Photosynthesis is a central metabolic process in plants and photosynthetic traits can be used as indicators to judge the adaptability and resistance of plants. Besides the classical measurements of photosynthesis by gas exchange analysis, light harvesting pigment measurements have become a widely used method to study the functioning of the photosynthetic apparatus and are a powerful tool to study the plant’s response to environmental stress. In this study, the photosynthetic performance and gas exchange characteristics among 22 cultivars of Psidium guajava were investigated under hot arid conditions of India for identification of promising genotypes. Significant differences were noticed in the rate of photosynthesis (PN), stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration rate (E), internal CO2 concentration (Ci), water use efficiency (WUE) and light harvesting pigments. This study indicates that it could provide a useful target for breeding programs and will lead to more efficient use of guava cultivars with better adaptation to the limiting agro-climatic conditions of India.

To investigate the effect of varying transplanting dates on rice grain quality characteristics and to compare the protein profile of flag leaf at different dates of transplanting in rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes viz., heat tolerant (N22), moderately heat susceptible (IR8) and fine grain rice variety (PR116), were transplanted at three different times i.e., D1 (very early), D2 (early) and D3 (normal date of transplanting). No predictable difference was observed in the electrophoretic pattern of protein bands in all the three cultivars. The 1000-grain weight of paddy, brown rice and milled rice decreased at D1 and D2, particularly in IR8. Grain dimensions were unaffected by different transplanting dates. The head rice recovery was decreased significantly at D1 (53.83- 65.96 %) and D2 in all the three cultivars with the maximum head rice recovery (60.24- 68.60%) being obtained at normal transplanting time. Early transplanting caused significant increase in the percentage of chalky grains (%) in the susceptible genotype IR8 compared N22 and PR 116. Higher temperature during very early and early transplanting times had great impact on chalkiness. The heat susceptible cultivar were observed to be prone to heat stress encountered during very early and early DOT as maximum chalkiness was recorded in IR8 during D1 (12.80 %) followed by D2 (9.60 %) and D1 (6.75 %) respectively.

Under the present investigation the physio-chemical characteristics of mine water of the upper catchments of Raniganj coalfield area of West Bengal, India were evaluated. Mine water samples were collected from underground coal mine discharged pumps and open cast coal mines. A total number of 27 Mine water samples were collected from total eight areas during the month of February (17.02.2009-19.02.2009). Efforts were made to provide drinking water, safe domestic uses, industrial and agriculture uses. Mine water samples were analyzed for pH, EC, Dissolved oxygen, Anions (Cl, HCO3, and SO4) and Dissolve Silica and cations (Na, K, Ca, Mg). Some parameters of water chemistry like Turbidity, Alkalinity, Bicarbonate, and Sulfate reflect continental, weathering, mining have been tested which is limiting anthropogenic use of mine water for domestic and agricultural purposes and other anthropogenic impacts, limiting mine water use for domestic purposes.

Sorghum grains have good composition in both amino acid and protein, but there is limiting amount/composition of lysine. Both genetic and environmental factors affect the protein content of sorghum. In sorghum the variability is high, probably because the crop is grown under diverse agro-climatic conditions,which affect the grain composition. The two high-lysine Ethiopian sorghum varieties, IS 11758 and IS 11167are identified to overcome the problem of limiting amount of lysine in sorghum seed through hybridization or mutation. The average lysine content of those varieties is higher than that of normal sorghum which grows under similar environment. Even the PER values for high-lysine varieties is higher than the normal value for sorghum. We need more data to understand whether the high-lysine gene in sorghum is stable in a normal plump seed endosperm background. Another high-lysine mutant, P721, was reported to have 60% more lysine than normal sorghum. The high lysine of P721 resulted primarily from unusually high amounts of Lysine-rich gluten and low Lysine-poor prolamin. They observed that in all three of these high-lysine sorghum varieties the Lysine content of the germ was normal but the Lysine content of the endosperm was higher than in normal sorghum. For the rapid estimation of protein and lysine in large numbers of sorghum samples, the Technicon autoanalyser method and the dye-binding capacity method were found to be most suitable. The relationship between yield and lysine in sorghum was not very strong. Therefore, it seems possible to increase the lysine content without much affecting the yield.

The load-deformation behaviour of African nutmeg seed during cracking was modeled using dimensional analysis and other computational techniques; with the view of positively manipulating this energy-demanding and time-consuming unit operation in the design of African nutmeg cracking machine. The developed model shows that; compressive force, moisture content, heating temperature, pre-heating time, loading rate and duration of loading play a significant role in the deformation (cracking) process of African nutmeg seed. Results of the model predicted and measured deformation values were compared and an acceptable agreement was recorded at 95% confidence level. An analysis of variance indicates that the developed model has a low standard error of estimate (0.0018) and a high coefficient of determination (R2 =0.902) which implies a good fit.