Quaternary tectonic control on channel morphology over sedimentary low land: A case study in the Ajay-Damodar interfluve of Eastern India

AbstractThe style of active tectonic on the deformation and characterization of fluvial landscape has been investigated on three typical skrike-slip fault zones of the Ajay-Damodar Interfluve (ADI) in Eastern India through field mapping, structural analysis and examination of digital topography (ASTER-30 m), multi-spectral imageries, and Google Earth images. Channel morphology in Quaternary sediment is more deformed than Cenozoic lateritic tract and igneous rock system by the neotectonic activities. The structural and lithological controls on the river system in ADI region are reflected by distinct drainage patterns, abrupt change in flow direction, offset river channels, straight river lines, ponded river channel, marshy lands, sag ponds, palaeo-channels, alluvial fans, meander cutoffs, multi-terrace river valley, incised compressed meander, convexity of channel bed slope and knick points in longitudinal profile. Seven morphotectonic indices have been used to infer the role of neotectonic on the modification of channel morphology. A tectonic index map for the ADI region has been prepared by the integration of used morphotectonic indices, which is also calibrated by Bouguer gravity anomaly data and field investigation

Effect of land cover on channel form adjustment of headwater streams in a lateritic belt of West Bengal (India)

AbstractPresent work is exploring the influence of land cover on channel morphology in 34 headwater catchments of the lateritic belt of West Bengal. Non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis) and multivariate analysis (Principal Component Analysis and Canonical Discriminant Function models) have successfully differentiated the performance of land cover on channel morphology adjustment among the three groups of headwater streams (forested, transitional, and agricultural) on the Kunur River Basin (KRB). Spatial Interpolation Techniques reveal that intense land-use change, particularly forest conversion to agricultural land, is significantly increasing channel widths (269%) and cross-section area (78%), whereas agricultural channels become shallower (40%) than would be predicted from forested streams. Catchments with the dominance of forest and agricultural land are classified as ‘C′ and ‘B′ types of streams respectively, as per Rosgen's Stream Classification Model. Finally, the work claimed that transitional stream group is the definitive area to exaggerate the river restoration plan to stabilize the anthropogenic deformation on channel morphology

Assessment of knowledge and practices of ASHA workers related to maternal-child health and their performance affecting factors: a mixed method study in Deganga block, North 24 parganas district, West Bengal, India

Background: ASHA acts as a ‘bridge’ between the rural people and health service outlets and plays a central role in achieving national health and population policy goal. ASHAs form the backbone of the NRHM. They need to provide preventive, promotive and curative health facilities in the rural community. Maternal and child health is an important public health issue which indicates level of socio-economic development in each and every country. ASHA workers are the main front-line workers in primary health care delivery system who are expected to work in this domain to bring out betterment in RCH indicators.Method: It was a mixed method study. Quantitative portion was descriptive, cross-sectional and qualitative part was focus group discussion (FGD). The study had been conducted in one block (Deganga block) of North 24 parganas district of West Bengal which was previous to selected purposively for the study. All ASHAs of Deganga block and one beneficiary mother (mother who had a baby of less than 1 year) for each ASHA from her area of work had been included as study population. ASHA- Beneficiary dyad had been interviewed with a predesigned pretested questionnaire after taking informed consent.Result: More than half of the study population (64.7% and 50.5 %) had overall good knowledge and practice score related to maternal-child health and family planning respectively, though they had poor knowledge in updated dosage schedule of iron folic acid tablets, proper attachment techniques for successful breast feeding, missed doses of OCP, ECP, IUCD and safe period. They performed less efficiently in areas like counselling about harmful effects of addiction during pregnancy, birth preparedness and complication readiness, colostrum feeding, weaning, ECP and MTP. Mainly inadequate remuneration and lack of job satisfaction were the factors hindering their performance.Conclusion: Frequent refresher courses, regular monitoring and supportive supervisions by respective higher authority, administrative steps for combating their dissatisfaction are of utmost importance to improve their performance

Genetic variability and character association studies for quality attributing traits in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Twenty rice genotypes were evaluated for quality attributing traits in the agricultural farm of Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, Cooch Behar, in terai region of West Bengal. The study was conducted in two different environments pre-kharif and kharif seasons during 2017-18. Statistical analysis was performed for the assessment of genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), phenotypic coefficient variation (PCV), broad sense heritability and genetic advance as percentage of the mean (GAM) for the quality attributing traits viz., kernel length, kernel breadth, l:b ratio of the kernel, kernel length after cooking, kernel breadth after cooking, amylose content, l:b ratio of the cooked kernel and linear elongation ratio. Analysis of variance, GCV and PCV revealed significant variation for different characters under study. Except for kernel length and kernel length after cooking all the characters under study showed high heritability coupled with high GAM. The genotypic correlation study revealed that the l:b ratio of the cooked kernel had a significant positive correlation with linear elongation ratio (LER), while kernel breadth after cooking had a significant negative correlation with LER. Path analysis study revealed that among all the characters, l:b ratio of cooked kernel showed a significant positive correlation with LER and kernel breadth after cooking showed a significant negative correlation with LER. Among the set of 20 genotypes, three were identified as medium slender, seven had medium grain, seven with short medium type and three had short slender grain. Three genotypes namely, Phougak, Phaourin Nakuppi and Chakhao Sempak were found with aroma

Conventional and new-breeding technologies for improving disease resistance in lentil (Lens culinaris Medik)

