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Many developing countries are facing a silent increase in deficiency of micronutrients in forage crops that results in decreased levels of essential nutrients in animals. Micronutrients are essential not only for basic metabolic processes of forage crops but also for sustaining animal health. Forage productivity and quality are severely affected by soil micronutrients deficiencies, especially zinc and copper. This review summarizes the literature highlighting the significance of different methodologies used to increase the biomass and quality of forage so as to enhance the micronutrient content of the forage crops through biofortification. Biofortification is a promising and sustainable agriculture‐based strategy to reduce micronutrient deficiency in crops. The experiments and trials conducted at different locations of the world showed that copper and zinc concentrations in animal fodders can be enhanced through the process of foliar application. Additionally, agronomic biofortification showed more promising results, and thus is an outstanding, fast, and cost‐effective technique for the immediate enrichment of forage in order to overcome malnutrition in animals. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of different soil orders and land use systems on the distribution of physico-chemical properties is the most critical matter to address in order to maintain sustainable agricultural production. Hence, the present investigation was carried out to study the variation in the physico-chemical characteristics of soil in diverse land use systems (LUSs), i.e., agriculture, horticulture, and forestry, under major soil orders (entisol, inceptisol, and alfisol) in the Majha region of Punjab. A total of 225 depth-wise (at 0–20 cm, 20–40 cm, 40–60 cm, 60–80 cm and 80–100 cm) soil samples were collected from three land-use systems under different soil orders. The mean values of the physico-chemical properties ranged from 6.80–7.50, 7.64–8.34 and 6.94–7.87 for pH; 0.13–0.42, 0.19–0.54 and 0.19–0.46 dS m−1 for EC; 0.14–0.99, 0.21–0.69 and 0.15–0.72% for OC; 0.75–2.07, 1.07–3.32 and 0.93–2.29% for CaCO3; 7.77–41.84, 10.56–40.23 and 7.24–39.51 kg ha−1 for P; and 98.37–334.68, 94.51–230.18 and 93.01–367.39 kg ha−1 for K under different land uses in soil orders entisols, inceptisols and alfisols, respectively. Soil parameters including pH, CaCO3, and phosphorus (P) distribution differed significantly among soil orders; however, soil EC, organic carbon (OC) and available potassium (K) did not. The inceptisols under the agricultural land use system (ALUS) had the highest soil pH, EC, and CaCO3 values. The highest soil OC content was found in entisols under forest land use systems (FLUS), followed by horticultural land use systems (HLUS). The highest values of soil-available phosphorous (P) were found in FLUS under inceptisols, while the highest amounts of soil-available potassium (K) were found in entisols and alfisols under ALUS and FLUS, respectively. Thus, the distribution of physico-chemical properties under different LUSs in each soil order is highly variable and does not follow any particular trend. In general, soil properties such as OC, P, and K content decreased with an increase in soil depth, while pH and CaCO3 values increased with depth in all land uses and soil orders. There was a positive correlation between soil OC and EC, as well as available P and K in the soils investigated. The available P and K are negatively correlated with soil pH and CaCO3 content in the soil. The principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that soil pH and OC were the most variable soil parameters, which influence the availability of other physico-chemical properties under different soil orders and land use systems. Therefore, it is suggested that the land use systems play an important role in the distribution of physico-chemical properties of soil in different soil orders. The results of the study will help students, researchers, and agricultural management staff in managing different land uses for maintaining soil fertility and productivity in alluvial soils of North-western India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kresoxim-methyl residue in green chilli and soil was estimated using gas chromatography equipped with microelectron capture detector (µECD, 63Ni) and analytical method was validated. The method showed good linearity with the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of kresoxim-methyl were 0.005 and 0.01 mg kg−1 respectively. The % recoveries ranged from 87.00 to 95.33. Kresoxim-methyl used to control powdery mildew, fruit rot and twig blight in chilli. Its residues may remain in the crops causing the health hazard. Thus, analysis of kresoxim-methyl residue, its dissipation rate and safety evaluations in green chilli were studied using the validated method. The dissipation of kresoxim-methyl 44.3% SC @250 g a.i ha−1 for recommended dose (RD) and 500 g a.i ha−1 for double of the recommended dose (DD) were studied. Residues were extracted from green chilli fruit with ethyl acetate, and cleanup was given using primary secondary amine (PSA) and magnesium sulphate. This study revealed that the residues in green chilli were below the MRL (0.8 mg kg−1) after 2.33 days in the treatment of DD and in case of RD, pre-harvest intervals are not applicable as the residues at 0 days was below MRL. The half-life was 6.3 and 5.3 days for RD and DD, respectively. Dietary exposures of the residues were less than MPI of 6.4 mg person−1 day−1 on all the sampling days for both doses. Blanching could be used as the most potential decontamination process for kresoxim-methyl residue from green chilli. The terminal residue in soil was found below LOQ for both the doses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]