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A 9-year old experiment was conducted at Almora, India to study the effects of mineral sources of nutrients in different combinations with or without crop residue or farmyard manure (FYM) addition on crop productivity under a rainfed maize–wheat system. Plots under 100 % nitrogen–phosphorus–potassium (NPK) + FYM had maximum mean maize (5.00 Mg ha−1) and wheat (2.61 Mg ha−1) yields that were generally significantly higher than yields observed under other treatments. Total soil organic carbon (C) increased in all treatments except with mineral fertilization and control plots. While NPK treated plots had significantly higher benefit:cost ratio than NPK + FYM plots, organic C content in the NPK treated plots decreased over the initial soil and FYM treated plots had better soil physical and chemical properties than NPK only. Thus, the study showed that although the combined 100 % NPK and FYM application had higher productivity of the maize–wheat system, the same is as remunerative as 50 % NPK + FYM, if the cost of FYM was considered. However, depending upon the resource availability, farmers can also apply Kudzu, maize stalk and wheat straw annually along with adjusted dose of NPK to a crop and full dose of NPK to the other crop as the alternate options.

The eco-friendly synthesis of nanoparticles (NPs) in the materials science and engineering research field has a great attraction, especially molybdenum-based nanomaterials. Recently, molybdenum-based nanomaterials have become popular in various industrial sectors due to their versatile properties. The current study deals with the synthesis of molybdenum oxide (MoO3) NPs using Terminalia arjunabark extract. The prepared sample is annealed at different temperatures such as 100, 300, 500, and 700 °C. These samples are characterized by UV–vis, FTIR, and XRD techniques. The XRD analysis of the MoO3NPs prepared at 700 °C reveals an orthorhombic structure with better crystallinity. The sample is annealed at 700 °C subjected to SEM, EDX, and TEM analysis. EDX elemental analysis reveals the presence of Mo (84.43 wt.%) and O (15.57 wt.%). TEM image interpretation shows the cubic and spherical-shaped particles ranging from 50 to 600 nm. The different concentrations of (1, 2.5, and 5 mg/ml) MoO3NPs tested for antibacterial application. Better activity is noted against Klebsiella pneumoniaeand Pseudomonas aeruginosaat 5 mg/ml. The biocompatibility assessment of synthesized MoO3NPs was evaluated against the model organism Artemia salinanauplii. As a result, none of the tested concentrations revealed the mortality of A. salinanauplii.