Search

Crop residue management and curbing stubble burning is of global interest. For every tonne of rice harvested, approximately 1.4 tonnes of straw is left behind on the crops and a similar proportion applies for the other major crops as well. Direct on-farm burning remains the most common method in India to manage these huge volumes of crop residues. Generating biogas from the crop wastes could be an effective and environment friendly alternative. Biogas is a renewable source of energy, offers controlled waste management along with reducing greenhouse gases and harmful pollutants. The digested sludge when used as an organic fertiliser even completes a sustainable loop of recycling nutrients back into the soil. Crop residues due to their rich organic content have demonstrated excellent biogas potential. Most energy crops have shown methane yields of approximately 300 m3/t of organic matter. This gas could be used as a fuel or converted to electricity or even upgraded to bio-methane. To further optimise the process, different types of pre-treatment methods and co-digestion of the substrates have been identified. The current article aims at providing a perspective on the impact of stubble burning and replacing the practice by producing biogas instead, thus, providing information on the potential, limitations and methods for optimising methane generation from the crop residues.

The present study aims to identify and forecast the probability of impact due to any oil spill near Paradeep coast, Odisha. Different hypothetical spill cases in different time intervals on the coast generate a probability map for oil spills consequences. A stochastic oil spill modelling approach is followed to understand the potential impacts of the oil spill in and around Paradeep, a busy port on the east coast of India. The study considers oil spills at one location on various dates (15 to be precise) spread over the seasons (summer, rainy, and winter). The 15 scenarios with different environmental conditions throughout the whole year are studied in a stochastic modelling approach. The probabilistic calculation of risk and forecasting of possible consequences of oil spill in the model can be used for oil spill risk assessment of Odisha marine environment. The stochastic modelling results of the scenarios showed that any spill near the Paradeep coast affects a large area of the coast.

Oil spill risk has been increased in Odisha offshore due to the frequency of crude oil transportation through the Bay of Bengal. At the same time, Odisha’s coastline is blessed with high diversity of natural ecosystems and habitats as well as high economic activities such as ports, fishing harbours, beaches. Any oils spill in this area could have a devastating effect on the marine and coastal environment. This study has identified the Odisha coast's potential environmental sensitive zones for oil spills and classified the coastline with different sensitive indexes along the Odisha coast. The comprehensive study delivers sensitive coastal maps that integrate Odisha coast's topographic, meteorological, biological, and human resource data. The estuaries, mudflat, turtle nesting beaches, spits, dunes, a brackish water lagoon carry different sensitive ranks on the map. The study concludes that mangroves and tidal flats found in the northern part of the coast are more vulnerable to the oil spill impact. The Environmental Sensitive Index (ESI) ranks of medium to high are assigned for different coastal parts of Odisha. The study has also highlighted concise information about sensitive biological and human-use resources for better response plans and oil spill management decisions to protect the Odisha coastline and biodiversity.

Sclerotium oryzaeCatt. stem rot in rice is a devastating disease affecting rice productivity. Administration of sub-lethal dose (50 µM) of cadmium (Cd) against the pathogenic activity of Sclerotium oryzaeon low-land rice (Oryza sativavar. Manika), was investigated. Improvement of shoot length was noticed with an increase in photosynthetic pigments, total carbohydrate, sugar, protein content in co-stressed (Cd + S. oryzae) rice as compared to the pathogen (S. oryzae) treated plant. Reduction of the fungal load was observed in co-stressed rice root tissue as evident by the SEM study. Fungus-treated rice, showed 2.4 fold reductions in protein level in 30 days after inoculation while that reduction was only 1.2 fold in co-stressed plants. In co-stressed rice Cd was traced in the root but not in shoot, leaf, panicle, and grain as evident by atomic absorption spectroscopy and Raman spectrum. An increase of stress-mediated proline (~ 4.2 fold) and other metabolites were found adjusted at co-stressed rice that might be due to Cd induced defense response in rice against S. oryzae. Downregulation of enhanced phenyl ammonia-lyase (PAL) and malondialdehyde (MDA) activity in co-stressed rice as compared to Cd treated plant justifies heavy metal (sub-lethal dose) mediated activation of the defense system of rice. A significant increase in the activity of catalase, guaiacol peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase observed in the co-stressed plant as compared to the pathogen treated plant supports the concept of cellular defense mechanism in rice. Protein band of ~ 29 kDa was disappeared in S. oryzeinfected rice while co-stressed rice showed a new ~ 23.5 kDa band that might be due to activation of PR-protein mediated defense in rice. The effect of low-dose Cd might be useful in providing defense in paddy crops against pathogen infection.

