Journal of Applied and Natural Science
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Forecasting monthly rainfall using autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA) and artificial neural network (ANN) model: A case study of Junagadh, Gujarat, India
Get PDFThe onset, withdrawal and quantity of rainfall greatly influence the agricultural yield, economy, water resources, power generation and ecosystem. Time series modelling has been extensively used in stochastic hydrology for predicting various hydrological processes. The principles of stochastic processes have been increasingly and successfully applied in the past three decades to model many of the hydrological processes which are stochastic in nature. Time lagged models extract maximum possible information from the available record for forecasting. Artificial neural network has been found to be effective in modelling hydrological processes which are stochastic in nature. The ARIMA model was used to simulate and forecast rainfall using its linear approach and the performance of the model was compared with ANN. The computational approach of ANN is inspired from nervous system of living beings and the neurons possess the parallel distribution processing nature. ANN has proven to be a reliable tool for modelling compared to conventional methods like ARIMA and therefore ANN has been used in this study to estimate rainfall. In this study, rainfall estimation of Junagadh has been attempted using monthly rainfall training data of 32 years (1980-2011) and testing data of 5 years (2012-2016). A number of ANN model structures were tested, and the appropriate ANN model was selected based on its performance measures like root mean square error and correlation coefficient. The correlation coefficient Seasonal ARIMA (1,0,0)(3,1,1)12 and ANN back-propagation model (5-12-1) on the testing data was found to be 0.75 and 0.79 respectively. Seasonal ARIMA (1,0,0)(3,1,1)12 and ANN back-propagation model (5-12-1) were used for forecasting rainfall of 5 years (2017-2021)
Studies on dyeing and bacterial resistance of Dacryodes macrophylla extract on woollen fabric
Get PDFThe dyeing of wool fabric using a natural dye extracted from Dacryodes macrophylla has been studied using both conventional as well as ultrasonic dyeing methods. Natural dye was extracted using water as solvent by Soxhlet extraction method. The extracted color was characterized by spectroscopic studies like UV/Visible and further tested for antimicrobial activity (against Vibrio cholerae (MTCC3906), Salmonella enterica serotype typhi (MTCC733), Shigella flexneri (MTCC1457), Escherichia coli (MTCC119), Listeria monocytogenes (MTCC657) and Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 96). It was observed that the water extract of D. macrophylla showed antimicrobial activities against S. enterica. The effect of mordants on the dyeing outcome in terms of colour depth as well as fastness properties of the dyeing was investigated. It has been found that employing all the three techniques of dyeing i.e., conventional dyeing at 100 oC and 80 oC as well as ultrasonicated dyeings conducted at 80 oC, the mordanted samples were deeper in depth than their unmordanted counterparts. The results of fastness properties of the dyed fabrics were fair to good. Depths of the shade and fastness properties in case of ultrasonic dyeing were found to be better compared to conventional dyeing. Dacryodes macrophyllaextract was found to enhance microbial resistance of wool as well as was itself as a good source of coloration. These textiles dyed with the natural dyes can be very useful in developing clothing for infants, elderly and infirm people to protect them against common infections
Altitudinal variation in the volatile constituents of Cymbopogon flexuosus from Uttarakhand region of Himalaya
Get PDFThe essential oils of Cymbopogon flexuosus (lemon grass) of the family Poaceae collected from different altitudes of the Uttarakhand region of Himalaya were subjected to detailed GC/MS analysis in order to determine the variation of concentration in their constituents. The GC/MS analysis led to the identification of 29 constituents forming 90.62 to 93.58% of their total oil content. The major constituents were citral, geraniol, citronellol,citranellal, linalool, borneol, ?-myrcene limonene, ?-caryophyllene, camphene, ?-cadinene, ? terpineol, neryl acetate and heptenone. Plants collected from 450 m altitude afforded citral (74.58 %) [a isomeric mixture of geranial and nearl] as a major constituents whereas only a less percentage of citral (64.21%, 68.29%) was found in the plants collected from two other altitudes i.e 250m and 1000m respectively. The geraniol, cam-phene and neryl acetate were obtained in a high concentration form the plants collected at 250 m altitude but in the plant from two other altitudes, it was found only in less proportion. Similarly, ?-cadinene, ?-terpineol and camphene were the major constituents of plants at 1000m altitude but in other plants it was detected in very low concentration. Since, the concentration of plant constituents affected by altitude and season, medicinalproperties of such plants and their use in biological application would vary accordingly
Assessment of urban growth using Shannon’s Entropy Index: A case study of Chennai, Detroit of India
