Roving survey was conducted in groundnut growing areas of Western Maharashtra during summer and kharif season 2018-19. In summer season, late leaf spot was the major disease observed in surveyed area. In kharif season, incidence of early leaf spot, late leaf spot and stem rot diseases was recorded. The maximum intensity of early and late leaf spot was 17.46 and 28.57 percent, respectively. Rust incidence was recorded only in kharif season. Late leaf spot was the major disease of groundnut crop in both seasons.

The study was conducted to assess the knowledge level of farmers about recommended practices of aromatic rice cultivation in kharif season. Sample size of the study comprised 180 farmers of district Aligarh of Uttar Pradesh, growing aromatic rice. Majority of the aromatic rice growing farmers were having medium family size (5-8 members), educated up to high school and intermediate, and possessing land up to four acres with electricity operated tube-well as major source of irrigation. Fellow farmers, friends/relatives and shopkeepers of agricultural inputs were the most frequently used information sources for agricultural information by the rice growers. Few farmers also participated in the extension activities organized by the different extension service providers in the district. Maximum numbers of farmers were having knowledge about green manuring, suitable varieties, optimum age of seedlings for transplanting, appropriate time of irrigation in nursery, recommended dose of Diammonium phosphate (DAP) in main field, benefits of neem coated urea and summer ploughing. More than half of the rice growers were having knowledge about recommended dose of urea in main field and compost in nursery, water management in nursery and recommended dose of zinc sulphate in both nursery and main field. Near about half of the rice growing farmers were having knowledge about seed rate, soil sampling method, application of urea in main field, and association between infestation of weeds and insect-pest in paddy crop. However, most of the farmers were lacking in knowledge about appropriate area for nursery, nutrient and weed management in nursery, insect and disease management, seed treatment, recommended dose of Muriate of potash (MoP), chemical methods of weed management, micro-nutrients management, critical stages of irrigation, bio-fertilizers and bio-control agents in rice cultivation. Based on the study it can be stated that there is need to enhance the extension activities on cultivation practices of rice, with special emphasis on nursery management, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Integrated Nutrient Management (INM). Agricultural inputs providers must be trained in insect-pest, disease, nutrient and weed management in rice, and motivated to provide right information to the farmers when farmers come to them, because a large number of farmers depends on them for adopting input oriented technological interventions.

Out of seven essential micronutrients, Ni is on the recently added essential plant nutrient. Ni is an important metal for plants which fulfils a variety of vital roles in plant functions. It is a micronutrient involved in nitrogen metabolism and a constituent of the urease molecule. Ni a component of urease and hydrogenase plays variety of vital roles in plant functions. Thoroughly, planned a field experiment was conducted in rabi season of 2017-18 at the Research Plot of Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science, Udai Pratap (Autonomous) College, Varanasi. The experiment was carried out in Factorial Randomized Block Design (FRBD) with three replications. Treatments includes four nickel levels with two nitrogen levels and three nitrogen sources viz; N0 (no nitrogen), N120UR (Urea), N120AS (ammonium sulphate), N120CAN (calcium ammonium nitrate) and four nickel levels 0,1,2 and 4 kg ha-1 (Ni0, Ni1, Ni2 and Ni4). Nitrogen was applied @ 120 kg ha-1with different nitrogen sources used. Ni was applied in the form of NiCl2. H2O as per the requirement of treatment as basal dose. Important growth parameters (plant height and number of tillers) at different growth stages and dry matter yield (grain and straw) were determined. Results revealed that nitrogen and nickel supply significantly affected all the parameters under study when compared with no supply of nitrogen and nickel. The nitrogen application through urea registered the highest growth parameters and dry matter yield as compared to ammonium sulphate and calcium ammonium nitrate. The nickel application @ 2 kg ha-1 recorded significantly maximum increase in all growth attributes as well as yield attributes. The interaction effect was found significant. Due to interaction effect maximum plant height, number of tillers, test weight, grain and straw yield were recorded when 2 kg ha-1 Ni was applied in combination of urea (N120UR) followed by ammonium sulphate (N120AS) and calcium ammonium nitrate (N120CAN) with the treatment N120UR Ni2, followed by N120AS Ni2 and N120CAN Ni2.

A study was conducted on the perception of farmers and SWOC analysis on Farmer to Farmer Extension approach under ATMA in Madurai District. Hundred farmers were selected from Madurai West and Vadipatti blocks of Madurai District. Five villages viz., Kulamanagalam, Chathirapatti, Vittankulam, Veerapandi, Vairavanathamfrom Madurai West block and five villages viz.,Kattakulam,Neerathan, Poochampatti,Mannadimangalam, Saanampatti were selected from Vadipatti block. From each village ten farmers were selected randomly. Data was collected using well-structured Interview schedule and analyzed using simple percentage analysis. Majority of the farmers perceived that Farmers Friends serve as a vital Link between the Extension officials and farmers (91.00 percent), involved in mobilization of the farmers (89.00 percent), diffuse the technology very quickly among the farmers (87.00 percent) and adopts the technology first in their farm (85.00 percent).

