Rice is the important crop around the world. The rice crop is affected by various diseases. Among them the sheath rot disease is the most devasting disease and makes major challenge to the rice cultivation. This paper presents a model designed using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) to diagnosis the disease severity in rice. ANFIS helps to determine the incompleteness in decision making made by human expert using the learning mechanism. Fuzzy inference system and neural network are combined in ANFIS, the input parameters are passed through input layer and output could be viewed through output layers. Training is involved with iterative adjustment of parameters of the ANFIS using hybrid learning process to diagnosis the disease severity of rice. ANFIS uses five layers, each layer has its own nodes. Layer1 has the input variables with membership function. Layer2 uses T-norm operator which uses AND operator. The rules are added and fired are assigned to layer3. Layer4 nodes are adaptive and consequent parts of the rules are performed. Single node that computes the overall output in layer5. With the input parameters Number of discoloured grains/panicle, Number of chaffy grains/panicle, Lesion Number/tiller, Lesion size (mm)-Length& width and Number of panicles infected/tiller, the algorithm is developed to diagnosis the disease severity. The proposed Fuzzy Prediction Model is effectively “hand crafted” to achieve the desired performance and also used for diagnosis disease severity.

Dramatic changes observed over past thirty years in food production, distribution, marketing and consumption have significantly influenced by the changing investment patterns in agriculture sector. India is one of the world’s fastest growing agriculture-based economies, emerged as a viable partner to the global industry for investments after globalization. FDI is needed to meet investment gaps and boost agricultural Sector. Present study analysed trends in FDI flows, Structural breaks using Bai-Perron test and regression analysis to know the impact of FDI on Indian agricultural GDP. Results reviled that India has net FDI flows of 22.60 percent. FDI inflows in agriculture and allied sector and food processing industry are growing at the rate of 16.1 and 16.56 percent respectively. Structural breaks were identified in 2002, 2009 and 2012. Regression analysis emphasis to boost investments in agriculture sector as food is the basic necessity.

The present studies on seed vigour and storability of hybrids & its parental line in relation to laboratory parameters and field parameters were conducted during 2017-18, on maize (Zea mays L.) The materials for study constituted of two hybrids and its parental lines produced in rabi 2016-17, were collected and half portion of seed lots subjected to accelerated ageing for seven (07) days; and another half portion of seed lots were kept for natural ageing. Immediately after accelerated ageing, all seed lots were subjected to treatment with fungicide (T1- Thiram 75% WS @ 2g/ kg of seed), insecticide (T2- Imidacloropid 17.8% SL @ 2ml/ kg of seed) and combination of both (T3- Thiram 75% WS @ 2g/ kg of seed + Imidacloropid 17.8% SL @ 2ml/ kg of seed). There was significant reduction in performances of accelerated aged seed lots than natural aged seed lots. The effect of treatment T1 (Thiram 75% WS @ 2g/ kg of seed) and T3 (Thiram 75% WS @ 2g/ kg of seed + Imidacloropid 17.8% SL @ 2ml/ kg of seed) was found significant and positive for field emergence and field emergence index.

The difficult terrain coupled with small and fragmented land holding in the North-West (NW) Himalaya poses a great challenge for improvement in the agricultural productivity and profitability in order to ensure the food and nutrient security to the inhabitants. The niche potential of off-seasonality explored for vegetable cultivation in twenty-eight low cost greenhouses in a small hill village of Uttarakhand state of India, a part of NW Himalayan region. These greenhouses helped in maintaining the congenial environment for plant growth. Promising cropping system of vegetable cultivation was experimented, validated and popularized at the farmers’ field. This resulted into enhancement of production efficiency to 3.71 kg/100m2/day and thus, fetched good returns from the investment on greenhouse cultivation. This scheme of greenhouse cultivation of off-season vegetables can not only bring the prosperity to the farmers but also address the issues of food and nutritional security to the people living in hill and mountain regions.

A field experiment entitled “Effect of different shadenet on growth, flowering, yield and quality of muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) cv. GMM 3” was carried out during summer-2017 at College of Horticulture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Jagudan (Gujarat). In this investigation of comprising of two different growing conditions viz. 50 percent green shadenet and 50 percent white shadenet were tested in the Randomized Block Design with three replications. Treatments were evaluated on the basis of growth, flowering, yield and quality characteristics of muskmelon. The 50 percent white shadenet reported maximum vine length at 30 and 60 DAS, number of branches per plant and leaf area at 45 DAS, minimum male flower per plant, maximum female flower, percent fruit set and sex ratio, minimum days taken for initiation of flowering, yield attributes viz., number of fruits per plant, average weight of fruit, yield per plant, yield per meter square, minimum days taken from fruit set to edible maturity and also the quality parameters viz., TSS (°Brix), diameter of fruit, thickness of pulp and minimum diameter of seed cavity.

