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New EC formulations (10, 20, 30 and 40 EC) were developed using combination of lemongrass oil, cinnamon oil and thyme oil for the management of post harvest anthracnose of pomegranate caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and tested at 0.1% concentration in vitro. Among them, essential oils based new 30 EC formulation, completely (100%) inhibited the pathogen growth at 0.1% concentration. The formulation was named as THYCILEM 30 EC and tested for its physical stability. The formulation was stable in all physical stability tests and was not inhibitory to antagonistic micro organisms. The in vivo results revealed that pre harvest spraying with new THYCILEM 30 EC (0.1%) followed by post harvest dipping with new THYCILEM 30 EC (0.1%) for 5 min was more effective in reducing pomegranate anthracnose which had the minimum PDI of 13.43 after 24 days of treatment under post harvest conditions, compared to 87.50 PDI in untreated control. The application of new THYCILEM 30 EC as pre harvest spray and post harvest dipping did not show any drying, scorching of leaves and browning of fruits which was noticed by visual observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperature is one of the most important environmental factors that influence the crop growth, its development, and yield. With the increase in the accumulation of GHGs in the atmosphere, there is a rise in surface temperature as compared to pre- industrial period. An experiment was conducted during rabi season of 2013- '14 to study the impact of elevated temperature with and without CO2 fertilization on rice (C3) and maize (C4) crops, using Temperature Control Chamber and Soil plant Atmospheric Research system at the Agro Climate Research Centre of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. Temperature elevation of 4 °C from the ambient level in the TCC and temperature elevation of 4 °C with 550 ppm CO2 in the SPAR chamber were considered for experimentation. Increase in temperature with or without CO2 enrichment affected the phenology and productivity of C3 and C4 plants under different magnitude. Rice and maize crops grown under 4 °C elevated temperature attained panicle initiation, flowering and maturity earlier than the crop grown under ambient condition. The treatment 4 °C elevated temperature also recorded reduced number of tillers in rice, number of leaves in maize and dry matter production in rice and maize. This treatment did record lower rice grain and straw yields . Maize grain and stover yields also got reduced. As far as the physiological response of C3 (rice) and C4 (maize) was considered, the photosynthetic rate was significantly low when the plants were kept under warmer environment than under ambient condition and the rate of decrease was higher in rice compared to maize. However, the CO2 enrichment compensated this reduced photosynthetic rate. The interaction effect between temperature and CO2 in rice indicated that CO2 enrichment had minimized the yield loss by 10 per cent as compared to three per cent obtained under maize crop. The transpiration rate and stomatal conductance were significantly increased in both rice and maize crops under elevated temperature compared to ambient condition and the rate of increase was higher in rice than in maize, yet, CO2 enrichment compensated these ill effects of elevated temperature to certain extent in maize, and to a considerable extent in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An investigation to assess the greenhouse gases (GHG's) fluxes in rice cultivation under current and elevated temperature was carried out at Agro Climate Research Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, during rabi season (November 2014 - March 2015). This experimentation was carried out with two temperature levels viz., current temperature at open environment and +2°C elevated temperature at Temperature Controlled Chamber. During the experimentation, GHG emission rate was evaluated. The nitrous oxide emission attained maximum at 15 DAT followed by 45 DAT and then decreased towards maturity. The methane emission rates increased with age of the crop, but attained maximum at harvesting stage. The methane emission rates from rice crop grown under open environment were higher than elevated temperature. The nitrous oxide emission rates from rice crop grown under +2°C elevated were higher than open environment. Methane is normally translocated through rice plants and the higher biomass generation under open environment led to higher methane translocation. The nitrous oxide emission was normally through microbial activity and the higher microbial activity was in elevated temperature led to more nitrous oxide emission. The tradeoff between CH4 and N2O emission has to be analyzed critically and developing appropriate nutrient and water management strategies and maintaining the soil redox potential at an intermediate range (-100 to +200 mV) would minimize emissions of both CH4 and N2O. Overall, the data have shown clear evidence that rice cultivation in future reduced methane emission but increase nitrous oxide emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field experiment was conducted at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore in the rabi season in order to assess the sustainability of SRI in changing climate. Three aspects of rice cultivation, GHG emission, water use, and Energy consumption were accounted to vindicate the sustainability of SRI over other cultivation systems. Three rice cultivation systems SRI (System of Rice Intensification), AWD(Alternate Wetting and Drying) and conventional were selected which differ in agronomic and water management practices. CH4, N2O and CO2 gas emissions from field were collected using static closed chamber and was analyzed using a gas chromatograph equipped with FID. Water irrigated to the field was measured in m3 using a water meter. The results showed that SRI method of cultivation recorded less GHG emissions and water use with higher yield. Alternate wetting and drying method of water management reduced methane emission in AWD by 41 per cent and SRI by 44.3 per cent when compared with conventional system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lowland rice cultivation is recognized as one of the major methane sources. The application of amendments that contain high amount of electron acceptors would inhibit the methanogenic activity and hence methane emission. Fly ash is a by-product containing ferro- alumino- silicate minerals whereas gypsum is sulphate of calcium. A field experiment was conducted to estimate the effect of fertilizers like Urea and Neem treated Urea and soil amendments like fly ash and gypsum along with recommended