The increase in MSP for Rabi Crops for 2023-24 is in line with the Union Budget announcement of fixing the MSP at a level of at lease 1.5 times of the All-India weighted average cost of Production, aiming at reasonably fair remuneration for the farmers.

In agriculture, the seed is the most important and primary input, and it must be of excellent quality. One dependable and affordable method for improving seed germination and seedling establishment in crops is seed priming. This investigation was done to ascertain the results of seed priming with borax on seedling germination and growth in two wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) types i.e., HUW-468 and HUW510.The seeds used for experimentation were pre-soaked in different borax concentrations for seed treatment. The treatments included B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, and B6 (control, hydro-primed, seeds primed with 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mM concentrations of borax, respectively) for variety HUW-468, and D1, D2, D3, D4, D5 and D6 (control, hydro-primed, seeds primed with 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mM concentration of borax, respectively) for variety HUW-510. Parameters like germination percentage, radicle length, plumule length, seedling length, fresh and dry weights of radicle and plumule, and seedling vigor index I and II were observed and calculated 10 days after sowing. Among all the parameters, primed sets performed better, followed by hydro-primed and control. However, HUW-510 performed slightly better than variety HW-468 after nutripriming with borax salt.

This study aims to determine the effects of solid matrix priming combined with plant extracts on seedling studies of papaya for 48 hrs. Different treatments were T1; sawdust + 5% neem extracts, T2; sawdust + 5% tea extracts, T3; sawdust + 5% turmeric extracts, T4; sawdust + 5% marigold extracts, T5 ; sawdust + 5% amaranthus extracts and T6; sawdust + 5% water. The solid matrix priming of papaya seed significantly influenced on the germination rate growth and development of papaya seedlings. Overall, from the study it was found that T3 (sawdust + 5% turmeric extract), T4 (sawdust + 5% marigold extract) and T5 (sawdust + 5% amaranthus extract) performed better than other treatments.

The study was carried out to find out the effect of halo and hormonal priming on papaya seeds. The experiment was laid down in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) and was replicated thrice with nine different treatments namely T1 (sodium chloride 600 PPM for 10 hours and gibberellic acid 50 PPM for 4 hours), T2 (sodium chloride 600 PPM for 10 hours and gibberellic acid 100 PPM for 4 hours), T3 (sodium chloride 900 PPM for 10 hours and gibberellic acid 50 PPM), T4 (sodium chloride 900 PPM for 10 hours and gibberellic acid 100 PPM for 4 hours), T5 (sodium chloride 600 PPM for 10 hours and benzyl adenine 50 PPM for 4 hours), T6 (sodium chloride 600 PPM for 10 hours and benzyl adenine 100 PPM for 4 hours), T7 (sodium chloride 900 PPM for 10 hours and benzyl adenine 50 PPM for 4 hours), T8 (sodium chloride 900 PPM for 10 hours and benzyl adenine 100 PPM for 4 hours) and T9 (control: distilled water for 10 hours). Various attributes were observed for the study. From the entire experiment the results showed that priming with Sodium chloride 600 PPM for 10 hours and gibberellic acid 50 PPM for 4 hours (T1) was the best seed priming technique as it gave the maximum final germination percentage and which performed better than other treatments.

Crop quality characteristics are rapidly and efficiently assessed using near-infrared spectroscopy. Over the last several decades, NIR spectroscopy’s advent and broad application have been an enormous success story in analytical technology development. NIR spectroscopy is frequently used in agricultural and food goods to identify and quantify an unlimited number of analytes. The near-infrared area has a wavelength range of 800 to 2500 nm. Machine learning approaches have proven to be highly successful at predicting various agricultural crop components. The concentration of the starch component in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) whole-grain flour was determined using NIR spectroscopy data and machine language algorithms. Starch prediction models are developed using Linear Regression (LR), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Regression (SVR), and Decision Tree Regression (DTR) algorithms. Performance of the models is evaluated using measures, namely, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Residual Standard Error (RSE), Coefficient of Determination (R2 ), and Adjusted Coefficient of Determination (adjusted R2). It was observed that LR outperformed all other models in terms of accuracy for predicting starch components from preprocessed spectra, with RMSE, RSE, R2 and adjusted R2 values of 0.03, 0.04, 0.98, and 0.97, respectively. The accuracy of the ANN model is similar to that of the LR, with minor differences in RMSE, RSE, R2 and adjusted R2, values of 0.03, 0.04, 0.97, and 0.97, respectively.

