Enhancing Mango Productivity through Sustainable Resource Management

Mango the “King of fruits” is the most important fruit crop in India and the area under mango is the largest among fruit crops (2,516 thousand ha) with a production of around 19.69 million tonnes. India ranks first in mango production in the world contributing 41% of the total world production of mango. Among Indian states, with a total output of 4.3 million MT, Uttar Pradesh stands first as mango producing state. (Fig.1).This is followed by Telangana (2.73 million MT), Karnataka (1.75 million MT) and Bihar (1.36 million MT). Particularly in India all stages of mango fruit are used starting from immature to over ripe stages. Mango has specific problem of alternate bearing leading many times to low yields or no yield

Genotype variations in biomass production and nutrient removal pattern in gladiolus raised from cormels

The present study was conducted at ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru, India during 2018-2019 to quantify resource use efficiency in 11 genotypes of gladiolus propagated through cormels based on growth, biomass partitioning and nutrient removal pattern. Growth and yield parameters differed significantly among genotypes. The leaf number was significantly higher in Arka Shobha (9.67) and Arka Manorama (9.00) than other genotypes (6.33-8.67). The spike length was higher in Arka Naveen (102.9 cm) and lesser in Arka Kumkum (66.2 cm). The pattern of biomass partitioning indicated that below ground biomass (corm) accounted for 71.5% of total biomass (3990 kg ha-1), while above ground biomass (leaf and spike) was 28.5% of total biomass (1137 kg ha-1). In gladiolus genotypes, the nutrient profile indicated that the accumulation of N was higher in corms followed by leaves and spikes. The accumulation of P (0.13-0.14%), Mn (29.8-43.5 mg kg-1), Zn (15.3-23.4 mg kg-1) and Cu (5.2-6.0 mg kg-1) was similar. Spikes accumulated higher K and Mg than leaves and corms. The accumulation of Ca was more in leaves (2.39%) followed by flower stalks (1.95 %). The average Fe concentration (mg kg-1) was more in corms (293) followed by leaves (269) and flower stalks (160). The average nutrient removal in genotypes was quantified at 122 kg N, 10.8 kg P and 71.7 kg K per ha per crop. The nutrient demand (g ha-1) of Fe was more (1062.4) than Mn (152.5), Zn (23.8) and Cu (23.0). The data implies that gladiolus is a heavy feeder of N and K. Nutrient removal of K and Fe influenced the biomass production with high degree of variability (Y =-541.858 + 24.097 Kuptake + 1.405 Feuptake R2=0.995). The present study gives scope for precision nutrient use by avoiding blanket recommendations

Cashew research in India

Cashew, after its introduction from Brazil during the 16th Century, has established very well in India. A total of 40 high-yielding varieties have been released so far by the Directorate of Cashew Research, Puttur, and various Agricultural Universities, for cultivation. Of these, 13 are hybrids and 27 are selections. Research achievements in the area of crop improvement, management, protection and post-harvest technology over the last six decades are reviewed and documented here. As India has been importing raw nuts to the tune of 6.5 lakh tons annually to cater the demand of established processing factories, research priorities have been identified to meet the challenges of enhancing production and productivity of cashew in the country

Zinc Status in the Soils of Karnataka and Response of Horticultural Crops to Zinc Application : A Meta-analysis

Zinc is considered as the fourth important yield limiting nutrient in India, after N, P, and K. From the regular soil analysis data, Indian soils (50%) are found to be deficient in Zn and the zinc deficiency is likely to increase in future. Areas with low soil available Zn are often regions with widespread zinc deficiency in humans. Zinc malnutrition and deficiency in human is alarming and is gaining attention in recent years. Application of zinc to soil and crops is one of the simple and easiest ways to mitigate or alleviate Zn deficiency in human. Moreover Zn uptake, its translocation and yield response of various crops to applied Zn are need to be focused for finding sustainable solutions to the problem of zinc deficiency in crops and humans. In this manuscript, importance of Zn to plants and human, Zn malnutrition problems in India and global level, soil Zn status of Karnataka, various factors that responsible for Zn deficiency in the soils of Karnataka and the response of various horticultural crops to Zn application in the region is discussed. Soil maps are believed to be an important tool to delineate and manage nutrient deficient areas. It also elaborates the effective Zn management strategies to improve crop productivity and farm income

