Risk in Output Growth of Oilseeds in the Rajasthan State: A Policy Perspective

Today, India is one of the largest producers of oilseeds in the world and this sector occupies an important position in the agricultural economy. Rajasthan state occupies a prominent place in the oilseeds production of India. The important oilseed crops of the Rajasthan state are groundnut, soyabean, rapeseed & mustard, sesamum and taramira. The growth pattern of these crops in the state has been prone to risk over time and across the agro-climatic regions because of the rainfall behaviour, prolonged drought-periods, limited water-resources and facilities available in the state Under such a situation, growth performances of these crops are subjected to high degree of risks in the sector. Therefore, it is important to describe the growth pattern of area, production and productivity, factors affecting acreage allocation under crops and magnitude of instability as well as its sources in major oilseeds crops of Rajasthan state. The fluctuating yield has been seen for almost all the oilseeds crops. However, the area and yield instability of the mustard crop has been found declining overtime plausibly because of increase in irrigation facilities, location-specific technologies and better input management. However, this needs to be further strengthened for improvement in the overall agricultural scenario. The acreage of the crops has been found to be governed by both price and non-price factors. Hence, price incentive alone has not been found to be the sufficient in bringing the desirable change in the cropping pattern as well production of crops. Hence, a policy for better implementation of support price system, development of consistently performing varieties and further enhancement of irrigation facilities will go a long way to ensure stability in the Rajasthan agriculture. To compel the large yield variability, it is advisable to the farmers to avail benefits of crop insurance scheme.Agricultural and Food Policy,

DEMAND AND SUPPLY PROJECTIONS OF PEARL MILLET IN RAJASTHAN

The present study was conducted to estimate demand and supply pattern of pearl millet in Rajasthan.  The study concluded that the demand of pearl millet for food will increase over time. In 2025, total demand of pearl millet (food) will be 2613 thousand tonnes. In 2015, it is likely to be 136 thousand tonnes in urban and 1926 thousand tonnes for rural Rajasthan. In 2020, it will be 154 thousand tonnes for urban and 2165 thousand tonnes for rural Rajasthan. In 2025, it will be 174 thousand tonnes for urban and 2439 thousand tonnes for rural Rajasthan. Demand projection for pearl millet (grain) for alternative uses indicated that demand for cattle feed (concentrates) is projected to be 2018 thousand tonnes (2020) and 2340 thousand tonnes in 2025. The demand for poultry feed industry is projected at 1406 thousand tonnes in 2025. The demand for alcohol industry is projected to be 815 thousand tonnes (2020) and 1091 thousand tonnes in 2025. The demand for seed is pegged at 24 thousand tonnes and 25 thousand tonnes in 2020 and 2025 respectively. The supply of pearl millet (grain) is projected at 5401 thousand tonnes (2015), 6469 thousand tonnes (2020) and 7759 thousand tonnes (2025). The gap between demand and supply (grain) is projected to be a surplus of 51 thousand tonnes (2015), 192 thousand tonnes (2020) and 284 thousand tonnes (2025)

Analyzing the genetic relatedness of pigeonpea varieties released over last 58 years in India

The genetic base of 150 pigeonpea varieties released in India during1960 to 2018 was examined. Of these, 89, 57, three, and one variety were developed by pedigree selection, pureline selection, mutation and population improvement, respectively. Examination of pedigree records of 89 pigeonpea varieties developed through pedigree breeding method between 1971 and 2018 traced back to 113 ancestors. The highest mean genetic contribution was recorded for the genotype T 190 (0.051) accompanied by UPAS 120 (0.049) and ICP 8863 (0.043). The ancestor T 190 appeared with highest frequency of 21, directly as one of the parent (male/female) in four varieties and indirectly in the development of 17 varieties. Similarly, the ancestors UPAS 120 and ICP 8863 were more frequently used (in nine varieties) as direct parents followed by T 21 and C 11 (in five varieties). The variety PRG 176 involved the highest number (9) of ancestors during the course of its development followed by the variety VBN (Rg) 3 with eight ancestors. Results indicated that 51.69% (46 of the 89 varieties) of released varieties were developed through bi-parental crossing whereas 48.31% involved multiple parents. The frequent use of a limited number of ancestors has caused the narrow genetic base of released pigeonpea varieties. We recommend large-scale deployment of novel germplasm resources for generating broad-base breeding populations. This will help to obtain improved pigeonpea cultivars with high grain yield, biotic tolerance and climate adaptation

Recent Advances in Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (l.) Millspaugh) Research

