Enhancing and Sustaining Pulse Production and Farmer Incomes in the TRFA Statess: Issues of Stray Animal Grazing and Value Chain Integration for Small and Marginal Farmers

Pulses are an integral component of a sustainable crop-production system, as these crops are capable of biological nitrogen fixation and have low water requirements and a high capacity to withstand changing weather conditions. Pulses are widely grown and consumed in India owing to their high nutritional value, especially as a source of protein. While India contributes 25 percent of the world’s pulse production, its domestic demand far exceeds the available supply. This has led to increasing pressure on prices, accessibility across different income strata, and the country importing pulses for domestic consumption

Agricultural water management interventions for enhancing water resources availability, cropping, intensity and various ecosystem services in Bundelkhand region of Central India

Bundelkhand region of Central India is hot spot of water scarcity, land degradation, low cropping intensity, poor crop and livestock productivity and poor socio-economic status. Nearly 70% of the population of Bundelkhand is dependent on agriculture and allied sectors for its livelihood. A National Sample Survey report of 2017 shows that the per capita income in Bundelkhand is nearly ₹25,000, far below the national average (₹103,000) and those of Uttar Pradesh (₹43,800) and neighboring Madhya Pradesh (₹56,200) and Rajasthan (₹76,900). Given that strategies that focus on transforming agricultural and allied sectors are key to improving livelihoods of rural populations, the Government of India laid the pathway for doubling farmer’s incomes by 2022

Effective and economic ecological weed management approaches for managing weeds in rice in the era of climate change

Rice will continue to be one of the major staple food expected 9 billion global population by 2050. Weeds are major constraints in limiting rice productivity to meet the increasing food demand. Weeds are more severe constraints in dry-direct-seeded with lower environmental foot print. Climate resilient rice cultivars, with greater competitiveness against weeds, play a key role in ecologically managing weeds

Comparative study (II): On the longevity of pupa and adult moths in selected few bivoltine purelines of silkworm Bombyx mori (L) in all the seasons of the year.

A comparative study utilizing the six multivoltines, in three seasons of the year between pupal and adult moth stage of silkworm of reveals a positive significance. Pupal duration was calculated after chrysalis stage among six multivoltines clearly indicated that the duration of pupae in the pre race is lowest where as the Daizo race exhibited the longest pupal duration of 240 hours. Silkworm adult life span evaluated in three seasons in the two sexes (male moth and female moth) it is clear that race pre exhibited shortest adult life span of 84 hours in mated males and 114 hours in mated females during pre-monsoon period and Daizo race revealed prolonged adult life span 222 hours in unmated males and 242 hours in unmated females during post-monsoon period. In the present studies among the two sexes, the unmated (virgin) male and females moths exhibited the longest life span than those of mated male and female moths. The influence of three seasons on adult life span is very clear from the experiment. The effect of pre-monsoon is more conspicuous (revealing short lifespan) where as in post-monsoon season lifespan is longest both in the pupal and adult. The results obtained from the present studies clearly demonstrate that racial differences, seasonal impact and sex wise differences are important in the expression of adult longevity

Evaluation of cropping activities in the Adarsha watershed project, southern India

Baseline data and data taken both during and after a watershed development program, recording cropping activities in a semi-arid watershed in Telangana, India, were analyzed. Watershed development contributed to the sustainable yield improvement of dryland crops by rehabilitating the productive capacity of the land through water and soil conservation techniques. On the basis of long-term data collected from farm households in the watershed, we explored ways to increase crop productivity and sustainability. Investment in soil and water conservation significantly impacted agricultural development, most particularly during droughts. Farmers realized returns to land amounting to US $720 ha−1 from cotton,$295 ha−1 from flowers, $287 ha−1 from vegetables and$171 ha−1 from cereals. Mean returns to labour, irrespective of crop strategies, was $10 per person-day. Irrigation facilities in the watershed encouraged the growing of water-intensive crops but dryland crops were also more profitable as various in-situ and ex-situ interventions increased soil-moisture, providing congenial conditions for them. The responses were best during the watershed intervention period: yields of maize inter cropped with pigeonpea were increased by 148 %, pigeonpea 100 %, sole sorghum 91 % and cotton 76.2 %. While droughts reduced the average share of household crop income in the non-watershed area from 44 to 12 %, this share remained unchanged at about 36 % in the watershed area. We deduce that watershed interventions have a positive influence on building resilient crop production

Water use and yield response of rainfed safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) in Vertisols with varying soil depths

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is an edible oilseed crop mainly cultivated in marginal lands. This study evaluates safflower crop water requirements to understand its feasibility to cultivate under rainfed ecosystem through a field experiment undertaken at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semiarid Tropics research farm, India. Eight improved and stress-tolerant safflower cultivars (five spiny and three non-spiny) were evaluated in Vertisols at three soil depths, that is, shallow: 50%) occurred in shallow soils and also during a rainfall deficit year. Spiny cultivars produced 10%–50% higher seed yield compared to non-spiny cultivars. Growing safflower in medium and deep Vertisols provides opportunities for crop intensification

Soil Properties, Crop Yield, and Economics Under Integrated Crop Management Practices in Karnataka, Southern India

Considering the importance of sustainable production practices with greater resource use efficiency, a study was conducted during 2009–12 to understand the soil properties, crop yield, and economics as affected by the integrated crop management (ICM) practices under the Bhoochetana (soil rejuvenation) program in Karnataka, India. Results from 3776 crop-cutting studies on different crops (cereals, pulses, and oilseeds) revealed that there is a vast spatial variability in case of various soil nutrients across different taluks of Karnataka. Balanced fertilizer application, both in rainfed and irrigated areas, directly influenced crop yields. Yields of cereals, legumes, and oilseeds were 3590, 1400, and 2230 kg ha−1 with improved management practices as compared to 2650, 1030, and 1650 kg ha−1 with conventional farming practices, respectively. Average net income estimated from conventional farming was Rs. 26,290 ha−1, while it was Rs. 35,540 ha−1 from improved management practices, which indicated that ICM practices resulted in an additional 35% income. The oilseeds performed better in terms of achieving higher net income and benefit–cost ratio while the cereals and legumes also have shown significant improvement in yield compared to the yields from conventional farming practices. The detailed findings on soil properties, yields of crops, and economics suggested that there is a vast potential for crop productivity improvement through ICM practices across different soil types and rainfall zones of Karnataka, India

An attempt for Indoor rearing of tasar silkworm Antheraea mylitta Drury on Terminalia catappa in the natural atmospheric conditions of Mysuru

The non mulberry silkworm’s tasar, eri and muga are grown in hilly forest regions of north eastern part of India where climatic conditions are favourable and they feed on various wild food plants and many of them grown in plane lands for ornamental purpose. An attempt made to grow tasar silkworm Antheraea mylitta in the natural atmospheric conditions of Mysuru during the rainy season (June-September) by using the secondary food plant Terminalia catappa, resulted in the larval life span of 30 days on an average and the effective rate of rearing of 27%.  The results were proved that the survivability ratio and the quantity and quality of the cocoons produced were found to be affected that may due to the new environmental conditions and secondary food plant provide