Monk fruit (Siraitia grosvenorii) commonly called as Luo Han Guo is a perennial herb and generally cultivated in Guangxi province of China. Traditionally the fruit was used in folk medicine for the treatment of several common diseases like cough, cold, sore throat, constipation and dire thirst. Studies over past decades advanced the knowledge of bio-chemical and pharmacological properties of monk fruit. Till now, several compounds have been identified and isolated from monk fruit, mainly triterpenoids, flavonoids, essential oils, amino acids, vitamins, minerals and polysaccharides. A triterpene glycoside consists of a group of mogrosides which are mainly considered to be responsible for higher biological effects of monk fruit. The mogroside extract of monk fruit gives >300 more sweetness as compared to 5% sucrose solution without giving extra calories during consumption. Biochemical properties as well as health benefits of monk fruit including scope for its utilization in food and beverage industries for the development of low calories products for diabetics and health conscious consumers are discussed in this article.
Brucellosis is a disease affecting a wide range of animal species including the major food-producing animals as cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. Other species such as bison, buffalo, camels, dogs, horses, reindeer and yaks are also affected and act as a significant local source of infection in some regions. Infections in marine animals (dolphins, porpoises and seals) have further escalated the chances of transmission of the disease in other susceptible hosts. Till date, none of the prevention and control measures have been helpful in the eradication /elimination of this disease. With the initiation of’ National Animal Disease Control’ programme launched recently which aims at controlling this disease through proper vaccination, one can hope to curtail the problem to some extent.
India has about 48.12 million indigenous cattle out of total 190.90 million (37.28%) cattle population as per the all India livestock census, 2012. The trend in livestock population over decades showed that the composition of cattle population is in favor of crossbred/exotic cattle (increased by 20.18%) than the indigenous cattle (decreased by 8.94%). Thus improving the indigenous stock by proper selection is the need of the hour. Selection is mostly based on the milk production of the animal which is affected by various genetic and non-genetic factors. Sire, season of calving, period of calving, parity of animals, age group of animals etc affect the milk production. Adjustment of significant effect of non-genetic factors on milk production helps in accurate estimation of genetic parameters. The production traits reviewed in the article were monthly test day milk yield (MTDMY), 305 days milk yield (305MY) and lifetime milk yield (LTMY). Understanding the factors affecting milk production in Sahiwal cattle is essential to enhance the selection process and thus the productivity of indigenous cattle.
A field experiment was conducted at G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar to study the response of sweet corn (Zea mays L. saccharata) to different levels of FYM and nutrients. The experiment consisting of 4 levels of FYM (0, 5, 10 and 15 t/ha) and 4 doses of nutrients (50, 75, 100 and 125% recommended NPK) was laid out in factorial RBD with three replications. Results revealed that plant growth in terms of height, leaf area and shoot dry matter accumulation increased significantly with increase in FYM and nutrient levels. Crop nourished with FYM showed significant improvement in yield attributes viz. cob length and cob girth, cob yield and net return but did not respond beyond 5 t/ha. The increase in husked and dehusked cob yields under 5t/ha FYM was 13.5 and 17.6%, respectively over no use of FYM. An increase in nutrient level from 50 to 125% resulted into significant improvement in cob yield up to 100% recommended dose of nutrients. The yield advantage under 100 % NPK over 50 and 75% was 35.8 and 8.4% for husked and 36.4 and 11.0% for dehusked cob yields, respectively. Application of 5 t FYM/ha and 100% recommended dose of nutrients was economically viable as these recorded significantly more net return.
Penoxsulam is a new herbicide of Triazolopyrimidine sulfonamide group. In order to explore its persistence in waters of varying pH, dissipation studies of penoxsulam herbicide were conducted in water maintained at three different pH (4, 7 and 9.2) at 1 and 2 µg ml-1 fortification levels. Water samples were collected at different time intervals i.e. 0 (2h), 1, 3, 7, 14, 30, 60, 90 days after herbicide application and processed for penoxsulam residues using HPLC. Degradation kinetics of penoxsulam was found to follow first order kinetics which could be better accounted by a monophasic pattern. The calculated half lives (t 1/2) in water samples of different pH depicted highest stability in acidic pH (t 1/2 = 69.0 to 77.0 days), followed by neutral (t 1/2 = 57.75 to 63.0 days) and alkaline pH (t 1/2 = 33.0 to 34.66 days) irrespective of the dose applied. Penoxsulam degrades rapidly in alkaline water and since it possesses low vapour pressure, its degradation in water is also dependant upon sunlight exposure which causes photolysis of the herbicide.
