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Rice is the major food crop in India. It is affected by many fungal, bacterial and viral diseases. Among them, brown leaf spot caused by Bipolaris oryzae is one of the important disease which reduces the yield (6-90%) and quality of the crop. The present investigation was carried out to study the cultural and morphological characteristics of Rice brown spot in Cauvery command region of Karnataka. Roving survey was conducted in Hassan, Mandya, Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts of Cauvery command region to record the disease severity of brown leaf spot of rice during kharif 2022 and disease severity was expressed in Percent Disease Index (PDI). The symptoms are seen on coleoptile, leaves, panicle branches, glumes and spikelet and in the field it is recognized by the greyish brown spots. Among the four districts surveyed, the mean PDI was highest in Mysore (12.11 %) and least was recorded in Chamarajanagar district (7.21 %). Among the different media's tested, paddy leaf extract agar showed maximum radial growth (80.40 mm) in all the isolates followed by potato dextrose agar (78.80 mm). Different isolates showed different colony characters, colony diameter, colony abundance, colony colour, margin, texture, topography and time taken to cover entire petri plate. Conidia in different isolates were light brown, brown and dark brown with size ranging 16.39 - 103.06 × 6.45 - 19.60 µm. The shape of the conidia was either curved, slightly curved, spindle or fusoid and number of septa was between 3-10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Natural farming (NF) is a farming system that uses environmentally friendly pest and disease management practices. In contrast to chemical farming, it avoids use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides and hence, offers an alternative way for the eco-friendly pest management for the sustainable crop production. French bean crop is ravaged by wide array of insect pests wherein, sucking insect-pests like aphids, leaf miner and pod borer causing considerable damage. To manage these pests, farmers are spraying both recommended and non-recommended synthetic chemical pesticides having adverse effects on environment and human beings. Methods: Field experiment was conducted to evaluate the pest management strategies against sucking insect-pests and pod borer infesting French bean over a period of three years from 2019-20 to 2021-22 at College of Horticulture, Sirsi, Uttar Kannada (Hill Zone of Karnataka) during summer season. Four pest management modules viz., farmers practice, organic farming, natural farming (NF) and recommended package of practices (RPP) were evaluated to manage the pests in an eco-friendly manner. The field experiment was laid out in a randomized block design with five replications comprising of four treatments. The standard protocol was followed for recording observations. Result: Among the different modules tested, farmers practice recorded lowest population of aphids, leaf miner and pod borer and was at par with recommended package of practices. Whereas, Organic farming and natural farming recorded moderate level of pest infestation and quite safe for maintaining the predators like Coccinellids, Chrysoperla carnea and spider population for natural predation. The cost of plant protection measures was also least in these modules which indicates the socially and economically acceptable farming practices which may be adopted for safer French bean production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) have remained an unresolved public health problem in India. In this survey, we have estimated the prevalence of IDD among 6-12 years of school children in rural areas of north Karnataka, India and estimated the prevalence of low iodine content (<15 ppm) in salt at the household level and urine iodine excretion in this population. Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional survey, we recruited 16,827 children between 6 and 12 years of age through multistage sampling from six districts. Goitre was examined clinically for all children. Household-level salt iodine estimation and urinary iodine estimation were carried out among a subset of the participants. Results: Overall prevalence of goitre was 17.1% (95% CI: 16.5, 17.7). Out of this, 76.7% (n = 2116) had Grade-1 goitre, and 23.7% (n = 656) had Grade-2 goitre. The prevalence of goitre was higher among females (17.9%, vs. male 16.4%, P < 0.05). The prevalence of low iodine content (<15 ppm) in salt was 48.5% (95%CI: 46.7, 50.3). The overall median iodine excretion in urine was 85 µg/L (IQR: 60-150 µg/L). In total, 37.2% (n = 601) had mild iodine deficiency, 5.2% (n = 84) had moderate deficiency, and 10.1% (n = 163) had severe deficiency. All parameters showed high inter- and intradistrict variations. Conclusion: North Karnataka has a high goitre prevalence. Low use of iodized salt can be a major reason for the high prevalence of the condition. Ensuring the availability of iodized salt in this region and periodic surveillance to measure the impact of the programme should be the priority in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The objective of modern agriculture includes environmental sustainability, low production costs and higher productivity. A biostimulant is a plant material or any other organic compound that not only improves the nutritional aspects also enhances the yield of crops. Black gram and soybean crops of immense economic significance. The growth and yield of these crops are limited by supply of nutrients. Biostimulants consists of amino acids and peptides which helps in growth and development of crops. Methods: The field experiment conducted with randomized complete block design and 4 replications. Effects of different biostimulants at different concentrations as foliar spray and seed treatment for both crops were examined on growth, yield parameters and yield of black gram (TAU-1) and soybean (JS-335) was carried out during kharif 2020. Result: Results showed that foliar application of Quantis biostimulant @ 5 ml L-1 recorded higher growth, yield parameters and seed yield (922 kg ha-1), biological yield (1245 kg ha-1) and production efficiency (13.36 kg day-1 ha-1) in black gram and seed treatment with Epivio energy @ 200 ml 100 kg-1 fetched higher seed yield (1439 kg ha-1), biological yield (1535 kg ha-1) and production efficiency (2974 kg day-1 ha-1) along with higher growth, yield parameters in soybean. It can be concluded that biostimulants