Interactive effect of elevated tropospheric ozone and carbon dioxide on radiation utilisation, growth and yield of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.).

An experiment was conducted in the Free Air Ozone and Carbon dioxide Enrichment (FAOCE) facility to study the impact of elevated O3, CO2 and their interaction on chickpea crop (cv. Pusa-5023) in terms of phenology, biophysical parameters, yield components, radiation interception and use efficiency. The crop was exposed to elevated O3 (EO:60ppb), CO2 (EC:550 ppm) and their combined interactive treatment (ECO: EC+EO) during the entire growing season. Results revealed that the crop's total growth period was shortened by 10, 14 and 17 days under elevated CO2, elevated O3 and the combined treatment, respectively. Compared to ambient condition, the leaf area index (LAI) under elevated CO2 was higher by 4 to 28%, whilst it is reduced by 7.3 to 23.8% under elevated O3. The yield based radiation use efficiency (RUEy) was highest under elevated CO2 (0.48 g MJ-1), followed by combined (0.41 g MJ-1), ambient (0.38 g MJ-1) and elevated O3 (0.32 g MJ-1) treatments. Elevated O3 decreased RUEy by 15.78% over ambient, and the interaction results in a 7.8% higher RUEy. The yield was 31.7% more under elevated CO2 and 21.9% lower in elevated O3 treatment as compared to the ambient. The combined interactive treatment recorded a higher yield as compared to ambient by 9.7%. Harvest index (HI) was lowest under elevated O3 (36.10%), followed by ambient (39.18%), combined (40.81%), and highest was under elevated CO2 (44.18%). Chickpea showed a positive response to elevated CO2 resulting a 5% increase in HI as compared to ambient condition. Our findings quantified the positive and negative impacts of elevated O3, CO2 and their interaction on chickpea and revealed that the negative impacts of elevated O3 can be compensated by elevated CO2 in chickpea. This work promotes the understanding of crop behaviour under elevated O3, CO2 and their interaction, which can be used as valuable inputs for radiation-based crop simulation models to simulate climate change impact on chickpea crop.

Development and evaluation of low cost honey heating-cum-filtration system.

A fully mechanized honey heating-cum-filtration system was designed, developed, fabricated and evaluated for its performance. The system comprised of two sections; the top heating section and the lower filtering section. The developed system was evaluated for its performance at different process conditions (25 kg and 50 kg capacity using processing condition: 50 °C heating temperature and 60 °C heating temperature with 20 and 40 min holding time, respectively) and it was found that the total time required for heating, holding and filtration of honey was 108 and 142 min for 25 kg and 50 kg capacity of machine, respectively, irrespective of the processing conditions. The optimum capacity of the system was found to be 50 kg and it involved an investment of Rs 40,000 for its fabrication. The honey filtered through the developed filtration system was compared with the honey filtered in a high cost honey processing plant and raw honey for its microbial and biochemical (reducing sugars (%), moisture, acidity and pH) quality attributes. It was observed that the process of filtering through the developed unit resulted in reduction of microbes. The microbiological quality of honey filtered through the developed filtration system was better than that of raw honey and commercially processed honey. The treatment conditions found best in context of microbiological counts were 60 °C temperature for 20 min. There was 1.97 fold reductions in the plate count and 2.14 reductions in the fungal count of honey processed through the developed filtration system as compared to the raw honey. No coliforms were found in the processed honey. Honey processed through developed unit witnessed less moisture content, acidity and more reducing sugars as compared to raw honey, whereas its quality was comparable to the commercially processed honey.

Optimization of drying process parameters for cauliflower drying.

The different sizes (3, 4 and 5 cm) of hybrid variety of cauliflower (variety no. 71) were dehydrated in thin layer at three temperatures of 55, 60 and 65 °C with velocities of 40, 50 and 60 m/min. Dehydrated samples were analyzed for vitamin C, rehydration ratio and browning. Statistical analysis indicated that drying time was dependent on initial size of cauliflower, drying air temperature and velocity, but rehydration ratio was significantly affected by the combined effect of temperature and airflow velocity. Vitamin C content of the dried cauliflower samples were significantly affected by temperature only and non enzymatic browning was function of temperature, airflow velocity, and combined effect of temperature and airflow velocity. Optimization of the drying process parameters for the given constraints resulted in 60.10(0)C, 59.28 m/min, 3.35 cm. The predicted responses for the optimized combination of process parameters were time, vitamin C content, rehydration ratio, and browning values of 491.22 min (time), 289.86 mg/100 g (Vitamin C), 6.91 ( rehydration ratio), and 0.14 (browning), respectively with the desirability factor of 0.787.

