Can adoption of climate resilient management practices achieve carbon neutrality in traditional green revolution states of Punjab and Haryana?

Decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and enhancing soil carbon (C) sequestration in cropland are necessary to achieve carbon neutrality at national scale. The major objective of this study is to quantify the GHG mitigation potential of adopted climate resilient (CR) practices in CR villages using Ex-ACT tool developed by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Intensively cultivated area of Punjab and Haryana was selected for carrying out this study. In both the states, villages were selected by considering the climate for past 30 years. In the selected villages, a set of CR practices were implemented in annuals, perennials, irrigated rice, fertilizer use, land use change and livestock and quantified the GHG mitigation potential in these villages for next twenty years. The tool predicted that the CR practices adopted were successful in enhancing the overall sink (carbon balance) in all the study villages. The villages of Punjab had recorded higher mitigation potential as compared to the villages of Haryana. The overall sink potential in these villages ranged from -354 to -38309 Mg CO2-eq. The change in sink potential varied from 3.16 to 112% with lowest in Radauri and highest in Badhauchhi kalan village. The sink potential got doubled in Badhauchhi kalan village due to stopping rice straw burning and increase in area under perennials by 25%. The source potential varied from 6.33 to -7.44% across the study villages. Even with the implementation of NICRA, there was increase in source by 5.58 and 6.33% in Killi Nihal Singh Wala and Radauri due to irrigated rice, land use change and livestock. Majorly, rice straw burning was seen in most of the study villages, yet, with proper residue management and adoption of CR practices (mainly intermittent flooding) in rice cultivation resulted in emissions reduction up to 5-26% with enhanced productivity up to 15-18%, which can be considered for scaling up. Fertilizer management reduced the emissions by average of 13% across the study villages. Farm gate emission intensity per ton of milk and rice recorded highest emission intensity compared to annuals and perennials suggesting strict implementation of CR practices in rice cultivation and livestock sector. Implementation and scaling up of CR practices could potentially reduce the emissions and make the village C negative in intensive rice-wheat production system.

Effect of feeding aqueous extract of Pterocarpus marsupium on glycogen content of tissues and the key enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism.

The Indian traditional system of medicine prescribed plant therapies for diseases including diabetes mellitus called madhumeh in Sanskrit. One such plant mentioned in Ayurveda is Pterocarpus marsupium (PM). In the present study, aqueous extract of PM (1 g/kg PO) was assessed for its effect on glycogen levels of insulin dependent (skeletal muscle and liver), insulin-independent tissues (kidneys and brain) and enzymes such as glucokinase (GK), hexokinase (HK), and phosphofructokinase (PFK). Administration of PM led to decrease in blood glucose levels by 38 and 60% on 15th and 30th day of the experiment. Liver and 2-kidney weight expressed as percentage of body-weight was significantly increased in diabetics (p < 0.0005) vs. normal controls and this alteration in the renal weight (p < 0.0005) but not liver weight was normalized by feeding of PM extract. Renal glycogen content increased by over 10-fold while hepatic and skeletal muscle glycogen content decreased by 75 and 68% in diabetic controls vs. controls and these alteration in glycogen content was partly prevented by PM. Activity of HK, GK and PFK in diabetic controls was 35,50 and 60% of the controls and PM completely corrected this alteration in PFK and only partly in HK and GK.

Hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemic effect of Brassicajuncea diet and their effect on hepatic glycogen content and the key enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism.

Plants in the form of food or other remedial forms have been used for the treatment of various human ailments. Diabetes is one such disorder in which various form of plants and herbal remedies have been tried. Brassicajuncea (BJ) seeds (Rai) are consumed in India as a spice in various food items. Previous studies have shown the hypoglycemic effect of this plant in rats. The present study was undertaken to study the hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemic of various strengths (5, 10 and 15%) of BJ seed diet in alloxan and streptozotocin induced diabetes in albino rats. In addition, key enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism (glucokinase--EC 2.7.1.1, hexokinase--EC 2.7.1.1, and phosphofructokinase--EC 2.7.1.11) and hepatic glycogen content was also assessed to understand the mechanism of action. BJ diet (10 and 15%) showed significant antihyperglycemic effect in alloxan (35 mg/kg) but not in STZ (60 mg/kg) rats. It also failed to modulate the hepatic glycogen content and enzyme activities.