Comparing water-vegetative indices for rice (Oryza sativa L.)-wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) drought assessment

Drought indices (DI) are an useful tool for assessing different sectarian droughts. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) has been used worldwide to assess/monitor the onset, active phase, cessation and severity of drought. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) provides a comprehensive vegetation dynamics, which directly linked with rainfall received in a particular region. Indo-Gangetic Region (IGR), providing employment and livelihood to tens of millions of rural families directly or indirectly and rice (Oryza sativa L.)-wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (RW) system of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) contributes 80% of the total cereal production and is critical to food security of the region. This study tries to verify the applicability of water-vegetative indices viz., SPI, Rainfall Index (RI) and NDVI for drought assessment of rice-wheat system productivity over IGR-India. The relationship between monsoon rainfall and NDVI shows that at around 1100 mm rainfall, the NDVI reached saturation point and no further significant increase in NDVI with increase of rainfall is noticed. Even though, there was a positive correlation of seasonal monsoon rainfall and average NDVI, conflicting results are noticed between monthly distribution of rainfall and monthly anomaly of NDVI over IGR States. It is noticed that June dif NDVI (actual NDVI-mean NDVI) contributes more to rice productivity followed by July. However, the combined effect of June, July and August, explains 15% of the variation of Kharif Rice Productivity Index (KRPI). As far as wheat is concerned, statistically significant relation was found between Wheat Productivity Index (WPI) and anomaly NDVI during December-March. This explains 35% of the variability in WPI.     

Oxidative metabolism in a teleost,Anabas testudineus Bloch: effect of testosterone and estradiol-17β on hepatic enzyme activities

Testosterone (T) administration to maleAnabas testudineus significantly stimulated the activities of cytochrome oxidase, -glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (-GPDH) and Mg²⁺ adenosine triphosphatase (Mg²⁺ ATPase) and inhibited lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), cytosolic and mitochondrial malate dehydrogenases (MDH). The activities of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PDH) and catalase were unaffected by testosterone treatment. Administration of estradiol-17 (E2) in female fish, significantly stimulated cytochrome oxidase activity, inhibited Mg²⁺ ATPase, SDH, catalase and cytosolic and mitochondrial MDH activity, and was without effect on other enzymes studied.The simultaneous injections of actinomycin D or chloramphenicol and T or E2 prevented the hormonal influence on hepatic enzyme activities. The present study demonstrates that inA. testudineus sex steroids influence hepatic oxidative metabolism by a mechanism sensitive to the action of inhibitors of protein synthesis.     

Extreme rainfall indices and its impact on rice productivity—A case study over sub-humid climatic environment

Frequent occurrences of extreme rainfall events create severe threat to agricultural production. This is one of the most significant consequences of global warming due to increase in greenhouse gases. A precise understanding of frequency and magnitude of these events and its influence on agricultural productivity can extensively help in policy decisions and planning agricultural as well as water management operations. This study has analyzed observed trends in extreme rainfall indices during monsoon months as well as seasonally at four stations located over different agro-ecological zones of Bihar, namely Samastipur (zone-I), Madhepura (zone-II), Sabour (zone-IIIA) and Patna (zone-IIIB). Mann-Kendall nonparametric test was employed for detection of trends and the slopes of the trend lines were determined using the method of least square linear fitting. Since rice is the important crop in this part of the region, the vulnerability of extreme rainfall indices on productivity also analysed using simple correlations. All the sites show an increasing trend of number of days with rainfall 10.0 cm or more (very heavy precipitation event) during monsoon season. Sabour shows a significant increasing trend of 0.4 and 0.6 day/decade, respectively during monsoon and annually. During September, occurrence of heavy precipitation events over Madhepura recorded a significant positive trend of 0.4 day/decade. Highly significant magnitudes of increasing trends were noticed for Madhepura (46.6 mm/decade) and Sabour (27.5 mm/decade) for occurrence of highest five-day total precipitation during monsoon season. The results show statistically significant positive trends of number of days with rainfall > R2.5 cm for all the study sites during August. All the sites, the magnitude of highest 1-day and 5-days maximum rainfall is showing increasing trend. Increasing trends of fraction of rainfall due to extremely wet days is also showing increasing trend in all the sites. The rice productivity showed 10th degree polynomial technological trend in all the sites and steady increase in all the sites except Samastipur. The correlation between extreme rainfall indices during monsoon season and productivity anomaly index indicate that almost all the extreme rainfall indices contribute positively to rice productivity except P95pTOT and R99pTOT over Sabour and R7.5 cm over Patna. If we assume the observed increasing trends in different extreme rainfall indices will continue, as estimated by the global circulation models, the chances of occurrence of intense rainfall events in near future will also increase proportionally and efforts should be made to prepare detailed site specific—at least at district level—disastrous management plan especially to reduce impact of extreme rainfall event on agricultural production system under changing climatic scenarios.     

