Mechanical harvesting in tea: A case study of Pasuparai estate

Tea cultivation is a highly labour intensive and more than 2.0 lakh people are directly or indirectly involved in south India. Normally, women workers are deployed to harvest the crop manually at an interval of 10-12 days. By the turn of the century, usage of hand held shears became inevitable to increase the labour productivity. An interval of 14-16 days is mandatory to obtain good quality and regular crop production when hand held shears are used. Employing more labour is not practically and economically viable and hence adoption of mechanical harvesting is the only option to achieve the sustainability of the crop. The case study deals with continuous mechanization over a period of 6 years and its impact on crop productivity besides the adoption of improved agronomic practices. Significant improvement in plucking average was recorded after the introduction of machines. Timely harvesting of the crop improved the quality parameters of made tea and reduced the cost of harvesting. Deliberate addition of a new tier of maintenance foliage was followed during January-March, every year after the machine harvesting. Furthermore, foliar application of micronutrients, plant growth regulators and potassium nitrate also given to minimize the ill effects of mechanization. Mechanization enabled to achieve sustained crop productivity, and the case study narrates the impact of mechanization and the importance of adopting good agronomic practices to sustain the productivity in south Indian tea plantations

Spectroscopic Techniques and Their Application in Metabolic Profiling of Wood: A Minireview

GC/LC-MS and NMR spectroscopy have increasingly occupied a central position in the methodologies developed for metabolic analysis. This brief review deals with introduction of terminology used in metabolic analysis. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) commonly used in metabolic analysis and metabolic profiling of wood and wood based material by spectroscopic techniques. Apart from the description of the different methods, this review will try to direct the reader to the main approaches for analysis of metabolites in wood science. Keywords: Metabolic profiling, Wood, GC/LC-MS, NMR Spectroscopy

Impact of continuous mechanical harvesting on the carbohydrate dynamics and architectural characteristics of tea plants

Tea is a labour intensive plantation crop and management of crop husbandry practices has become difficult due to the scarcity of labour. In order to improve the labour productivity and to attain positive cost benefits ratio, management of tea estates are forced to adopt mechanization as a routine cultural operation. In the present study, carbohydrate dynamics and bush architecture of machine harvested fields are studied in comparison to integrated shear harvested fields. Continuous mechanization registered relatively lower levels of phytomass. Recovery from pruning was delayed in the mechanically harvested fields. Yield and yield attributes were significantly higher in the integrated shear harvested fields compared to mechanical harvesting. Carbohydrate dynamics of both the fields indicated low level of total carbohydrate, starch and reducing sugars in the root. Replenishment of carbohydrate showed a similar pattern in both the fields. No major variation was observed between the treatments for photosynthetic carbon dioxide assimilation rate and pigment concentration. Leaf constituents like polyphenols, catechins and amino acids of crop shoots did not show major variations. Soil biota was less in the mechanically harvested fields. The data generated from this experiment will lead to advanced research on mechanization and to develop suitable agro-technologies

Carbon sequestration in tea soil through burial of pruning and its impact on biomass production and soil characteristics

Global warming and climate change issues force the scientists to focus their attention on carbon sequestration by the terrestrial vegetation. Tea being a perennial crop, its pruned litters contribute to the organic carbon addition to the soils. In this context, randomized block design experiment was conducted to quantify the addition of organic carbon in tea plantations with respect to burial of pruning. Soils of the experimental plots were sampled regularly and subjected to nutrient analysis and population density of soil micro flora. On recovery, economically important crop shoots harvested at regular interval were recorded. There was a significant variation in the biomass produced over a period of one pruning cycle. Complete removal of pruned litter from the tea field registered lower quantum of biomass; however, it supported favourable compartmentalization in terms of economic yield which reflected upon the productivity index (54.86) at the cost of reduction in carbohydrate reserves in the roots. In other words about 55% of organic carbon was harvested as economic yield in burial of pruning. In terms of carbon sequestration, ~3.0 tons of organic carbon was removed as biomass in pruned year (in control blocks) while as high as 4.8 tons organic carbon/ha sequestrated where the burial of pruned litters was adopted. Organic carbon content of both the surface and bottom soils were significantly higher when the pruned litters were buried in the trenches. Post treatment results confirmed an increase in the populations of total bacteria, fungi, Trichoderma spp., Actinomycetes, Azosprillum spp, Phosphate solubilising bacteria and Pseudomonas spp. Even though burial of pruning is a laborious process, when considering the issues on global warming, this could be adopted in tea plantations as a measure of carbon sequestration, which in turn improved the soil fertility, soil micro flora and the economic yield besides the total biomass production. Data generated on enhanced economic yield and total biomass production are presented and discussed in terms of carbon sequestration and clean development mechanism

