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Evaluating drought parameters at the basin level is one of the fundamental processes for planning sustainable crop production. This study aimed to evaluate both short-term and long-term meteorological drought parameters within the Vaippar Basin, located in southern India, by employing the standardized precipitation index (SPI). Gridded rainfall values developed from 13 rain gauge stations were employed to calculate the SPI values. Drought parameters, encompassing occurrence, intensity, duration, frequency, and trends, were assessed for both short-term and long-term droughts. The study findings indicated that the occurrence of short-term drought was 51.7%, while that of long-term drought was 49.82%. Notably, the basin experienced extreme short-term droughts in 1980, 1998 and 2016 and long-term droughts in 1981, 2013, and 2017. Utilizing an innovative trend identification method for SPI values, a significant monotonic upwards trend was identified in October and December for short-term drought and in December for long-term drought. This study defined the minimum threshold rainfall, which represents the critical amount required to prevent short-term drought (set at 390 mm) and long-term drought (set at 635 mm). The drought severity recurrence curves developed in this study indicate that when the SPI values fall below − 1.0, short-term drought affects 25% of the basin area, while long-term drought impacts 50% of the basin area at a 20-year recurrence interval. Additionally, the drought hazard index (DHI), which combines drought intensity and severity, demonstrated higher values in the northwestern regions for short-term drought and in the southern areas for long-term drought. The study's findings, highlighting areas of drought vulnerability, severity, and recurrence patterns in the basin, direct the attention for timely intervention when drought initiates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the trend of seasonal rainfall in the context of climate change is crucial for the maintenance of regional water resources management. The present study examines the seasonal rainfall trend in the Mahi River basin, India by using the wavelet transform and clustering method. Daily gridded rainfall data (0.25° × 0.25° spatial resolution) for 51 grids from 1970 to 2020 have been taken from India Meteorological Department (IMD). The monthly, seasonal, and annual statistic has been analyzed for 51 years. We have also plotted the relationship between precipitation trend–elevation. After that, homogeneous precipitation regions are delineated with hierarchical clustering analysis. Results reveal that seasonal precipitation over the basin clusters into 4 subregions for monsoon and 3 subregions for winter, pre-monsoon, and post-monsoon seasons. After the regionalization of the subregions, the periodicity and the inter-seasonal relationship were analyzed using continuous wavelet transform (CWT). In addition, it was clear that the cross-correlation between pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons had a significant periodic change in the last 30 years over the basin. The basin is located adjacent to the Arabian sea, which makes the basin more sensitive to a natural event like ENSO, it can cause changes in ocean temperatures and atmospheric circulation patterns that affect precipitation patterns during the study period. It is expected that some natural phenomena like monsoon variability, low-level jet streams, and many more also have an impact on the rainfall patterns of the basin. Thus, the understanding of seasonal precipitation variation provides a practical reference for water resources management, agricultural planning, and a forecast of precipitation in different regions and river basins of India which may give a better climate change indication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population ageing combined with the disintegration of the traditional family structure is leading to increased vulnerability of the older adults, especially in the Southeast Asian countries like India. With decline in physical abilities, the older adults limit their daily activities to the peripheries of their familiar residential environment. Though the Indian older adults vary significantly in their perspective to life and ageing from their western counterparts, explorations of neighborhood parameters required for the well-being of the older adults have been limited in the Indian context. Though recent studies on Indian older adults reveal the emergence of groups of older adults with belief in independence and active ageing, a majority of the older adults in India still hold on to traditional beliefs systems like intergenerational inter-dependence, and disengagement in old age. Since the aim of the present study is to understand the link between neighborhood features and the overall QoL from a holistic approach, the study adopts the qualitative research technique which allows the freedom to explore the concept from varied perspectives. The study collects data through discussions with 83 older adults divided in in nine groups residing in nine different neighborhoods in Kolkata, India. The technique of content analysis was then conducted