An experiment was carried out in Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse (NVP) with four fertigation levels viz.60%, 80%, 100%and120% of recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) (150:70:160 kg of NPK/ha) to determine the suitable fertigation level for polyhouse cucumber in central Madhya Pradesh. The experiment was carried out in the month of August-December for two consecutive years2014 and 2015 with Gynoecious variety – Sandhya, F1 hybrid. NPK (18:18:18), Urea and white Muriate of Potash was used as water soluble fertilizers. Fertigation levels significantly affected (P<0.05) cucumber plant height, No of fruits/plant and yield. Fruit length and girth were not affected by fertigation levels but fruit weight was affected. Highest plant height (431.3 cm) was achieved in 120% RDF treatment while maximum No of fruits/plant (14) and highest cucumber yield (54.43t/ha) was achieved in 100% RDF treatment. Therefore, it can be inferred that for cucumber grown inside NVP, the fertigation dose of 150:70:160 kg of NPK/ha may be recommended for the agro-climatic conditions of central Madhya Pradesh.

In dolichos bean, pods with high fragrance fetch premium price in the market. Pod fragrance is routinely assessed through organoleptic means. Phenotyping pod fragrance by organoleptic (smelling) means is highly relative and subjective. Efficiency of breeding dolichos bean varieties with high pod fragrance hinges on an objective method of phenotyping fragrance in breeding populations. An attempt was made to devise an objective assessment of pod fragrance by quantifying the key fatty acids (FA) responsible for pod fragrance. Exudates were collected from the pods of HA-4 (released variety with high pod fragrance) and CPI-31113 (a germplasm accession with lack of pod fragrance). After esterification, the exudates were subjected for gas chromatographic mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis to identify the differences between HA 4 and CPI 31113 for key FA responsible for fragrance. The HA 4 pod exudates predominantly consisted of 24.58% trans-2-dodecenoic acid, 17.43% trans-tetradecanoic acid and 3.11% trans-2-tetradecenoic acid. Contrastingly, CPI 31113 pod exudates had 13.77% trans-2-dodecenoic acid and 12.92% of trans-2-tetradecenoic acid. The results indicated appreciable differences in the concentration of trans-2-dodecenoic acid and trans-2-tetradecenoic acids between fragrant variety HA-4 and non-fragrant germplasm accession CPI-31113. Quantifying these two FA in the pod exudates serve as a reliable and an objective method compared to organoleptic means for phenotyping pod fragrance in dolichos bean.

Good quality nutrition during adolescence include nutrient required for physical and cognitive growth and development. The present investigation was aimed to study the determinants of nutritional status among polytechnic students of Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University (SDAU) located at North Gujarat. The sample consists of 387 adolescents from four polytechnic colleges. The information was gathered for socio-economic status, anthropometric measures and dietary intake of respondents. Ex-post facto research design was used for statistical analysis. The nutrient intake was compared with recommended dietary allowances (RDA). Results indicate that major occupation (60.98%) of the respondent’s family heads was agriculture and among those the majority (84.24%) was landholders. Out of them about 35% were low and medium milk producer. Medium level of knowledge (65.83%) regarding nutritional needs as well as mass media (74.44%) contact was found among respondents. Nearly forty three percent (42.89%) were having normal nutritional level whereas under nutrition was noticed in forty six (46.00%) percent of respondents. Adolescent's food intake was lesser than the RDA. The consumption of GLVs, millets, fruits, egg and non-vegetarian food was also poor. Findings suggest that the extent of under nutrition was high among adolescents and age, lack of nutritious diet and health information were main predicting factors of under nutrition.

Rainfall is the major causing agent, which leads to the transportation of soil particles and environmental pollutants along with surface runoff. The study was carried out in laboratory conditions to evaluate the nutrient losses on experimental fields resulting from a rainfall event which was scheduled post 24 h after fertilizer application and an assessment was also done to check the subsequent impact of nutrient losses on surface runoff water quality. The three scenario of field land slopes (i.e. 2%, 4% and 6%) were considered for the experimental investigations to observe the nutrient losses under simulated rainfall intensities of 9 cm/h, 13 cm/h and 17 cm/h. The rate of nutrient losses (i.e. N, P, and K) were found to be increasing with rainfall intensity for all selected land slopes. The rainfall intensity was found to have a predominant effect on nutrient losses as compared to land slope. The observed values of electrical conductivity (EC) and pH of runoff water were found to have a positive correlation with nutrient loss and showed increasing trend with the increase in rainfall intensity and land slope.

The two main driving forces for consumers choice are food quality and safety. To enhance the nutritional quality, sensory quality and safety of food products it is necessary for the food industry to adopt advanced technologies. Ohmic heating is an advanced thermal processing method. Ohmic heating also termed as resistive heating and joule heating. It is a thermal processing technology for prolonging the shelf-life of a number of food products. This process, like other methods processing, helps in extending the shelf life of foods by killing spoilage organisms. Ohmically processed foods have comparable shelf life to that of other thermally processed canned and sterile, aseptically processed products. This process is used to process fruits and vegetables, milk product and meat product.