The study has been carried out purposively in Bikaner district of Rajasthan to ascertain constraints perceived by low tunnel technology growers of bottle gourd. A detailed interview schedule in relation to various aspects of low tunnel technology and open field was prepared and data collected from personal interview method. Farmers in the study area were asked to rank each constraint which was analyzed using Garret’s ranking technique. The study revealed that under low tunnel constraints perceived by the farmers were high cost of hybrids seed (67.16%), labour requirements (62.56%), poor-quality water (61.86%), high price of polythene sheet (48.80%), short life of polythene sheet (46.66%), lack of market information (32.10%) and Lack of technology knowledge (31.66%)

Water is critical resource in India for the development of agriculture, industry, power generation, livestock production and other activities in future. Rainfall distribution is a fundamental factor that influences various aspects of our environment, economies, agriculture and daily lives. Monitoring and understanding of rainfall patterns are essential for making decisions during crop period. To understand rainfall distribution of the area and crop water requirement of maize crop during kharif and rabi seasons are important particularly at coastal region. Keeping this in view a field experiment was conducted during kharif, 2018, rabi 2018 and kharif, 2019 under maize crop at the field irrigation laboratory, Department of Soil and Water Engineering, Dr N. T. R. College of Agricultural Engineering, Bapatla, Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh State, India. The meteorological data of the study area for past ten years were collected at Meteorological Observatory, Agricultural College Farm, Bapatla to understand the rainfall distribution. The rainfall received during crop growing period of kharif 2018 was 303.4 mm, rabi 2018 was 69.1 mm and 537.5 mm during kharif, 2019. CROPWAT 8.0 which is Windows based computer program was used to estimate the crop water requirements for three seasons from climate, soil, rain and crop parameter data. During kharif 2018, the total amount of rainfall during crop period compared to last ten years mean and normal rainfall values, it was 49 % and 48.3% deficit. During rabi 2018-19, the total amount of rainfall during crop period compared to last ten years mean and normal rainfall values, it was 29.3 % and 18.3% deficit. During kharif 2019, the total amount of rainfall during crop period compared to last ten years mean and normal rainfall, it was 8.8 % and 5.9 % deficit. the crop evapotranspiration demand was more during kharif, 2019 (455.5 mm) followed by kharif, 2018 (443.1 mm) and rabi, 2018-19 (271.2 mm). This clearly indicating few supplemental irrigations are needed to maintain crop water requirement for maize crop development

Vegetable is an essential component of the human diet; it is rich in precious nutritional elements like vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and a series of micronutrients. Many vegetables belonging to different groups are grown in North East India. India, particularly the North-Eastern region, the original home of many crop species, is full of diversity in vegetable crops. Many problems like poor yield and lack of tolerance to various biotic and abiotic stresses are associated with the available varieties of many vegetable crops. With the establishment of AICRP Centre at Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat lot of efforts have been taken to solve the problems by developing high-yielding, stress-tolerant superior varieties. Various varieties of different vegetable crops have been identified and recommended for Assam and North Eastern India. A brief account of crop improvement research conducted in vegetable crops under AICRP and at the state level during the last few years have been presented in this paper. The recommended varieties and the unique characteristics are outlined, and the future priorities are highlighted

Small-grained crops cultivated for feed and fodder are millets. Being ‘Smart Food’ they are easy to cultivate, organic and rich in nutritional content. They are climate resilient and are a sustainable food for the future. Over the years their area and production has decreased but increase in the yield has been observed. India is the largest producer while USA is the largest exporter of the millets in the world. Among all millets pearl millet (bajra) has highest acreage and production in India over the years. Millets accomplish many SDG of the UN programme of sustainable development. They can be promoted through including in MSP, PDS, schools and anganwadis. They require funding from centre and can be fuel of the future. Many ministries and government institutes are engaged in the research and promotion of millets since the declaration of IYM 2023. But government efforts would be in vain unless they involve efforts at individual level. Still a long coarse have to be covered by these coarse grains to fall in the platter of common man

The growth and development of plants is primarily affected by temperature. Extreme temperature is expected with climate change and will hinder productivity. The situation has been exasperated due to the rapid and extreme global climate change. Selective fertilization is a method used for developing hybrids, that involves artificially applying a particular selection pressure during the event of pollen germination and fertilization. In the present study, the evaluation of selectively fertilized coconut hybrids was done by physiological and biochemical analyses to assess the chlorophyll content, proline content, RWC, and epicuticular wax content under provided water stress. Selectively fertilized Kerasree, selectively fertilized Keraganga, Kerasree hybrid, Keraganga hybrid, and WCT were taken as the treatments. Results showed that selectively fertilized hybrids varied remarkably from their normal hybrid and WCT, for chlorophyll content, amount of epicuticular wax, relative water content, and proline. Kerasree selectively fertilized hybrid is the most drought tolerant genotype on account of chlorophyll content, relative water content, and epicuticular wax produced. Further studies are required to validate the molecular level mechanism underlying selective fertilization

