The study was conducted to investigate the effect of potassium schoenite and ethrel on yield, quality, biochemical changes, and physiological loss in the weight of grapevines. Crimson Seedless vines grafted on dog ridge rootstocks at ICAR – NRC for grapes, Pune under the tropical condition of India was selected for this study. The grapevines were planted by adapting a 3.3m × 1.6 m and trained on the Y system. Pre-harvest spray of potassium scheonite (2.50 g/L and 5.00 g/L) and ethrel (300 and 600 ppm) along with control untreated vines was carried out at the veraison stage. The grapes bunches were harvested after attaining harvestable maturity with TSS of 17.50° Brix. The highest bunch weight (287.16 g), berry weight (3.70 g), and yield per vine (11.25 kg/vine) were recorded in treatment with potassium schoenite 5.00 g/L. In terms of quality parameters viz., TSS (18.43 ° Brix), total acidity (0.604 %) were recorded with the pre-harvest spray potassium schoenite at 5.00 g/L. Among the different treatments, ethrel at 600 ppm enhances total anthocyanins, total tannins, and total berry flavonoids. It was increased in the shelf life of Crimson Seedless by decreases in physiological weight in loss (10.96 %), Fallen berries (1.36 %), and Rotten berries (0.68 %) on 7th day of observation in this investigation.

Papaya is one of the most important fruit crop. It is grown in tropical to sub tropical areas all over the world and is mainly propagated by seeds which show wide variability in germination and seedling growth. The experiment was conducted to find out the “effect of tea as a potting substrate on germination and seedling growth of papaya seeds.”. Tea was used as a substrate in this experiment. Tea can improve soil porosity, density and soil nutrient and helps to suppress plant disease because it is comprised of microbes, humic acid, nitrogen, carbon etc. Total six treatments comprising of 100, 80, 70, 60, 50 and 0 % of tea were placed in Completely Randomized Design. There were three replications for each of the six treatments, which were put in pots having the combination of growing media. Observations were taken at different day’s interval from sowing. In terms of plant parameters significant difference was observed from 3rd, 4th and 5th week after emergence. In overall it was obtained that 60 and 50% of tea was most

effective medium for papaya seedling production.

Sodicity is a major abiotic stress reducing the yield of a wide variety of crops all over the world. Soil sodicity is a significant crop production constraint around the world. Inherited tolerance is a precursor to pre-breeding and breeding tolerant cultivars. In order to investigate the antioxidant enzymes activity, 17 genotypes of pumpkin for sodicity tolerance studies were taken up at Horticultural College and Research Institute for Women, Tiruchirappalli using Randomized Block Design with three replications. The antioxidant enzyme system of plants plays an important role in the scavenging of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) that accumulate during stress and is the first line of defence to counter the deleterious stress effects. Proline content significantly increased in salt-tolerant genotypes under sodic soil condition. Catalase and peroxidase activity which plays a significant role in abiotic stress. Significantly decreased in salt-sensitive genotype while significantly increased in salt tolerant genotypes. The salt-tolerant genotype CM -11 (Madurai) maintained higher levels of chlorophyll (3.7 mg/g) and proline content (428 mg/g) as well as catalase (278 mg of H2O2 g-1 hr-1) and peroxidase activities (272 mg of H2O2 g -1 hr-1) under sodic soil condition followed by CM -12 (Sedapatti) and CM-1 (Old Ayakkudi) which might be the mechanism responsible for sodicity tolerance. These germplasm accessions can be used in further breeding programme.

Customized fertilizers are ready to apply multinutrient fertilizers to meet the specific nutritional requirement of a crop. Customized fertilizer with major nutrients alone and with micronutrients were prepared and evaluated on the growth, yield and quality of bitter gourd. Two field experiments were conducted at Horticultural College and Research Institute, Periyakulam, Tamil Nadu, India. The results revealed that application of 100% CFII (T7) found to record the highest the vine length, primary branches/vine, number of fruits/vine, fruit length, fruit yield per plant and fruit yield. Quality parameters of the fruits also revealed that ascorbic acid, TSS, Fe and Zn content were significantly higher in the treatment receiving application of 100% CFII with micronutrients. The results indicated that customized fertilizers with major and micronutrients through fertigation results in better growth, fruit yield and quality in bitter gourd.

