From Forests to Food Security: Pathways in Nepal’s Community Forestry

There is an increasing recognition of the contribution of forests to food security of poor and marginalized people. However, empirical findings remain limited on how forests contribute to food security. Drawing on four case studies of community forestry in Nepal, this paper discusses pathways through which forests are contributing to food security needs of local communities. The evidence presented here was gathered through 4 years of action research and draws insights from the past 40 years of Nepal’s community forestry practice, which is often regarded as a successful case of conservation and development. It is shown that there are four distinct pathways through which community forests contribute to food security as a source of: (1) income and employment; (2) inputs to increase food production; (3) directly for food; and (4) renewable energy for cooking. Despite emerging pathways linking forest management to food systems at the local level, forestry policies and institutions have neither explicitly recognized nor strengthened the linkage between forest and food security. The paper highlights that there is a need for a fundamental shift in thinking from the conventional notion of ‘forests for soil conservation’ to ‘sustainable forest management for food security’.     

Widening the genetic base of cultivated gene pool following introgression from wild Lens taxa

Wild Lens taxa are a reservoir of useful rare genes/alleles for widening the genetic base and synthesis of a new gene pool of lentil. To maximize and sustain lentil production, new gene sources are needed to be identified and incorporated into cultivated background. This needs a comprehensive approach to accumulate favourable alleles from distantly related germplasm for widening of the cultivated gene pool and would be the most appropriate strategy to solve the various problems associated with stressed crop production and plateaued yields. Furthermore, expansion of deeper understanding of lentil genomics along with extensive research undertaken in other crop species can provide suitable guidelines to cover the distribution of Lens genus and component gene pools for further remarkable progress in lentil genetic improvement. This review aims at the genus Lens distribution and gene pools, crop germplasm conserved in ex‐situ and in‐situ collection, wild species characterization and evaluation for useful traits of interest to solve production‐related problems, highlight useful gene sources present in different gene pools and the progress achieved for widening the genetic base of cultivated varieties of lentil through wide hybridization and exploring lentil genomics.     

Nitrate leaching,nitrous oxide emission and N use efficiency of aerobic rice under different N application strategy

A field study was conducted in the sub-humid tropical region of India to examine the effect of different nitrogen (N) management strategies on nitrate leaching, nitrous oxide (N₂O) emission and N use efficiency in aerobic rice. Treatments were: control (no N), 120 kg N ha^?1 applied as prilled urea (PU) in conventional method, 120 kg N ha^?1 applied as neem coated urea (NCU) in conventional method, N applied as PU on the basis of leaf colour chart (LCC) reading, N applied as NCU on the basis of LCC reading, and 120 kg N ha^?1 applied as PU and farm yard manure (FYM) in 1:1 ratio. Results showed that 3.4–16.1 kg NO₃-N ha^?1 was leached below 45 cm depth and 0.61–1.12 kg N₂O-N ha^?1 was emitted from aerobic rice during the growing season. NCU when applied conventionally reduced nitrate-nitrogen (NO₃-N) leaching and N₂O emission by 18.6% and 21.4%, respectively However when applied on the basis of LCC reading NCU reduced NO₃-N leaching by 39.8% as compared to PU applied in conventional method. NCU when applied on the basis of LCC reading synchronized N supply with demand and reduced N loss, which resulted in higher yield and N use efficiency.     

Azoospermia associated with bilateral segmental aplasia of the ductus deferens in a stallion

A 3-year-old Quarter Horse halter stallion was referred for routine semen evaluation. Physically, the stallion's reproductive organs appeared normal. Repeated semen evaluations did not reveal any spermatozoa. Because high activities of alkaline phosphatase are detected in the epididymal fluid and indicative of complete ejaculation, alkaline phosphatase activities were analyzed in several samples, which yielded activities far less than reference values and suggested a blockage of the reproductive tract. Endoscopic evaluation of the urethra and the bulbourethral, prostate, and urethral gland ducts did not reveal abnormalities. The left ductus deferens was exposed surgically, and attempts to pass a catheter through it in a normograde direction met resistance after 20 cm. Laparoscopic abdominal surgery revealed the ductus deferens tapered to a thin structure just cranial to the entrance in the urogenital fold, cranial and lateral to the bladder. Both ductus deferentia were similarly affected. The symmetry and bilateral nature of the abnormalities were strong indications of a possible congenital defect.     

