Journal of Applied and Natural Science
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A framework for refining soil microbial indices as bioindicators during decomposition of various organic residues in a sandy loam soil
Get PDFAssessment of soil quality is an invaluable tool in determining the sustainability and environmental impact of agricultural ecosystems. Soil microbial indices like microbial biomass and microbial activity are important criteria for the determination of soil quality. Laboratory incubation study was undertaken to examine the influence of eight crop residues widely varying in biochemical composition on the periodic changes in important soil microbial indices {(microbial (Cmic: Corg), metabolic (qCO2), carbon mineralization (qC) and microbial biomass change rate (qM) quotients)} at 28 days and 63 days after incubation (DAI) in a sandy loam soil. A. sativa amended soil showed maximum soil respiration rate (14.23 mg CO2-C g-1 soil day-1) whereas T. aestivum amended soil showed maximum microbial biomass C (790 µg/g). The metabolic quotient among different crop residues ranged from 11.1 to 19.8 ?g CO2-C ?g-biomass-C-1 h-1 at 63 DAI. The results indicate that incorporation of different crop residues has positive effect on microbial flora and their activity. Microbial quotient (Cmic:Corg) was significantly positively correlated with microbial biomass carbon (MBC), qC and qM. The study suggests that the biochemical composition of different crop residues seems to be of better option for long term sustainable crop production with maintenance of soil quality in a sandy loam soil
Effect of rate of application on degradation of imazethapyr in groundnut and soil under tropical Indian condition
Get PDFPesticides though formulated to be biologically degradable, few herbicides reported to cause surface and groundwater contamination which needs the monitoring of herbicide residues in environment continuously. Thus, to monitor the persistence and residues in crops, imazethapyr degradation studies were conducted in soil with groundnut cropping under Indian tropical condition. A groundnut field was treated with different doses of imazethapyr as early post emergence. Results showed that the degradation of imazethapyr in soil and groundnut plant followed first order reaction kinetics irrespective of the dose. The residue of imazethapyr persists in soil up to 60 days at higher rates of application while it persists up to 30 days in plant with the calculated half life of 2.8 to 7.4 days in soil and 5.1 to 5.9 days in plant. At the time of harvest, the residue of imazethapyr in soil, groundnut haulm or pods were below the detectable limit of 0.008 mg/kg across different doses of application. However, the continuous and inappropriate use in light textured soils may cause groundwater contamination and bioaccumulation in plant system. Hence, a pre harvest interval of 75 days must be allowed after the application of imazethapyr for the weed control in groundnut
Efficiency of aluminum and iron electrodes in removal of colour, turbidity and total suspended solid from biologically treated municipal wastewater
Get PDFThe present investigation was undertaken to observe the effect of different combinations of aluminium and iron (Al-Al, Al-Fe, Fe-Fe and Fe-Al) electrodes on the removal of colour, turbidity (TD) and total suspended solids (TSS) of biologically treated municipal wastewater ( BTMW) using applied potential (V), operating time (OT) and initial pH. The maximum removal of colour (98.7 %) and TSS (96.89 %) was found with the use of Al-Al combination with optimum operating conditions (Voltage: 40 V; OT: 40 mins.; IED: 1.0 cm; EA: 160 cm2; initial pH: 7.5 and ST: 30 mins). It was interesting to note that TD of BTMW was completely removed at these optimal operating conditions. The economic evaluation of electrode combinations was observed to be in the order of Fe-Al (1.17 US /m3)> Al-Fe (1.11 US /m3)> Fe-Fe (1.08 US /m3) >Al-Al (1.01 US /m3) in terms of energy and electrode consumption. Thus, the BTMW can be effectively treated with the Al-Al electrode combination in comparison to other electrode combinations (Al-Fe , Fe-Fe and Fe-Al)
Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of inhabitant PGPR strains of Pseudomonas from apple orchards
Get PDFAim of present research was to isolate and characterize the Pseudomonas strains phenotypically and genotypically from the rhizospheric soil of apple orchard at Maggota (Shimla district) Himachal Pradesh. Phenotypic identification of the test isolates was based on morphological, physiological and biochemical characterization of the bacteria followed by genotypic analysis using rRNA gene sequencing and RAPD-PCR analysis. The fourteen Pseudomonas sp. isolates were screened out for various plant growth promoting activities such as siderophore production, antifungal activity, phosphate solubilisation, HCN and ammonia production, production of plant growth regulators and lytic enzymes. Isolates showed production of plant growth regulators (auxins, gibberellins and cytokinins) in the range of 19.67-83.33?g/ml, 21.00-58.67 ?g/ml and 12.33-43.33 ?g/ml respectively. Pseudomonas strains showed phosphate solubilising activity in the range of 12.33-63.33 Pi ?g/ml, 53.66-93.44 % SU siderophore production and 11.33-96.33mm (diameter) protease activity in plate assay. Five Pseudomonas isolates i.e. An-16-kul, An-1-mag, An-2-mag, An-3-mag and An-6-mag showed maximum antifungal activity against plant pathogenic fungi. Therefore, the aim of present investigation was to study multifarious plant growth promoting qualities of Pseudomonas sp. and to select more efficient PGPR strain of fluorescent Pseudomonas sp. which can be further used as biofertilizer
Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among handloom weavers of Uttarakhand : an ergonomic study
Get PDFLong hours of static work with awkward working postures at traditionally designed looms can cause high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among handloom weavers. Because of incompatible working situations handloom weaver in textile industries are confronting with many work related musculoskeletal problems related to pain and discomfort in upper and lower extremities. Keeping this in view, the present study was planned to assess the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and postural discomfort among handloom weavers. For this study, 64 (male and female) handloom weavers aged 20-55 years were selected randomly from Almora and Nainital districts of Uttarakhand state. To collect the information, standardized Nordic questionnaire was used to assess pain and discomfort in different body regions of handloom weavers. It was observed that those workers worked continuously in awkward postures during weaving activities. Consequently they suffered from high discomfort in their different body parts. High rate of pain and musculoskeletal disorder was most prevalent in right wrist, left wrist, hip/thigh, neck and lower back of the workers. The data reveled that since last 12 months, total 76.56 percent workers were suffered with pain and discomfort in right hand and 73.44 percent workers had pain and discomfort in both elbows. During last month, 73.44 percent workers were suffered with pain and discomfort in upper back because of awkward working postures whereas during 7 days, total 59.38 percent workers had pain in lower back. The study indicates that the traditional handloom weaving demands immediate ergonomic intervention in the workstation and process design
Measuring homogeneity of ethno-medicinal knowledge related with different corporeal system: A top down approach
Get PDFIn the present study the top down approach has been utilized to quantify homogeneity of ethno-knowledge, frequency of species utilized for a disease related to a specific system as well as identification of corporeal system that are outliers with aim to identify the species and their usefulness for a specific disease that make the system as outlier. The study was carried out for medicinal plants of arid and semiarid region of the Indian Thar area. Three statistical parameters namely, evenness, frequency distribution and regression and residual value analysis were utilized. The study revealed that ethno-medicinal knowledge about 136 species were related with 12 different corporeal systems and frequency distribution classified these 136 species and 12 corporeal systems under 9 different classes. Maximum numbers of taxa are recorded for skeletal, muscle and connective tissues (114) followed by the digestive system (111) and skin and sub-cutanuous system (89). Homogeneity of ethnic- knowledge are restricted for few corporeal systems like respiration, fever, blood and hematopoietic organ, central nervous system, genito-urinary system and circulatory systems, while random and clumped types knowledge distribution were recorded for other corporeal systems. Platykurtic and leptokurtic types of distributions were observed for different corporeal systems. Through use of standard residuals analysis of medico-ethnic-knowledge, digestion system was designated as positive outliers while fever and genito-urinary systems were the negative outliers. Further regression analysis has revealed that with in this region ethnic knowledge about the medicinal properties of a species is largely associated with the regional abundance of taxa
In vitro screening of white Jute (Corchorus capsularis L) against salinity stress
Get PDFThe environmental stress such as salinity of soil or water is serious threat for field crops in the world, especially in arid and semiarid regions. To study salinity stress on jute (Corchorus capsularis), an experiment was laid out in factorial randomized block design keeping nine capsularis varieties (JRC-698, JRC-321, JRC-517, JRC-7447, JBC-5, JRC-212, JRC-80, JRC-532 and UPC-94) as one factor and four levels of salt concentrations i.e. control (Distilled H2O), 100, 160, 240 and 300 mM NaCl with three replications. Adverse effect of salinity increased with increasing concentration of sodium chloride. Among nine jute varieties the highest germination percentage (89.5%), root length (0.6 cm), shoot length (1.2 cm), fresh weight (93 mg) and dry weight (9.5 mg) of seedling were observed in ‘JRC-698’ at salt concentration at 160 mM NaCl as compared with other salt concentration. All growth parameters were recorded higher in control than other treatments. All growth parameters were decreased up to 240 mM NaCl concentration and it was completely inhibited at 300 mM NaCl. Variety ‘UPC-94’ was the most susceptible to salinity stress. Hence, white jute varieties, JRC-698 and JRC-517 can be grown at 160 mM NaCl concentration