This paper tries to analyze the dynamics of aggregate crop revenue and the changes in the composition of various constituent factors of changes in aggregate revenue of two districts of Kymore Plateau and Satpura hills agro-climatic region of Madhya Pradesh, i.e., Jabalpur and Katni, by using one of the Index decomposition analysis (IDA) methods, i.e., Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI), for a period from 2007-08 to 2016-17. The aggregate crop revenue was decomposed into the area, yield, price, and cropping pattern effect. The analysis indicated that a significant portion of the cropped area of the districts was covered by wheat, paddy, and gram. In Katni district, a shift of cropping pattern was more inclined towards oilseeds & pulses, while in Jabalpur, it was more towards food grains. The predominant factor contributing to the overall revenue in Katni districts was the yield effect, while in Jabalpur, it was the price effect. However, the contribution of the cropping pattern effect was relatively negligible compared to other effects in both districts. The highest share in aggregate crop revenue from wheat and paddy crops, predominantly contributed by yield effect and price effect. The study suggests further improving and stabilizing the yield of the crops and implementation of policies focused on improving the cropping pattern in the districts.

The use of social network theories dates back to 1930s. With the advent of new and advanced technologies, there has been an explosion and expansion of its applications to various disciplines. The study applies social network theory and analysis to analyze agricultural knowledge exchange and decision-making network of farm women. The analysis detects farm women who occupy central and strategic positions and acts as opinion leaders in the network. It also identifies the factors which influences their extent of opinion leadership. The study was carried out in the Himalayan regions of Uttarakhand state in northern India. Descriptive research design and multi-stage sampling were adopted. Data were collected through survey sociometric method and UCINET was used for analysis and interpretations of network data. Degree centrality was used to identify opinion leaders within the network. SPSS was used to analyze the relationship between dependent and independent variables. Using network analysis, twenty four opinion leaders were identified among the farm women. Their extent of opinion leadership was influenced by age, marital status, farming experience, socio- economic status, innovativeness, achievement motivation, decision making ability, risk preference, economic motivation, information seeking behaviour,

cosmopoliteness and social participation.

Cultivation of resistant varieties seems to be the most economical and sustainable control measure of collar rot disease of groundnut. Twelve groundnut varieties along with one susceptible check were screened against collar rot disease caused by Aspergillus niger under field condition. Among them none of entry was found immune or resistant to collar rot. Three cultivars TG-37A, HNG-69 and GJG-22 were shown 1-10 % disease incidence and considered as moderately resistant. Four cultivars GG-20, GG-7, GL-501 and GJG-9 were shown 11-20 % disease incidence and considered as moderately susceptible. However, TMV-2 was shown > 51 % disease incidence and considered as highly susceptible reaction.

Crop losses in agriculture are getting aggravated due to several abiotic and biotic factors including diseases caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses. Chemical fertilizers are applied to overcome which it is not a feasible method. Hence an alternative method should be found, to sought out the problems of using chemicals. Plant disease management using microbes is gaining interest recent days for replacing the chemicals. Among all, Streptomyces a gram-positive saprophytic bacterium stages a substantial role in combating plant diseases owing to its capability to induce or synthesis bioactive rich antimicrobial metabolites and enzymes. It is presumed that they are distributed wide in nature, but the rhizosphere region constitutes the most potential antibiotic producing organisms and are used as bio inoculant. Besides, it also increases the plant growth by producing plant growth promoting substances and suppress the disease through mechanism like antibiosis, mycoparasitism and nutrient competition; supplying of nutritive elements like iron, copper, phosphorus and sulphur; synthesis of plant hormones like IAA, cytokinin and siderophore. This review briefly illustrates about the role, mechanism, advantage and disadvantage of using Streptomyces spp. in plant disease management.