This study describes a new host record of an eulophine parasitoid of the genus Elasmus (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) from Karnataka that was reared from the larva of Banana skipper, Erionata torus (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae). The banana skipper or banana leaf-roller or red eye skipper, Erionota torus is a common banana pest in Southeast Asia. The larva causes considerable damage to foliage of banana by rolling the leaf while feeding on it. Elasmus brevicornis Gahan (Chalcidoidea: Eulophidae:Eulophinae) is redescribed and illustrated. Previously E. brevicornis has been reported from various lepidopteran pests including Erionata thrax L. although it is reported first time from E. torus. This offers new perspectives for the use of this parasitic wasp in biological control programmes against this destructive pest.
The present investigation was undertaken to find out the magnitude and the determinants of farmers’ indebtedness in Nadia district of West Bengal. Data for the study was collected from 80 farm households during 2014-2015 through personal interview using survey method. The information was analyzed using simple statistical tools like averages and percentages and multiple regression technique. The findings revealed that almost 96 per cent of the farm households in the study area were indebted with an average outstanding amount of Rs. 51,455. The debt servicing capacity of sub-marginal farmers was very low. The major factors, influencing indebtedness positively, were observed to be the interest rate, diversion of farm loan towards non-productive purpose and high consumption expenditure. The study called for strengthening of rural financial institutions to persuade farmers to use institutional credit only.
Carbon balance in agriculture is important in terms of crop production. A study was conducted to assess the potential of carbon savings in rice-wheat production systems under conservation agriculture (CA) practices as compared to conventional practices (CP). A survey was carried out in four selected states (Punjab, Haryana, MP and UP) of India to assess the carbon foot print and farmers adoption of CA as well as CP. Carbon input and output for rice-wheat cropping system were analysed to quantify the total carbon consumption with CA and CP. The carbon output per unit carbon input was found significantly higher in CA practices as compared to CP in all four surveyed states. However, this ratio was found maximum in CA of Punjab (12.4) followed by CA of Haryana (12.0), CA of UP (10.8), CP of Punjab (9.2), CP of Haryana (8.6), CA of MP (7.8), CP of UP (7.7) and CP of MP (4.3). Maximum carbon productivity was observed in CA of Punjab (16.6 kg grain/kg CE) followed by CA of Haryana (15.4 kg grain/kg CE), CA of MP (13.7 kg grain/kg CE), CP of Punjab (12.4 kg grain/kg CE), CA of UP (11.8 kg grain/kg CE), CP of Haryana (10.9 kg grain/kg CE), CP of UP (8.5 kg grain/kg CE) and CP of MP (7.8 kg grain/kg CE). It is concluded from the results that the carbon use efficiency and productivity can be improved by adopting appropriate conservation agriculture practices supported with suitable agricultural machinery.
The operations performed in the field after sowing but before harvesting of crop are termed as intercultural operations. Interculture is described as breaking the upper surface of soil, uprooting the weeds (unwanted plants), aerating the soil, thereby promoting the activities of microorganism and making good mulch, so that moisture inside the field is properly retained from evaporation. These operations are accomplished by means of many tools and implements, such as hoes, rotary offset tillers, offset harrows, cultivators, rotary hoes etc. Performances evaluation of different intercultural implements is essential to assess their adoptability and suitability to farmers for better production and profit. Therefore, numbers of research papers were reviewed to assess their suitability for adoption by farmers. The study concluded that rotary offset tiller was found to be the most suitable intercultural implement because of efficient performance due to less draft requirement (1086 N), less fuel consumption (3.5 l/h), high degree of pulverization (45 mm), high residue incorporation (92.27 %), lower field capacity (0.43 ha/h) and higher field performance index (80 %) as compared to others.
