Farmer’s participatory research thirty-four years of Operational Research Project on dryland agriculture(1984-2018)

Not AvailableOperational Research Project on Dryland Agriculture was initiated at Ananthapuramu under All India Coordinated Research Project for Dryland Agriculture under ICAR and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to meet the dryland research needs on farmers’ participatory approach in Scarce Rainfall Zone of Andhra Pradesh and similar land topography rainfall and other natural resources in the country. The research experiences are documented as “Farmers’ Participatory Research-Three Decades of Operational Research Project onDrylandAgriculture (1984-2018)”. This book contains enormous analysis and feedback and research finding of ORP on DrylandAgriculture over three decades in different watersheds. We are sure that the book will be of immense use of extension scientists, students and agriculture and allied department staff working in DrylandAgriculture and watershed management. The authors express their profound gratitude to Dr.V.Damodara Naidu, Honb’le Vice Chancellor, Dr.N.V.Naidu, Director of Research, ANGRAU, Lam,Guntur and Dr.M.Subba Rao, Associate Director of Research, RARS, Nandyal for their encouragement, valuable guidance in bringing out this publication. The team owe sincere gratitude to Dr.G.Ravindra Chary, Project Coordinator and Director(Acting), Dr. K.A. Gopinath, Principal Scientist (Agronomy), AICRP for Dryland Agriculture and team at CRIDA, Hyderabad, Dr.T.Yellamanda Reddy, Former Dean of Agriculture , ANGRAU, and Dr.G.Maruthi Shankar , Principal Scientist (Statistics) Rtd., CRIDA, Hyderabad for their valuable suggestions and financial support enabled to prepare the publication. The team thanks are due to former Chief Scientists, Scientists, Research Associates and Supporting Staff of AICRPDA, both ORP centre and main centre, for their contribution in the preparation of the book .Not Availabl

Achievements of Soil Research in Dryland Regions of Andhra Pradesh

Not AvailableThe global rainfed crop lands were estimated at 1.132 billion hectares at the end of the last millennium. This is 2.78 times the net irrigated areas (407 m ha) of the world. Rainfed agro-ecosystems occupy a considerable place in Indian agriculture too, covering 80 million ha, in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid climatic zones; constituting nearly 58% of the net cultivated area. Rainfed regions support 60% of livestock, 40% of human population and contribute 40% of food grains and several special attribute commodities. Rainfed agro ecologies are complex, diverse, fragile, risky, under invested and require regionally differentiated investments and management strategies. Achieving high production potential is difficult in these rainfed areas due to vagaries of rainfall.Not Availabl

Low-cost interventions for big impacts in dryland production systems

A study at selected action sites in semi-arid region of Andhra Pradesh, India, showed widespread land degradation due to low levels of soil organic carbon (78% of fields) and deficiencies of available nutrients like phosphorus (34%), sulfur (93%), calcium (33%), zinc (84%), boron (73%), and copper (33%). Soil test-based addition of deficient micro- and macronutrients increased food grain production by 30–40% and straw (which is used as fodder) production by 10–30%. Micro-watershed scale low-cost cement-lined farm-ponds at smallholder farm level proved a scalable technology for drought-proofing of crops resulting into additional crop yield by more than 30% during 2015. Augmentation of water sources also facilitated farmers’ to successfully diversify the production system. Shared machinery resources improved the operational and economic efficiency of farm sowing operations through higher crop yields by around 10%. We conclude that a mix of low-cost critical interventions if out-scaled in a large number of dryland small holdings through policy support may not only improve productivity and livelihoods, but also enhance their abilities to effectively cope with the climatic aberrations

