Comparison of tuber yield, nutritional quality and soil health under organic versus conventional production in tuberous vegetables

Field experiments were conducted at the Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala for 5 years during 2004-09 in RBD and 2006-11 in split plot design to assess the comparative agronomic and nutritional advantages of organic management over conventional system in elephant foot yam and yams (Dioscorea spp.), respectively. Organic management resulted in significantly higher yield of 20% (57.10 tonnes/ha) over conventional practice (47.61 tonnes/ha) in elephant foot yam. Organic management also produced significantly higher yield in all the three species of yams (pooled mean of 22.21, 21.96 and 16.83 tonnes/ha for white yam, greater yam and lesser yam respectively). The yield increase observed under organic management in these species was 9%, 11% and 7%, respectively over chemical based farming. Organic management lowered the bulk density by 2.3%, improved the water holding capacity by 28.4% and the porosity of soil by 16.5% in elephant foot yam. There was significant increase in pH (0.46-0.77 unit increase) apart from higher organic C (by 15-19%), available N, P and K, bacterial and fungal populations, N fixers, P solubilizers and dehydrogenase enzyme activity of soil. Organic tubers had higher dry matter, starch, crude protein, K, Ca and Mg and lower oxalate contents. Use of organically produced seed materials, seed treatment in cow-dung, neem cake, bio-inoculant slurry, farmyard manure incubated with bio-inoculants, green manuring, use of neem cake, biofertilizers and ash formed the strategies for organic production

Implications of organic management on yield, tuber quality and soil health in yams in the humid tropics

Global consciousness of food safety, health and environmental issues has stimulated interest in alternative agricultural systems like organic farming. Since information on organic farming of tuber crops is meagre, a field experiment was conducted in split plot design over a five-year period at Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, India. The aims were to evaluate the impact of organic, conventional and traditional production systems on yield, proximate composition and mineral content of tubers and soil physico-chemical and biological properties in three species of Dioscorea (white yam: D. rotundata, greater yam: D. alata and lesser yam: D. esculenta). The production systems were assigned to main plots and species to subplots. Organic farming (20.34 t ha-1) produced significantly higher yield over conventional practice (18.64 t ha-1) by 9%. All the species responded well to organic management, which lowered the bulk density and particle density slightly and improved the water holding capacity (by 15%) of soil. Tuber quality was improved with significantly higher Ca (72.67 mg 100g-1), slightly higher dry matter, crude protein, K and Mg contents. Organic plots showed significantly higher available K, by 34% and pH, by 0.46 unit and higher soil organic matter by 14%. The dehydrogenase enzyme activity (1.174 μg TPF formed g-1 soil h-1), population of bacteria, fungi and P solubilizers were promoted by 14%, 23%, 17% and 22% respectively. Thus organic farming was found to be an eco-friendly management strategy in yams for sustainable yield of quality tubers besides maintaining soil health. Technology involving farmyard manure, green manuring, neem cake, biofertilizers and ash was standardized

Enhancing Alzheimer Disease Segmentation through Adaptively Regularized Weighted Kernel-Based Clustering

Image segmentation is important in image analysis because it helps to locate objects and boundaries within a picture. This study offers Adaptively Regularized Weighted Kernel-Based Clustering (ARWKC), a unique segmentation technique built exclusively for recovering brain tissue from medical pictures. The proposed approach incorporates adaptive regularization and weighted kernel-based clustering techniques to increase the accuracy and resilience of brain tissue segmentation. The picture is initially preprocessed with the ARWKC method to improve its quality and eliminate any noise or artifacts. The adaptive regularization method is then utilized to effectively deal with the visual variation of brain tissue in clinical images. This adaptive regularization contributes to more accurate and consistent segmentation outcomes. The weighted kernel-based clustering method is then used to find and group pixels with comparable properties, with a focus on brain tissue areas. This clustering approach employs a weighted kernel function that takes into account both geographical closeness and pixel intensities, allowing the algorithm to capture local picture features and improve segmentation accuracy. Extensive experiments were conducted on a collection of medical images to evaluate the efficacy of the ARWKC algorithm. The well-known k-means clustering method, often used in image segmentation applications, was utilized as a benchmark for comparison. In terms of accuracy and resilience for brain tissue segmentation, the experimental findings showed that the ARWKC method surpasses the k-means clustering approach

Organic management of tuberous intercrops for resilience, higher yield and profit from coconut plantations: Insights from validation experiments in Kerala, India