Karyomorphological analysis was done in cooking banana cultivars (Musa acuminateL.) namely cv. Gajabnatala, cv. Paunsiabnatala, cv. Mendhibantala, cv. Desi-Dakshinisagar, cv. Normal-Daksinisagar, cv. Mutant-Daksinisagar and cv. Shankara of Odisha, India. All cultivars were 2n= 3x= 33 with an average mitotic metaphase chromosome length ranged from 1.20 µm in cv. Shankara to 2.15 µm in cv. Desi-Dakhinisagara. Total chromosome length varied from 39.75 to 71.04 µm. Predominance of nearly median chromosomes found a typical characteristic of the seven studied plantain cultivars in which the total F% varied from 38.63 in cv. Mendhibantala to 45.31 in cv. Desi-Dakhinisagara. The total chromosome volume was found lowest in cv. Shankara (18.46 µm) and highest in cv. Desi-Dakhinisagara (32.24 µm). The interphase nuclear volume calculated ranged from 562.50 µm3in cv. Shankara to 1463.04 µm3in cv. Mendhibantala. ‘Desi-Dakhinisagara’ with the highest karyotype asymmetry value found advanced cultivar among all with lowest asymmetry in cv. Mutant Dakhinisagara found primitive. UPGMA clustering of five intra-chromosomal and two inter-chromosomal asymmetry indexes revealed the plantain cultivars except cv. Mendhibantala along with cv. Shankara and cv. Dakhinisagara along with cv. Mendhibantala were grouped together in the phylogenetic tree.

Air pollution has become a matter of concern over Indian mega-cities. In the present study, we analyse the variation of particulate matter (PM) (PM10and PM2.5) over Bhubaneswar (20.18°N, 85.50°E, 45 above MSL), which is a coastal Indian station, and the state capital of Odisha. Variation of meteorological parameters (i.e. air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction) over the station shows low winds originating and transported mainly from land areas during post-monsoon and winter, and from the Bay of Bengal during pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons. The site, in general, has evident diurnal variations of meteorological parameters and PM, other than monsoon season. In addition to surface observations at the site, 48-h back trajectory calculation by HYSPLIT model and the study employs potential source contribution function analysis for precise identification of the transported pollution areas for different seasons.

Numerical oil spill trajectory modelling aims at predicting and forecasting the movement of the oil spill. This paper discusses trajectory oil spill modelling for the hypothetical oil spills in the Bay of Bengal, off the Odisha coast. The models have been simulated in different locations of Odisha offshore for various weather conditions. The result showed that the northeast monsoon drives the slick faster than the southwest monsoon. A spill from 85 to 110 km away from the beach reached the coastline with higher speed in the cyclonic period. At the same time, the spill location at 70 km away from the coast could not reach the coast; this implies direction and speed of the wind and current play a critical role in spill movement. The fate budget of spill oil shows about 36% of evaporation happened in each case which shows that the period of spill and distance are not impacting the fate of oil. The direction of oil slick movement and speed are essential to understand the beaching of the oil pollutant at the shore. The study concluded that wind and ocean currents significantly influence oil spill movement.