Radiation interception, extinction coefficient and use efficiency of wheat crop at various irrigation and nitrogen levels in a semi-arid location.

Field experiments were conducted to study the effect of irrigation and nitrogen levels on radiation use efficiency (RUE), radiation extinction coefficient (κ) and temporal variation of leaf area index (LAI) and fraction intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (fIPAR). The LAI of wheat increased with increase in irrigation and nitrogen levels. The fIPAR also followed trend similar to LAI. The LAI and fIPAR showed logarithmic relationship with R2 value of 0.92 and 0.93 for the years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015, respectively. The κ value varied between 0.41 and 0.78 and was significantly affected by nitrogen levels but was not influenced by irrigation levels. The grain and above ground biomass (AGB) yields of wheat were not affected significantly by irrigation levels. However, application of 160 kg N ha-1 (N160) registered higher grain (12-33%) and AGB (22-25%) yeilds as compared to that with application of 40 kg N ha-1 (N40). Similar to AGB, the total intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (TIPAR) was not affected by irrigation levels but N160 treatment registered 9-20% higher TIPAR compared to N40 treatment. The linear relationship between TIPAR and AGB revealed that 83-86% variation in AGB yield of wheat can be explained by TIfIPAR. The RUE of wheat under three irrigations (I3) was 6 and 18% higher (P < 0.05) than the five (I5) and two (I2) irrigation treatments, respectively for the year 2013-2014. However, there was no significant effect of irrigation on RUE of wheat in the year 2014-2015. N160 treatment registered 5-13% higher RUE than the N40 treatment. Thus wheat may be grown with three irrigations (CRI, flowering and grain filling) and 160 kg N ha-1 for higher RUE without significant reduction in AGB of wheat compared to five irrigation levels in semi-arid location of Delhi region.

Climate change impacts on irrigated rice and wheat production in Gomti River basin of India: a case study.

Potential future impacts of climate change on irrigated rice and wheat production and their evapotranspiration and irrigation requirements in the Gomti River basin were assessed by integrating a widely used hydrological model "Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT)" and climate change scenario generated from MIROC (HiRes) global climate model. SWAT model was calibrated and validated using monthly streamflow data of four spatially distributed gauging stations and district wise wheat and rice yields data for the districts located within the basin. Simulation results showed an increase in mean annual rice yield in the range of 5.5-6.7, 16.6-20.2 and 26-33.4 % during 2020s, 2050s and 2080s, respectively. Similarly, mean annual wheat yield is also likely to increase by 13.9-15.4, 23.6-25.6 and 25.2-27.9 % for the same future time periods. Evapotranspiration for both wheat and rice is projected to increase in the range of 3-9.6 and 7.8-16.3 %, respectively. With increase in rainfall during rice growing season, irrigation water allocation for rice is likely to decrease (<5 %) in future periods, but irrigation water allocation for wheat is likely to increase by 17.0-45.3 % in future periods.

Sphincteric involvement in organophosphorus poisoning.

Neurological complications like type II paralysis are well described in organophosphorus poisoning. Sphincteric involvement is not described. We report two patients of organophosphorus poisoning who had sphincteric involvement as an unusual manifestation of type II paralysis.

Non-oliguric acute renal failure in gout.

Four patients of pure gouty nephropathy are presented. Gout was of over five years duration and asymptomatic nephropathy manifested as non-oliguric acute renal failure. Diseases commonly associated with it like uric acid stones, urinary tract infections, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemid, obesity and nephrosclerosis were absent. Reduction in serum uric acid level resulted in prompt improvement in renal functions. Early detection and control of hyperuricemia may help in restoration of renal functions.

On the estimation of the biological parameters of the human reproductive process from the data of the time of live births.

PIP: The authors construct a probability model that uses data on live births to estimate the biological parameters of the human reproductive process. Parameters considered include postpartum amenorrhea, abortion, and fetal death^ieng