Volume 3 Issue 3
Authors: Aniket Kalhapure; V.P Singh; D.S. Pandey; Rajeew Kumar
Abstract: Food pressure and land limitations for crop cultivation compels us to think about vertical expansion of crops to feed earth dwellers. Considering this, two years of field experiments were conducted in a split plot design at the Norman E. Borlague Crop Research Center of G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, India, to find out the effect of cropping sequences and nutrient management on the performance of wheat crop. The experimental plot was silty, clay loam in texture, medium in organic carbon and available phosphorus and low in nitrogen. However, the pH was slightly alkaline. Two cropping sequences viz. Rice-wheat and rice-lahi-wheat were kept in the main plot, and nutrient management practices were kept in sub plots. Seven nutrient management practices, i.e. Control, FYM @ 10 t/ha, Green manuring before rice, Rice straw incorporated without starter dose of N, and Rice straw incorporated with starter dose of N @ (20 kg N/ha were applied in wheat. RDF, i.e 150:60:40 kg NPK/ha, was applied in all the treatments. Comparative results revealed that morphological characteristics viz plant height at maturity, numbers of tillers, ear bearing shoots, leaf area index, and leaf nitrogen content and physiological parameters viz. chlorophyll content, rate of photosynthesis and nitrate reductase were significantly higher in rice-wheat cropping sequences than rice–lahi wheat cropping sequences. Similarly, yield and yield contributing characteristics and economic returns were significantly higher in rice-wheat cropping sequences than rice-lahi-wheat. Among nutrient management practices, superior morphological parameters, physiological parameters, yield attributing characteristics, grain yield and economic return were noticed in the plots that received either FYM or crop residue with a starter dose than the other nutrient management practices. Results suggest that the rice- wheat cropping system was a better cropping system than the rice-lahi-wheat system and RDF, and, with the addition of FYM or crop residue, can be helpful to increase morpho-physiological determinants in wheat and thereby increase yield and profit.
Keywords: Crop residue; FYM; Green manure; RDF; Toria
Authors: Riaz Hussain Mirza; Khalid Javed; Maqsood Akhtar; Mubasher Rauf; Musarrat Abbas Khan; Murtaza Ali Tipu; Syed Muhammad Raihan Dilshad
Abstract: The present study was planned to apply a linear scoring system to Nili Ravi buffaloes and evaluate environmental factors that affect them. Five Nili Ravi buffalo herds in Punjab were studied using ICAR guidelines. Milking buffaloes (437) were scored for 6 linear type traits, and 1180 records were generated in 2 years. Factors like herd, stage of lactation, parity, season of scoring and age were included in the model. Data were analysed using PROC-MIXED of the SAS. Average linear scores for rear legs set, rear legs rear view, foot angle, locomotion, bone structure and top line were found to be 4.72±1.62, 4.99±0.89, 5.39±2.13, 4.88±0.69, 5.34±1.79 and 4.87±0.84, respectively. Herd affected all traits significantly, but stage of lactation affected only rear legs set and locomotion. Parity, age of cow at classification and season affected most of the traits. Some of linear scores developed for cattle breeds do not fit for this breed, and new trait definitions are needed. The top line score of 8-9, which represents an arched back, has not been observed. Differences among herds suggested that performance can be improved by improving environment and genetics. Further research is needed for standardization of linear type scores for these traits in the Nili Ravi breed.
Keywords: Environmental Factors; Feet and Leg; Linear Classification; Top Line; Nili Ravi Buffalo; Pakistan
Authors: Hareesh K S; Narendra V G
Abstract: In this paper, the method for building a supervised intelligent classification model for white wholes (WW) grades of cashew kernel using different images was discussed. The morphological, colour, and texture features were used to train or test different classifiers for recognition and classification. In order to achieve the best prediction accuracy, the subsets of features from feature sets were selected using a correlation-based feature selection (CFS) algorithm. In this study, the best prediction accuracy was obtained using multilayer perceptron, simple logistic, support vector machines, sequential minimal optimization, and logistic classifiers. The percentage of classification models that were correctly classified for the training/test set of WW grades ranged from 70% to 90%, and the validation set was as high as 86%. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) were used to present the studied classifier performances in recognition and classification of WW grade cashew kernels.
Keywords: Classification Model; White Wholes Cashew Kernel Grad; Morphological Features; Colour Features; Texture Features
Authors: Yoseph Mekasha; Birhanu Biazen; Azage Tegegne; Tesfaye Shewage; Tadiwos Zewdie; Asrat Tera
Abstract: Natural grazing land is the major source of feed for livestock in Ethiopia; however, productivity of the grazing land and livestock production is very low. This study evaluated type of land use, grazing system, and the dynamics of grazing lands and livestock holding per household in spatial and temporal perspectives in the Sidama highlands of Southern Ethiopia. Multi-stage stratified sampling was used to select study sites and households. Focus group discussions, key informant interviews, questionnaire surveys and field observations were employed for data collection. The size of grazing lands in the study area was affected (p<0.05) by district, agro-climate, production system and wealth. The average total land holding per household was highest (p<0.05) in Arbegona (2.38 ha) and lowest in Bona Zuria (1.68 ha) district. It was also higher in rural areas (p<0.04) compared to peri-urban production systems. Approximately 30% of the total available land was allocated for grazing while 23% was for perennial crops and 23% for annual crops. Although the dominant land tenure system is private (86%), there are also occurrences of land renting (8.7%), which was used primarily for grazing. The size of grazing land holding per household has declined by approximately 50% during the last 20 years, while livestock holding reduced by 44%. The current mean (±s.e.) of livestock herd size per household (9.94±1.17) was affected (p<0.05) by district, agro-climate, production system and wealth. The mean (±s.e.) stocking rate (10.2±0.96 TLU/ha) was high, but not influenced (p>0.05) by the fixed factors. The larger portion of households (77.1%) had more than one plot of grazing land, situated in different locations. Thus, both continuous and seasonal grazing systems were practiced. Shortage and poor productivity of the grazing land, invasion of grazing lands by weeds and encroachment of cereal production was reported as the major challenges limiting grazing land and livestock production. Introduction of improved grazing land management techniques (e.g., weeding and top dressing with nitrogen sources) combined with improved feeding systems (e.g., cut-and-carry and feed conservation) are suggested to improve productivity of the grazing land, and simultaneously improve livestock production and environmental conservation.
Keywords: Land Use; Grazing System; Dynamics Of Grazing Lands; Livestock Holding
Authors: Rao P S; Aruna P; Anuradha G; Keshavulu K
Abstract: Microsatellite markers are used for fingerprinting of cotton hybrids in order to assess variation within parental lines. Sixteen microsatellite markers were employed to fingerprint to six hybrids and their parental lines. Five SSR markers were found to be polymorphic across the hybrids and to produce unique fingerprints for each of the six hybrids. These highly informative primers not only differentiated the parent genotypes, but also confirmed the parentage of the true hybrids. The microsatellite marker, BNL 3449 amplified alleles specific to different parental lines of NSPHH 5; likewise, BNL 3255 primer for NDLHH 240 and WGHH 2, JESPR 148 primer for LAHH 4, BNL1317 for CSH 198 and BNL 3090 for CICR 2. Results indicate that SSR procedures are excellent genomic tools for parentage confirmation and hybridity determination, and may also enhance efficiency of breeding programmes.
Keywords: Hybrid Cotton; Ssrs; DNA Fingerprinting; Genetic Purity