Impact of Drip Irrigation on Farming System: Evidence from Southern India

The micro irrigation in general and drip irrigation in particular has received considerable attention from policy makers, researchers, economists etc. for its perceived ability to contribute significantly to groundwater resources development, agricultural productivity, economic growth, and environmental sustainability. In this paper, the impact of drip irrigation has been studied on farming system in terms of cropping pattern, resources use and yield. The drip method of irrigation has been found to have a significant impact on resources saving, cost of cultivation, yield of crops and farm profitability. Hence, the policy should be focused on promotion of drip irrigation in those regions where scarcity of water and labour is alarming and where shift towards wider-spaced crops is taking place.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Impacts of Watershed Development Programmes: Experiences and Evidences from Tamil Nadu

The overall performance of watershed development programmes has been examined in the state of Tamil Nadu. The impacts of major watershed development programmes have been outlined in terms of biophysical impacts, environmental impacts, socio-economic impacts and overall economic impacts. It is pointed out that the watershed development activities have made significant positive impacts on various biophysical aspects such as soil and water conservation, soil fertility, soil and water erosion in cropped area, changes in cropping pattern, cropping intensity, production and productivity of crops. Watershed development activities have shown significant positive impacts on water table, perenniality of water in wells, water availability for cattle and other domestic uses, etc. The overall economic impacts have been evaluated in terms of NPV, IRR and BCR. The peoples’ participation in watershed development activities has been found satisfactory but the optimal level is yet to be achieved. Training of farmers has been found effective in disseminating technical knowledge. According to the study, the future strategy should be the movement towards a balanced approach of matching the supply-driven menu with a set of demand-driven activities. Peoples’ participation, involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions, local user groups and NGOs along side institutional support from different levels, viz. the Union Government, the state, the district and block levels should be ensured to make the programme more participatory, interactive and cost-effective. Convergence of various rural development programmes around the watershed could be ensured to promote holistic development of watersheds. For its continued success, the programme, should be economically efficient, financially viable, technically feasible and socially acceptable while ensuring equity. For, sustainable development, regular and routine monitoring of environmental parameters is important as environmental enhancement increases the credibility and acceptability of the programme.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Acceleration of pro-caspase-3 maturation and cell migration inhibition in human breast cancer cells by phytoconstituents of Rheum emodi rhizome extracts

The aggressive nature of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer subtype obligates for innovative targeted therapies. The present study aimed to investigate the phytoconstituents and specific anticancer activities of Rheum emodi rhizome, a known food source used locally to treat various ailments. Petroleum ether extracts (hot [PHR] and cold [PCR]) of R. emodi, exhibited significant free radical scavenging potentials through DPPH and reducing power assays, rendering them as good sources of antioxidants. The extracts, PHR and PCR had shown significant (P < 0.05) cancer-cell-specific cytotoxicity in the assayed cells (MDA-MB-231 [breast carcinoma] and WRL-68 [non-tumoral]) at 100 μg/ml, and 50 and 100 μg/ml concentrations respectively. Extracts also induced fervent apoptosis in ER-negative cells (MDA-MB-231) compared to ER-positive subtype (MCF-7), and found to involve CPP32/caspase-3 in its apoptosis induction mechanism. Moreover, extracts had an inevitable potential to inhibit the migration of metastatic breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231)in vitro. Further, the active principles of extracts were identified through HPLC and GC-MS analysis to reveal major polyphenolics, 4,7-Dimethyl-(octahydro)indolo[4,3-fg]quinolin-10-one, 5-Oxo-isolongifolene, Valencene-2, and other quinone, quinoline and anthraquinone derivatives. The extracts are thus good candidates to target malignant ER-negative breast cancer, and the identified phytoconstituents could be eluted in further exploratory studies for use in dietary-based anti-breast cancer therapies

An Analysis of Farmers’ Perception and Awareness towards Crop Insurance as a Tool for Risk Management in Tamil Nadu

