Journal of Applied and Natural Science
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Quantification of surface runoff in Patiala-Ki-Rao watersheds using modified NRCS model: a case study
Get PDFQuantification of the surface runoff in a watershed is of vital importance for solution of many water resource problems. It can be quantified by employing large number of estimation approaches. Of these, SCS-CN approach is quite simple effective and requires less number of parameters. Thus, the objective of the study was to employ soil conservation service-curve number (SCS-CN) approach and their modifications to estimate surface runoff for Patiala-Ki-Rao watershed, district SAS, Nagar, Punjab and to choose the best model of the 8-different employed models. Soil moisture retention parameter was characterised and optimised by using the descriptive statistics and later used in the models. The mean and median valueof soil moisture retention parameter was 47.2 mm and 35.9 mm for June to September months and 35.4 to 30.8 mm for October to March months. The models were evaluated on the basis of Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Nash- Scutcliffe Efficiency (NSE), Coefficient of Determination (R2) and Per cent Bias (PB). Of the evaluated and tested models, NRCS model (M5) performed best with the highest score of 32 and 31 by employing mean andmedian values of soil moisture retention parameter in Patiala-Ki-Rao watersheds over the other models. Further, the results of the study suggested in evaluating the performance of NRCS model (M5) in other treated micro-watersheds at Patiala-Ki-Rao, Punjab, over the control
Evaluation of Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) as a tool to monitor pollution and green belt development: A review
Get PDFAir pollution is a global phenomenon arising out of the unsustainable, unplanned and rapid develop-ment. The quality of air is deteriorating day by day because of rising concentrations of various gases in the atmos-phere. Presently, no such system has been developed ever that completely eliminates air pollutants, but nature has created many systems to deal with the harmful results of different anthropogenic activities up to a certain limit. Some plants can survive well with higher pollutant concentrations and act as pollution scavenger. Green plants act as a sink and filter to minimize air pollution by absorption, adsorption, detoxification, accumulation and/or metabolization without sustaining serious decline in growth, thus improving air quality by providing oxygen to the atmosphere. The plants which can withstand higher pollutant concentrations can serve as tolerant species and may be suggested to act as pollution scavengers. In the present study the air pollution tolerance index of some plants has been reviewed which are widely distributed throughout India and may prove helpful for the abatement of elevated air pollution levels such as Mangifera indica, Azardirachta indica, Saraca indica, Ficus religiosa, Ficus benghalensis, Shorea robusta and Bougainvillea spp. The wild indigenous species are superior performers in air pollution reduction as compared to the cultivated non indigenous species. The screening out of tolerant plant species from the sensitive ones can provide a database which may help landscapers to design green belts around industries and National Highways
Effect of plant growth regulators on growth, yield and fruit quality of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) under protected conditions
Get PDFA field trial was conducted during 2015 and 2016, to study the effect ofgrowth regulators on growth, flowering, yield and fruit quality of strawberry cv. Chandler. The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design with 16 treatments viz.CPPU at 1, 2 and 4 ppm, GA3 at 25, 50 and 75 ppm, Promalin at 2, 4 and 6 ppm, GA4+7 at 5, 10 and15 ppm, NAA at 10, 20 and 30 ppm and control (water spray) and each treatment was replicated thrice. The results revealed that the plants sprayed with 15 ppm GA4+7 two weeks before flowering significantly reported highest plant height (33.43 cm), leaf area (239.70 cm2), number of flowers (31.94), fruit set (87.45 %), number of fruits per plant (29.02), yield (540.01 g/plant), fruit length (53.63 mm) and fruit diameter (37.19 mm) and fruit weight (23.70 g) as compared to control. This treatment resulted in 196.36 % increase in yield and 56.22 %in fruit weight over control. Plants sprayed with 6 ppm promalin also showed significant improvement in vegetative growth, fruit size, yield and fruit quality, which resulted in 137.92 % increase in yield and 51.81 % increase in fruit weight over control. Hence, it is concluded that foliar spray of 15 ppm GA4+7 applied 2 weeks before flowering is beneficial in improving growth, yield and fruit quality of strawberry plants
Impact of laptop usage on symptoms leading to musculoskeletal disorders