on the findings from focus group discussions to identify a holistic list of activities and their associated neighborhood infrastructure and attributes, perceived to contribute to the QoL domains of Indian older adults. The findings of this study can be useful to policy makers in formulating design guidelines for the built environment in order to cater to the overall QoL of the older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use change (LUC) has direct and indirect consequences on soil quality. To gain insight into how LUC influences the physical properties of soil, it can be advantageous to compare undisturbed ecosystems with those that have naturally evolved over time, as well as to use soil quality indices to pinpoint the sensitivity of each ecosystem and land use change (LUC). A soil survey was carried out in the six major ecosystems of the Nilgiri Hill Region: cropland (CL), deciduous forest (DF), evergreen forest (EF), forest plantation (FP), scrubland (SL), and tea plantation (TP), with those having an establishment for over 50 years being selected and analyzed for soil physical parameters. In addition, soil quality indices were also derived to pinpoint the vulnerability of each ecosystem to LUC. The results reveal that the changes in land use significantly altered the soil physical properties. The content of clay was higher in EF and DF and increased with the soil profile's depth, whereas the sand content was higher in CL and TP and decreased with the depth increment. BD and PD were significantly lower in EF, DF, SL, and FP, whereas they were higher in CL and TP. PS and ASM followed a similar trend to BD and PD. Owing to undisturbed natural settings, an abundance of litter input, and higher carbon concentrations, the HC was higher in EF, DF, SL, and FP, whereas, in the case of anthropogenic-influenced ecosystems such as CL and TP, it was lower. We discovered that LUC has altered Ag S, WSA, and MWD. Due to tillage and other cultural practices, Ag S, WSA, and MWD were significantly lower in CL and TP. However, the results confirm that native ecosystems (EF and DF) with a higher carbon content prevent such degradation, thereby resulting in good Ag S, WSA, and MWD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensity and frequency of extreme hydrological events are on the rise due to changing climate, and it is pertinent to identify the areas which are likely to suffer from such calamities. This study examines flood and drought susceptibilities in the district with a specific focus on two urban areas—Tuting and Yingkiong. To understand susceptibility enabling conditions, the study attempts an analysis of the recent climatic trends (1991–2021) in Upper Siang district employing regression analysis, Kendall tau, and Box and Whisker plots. Results reveal a general rise in the precipitation (26.42 mm/year) as well as in the temperature (0.032 °C/year) of the study area. Susceptibility is assessed based on analytic hierarchy process and using nine physical parameters viz., absolute relief, slope, drainage density, distance from streams, soil type, topographic wetness index, normalised difference vegetation index, and land use land cover. These layers are integrated to create flood and drought susceptibility maps. About 1.82% area of the Upper Siang district is highly susceptible to floods, whereas over 27% area falls under the high risk of droughts. Even though both the towns lie on the riverbank, Tuting is more prone to floods primarily due to its location on the inner concave side of a meander bend and relatively flat terrain, whereas Yingkiong is relatively safe because it lies on an elevated river terrace. Conversely, areas of the district above 2500 m a.s.l. are highly prone to droughts because of poor accessibility to water resources. It is found that the constrained and meandering valleys are more prone to floods, while steep slopes and ridgeline areas are more prone to droughts. Appropriate region-specific management options can reduce the susceptibility to extreme events in mountainous terrains. Therefore, owing to diverse topography, a region-specific physiographic approach is required in hilly environments for efficient mitigation of the impacts of extreme events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's livestock industry is grappling with a shortage of green fodder, necessitating concerted efforts to boost organized production and ensure a sufficient supply of high-quality forages, crucial for formulating nutritionally balanced, cost-effective, and rumen-healthy animal diets. Hence, this study was conducted to assess the plant growth-promoting characteristics of liquid microbial inoculants and their impact on the yield of forage pearl millet. The bacterial cultures utilized included Sphingobacterium sp., Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and an isolate from vegetable cowpea, subsequently identified as Burkholderia seminalis. These cultures were initially characterized for their plant growth-promoting traits at different temperature and physiological conditions. All the bacterial cultures were found promising for PGPR traits over varied temperature conditions and the optimum activity was recorded at 40 °C, with tolerance to