Get PDFThe Remote Sensing (R/ S) and Geographical Information System (GIS) play a vital role to evaluate and study the urban expansion pattern. In this study, the Chennai city was selected to perform the urban sprawl study. Five different periods of satellite imageries for the time elapsed between 1994 and 2016 were used. The main aim of this paper was to identify the urban sprawl of Chennai as a patterning process. The extended areas of urban in the period of 1994, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 were extracted by the sub-pixel classification method from the satellite imageries. Furthermore, Shannon’s entropy index was used for assessing urban expansion. The findings of this study proved that Chennai city has sprawled by urban expansion during the period between 1994 and 2016. Likewise, the dispersion rate of urban sprawl for the periods of 1994, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 were 0.671, 0.679, 0.688, 0.693 and 0.695 respectively. Consequently, this uncontrolled dispersed urban development had resulted in the study area losses their green space
Pulmonary expression of Pla2g5 during lung damage in mice induced by fipronil and lipopolysaccharide interaction
Get PDFWith Indian pesticide industry touching new heights each year in terms of production and sale, its ill effects on health cannot just be ignored. Humans, as well as animals, are under the constant threat of being exposed to environmental pollutants like endotoxins and pesticides which are present ubiquitously in our surroundings. Phenylpyrazoles like fipronil were introduced into the Indian market with an aim to oversee the menace of insecticide resistance and public health hazards experienced with more commonly used pesticide but its adverse effects on the pulmonary system are now being reported globally. We reported first data that the Planar cell Polarity (PCP) pathway was the top dysregulated pathway during fipronil induced lung damage. In order to further elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms, we analysed the data generated by gene expression profiling in lung tissues using biocomputational approaches. We found Eicosanoid signalling as one of the top enriched pathways dysregulated during fipronil and or endotoxin-induced lung inflammation. Global view of genes showed Pla2g5 as top differentially expressed gene with 1.6, 3.9, 1.2, 3.1 and 4.3-folds expression in lipopolysaccharide (LPS), high dose of fipronil (9.5mg/kg) alone or in combination with LPS and low dose of fipronil (4.75 mg/kg) alone or in combination with LPS, respectively which was validated using qPCR and immunohistochemistry. The data suggest a role Pla2g5 to activate eicosanoid signalling in fipronil and or LPS induced lung inflammation in mice
Effect Effect of fruit size on physiological seed quality parameters of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus)
No full textAn experiment was carried out at the Department of Seed Science and Technology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai during 2018 to find out the effect of fruit size on physiological seed quality of cucumber. Variation in fruit size of cucumber results in poor quality seeds. In order to overcome this obstacle fruit grading was done based on weight of fruit to obtain good quality seeds. Harvested fruits of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) were categorized based on the weight into three different groups viz., Big (2.41kg), medium (1.66kg) and small (1.28kg). Observations on fruit and seed quality parameters were recorded. The results revealed that medium sized fruits recorded higher values compared to big and small sized fruits. The number of seeds/fruit recorded higher in medium sized fruit (935 numbers) followed by small (896 numbers) and big (876 numbers) sized fruits. The big, medium and small fruits were recovered to 1.52 %, 1.06% and 0.58% seeds respectively. The physiological quality characters measured in terms of seed germination revealed that seeds of medium sized fruits were recorded higher (80%) followed by seeds of big (82%) and small (65%). The seedling vigour measured through root (17.08cm) and shoot length (14.45cm), dry matter production (0.85g 10 seedlings-1) and vigour index (2522) also proved the superiority in medium sized fruits
Role of extension professionals in determining marketing behaviour of the farmers indulged in Horticulture sector in Indian context: A review
Get PDFThe companionship of advanced technology and easy outlay for the primary products have always been a prime focus to boost economy of the nation. Although, India has gone through a major transformation from being food deficient to now the leading producer and exporter of many agricultural commodities. The socio-economic condition of the farmer has not witnessed a noticeable change. The root cause identified by the researchers being the existence of long supply chains, lack of awareness, inadequate infrastructural facilities, etc. Researches analyzing the marketing behaviour of the farmers may help in identifying the constraints faced by the farmers in marketing their produce for optimum returns. Also, results may help to purview the factors contributing to better marketing by analyzing the varied behaviour of the farmers. Proper analysis, devising the effective strategy and its implementation require well-equipped extension professionals with upgraded skills and futuristic vision. 
