Socio-economic inequalities in women's fruit and vegetable intakes: a multilevel study of individual, social and environmental mediators

OBJECTIVE: This study employed a multilevel design to test the contribution of individual, social and environmental factors to mediating socio-economic status (SES) inequalities in fruit and vegetable consumption among women. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey was linked with objective environmental data. SETTING: A community sample involving 45 neighbourhoods. SUBJECTS: In total, 1347 women from 45 neighbourhoods provided survey data on their SES (highest education level), nutrition knowledge, health considerations related to food purchasing, and social support for healthy eating. These data were linked with objective environmental data on the density of supermarkets and fruit and vegetable outlets in local neighbourhoods. RESULTS: Multilevel modelling showed that individual and social factors partly mediated, but did not completely explain, SES variations in fruit and vegetable consumption. Store density did not mediate the relationship of SES with fruit or vegetable consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Nutrition promotion interventions should focus on enhancing nutrition knowledge and health considerations underlying food purchasing in order to promote healthy eating, particularly among those who are socio-economically disadvantaged. Further investigation is required to identify additional potential mediators of SES-diet relationships, particularly at the environmental level.     

Monitoring of Phytotoxicity of Lead and Mercury from Germination and Early Seedling Growth Indices in Two Rice Cultivars

Treatment of seeds of two rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars (Ratna and IR36) separately with 10^-5and 10^-4M PbCl²and HgCl²decreased germination percentage, germination index (GI), shoot and root length, tolerance index (TI), vigour index (VI) and dry mass of shoot and root but increased percentage difference from control (% DFC) of germination and percentage phytotoxicity in both the cultivars. It was observed from these indices that the phytotoxic effect of mercury was greater than lead at identical concentrations and that IR36 appeared more tolerant than Ratna to these metals. Among the monitoring indices examined, TI, VI, and % phytotoxicity seemed to serve as good biological monitoring methods for evaluating the relative toxicity of lead and mercury to rice cultivars.

     

An evaluation of furrows for managing soil and water loss from a shallow Alfisol under simulated rainfall

Furrows are widely used in rainfed areas of semi-arid India for soil and water conservation. The orientation of furrows, either down or across slope, and their spacing influence the effectiveness of furrows as soil and water conservation measures. We evaluated treatments with furrows aligned down and across 3% sloping land at spacings of 90, 60 and 30 cm under simulated rainfall intensities of 80 and 100 mm/h on a shallow Alfisol. A bare plot without any furrows was considered as a control. A large (24 m × 3 m) rainfall simulator developed at the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad, was used for this controlled study. Run-off was measured by a calibrated tipping bucket run-off recorder. The effects of the treatments on peak flow rate (L/s), sediment loss with run-off water (kg/ha/mm), peak sediment concentration (g/L), run-off (per cent rainfall) and time to peak (min) were investigated. When compared with the control (no furrows), across slope furrowing with 60- and 30-cm spacing reduced sediment yields by 19.9 and 21.3 kg/ha/mm of run-off, respectively, under a rainfall intensity of 80 mm/h and 24 and 25.3 kg/ha/mm of run-off, respectively, under a rainfall intensity of 100 mm/h. For the control, sediment loss was 50.72 kg/ha/mm run-off and 56.68 kg/ha/mm run-off for rainfall intensities of 80 and 100 mm/h, respectively. Similar trends were recorded from observations of peak flow, time to peak and peak sediment concentration. Run-off hydrographs demonstrated the conservation value of across slope furrowing by delaying run-off initiation, reducing run-off and slowly releasing the run-off after the cessation of rainfall. The results show that furrow orientation has major effects on reducing run-off, whereas furrow spacing has insignificant effects.     

Rehabilitation of degraded sodic lands during a decade of Dalbergia sissoo plantation in Sultanpur District of Uttar Pradesh,India

The ameliorative effect of Dalbergia sissoo, planted on sodic land at Sultanpur (26° 10′–26° 40′N, 81° 45′–82° 30′E), India, in a tropical environment, was studied at 3, 6 and 9 years of age. The soil properties of the sites improved significantly, showing marked reduction in pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) and an increase in organic carbon, nitrogen and availability of nutrients in the soil. The significant reduction in Na ion was found in all the age groups. Results showed an improvement in the soil moisture regime due to increased infiltration rate (cm hr⁻¹), soil permeability (cm²), water‐holding capacity, field capacity and pore space whereas, the bulk density decreased significantly after successive years of planting. The effect on soil attributes was confined to surface soil in the young plantation and deeper in older plantation. Therefore, the study clearly indicated that the sodic soil could be desodified by growing D. sissoo plantations on these degraded sites. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Energy flow through a village ecosystem with slash and burn agriculture in North-eastern India

This paper deals with the pattern of energy flow through four major sub-systems (jhum, valley, animal and domestic) of a typical Khasi village ecosystem with ‘slash and burn’ agriculture (jhum) at an elevation of 1540 m in the north-eastern hill region of India. The energetic efficiency (output:input ratio) of jhum in 5 ha of land worked out at 7·53 and that of valley cultivation on 2 ha of land at 40·14. The animal husbandry sub-system had swine husbandry as its predominant component. This had an energetic efficiency of 3·04. The village ecosystem as a whole, however, had an efficiency of 1·57. Animal husbandry formed an important link in the detritus food chain by utilising the garbage and vegetable waste of the agricultural system. The forest, apart from providing the basis for agriculture, also meets part of the fuel requirement of the village. The compost pit is a very important component in the functioning of the village ecosystem as it provides feed for secondary production and generates organic manure both of plant and animal origin, which is cycled back into agriculture. The intricate relationship existing between the production and consumption compartments of the village ecosystem has been worked out from both the economic and the energetic points of view and is discussed.     

Correlation between Tennant method and Standardized Precipitation Index for predicting environmental flow condition using rainfall in Godavari Basin

Paddy and Water Environment - Environmental flow is necessary to maintain a healthy ecosystem and sustain aquatic lives. Its assessment is thus aimed at analysing the minimum flow of water required...