saline and drought stresses as well as wide pH and temperature ranges. A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2020 at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana and Punjab Agricultural University, Regional Research Station, Bathinda, involving combinations of liquid microbial inoculants along with 100% Recommended Dose of Fertilizer (RDF). It was observed that the treatment including B. seminalis + S. maltophilia along with RDF yielded the highest green fodder and dry matter yield, In conclusion, it is evident that the utilization of these liquid microbial inoculants holds significant potential for playing a pivotal role in the integrated nutrient management of forage pearl millet, thereby contributing to heightened productivity and sustained soil health., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Land-use conversion affects soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics. Therefore, an in-depth study of change in SOC, SOC pool, fractions of SOC and enzymatic activities of soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) and dehydrogenase (DHA) with the conversion of forest land to jhum, fallow jhum and settle cultivation use has been undertaken on the hills of Arunachal Pradesh of India. Geo-referenced soil samples from eight different locations, each from different land uses were collected at three depth. One part of the soil sample had been used for the analysis of SOC and its carbon fraction. The second portion was kept in a deep freezer for determining SMBC and DHA. The third part was used for the analysis of bulk density. The result revealed that the highest loss of SOC pool was recorded in jhum land (41.8 to 13.4%), and the labile carbon was also found to decrease in jhum land. The highest SMBC was observed on the surface soil of the natural forest; the highest DHA was found in the natural forest; and the lowest DHA was recorded in jhum land. This study found that the converting natural forest to jhum reduces SOC storage, enzymatic activities and C fractions significantly whereas fallow jhum shows sign of recovery because all of these parameters improved when compared to the jhum land-use system. This study also confirms that the fallow period helps restore the initial situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current study was conducted to evaluate the effect of important land uses and soil depth on soil organic carbon pools viz. total organic carbon, Walkley and black carbon, labile organic carbon, particulate organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon and carbon management index (CMI) in the north Western Himalayas, India. Soil samples from five different land uses viz. forest, pasture, apple, saffron and paddy-oilseed were collected up to a depth of 1 m (0-30,30-60,60-90 cm). The results revealed that regardless of soil depth, all the carbon pools differed significantly (p < 0.05) among studied land use systems with maximum values observed under forest soils and lowest under paddy-oilseed soils. Further, upon evaluating the impact of soil depth, a significant (p < 0.05) decline and variation in all the carbon pools was observed with maximum values recorded in surface (0-30 cm) soils and least in sub-surface (60-90 cm) layers. CMI was higher in forest soils and lowest in paddy-oilseed. From regression analysis, a positive significant association (high R-squared values) between CMI and soil organic carbon pools was also observed at all three depths. Therefore, land use changes and soil depth had a significant impact on soil organic carbon pools and eventually on CMI, which is used as deterioration indicator or soil carbon rehabilitation that influences the universal goal of sustainability in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trend analysis of rainfall is often carried out in water resources management to understand its distribution over a given region. The cumulative seasonal and annual rainfall derived from monthly datasets spanning 102 years (1901–2002) for 11 districts of the semi-arid Karnataka, India, was used for the trend analysis. The two-step homogeneous test approach was carried out on all the time series. Then, lag-1 autocorrelation was conducted only on homogeneous time series. Only 78.18 % of the total time series data were detected as homogeneous, and 95.35% of time series data were found to have insignificant autocorrelation. Then, the Innovative Trend Analysis (ITA) method was applied to 43 homogeneous rainfall time series, as well as to 41 time series using the MK and SR tests, and to two time series using the mMK test. The MK and SR tests detected a significant trend in 14.63% of the time series, while the ITA method was able to detect a trend in 93.02% of the total time series data. The MK and SR tests revealed significant trends in winter and post-monsoon season precipitation for two districts, but only for one district in the case of summer and annual rainfall. No trend was identified for monsoon season precipitation. The mMK test showed a positive trend for the post-monsoon season in a district, while the ITA method revealed significant trends for all seasons in most districts. The sub-trend analysis revealed trends that traditional methods were unable