A study on commercial cultivation and storage of water chestnut (Trapa natans L.) under wetland ecosystem of North Bihar, India
Get PDFWater chestnut is an excellent economical and medicinal winter crop from fresh water ecosystem. It is well known for its nutrient content including protein and antioxidants. Different water chestnut germplasm viz. Green Spineless, Green Spine, Red Spineless and Red Spine were studied at wetland ecosystem of North Bihar in India under Research Centre on Makhana, Darbhanga, during 2016-17. Under wetland ecosystem, Green Spineless variety of water chestnut produced large quality nut (24.42 g) followed by Red Spineless (23.11 g). Regarding yield, Green Spineless gave rise to the maximum yield of 12.24 t/ha. The Red Spineless variety exhibited the maximum TSS of 9.60B followed by Green Spineless (9.20B). Water chestnut beetle (Galerucella birmanica Jacoby.) was dangerous pest under wet land ecosystem as compared to aphid. Green colored varieties were resistant to beetle and aphid. Different approaches had been made to enhance the shelf life of water chestnut variety Red Spineless as it was sweetest and attractive in colour among trial varieties. The results revealed that poly packaging with 5% perforation and stored in refrigerator for 40C (T1) increased storage life up to 14.0days as compared to open ambient (T4) (4.72 days) maintaining fair market acceptability. This treatment (T1) also improved the TSS content of the fruit to 9.80B by slow and gradual PLW about 21.15 % during two weeks of storage. From our present study it may be concluded that irrespective of color, spineless varieties of water chestnut were promising under wetland ecosystem of North Bihar on account of their yield potential and nut quality
Diversity of soil macroarthropods in shifting cultivation and forest ecosystem of Mizoram, Northeast India
Get PDFSoil organisms are an integral part of agricultural ecosystems and are essential for the maintenance of healthy productive soils. Little is known about soil arthropods assemblages in shifting cultivation system. Therefore, we compared the diversity of soil macroarthropods in shifting cultivation (EXPTL) system and its adjacent natural forest (CTRL) ecosystem in Mizoram, northeast India and assessed the impact of shifting cultivation on the diversity. The study was conducted from 2013 to 2015, and the period was divided as pre-cultivation, cultivation and post-cultivation phases. Traditional shifting cultivation was practised in EXPTL site in the year 2014. Sampling was done by handpicking and digging from a quadrat (25×25×30 cm) located at least 10 m apart at monthly intervals. Specimens were preserved in 4% formalin and were identified up to the lowest possible taxa. A total of 97 taxa of arthropods belonging to five classes were recorded. 88 taxa and 48 taxa were recorded in CTRL and EXPTL respectively. Order-wise Shannon diversity index was significantly higher (p < .001) in CTRL as compared to EXPTL site. There were significant differences in both cultivation (p <.001) and post-cultivation (p <.001) phases between CTRL and EXPTL sites. There was a significant effect of shifting cultivation on the diversity of soil macroarthropods at the p <.05 level for the three cultivation phases in EXPTL site. Therefore, it was concluded that shifting cultivation system negatively affected soil macroarthropod diversity at least for a short duration. This study provided the first baseline data of soil macroarthropod diversity and its interaction with land-use system from Mizoram, northeast India
Nutritional potential of malted nutri flour against conventional flours used in Indian food products
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to introduce nutri flour in the development of value-added food products. Nutri flour was developed using malted wheat, malted barnyard millet and malted pearl millet. The proximate composition, iron, some anti-nutritional factors (oxalates, phytates) and antioxidant activity were determined for developed nutri flour and conventional flours like whole wheat flour, refined wheat flour and Bengal gram flour. The results indicated that the developed nutri flour had the highest protein (18.68 g/100g) as well iron content (9.22 mg/100g) which was significantly higher than other conventional flours. The nutritional quality of the obtained nutri flour suggests that the flour can be considered as an alternative to conventional existing flours in process of food product development ensuring better nutritional quality of developed products