Search

We categorized chickpea nodules based on their size (mm) [large (> 7), medium (2–7), small (

Production of improved valued tea is in high demand due to its pharmacological properties against various neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease. In this study, an attempt was made to compare the protective effect of the tea grown under organic and inorganic nutrient management practices against intra-cerebroventricular (i.c.v) colchicine induced memory impairment and oxidative damage in rat model of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Results showed that chronic intraperitoneal (i.p) administration of tea extract (20 mg/kg i.p) significantly improved the cognitive dysfunction and memory impairment in colchicine treated AD rat model. This beneficial effect occurred with an increase in α-secretase activity, Superoxide dismutase, Catalase activities, and a decrease in Acetylcholinesterase level, Aβ -42 level, Cox-2-linked neuro-inflammation by intraperitoneal injection of tea extract grown organically and inorganically. The amyloid Aβ concentration in the rat model of AD was 84 ± 1.7 pg/mg protein. With administration of tea extract, the amyloid Aβ concentration decreased significantly to 55 ± 1.5, 52 ± 1.3 and 49 ± 1.5 pg/mg protein with the field level management of inorganic, integrated and organic nutrients, respectively. In this study celecoxib (20 mg/kg i.p) is used as a reference standard. This study stated organic tea as a promising neuroprotective agent or adjuvant to prevent AD.

Sustainable crop production in sub-tropical countries is severely affected by the unscientific application of fertilizers. The SPAD based N management of the rice–wheat sequence was investigated in eastern India. Topdressing of 25 kg N ha−1 was applied at SPAD 36 and 40 (S36 and S40) for rice (Oryza sativa L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), respectively, reduced the N requirement by an average of 26.5% (33.3% in rice and 18.8% in wheat) over the fixed-time N management (FTNM) without reducing the grain yield. The 25 kg N ha−1 increased nutrient removal in the system having high agronomic N use efficiency (21.4) and nitrogen recovery efficiency (0.60) with the lower N requirement (62.5 kg N ha−1) over the FTNM. The treatment with medium SPAD (S36 for rice and S40 for wheat) under 25 kg N ha−1 increased the agronomic N use efficiency by 58% in rice and 58.5% in wheat compared to that under FTNM and recorded the highest gross (2106.1$ ha−1 Year−1) and net (1202.5$ ha−1 Year−1) returns from the rice–wheat system. The SPAD-based N management increased the water content in N-treated plots compared to that in the control plots, and the utmost moisture custody was observed when using a moderate (25 kg ha−1) N topdressing at a moderate SPAD (S36 for rice and S40 for wheat) for a given soil suction. This study suggests that using SPAD meter in rice–wheat system can cover the productive N management and profitability and can be dependably used in precision agriculture to manage the spatial variation in farmers’ field.

A comparative study on the effect of elevated CO2 environment on soil nitrogen availability in different rice planting system is needed to develop nutrient management strategies in future climate scenarios. A field experiment was conducted inside open top chambers (OTC) to study the effect of elevated CO2 environment with varying nitrogen management on soil NH4+–N and NO3−–N status in two planting system of rice, direct-seeded rice (DSR) and puddled transplanted rice (PTR). The nitrogen management included chemical fertilizer (CF) at 100% (CF100) and 150% (CF150) of the recommended dose, integrated nitrogen management including organic fertilizer (OF) and CF as CF75+ OF75, and site-specific N management through CF using SPAD meter. The soil NH4+–N content was higher in PTR, but NO3−–N was higher in DSR. The soil NH4+–N and NO3−–N content decreased significantly under elevated CO2 environment as compared to ambient in both planting system, except the NO3−–N content at flowering in DSR. The decrease was around 8% for NH4+–N and 5% for NO3−–N content. Soil nitrogen content in DSR can be maintained by following integrated nutrient management (CF75 + OF75) and SPAD-based nitrogen management for sustainable yield. Grain yield, in general, increased with CO2 elevation in both planting system. Under ambient environment, CF150 increased the grain yield by 23% as compared to CF100 in DSR, but no change was noted in PTR. However, under elevated CO2 environment, CF150 increased the grain yield by 13% in PTR. Under elevated CO2 environment, the yield increase of the hybrid rice to additional N fertilizer application was noted in PTR but not in DSR. This study suggests that for sustainable rice production under increasing CO2 environment in future climate scenarios, higher dose of N fertilizer is recommended in PTR, but normal dose in DSR production system.