to detect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Aim of our study was to find the effects of oral L-Arginine on Mean arterial pressure as an add on therapy in hypertensive patients on antihypertensive drugs. Materials & Methods: This was a Randomized clinical trial, registered in Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI) Registration number: CTRI/2019/03/018026. All patients with hypertension visiting the Medicine Out-Patient Department (OPD) of Dr. Vitthalrao Vikhe Patil Pravara Rural Hospital, Loni, of age between 18-60 years and either gender, were included in the study. Patients on any drug that may affect nitric oxide synthesis or on any other chronic medications other than antihypertensives were excluded from the study. Total 149 hypertensive patients participated in the study and were randomized into Intervention group (I) and Control group (C) of which 74 were in I Group and 75 in C Group. The participants in the I group received standard antihypertensive therapy along with add on L-arginine oral supplementation for 14 days. The participants in the C group received only standard antihypertensive therapy and had followed up similar to that of the participants of I group. Results: The Baseline Mean arterial pressure of I group and C group was statistically non-significant as analyzed by unpaired ttest, whereas in I group there was significant decrease in MAP on 1st, 2nd and 3rd follow up visits compared to C group (Unpaired t-test). Conclusion: The findings of the present study showed that add on L-arginine supplementation at a dose of 3g/d (Gyargin 5gm sachet) for 2 weeks in patients of hypertension resulted in significant decrease in the Mean arterial pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study's goal is to use multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), spatial logistic regression (SLR), and geographical information system (GIS) to determine paddy crop suitability evaluation (CSE). The research was carried out in the Bankura district, known for its scarcity of water and production in India. A drought vulnerability assessment (DVA) is also analyzed through the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to demarcate the scare rain-fed area and a Parawise comparison matrix (PCM) and hydrological, agricultural, meteorological, and socio-economic drought criteria. The DVA of the study area is effectively classified as extreme (8.87%), severe (11.59%), moderate (15.49%), mild (29.89%), and normal (34.16%) drought vulnerability zones. However, the paddy CSE revealed that 37%, 25%, and 21% of the total rice crop currently grown was in, i.e. highly (S1), moderately (S2), and marginally suitable (S3) respectively. The DVA and paddy CSE maps were validated by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve using field verification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought vulnerability is the extent to which an area is susceptible to damage as well as causing a threat to human society. Drought frequently occurs in the Indian state of Rajasthan, and so far, very little attention has been paid towards its vulnerability assessment. Therefore, the present study focuses on a spatial multi-criteria integrated technique for an all-out drought vulnerability assessment and mapping consisting of geographic information systems (GIS) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) techniques. The data have been acquired from various secondary sources pertaining to a total of 16 indicators under meteorological (rainfall, temperature and evapotranspiration), hydrological (hydrogeology, elevation, groundwater level, groundwater development and surface water bodies), agricultural (available water holding capacity of soils, land use and slope) and socio-economic (density of population, female-to-male ratio, irrigated land, agriculture-dependent population and deep tube wells) drought categories. Further, spatial layers for each category have been developed by various GIS operations followed by the calculation of weights for each drought category and type employing pair-wise comparison matrices by means of AHP criterion. Afterwards, individual drought category and comprehensive drought vulnerability maps have been prepared by employing the weighted overlay technique. The generated maps have effectively displayed the areal spreads and levels of drought vulnerability with respect to normal, mild, moderate, severe and extreme category of droughts. The findings from this study have demonstrated a proneness of severe to extreme drought vulnerability in 25% area of the state. Distinctively, the eastern, western, central and small pockets of south-western parts of the state have witnessed severe to extreme drought vulnerability, while the remaining areas have demonstrated normal to moderate drought vulnerability. The results of the overall drought vulnerability have been validated by employing normalized difference vegetation index and past occurrence of drought disasters, which revealed an accuracy of 81%. The obtained results prove the effectiveness of geoinformatics and AHP techniques in comprehensive drought vulnerability assessment and mapping. Finally, the findings of the present study may be easily applied for