Detailed karyotype, genome size and RAPD marker analysis were employed to assess genetic diversity in Taro (Colocasia esculentavar antiquoromSchott.).Karyotype analysis revealed genotype specific chromosomal characteristics and structural alterations in chromosome with variations of ploidy from 2n = 2x = 28 (cv. Mothan, cv. Muktakeshi, cv. Sree Kiran, cv. Sree Pallavi, cv. Sunajhili) to 3n = 3x = 42 (cv. Banky, cv. DP-25, cv. Duradin, cv. H-3, cv. Telia) in the genome. Highly significant variations in the genomic length, volume and total form (TF) % were noted at variety level. Total genomic chromosome length varied from 46.96μm in cv. Sree Kiran to 100.49μm in cv. Duradin. Total genomic chromosome volume varied from 18.22μm3in cv. Sunajhili to 38.22μm3in cv. Duradin. Total form percentage was varied from 24.94% in cv. Sree Kiran to 39.04% in cv. H-3 confirming near metacentric to metacentric chromosomes in the karyotype. Significant variations in the 4C DNA content noted among the cultivars that ranged from 7.24 pg in cv. Sree Kiran to 18.24 pg in cv. Duradin; accordingly, genome size varied from ~7095 to 17875 Mbp. High genome size in all the triplod varieties with 3x = 42 chromosomes could be due to the presence of extra set of chromosomes in the genome or high amount of repetitive DNA. The variation in the genome size at the variety level might be attributed to loss or addition of highly repetitive sequences in the genome. Amplification of genomic DNA in 10 genotypes using Operon primers yielded 230 amplified DNA fragments, ranging in size from 200 to 2500bp out of which 79 bands were polymorphic. A total of 8 unique RAPD bands were observed among 10 taro genotypes that revealed primer wise polymorphism ranged from 16.66 to 47.36% with an average polymorphic percentage of 34.34%. Whereas, among the cultivars the polymorphic percentage varied from 3.70% between cv. DR-25 & cv. Duradin and cv. Telia & cv. H-3 to 41.94% between cv. Mothan & cv. Muktakeshi. Genetic similarity based on Jaccard’s coefficient varied from 0.54 to 0.96, indicating wide genetic variability among the varieties based on RAPD markers. Similarity measures and cluster analysis generally reflected the expected trends in relationships of diploid and triplod taro varieties. Dendrogram obtained from the genetic distances among the varieties could be useful for breeders to choose the diverse parents for breeding programme aimed at varietal improvement.

The antimicrobial effects of silver nanocomposite particles (Ag-ZnO NC) on microorganisms, the antimicrobial mechanism and applications in medical devices are not yet clear. Stable Ag-ZnO NC were prepared and their morphological sizes and shapes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The effect of Ag-ZnO NC was tested on Bacillus thuringiensis, Escherichia coliand Pseudomonas aeruginosain antibacterial tests including growth kinetics, antimicrobial susceptibility (disc diffusion) and minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC). Different concentrations of nanocomposites (i.e. 10, 20, 50,100, and 200 μg) showed concentration-dependant efficacy on all three tested microorganisms. E. coliwas fairly sensitive in 200 μg of NC, forming a ∼15 mm inhibition zone; followed by B. thuringiensis, having ∼9 mm of inhibition zone, while P. aeruginosa, a pathogenic bacterium, showed negligible inhibition zone with Ag-ZnO NC. Growth of E. coliunder Ag-ZnO NC treatment was significantly delayed with an extended lag phase of 2 hrs and 30 mins. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed the bacteriostatic effect of Ag-ZnO NC, which was manifested in cell division arrest with significant cell elongations compared to the control. The free radical generation effect of Ag-ZnO NC was tested against all these organisms. The results suggest that Ag-ZnO NC can be used effectively against microbial growth. This may be of use in diverse medical devices for antimicrobial control and can be a proper substitute for antibiotics in curing human health.

We benchmark and improve the independent electron surface-hopping (IESH) method developed by J. C. Tully’s group for nonadiabatic simulations near metal surfaces. We have incorporated decoherence within the IESH method as well as implemented a scheme for the accurate calculation of diabatic populations. We benchmark the original IESH method with the above inclusions for a model system to calculate rate constants and long-time populations. The original IESH method fails to capture the detailed balance for some of the parameters, which is corrected with the inclusion of decoherence and accurate calculation of diabatic populations. Total rate constants are well captured both within the original IESH method as well as within our modified IESH.

There was a typo in the third author’s name in the initial online publication. The original article has been corrected.