Cultivation of resistant varieties seems to be the most economical and sustainable control measure of early blight disease of tomato. Ten tomato varieties were evaluated against early blight disease caused by Alternaria solani under natural epiphytotic conditions. Among them two cultivars Pusa Ruby and Arka Rakshak were showed 1-10% disease intensity and considered as resistant. Three cultivars Pusa Rohini, Arka Abhed and Arka Samrat, were showed 11-25% disease intensity and considered as moderately resistant. One cultivar Arka Apeksha, were showed 26-50% disease intensity and considered as moderately susceptible, whereas Arka Vikas and VL- Tamatar 4 were showed highly susceptible reaction.

Drought is the major abiotic stress affect the crop growth throughout the life cycle and ultimately reduced the crop yield. Therefore, the present investigation was conducted during kharif-2018 at Sorghum Research Station, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Deesa, to determine the effect drought at flowering stage of sorghum on growth and physiology which finally leads to the impact on yield. Trial was laid out in Split Plot Design, with 12 genotypes in five replications under control and water deficit conditions. Genotypic variability was observed for the growth, physiology and yield parameters. In case of relative growth rate, net assimilation rate and crop growth rate, genotype DS 183 again proved significantly superior to rest of all other genotypes under water deficit condition. The genotype DS 183 recorded maximum relative water content, membrane stability and SPAD meter reading. The genotype DS 186 registered maximum drought tolerance efficiency. It was concluded that genotype DS 183 recorded maximum grain yield due to the maintenance of higher water status and growth rate in water deficit condition as compare to other sorghum genotypes.

In present days almost 84% of world’s energy is produced by burning fossil fuels and rest from others. Also almost 64.5% of electricity is generated by using fossils. As a result of burning them, a large amount of smoke is released into the atmosphere, which includes carbon dioxide and many other harmful substances, polluting the air and causing a rise in temperature. Deforestation is occurring in many places for construction purposes, but afforestation is not occurring in such a manner deforestation is occurring. It is also responsible for the enormous change in climate. So as much as we should plant, also we have to depend more on the renewable energies (Green energy) to give a balanced climate to our environment. Climate change is one of the world’s most pressing environmental issues. India is confronted with a number of issues. Climate change has a number of negative consequences for agriculture, water resources, forests and biodiversity, health, coastal management, and temperature rise. The major consequence of climate change on India is a decrease in agricultural productivity. Agriculture supports the bulk of the people, either directly or indirectly. Climate change would add to the stress placed on natural and socioeconomic systems, which are already under immense strain as a result of increasing industrialization, urbanisation, and economic expansion. The impacts of climate change, as well as its different components, are discussed in this work.

Proper knowledge of hydrological response of a watershed is of utmost importance in order to implement watershed development works in the watersheds. Morphometric analysis of a watershed thus helps in understanding the hydrological response of watersheds in hydrological data-scarce conditions. The present study attempts to perform the morphometric analysis of sub-watersheds inherent in Burhner river watershed situated in Mandla, Balaghat and Dindori districts of Madhya Pradesh, India. A total of 17 subwatersheds were delineated in the study area using CARTOSAT DEM (Digital Elevation Model), having a spatial resolution of 30 m. Stream network of the study area was obtained using DEM in ArcGIS 9.3®. The findings of the study revealed that out of 17 sub-watersheds, three sub-watersheds were of 8th order, eight sub-watersheds were of 7th order and six sub-watersheds were of 6th order. The drainage pattern of the study area was found as dendritic to sub-dendritic, approaching like the branching of a tree. Linear, areal, shape and relief morphometric parameters were calculated using the standard formulas. High values of a linear morphometric parameter such as mean bifurcation ratio revealed geomorphological control over the entire watershed. In addition, higher values of areal morphometric parameters such as drainage density, stream frequency, texture ratio with lower values of length of overland flow and constant of channel maintenance suggested channel flow as dominating in the sub-watersheds with a higher risk of soil erosion in the sub-watersheds. Analysis of shape morphometric parameters (i.e. form factor, circularity ratio, elongation ratio, compactness coefficient and shape factor) and relief morphometric parameters (i.e. relief ratio, relative relief and ruggedness number) also revealed that sub-watersheds are more prone to soil erosion. The study aided in understanding the hydrological behaviour of subwatersheds of Burhner river watershed which can be further considered for sustainable management of natural resources in sub-watersheds.

