Mannitol dehydrogenase, tyrosinase and water activity (aw) were found to be variously expressed during morphogenesis of V. volvacea. Very less enzymatic activity was recorded at pinhead stage, which increased with progression of growth. In different parts of mushroom maximum activities of mannitol dehydrogenase, tyrosinase, browning and water activity were found in pileus followed by volva and stipe. Mannitol dehydrogenase was found to be involved in morphogenesis whereas tyrosinase was found to be involved during senescence and browning of the sporophores of V. volvacea. Browning degree, water activity and tyrosinase activities are presumably conjugated and are responsible for the senescence of the mushroom. Further studies involving the molecular interaction of these enzymes in the developmental stages is most warranted for commercial marketing of mushrooms.

Sago effluent pose a serious environment pollution, if discharged on both soil and water bodies without proper treatment. In this study, we attempted cultivation of Spirulina platensis using anaerobically treated sago effluent diluted with water at different dilution levels viz., 80:20, 60:40, 50:50, 40:60, 20:80 and 100% (Undiluted) supplemented with different concentrations of NaHCO3 and NaNO3 sources as carbon and nitrogen respectively, based on Zarrouck’s broth composition. Results showed that the most suitable dilution of sago effluent with water for maximum growth of Spirulina platensis was 80:20 dilution with addition of NaHCO3 at 0.2 M (16.8 g L-1) and NaNO3 at 0.03 M (2.5g L-1) concentrations. The lab model raceway pond (65 L working volume) was designed to study the feasibility of Spirulina cultivation in the anaerobically digested sago effluent, with the optimized dilution and nutrient supplementation levels. It was found that Spirulina platensis was able to produce a biomass of 0.4g L-1 on dry weight basis with in a period of 18 days. The population of Spirulina platensis was 5 ×104 cells mL-1 with OD value of 0.753 and protein content 57%. The BOD, COD, TSS, TDS and organic carbon content of sago effluent were also significantly reduced indicating that sago effluent is further purified by Spirulina cultivation, which also serves as the single cell protein for farm animals.

Charcoal rot of sorghum causing M. phaseolina is one of the most prevalent disease of sorghum in India. We have tested growth of pathogen at different levels of temperature and pH. The maximum growth of pathogen was observed at 350C after 72 hrs of incubation and clearly indicates that isolates preference towards higher temperature. However, the maximum dry mycelia weight at pH 6.0 shows significantly superior over other pH levels tested. The results show the growth of pathogen was more at high temperature and low pH.

The food security is a primary concern of any developing country. Adequate nourishment is necessary to sustain healthy life and per capita availability of food has been considered as a measure of food security. So in this context, an effort has been made to examine the “Food security with reference to demand- supply gap and projections of food grain crops in Akola district”. The current investigation was grounded on secondary data composed from different government publications. The data covered a periods of 20 years i.e. 1990-91 to 2009-10. In order to study the production projection exponential growth function has been used assuming that the earlier inclinations will endure in the future. The supply projection for food grain crops was based on exponential trend fitted. The demand for the projected population of a given year was worked out as per the dietary recommendations of Indian Council of Medical Research. The results showed that on an average the district will have to face shortage of total food grains and will be surplus in pulses, especially in gram. The study revealed that the gap of cereals availability and requirement is widening and will remained widened in forthcoming years from 245212 tons during 2015 to 340765 tons during 2025. These forecasts have been constructed on adjustment in productivity levels, variations in price, growth of population and earnings progress. Demand and supply projections act as pointers to policy creators to frame their medium and long-term agricultural policies.

The results of the regression analysis revealed that the farmers were in the second stage of production, which is, diminishing returns to scale in case of both the two types of cultivation. The efficiency computation indicated that fertilizers (1.14), plant protection chemical (16.53) and machine labour (2.51) were being underutilized in hybrid rice type of cultivation, whereas in case of improved varieties of rice cultivation MVP-MFC ratio indicated that fertilizer (3.32) and machine labour (3.03) were being underutilized. But in both the two farms, there was excessive use of human labour. This indicated that suitable alteration is essential for ideal distribution of inputs and to exploit the returns from both the two type of cultivation. The average technical efficiency was slightly high in improved varieties of rice cultivation (96.73%) than in hybrid rice cultivation (95.05%).