Temperatures have a major effect on potato crop growth and yield attributes during the crop growing season. In this study, the SUBSTOR-Potato model was used to simulate the potato crop growth and yield in a sub-tropical region of West Bengal comprising of three districts, namely West Medinipur, Bankura and Birbhum in India. Also, the effect of temperature and planting dates scenario on potato crop growth was evaluated by using 30 years historical weather data of the aforesaid districts. Field experiments were conducted on potato crops of cultivar Kufri Jyoti under two planting dates (10th and 25th of December) and different fertilizer treatments in the years 2013–2014 and 2014–2015, respectively. The statistical results showed the satisfactory performance of the model with an R2 of 0.82 to 0.98 and d-stat of 0.94 to 0.98 for the year 2013–2014 and an R2 of 0.89 to 0.98 and d-stat of 0.97 to 0.98 for the year 2014–2015. Evaluation of planting dates with past 30 years historical data showed planting dates 20th and 30th of November resulted in average higher yield than planting dates 10th, 25th and 30th of December, respectively, in current climate scenario. Furthermore, the study suggests that amending the planting dates is an effective climate change adaptation strategy for reducing the effect of temperature on the yield of a potato crop in the near future.

Water management technologies under projected climate change will play key role in sustainable rice production. Modeling approach was used to assess the impact of climate change on rice production under drip irrigation (DIR) and conventional puddle transplanted (PTR) in subtropical India. The genotype coefficients of CERES-Rice model (cv. Naveen) were determined and tested using experimental data for the years 2012–2014. Close match between the observed and simulated values was recorded during both the years which led to higher d-index (> 0.95) and lower normalized RMSE (RMSEn) values. Under the projected climate change scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5), grain yield reduced over the period 2020–2080, with higher decline in RCP 8.5. Over the period, higher nitrogen (N) use efficiency in DIR led to lower yield reduction over PTR. Among the different adaptation measures, higher fertilizer N dose was able to mitigate negative impact of temperature rise up to 3.3 °C over base period, beyond which grain yield was significantly reduced. Results of the simulations for the different sowing dates stated higher reduction in grain yield with delayed sowing in DIR as well as in PTR for both (RCP 4.5 and 8.5) climate change scenarios. However, early sowing resulted in better crop establishment in DIR leading to better yield compared to PTR in both the climate change scenarios.

The root induced changes in soil chemical and biological properties of five winter pulses (rajmash, fieldpea, lathyrus, lentil, and chickpea) were examined in mild-alkaline soil (pH ~ 7.8). Rhizospheric acidification was common in all pulses, and chickpea resulted in maximum reduction in rhizospheric pH in (4.8%). The resulted acidification substantially influenced the rhizospheric nutrient availability and scale of increase was highest for available-P. The relative changes for different nutrients followed the sequence P (37.4%) > Zn (35.8%) > Fe (32.4%) > N (18.4%) > S (17.5%). However, the available K did not differ significantly. Soil biological indicators like microbial biomass carbon (C) and fluorescein diacetate were enhanced by 63–243.5 and 9.8–36.3%, respectively over the bulk soil. Likewise, improvement in soil organic C was also evident. The rhizospheric soil had higher passive C-pool indicating pulses can improve soil resistant C-fractions, which persists for a longer time. Among the pulses, chickpea had the maximum rhizospheric alteration and thus distinguished as most potential winter pulse crop under the mild-alkaline soil.