Lentil, an important cool season food legume, is a rich source of easily digestible protein, folic acid, bio-available iron, and zinc nutrients. Lentil grows mainly as a sole crop in the winter after harvesting rice in South Asia. However, the annual productivity is low due to its slow growth during the early phase, competitive weed infestation, and disease outbreaks during the crop growth period. Disease resistance breeding has been practiced for a long time to enhance resistance to various diseases. Often the sources of resistance are available in wild crop relatives. Thus, wide hybridization and the ovule rescue technique have helped to introgress the resistance trait into cultivated lentils. Besides hybridization, induced mutagenesis contributed immensely in creating variability for disease tolerance, and several disease-resistant mutant lines have been developed. However, to overcome the limitations of traditional breeding approaches, advancement in molecular marker technologies, and genomics has helped to develop disease-resistant and climate-resilient lentil varieties with more precision and efficiency. This review describes types of diseases, disease screening methods, the role of conventional and new breeding technologies in alleviating disease-incurred damage and progress toward making lentil varieties more resilient to disease outbreaks under the shadow of climate change

Ex situ conservation and qualitative characterization of traditional cultivars of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

168-179Genetic diversity of rice cultivars offers adequate opportunity for added advantage for rice improvement. Current study with 132 traditional rice cultivars had been collected from West Bengal, Manipur and Assam. Those cultivars are being preserved at repository of Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya since 2009. Few of them had used in breeding programme to develop new desirable variety with unique characteristics. Those traditional cultivars were phenotypically characterized using PPV&FRA descriptor. In this piece of work, 44 traits were considered to record the morphological differences among the traditional cultivars. All the traditional cultivars showed one or few distinctive features that made different from each other. Finally the traditional cultivars were classified based few anticipated distinctive characters. Amylose content in endosperm was very low in ten, low in twelve, medium in 61 and high in 49 traditional cultivars. Amylose content of milled rice is a significant parameter in respect of consumer preference. Under Indian context, consumers prefer rice with medium amylose content (20-25%) in the endosperm. Strong aroma was emitted by 25, mild aroma by 23 and no aroma in 84 cultivar

Evaluation of mustard genotypes [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern and Coss] for quantitative traits and character association of seed yield and yield components at sub Himalayan region of West Bengal (India)

Brassica juncea is an important industrial and commercial oilseed crop grown primarily in India. This study aimed to assess 56 genotypes of Indian mustard to quantify genetic diversity, which aids the breeder in identifying genetically divergent parents to evaluate the proportional contributions of various components towards overall divergence. All the 56 Indian mustard genotypes were tested in RBD with three replications for 2 consecutive years i.e. 2016-17 and 2017-18 during the rabi season. Observations were recorded for 11 yield and its attributing traits. The findings revealed that height up to first branching, aphid count, penetration force and seed yield per plant had maximum PCV and GCV signifying that genetic factors have a greater impact on the inflow of these traits. Height up to first branching, secondary branches per plant, primary branches per plant, siliquae per plant, aphid count and 1000 seed weight had strong heritability combined with GA as % of mean. These indicate that the traits were controlled by additive gene action. Seed yield per plant was significantly correlated with penetration force and siliquae per plant. As a result, it's reasonable to predict that improving these traits by selection, could lead to significant yield gains. Four of the eleven PCs had eigen values greater than 1.0, accounting for 69.94% of the variance. PC I, which explained 30.31% of the overall variance. Mahalanobis D2 statistics revealed considerable genetic diversity among the genotypes. 56 genotypes were distributed into 7 clusters. This is anticipated that genotypes within a cluster are almost genetically related to one another. Cluster VII and II showed maximum inter-cluster divergence. From a breeding perspective, a divergence analysis revealed that genotypes like SKJM-05, RNWR-09-3, RW-351, B-85, DRMR-4001, RGN-386, TM52 276 and SKM-1313 can be selected as genetically divergent parents for hybridization to obtain desirable segregants

A Microsatellite Guided Insight into the Genetic Status of Adi, an Isolated Hunting-Gathering Tribe of Northeast India

Tibeto-Burman populations of India provide an insight into the peopling of India and aid in understanding their genetic relationship with populations of East, South and Southeast Asia. The study investigates the genetic status of one such Tibeto-Burman group, Adi of Arunachal Pradesh based on 15 autosomal microsatellite markers. Further the study examines, based on 9 common microsatellite loci, the genetic relationship of Adi with 16 other Tibeto-Burman speakers of India and 28 neighboring populations of East and Southeast Asia. Overall, the results support the recent formation of the Adi sub-tribes from a putative ancestral group and reveal that geographic contiguity is a major influencing factor of the genetic affinity among the Tibeto-Burman populations of India

Impact of linear transport infrastructure on fluvial connectivity across the catchments of West Bengal, India

Floodplain corridors contain ∼21% of the total land area of West Bengal and hold alignment of ∼44% road and ∼26% railway networks of the state. Therefore, understanding of potential interactions between transport infrastructure and river systems is essential for river basin management in general and understanding the longitudinal and lateral (dis)connectivity across the twenty catchments of WB in particular. Freely available GIS data has been used for future river and floodplain management and policy making using multiple spatial analytical tools. The study finds ∼21% of the floodplain area is laterally disconnected from rivers, which could be raised by 260% after considering riverside artificial embankment. About 40% of state’s land area comes within one kilometre proximal distance between river and transport networks and ∼13% of transport networks are at risk of waterlogged during a flood. This study has recommended a river friendly comprehensive plan for transport network development in the future