Automatic irrigation system is one of the prudent technologies for more efficient and precise utilization of water resources and applies irrigation water as and when required by the crop. The major components of the system such as control valves, flow transducers and fertilizer pumps can be easily automated. The conventional manual valve is to be replaced by either solenoid valve or hydraulic valve. The various types of existing automatic irrigation systems are time-based system, volume-based system, open loop system, closed loop system and real time feedback system. Therefore, there is a need to develop a real time-based sensor technology with focus on reducing its cost to irrigate the fields with micro-irrigation without compromising the actual water requirement of the crop. This paper reviews the various types of the automatic irrigation systems and focuses on methodology for development of real time sensor based automatic irrigation system.

A field experiment was conducted to study the influence of combined application of biofertilizers and micronutrients on physiological and biochemical parameters of mulberry variety Victory 1 (V1). Biofertilizers were given as soil application and micronutrients either by soil or foliar application depending upon the treatments. Among the treatments, 100 % RDF + Soil application of ZnSO4, FeSO4, MnSO4 and MgSO4 @ 25 kg ha-1 each + Recommended dose of Biofertilizers (Azos: Azospirillum lipoferum, Phospho: Bacillus megaterium var. Phosphaticum and Potash mobilizer: Frateuria aurantia @1500 ml/ha each) has significantly influenced the physiological and biochemical parameters of mulberry as compared to other combinations of nutrients and application methods. This treatment recorded the highest values for physiological parameters viz., chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate and the lowest in transpiration rate. Similarly, soluble protein, carbohydrates, total phenolics and nitrate reductase (NR) activity were found to be higher in this treatment compared to other treatments.

The present study was undertaken to study the growth of total factor productivity of sorghum crop in North Eastern Karnataka. The costs and returns data pertains to crops growing in North Eastern Transitional zone is considered for estimation of TFP. The secondary data analysed pertains to year 1991-92 to 2012-13. The results of the study revealed that TFP index of sorghum crop increased substantially over the years and the mean TFP index recorded for the entire 22 years period was 1.39, which indicates the growth in TFP is due to the factors such as research, extension, soil types, rainfall and infrastructure facilities etc.

Karnataka state in the Deccan peninsula is rich in its historic, cultural and anthropological heritage. The age-old practices of the tribal communities are disappearing in recent times. Tribals and their surrounding environment are closely related and they depend on floral wealth for several medicinal purpose. Tribes residing in HD Kote and Hunsur taluk of Mysore district is least explored. Therefore, the present research was aimed to explore traditional ethnomedicinal knowledge of tribes of HD Kote and Hunsur of Mysore district (Karnataka).To record the data pertaining to medicinal plants, a standardized questionnaires and details of traditional healers and resource persons were collected and personalized interviews were conducted regularly on medicinal use of local flora in all the tribal villages during 2015 to 2018.A total of 67 plants species belonging to 62 genera and 37 families were reported to be used for treating various physical ailments in the medical practices. Out of 67 plants species recorded, 25 were herbs (37.87%) followed by 24 trees (36.36%), 14 shrubs (21.21%) and 3climbers (4.54%) were identified and documented. Among the medicinal plant species recorded, Amaranthaceae (5 species), Fabaceae (5 species) followed by Arecaceae (4 species), Caesalpiniaceae (4 species) and Lamiaceae (4 species) are dominant and there were 23 families represented by a single plant species.

The present field study was carried out at two locations viz. Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana and CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during rainy season (kharif) 2017 to evaluate seven entries/varieties of forage sorghum with three levels of fertility (75, 100 and 125 percent of RDF). The experiment was laid out in factorial randomised block design and replicated thrice at both the locations. The results revealed that CSV 21F out yielded the remaining varieties for green fodder yield and dry matter yield on location mean basis. It was also superior over other varieties with respect to growth characteristics such as plant height, tillers and leaf: stem ratio. The green fodder yield, dry matter yield and growth characteristics of sorghum increased significantly with the increasing fertility level up to 125 percent RDF (Recommended Dose of Fertilizer) at both the locations and on pooled basis. Highest gross returns, net returns and benefit cost ratio on pooled basis of both the locations was recorded in the genotype CSV 21F followed by SPH 1822, SPV 2387 and SPV 2388.