Groundwater Decline and Prolonged Drought Could Reduce Vigour, Enhance Vulnerability to Diseases and Pests and Kill Perennial Horticultural Crops: Needs Urgent Policy Intervention

Perennial horticulture in India has undergone a change from rainfed system to drip fertigation systems and from isolated hedge and bund trees to high intensity orchard systems with enhanced number of trees per unit area. In several parts, particularly in the Deccan plateau, the system has now become completely dependent on water pumped from tube wells. Severe competition for water from tube wells makes farmers to devote more water for cash rich annual crops and even sell water for city dwellers nearby. As a consequence, the groundwater level in the past three decades has fallen from few feet to above thousand feet. At several places it has crossed the “peak water”. Frequent and prolonged exposure of fruit trees and nuts to drought coupled with ground water depletion has led to soil profile drying leading to reduced vigour and enhanced vulnerability to diseases and pests. This has led to withering of fruit and nut trees. Perennial crops are likely to become increasingly maladapted to their environment, particularly in the earlier period of climate change they are more likely to be attacked by diseases and insects. Coconuts, areca nuts and mango trees have died in several places and the government constituted committees have recommended compensation to the farmers. As a country, we have dramatically increased our reliance on groundwater. 175 million Indians are now fed with food produced with the unsustainable use of groundwater. This increase has dried up rivers and lakes, because there is a hydrologic connection between groundwater and surface water. Yet the legal rules governing water use usually ignore the link between law and science. The issue needs thorough examination and needs policy interventions to come out of this vicious circle

Thermal photons from fluctuating initial conditions

Event-by-event fluctuations of initial QCD-matter density produced in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC enhance the production of thermal photons significantly in the region $2 \le p_T \le 4$ GeV/$c$ compared to a smooth initial-state averaged profile in the ideal hydrodynamic calculation. This enhancement is a an early time effect due to the presence of hotspots or over-dense regions in the fluctuating initial state. The effect of fluctuations is found to be stronger in peripheral than in central collisions.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Talk given at Quark Matter 2011, 22-28 May 2011, Annecy, Franc

FEASIBILITY OF SUBSTITUTING COCOPEAT WITH RICE HUSK AND SAW DUST COMPOST AS A NURSERY MEDIUM FOR GROWING VEGETABLE SEEDLINGS

Not AvailableThe present study reports the feasibility of partial substitution of coir dust in cocopeat production with sawdust and rice husk as a nursery media. Compost was produced by mixing different ratios of raw coir dust, saw dust and rice husk following ICAR-IIHR protocol. The chemical analysis of compost samples showed that among different treatments, substitution with 25% rice husk i.e.,T5 (75% Raw coir dust + 25% Rice husk) recorded lowest C/N ratio (37.13), phenols and tannins (155 mg/100gm) at 30 days of composting. Further the effect of these composts were studied on germination and survival rate of tomato, chilli, cabbage, cauliflower and brinjal crops along with the application of 5% soil less mycorrhiza in pro trays. The highest germination percentage and seedlings survival were observed in T5 (75% Raw coir dust + 25% Rice husk) in all the vegetables. The study showed that substitution with 25% rice husk produced the best compost for nursery media and produced intact plugs of seedlings of different vegetables compared to other treatmentsNot Availabl

Small bowel obstruction complicating colonoscopy: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>This report describes a rare complication of colonoscopy and reviews the literature with regard to other rare causes of acute abdominal presentations following colonoscopy.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>After a therapeutic colonoscopy a 60-year-old woman developed an acute abdomen. At laparotomy she was discovered to have small bowel obstruction secondary to incarceration through a congenital band adhesion.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although there is no practical way in which such rare complications can be predicted, this case report emphasises the wide array of pathologies that can result in acute abdominal symptoms following colonoscopy.</p

Quantifying the impact of climate change on drought regimes using the Standardised Precipitation Index