The present investigation was conducted at Instructional-Cum-Research (ICR) farm of Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat during rabi 2016-17 (selfing) and rabi 2017-18 (evaluation) with twenty-five forage maize (Zea mays L.) germplasms laid out in randomized block design to evaluate the performance of these germplasms for forage breeding. It was aimed to study the extent of genetic variation among the genotypes in respect of a set of morpho-physiological characters, mean performances of the genotypes, correlation and path coefficient analysis, interrelationship of various characters and the causal relationship of yield attributing characters with the green forage yield. The analysis of variance revealed significant variation for all the characters except leaves per plant, leaf-stem ratio, crude protein content and dry matter percent. So, these four characters were not considered for further analysis. The estimates of phenotypic coefficient of variation were higher than those of genotypic variation for all the characters which indicated the influence of environment on the characters. Dry matter yield, green forage yield, per day productivity of dry matter yield and green forage yield, leaf area, ears per plant, leaf breadth, leaf length, plant height, ear height, stem diameter and total carbohydrate content revealed high heritability with high genetic advance, which indicated that these traits were under the control of additive gene action and also could be used as a selection criteria in forage breeding programme. Correlation study revealed that the genotypic correlation coefficients were higher than their corresponding phenotypic correlation coefficients indicating that genotypic correlations were stronger and reliable. The highest positive direct effect on green forage yield at genotypic level was recorded for leaf area, followed by total carbohydrate content, dry matter yield, per day productivity of dry matter yield, leaf breadth, ears per plant and plant height respectively.

Sericulture and dairy farming play synergistic role in the livelihood of farmers particularly in Karnataka state. It provides assured income and employment to the farmers. Many studies revealed that when dairy enterprise was combined with other enterprises on scientific lines offered greater opportunities for increasing farm income and employment, particularly to the weaker sections of the rural community. The study was therefore, conducted in the Karnataka state as it is the highest producer of silk in the country and was also ranked 11th among top milk producing state in India. Two districts were selected for the purpose of study (Kolar and Chikkaballapura). From each districts two blocks were randomly selected. And, from each block three villages were randomly selected, wherein 15 respondents were randomly selected from each village. Therefore, a total 0f 180 respondents were selected for the study. The semi-structured interview schedule was developed for field investigation. The major findings of the study revealed that, inadequate of water resource, inadequate labour force, non-availability of fodder round the year for dairy farming, lack of information about scientific farming practices (Sericulture + Dairy) were some of the major constraints faced by the farmers using Garret ranking method. Further, it is also recommended that through proper training, extension facilities and financial support, the constraints could be overcome to large extent.

This paper elucidates the steady state species management decision following adaptive strategy of maximum value from timber and carbon sequestration in southern Tamil Nadu with particular reference to Melia dubia. Markov Decision Process (MDP) models offer an analytical tractable approach to seek optimal policies that are straight forward for implementation in practice. This decision criterion is Harvest value, carbon sequestered by trees, diversity of tree species and size, and fraction of old-growth stands in the farmer land. With regard to carbon sequestration on a long run, high carbon prices eventually promote growing single type of tree species which would maximize expected economical returns. This study finds evidence of long term economic and ecological outcome in growing Melia dubia in farm lands upholding the concept of trees outside forest.

The study was conducted in Bundi district of Rajasthan. Total number of 500 agricultural loan borrowers were formed the sample for the study. The primary data were collected through personal interview method with the help of pre-tested interview schedule, which was prepared on the basis of objectives of investigation and variables. The statistical tests and procedures were used for analyzing the data like- mean, S.D., percentage, and Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, multiple correlation and regression analysis. The study found that 67.60 percent borrowers paid their dues on time and to be called as “Regular” or standard borrowers. It was observed that correlation coefficients in respect to caste, education, social participation, size of land holding, annual income, occupation, and knowledge about credit schemes were found positive and moderately significant with repayment behaviour of farmers. Co-efficient of determination value of 0.5514 with highly significant ‘F’ value revealed the significance of regression equation in the prediction of repayment behaviour of farmers. Out of eleven traits viz., caste and annual income were found positive and highly significant relationship with repayment behaviour of farmers.