The Present study was undertaken in Chikhaldara tahsil of Maharashtra State during the year 2015-17. This area is also known as Melghat region, which is located in the physiographic unit i.e. eroded valley with the elevation of 320 - 1100 meters above mean sea level. Korku is the dominant tribes inhabited in this forest region and have small land holding adjoining to forest. Remote sensing data was used for preparation of basemap by using toposheets on 1:50000 scale. The data on natural resources such as climate, soil-site characteristics and land use system aspect were collected. Twenty spot were selected on different land use system based on single crop, double crop, scrubland, forest land and fallow land. Chikhaldara lies between 21°13′ and 21°21’ North latitudes and 77°43′ and 77°72’ East longitudes and has an annual rainfall of 154cm. Temperature varies from 39°C in summer to 5°C in winter. The soils were developed on weathered basalt with moderately well drained to well drained. The soils were very gently to steep sloping with moderately to very severe erosion. The soils are dark reddish brown to dark brown with shallow to medium deep in depth and structure were angular blocky to sub angular blocky. The existing land use system by tribes is sorghum, tur, Kutki, paddy, soybean, green gram, cotton, orange, strawberry, potato and mango.

The cluster frontline demonstration (CFLDs) on chickpea was conducted by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Reddipalli. It was performed in three cluster villages namely Peddavuduguru, Regadikothur and Kondepalli during rabi season of 2017-18. The results revealed that improved high yielding variety (NBeG-47) + seed treatment + improved practices recorded highest yield 15.90 q/ha compared to farmer’s practices (13.78 q/ha). The same trend was followed in gross returns and net returns of Rs 63600/- and Rs 39300/- for demonstration and Rs 55120/- and Rs 33120/- for farmers practice, respectively. The extension gap was 2.12 q/ha, whereas technology gap was 9.1 q/ha and technology index were 36.4. Returns per rupee of expenditure for demonstration and farmers practice were 2.6 and 2.5 respectively. It can be concluded that pulse production is enhanced by cluster front line demonstrations with the technologies followed by farmer. Chickpea crop responds to supplemental irrigation at flowering or pod formation stage, gives higher yield and yield attributes compared to rainfed crop. The combined effect of supplemental irrigation and demonstration reported higher pod yield, ranged from 38.2 to 47.6 % over rainfed cum farmers practice. Further reported that t Stat > t Critical, it means cluster front line demonstration is significantly superior with the farmers practice.

Experiment under pot condition revealed that three foliar sprays of Propiconazole (1000 ppm) + T. viride (5.0 %) + Neem (20 %) showed lowest disease intensity followed by Propiconazole (1000 ppm) + T. viride (5.0).

Sporulation on different media, the maximum growth of pathogen was observed on potato dextrose agar after 8 days of incubation at 25 ± 2°C temperature. T. viride is observed to the best in inhibiting the pathogen growth in vitro followed by T. harzianum, B. subtilis have average impact on growth inhibition of A. solani. Over all, all the three species of Trichoderma revealed higher antagonism as compared to bacterial bio-agents against A. solani.

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea.), is the most important crop among the oilseed crops grown in the country. Gujarat is leading state in groundnut production. The predominant position held by groundnut in the region is falling day by day on account of the major problems like low crop productivity, post-harvest losses, crop damage by pests of groundnut farming and decline in groundnut acreage. A study was undertaken in Junagadh district of Gujarat state, to identify the perception of groundnut growers about damage caused by pests. Three talukas were selected based on criterion maximum area under groundnut cultivation in Junagadh district. Total twelve villages from three talukas were selected randomly. 120 groundnut growers from twelve villages were considered for the study. The findings revealed that the selected independent variables viz. education, annual income, extension participation, training received, farm mechanization index, yield index, cropping intensity index, attitude towards modern agriculture were positively significant at 0.01 level of significant with the perception of groundnut growers about damage caused by pest.

Pests like more numbers of wild animals like bluebull, pig etc., insects like white grub, Spodoptera litura, Heliothis armigera, jassid, thrips etc. and diseases like, stem rot, bud necrosis, root rot etc. can cause more damage in groundnut. Management of pests are prerequisite for increase the production. Considering above instances, the following research objective has been linked for the study. To know the perception of the respondents about damage caused by pests. The study was conducted under ex-post facto research design and multistage simple random sampling technique. The study in Junagadh district of Gujarat state. Three talukas were selected based on criterion maximum area under groundnut cultivation. Total twelve villages from three talukas were selected randomly. 120 groundnut growers from twelve villages were considered for the study. Majority (65.00 per cent) of the respondents had medium level of perception about damage caused by pests of groundnut.