The study presents a methodology to characterise short- or long-term drought events, designed to aid understanding of how climate change may affect future risk. An indicator of drought magnitude, combining parameters of duration, spatial extent and intensity, is presented based on the Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI). The SPI is applied to observed (1955–2003) and projected (2003–2050) precipitation data from the Community Integrated Assessment System (CIAS). Potential consequences of climate change on drought regimes in Australia, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Spain, Portugal and the USA are quantified. Uncertainty is assessed by emulating a range of global circulation models to project climate change. Further uncertainty is addressed through the use of a high-emission scenario and a low stabilisation scenario representing a stringent mitigation policy. Climate change was shown to have a larger effect on the duration and magnitude of long-term droughts, and Australia, Brazil, Spain, Portugal and the USA were highlighted as being particularly vulnerable to multi-year drought events, with the potential for drought magnitude to exceed historical experience. The study highlights the characteristics of drought which may be more sensitive under climate change. For example, on average, short-term droughts in the USA do not become more intense but are projected to increase in duration. Importantly, the stringent mitigation scenario had limited effect on drought regimes in the first half of the twenty-first century, showing that adaptation to drought risk will be vital in these regions

Influence of Different Landuse Management on Soil Biological Properties and other C Fractions under Semi-Arid Benchmark Soils of India: Global Theme on Agroecosystems Report no. 41

Fifty two pedons spread over 28 benchmark spots of Vertisols and Alfisols were studied for soil biological properties and other C fractions (soil microbial biomass c, soil respiration dehydrogenase activity, soil microbial biomass N, mineralizable N, water soluble C and soluble carbohydrates, water stable aggregates, water stable aggregates C, humic and fulvic acid C, etc.) in different systems viz., agricultural, horticultural, forest and wasteland. The agricultural system represents dominant crops namely cereals, soybean and cotton. The horticultural system represents mandarins. The forest systems represent teak and sal. The selections of benchmark spots were limited to a mean annual rainfall range from 1448 to 520 mm in semi-arid tropics. The present experiment was conducted under various bio-climatic condition such as sub-humid moist (>1200 mm), sub-humid dry (1200-100 mm), semiarid dry (1000-850mm), semi-arid moist (850-550 mm) and arid (<550 mm). The active pools of SMBC comprised 3.2 to 5.6 % of SOC in Vertisols and 1.2 to 5.7 % of SOC in Alfisols. WSC comprised 0.80 to14.1 % of SOC in Vertisols and 1.5 to 4.9 % of SOC in Alfisols. WSCarbohydrates comprised 15-40.3 % of SOC in Vertisols and 10.5 to 25 % of SOC in Alfisols. In sub-humid moist regions, the SMBC content followed the order: forest (teak)> soybean-wheat>paddy-wheat>cotton (HM). In sub-humid dry regions of Vertisols, the SMBC was maximum under horticultural system (citrus), followed by intercropping (cotton + pigeonpea) and mango-orchard. In semi-arid moist regions, SMBC and SR were higher under intercropping system (soybean+ pigeon pea) compared to soybean –gram system. The soil biological activity in terms of SMBC, SMBN can be improved with concomitant increase of water-soluble carbon and carbohydrates by better management practices. Among field crops, legume-based intercropping system (soybean + pigeonpea and greengram + pigeonpea) restored higher amount of SOC, SMBC compared to double crop in rotation (soybean-wheat/paddy-paddy cropping system). Among the horticultural-based cropping systems, citrus with high management has better SOC restoration compared to mango orchard. Cotton-based cropping system either as intercropping or sequential cropping registered least improvement of SOC storage. In Vertisols, the percentage of water stable aggregates and concentration of carbon in WSA was higher than Alfisols. Water stable aggregates, carbon concentration increased with decrease in size class. By and large, the maximum concentration of SOC in the water stable aggregates was observed in <0.1 mm size aggregates. In 0-30 cm soil depth, passive fraction of HA-C was relatively higher than FA-C in surface whereas FA-C increased with soil depth. The percent variations in passive fractions among different cropping systems were not pronounced as compared to active and slow pool of C