Wheat is one of the essential cereals and is highest produced grain in the world after corn and rice. It is the second most important crop in India, next to rice. Wheat stem rust is the primary biotic constraint to wheat production, and it is essential to understand and analyse the disease in terms of pathological and biochemical responses. Formation of white flecks on the leaf surface seven to eight days post-inoculation was the first symptom of disease initiation. Number of pustules and uredia per centimeter square increased as time progressed along with the disease. The A-9-30-1, with a mean number of pustules and uredia of 25.25 and 6.45 × 104 per centimeter square, respectively, was highly susceptible to recording higher values during the entire study period, followed by Agra local (28.93 mean no. of pustules and 7.25 × 104 uredia per centimeter square) and Kharachia (31.55 mean no. of pustules and 7.4 × 104 uredia per centimeter square). No flecking, pustules, or uredia were observed in the three varieties viz., GDW 1255, GW 496, and GW 451.

Increased greenhouse gases are a severe issue world over. Climate change is likely to influence the epidemiology of diseases and pests. A change in climate in the recent past has influenced disease and pest cycle and their epiphytotic in many crops. Flue-Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco grown in Andhra Pradesh (A.P) and Karnataka, India, in an area of about 2.2 lakh ha produces around 230 M.Kg annually. The crop is a major commercial crop with a lot of export potentiality and farm economy. FCV tobacco is grown in Karnataka as rainfed, while it is an irrigated crop in Andhra Pradesh (AP), which suffers due to many pests and diseases in nursery and field crops resulting in economic loss. Though, suitable crop protection strategies have been in practice hitherto, minor diseases and pests have evolved as a major concern due to changes in climate over a period. Crop protection strategies are needed to cope-up with the changed climatic conditions like temperature rise and periodical droughts.

Tomato is an economically crucial nutritious vegetable crop grown in various states of our country, including Haryana. Its nursery is raised to get seedlings for transplanting in the main field. The nursery seedlings are adversely affected by damping off disease which is caused by several fungal species. In the present investigation, the evaluation of native Trichoderma spp. and copper-enriched fermented whey preparation was studied in the laboratory, as well as nursery conditions for the management of fungal pathogen responsible for damping off disease. The associated pathogen was isolated from diseased tomato seedlings and identified as F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici on the basis of cultural and morphological characters as well as through pathogenicity. Out of forty-three soil samples, five samples showed the presence of Trichoderma sp. These isolates were identified as T. harzianum, T. viride and Trichoderma sp. based on cultural and morphological characteristics. The antagonists could inhibit the mycelia growth of the pathogen in the range of 52.89 to 61.17%, and copper-enriched fermented whey preparation showed 42.28% inhibition. Among Trichoderma isolates, T. harzianum exhibited higher inhibition as compared to T. viride. Native T. harzianum was assessed through soil application, seed treatment, drenching, enrichment of farmyard manure as well as vermicompost. Copper-enriched fermented whey preparation was also taken as one of the treatments. The results showed that the antagonist was efficient in managing the disease in terms of lower disease incidence than the control. Damping-off incidence ranged from 4.35 to 9.76 percent in antagonist applied treatments, which was lower than in control (20.48%). The second preparation was also better than control, where the incidence of disease was 10.47%.

The present experiment was conducted in the department of Plantation, Spice, Medicinal and Aromatic Crops, College of Horticulture, RVSKVV, Mandsaur (M.P.) during 2019-20 in factorial RBD design with replicated thrice with two sowing methods and five seed rates as treatments. All the parameters were recorded at a fixed interval of 30 days from 30 days after sowing to harvest. The results revealed that line sowing exhibited early germination, flowering, maturity, and higher leaf area, leaf area index, crop growth rate, relative growth rate, chlorophyll content, and seed yield compared to broadcast. Among the seed rates, medium seed rate @8 kg ha-1 is shown early in all the phenological and superior in physiological parameters. During interactions, line sowing with @ 8 kg seed ha-1 was also early in germination, flowering, maturity, leaf area, leaf area index, crop growth rate, relative growth rate, chlorophyll content, and seed yield. On the other hand, the maximum harvest index was noted in the broadcast with 12 kg seed rate.

Wood Apple (Limonia acidissima) and Guava (Psidium guajava L.) are the most prominent fruit crops in India. An experiment, “Qualitative Assessment of Guava and Wood Apple Blended Jelly Cubes” conducted during the year 2021 visualized the effect of different and suitable pulp combinations of guava and wood apple juice for blended jelly preparation. The experiment was laid out in RBD with nine treatments. Jelly cubes were prepared using various proportions (100:0, 95:5, 90:10, 85:15, 80:20, 75:25, 70:30, 65:35, and 60:40) of wood apple and guava fruit juice and were evaluated for quality parameters. Significant variation was observed among different fruit juice combinations. Treatment T6 [wood apple (75 %): guava (25 %)] recorded superiority in TSS, pH, moisture, acidity, ascorbic acid, and total sugars, while treatment T2 [wood apple (95 %): guava (5 %)] showed minimum values. Sensory evaluation of jelly cubes from treatment T6 [wood apple (75 %): guava (25 %)] achieved better organoleptic properties.