Get PDFDue to inherent portability of laptops, users frequently assume inconvenient postures while using them that may lead to discomfort or injury. The study was conducted to evaluate the postures and identify the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in girls using laptops for which 100 college going female students between 18 - 25 years age group were selected through random sampling technique. A self-structured questionnaire was used to assess the laptop usage among adolescents and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) was used to assess the posture of students while working with laptop. Standardized Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (SMSQ) was used to assess the nature and severity of self-rated musculoskeletal symptoms. Results revealed that the maximum respondent’s (74%) posture came under Action level 3 and 26% respondents comes under Action level 2 which indicated that the posture needed “further investigation and may need change” or “changes needed soon”. There was a positive correlation in Normal (0.50), Mild (0.31), Moderate (0.56) and Severe users (0.60) between the posture adopted by the respondents and the incidence of pain in last 12 months and in Normal (0.76), Mild (0.52), Moderate (0.56) and Severe user (0.65) respectively in last 7 days. The Musculoskeletal Symptoms was prominent in various anatomic regions like Neck, Shoulders, Upper back and Lower back, respectively. These symptoms if not addressed at an earlier stage might lead to Musculoskeletal Disorders
Optimization of cultural conditions for submerged state fermentation of di-gested biogas slurry for production of lignocellulolytic enzymes using Phanaerochaete chrysosporium MTCC 787
Get PDFGrowing environmental concerns and increasing demands from end-use sectors have increased the glob-al market for microbial products. Optimizations of production parameters hold great importance for the industry. The present study was aimed at optimization of submerged state fermentation conditions for production of lignocelluloly-tic enzymes from digested biogas slurry by Phanaerochaete chrysosporium MTCC 787. Enzyme activities for differ-ent enzymes i.e. endoglucanase, exoglucanase, ?-glucosidase; xylanase and mannanase; laccase, lignin peroxidase and manganese peroxidise, using P. chrysosporium MTCC 787 were maximum at 50% concentration of digested slur-ry and showed maximum value of xylanase i.e. 187.41U/ml. Effect of temperature (25°C, 30°C and 35°C) on lignocellu-losic bioconversion showed that at 30°C, maximum value of manganese peroxidise (167.5 U/ml) was obtained. High-est enzyme activites were obtained at selected inoculum size i.e. 10?spores/ml, e.g. 85.29 U/ml xylanase was ob-tained. Incubation period of 8 days and pH of 7.0 came out to be best conditions for P. chrysosporium MTCC787 to produce maximum enzyme activity e.g. xylanase 95.47U/ml at pH 7.0 and xylanase 144.96U/ml at 8 day incu-bation.This work presents a novel concept in optimization of fermentation process to produce lignocellulolytic en-zymes as this work is focussed on utilization of digested biogas slurry as a substrate for enzyme production and enhancement of the production with microbial source, which is environment friendly
Performance studies on millet processing machinery for tribal livelihood promotion
Get PDFA Millet Processing Centre for processing of minor millets in a tribal village in Tamil Nadu, has been established with the following millet processing machinery viz., Destoner, Millet Mill, Grain Polisher, Pulveriser, Flour Sifter and Packaging Machinery for enhancement of tribal livelihood. Performance studies on the machinery for processing minor millets viz., little millet, foxtail millet and finger millet grown in the tribal area were carried out. Based on the performance evaluation, the output capacity of destoner cum cleaner was found to be 230 kg/h and 233 kg/h for little and foxtail millet respectively with a cleaning efficiency of 89 and 90% respectively for the above millets. The performance of millet mill revealed that the output capacity was 90-92 kg/h for little and foxtail millet with a dehulling efficiency of 86 and 87% respectively with small percentage of brokens (< 5 %). The capacity of grain polisher was 60-61 kg/h with a polishing efficiency of 85% & 86% respectively for little and foxtail millet. The pulveriser was evaluated for finger millet flour making whereby the output capacity of the machine was 75 kg/h with a milling efficiency of 90% respectively. The cost economics revealed that the tribal farmers could save 85% of the processing cost. The benefit cost ratio was found to be 2.05.The total profit to the tribal Society through Millet Processing Centre was Rs. 21,000/- during the first harvesting season of millets. The above studies have paved way for satisfactory functioning of the Millet Processing Centre in the tribal area
Development of mobile phone based agro-advisory system through ICT mediated extension approach in North-eastern himalayan region of India
Get PDFTo achieve gainful development in agriculture to ensure food security in the north-eastern Himalayan region of India, an initiative was taken to develop mobile phone based agro-advisory system with the objective to empower the farmers by providing right information at right time through Information and Communication Technology mediated extension approach. 2000 farmers and farm women were selected as beneficiaries through snowball sampling method based on certain criteria. The major features of the system to deliver the farm advices (Pull Based) and information services (Push Based) through toll free Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS), Smart Phone Application, Mobile phone and Web based agriculture advisory system. It was found that on an average almost 200 advisories were provided every month, which even shoot up to almost 300 calls per month in the peak Kharif seasons as bulk of the advisories were provided during the months of May to November as most number of calls from the farmers came during the period. Majority of the advisories were provided on fishery management practices (17.32%), source of seed (9.95%), livestock management (9.18%), disease and pest management of crops (8.75%), training information (9.35%), rural development schemes (7.76%) etc. Moreover, the inclusion of need based training component and convergence with different extension functionaries helped to develop an ICT based Stakeholder Interface (Experts-Line Departments-Agripreneurs-Farmers) in the field of agriculture in the region. This alternate extension system also helped to develop better rapport with the farmers and can be replicated in other hilly region of the world