Comparison of a live attenuated Salmonella Enteritidis vaccine candidate secreting Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit with a commercial vaccine for efficacy of protection against internal egg contamination by Salmonella in hens

This study compared a new live attenuated Salmonella Enteritidis vaccine candidate secreting Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit (SE-LTB) with a commercial Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) vaccine for efficacy of protection against SE infection in laying hens. Chickens were divided into 3 groups of 20 each. Group A chickens were inoculated orally with phosphate-buffered saline and served as controls, group B chickens were inoculated orally with the vaccine candidate, and group C chickens were inoculated intramuscularly with a commercial vaccine, the primary inoculation in groups B and C being at 10 wk of age and the booster at 16 wk. Groups B and C showed significantly higher titers of plasma immunoglobulin G, intestinal secretory immunoglobulin A, and egg yolk immunoglobulin Y antibodies compared with the control group, and both vaccinated groups showed a significantly elevated cellular immune response. After virulent challenge, group B had significantly lower production of thin-shelled and/or malformed eggs and a significantly lower rate of SE contamination of eggs compared with the control group. Furthermore, the challenge strain was detected significantly less in all of the examined organs of group B compared with the control group. Group C had lower gross lesion scores only in the spleen and had lower bacterial counts only in the spleen, ceca, and ovary. These findings indicate that vaccination with the SE-LTB vaccine candidate can efficiently reduce internal egg and internal organ contamination by Salmonella and has advantages over the commercial vaccine.     

Defensive Role of Plant Hormones in Advancing Abiotic Stress-Resistant Rice Plants

Consistent climatic perturbations have increased global environmental concerns, especially the impacts of abiotic stresses on crop productivity. Rice is a staple food crop for the majority of the world’s population. Abiotic stresses, including salt, drought, heat, cold and heavy metals, are potential inhibitors of rice growth and yield. Abiotic stresses elicit various acclimation responses that facilitate in stress mitigation. Plant hormones play an important role in mediating the growth and development of rice plants under optimal and stressful environments by activating a multitude of signalling cascades to elicit the rice plant’s adaptive responses. The current review describes the role of plant hormone-mediated abiotic stress tolerance in rice, potential crosstalk between plant hormones involved in rice abiotic stress tolerance and significant advancements in biotechnological initiatives including genetic engineering approach to provide a step forward in making rice resistance to abiotic stress.     

Monitoring of meteorological drought and its impact on rice (Oryza sativa L.) productivity in Odisha using standardized precipitation index

The dynamics of meteorological drought and its relationship with block level rice productivity over the Eastern Indian state of Odisha was assessed during the wet season (June to November) using the standardized precipitation index (SPI). The time series of rainfall data (1983–2008) from 168 rain gauge stations was used to derive the 1- and 3-month SPI of different wet season months. The 1- and 3-month SPI data were interpolated to map spatial patterns of meteorological drought and its severity, and the maps of a drought (2008) and normal (2007) year were discussed in detail. Further, the time series of SPI was exploited to assess the drought risk in Odisha. Correlation analysis of 1- and 3-month SPI with rice productivity index (RPI) showed that the SPI of 1-month time scale particularly in July (r = 0.49) and October (r = 0.33) had significantly stronger relationship with RPI than any of the 3-month SPI individually during wet season. The cumulative degree of severity of drought could be better explained by 3-month SPI map when drought events are well spread in the preceding months. Regression models were developed using 1- and 3-month SPI for forecasting rice productivity of blocks with varying proportion of rainfed area in Odisha. Model developed based on 1-month SPI accounted for 27% yield variability in rice and could be used for forecasting rice productivity.     

Efficiency based wheat yield prediction in a semi-arid climate using surface energy budgeting with satellite observations

Accurate pre-harvest assessment of a staple food crop is an integral part of policy formulation in relation to food security issues. Here, two different approaches were attempted to estimate wheat yield using time series multi-year satellite (MODIS Aqua) optical-thermal data from a single earth observation (EO) mission. Surface energy budgeting was used to estimate evapotranspiration in terms of latent heat fluxes from net available energy and evaporative fraction to predict wheat yield over four agro-climate zones in semi-arid climate of Gujarat, India. Satellite based estimates of latent heat fluxes were found to show substantially less error with respect to the area-averaged heat flux measurements from LAS (large aperture scintillometer) as compared to measurements from BREB (Bowen Ratio Energy Balance) alone. The deviations in satellite based zonal CWU were found to have a strong correlation (r = 0.71) with the deviations from zonal wheat yield. Among both the approaches, the radiation use efficiency (RUE) based approach produced better accuracy in the predicted yield with lower root mean square error (RMSE) of 390 kg ha⁻¹ (14.8% of reported mean) and higher correlation coefficient (r = 0.92) than the water use efficiency (WUE) based approach (RMSE 573 kg ha⁻¹, 21.8% of reported mean; r = 0.80). Uncertainties in the satellite based core inputs resulted into a net 10-12% error in predicted yield in case of RUE approach. Our demonstrative case studies recommend that the coupled use of satellite observations from multiple EO missions and radiative transfer simulation would be effective to make efficiency based approaches operationally viable for regional wheat yield forecasting in near real time.