The aim of the present study was to produce cattle embryos through in vitro maturation, fertilization and culture by supplementing culture media with insulin-like growth factor-1 individually and in combination with epidermal growth factor. Cattle ovaries were collected from the abattoir and carried to the laboratory within 3-4 h in normal saline, maintaining 30-35 °C. Cumulus oocyte complexes (COCs) were collected from visible surface follicles and matured in-vitro in maturation media supplemented with (i) insulin-like growth factor-1 and (ii) in combination with epidermal growth factor at 38.5 °C in CO2 incubator with maximum humidity. After 24 h matured, oocytes were allowed for fertilization with capacitated sperms in Fert-BO media at 38.5 °C in CO2 incubator. After 15-18 h, oocytes were cultured in 100 µl droplets of mCR2aa medium supplemented with growth factor. After 48 h, cleavage was checked and further co-cultured with oviductal cells for development. In the first experiment, the cleavage rate (63.27±2.17a) and morula formation rate (20.09±2.57a) were significantly (p<0.05) higher in the treatment group @ 50 ng/ml of IGF-1 as compared to the control group. In contrast, in the second experiment the cleavage rate (70.00±2.16a) and morula formation rate (25.30±1.45a) were significantly (p<0.05) higher in the treatment group @ 50 + 10 ng/ml of IGF-1+ EGF, as compared to control group. From the present study, it could be concluded that insulin-like growth factor-1 may have induced cleavage after fertilization and helps in early embryo developmental growth.

Swachh Bharat Mission that has been marked as the largest ever cleanliness drive in the country that was started by Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi at Rajghat, New Delhi on 2nd of October 2014. The current study presents a small insight into the cleanliness situation of the rural areas. The present study was conducted in Hisar district of Haryana state. Two villages; Mangali and Aryanagar from Hisar I and Hisar II (blocks) were selected randomly by selecting 20 females, 20 males and 10 field functionaries from each village which made total sample to be 100. Information sources used by respondents for obtaining information about Swachh Bharat Mission and their attitude towards the mission were assessed. Television and peers were the most utilized source for obtaining information. Attitude was found to be unfavourable. A training session of three days was organized in each village to impart knowledge on various aspects of the mission. 10 males and 10 females from each village were selected whose attitude scores were recorded low. Attitude of the respondents after the training witnessed a significant change (‘t’ value was 7.20* for females and 5.87* for the males).

The present paper examines growth and trend pattern analysis of jackfruit production in some selected districts of Kerala in India. The analysis is carried out by fitting statistical models, viz. linear and exponential models. The time series data on jackfruit during 2009-2018 is used for the analysis. The trend values have been obtained by fitting the respective models, and the validity of the models has been tested by using the Chi-square test statistic. It is revealed from the study that both models are valid for analyzing the growth and trend patterns of jackfruit production in the concerned districts. Moreover, the coefficient of determination is also computed to judge the suitability of the concerned models.

The study aimed to identify and determine the endophytic bacteria of coffee leaves (Coffea arabica L.) having multifunctional plant growth-promoting traits. Coffee leaves were obtained from the plants grown at the Regional Coffee Research Station of Lower Pulney hills, Thandigudi. Examination of seven distinct endophytic bacterial isolates was characterized morphologically and biochemically. Endophytic bacterial isolates have shown various levels of resistance in recent research. Plant growth-promoting traits include nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, and potassium mobilization. Also, the endophytic microbiota were the potential plant symbionts for conferring biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. Based on the results, the two efficient isolates had undergone 16S rRNA sequencing, and the results showed that the SE4 was Chryseobacterium indologeness, IMP2 was Pseudomonas putida. It has been found that both possessed a high range of antagonistic activity in terms of percent growth inhibition (GI%) against Pythium spp. Macrophomina spp. and Fusarium spp. And the developed module could be recommended as an effective biocontrol agent against disease-causing pathogens and an excellent plant growth regulator for sustainable production of various crops, without hamperingsoil health and fertility.