A prospective randomized trial of trans cervical Foley’s with extra amniotic saline infusion versus intra cervical prostaglandin E2 gel for induction of labour setting

Background: This study evaluated the effectiveness of Extra-amniotic saline infusion (EASI) in comparison with that of intracervical Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) gel for cervical ripening and induction of labour.Methods: The study conducted in SDM College of Medical College Dharwad, Department of OBG, from December 2012 to November 2013. Consecutive patients with unfavorable cervices requiring pre-induction cervical ripening and induction of labour for various indications were asked to participate in this study. 50 patients (Group A) underwent extra amniotic saline infusion and 50 patients (Group B) underwent PGE2 gel application. Post induction augmentation if required was administered. Labour profile outcomes were compared between the groups.Results: Results were comparable in terms of maternal age, indication for induction in majority of cases, pre-induction Bishop Score, mode of delivery, complications and side effects, neonatal complications, and Apgar Score. The mean post induction Bishop Score was higher in EASI group by an average of 9. The mean duration of augmentation was more in PGE2 group by an average of 2 hrs. The induction delivery interval (IDI) was prolonged by an average of 3.5 hours in PGE2 group.Conclusions: For pre-induction cervical ripening the extra amniotic saline infusion is valid alternative for the PGE2 gel. Both the modes of induction were equally safe and effective in terms of mode of delivery and Apgar Score. EASI, however, had rapid cervical ripening and shorter induction delivery interval

OPTIMIZATION OF PLY STACKING SEQUENCE OF COMPOSITE DRIVE SHAFT USING PARTICLE SWARM ALGORITHM

In this paper an attempt has been made to optimize ply stacking sequence of single piece E-Glass/Epoxy and Boron /Epoxy composite drive shafts using Particle swarm algorithm (PSA). PSA is a population based evolutionary stochastic optimization technique which is a resent heuristic search method, where mechanics are inspired by swarming or collaborative behavior of biological population. PSA programme is developed to optimize the ply stacking sequence with an objective of weight minimization by considering design constraints as torque transmission capacity, fundamental natural frequency, lateral vibration and torsional buckling strength having number of laminates, ply thickness and stacking sequence as design variables. The weight savings of the E-Glass/epoxy and Boron /Epoxy shaft from PAS were 51% and 85 % of the steel shaft respectively. The optimum results of PSA obtained are compared with results of genetic algorithm (GA) results and found that PSA yields better results than GA

Outcomes of mono-lateral limb reconstruction system in infected non-union of long bones

Background: We planned to evaluate functional and radiological outcomes of mono-lateral limb reconstruction system for infected non-union of long bones and to analyse its complications occurring.Methods: It was a prospective study, conducted during period of September 2015 to August 2017 and consisted of 73 cases of these 60 cases were available for final assessment. This infected non-union were classified by AO classification and were treated with mono lateral limb reconstruction system. All the cases were evaluated by ASAMI criteria for bony and functional outcomes. Our mean follow up period was 16.8 months.Results: Among 60 cases of infected non-union with mono-lateral external fixator were followed for mean 16.8 months. According to these ASAMI criteria in our study 26.6% had excellent; 46.6% had good; 16.6% fair; and 10% poor bony outcome. And the functional outcomes were 13.3%, 60%, 16.6%, 10% were excellent, good, fair and poor respectively. Among the cases 50% had pin tract infections and loosening. Two cases pin revision was done. Sinus tract got cleared in all cases except 6 where multiple sinus tracts were present and healing did not occur. There were no infections at the corticotomy site. Delay in the consolidation phase was present in all cases. There was no difficulty in transportation of bone. Post-operatively wound dehiscence in eight cases was managed with split skin graft cover. Limb length discrepancy upto 2.5 cms in lower limb was managed with modified footwear with heel and sole raise. Non-healing fractures united in mean 5.9 months after start of treatment. Non-union site united in 90% cases. Conclusions: Mono-lateral limb reconstruction system is efficient method for treatment of infected non-union of long bones. It has an additional advantage of correcting limb length discrepancies which sometimes occur during the course of treatment.Keywords: Non-union, Infection, Long bones, Limb reconstruction system, External fixato

Ketorolac eye drop induced allergic wheal and chemosis

Ketorolac is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug which is prescribed rampantly in the treatment of seasonal allergic conjunctivitis due to its clinical efficacy of providing rapid relief from symptoms of allergy. There is a potential for cross sensitivity to aspirin. Hence, a leading question on aspirin allergy must be taken before prescribing the drug ketorolac