The Extended Range Forecasts System (ERFS) has been generating monthly and seasonal forecasts on real-time basis throughout the year over India since 2009. India is one of the major rice producer and consumer in South Asia; more than 50% of the Indian population depends on rice as staple food. Rice is mainly grown in kharif season, which contributed 84% of the total annual rice production of the country. Rice cultivation in India is rainfed, which depends largely on rains, so reliability of the rainfall forecast plays a crucial role for planning the kharif rice crop. In the present study, an attempt has been made to test the reliability of seasonal and sub-seasonal ERFS summer monsoon rainfall forecasts for kharif rice yield predictions at Kharagpur, West Bengal by using CERES-Rice (DSSATv4.5) model. These ERFS forecasts are produced as monthly and seasonal mean values and are converted into daily sequences with stochastic weather generators for use with crop growth models. The daily sequences are generated from ERFS seasonal (June–September) and sub-seasonal (July–September, August–September, and September) summer monsoon (June to September) rainfall forecasts which are considered as input in CERES-rice crop simulation model for the crop yield prediction for hindcast (1985–2008) and real-time mode (2009–2015). The yield simulated using India Meteorological Department (IMD) observed daily rainfall data is considered as baseline yield for evaluating the performance of predicted yields using the ERFS forecasts. The findings revealed that the stochastic disaggregation can be used to disaggregate the monthly/seasonal ERFS forecasts into daily sequences. The year to year variability in rice yield at Kharagpur is efficiently predicted by using the ERFS forecast products in hindcast as well as real time, and significant enhancement in the prediction skill is noticed with advancement in the season due to incorporation of observed weather data which reduces uncertainty of yield prediction. The findings also recommend that the normal and above normal yields are predicted well in advance using the ERFS forecasts. The outcomes of this study are useful to farmers for taking appropriate decisions well in advance for climate risk management in rice production during different stages of the crop growing season at Kharagpur.

Organic farming is rapidly gaining recognition worldwide as a promising means to offer healthier food and to ensure environmental sustainability. Currently, organic produce including organic rice is in huge demand owing to its potential to fetch premium price in the global market. Despite the fact that rice performs well under organic production system, a set of constraints including nitrogen stress at critical growth stages, unavailability of rapidly mineralizable organic amendments, lack of appropriate varieties and intense crop–weed competition pose major challenges to realize the potential yield. Use of diverse organic nutrient sources including the split application of fast mineralizable nutrient-rich manures (vermicompost, poultry manure), green manures and bio-fertilizers can supply optimum nutrients in organic rice system. In parallel, development and deployment of rice varieties having response to organic nutrient inputs, resistance to diseases/insects and ability to compete with weeds can help minimize the risk of crop failure. Further, higher emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in organic rice field deserves greater attention in view of environmental sustainability. Strategic water management and selection of appropriate organic amendments could help address this issue. However, a substantial research gap still exists demanding a deeper understanding of the organic rice system in order to register higher yield gains. This review article outlines the latest advances in organic rice production system with an emphasis on nutrient supply and ensuing dynamics, the outflow of GHGs, pest dynamics, produce quality and key attributes of rice cultivars for organic cultivation. We underscore the urgency for alignment of modern agricultural techniques with organic rice production to improve both the system productivity and the produce quality along with effectively avoiding the risks associated with in discriminate use of chemicals in agriculture.

Field experiments were conducted to analyse the changes in soil organic carbon (SOC), NH4 +-N and NO3 −-N and the yield of paddy rice due to application of organic (vermicompost, vermiwash, Azotobacter and crop residue) and inorganic sources of N in varied amounts and timing in dry-seeded rice during wet seasons (June–October) of 2013 and 2014. The residual effect of these nutrients was also assessed on pod yield of chickpea that was grown after rice. The experiment laid in a randomized complete block design comprised eight treatment combinations of organic and inorganic nutrient management and one control, where nothing was added. Our results indicated that recommended dose of N (100 kg ha−1) through vermicompost (VC) applied full as basal and in splits (half at basal and the other half at panicle initiation stage) to rice could attain 75 and 88% grain yield of chemical fertilizer (CF), respectively. The split application of VC was comparable to CF alone and CF + VC treatment in maintaining organic carbon, NH4 +-N and NO3 −-N contents of soil at panicle initiation stage of the rice crop. The residual effect of split application of VC gave significantly higher pod yield of chickpea compared to the rest of the treatments. Hence, split application of VC to rice was effective in improving rice grain yield than its one-time application and yield of following chickpea crop in lateritic soil.