The flow accuracy of exiting fluted feed roller for high speed drilling of soybean was studied. In this study a 10 groove fluted roller of 49 mm diameter, 10 mm flute diameter and 40 mm exposure length was tested for soybean seeds (JS-9560). The flow accuracy was measured at four fluted roll speed i.e. 20, 30, 40 & 50 rpm and three positions of width of slot between the roller and the bottom plate of the feed unit (WS) at full exposure length of the rollers. In conclusion, fluted roll speed had a significant effect on the flow evenness. The metering mechanism can be used as a high speed metering mechanism. The best result for seed flow accuracy was obtained for the flute speed of 50 rpm (9.9-11.9 km/h for 150 kg/ha seed rate) and 3rd WS position.
Agricultural engineers and economists use a variety of engineering and economic principles for calculating a machinery cost. An effective farm manager must also know these principles, and apply them when deciding to buy, lease, rent or share machinery. Thus, estimating farm machinery costs becomes essential to farmers for sound investment analysis and useful in planning, controlling production on their farms. Therefore, study was conducted to estimate operational cost of various intercultural implements namely side shift tiller, offset harrow and cultivator at Horticulture Research Center, Pantnagar. The study concluded that higher operational cost was found (641.95 Rs/ha) in side shift tiller whereas lower operational cost was estimated in offset harrow and cultivator approximately nearer (576.49 and 571.97 Rs/ha). The results also showed that operational cost of intercultural implements depends significantly on the initial cost of the implement. Therefore, side shift tiller has high operational cost because of its higher initial cost as compared to other intercultural implements.
The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of hypertension and assess the relationship between diet, anthropometry, stress level, physical activity and occurrence of hypertension among young adult females. The participants were 350 young adult females of age 20-30 years. In this cross sectional study, data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 (Trial). Results showed that out of 350 participants, 10.29% were pre-hypertensive, 9.43% were classified under grade-I and about 2% were classified under grade-II hypertension. The overall prevalence of obesity and overweight was 9.43% and 18.57% respectively. Body Mass Index (BMI) showed a significant (95% CI; ?=0.05) though weak positive correlation, with both Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) and Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP).High fat containing foods were having little impact on obesity and hypertension. Physical activity level of subjects was inversely associated with BMI and Waist Circumference (WC). A moderate association was found between stress level and high Waist- Hip Ratio (WHR). Correlation analysis suggests that the intake of high fat+sugar foods lead to increase in the waist circumference and waist hip ratio, thus, may be the contributory factor for obesity. Salt and salt containing foods didn’t show any strong contribution towards high blood pressure.
With the development of agro-based industry in India, the production of wastes from these industries increased rapidly by quantity as well as by variety. These industries produce large volume of waste, resulting from the production, preparation and consumption of food. Pea processing industry involves preserving green peas by freezing and marketing them for seasonal limitation and producing a very high amount of waste as a by-product. Inappropriate disposal of this waste not only results in environmental degradation and pollution, but also loss of valuable biomass resources. The present study was aimed to estimate the nutritional value of waste pea peels and to utilize them for developing bio-degradable product through value addition in an efficient way. The result revealed that waste pea peels have high nutritive value of crude protein (19.79%), and have a good amount of ash (7.87%), fat (2.27%) and fiber (1.84%). The biofilm developed under this study has good tensile strength (5.96 MPa), thickness (70 µm) and water solubility (2.46%). Therefore bio-film can be a substitute of synthetic plastic with the advantage of employment generation, energy recovery and livelihood security which would ultimately lead to sustainable development.
The present investigation was designed to develop amaranth products for per-scholars, celiac and osteoporotic subjects. Puffed amaranth grains were used for sweet product development i.e. laddoo and kheer and raw amaranth grains were used for salty product development i.e., upma and khichri. In organoleptic evaluation it was observed that sweet products were liked significantly more than the salty products. However, no significant difference was observed in between amaranth laddoo and amaranth kheer. Overall acceptability was maximum for amaranth kheer followed by amaranth laddoo, amaranth upma and amaranth khichri. Organoletically all the products were found acceptable. Serving size and cooked weight of the developed amaranth product was also recorded. Weight per serving size of laddoo, kheer, upma and khichri was 100 g (4 pieces), 255 g (1 bowl), 300 g (1bowl) and 250 g (1 bowl) respectively. Nutrient content of the developed products was also done on the basis of calculation method and it was noted that per serving amaranth upma had highest energy content followed by laddoo, kheer and khichri.