Applicability of APSIM to capture the effectiveness of irrigation management decisions in rice-based cropping sequence in the Upper-Gangetic Plains of India

Rice–wheat (RW) production system, which covers over 13.5 million ha in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of south Asia, is vital for food and nutritional security and livelihood of millions of poor people in this part of the region. Availability of irrigation water under projected climate change scenarios is a great concern, and demonstration of the impact of different irrigation regimes on rice, wheat, and system yields is essential to adopt suitable water saving technologies to minimize risk. This study tested the ability of the agricultural production systems simulator (APSIM) model to simulate the effects of different irrigation regimes on yield, irrigation water requirement, and irrigation water productivity (WP_i) of rice, wheat, and RW system in upper-gangetic plains of India. The long-term simulated rice yield showed a steadily declining trend at an average rate of 120 kg ha^?1 yr^?1 (R ² = 0.94, p < 0.05), while long-term simulated wheat yields showed a lower declining trend at an average rate of 48 kg ha^?1 yr^?1 (R ² = 0.48, p < 0.05). The highest WP_i of 8.31 kg ha^?1 mm^?1 was observed under RW system with the rice irrigation (IR) regime of 8 days alternate wetting and drying (AWD) and five irrigations for wheat with a yield penalty of 25.5 %. The next highest WP_i was observed in the treatment with a 5-day AWD regime in rice and five irrigations for wheat, with a yield penalty of 20.1 %. Thus, we can suggest that a 5-day AWD irrigation regime for rice combined with five irrigations during wheat could be the best option under water limiting situations.     

Comparative Study on Precipitation Techniques for Protease Isolation and Purification from Labeo rohita Viscera

Precipitation techniques play a vital role in the industrial extraction of enzymes. The present study aimed to extract the proteases from the viscera of Labeo rohita (commonly called Rohu) and to compare the precipitation techniques for the isolation and purification of the enzyme. The enzyme is usually discarded as tons of waste during processing. Hence, a trial has been carried out to isolate the protease enzymes from viscera of the freshwater fish Labeo rohita. The proteases were precipitated with ammonium sulfate, ethanol, and acetone. Acetone precipitation was found to be the best option for the recovery of enzymes (54%) from the viscera of Rohu, and two caseinolytic protease bands were shown in the zymogram. The precipitates with highest proteolytic activity were further subjected to dialysis, and their molecular weight was determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE).     

Modulation of the innate immune response of rohu Labeo rohita (Hamilton) by experimental freshwater lice Argulus siamensis (Wilson) infection

The study was undertaken to determine the modulation in innate immune response of rohu (Labeo rohita) during experimental freshwater lice Argulus siamensis infection. Results showed that serum α‐2 macroglobulin (α‐2M) activity, ceruloplasmin level and alternative complement activity were significantly (P<0.05) lower in fish at different degrees of lice infection in comparison with uninfected control. No significant difference (P>0.05) in haemagglutination titre was observed in fish with low‐ and high‐degree lice infections as compared with uninfected control. The serum lysozyme level was significantly (P<0.05) lower in low degree of lice infection as compared with control fish. The total serum antiprotease, myeloperoxidase activity and total protein level were not significantly different (P>0.05) in different degrees of lice‐infected fish with respect to the control fish. The study indicated that A. siamensis infection modulated the immune system of rohu by suppressing the α‐2M, serum complement activities and ceruloplasmin level and through induction of stress response. The baseline data obtained in the present study have tremendous importance in understanding the susceptibility of rohu to different degrees of parasitosis and might be useful in controlling this dreaded ectoparasitic infection in fish.     

On-Farm Diversity Assessment and Participatory Varietal Evaluation of Cold-Tolerant Rice in Mid-Hills of Nepal

Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology - Drawing upon consequentially growing food insecurity in mid-hills attributed to poor adoption levels inter alia inflicted by narrow range of locally...