Pigeonpea or red gram [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh] is an important food legume of the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa. It occupies a prime niche in sustainable farming systems of smallholder rainfed farmers. It occupies a prominent place in Indian rainfed agriculture. It is an integral component in various agro ecologies of the country mainly inter cropped with cereals, pulses, oilseeds and millets. It is the second most important pulse crop next to chickpea, covering an area of around 4.42 m ha (occupying about 14.5% of area under pulses) and production of 2.86 MT (contributing to 16% of total pulse production) and productivity of about 707 kg/ha. It is mainly consumed as dry split dhal throughout the country besides several other uses of various parts of pigeonpea plant. Enhancing the productivity of the crop assumes specific significance in India mainly to combat protein malnutrition as it is the main source of protein to the predominant vegetarian population. The productivity of pigeonpea has remained low and stagnant over the last few decades thus this prompted scientists to search for novel ways of crop improvement. To tackle this challenge, ICRISAT and IIPR are working on number of innovative ideas like, genome sequencing (Varshney et al. 2012), development of CGMS hybrids with 30 to 40 % yield advantage over traditional varieties, development of photo insensitive super early maturing lines, introgression of cleistogamous flower structure to maintain genetic purity of elite lines, use of obcordate leaf shape as NEP to assess genetic purity of hybrid parental lines and development of disease resistant hybrids and elite breeding lines. These aspects are described briefly below

Velopharyngeal stenosis, a late complication of radiotherapy

Choanal stenosis has recently been recognized as a late complication of radiation therapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The management of velopharyngeal stenosis is challenging with high risk of restenosis. We report a case of velopharyngeal stenosis post-radiotherapy and illustrated the use of mitomycin-C to prevent restenosis. Mitomycin-C application has being shown useful adjunct to surgical technique in managing nasopharyngeal stenosis for surgeons

Migrating foreign body into the common carotid artery and internal jugular vein

Ingested foreign bodies are a fairly common otorhinolaryngological emergencies encountered in Malaysia. The vast majority of these foreign bodies are fish bones which most commonly are impacted at the level of the cricopharynx. Rarely, however, a foreign body may migrate extraluminally and may even extrude subcutaneously. We report a rare occurrence where a fish bone not only migrated extraluminally, it was found to have migrated into the common carotid artery and the internal jugular vein and required surgical removal

Pigeonpea - A unique jewel in rainfed cropping systems

Pigeonpea is a crop for rainfed environments endowed with several features to thrive harsh climate. It adapts well in sole crop and inter cropped conditions (with cereals, millets, oils seeds and pulses) by enhancing the system productivity and net income to the small and marginal farmers across the globe. The range of maturity duration in the crop allows it to grow in diversified cropping systems and patterns in varied ecoregions of the world. Development of cytoplasmic male sterility based hybrids provided an opportunity for enhancing the yields under marginal environments. With recent interventions in addressing the photo sensitivity and maturity have led to evolving super early varieties with less than 100 days duration, provided a scope for horizontal expansion of the crop in different agro ecological systems

National fruit catalogue of tropical fruit tree diversity (Mangifera, Citrus and Garcinia)

The Indian sub-continent is extremely rich in its plant wealth. It is one among the twelve mega diversity centers in the world, and is also one of the eight centers of origin of cultivated plants and areas of diversity of their wild relatives as classified by Vavilov. In order to protect the diversity of Tropical Fruit Tree Genetic Resources (TFTGR) in situ and through on farm conservation through sustainable management practices which would benefit the rural communities and to develop the capacity and leadership skills for managing this diversity, Bioversity International along with ICAR is executing United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) funded by Global Environment Facility (GEF). This project is being operated in five sites, namely, Amravati (Maharashtra), Chittoor (Seemandhra/Andhra), Malihabad (U.P.), Pusa (Bihar) and Sirsi (Karnataka) on three fruit crops viz., Mango, Citrus and Garcinia. A great amount of diversity has been assembled in Farmers’ fields in situ as well as in gene banks of the ICAR institutes. The identification of the unique varieties of these crops along with the details of the Custodian Farmers (CF) has been documented in the form of a catalogue entitled “National Fruit Catalogue of Tropical Fruit Tree Diversity (Mangifera, Citrus and Garcinia). The catalogues lists 121 mango varieties, 21 Citrus (Pummelo, Lime, lemon, Sweet Orange and Mandarin Orange) and two Garcinia indica. Efforts have been made to register the unique mango varieties through the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA). This is a parallel of the UPOV operating in Europe. Thus the registration of the varieties would benefit the farmers/communities as they would become the legal owners of this

Brane World Cosmology with Gauss-Bonnet Interaction

We study a Randall-Sundrum model modified by a Gauss-Bonnet interaction term. We consider, in particular, a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric on the brane and analyse the resulting cosmological scenario. It is shown that the usual Friedmann equations are recovered on the brane. The equation of state relating the enery density and the pressure is uniquely determined by the matching conditions. A cosmological solution with negative pressure is found.Comment: 9 pages, revtex styl