Cotton crop supplies the basic raw material for the textile industry. It earns precious foreign exchange for the country from the export of raw cotton and lint. As the ginning industry plays a key role in development of farm sector and textile industry, the present study was undertaken to study constraints faced by the ginners. Total fifty gin units were surveyed for primary data in the year 2016-17. The results revealed that the major constraints faced by the gin owners are price fluctuation of raw cotton, lint and cotton seeds, shortage of raw materials in quantity and quality and lack of payment security in their order.

Improving the well-being of mothers, infants and children is an important public health goal in India. The maternal and child health determines the health of the next generation and can help predict future public health challenges for families as well as societies. Though child birth gives joy to mother and family, yet this joy may transform to tragedy in the event of maternal death. Present study was conducted with an aim to assess the Maternal and child health which address a wide range of conditions with regard to health, nutrition and hygiene that affect the health, wellness and quality of life of rural women, children and their families. A standardized tool developed by Aggarwal was used to assess the Socio-economic status. A checklist prepared by AICRP-Scientists was used to assess the maternal and child health in three aspects viz., health, nutrition and hygiene. Results revealed that majority of the women belonged to lower middle category of socio-economic status and were having average knowledge regarding different aspects of maternal and child health.

Available soil nutrient status was assessed under Arecanut cropping systems for two seasons in Dakshina Kannada district of coastal Karnataka. Data on soil pH indicate that the soils were acidic and non-saline with pH ranging from 4.22 to 6.58 and 4.32 to 6.68 at surface and sub-surface layers respectively with low water-soluble salts. Organic carbon content of the surface soils was higher (0.53% to 0.64%) than that of sub surface soils (0.48% to 0.55%) with decreasing trend over the seasons. Available Nitrogen was higher (180-420 kg/ha) at surface soil than at sub surface soils (175-409 kg/ha) with decreasing trend over the seasons. Majority of the soil samples depicted low ‘P’ status that ranged from 3.36 to 33.49 and 3.00 to 30.71 kg/ha and available ‘K’ status of 73 to 237.50 and 68 to 223 kg/ha at surface soil samples and sub-surface soil samples respectively with decreasing trend over the seasons.

A field experiment was conducted at All India Coordinated Research Project on Integrated Farming, College of Agriculture Indore during the kharif season 2013-14 with the objective to find out the effect of land configuration, INM and mulch on growth and yield of different crops and cropping system and they’re after effect on economic viability of different treatment as well as find out the best treatment combination for higher yield. Experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replication and total thirty-two Treatment combination was done. The minimum tillage treatments were provided higher seed yield, Net return and B:C ratio as compare to conventional tillage. On the basis of result obtained from the experiment it concludes that optimal cropping system combination was (arhar + fodder sorghum) .as the higher net return & B:C ratio are concern better yield and higher growth may also obtained with 75 % RDF with 25 % vermi-compost and mulching. Highest productivity and profitability were found with the combination treatment T16 combination (minimum tillage + arhar and fodder sorghum intercropping system +75 % RDF with 25 % vermi-compost + mulch treatments).

The study was initiated with the objective of evaluating the effect of ohmic heating and lye (NaOH, KOH)-salt (NaCl) concentrations on the quality parameters such as total soluble solid (TSS) and titrable acidity of ohmically heated tomato puree. Ohmic heating works on the principle of electroporation due to the resistivity of the product internal heat generated and therefore conversion of electrical energy into heat happened. The parameters such as field strength and lye- salt concentration which were found considerably effect on titrable acidity and total soluble solids. The full factorial statistical design was used to analyze the dependent parameters. The independent variables selected for the study were lye concentrations (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4%), salt concentrations (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4%) and applied electric field strength (928.57, 1071.42 and 1214.28 V/m). The results of the study show that the acidity values were all within a certain range, approximately 0.43% to 0.31% for 0.1%NaOH at 928.57 V/m and 0.4%NaCl at 1214.28 V/m treatments, best condition of treatment was 0.1% NaOH with 928.57 V/m. Ohmic heating keeps the TSS of tomato puree well within the acceptable range. The optimal values of independent variables in terms of lye or salt and electric field strength for TSS0.3%NaOH/1071.42V/m, 0.3%NaOH/928.57V/m, 0.2%NaOH/1071.42V/m, 0.2%NaOH/928.57V/m, 0.1%NaOH/1071.42, 0.1% NaOH/928.57V/m. It can be concluded that ohmic heating minimize the losses of acidity and TSS of tomato puree. No previous work dealing with the comparison of the impact of ohmic heating processing acidity and TSS of tomato puree has been found therefore this study aims to address this deficiency.