will help in achieving higher growth and yield of black gram and soybean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Karnataka is predominantly known for cluster bean production. The evidences claims that the cluster bean production is not a profitable option and has many constraints, which hinders farmers to take up this enterprise. The current study aims to analyze the growth in area, to forecast seed demand and to work out the economics of cluster bean production in Karnataka. Methods: The current study was based on the field survey conducted in Karnataka during 2019-20, to collect the primary data from cluster bean entrepreneurs. The study has also used secondary data for analysis. Four major districts in Karnataka were selected for the study, based on the maximum area and highest production. From each district, 30 farmers were randomly selected for collection of primary data, constituting a total of 120 farmers. The Compound Annual Growth Rate and cost-returns techniques were employed for data analysis. Result: The study indicated that Karnataka has registered a declined trend of 3.12 per cent per annum and the total estimated area under cluster bean would be 2,720 ha during 2021-22. Hence, the seed industry should cater seed demand to the tune of 544 quintals for the said period. Total cost of cultivation was worked out to be ... 35,176 per acre. The study emphasize that this enterprise provides higher gross and net returns to the tune of ... 70,851 and ... 35,675 per acre, respectively, with the Benefit-cost ratio of 2.01, indicating its profitability. Lack of availability of high yielding varieties/hybrid seeds and high wage rate were the major constraints notified in cluster bean enterprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black pepper is the world’s most traded spice, mainly cultivated in Karnataka and Kerala, India. The extensively planted pepper hybrid, Panniyur-1 has resulted in a drastic fall in yield due to foot rot disease. An ancient indigenous variety, ‘Sigandhini’ has recently obtained Intellectual Property Rights under PPVFRA2001. In the present study, we estimated the area under pepper and its seedlings demand in Karnataka, and also analysed the comparative economics of Sigandhini and Panniyur-1 nurseries. Data were collected from primary and secondary sources and the compound annual growth rate and financial feasibility of black pepper nursery raising were analysed. Karnataka’s area grew at an annual rate of 18.63% and revealed that an additional area of 27,048 ha would require 300.50 lakh seedlings in 2020–21. Sigandhini earns higher net revenue to farmers compared to Panniyur-1 seedlings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are more initiatives taken by the government of India to promote entrepreneurship among the young Indians with a lot more financial supports and schemes. In this background, it is the right time to evaluate schemes and supportive institutions, which are promoting the entrepreneurship in India. This present study is conducted to highlight the perception of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) entrepreneurs towards the financial institutional support for the development of the MSME in India especially Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) supportive schemes. Total 400 respondents were selected across the Karnataka to evaluate the performance of SIDBI and also to highlight the satisfaction level of the entrepreneurs towards the SIDBI supports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change in terms of elevated CO2 (eCO2) and temperature may have host mediated effects which could affect the survival, growth and development, and population dynamics of insect herbivores. The present study aimed to examine the growth and development of leaf feeding Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera) reared on groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) grown under different climate change treatments under open top chambers (OTC’s) at University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, Karnataka. Significantly lower leaf nitrogen, higher carbon, C: N ratio, phenols and tannins was observed in the groundnut foliage grown under eCO2 conditions. This alteration in food quality in elevated conditions significantly affected the growth parameters of S. litura in the form of increased food consumption, increased larval weight and more faecal matter production due to extended larval and pupal duration. This resulted in reduced fecundity, particularly in the population raised under eCO2 conditions compared to ambient conditions. Further, the insect larva showed increased approximate digestibility and relative consumption rate under eCO2 condition coupled with reduced efficiency of conversion of ingested food. As a result, the relative growth rate was decreased under eCO2 conditions. In nutshell, it can be concluded that eCO2 concentrations altered the quality of groundnut foliage as it was noticed by the changes in biochemical constituents of the foliage and has the negative effect on the growth and development of S. litura. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is an attempt to assess the silkworm cocoon production and its profitability in five taluks of Kolar district of Karnataka through structured survey during 2012-13. The sample comprised of 120 families consisting of 440 members with an average of 4.40. The number of adult male and female members constituted 46.14 and 33.41 per cent respectively and the rest were children. The number of illiterates in the sample was to the tune of 33 per cent. Out of total acreage wetland constituted 27.36 per cent while garden land formed 14.53 per cent. The total cost incurred for rearing of 8,000 DFLs per year was worked out to be Rs. 7,30,224. Among the total cost, maximum cost was incurred towards the mulberry leaves Rs. 4,55,000 (62.30%). The minimum cost of expenditure was incurred towards transportation and marketing Rs 5000 (0.68 %) and other costs were to the tune of Rs. 500 (0.06%). The total net earnings from 10 batches per year was estimated to be Rs. 19, 04,000 per 8,000 DFLs per year with a benefit cost ratio of 1.59. The total investment on building and equipments for rearing of 8000 DFLs per year was worked out to be Rs. 46,874. Among the depreciation cost incurred towards the equipments for rearing of 800 DFLs, the highest was contributed by mountages Rs. 25,600 during the silkworm cocoon production activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]