designing suitable drought mitigation strategies of the vulnerable areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Phosphorus (P) is among the essential elements for plant growth and one of the main elements of fertilizers. Decreased availability of P may limit agricultural production in the coming years. The magnitude of soil aggregation influences phosphorus access to mineral surfaces. Aim: The present study aims to determine phosphorus adsorption processes affected by soil aggregation under different land‐use systems. Methods: The distribution of soil aggregates was determined in representative soil samples in the district Kupwara of Kashmir Valley in India. To predict the phosphorus fertilizer requirement of a particular soil, we used the Freundlich adsorption equation and Langmuir equation and drew a clear comparison between these two models. Results and discussion: Maximum phosphorus (P) adsorption was recorded at the smallest aggregate size, 0.5–0.1 mm. However, soil aggregates >2.0 mm (the largest category) adsorbed the least amount of P. Our results revealed that increasing the addition of P to the soil decreased the percentage of adsorbed P regardless of aggregate size. The maximum P adsorption of different size aggregates varied between 1869–1924, 1872–1900, 1718–1739, and 1800–1890 mg P kg–1 in irrigated agriculture, forest, orchard and rainfed agriculture soils, respectively. The variation in P adsorption parameters across the different land uses was attributed to their mean weight diameter difference. The maximum bonding energy in the forest resulted in higher P adsorption. Langmuir and Freundlich's adsorption equations were fitted to each soil aggregate size and land‐use system. Conclusion: Our results revealed that for all soil aggregate sizes and land use systems, the Freundlich adsorption equation performs better than the Langmuir equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arthritis is a medical condition that affects the joints and causes inflammation, pain, and stiffness. There are different types of arthritis, and it can affect people of all ages, even infants and the elderly. Recent studies have found that individuals with diabetes, heart disease, and obesity are more likely to experience arthritis symptoms. According to the World Health Organization, over 21% of people worldwide suffer from musculoskeletal problems. Roughly 42.19 million individuals in India, constituting around 0.31% of the populace, have been documented as having Rheumatic Arthritis (RA). Compared to other common diseases like diabetes, cancer, and AIDS, arthritis is more prevalent in the general population. Unfortunately, there is no specific cure for arthritis, and treatment plans usually involve non-pharmacological methods, surgeries, and medications that target specific symptoms. Plant-based remedies have also been shown to be effective in managing inflammation and related complications. In addition to therapies, maintaining a healthy diet, exercise, and weight management are essential for managing arthritis. This review discusses the causes, prevalence, diagnostic methods, current and prospective future treatments, and potential medicinal plants that may act as anti-inflammatory or anti-rheumatic agents. However, more research is necessary to identify the underlying mechanisms and active molecules that could improve arthritis treatment., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

A framework was set up to monitor drought in the semi-arid regions of eastern Tamil Nadu, southern India, for the period of 2014–2018 CE with the application of the standardized precipitation index (SPI), the scaled drought-condition index (SDCI), and the standardized water-level index (SWI). The results emphasized that this region had a negative precipitation anomaly and vegetative stress, both of which triggered meteorological and agricultural droughts and caused significant losses in the farming sector. The distributions of extreme and high-level hydrological droughts were at their maximum in 2017 CE. The multi-drought severity index (MDSI), implemented to assess the combined impact and highlighting the gradient of affected areas, illustrated that the eastern region (i.e., Jayankondam block) was the most extremely affected, followed by the northern and southern regions (i.e., T.Palur and Andimadam), which were moderately affected by droughts. The extremely affected eastern region has less of an ability to overcome droughts due to its socio-economic vulnerability, with its greater population and household density leading to the over-exploitation of potential resources. Therefore, the focus of this study is on the monitoring of drought severity in micro-administrative units to suggest an appropriate management plan. Hence, the extreme-drought-prone block (Jayankondam) should be given high priority in monitoring and implementing long-term management practices for its conservation and resilience against the effects of severe droughts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil microbial and enzymatic activities are sensitive to environmental change. To assess variations in soil properties, six prominent rainfed land-use systems were undertaken in Shiwalik foothills of