Every new development brings new opportunities; educationists and students have witnessed tremendous changes brought in by ICT. One such intervention in the field of ICT is blended learning recommended by NEP 2020 and bringing remarkable results wherever applied. Thus, the higher education institutes need such transformation to build the system. Blended Learning as a prosperous solution to flexible learning is very less applied in Indian institutes therefore, keeping all these in view a research study was undertaken with the objectives to find socio-personal, communication and psychological characteristics of students and to assess the students’ level of awareness towards blended learning. The study employed a descriptive research design to fulfil its objectives. The selection of the G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar was purposive with total of 140 respondents. The findings of the study revealed that majority of undergraduate students were in the age group of 22-23 years (62.14%) with higher proportion of female (61.43%) students, had English (88.57%) as their medium of instruction prior to joining the university and belonged to urban (69.29%) areas. Respondents had preferred visual (37.14%) as learning style preference, extroverted, preferring random-intuitive way of handling things and further process information by synthesizing it. Internet skills measured in terms of its usage for purposes and found that majority (63.57%) of the respondents were in medium category. Slightly more than half of the respondents had medium usage of social networking sites for academics (55.71%), medium to high level of awareness (52.86%) towards blended learning and medium level of self-regulated learning behaviour (51.43%). Majority of the students’ had medium Academic motivation (55.71%) and self-confidence (67.86%)

The study was conducted in the year 2023 with the aim of examining the socio-economic profiles of members and non-members of FPOs in Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh. Varanasi district was purposively selected for the study, focusing on FPOs that had been in existence for more than 5 years. Among the 29 registered FPOs in the district, four fulfil the criterions which are Kashi Vishwanath Farmer Producer Company Limited (KVFPCL), Rameshwar Farmer Producer Company Limited (RFPCL), Shivansh Krishak Producer Company Limited (SKPCL), and Jayapur Seed Producer Company Limited (JSPCL). A total of 300 respondents were chosen for the study, divided into two groups: 150 members of FPOs and 150 non-members of FPOs. Among the FPO members, 35 were from KVFPCL, 35 from RFPCL, 25 from JSPCL, and 55 from SKPCL. In the non-member group, an equal number of individuals were selected from each identified village to create a control group of 150 non-members. This sampling was done by using stratified random sampling with proportional allocation. The observations from the study revealed that the majority of FPO members were middle-aged, had intermediate education, belonged to the OBC category, had nuclear and medium-sized families and were predominantly marginal farmers with substantial farming experience. Their annual income fell between Rs. 1,00,001 to Rs. 2,00,000, and they had indebtedness of up to Rs. 40,000. These farmers had access to good market facilities and displayed a medium level of participation in group activities and information seeking behaviour. These findings shed light on the distinct socio-economic profiles within the FPO member community, providing valuable insights for future agricultural development initiatives

The treatments of the experiment include three plate clearances (0.3, 0.5 &0.7 mm), three plate speeds (450, 600 &700 rpm) and three feed rates (90, 100 & 115 kg/hr). The study indicated that at 0.3 mm plate clearance, 100 kg/hr feed rate and 600 rpm plate speed combinations, milling efficiency of the attrition mill was 85 per cent. It was observed that the fineness modulus of 2.04 was recorded at 0.3 mm plate clearance, 100 kg/hr feed rate and 600 rpm plate speed combinations

The experiment was conducted to study the effect of tree leachates on the performance of growth of commonly grown pulse crops. The inhibitory effect of leachates was more during early stage of crop growth (15 DAS) and later stages the effect was reduced in monsoon

The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate the properties of deep fried in mustard oil and sunflower oil of potato chips at 180ºC during storage 0-90 days. The potato slices were blanched at 90ºC for 5 minute, followed by pre-treatments control: T?, with NaCl (1%):T?, KMS (0.5%)+NaCl (1%):T?, KMS (0.5%)+NaCl (1%)+CA(0.5%):T?, CaCl? (1%)+NaCl(1%):T?, and then partially dried at 60ºC for 4 hour, fried and compared with control samples. The storage depicted significant increases in mean moisture content, pH while there were decreasing trends in the mean values of ash content, acidity. The color (L*, a*, b*) values of stored potato chips showed a progressive decrease in all treatments except T3 treatments with maximum change noticed in T?. The organoleptic evaluation showed that scores for color, texture, taste, crispiness, and overall acceptability (T?) fried in sunflower oil except that fried in mustard oil

Crop growth simulation models for agricultural crops are essentially focused on yield forecasting and decision support system. These models consider the physical, chemical, and physiological mechanism underlying crop growth processes. If the basic plant processes viz., production and dry matter portioning and weather relationships are properly understood, the entire response of the plant to the meteorological conditions can be simulated. Simulation models provide an insight into crop weather relationships. For this study, yield for Wheat Crop during this Rabi season 2021-22 has been simulated using the latest CERES-Wheat model embedded in DSSAT (v4.8). It is felt that weather data and real time crop information along with the crop health and acreage estimation using remote sensing data will be efficiently used to predict the crop yield at national and state level and an instrumental tool for efficient crop insurance policy design, premium rate setting and further for risk management by stakeholders including farmers and insurers