Fifteen on-farm experiments were conducted in tropical tuber crops intercropped in coconut gardens in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts, Kerala, during 2018-2021 for validation of organic production technologies. The validation experiments were performed under the aegis of the ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, in a project funded by the Coconut Development Board, Kochi, Kerala. Three treatments viz., T1: organic farming technology (OF), T2: POP recommendation (POP) and T3: farmer's practice (FP) were evaluated in cassava, elephant foot yam and greater yam intercropped with coconut. System productivity and profitability were worked out for the different treatments based on yield and income from coconut and tuber crops in the respective treatments. Pooled analysis indicated that the coconut yield under intercropping with tuber crops in organic mode was high by 7-13% in comparison to monocrop of coconut maintained by the farmers. Tuber yield under organic management was superior over POP by 14% and FP by 27%. On an average, the net income from coconut-tuber crop intercropping system under organic management was ₹ 2,36,133 ha-1, whereas it was ₹ 1,56,904 ha-1 in POP and ₹ 1,32,706 ha-1 in FP and significantly outperformed sole coconut (₹ 7,764 ha-1). Thus, the results indicated that organic management of coconut-tuber crop system offered resilience with higher system productivity and profitability

Customized fertilizers for higher yield and income: Evidences from on-farm validation in coconut – tuber crop intercropping system

Fifteen on-farm experiments were conducted in tropical tuber crops intercropped in coconut gardens in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts, Kerala, during 2018-2021 for the validation of customized fertilizers formulated from on-station developed Site-Specific Nutrient Management (SSNM) practices. The validation experiments were done under the aegis of ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, in a project funded by Coconut Development Board, Kochi, Kerala.Three treatments viz., T1: SSNM technology using customized fertilizers (CF) (SSNM), T2: present POP recommendation (POP) and T3: farmer's practice (FP) was evaluated in cassava, elephant foot yam and greater yam intercropped with coconut. System productivity and profitability were worked out for the different treatments based on yield and income from coconut and tuber crops in the respective treatments. Pooled analysis indicated that the coconut yield under intercropping with tuber crops under SSNM using CF was higher by 12-23% in comparison to coconut monocrop maintained unscientifically by the farmers. Tuber yield under CF proved superior over POP by 9.3% and FP by 37.4%. On an average, the net income from coconut-tuber crop intercropping system under SSNM using CF was ₹ 270396 per ha, whereas it was ₹ 198047 in POP and ₹146358 in FP and significantly outperformed sole coconut (₹ 7764).Thus, the results of the validation experiments indicated that the use of customized fertilizers in tuberous intercrops offered resilience with higher system productivity and profitability from coconut gardens

Trapezoidal Fuzzy Shortest Path (TFSP) Selection for Green Routing and Scheduling Problems

The routing of vehicles represents an important component of many distribution and transportation systems. Finding the shortest path is one of the fundamental and popular problems. In real life applications, like vehicle green routing and scheduling, transportation, etc. which are related to environmental issues the arc lengths could be uncertain due to the fluctuation with traffic conditions or weather conditions. Therefore finding the exact optimal path in such networks could be challenging. In this paper, we discuss and analyze different approaches for finding the Fuzzy Shortest Path. The shortest path is computed using the ranking methods based on i)Degree of Similarity ii) Acceptable Index, where the arc lengths are expressed as trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. The Decision makers can choose the best path among the various alternatives from the list of rankings by prioritizing the scheduling which facilitates Green Routing

Organic Management Impacts on Micro-environment in Cassava

Alternative soil management practices like organicfarming assume special significance in the context ofglobal climate change for sustainable and safe foodproduction, protection of environment and humanhealth. Organic farming provides a clean environmentby promoting soil quality and sequestering soil organicC. Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an importanttropical tuber crop that plays a significant role in thefood and nutritional security. Cassava is the third largestsource of food carbohydrates in the tropics, after riceand maize. It is grown for its starchy roots, which servesas a staple food and also a raw material for starch, sagoand animal feed industries. It has the potential to producemaximum dry matter and has the ability to adapt to awide range of climate and soil. The favourable impact oforganic farming on growth, yield and soil properties oftuberous vegetables viz., elephant foot yam, tannia andyams has been documented (Suja et al., 2009; 2010;2012a; 2012b; Suja, 2013; Suja and Sreekumar, 2014).However, there is limited information on the effect of alternative management practices like organic farmingon the soil micro-climate (Montanaro et al., 2012). Hence the objective of this study was to investigate theeffect of organic farming on the soil micro-environmentchanges and microbial count under cassava

Role of Girikarnyadi Gutikaanjana in the Management of Krimi Granthi - A Review

Blepharitis is one of the inflammatory conditions of eyelid caused due to bacterial infection or colonization of the eyelid. It is notorious in nature and also very common, but very annoying to the patients and ophthalmologists too, because of its recurrent nature and lifelong treatment. So it is necessary to find an effective treatment modality. The symptoms of Blepharitis closely resembles to Krimigranthi described in Ayurveda, hence its treatment can be adopted. Girikarnyadi Gutika a Herbomineral formulation mentioned in Netra Prakashika consists of Shweta Girikarnika, Shodita Shweta Gunja, Shweta Punarnava, Haridra, Daruharidra, Shodita Tuttha and Gandhaka used as Anjana (application of medicated collyrium to the eye). These drugs are having the properties such as Krimighna (Antihelmintic), Vranaropana (Wound healing), Twakrogahara (cures diseases of skin) and Chakshushya (ocular protective) may be helpful in the management of Blepharitis