Organic tea production has increased over the past decade because of the perceived higher quality of the tea as well as the benefits for environmental and human wellbeing. Moreover, organic tea will also help in better price realization and uplift the socio-economic condition of tea growers. The organic tea movement which started in Sri Lanka in 1980 has now become popular all over the world and many countries such as India, China, Japan, etc. have shifted to organic tea cultivation. At present, China is the world’s largest producer of organic green tea followed by India and Sri Lanka while Japan, South Korea, Kenya and Turkey have emerged as minor exporters of organic tea. Among the different forms of organic tea available in the market, black organic tea occupies a dominant market position. The demand for organic tea has been increasing all over the world with increasing consumer awareness. However, the switch to organic tea farming will start some challenges such as lack of knowledge in the field of organic cultivation by farmers, waiting period for conversion which can be in years, financial hurdles for certification, competition from large tea corporates, etc. Nevertheless, the production of organic tea will require commitment to improve the cultivation and the physical ability to implement a farming system. With immense potentials, further support from respective governmental agencies and a guaranteed price on organic tea, it can be the future for the entire tea industry.

A pot study was conducted at the net house of the Regional Research Station, AAU, Anand, during rabi season of 2017-18 on Wheat (cv. GW 496) as an indicator crop. Total ten bulk soil samples from five locations (Anand district 2 locations and Ahmedabad, Kheda and Vadodara one location each) were collected from both the situations from each district to study the changes in growth, nutrient content in wheat and nutrient status in soil after harvest in organically and inorganically managed soils. Six kilograms of soil was filled in each polythene lined earthen pot. After proper filling soil in pots, finally 8 plants were kept for the study. In pot study, the plant height under inorganically managed soil was 13.86, 13.54 and 12.75%, respectively higher at 45 and 60 DAS and at harvest over organic soils. However, grain and straw yields were non-significantly affected due to soil management practices. Among major nutrient contents of wheat grain and straw, only P and K showed significant improvement by 2.78 and 4.39% in grain and 1.86 and 6.31% in straw under organically managed soils compared to inorganically managed soils. The Fe content in grain indicated significant improvement by 6.28% and Fe and Cu content in straw gave increase of 2.81 and 3.31 % under organically managed soils over inorganic.

Consumption is the value of goods and services bought by people. Individual buying acts are aggregated over time and space. Consumption is normally the largest GDP component. Before Economic Reforms, consumption comprised of approximately 52% of the GDP, however after reforms, it has grown its share to more than 62%. In this regard, the present study is an attempt to analyse the food consumption pattern in rural and urban areas of Karnataka State. The study revealed that, the monthly per capita expenditure of the people of urban India and urban Karnataka on non-food items was much higher as compared to food items. In rural Karnataka and rural India, the people’s monthly per capita expenditure was mainly on food items as compared to non-food items.

The inventory and documentation of spatial and temporal changes in hydrological components of Hebbur Micro-Watershed (4D3E4P2b) in Tarikere Taluk, Chikkamagluru District, has been undertaken for integrated planning, development and management. Hebbur Micro-Watershed is located between 13º 46ʹ 14.81ʺ N to 13º 44ʹ 23.95ʺ N Latitude and 75º 58ʹ 24.38ʺ E to 76º 0ʹ 41.14ʺ E Longitude, covering an area of 1038 ha. The Micro-watershed falls under Ajjampura (4D3E4P) Sub-Watershed. Hydrological assessment of basic parameters namely, rainfall pattern, relations among PET, AET and rainfall, soil moisture change, mapping unit wise runoff generation and change in ground water status are presented in the paper which will help in making decisions regarding, cropping choices, artificial recharge and improved harvesting operations and conservation structures. Average annual rainfall of the area is 874 mm. Budyco curve analysis showed that watershed is not under sustainable condition. The mean annual rainfall recharge factor found approximately 16 percent. The groundwater use for irrigation is higher in the upper regions of the watershed and hence artificial recharge and harvesting operations should be taken up in the higher bore well density areas in the upland parts of the catchment.