Sustaining Viability of Informal Millet Seed Systems

The main purpose of alternative seed delivery system is to address the seed availability problems of smallholder farmers. Most of the community-based seed production models /schemes are initiated because farmers are concerned about the non-availability of quality seed at planting time. Many farmers don't have access to improved varieties; and wouldn't be able to afford them even if they were. So introduction of alternative seed systems models must impact farmers' access to seeds of improved varieties at affordable cost. The quality of seed produced by communitybased system or farmer seed systems is guaranteed only by its seller or village seed committee, because they are not processed and are uncertified seed. The seed so produced is low priced, and available at farmers' doorsteps at the right time, and provides access to all farmer groups in the village..

Presence of Panagrolaimus sp. (Nematoda: Panagrolaimidae) in seeds of pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum (L.) Leeke)

During routine phytosanitary examination of pearl millet seeds at the Plant Quarantine Unit of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi- Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India, we discovered a common soil nematode belonging to the genus Panagrolaimus inside seeds of some of the breeding lines. To date Panagrolaimus spp. have been reported as free living microphagous nematodes, occurring in soil and fresh water (Goodey, 1963), as dyssaprobes (Paramonov, 1962) occurring in roots, stems and leaves also in spikelets (Baranovskaya, 1958) and in rice grains (Panwar & Rao, 1977). Some are endoparasites of insects (Poinar, 1972; Poinar & . Geetha Bai, 1979). This is the first record of a seedborne nematode in pearl millet seeds which is significant in plant quarantine terms

Seed Systems for Rainfed Agriculture: Village Based Seed Enterprise for Seed Production and Dissemination of Improved Varieties of Chickpea and Pigeonpea in India; Information Bulletin No. 96

The crops grown under rainfed agriculture are described as farming practices that rely on rainfall for crop production and their seed systems describe, how farmers in these regions are sourcing seeds for cultivating these crops. The objective of this publication is to share information and experiences of some success stories of seed value chain models developed for production and supply of improved varieties of seed of rainfed crops to resource poor farmers in the semi-arid tropical regions to enhance productivity. Majority of legume crop varieties grown under rainfed agriculture system are open pollinated varieties or self-pollinated crops especially, cereals and legumes grown in semi-arid tropics of the globe. The importance of rainfed agriculture varies regionally but produces high percentage of food for poor communities in the developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa more than 95% of the farmed land is rainfed, while the corresponding figure for Latin America is almost 90%, for South Asia it is about 60%, 65% for East Asia and 75% for the Near East and North Africa..

Developing Post Rainy Sorghum Seed System in India

The crops grown under rainfed agriculture are described as farming practices that rely on rainfall for crop production and their seed systems describe, how farmers in these regions are sourcing seed for cultivating these crops. The objective of this chapter is to share information, experiences and some success stories of seed value chain models developed for production and supply of improved varieties to resource poor farmers to enhance production of rainfed crops. Majority of crop varieties grown under rainfed agriculture system are open pollinated varieties or self-pollinated crops especially food crops, cereals and legumes grown in semi-arid tropics of the globe. The importance of rainfed agriculture varies regionally but produces most food for poor communities in developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa more than 95 per cent of the farmed land is rainfed, while the corresponding figure for Latin America is almost 90 per cent, for South Asia about 60 per cent, for East Asia 65 per cent and for the Near East and North Africa 75 per cent..

Sorghum improvement (1980–2010): Status and way forward

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is the fifth most important cereal crop globally and is the dietary staple of more than 500 million people in over 90 countries, primarily in the developing world (Reddy et al. 2010). With its C4 photosynthetic pathway, it is adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions. It has multiple uses as a food, feed, fodder, fuel and fiber crop (Paterson et al. 2009). More than 35 percent of world sorghum production is going for food consumption (Awika and Rooney 2004) by the poorest of the poor in the largely low-income deficit countries. Worldwide, it is grown on about 40 million ha, of which about 9 million ha are cultivated in Asia; of this the largest area is in India (7.53 milion ha) which has a production of 7.25 million t (FAOSTAT 2011)

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Innovative use of Sweet sorghum juice in the beverage industry. Int. Food Res

Abstract Sweet sorghum juice, obtained from low water consuming, drought resistant, short duration and seed-propagated sweet sorghum crop, was explored as a source to obtain syrup which can be used as sugar alternative for meeting certain requirements of the beverage industry. Value addition, through conversion of the juice to syrup and beverages, offers farmers an excellent opportunity to improve farm income and productivity in semi arid regions. In this study a new method to produce clarified sweet sorghum juice is demonstrated. The sweet sorghum juice was clarified using pre heating followed by vacuum filtration using a filter aid. The clarified juice was concentrated to syrup with acceptable sensory qualities. Flavoured beverage formulations were optimised using the clarified juice and syrup. Nutritional and sensory properties of the developed beverages showed that the samples were acceptable to the consumers and rated at par with a commercially available beverage. This work has immense industrial and social significance