With the rise in population, under future scenarios, global food demand is expected to increase. Biotic and abiotic factors such as climate change are threat to food security owing to its variability, occurrence, duration and magnitude of extreme events. Since, the climate change is unequivocal, the adaptations and mitigations for sustainable agricultural production can minimize its negative impact on agriculture and improve food grain productivity. The grain yield of rice and peanut was simulated for the base period (1969–1999) and future periods 2020 (2011–2040), 2050 (2041–2070) and 2080 (2071–2100) under A2 and B2 scenarios of HadCM3 Global Climate Model. Under the A2 and B2 scenarios, the yield of both rice and peanut declined from base period to the future periods 2011–2040, 2041–2070 and 2071–2100. The cultivar ‘IR 36’ was found to be more sensitive to rising temperature under future climate scenarios as compared to ‘Swarna.’ The yield decline for future climate scenarios increased with locations from higher (Kharagpur and Cuttack) to lower latitude (East Godavari and Vizianagaram). Earlier transplanting time of rice compared to normal (15 July) and sowing time of peanut from normal (9 February) increased the simulated yields of rice-peanut system at higher latitude and reduced the yield loss at lower latitude in future climate scenarios. Delayed planting caused maximum grain yield reduction of the cropping system in future climate scenarios at all the locations.

Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration has a potential impact on the growth and yield of rice (Oryza sativa L.), but little is known on grain milling quality. A field experiment in open-top chamber (OTC) was conducted to assess the effect of elevated CO2 under varying N management on brown rice, milled rice and head rice yield. The experiment was conducted during wet season (June–November) of the year 2011 and 2012 at Kharagpur, India, using a long-duration, high-yielding cultivar ‘Swarna Sub1,’ which was grown in open field and in OTCs of ambient and elevated CO2 environment (25 % higher than ambient) with five different N management levels. The elevated CO2 reduced the brown rice, milled rice and head rice percentage by 1.2, 1.4 and 14 %, respectively, as compared to ambient environment in OTC. Due to elevated CO2, the reduction in processed yields were 9 and 4 % in brown/milled rice and 21 and 15 % in head rice under sole application of chemical fertilizer and integration of chemical and organic sources, respectively. The decrease in rice milling quality was associated with increasing canopy temperature (+0.8 °C) during grain-filling stage under elevated CO2 environment. The elevated CO2 has a substantial adverse impact on grain milling quality, and to some extent, this can be compensated through proper N management.

Anthropogenic aerosols in the lower troposphere increase the absorption and scattering of solar radiation by air and clouds, causing a warmer atmosphere and a cooler surface. It is suspected that these effects contribute to slow down the hydrological cycle. We conducted a series of numerical experiments using a limited area atmospheric model to understand the impacts of aerosol radiative forcing on the rainfall process. Experiments with different radiative conditions under an idealized setting revealed that increasing atmospheric forcing and decreasing surface forcing of radiation causes reductions in rainfall. There was no relationship of top of the atmosphere forcing to the rainfall yield. The model was then used to simulate a domain covering southern part of Sri Lanka, over for the period from November 2002 to July 2003. For a given radiative forcing, instances with lower rainfall yields showed larger fractional reductions in rainfall. The trends in seasonal rainfall observed over the site in past 30 years in a different study confirms this finding. We conclude that the negative impact of increase of anthropogenic aerosols on rainfall would be more severe on regions and seasons with lower rainfall yields. The consequences of this problem on the industries that critically depend on well-distributed rainfall like non-irrigated agriculture and on the general livelihood of societies in low-rain areas can be serious.

Degradation of the natural resource base has led to decline in crop yields or stagnation that caused food shortages at varying degrees among mountain families. Rice, the major staple food in Asia, is suffering from lack of suitable cultivar and N fertilizer management, when grown near mountainous slopes under rain-fed agro-ecosystem. An investigation through a field experiment and simulation study was conducted at United Nations University, Tokyo to select suitable rice cultivars and N fertilizer level for the rice grown near mountainous slopes in Orissa, India. The field experiment was conducted during wet season (June to November) of 2001 at Kasiadihi village of Dhenkanal district, Orissa, India with eight popular rice cultivars of medium (120–130 d) and long duration (135–150 d) group and four N levels (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg·ha−1). Highest grain yield of 5,680 kg·ha−1 was obtained from cultivar Ranjit of long duration group followed by 4,730 kg·ha−1 from cultivar Mahamaya of medium duration group, across N levels. CERES-Rice model was used to simulated grain yield of these two selected cultivars using historical weather data of the past 18 years (1983–2000). Long duration cultivar Ranjit registered higher yield with lower stability as compared medium duration cultivar Mahamaya over the past 18 years. An optimum N fertilizer level of 80 kg·ha−1 was recommended for rice grown under rain-fed ecosystem near mountainous slopes in Orissa, India to attain optimum yield potential of cultivar.