The present research work deals with the antioxidant activity of Garcinia species e.g. Garcinia pedunculata , Garcinia cowa, Garcinia lanceifolia and Garcinia xanthochymus of Assam. Ascorbic acid content varied from 35.37 mg/100g in Garcinia xanthochymus to 88.92mg/100g in Garcinia pedunculata. Total phenol content was found highest (2.74 mg/g) in Garcinia lanceifolia. However the carotenoid content was maximum (30.34 µg/g) in Garcinia xanthochymus and total antioxidant activity in terms of IC50 value was found highest (11.61) in Garcinia pedunculata. The results indicate that these Garcinia species of Assam can be used as a source of antioxidant.

Onion (Allium cepa, L.)is an economically important vegetable often used as a spice and medical properties contains many essential vitamins and mineral which are necessary for the human health. The three popular onion varieties in Karnataka, India viz., Satara Garva, Arka Kalyan and Bangalore rose onion were selected for the study. Physical, frictional and mechanical properties of onion bulbs measured and calculated. The physical properties viz., unit mass of the bulbs ranged between 10.28 ± 2.74 to 66.16 ± 18.33 mm, bulb polar diameter ranged between 29.07 ± 3.31 to 47.23 ± 5.34, equatorial diameter ranged between 28.88 ± 3.15 to 54.54 ± 5.30 mm, geometric mean diameter ranged between 28.38 ± 2.62 to 51.18 ± 4.22 mm, transverse diameter ranged between 27.43 to 52.35 mm, shape index of bulbs ranged between 1.03 to 1.10. Based on the result obtained by the experiment the shape index of all three selected cultivars was found to be spherical in shape. The true density of bulbs was ranged between 906.2 to 1014.8 kg/m3, bulk density of bulbs ranged between 589.63 to 621.30 kg/m3. The frictional properties like co-efficient of static friction of bulbs on different surface of materials like plywood, galvanized iron sheet, mild steel sheet and plastic surface were found in the range of 0.27 to 0.31, 0.31 to 0.32, 0.30 to 0.33 and 0.20 to 0.24. The average compressive strength (hardness) of onion bulbs of selected onion varieties was found in the range of 2702.81 to 4262.75 gf, respectively.

The two important and essential production bases of agriculture namely, land and water are limited for any country and are also degradable. Major agricultural fields of some of the coastal districts namely Guntur, Prakasam, Krishna, East Godavari and West Godavari of Andhra Pradesh (A.P) suffer with water logging and salinity problems. Soil samples collected from 44 locations were analysed for soil chemical properties to characterize the salinity problem in Kapileswarapuram, East Godavari district. The results obtained based on analysis were pH, EC, organic carbon, HCO-3,Ca++, Mg++and exchangeable sodium (meq/100 g soil) are 8.21, 0.55 ds/m, 0.32 meq/l, 13.24 meq/l, 48.72 meq/l, 22.85 meq/l and 1.49 meq/100 g soil respectively. From this results soils in study area is not suffering with salinity problem. The water table depths, SEW30, soil textural classification and hydraulic conductivity were used to characterize the water logging problem in study area. The water table of study area was found with in 2m from GL. SEW30 index was worked out to be 2820 cm days for sugar cane crop entire year. As this value is higher than the optimal value of 1400 cm days for sugarcane crop. Soil textural classification was carried out in study area, it is be observed that the percentage of clay is increased with the depth. This is a negative sign for the crop establishment. As the canal releases takes place, the water deep percolation is impeded and these exists stagnation of water in vadoze zone. Auger-hole method was used to determine hydraulic conductivity this is ranged from 0.08 to 0.28 m/day with an average of 0.18 m/day dominant soil texture in the area was clay because of this hydraulic conductivity is very low in the study area. Taking these three parameters into consideration the study area is under the problem of chronic water logging condition, which needs reclamation measures.

The field experiment was conducted during rabi 2014-2015 with CSH-16 sorghum hybrid at Water Technology Center, College farm, College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Hyderabad to study the influence of different drip irrigation levels i.e. drip irrigation at estimated 0.6 ETc throughout the life (I1), 0.8 ETc throughout the life (I2), 1.0 ETc throughout the life (I3), 1.2 ETc throughout the life (I4), 0.6 ETc up to flowering 0.8 ETc later on (I5), 0.6 ETc up to flowering 1.0 ETc later on (I6), 0.6 ETc up to flowering 1.2 ETc later on (I7), 0.8 ETc up to flowering 1.0 ETc later on (I8), 0.8 ETc up to flowering 1.2 ETc later on (I9) and in addition to surface furrow irrigation at 0.8 IW/CPE ratio (I10) on economics of rabi sorghum. The results indicated that growing of rabi sorghum was economically viable as net returns and B: C ratio ( . 1, 29,774 and 3.85, respectively) were significantly higher with drip irrigation at estimated ETc of 1.2 throughout the life compared to surface furrow irrigation at 0.8 IW/CPE ratio ( . 96,014 and 3.49, respectively) and B: C ratio was on par with each other (3.85 and 3.49).

A manually operated push type multi crop planter was developed and was tested in laboratory as well as in field for crops viz., Bengal gram, red gram and paddy as per Indian Standard Test Code No. 6316:1993. The parameters like planter capacity, seed rate, field capacity, field efficiency and operation cost were determined. The capacity of the planter was found to be 2.25, 2.87 and 1.91 kg h-1 for Bengal gram, red gram and paddy respectively. The effective field capacity of the planter is found to be 0.087, 0.152 and 0.059 ha h-1 with a field efficiency of 77.33 %, 81.06% and 78.66 %respectively for Bengal gram, red gram and paddy. The seed rate was found to be 30.67, 24.76 and 36.26 kg ha-1 for Bengal gram, red gram and paddy respectively. The cost of operation of planter was found to be Rs. 474.99 ha-1, Rs. 271.60 ha-1 and Rs. 700.29 ha-1 for Bengal gram, red gram and paddy respectively with an operation cost of Rs. 41.34 per hour. The planter is useful for small and marginal farmers who cannot afford large machinery and for fields where large machinery is not suitable.