This study simulates the leaf area index (LAI), above-ground dry matter (ADM) and seed yield of soybean grown in an alfisol soil and humid tropical climate of Nigeria, West Africa. It used the calibration datasets for 2011 and 2012 to validate the field experiment conducted at the Teaching and Research Farms, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria from September 2015 to December 2015. The model was evaluated using root-mean-square-error (RMSE), mean bias, (MB) and percentage bias (PMB). Model sensitivity tests were also carried out to assess the potential impacts of higher temperatures on soybean growth and development. There were good agreements between model simulations of the crop parameters and the field measurements. The models effectively replicated the observations of LAI (MB = 0.339 kg ha-1; PMB = 26%; RMSE = 0.611 kg ha-1) and grain yields (MB = 3.28 kg ha-1; PMB = 0.17%; RMSE = 3.28 kg ha-1). Sensitivity tests revealed that additional warming up to 6oC could reduce VPD (~ 2.0%) and LAI (~ 23.5%). However, soybean ADM and grain yield improved with increase in temperatures near the optimal threshold value during the growing period. Further increase in temperatures by ≥ 4oC reducedthe ADM by ~ 23.8% and the grain yield by ~ 1%. The findings suggested that future warmer climate could have significant negative impacts on the growth and development of soybeans in the study area.

Fertility of male animals is influenced by various factors such as neurohormonal imbalances, reproductive organ tissue changes, seminal attributes, libido and sexual behavior. The global decline in male reproductive health is a big worry, and modern therapeutic options to prevent male infertility are costly, less accessible, require long-term treatment, and have a variety of adverse effects. Herbal remedies, on the other hand, are better suited to providing more comprehensive approaches to improve the male reproductive health. There is a particular set of herbs known as vajikarana or aphrodisiacs in Ayurvedic pharmacology that nourishes and stimulates the sexual tissues. This review focuses on the Ayurvedic approach to improving male reproductive health, referring to some of the most important scientifically tested herbs that have been found to boost male fertility by having stimulating or nourishing effects on the male reproductive organs.

Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis miller) is an evergreen perennial plant that is commonly found in proprietary herbal medicines and is widely employed in current herbal practice. The goal of this study was to look at the quality of boar semen after feeding Aloe vera leaf powder. The study was employed eight-monthold sexually matured boars weighing 90 to 120 kg. The boars were employed as a control group (before feeding) and treatment (after feeding of Aloe vera leaf powder). The gloved hand method was used to collect the semen from the boar. The Aloe vera leaf powder was fed @ 5 mg / kg body weight to the boars 3 month later of initial semen collection. Standard methods were used to examine the boar’s spermiogram. The use of Aloe vera leaf powder on a regular basis reduced sperm motility, concentration and percentage viability of sperm in boar (P<0.01). The spermiogram of a boar was negatively influenced by aloe vera laef powder. The herbs could diminish boar semen quality, so it is advised not to use Aloe vera leaf powder in case of boar, especially those utilized for breeding.

A study was conducted to analyze the socio-economic profile of the migratory sheep farmers in the Narayanapet district of Telangana state. Data were collected from 125 migratory sheep farmers by following the multistage random sampling techniques through personal interviews. The study revealed that the majority (67.2. %) of the shepherds belonged to the middle age group and the mean age of the sheep farmers was 38.66 ±11.72 years. A majority (77.60%) of the sheep farmers were illiterates, and only 22.40 percent of farmers were literates. Shepherds’ average sheep farming experience was 23.65 ± 12.58 years, and the average family size was 4.67 ± 1.67. The nuclear family (71.20%) was the most prevalent type in the three flock sizes of Narayanpet district. All the shepherds (100%) among three categories of flocks in the surveyed area belonged to the backward caste (BC) only. Among the shepherds, the majority (93.6%) of the sheep farmers had sheep rearing as a significant occupation. The average annual income of the shepherds was ` 85760 ± 55808.1/- and 80.00 percent of shepherds had a median annual income of ` 29952/- to ` 141568.1/-. A significant (P<0.01) relationship between the annual income of shepherds and the category of flock size was observed amongst the three flock categories. It was noticed that 57.60 percent and 42.40 percent of the shepherds were residing in pucca and kutcha houses, respectively, during their non-migratory period