The field experiment was conducted during rabi-summer seasons (2015-16) and (2016-17) in two years on effect of site specific nutrient management on growth, yield and quality of rabi maize and their residual effect on summer green gram crop at Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat, India on loamy sand soils. The three fertility levels viz; Low (F?), Medium (F?) and High (F?) had been developed with sorghum (var. C-10-2) designated as main plot in split-split plot design. Each fertility levels had been sub-divided into two vermicompost treatments viz; without vermicompost (V?) and with vermicompost @ 2.5 t ha-1 (V?) in sub-plots; further split into three nutrient levels viz; 0 % RDN (N?), 50 % RDN (N?) and 100 % RDN (N?) designated to sub-sub plot. The whole treatment was replicated thrice with Maize as main rabi crop while their residual effect was evaluated on succeeding summer green gram without any treatment. Significantly highest weight of grains per cob (35.32 g) were recorded under high fertility level (F?), it was found at par with medium fertility level (F?). Application of vermicompost @ 2.5 t ha-1 (V?) had significant increase over no application of vermicompost (V?) for plant height, number of grains per row seed index, grain and stover yield of maize. A significantly higher grain (49.54 q ha-1) and stover (103.13 q ha-1) yield of maize were observed with 100 % RDN (N?) over rest of treatments. The high fertility level with vermicompost application with 100 % RDN gave significantly highest grain and seed yield of maize and succeeding green gram, respectively

The field experiment was conducted during rabi-summer seasons (2015-16) and (2016-17) in two years on application of organic and inorganic fertilizer in maize-green gram cropping sequence for nutrient uptake and maintenance of soil fertility at Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat, India on loamy sand soils. The three fertility levels viz; Low (F?), Medium (F?) and High (F?) had been developed with sorghum (var. C-10-2) designated as main plot in split-split plot design. Each fertility levels had been sub-divided into two vermicompost treatments viz; without vermicompost (V?) and with vermicompost @ 2.5 t ha-1 (V?) in sub-plots; further split into three nutrient levels viz; 0 % RDN (N?), 50 % RDN (N?) and 100 % RDN (N?) designated to sub-sub plot. The whole treatment was replicated thrice with Maize as main rabi crop while their residual effect was evaluated on succeeding summer green gram crop without any nutrient application treatments. Significantly highest grain yield of maize and green gram was recorded in application of 2.5 t ha-1 (V?) vermicompost under high fertility level (F?) with 100 % recommended dose of nitrogen (N?), it was found at par with 50 % recommended dose of nitrogen (N?) with medium fertility level (F?) in respect of grain yield of green gram with higher nutrient uptake and soil fertility maintenance

The agrarian sector in developing economies is at the cusp of a technological revolution facilitated by agri-tech startups. This paper delves into the challenges and opportunities these startups encounter, elucidated through a detailed examination of the Indian agri-tech ecosystem. Key challenges identified include technology adoption barriers, funding constraints, regulatory hurdles, infrastructural deficits, skill and capacity building needs, and issues in market access and supply chain integration. On the flip side, the agri-tech domain is ripe with opportunities for innovation, public-private partnerships, access to new markets, promoting sustainable agriculture, and enhancing education and awareness among the farming community. Several Indian agri-tech startups are navigating these challenges while capitalizing on the opportunities, as demonstrated through case studies. A comparative analysis underscores the transformative potential of agri-tech startups in revamping the agricultural landscape of developing economies, whilst highlighting the requisite supportive frameworks to foster their growth. The findings of this review are poised to inform policy, investment, and entrepreneurial initiatives, paving the way for a sustainable and technologically advanced agricultural sector in developing economies. Through a blend of policy support, innovation, and stakeholder collaboration, agri-tech startups can significantly contribute towards achieving food security, economic resilience, and environmental sustainability in the agricultural domain

The cluster frontline demonstrations (CFLDs) on chickpea were conducted by Krishi Vigyan Kendra - Bhavnagar (KVK-Bhavnagar) in Sarkadia and Padapan villages during Rabi 2016-17 and in Mandvi and Manpur villages of Bhavnagar District during Rabi 2017-18. The results revealed that the package of inputs under demonstrations comprising seed of chickpea variety Gujarat Junagadh Gram-3 with Rhizobium culture for seed treatment @10 ml/kg seeds and HaNPV 250 LE for management of Helicoverpa recorded average highest yield 15.18 q/ha during 2016-17 and 14.83 q/ha during 2017-18 followed by 13.07 q/ha and 12.91 q/ha in control plot, respectively. It indicated that the percent increase in yield during both the seasons in demonstration plot was 16.20 % (2016-17) and 14.98 % (2017-18) as compared to local check plot. The same trend was found in case of gross and net monetary returns during both the seasons. Benefit Cost (B:C) ratio for demonstration plot was 2.59 and 1.83 and for control plot 2.18 and 1.49 during 2016-17 and 2017-18, respectively