Prospects of new chickpea varieties in Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh is an important chickpea growing state in southern India, with spectacular increase in chickpea area from 120,000 ha in 1997/98 to 638,000 ha in 2007/08. The chickpea revolution in Andhra Pradesh has improved the prospects of many resource-poor, small land holding and rainfed farmers of Andhra Pradesh. However, the growing season of chickpea in Andhra Pradesh is warm and short (90-110 days), and drought is the foremost factor responsible for significant yield losses. Rainfall in major chickpea-growing regions is quite uncertain and erratic, resulting in poor yields. The Regional Agricultural Research Station of Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh, India is the lead centre responsible for location-specific research in chickpea in Andhra Pradesh. With support from ICRISAT and ICAR, the centre has initiated crop improvement programmes during 2004 and has released four promising chickpea varieties for commercial cultivation. Three desi varieties viz., Nandyal Sanaga 1(NBeG 3), Dheera (NBeG 47), and Nandyal Gram 49 (NBeG 49) released for Andhra Pradesh and one large-seeded kabuli Nandyal Gram 119 (NBeG 119) released for the southern zone comprising Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, are cutting across chickpea growing regions of Andhra Pradesh. Nandyal Sanaga 1, released in 2012, is a bold-seeded desi variety tolerant to drought and heat; Dheera released during 2015 is also a desi variety and the first of its kind in India, suitable for mechanical harvesting. Nandyal Gram 49 released during 2016 is a highyielding desi variety with attractive seeds; whereas Nandyal Gram 119 is early bold-seeded kabuli variety released during 2015. These varieties have clearly demonstrated their advantage (10%-15 % increase over popular varieties of the tract) in farmers’ holdings in large-scale demonstrations and are being preferred by farmers of not only Andhra Pradesh, but also Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Maharastra. Efforts are underway to promote large-scale adoption of these varieties to maximize long term productivity of chickpeas in rainfed vertisols

DNA microarray revealed and RNAi plants confirmed key genes conferring low Cd accumulation in barley grains

List of genes down-regulated in both W6nk2 and Zhenong8 after 15 days exposure to 5 ΟM Cd. (DOC 130 kb

Dynamic Changes in the MicroRNA Expression Profile Reveal Multiple Regulatory Mechanisms in the Spinal Nerve Ligation Model of Neuropathic Pain

Neuropathic pain resulting from nerve lesions or dysfunction represents one of the most challenging neurological diseases to treat. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms responsible for causing these maladaptive responses can help develop novel therapeutic strategies and biomarkers for neuropathic pain. We performed a miRNA expression profiling study of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) tissue from rats four weeks post spinal nerve ligation (SNL), a model of neuropathic pain. TaqMan low density arrays identified 63 miRNAs whose level of expression was significantly altered following SNL surgery. Of these, 59 were downregulated and the ipsilateral L4 DRG, not the injured L5 DRG, showed the most significant downregulation suggesting that miRNA changes in the uninjured afferents may underlie the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain. TargetScan was used to predict mRNA targets for these miRNAs and it was found that the transcripts with multiple predicted target sites belong to neurologically important pathways. By employing different bioinformatic approaches we identified neurite remodeling as a significantly regulated biological pathway, and some of these predictions were confirmed by siRNA knockdown for genes that regulate neurite growth in differentiated Neuro2A cells. In vitro validation for predicted target sites in the 3′-UTR of voltage-gated sodium channel Scn11a, alpha 2/delta1 subunit of voltage-dependent Ca-channel, and purinergic receptor P2rx ligand-gated ion channel 4 using luciferase reporter assays showed that identified miRNAs modulated gene expression significantly. Our results suggest the potential for miRNAs to play a direct role in neuropathic pain

<span style="font-size: 20.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Effect of temperature and relative humidity on spinning behaviour of silkworm <i>(Bombyx mori.L)</i> </span>

87-89<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:8.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif""="">The rate of spinning of silkworm larva <span style="font-size:14.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size:8.5pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif""="">(Bombyx mori.L) <span style="font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:8.0pt;font-family: " times="" new="" roman","serif""="">was slow at 22°C and fast at 38°C. The time taken for completion of cocoon was longest at 98±2% and least at 40± 2% RH. However, good quality cocoons were spun at 22°C and <span style="font-size: 14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:8.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif""="">65±5% RH, hence it would be advantageous to maintain this temperature and relative humidity at the time of cocoon spinning in the case of CB race of silkworm. </span