The experiment was conducted during June 2019-November 2019 at Tamil Nadu Rice Research Institute, Aduthurai, Thanjavur to evolve suitable weed management practices on weed characters and yield attributes of mesta. The results of this study showed that especially pre emergence herbicide as Pretilachlor 50 EC @ 900g/ha at 45-48 hrs of sowing with irrigation + one hand weeding (15 DAE) registered lower weed dry weight and higher weed control efficiency in all stages of crop growth. All the growth and yield parameters were significantly improved with application of pretilachlor 50 EC @ 900g/ha at 45-48 hrs of sowing with irrigation + one hand weeding (15 DAE) and it was provided a weed free situation by timely control of weeds during the critical period of crop weed competition. However, higher net return (? 78000/ha) and benefit cost ratio (3.44) was obtained in pretilachlor 50 EC @ 900g/ha at 45-48 hrs of sowing with irrigation + one hand weeding (15 DAE). Based on the results, it can be concluded that pre emergence herbicide as pretilachlor 50 EC @ 900g/ha at 45-48 hrs of sowing with irrigation + one hand weeding (15 DAE) enhance the weed free situation, which was led to improving the growth and yield of mesta.

The present study of the trends in cotton and sugarcane productivity growth in Andhra Pradesh. For study, time-series data on cost of cultivation of selected crops were collected from the reports of Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices for the period 1996-97 to 2014-15. The results revealed that in the case of cotton, the mean TFPch was 3.5 per cent. The entire improvement in the productivity was due to improvement in the TECHch or “innovation”, whereas the EFFch did not show any effect on TFPch. In sugarcane, the highest performance could be seen in 2012-13 where TFPch was 127.6 percent solely influenced by TECHch.

The study was undertaken to understand the perception of rice farmers towards the effectiveness of Indigenous Wetland Agricultural Practices. A sample of 30 farmers from three districts of North Eastern Agro climatic zone of Tamil Nadu was taken up for the study. The study revealed that out of the forty IWAPs that were adopted by more than fifty percent of the farmers, 38 IWAPs were perceived as effective by them. All the 25 crop production IWAPs and 13 out of 15 crop protection IWAPs were perceived as effective. Fourteen IWAPs were perceived as most effective i.e. with MPEI above 2.50. Trait wise analysis revealed that 11 IWAPs had effectiveness scores above the average possible scores in more than 10 traits. Those practices that were very common and integral part of the cultivation practices in wetland rice cultivation were perceived as more effective and adopted by a greater number of farmers. Higher or sustainable yield alone was not the major criteria but the farmers considered different dimensions while considering the effectiveness of an IWAP.

This experiment was conducted in Swine and Avian Research Program, Khumaltar, Lalitpur from 2017 to 2018 for the period of 180days. The objective of this study was to evaluate the different dietary protein level on effects of grower and starter piglet performance. Locally available feed ingredients were used for the feed formulation. Chemical analysis of all required feed ingredients was done and feed was formulated on the basis of nutrient requirement of pig. There were four treatment group (T1-22%, T2-20%, T3-18%, T4-16% for starter level and (T1-20%, T2- 18%, T3-16%, T4-14%) for grower level diet. Sixteen Landrace piglets (30 days old) were selected; four piglets were allocated in each treatment. Data was recorded for monthly average body weight, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. One finisher pig was slaughtered from each treatment for meat quality evaluation and sensory evaluation for different parameters was done by using formatted questionnaire. There was significant different in feed conversion ratio and body weight gain (p<0.05). FCR was better in treatment 3(2.78) compared to other treatment (2.90, 2.92, 2.95). During starter phase, the average body weight gain was higher in treatment 1(48.25kg) but grower phase’s showed contrast as body weight in treatment 3(63.50) was recorded to be highest. No significant difference in feed intake was recorded. Cumulative feed intake was 177 kg in all treatments group. Similarly, proximate analysis of carcass indicated 20% protein content in starter diet and 16% protein in finisher diet should be ideal for better body weight gain and feed conversion ratio.

The fast expansion of built-up areas due to increase in population and economic growth is creating more demand on natural resources thereby causing dramatic changes in the Land Use and Land Cover (LULC). Remote sensing and GIS are ideal tools for understanding the changes in land use /land cover for any temporal resolution. The present work evaluates the LULC changes and urban expansion in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 data has been used in this study for 2001 and 2014 respectively and analysis is done using Quantum GIS. The results indicate that the built-up area has been extensively increased during the study period, which indicates Urbanisation is on the growth in the study area.

Five years old pluriparous Murrah buffalo at full term with the history of straining since last 12 hours was presented to Veterinary Clinical Complex. The case was diagnosed as dystocia due to severe left lateral deviation of head and neck with history of complete gestation, straining and rupture of water bags without any further progress in the labor. The dead fetus was in anterior longitudinal presentation and dorso-sacral position. The postural defect of the foetus was corrected successfully using mutational procedures. The animal made an uneventful recovery.