82,745 research outputs found
Impact of Organic Farming on Yield and Quality of BASMATI Rice and Soil Properties
The management of soil organic matter is critical to maintain a productive organic farming system. No one source of nutrient usually suffices to maintain productivity and quality control in organic system. In addition, the inputs to supplement nutrient avail-ability are often not uniform presenting additional challenges in meeting the nutrient requirement of crops in organic systems. With this concept, a field experiment was conducted at the research farm of Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India during 2003-06 in rice-wheat-green gram cropping system. In this experiment, different treatments comprising organic amendments such as Blue Green Algae (BGA) 15kg/ha, Azolla 1.0 tonne/ha, Vermicompost and Farm Yard Manure (FYM) 5.0 tonne/ha each applied alone or in combination were tested in organic crop production. These treatments were compared with absolute control (N0P0K0) and recommended dose of chemical fertilizer (N80P40K40). In wheat crop Azotobacter replaced Azolla, but other treatments remained same. For rice, a scented variety ‘Pusa Basmati 1’ and for wheat and green gram HYVs were taken. Biomass of green gram was incorporated in soil after picking of pods and wheat was sown using zero tillage practice. The obser-vations on grain yield, contents of Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu in rice grains, insect pest inci-dence, soil nutrients and microbial activity were taken.
Results revealed a significant enhancement in grain yield of rice over absolute control due to the application of different organic amendments applied alone or in combina-tions. Rice grain yield increased by 114 to 116.8% over absolute control when all the 4 organic amendments were applied altogether. The rice grain yield (4.0 t ha-1) obtained under combined application of four organic amendments was at par with the yield recorded under recommended dose of chemical fertilizer application. An interesting observation recorded was that there was no serious attack of any insect pest or dis-ease in organically grown crop. Soil microbial population (Actinomycetes, Bacteria, Fungi and BGA) enhanced due to the application of organic amendments in compari-son to absolute control as well as recommended fertilizer application that in turn re-sulted in a notable enhancement in soil dehydrogenase and phosphatase enzyme activity. Soil organic carbon and available phosphorus contents were also found to be significantly increased due to organic farming practice over control as well as chemical fertilizer application.
Rice grain analysis for nutrients viz. Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu showed a significant increase in Fe and Mn content in the treatments having 2 or more organic amendments over control. Zn and Cu content also increased but the increment was significant with combined application of 3 or 4 organic amendments.
The study revealed that addition of four organic amendments viz. BGA, Azolla, FYM and Vermicompost could give the optimum yield (4.05 t/ha) of organic Basmati rice and improve grain and soil quality
Transverse Momentum Distribution and Elliptic Flow of Charged Hadrons in + collisions at GeV using HYDJET++
Recent experimental observations of the charged hadron properties in
collisions at GeV contradict many of the theoretical models of particle
production including two-component Monte Carlo Glauber model. The experimental
results show a small correlation between the charged hadron properties and the
initial geometrical configurations (e.g. body-body, tip-tip etc.) of
collisions. In this article, we have modified the Monte Carlo HYDJET++ model to
study the charged hadron production in collisions at GeV
center-of-mass energy in tip-tip and body-body initial configurations. We have
modified the hard as well as soft production processes to make this model
suitable for collisions. We have calculated the pseudorapidity
distribution, transverse momentum distribution and elliptic flow distribution
of charged hadrons with different control parameters in various geometrical
configurations possible for collision. We find that HYDJET++ model
supports a small correlation between the various properties of charged hadrons
and the initial geometrical configurations of collision. Further, the
results obtained in modified HYDJET++ model regarding and
elliptic flow () suitably matches with the experimental data of
collisions in minimum bias configuration.Comment: 29 pages, 25 figures. Accepted for Publication in EPJ
Influence of extrusion conditions on the colour of millet-legume extrudates using digital imagery
peer-reviewedColour acts as one of the triggers for acceptance of snack foods. Digital imaging in
conjunction with Adobe Photoshop can help identification of variations in the colour of
extruded products. Response surface methodology-based central composite rotatable
designed experiments were conducted to understand the colour components and overall
acceptability (OAA) of extruded snacks made from millet–legume blends, 12–28%
legume, at different moisture content (MC) of 12–24% wet basis (w.b.), extruded at
varying die head temperatures (DHT) from 160–200 °C, barrel temperatures from
100–140 °C and screw speeds of 100–140 rpm. A simple digital camera was used for
capturing the images of the extrudates. An L*a*b* colour model (where L* is the black/
white element, a* is green/red and b* is blue/yellow) was used for colour characterisation
and OAA was determined by a hedonic scale. It was inferred from the analysis of
the resulting statistically valid second order models for the responses that all the colour
components were significantly affected by the amount of legume in the extruder feed
and by the DHT. It was also observed that DHT, synergistically with other processing
parameters, had a significant effect on all the responses. The OAA was highest for the
extrudates with higher L* values. Optimum processing conditions were derived while
the responses adhered to constraints. The responses of the extrudates prepared under
optimum conditions exhibited no significant variation from model predicted values
‘So people know I'm a Sikh’: Narratives of Sikh masculinities in contemporary Britain
This article examines British-born Sikh men's identification to Sikhism. In particular, it focuses on the appropriation and use of Sikh symbols amongst men who define themselves as Sikh. This article suggests that whilst there are multiple ways of ‘being’ a Sikh man in contemporary post-colonial Britain, and marking belonging to the Sikh faith, there is also a collectively understood idea of what an ‘ideal’ Sikh man should be. Drawing upon Connell and Messerschmidt's discussion of locally specific hegemonic masculinities (2005. “Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept.” Gender and Society 19 (6): 829–859), it is suggested that an ideal Sikh masculine identity is partly informed by a Khalsa discourse, which informs a particular performance of Sikh male identity, whilst also encouraging the surveillance of young men's activities both by themselves and by others. These Sikh masculinities are complex and multiple, rotating to reaffirm, challenge and redefine contextualised notions of hegemonic masculinity within the Sikh diaspora in post-colonial Britain. Such localised Sikh masculinities may both assert male privilege and reap patriarchal dividends (Connell, W. 1995. Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity Press), resulting in particular British Sikh hegemonic masculinities which seek to shape the performance of masculinity, yet in another context these very same performances of masculinity may also signify a more marginalised masculinity vis-à-vis other dominant hegemonic forms
Cosmic Evolution in Generalised Brans-Dicke Theory
We have studied the Generalised Brans-Dicke theory and obtained exact
solutions of a(t),phi(t),and omega(t) for different epochs of the cosmic
evolution .We discuss how inflation,decceleration,cosmic acceleration can
result from this solution.The time variation of G(t) is also examined.Comment: 12 pages, no figure
- …