Strategies for climate change impacts on irrigated crops in National Capital Region of India
Get PDFIrrigation has helped in increasing food production and achieving food security in India. However, climate change is expected to affect the crop production in irrigated area particularly in groundwater irrigated areas. This study was undertaken for suggesting strategies to climate change impact on irrigated crops based on projected change in crop water requirement and groundwater availability for irrigation in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Prevailing groundwater recharge in the study area during monsoon was 4.01 MCM (Million cubic meter). The same for various scenarios varied from -15.47 MCM to 5.08 MCM. It was revealed that groundwater recharge would increase if it is estimated based on the climate prediction done using local weather data. The impact of climate change on groundwater availability is evident in scenarios based on INCCA and IPCC predictions where it varied from -2.66 MCM to 1.02 MCM. Contrary to common perceptions, crop water requirement of prevailing cropping system would not increase in future if all the important climatic parameters are considered for its prediction. This may be due to the fact that effect of increase in temperature on crop water requirement may be compensated by decrease in other climatic parameters such wind speed and duration of daily sunshine hours. Results indicated that climate change may not have much impact on sustainability of prevailing cropping system as per the crop water requirement is concerned. Based on water requirement and groundwater availability under various climate change scenarios, appropriate strategies to cope up the climate change impact on irrigated crops have been suggested
Effect of mutagens on regeneration and growth of in vitro grown epicotyl segments of rough lemon seedlings (Citrus jambhiri Lush.)
Get PDFThe present study on the effect of mutagens on regeneration and growth of in vitro grown epicotyls segments of rough lemon seedlings (Citrus jambhiri Lush.) was carried out during the years 2009- 2010 and 2010- 2011 in the Tissue Culture Laboratory, Department of Fruit Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Developmental characteristics of the in vitro grown epicotyls segments on regeneration media were treated employing gamma radiation in Gray(Gy) at 0, 5,10,15, 20,25,30,35,40 and 45 Gy; the alkylating agent ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) and methyl methane sulfonate (MMS) each at 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4,0.5 and 0.6% (v/v) were evaluated. Epicotyl segments from one month old in vitro grown seedling were cultured in regeneration medium (MS+BAP 1.0 mglit-1) under controlled laboratory conditions (25±2? C, 16 hr photoperiod, 2000 lux light). LD50, the dose required to kill half of the tested population corresponded to 35Gy for gamma radiation, 0.3% each for EMS and MMS treatments. Number of days taken for regeneration increased with increasing dose of gamma irradiation, EMS and MMS. Percent regeneration, number of buds, number of shoots, shoot length, number of leaves, internodal length, primary root length and number of secondary roots decreased with increasing dose of gamma radiation , EMS and MMS. The study would be beneficial to induce desirable variations in plant growth characteristics of rough lemon by the use of mutagens treatment
Effect of head decapitation and planting density on quality seed production of sprouting broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica L.)
Get PDFA study was carried out to evaluate the effect of head decapitation and planting density on plant growth, seed yield and quality of sprouting broccoli, Brassica oleracea var. italica L. using cultivar ‘Green Head’. The twenty treatments comprised of combinations of four head decapitation methods viz., D1 (decapitation of primary head at appearance and harvesting seeds from secondary heads), D2 (decapitation of primary head at marketable stage and harvesting seeds from secondary heads), D3 (removal of secondary heads at appearance and harvesting seeds primary head) and ‘D4’ (No decapitation- control) and five planting densities viz., S1 (60x60 cm), S2 (60x45 cm), S3(45x45 cm), S4 (60x30 cm), and S5 (45x30 cm). Decapitation of primary head at appearance and harvesting seeds from secondary heads (D1) and planting density S3 (45x45 cm) independently as well as in combination gave highest seed yield per plot and per hectare. This combination was also found comparable to other combinations for other characters like days to 50% flowering, days to seed harvesting, plant height at harvesting (cm), number of branches per plant, number of siliqua per plant, siliqua length (cm), number of seeds per siliqua and seed quality parameters. Therefore, it is suggested that decapitation of primary head at appearance and harvesting seeds from secondary heads (D1) in combination with plant spacing of 45x45 cm i.e. D1S3 can be recommended for commercial seed production of sprouting broccoli