Punjab, India. In soil samples (0–0.15 m), pH, EC, SOC, available nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, DTPA-Zn, DTPA-Fe, DTPA-Mn and DTPA-Cu varied from 7.3–7.9, 0.31–0.61 ds m−1, 0.20–0.63%, 110–381 kg ha−1, 29.8–32.6 kg ha−1, 99–196 kg ha−1, 9.5–15.1 mg kg−1, 9.0–25.2 mg kg−1, 0.31–1.02 mg kg−1 and 0.71–0.96 mg kg−1, respectively. In soil biochemical properties, dehydrogenase activity varied from 5.4–10.9 µg TPF g−1 h−1, acid and alkaline phosphatase from 17.0–36.5 µg pNP g−1 h−1 and 36.3–61.3 µg pNP g−1 h−1, urease from 4.05 to 4.80 µg NH4-N g−1 soil min−1, basal soil respiration from 0.13–0.27 µg CO2 g−1 soil h−1, MBC from 34.9 to 184.5 µg g−1 soil, total and easily extractable glomalin from 4.19 to 8.80 g kg−1 and 1.70 to 8.32 g kg−1, respectively. PCA identified SOC, EC, total extractable glomalin, DTPA-Zn and available potassium as most sensitive and reliable indicators for soil quality. Agri-horticulture and forestry system are considered as sustainable ecosystem in Shiwalik foothills of Punjab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a comparative analysis of three satellite precipitation products including the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM-3B43 V7), the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks-Climate Data Record (PERSIANN-CDR), and the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station (CHIRPS V2) with ground-measured Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) precipitation data were performed to estimate the meteorological drought in the Bundelkhand region of Central India. The high-resolution CHIRPS data showed the closest agreement with the IMD precipitation and well captured the drought characteristics. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) identified seven major droughts events during the period of 1981 to 2016. Appropriate calibration and validation were performed for drought forecasting using the Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model. The forecasting result showed a reasonably good agreement with the observed datasets with the one-month lead time. The outcomes of this study have policy level implications for drought monitoring and preparedness in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suspended sediment load is a substantial portion of the total sediment load in rivers and plays a vital role in determination of the service life of the downstream dam. To this end, estimation models are needed to compute suspended sediment load in rivers. The application of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques has become popular in water resources engineering for solving complex problems such as sediment transport modeling. In this study, novel integrative intelligence models coupled with iterative classifier optimizer (ICO) are proposed to compute suspended sediment load in Simga station in Seonath river basin, Chhattisgarh State, India. The proposed models are hybridization of the random forest (RF) and pace regression (PR) models with the iterative classifier optimizer (ICO) algorithm to develop ICO-RF and ICO-PR hybrid models. The recommended models are established using the discharge and sediment daily data spanning a 35-year period (1980–2015). The accuracy of the developed models is examined in terms of error; by root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE); and based on a correlation index of determination coefficient (R2). The proposed novel hybrid models of ICO-RF and ICO-PR have been found to be more precise than their stand-alone counterparts of RF and PR. Overall, ICO-RF models delivered better accuracy than their alternatives. The results of this analysis tend to claim the appropriateness of the implemented methodology for precise modeling of the suspended sediment load in rivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil microbes play a vital role in improving plant growth, soil health, ameliorate biotic/abiotic stress and enhance crop productivity. The present study was aimed to investigate a coordinated effect of compatible consortium [salt tolerating Rhizobium and rhizobacterium with 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase] in enhancing plant growth promoting (PGP) traits, symbiotic efficiency, nutrient acquisition, anti-oxidative enzymes, grain yield and associated profitability in spring mungbean. We identified a non-pathogenic compatible Rhizobium sp. LSMR-32 (MH644039.1) and Enterococcus mundtii LSMRS-3 (MH644178.1) from salt affected areas of Punjab, India and the same were assessed to develop consortium biofertilizer based on salt tolerance, multifarious PGP traits, antagonistic defense activities and presence of nif H, acds , pqq , and ipdc genes. Indole Acetic acid (IAA), P -solubilization, biofilm formation, exo-polysaccharides, siderophore, salt tolerance, ACC deaminase activities were all found highly significant in dual inoculant (LSMR-32 + LSMRS-3) treatment compared to LSMR-32 alone. Under saline soil conditions, dual inoculant showed a higher seed germination, plant height, biomass, chlorophyll content and macro and micro-nutrient uptake, than un-inoculated control. However, symbiotic (nodulation, nodule biomass and leghaemoglobin content) and soil quality