Kwanu Local – A High Yielding Traditional Maize Cultivar of Jaunsar Tribal Region of Uttarakhand and a Promising Genetic Resource for Maize Improvement

Globally maize is the second most important crop in terms of acreage where as in India it ranks third after wheat and rice. Maize productivity has been breaking unprecedented barriers owing chiefly to wide scale cultivation of high yielding hybrids. Sustaining high yields of hybrids necessitates continued efforts for creation of novel gene assemblages and/or discovery of such naturally existing constellations. Traditional local cultivars are an important source of the latter. Kwanu Local is an example of such a traditional cultivar that contributes significantly towards sustaining food, fodder and fuel requirement of Jaunsari tribal community of Kwanu cluster in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand. It is a tall, high yielding, medium duration, semi-dent yellow bold-grained cultivar and owes its characteristic present form to multiple infusions from diverse populations that have taken place over the long history of its cultivation in the region. Its cultivation over a vast contiguous expanse and the selection practices followed by the farming community ensure maintenance of high heterozygosity in the population, assuring sustained high yields. The cultivar possesses many desirable features that make it a potential genetic resource for a variety of traits of agronomic importance (cob length, cob girth, number of kernels/row and kernel size). Its use for increasing kernel size has been well demonstrated. Kernel size in the backcross progenies involving inbreds VQL 1 (255 g) and V 400 (215 g) as recipients and Kwanu Local (343 g) as donor exhibited kernel size range of 260-293 g (VQL 1 x Kwanu Local) and 228-245 g (V 400 x Kwanu Local), showing increase of 6-14 and 2-15%, respectively, in the two crosses. With its local adaptability and high yield coupled with other desirable traits, Kwanu Local holds potential as a promising genetic resource for maize improvement

Barnyard millet – a potential food and feed crop of future

The two species under genus Echinochloa, E. frumentacea (Indian barnyard millet) and E. esculenta (Japanese barnyard millet), are cultivated for food and fodder by hilly and tribal communities in Asia particularly in India, China and Japan. The crop has wide adaptability and occupies a special place in marginal rainfed areas because of its short life cycle. Although the area under the crop has come down drastically in last 50 years, the crop ability to survive under harsh conditions makes it a better choice during famine years. In the Indian Himalayan region, the crop was traditionally used as a substitute for rice. It has been identified as a suitable choice for climate-resilient agriculture. High nutrient content and antioxidant effects make it to be considered as a functional food crop. Recently, the demand of the crop has increased due to its highly nutritious grains. Thus, it has the potential to provide both food and nutritional security particularly in hills where nutritional deficiencies are in abundance. Despite enormous potential, the crop has not gained the popularity among masses and is still considered as poor man’s food. This work therefore is an attempt to compile the meagre information available on crop history, evolution, crop breeding and present status to make the crop competitive and revamp its cultivation

Permselective Membranes for Gas Processing Replacing the Conventional Methods

Membrane technology has gained acceptance for gas separation and recovery as membranes are friendly to the environment and less expensive. Membranes are starting to play a great role in industries such as separation and production of gases, sweetening of natural gas, processing of biogas and syngas, and oil refineries. This article evaluates the replacement of the conventional methods for gas processing by perm selective membranes and also offers an overview of the membrane technology in current use for gas processing in industries

Permselective Membranes for Gas Processing Replacing the Conventional Methods

Membrane technology has gained acceptance for gas separation and recovery as membranes are friendly to the environment and less expensive. Membranes are starting to play a great role in industries such as separation and production of gases, sweetening of natural gas, processing of biogas and syngas, and oil refineries. This article evaluates the replacement of the conventional methods for gas processing by perm selective membranes and also offers an overview of the membrane technology in current use for gas processing in industries

Catalytic hydrodenitrogenation of pyridine over presulphided Mo-zeolite

75-80<span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:" calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:="" "times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-hansi-theme-font:="" minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:arial;mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:="" en-us;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="">Hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) of pyridine, one of the organo-nitrogen compounds found in petroleum and synfuels, is studied over presulphided and unsulphided Mo-zeolite catalyst in an integral fixed bed reactor between 525-573 K, W/F of 42-210 h g-cat/g-mol pyridine at 69 atm pressure and a H2/Pyridine ratio of 13. Experimental results show that at 623 K the conversion of pyridine over the presulphided catalyst was 1.5 times of that over the unsulphided one, whereas the increase in selectivity was about 5 folds. This catalyst gives similar activity to that obtained with commercial Ni-Mo supported on alumina catalyst, but lower conversion. The HDN of pyridine occurred through the formation of piperidine, alkylpiperidines, and finally hydrocarbons. A Langmuir-Hinshelwood type rate expression satisfactorily represented the data. The apparent overall activation energy of the reaction (over sulphided catalyst) is found to be 15.6k cal/g-mol.</span