dose of fertilizers on the methane emission from the rice field. Gas samples were collected from the field using Static open-bottom perplex chamber technique and estimated in a Shimadzu GC-2014 gas chromatograph equipped with FID. The rate of methane emission was found to be lesser at the active tillering stage which attained a peak at the panicle initiation stage and then got declined till maturity stage. This trend was noticed irrespective of the treatments evaluated. The substitution of neem treated urea instead of urea had no significant impact on the methane emission whereas the application of either gypsum or fly ash or in combination along with RDF significantly decelerated the methane emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weeds are one of the important biotic factor, compete the crop for its resources and difficult to eliminate completely from agricultural system. Weeds respond very quickly to stress and adopt easily than crops to climatic stress. In this context, a pot culture experiment in climate control chamber with three temperature levels (0°C, +2°C and +4°C increase over the ambient) and two moisture levels (supply of moisture at 100 %, and 60 % ET of previous day) was carried out at Agro Climate Research Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during 2015 -16 to understand weeds response to future climate scenarios. The results inferred that, the problematic weed Cynodon dactylon had high acclimatization capacity and produced more growth under elevated temperature up to +4°C with sufficient moisture. The C4 pathway of bermuda grass helps that weed to utilise the moisture and temperature more efficiently even during stress and produce more growth. Moisture stress with increased temperature had negative effect on growth, but induced the early flowering and more seed production in Cynodon dactylon. It is concluded that, in near future with elevated temperature, the crop production in both dry and wet seasons would suffer from severe Cynodon dactylon menace. Hence, necessary precaution measures against Cynodon dactylon have to be included in climate change adaptation technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, agriculture sector provides the largest livelihood support and contributes by 17.3 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Maize is the third most important food crop after rice and wheat, occupying about 7.5 million hectares of land area in India. In Tamil Nadu maize is cultivated mainly as rainfed crop during Rabi season. Requirement of maize is growing fast and given the importance, a study was carried out at Agro Climate Research Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during 2015-2016 to assess the impact of climate change on rainfed maize productivity over Tamil Nadu during mid-century (2040 to 2069) period. The Representative concentration pathway 4.5 and 8.5 was selected to represent the stabilization and over shoot pathways of emission. Maximum temperature was expected to increase to a maximum up to 4.7°C while minimum temperature to 5.7°C. Rainfall is anticipated to vary from a decrease of -33.0 percent to and increase of +45.1 percent.The future climate projected by these models was integrated with DSSAT to simulate the impact on rainfed maize productivity over Tamil Nadu. Under changing climate, rainfed maize productivity is expected to decline to a maximum of 30 percent from the current yield levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted at Agro Climate Research Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, during 2015-16 to improve the accuracy of numerical model rainfall forecast using astrometeorological principles. Daily rainfall forecast were developed for each one location from seven agro climatic zones of Tamil Nadu, through different source and methods viz., WRF (numerical model), astrometeorology (planet), probability, a private agency forecast and hybrid forecast (superimposing astro and probability forecast on WRF) and were compared using forecast accuracy ratio and critical success index. In general, irrespective locations and seasons, the hybrid forecast had higher forecast accuracy (0.75 to 0.88) and critical success index (0.56 to 0.76). Among the different individual forecasts, the astrometeorological forecast had highest forecast accuracy (0.74 to 0.87) and critical success index (0.52 to 0.71). The study concluded that, astrometeorology could be a good option for alternate forecasting method to numerical weather forecast and hybrid forecast developed by integrating astrometeorology, numerical and probability methods will improve the rainfall forecast accuracy and critical success index, in turn will increase the usability of forecast in agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainfall is a nature's gift carrying certain essential plant nutrients from atmospheric reactions. Rainfall contribute considerable amount of Nitrogen as equal parts of nitrate (NO3) and ammonical (NH3) forms and sulfur (SO4) for plant use. These nutrients in the rainfall had good impact in agricultural production during those days, when environmental conditions was better with less toxic substances in atmosphere. The throughfall, precipitation that drips from the foliage and runs down the boles of trees are substantially enriched with leached bio elements and which are mostly essential plant nutrients. Study during North East Monsoon 2015 (NEM) and Summer 2016 (SUM) inferred that, both the rainfall and through fall are potential source of plant nutrients and the amount of nutrients delivery varies with type of vegetation. It is quite interesting to note that the amount of nitrogen (both nitrate and ammoniacal form) delivered by rainfall and throughfall were worked out to nearly 33 and 68 kg/ha which is sufficient for the most of rainfed crops. Among the agro forestry tree species, throughfall from Azadirachta indica had higher N, K and Mg, throughfall from Casuarina equisetifolia had Ca which resulted in higher pH and EC, throughfall from Peltophorump terocarpum had P2O5 and Na and throughfall from Cassia fistula had more SO4.The study periods imputes collection, conservation and recycling of rainfall to sustain the productivity of crop, particularly rainfed agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the study on the impact of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) induce rainfall on the productivity of maize farm in Tamil Nado, India. Topics discussed include the measurement of ENSO condition using the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), the influence of SOI phases on the characteristics of rainfall during the rainfed cropping period, and the statistical analysis of the effect of SOI phase son maize growth and yield.

