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In the world of rapid change in climate, irregular rainfall pattern tends to pose serious impact on water availability for agriculture. Rice is one of the important food crops to get affected by the low water availability because of its high water requirement. Various techniques were used in the past to mitigate low water availability and increase productivity but most techniques will improve one aspect at the expense of the other. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is being tried by many countries with several modifications based on their priorities, with the aim of enhancing productivity besides reducing the water demand for rice cultivation. It is essential to have more insight into the individual and compounding effect of multiple components of SRI on yield, and water productivity of rice for identifying the potential and suitable SRI practices. Investigating the influence of different practices of SRI viz., planting of young and single seedlings per hill in wider spacing, water saving irrigation like Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD), and weed control using cono-weeders on rice using the data obtained from the field experiment carried out during 2021 in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India. Water productivity of rice plants under SRI were compared with conventional practices. The results revealed that plants grown with complete SRI practices had increased water productivity by 0.25 kg grain/m3 of water which is almost twice that of conventional cultivation system. The yield obtained in SRI treatments was higher about 39% than conventional treatments. The total water savings were 20 % higher in AWD treatments than continuous flooding treatments.

There is a need for increasing rice productivity to cope up with increasing population and water shortages, especially in Tamil Nadu, India. Efforts were made in the past, mainly to increase the genetic potential of the crop, by developing high yielding varieties. However, adoption of improved agronomic practices and production technologies could further increase the productivity besides saving water. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) comprises the various altered agronomic practices and is proved to be an effective cultivation method by enhancing the rice growth and productivity. It is important to understand influence of individual practices and their combinations on rice growth and productivity for deriving the maximum growth and yield advantages of SRI features. A field experiment was conducted at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu to study the growth responses of rice to different practices of SRI viz., 14 days old seedling with single seedling per hill, square planting pattern with wider spacing, Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) method of irrigation and, use of cono-weeders to control weeds. It was found that planting younger seedlings with single seedling per hill greatly increased dry matter assimilation in rice plants and the use of cono-weeders encouraged the tiller production in rice. The treatments with complete SRI practices produced 3 times higher number of tillers and panicles per hill and 38.9 percent more dry matter content than conventional practices. SRI practices could be adopted by the farmers to boost the growth attributes of rice and to achieve higher rice productivity in Tamil Nadu.

Improper postharvest management of red chili pepper results in the invasion of Aspergillus spp. It is the most common pathogen that infects chili resulting in the production of aflatoxin - the most potent biological toxin. The present study was aimed to study the occurrence of naturally occurring fungal pathogens in the commercially available chilli pepper in India. About twenty samples were collected from retail stores and commercial markers of Tamil Nadu, India. Isolation and purification of the naturally occurring fungal pathogens were carried out using a potato dextrose agar medium. Results showed that the samples were contaminated with Aspergillus flavus, A. parasiticus, and A. niger. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was done to morphologically confirm the pathogens. SEM analysis also showed the internal structural damage caused by the pathogens. Followed by the isolation, all the samples that contained A. flavus were tested for aflatoxin production using the thin layer chromatography (TLC) method. It was found that a total of 16 chilli samples were tested positive for aflatoxin production. It could be seen that the tropical climatic conditions of India increased the probability of aflatoxin production in the chilli pepper.