Induction of systemic resistance (ISR) against sheath blight of rice caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn using biological seed treatment with Trichoderma
Get PDFSheath blight caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn has recently noticed one of the most important diseases of rice on almost all the high yielding varieties in major rice growing area. In our study morphologically and molecu-larly characterized thirty rhizospheric isolates of Trichoderma (T. harzianum and T. virens) from different locations of Uttarakhand were evaluated for their mycoparasitic ability, disease (sheath blight) suppressing potential and inducing systemic resistance against Rhizoctonia solani. Maximum inhibition in hyphal growth (58.9 %) against R. solani was recorded with isolate PB 2 followed by PB 3 (53.4 %) in confrontation assay. Under glass house con-dition, minimum disease severity (13.6%) was recorded in the treatment where seeds were treated with PB 22 and this treatment also exhibited highest total phenol content (394 ?l/g) 168 hours after pathogen inoculation. Total phenol content was also increased maximally (466 ?l/g) before pathogen inoculation in the treatment where seeds were treated with PB 22. Moreover, high quality ISR activity was recorded with isolates PB 21, 3, 1, 4, 23, 2 and 16 as they reduced more than 34 percent disease and total phenol contents 456 ?l/g, 449 ?l/g, 442 ?l/g, 440 ?l/g and 440 ?l/g, 438 ?l/g and 431 ?l/g were recorded for respective isolates indicated induction of resistance in paddy against sheath blight disease caused by R. solani
Cone and seed maturity indices in Pinus wallichiana under temperate conditions of Kashmir Himalayas, India
Get PDFPinus wallichiana (Blue pine) does not have a good seed every year and hence it becomes necessary to collect abundant quantity of seed during good seed year. It becomes necessary to know the exact time of seed ma-turity. To overcome this problem, the present investigation was conducted in Kashmir valley at four different altitudes and locations i.e. (1,600-2,000 masl–KFD), (2,000-2,400 masl -LFD), (2,400-2,800-PFD) and (2,800-3200 masl– SFD). The results revealed that seed collection clearly showed wide variation in the maturity of cones. Cone colour served as an indicator of maturity and it changed from light green to green and green with brown patches at maturity-ty. Seed colour changed from whitish to light brown and dark brown at maturity. The mean cone weight (118.67- 88.17gm) and specific gravity (1.13-0.90) decreased as the cones proceeded towards maturity. The mean seed weight of 21.79 to 57.13gm increased at all altitudes as the cones advanced towards maturity. Cone length, cone diameter and germination percent differed (P?0.05) significantly between altitudes and increased when the cones advanced towards maturity. The germination per cent was recorded more at altitudinal range of 1,600-2,400 masl (67.25-70.26%) at maturity, while as it was recorded lower at higher altitudes (42.12-47.25%). It is concluded that the altitudinal range of 1,600-2,400 masl is best sites for collection of phenotypically superior seeds in terms of maxi-mum cone length (18.18cm), diameter (5.23mm) and weight (108.94gm), number of seeds per cone (117.72), seed weight (79.99) and germinability (68.75)
Identification of heterotic cross combinations for various agromorphological and some quality traits in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
Get PDFA study was conducted to identify the best heterotic cross for various agromorphological and some quality traits involving 10 parents and their 45 F1s excluding reciprocals during 2012-13 and 2013-14. The higher magnitude of heterosis for all the agromorphological and quality traits was not expressed in a single cross combination. It varied from cross to cross due to diverse genetic background of their parents. The highest heterobeltiosis (35.68%, 11.11%, 11.44%), average heterosis (38.97%, 9.13%, 10.26%) and standard heterosis (31.09%, 7.84%, 10.41%) for grain yield, spikelets per spike and grains per spike respectively, was showed by HD 3095 x RAJ 4246 and this cross also showed highly significant (at <1% level of significant) heterosis for biological yield, flag leaf area, spike length and productive tillers. Whereas PBW 435 x RAJ 4246 were common for gluten content (8.52% and 7.72%), grain yield (33.11% and 33.64%), productive tillers (16.15% and 13.53%) and biological yield (36.27% and 21.98%) which showed superior average heterosis and heterobeltiosis respectively, therefore, these crosses may be exploit-ed in a national hybrid wheat breeding programme may offer genetic improvement in breeding for higher grain yield, agromorphological and quality traits in bread wheat. The presence of high heterosis for yield contributing compo-nents is not only for developing hybrids through exploitation of heterosis but also helps to produce transgressive segregants for developing of superior homozygous lines