parameters (phosphatase and soil dehydrogenase enzymes) increased numerically with LSMR-32 + LSMRS-3 over Rhizobium sp. LSMR-32 alone. Dual bacterial inoculation (LSMR-32 + LSMRS-3) increased the proline content (2.05 fold), anti-oxidative enzymes viz., superoxide dismutase (1.50 fold), catalase (1.43 fold) and peroxidase (3.88 folds) in contrast to control treatment. Decreased Na+ accumulation and increased K+ uptake resulted in favorable K+/Na+ ratio through ion homeostasis. Co-inoculation of Rhizobium sp. LSMR-32 and Enterococcus mundtii LSMRS-3 significantly improved the grain yield by 8.92% and led to superior B: C ratio over Rhizobium sp. alone under salt stress. To best of our knowledge this is perhaps the first field report from Indian soils that largely describes dual inoculation of Rhizobium sp. LSMR-32 and Enterococcus mundtii LSMRS-3 and the same can be considered as a game-changer approach to simultaneously induce salt tolerance and improve productivity in spring mungbean under saline stress conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, 24 Azotobacter strains were isolated from soils of different areas of southern Rajasthan and characterized at biochemical, functional, and molecular levels. The isolated Azotobacter strains were gram negative and cyst forming when viewed under the microscope. These strains were also screened for their plant growth promoting activities and the ability of these isolates to survive under abiotic stress conditions viz. salt, pH, temperature, and drought stress. All the isolates showed IAA, siderophore, HCN, and ammonia production, whereas seven Azotobacter strains showed phosphate solubilization. Amplified Ribosomal DNA Restriction Analysis (ARDRA) revealed significant diversity among Azotobacter strains and the dendrogram obtained differentiated twenty-four of the strains into two major clusters at a similarity coefficient of 0.64. Qualitative and quantitative N2 fixation abilities of these strains were also detrained, and the amounts of acetylene reduced by Azotobacter strains were in the range of 1.31 to 846.56 nmol C2H4 mg protein−1 h−1. The strains showing high nitrogen fixation ability with multiple PGP activities were selected for further pot studies, and these Azotobacter strains significantly increased the various plant growth parameters of maize plantlets. Furthermore, the best Azotobacter isolates were subjected to 16S rRNA sequencing and confirmed their identities as Azotobacter sp. The indigenous Azotobacter strains with multiple PGP activities could be further used for commercial production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought is an extreme event and its frequency is expected to increase in future under the imminent threats of climate change. The areas vulnerable to drought are increasing due to increase in the spatial extent and severity of droughts. This necessitates the need for development of an integrated framework for assessment of drought vulnerability, which will be vital for water resources management policies focused towards such vulnerable areas. An integrated drought vulnerability assessment framework has been developed considering the physical indicators that vary spatially, social indicators that vary spatially but their temporal variation may be at longer time-frames, and spatio-temporal drought indicators that vary spatially and temporally during various months during drought years. This framework has been tested for Bina basin located in the drought prone Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. The drought indicators used in the study include (i) Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) for evaluating meteorological drought characteristics, (ii) Surface water Drought Index (SDI) for evaluating streamflow drought characteristics, and (iii) Groundwater Drought Index (GDI) for evaluating groundwater drought characteristics. Groundwater levels are being observed at quarterly (3 monthly) time step only. So the relationships between GDI and 3-m SPI, 6-m SPI, and 12-m SPI have been investigated. Based on the best correlation, the 12-m SPI can be used to represent the groundwater drought in Bina basin and has therefore been used to assess the monthly variability in the groundwater drought characteristics. The spatially varying physical indicators including basin reach (elevation band), land use pattern and soil type; the spatio-temporal drought indicators including soil moisture drought, surface water drought and groundwater drought, rainfall departure and number of consecutive dry days; and the spatially varying social indicators including infants and young children, illiterate population, marginal workers and rural population have been used for the development of a Drought Vulnerability Index (DVI). The integrated drought vulnerability assessment framework has been conceptualized on the basis of DVI. Four vulnerability classes have been defined and the study area falls in mild to moderate vulnerable class, based on the analysis carried out for the various drought years in the basin. Appropriate drought management plans and mitigation strategies need to be developed to target these vulnerable areas in Bina basin., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)