Economic Analysis of Menthol Mint Cultivation in Uttar Pradesh: A Case Study of Barabanki District

The present study has been carried out in the Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh on economic analysis of menthol mint cultivation in the year 2010. The economics has been worked out by comparing costs and returns at different stages by the conventional method. The linear production function has been fitted to evaluate the resources-use efficiency in the production of menthol mint. The study has shown that the major portion of operational cost is shared by hired labour, interculture operations, distillation charges, irrigation and machine / tractor charge. The overall benefit-cost ratio has been found to be 2.55, which indicates a higher profit for farmers on less investment in mint cultivation. The independent variables like human labour, machinery, manures and fertilizer, irrigation charges and intercultural operations have shown a positive and significant impact on the returns of mentha crop in the study area. The major problems faced by the farmers are high input cost, erratic supply of electricity, lack of adequate information, infrastructural facilities, regulated markets and energy-efficient distillation units.Menthol mint, Medicinal and aromatic plants, Mentha crop, Barabanki district, Economic analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q 12, Q 18,

Effect of variety and planting date of rice on population of natural enemies of brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stal)

The present study on the effect of variety and planting date of rice on population of natural enemies of brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stal) showed that during August, the mean population of spiders was statistically on par on CSR 30 and PR 114. The population differed with dates and was significantly (p=0.05) higher (9.0/10 hills) in D2 during 2011 only. There was no significant difference in the population of spiders on two varieties and dates of transplanting during September 2011 only. However, significantly higher population of spiders was recorded in variety PR 114 (21.65/10 hills) and D2 (20.52/10 hills) than on CSR 30 (13.67/10 hills) and D1 (14.80/10 hills) during September, 2012. The mean population of spiders did not differ significantly with the dates during October, 2011 and 2012. However, it was significantly higher on variety PR 114 (27.65/10 hills) than on CSR 30 during both the crop seasons. Mirid bugs did not appear in the month of August, 2011 and 2012 whereas during September 2011, the variety CSR 30 and D1 registered significantly higher population than other variety and date. However, a reverse trend was observed with varieties and dates during 2012. The mean population of coccinelid, carabid and staphylinid beetles remained very low on both the varieties in the month of August during 2011 and 2012. However, the population of these predators was influenced significantly by the varieties and dates during 2012. The population of nymphal-adult parasitoids also remained very low during both years and was not influenced by varieties and dates

Factor affecting absorbency behaviour of woven velour printed terry fabrics

The present research work is aimed at designing the woven velour printed terry fabrics with improved overall performance. The influence of pile height, pick density and pile count (one ply and two ply both) on the water absorbency of fabric has been studied. Thirty samples have been prepared by changing variables as per Box – Behnken design of experiments. These variables are optimised for achieving high quality woven velour printed terry fabrics. The findings show that the absorbency of these fabrics increases with the increase in pile height and pick density. The results are found true for both the fabrics having one ply and two ply pile yarns. The absorbency of the fabrics having two ply pile yarn is always higher as compared to fabric having one ply pile yarn. The absorbency behaviour of these fabrics is different from the looped woven terry fabric which clearly indicates the importance of loop geometry