To insulate farmers against risks in agriculture, government has launched several schemes such as National Agricultural Insurance Scheme and weather index based crop insurance schemes. But their coverage seems to be limited among the farmers primarily due to lack of full information. This paper has reported the results of a survey of 600 farmers conducted to assess their perception about various facets of crop insurance schemes. The Probit and Tobit models have been employed to analyse the factors affecting awareness among the farmers. Crop diversification index has also been used to examine the farmers’ adjustment mechanism against risks. The survey has revealed that most farmers (65%) are aware of risk mitigation measures of the government. But, only half of the farmers have been found aware about the crop insurance schemes/products. This implies that there is need to disseminate information about insurance schemes across the target groups. Further, it has been shown that factors such as gross cropped area, income from other than agricultural sources, presence of risk in farming, number of workers in the farm family, satisfaction with the premium rate and affordability of the insurance premium amount significantly and positively influence the adoption of insurance and premium paid by the farmers. The study has clearly brought out the urgency of developing more innovative products, having minimum human interventions.Crop insurance, Risk management, Crop diversification index, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q14, Q18,

Antibacterial Activity of Fruit of Careya arborea Roxb. (Lecythidaceae)

Plan: The present study was planned to investigate the antibacterial activity of ethyl acetate, ethanol and hexane extracts of the fruits of CareyaarboreaRoxb. Methodology: Agar diffusion assay was carried out using the extracts. Outcome: All the tested bacterial strains viz., Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis) were found to be sensitive to all the 3 concentrations of ethyl acetate and ethanolic extracts of fresh and dry fruit, in ascending order

Water Management in the Noyyal River Basin A Situation Analysis

The Noyyal sub-basin, which is 3510 sq km in area, is part of the Cauvery basin that lies in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is a rapidly urbanizing sub-basin that includes the Class I cities of Coimbatore and Tiruppur as well as 84 smaller urban settlements. Water issues in this basin have been the focus of much public debate and action over the last two decades. Most of the debate, triggered by farmer agitations and court cases, has focused on the question of water pollution; water scarcity and sustainability issues have received relatively little attention. Recent bans on industrial effluent discharge into the Noyyal, as well as changes in water supply infrastructure, watershed development activities, urban demand and agricultural water use have dramatically altered the future of the Noyyal River and merit follow-up studies. The purpose of this situation analysis is to summarize the current state of knowledge regarding water resources management in the Noyyal sub-basin and identify critical knowledge gaps to inform water-related research in the basin. It is hoped that such an analysis will help those studying or working on water issues in the Noyyal, and also provide useful insights for other urbanizing basins

Synthesis and Characterization of Nonaqueous Deposited Nanocrystalline Cds Film

A nanocrystallineCdS film can be deposited by chemical bath deposition using non aqueous medium. XRD analysis confirms the crystalline structure of CdS (002) with 34 nm crystallite size. The as deposited films are stoichiometric in nature with Cd and S atomic % ratio equal to 1.0. The field emission scanning electron miceoscope and atomic force microscopy studies revels a densely packed non porous granular deposit with RMS value of roughness equal to 92nm. The band gap of the film is measures by spectroscopy and it is observed to 2.40 eV which is good agreement with the reported result. The photoluminescence prominent peak of the CdS film is observed to be 392 nm

Effect of CdSe quantum dots on hole transport in poly(3-hexylthiophene) thin films

This letter demonstrates the effect of cadmium selenide (CdSe) quantum dots on hole transport in poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) thin films. Current-voltage characteristics of P3HT and P3HT:CdSe thin films have been studied in the temperature range of 288–85 K, in hole only device configurations, i.e., indium tin oxide (ITO)/poly(ethylene-dioxthiophene):polystyrenesulphonate (PEDOT:PSS)/P3HT/Au and ITO/PEDOT:PSS/P3HT:CdSe/Au. The incorporation of CdSe quantum dots in P3HT results in the enhancement in hole current and switches the transport from dual conduction mechanism, viz., trap and mobility models to only trap model. This is attributed to the reduction in characteristic trap energy from 60 to 32 meV and trap density from 2.5×1018 to 1.7×1018 cm−3