The present investigation entitled, “Biochemical and molecular characterization of sweet sorghum varieties and hybrids” was undertaken to study the sugar and juice quality parameters of promising sweet sorghum varieties and hybrids for the ultimate ethanol production. Genetic diversity of these varieties and hybrids were also studied using ISSR primers. Fifteen promising sweet sorghum varieties and three hybrids were grown in Kharif 2017 at All India Co-ordinated Sorghum Improvement Project, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications. The juice from stalks of each variety and hybrid was extracted and analyzed for 0brix, reducing sugar, non-reducing sugar, total sugar, and juice yield. The juice yield ranged from 4011-10661 l/ha with highest 10661 l/ha in sweet sorghum hybrid RSSH 50. The total sugar content in the stem juice of sweet sorghum varieties and hybrids varied from 11.01 to 13.47, with a mean value of 12.18 percent. Seven ISSR primers were used for the genetic diversity studies of sweet sorghum varieties and hybrids. The consensus tree divided ten varieties into three major clusters. One sub-cluster included five sweet sorghum varieties namely RSSV 517, RSSV 520, RSSV 542, CSV 19 SS, SSV 84 and one hybrid CSH 22 SS, while another sub cluster included three varieties viz., RSSV 527, RSSV 533 and RSSV 540.

Cellular stressors are abiotic or biotic conditions, such as drought, salinity, acidity, and infections, that induce plant damage or disease, as well as an increase in ROS and ethylene production. Endophytes are microorganisms that reside within plants and share an endosymbiotic relationship with their host to protect the plant from cellular stress. The bacterial endophytes under stress conditions produce ACC deaminase from the acdS gene to break down ACC, an ethylene precursor, which, in high concentrations, hinder and retard the plant’s growth. ACC deaminase from Pseudomonas sp. (PDB ID: 1TYZ) was used for the mutation study to determine the possible effect of single amino acid substitutions using the Predict SNP tool. The mutant E295G (glutamic acid convert to glycine at position 295) was considered, and a simulation for 100ns was run on the E295G mutated ACCD docked with ACC (Compound CID: 535) using GROMACS 2019 version. The average values of the molecular simulation analysis were: MM-PSBA = -8.9047 kcal/mol, RMSD = 0.2093058013 nm, RMSF = 0.1089223565 nm, SASA = 149.3414 nm2, RG = 1.961965 nm. This work indicates that enhancing the activity of the ACC deaminase enzyme from the bacterial endophytes would aid in mitigating stress in the plants.

Western Himalayas are mainly prone to chir pine forest fires, which are predominantly governed by climatic factors. Forest fire is one of the main reasons for forest degradation and has a hazardous impact on the environment, economy, and human health. Therefore, the present investigation aimed to develop forest fire risk models based on climatic parameters using gene expression programming (GEP) for Solan district of Himachal Pradesh. Climatic parameters viz., maximum temperature (Tx), minimum temperature (Tn), mean temperature (Ta), soil temperature (Ts), maximum relative humidity (RHx), minimum relative humidity (RHn), mean relative humidity (RHa), rainfall (RF), sunshine hours (SS) and wind speed (WS), for the past fifteen years was randomly divided into a training set (75%) and validation set (25%). Training data was used to construct eight models, which had different combinations of ten weather parameters, and the models were validated using validation data. Several statistical criteria, viz., coefficient of determination (R2), Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r), and statistical errors were used for the evaluation of the performance of Models. Model 2, Model 5, and Model 8 showed better performance in both the training and validation stage; however, among these models, Model 2 (R2 = 1.00%; r = 1.00) was selected and described. Model 2 was generated using temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall as input data. This model can be exploited to predict and prevent forest fire hazards in the study area.

Globally significant parts of the population consume substantially less nutritious foods than recommended levels. People have been encouraged to find alternative food sources due to growing public health concerns. Microgreens are young, immature plants that are a new type of vegetable that have just been developed, adapting their production at the micro-scale. In diets that support good health, microgreens are becoming more and more important. They are regarded as excellent providers of nutrients and bioactive substances, and they have promise in preventing chronic illnesses and undernutrition. This study is basically focused on assessment of awareness, cultivation, and consumption practices regarding microgreens among urban women of Varanasi. The cross-sectional study was carried out in which samples were selected randomly, and the total sample size was 110 subjects. Educational intervention program was also conducted after the survey. Results demonstrated that the majority of respondents (97.22%) hadn’t any knowledge about microgreens before the intervention, but they were willing to know about growing methods of microgreens. After intervention (73.14%), subjects had knowledge about microgreens. In which (65.74%) subjects started to grow and consumption of microgreens after 3rd month of follow-up. Therefore, it is essential to develop more and more community awareness-building initiatives and campaigns in the locals so that it can as soon as possible, become a regular part of people’s diets.