Drought is one of the recurrent climate phenomenon that crippling the societal and economic development of the agrarian country. It occurs almost everywhere, although its features vary from region to region. The present study was undertaken to assess the drought in Tamil Nadu using the precipitation data of historic climatic period (1981-2017) with high spatial resolution (17 Km). Rainfall deviation from the long term mean during SWM, NEM and annual time scale was calculated at district level for identifying the drought prone districts in Tamil Nadu. The results showed that the frequency of the drought events was higher during the SWM as compared to NEM. Results indicated that Tirunelveli, Theni, Tiruppur, Karur, Tiruchirapalli districts were prone to the drought during SWM. As the NEM is the primary rainfall season and active crop growing period, suitable drought mitigation strategies need to be designed for the districts viz., Kanyakumari, Salem, Thiruvallur, which are highly affected due to deficit rainfall during NEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regardless of socioeconomic or demographic background, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus, which affects more than half a billion people worldwide, has been steadily increasing over time. The health, emotional, sociological, and economic well-being of people would suffer if this number is not successfully handled. The liver is one of the key organs accountable for sustaining metabolic balance. Elevated levels of reactive oxygen species inhibit the recruitment and activation of IRS-1, IRS-2, and PI3K-Akt downstream signaling cascade. These signaling mechanisms reduce hepatic glucose absorption and glycogenesis while increasing hepatic glucose output and glycogenolysis. In our work, an analysis of the molecular mechanism of Carica papaya in mitigating hepatic insulin resistance in vivo and in silico was carried out. The gluconeogenic enzymes, glycolytic enzymes, hepatic glycogen tissue concentration, oxidative stress markers, enzymatic antioxidants, protein expression of IRS-2, PI3K, SREBP-1C, and GLUT-2 were evaluated in the liver tissues of high-fat-diet streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetic rats using q-RT-PCR as well as immunohistochemistry and histopathology. Upon treatment, C. papaya restored the protein and gene expression in the liver. In the docking analysis, quercetin, kaempferol, caffeic acid, and p-coumaric acid present in the extract were found to have high binding affinities against IRS-2, PI3K, SREBP-1c, and GLUT-2, which may have contributed much to the antidiabetic property of C. papaya. Thus, C. papaya was capable of restoring the altered levels in the hepatic tissues of T2DM rats, reversing hepatic insulin resistance.

A systematic study was made to assess the variability and probability occurrence (initial and conditional) of rainfall at Coimbatore. Length of Growing Period (LGP) was also computed to plan dry land crop cultivation with minimum risk. LGP was computed by two different methods viz., weekly Moisture Availability Index (MAI) and weekly Rainfall /Potential Evaporation (R/PE) ratio. The mean weekly rainfall and PET data from 1961-2010 were used to compute LGP. The results indicated that for getting more than 25 mm with 50 per cent probability was possible from 42nd to 45th Standard Meteorological Week (SMW). The chance of receiving 20 mm rainfall per week with 50 per cent probability was observed from 39th to 49th week except in 48th week. The coefficient of variation was below 150 per cent from 16th to 23rd week and from 37th to 45th week. It showed that weekly rainfall during pre-monsoon and post monsoon season is highly dependable. LGP analysis shows that 77 days (37th to 47th week) was available as per MAI method and 91 days (37th to 49th week) period as per R/PE ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic diversity of south Indian meat type breeds was investigated by means of 15 ovine microsatellite markers. All used microsatellites amplified well and exhibited polymorphisms. A wide range of genetic variability was observed as allele varied from 4 to 10 in Madras Red; 4 to 10 in Mecheri; 4 to 12 in Pattanam; and 3 to 12 in Nellore sheep breeds. The mean number of alleles observed in Madras Red, Mecheri, Pattanam and Nellore breeds were 6.5, 6.7, 7.0 and 7.2 respectively. Average observed and expected heterozygosities over the different breeds were 0.23 to 0.87 and 0.347 to 0.827 respectively. The most diverse sheep breed was Nellore breed and the least diverse breed was Madras Red, which had the lowest total number of alleles (na=98) and lowest average observed (Ho=0.576) and expected (Ho=0.594) heterozygosities. The multi-locus mean between-population variability (FST) values indicated that about 5.60% of the total genetic variation was explained by population differences, whereas, the remaining 94.40% is due to differences among individuals within breeds. The values of FIT in the sub population for the most of markers were positive which showed the deficiency of heterozygotes. The DA genetic distance and FST distances between pairs of breeds revealed that the lowest distance was between Madras Red and Mecheri and the highest between Mecheri and Nellore breeds. Analysis of individual genotypes provided valuable information for understanding intra and inter-population genetic differences and helps in planning genetic improvement and conservation strategies for further improvement and sustainable utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]