Front line demonstrations on wheat variety GW 273 and GW 322 were conducted on farmer’s fields in Ashoknagardistrict of Madhya Pradesh, India, during Rabi season of the year 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2112 and 2011-2012 about 34.70 percent higher grain yield was recorded under demonstrations over the farmers practices. The extension gap, technology gap and technology index were observed to be 1779 kg per ha 1225 kg per ha and 20.42 % respectively. An additional return of Rs. 2544 per ha was obtained with additional investment of Rs. 1952 per ha coupled with scientific monitoring of demonstrations and use of other non-monetary factors. Fluctuating MSP and or sale price of wheat during different years also influenced the economic returns per unit area. On average basis the incremental benefit: cost ratio was found as 7.56.

Identifying groundwater rechargeable zone is important for watershed development and resource management of a region. In this work various features such as geology, lineament density, slope, drainage density, soil, land use/cover and rainfall distribution of Uppar Odai (South), Amaravathy basin was studied in order to identify the areas that are expected to be suitable for future groundwater exploration in the study region. An integrated analysis of various parameters provides better estimate of subsurface characteristics from groundwater perspective. On the basis of different weights assigned to each factor, it was found that about 16%, of the total area has good prospects of groundwater, whereas approximately 23%of the area relatively feeble prospects. Results are useful for identify the suitable locations and to recommend suitable area for construction of water harvesting structures to augment the groundwater recharge.

An experiment was conducted by utilizing the existing 98 breeding materials derived from crosses involving heat tolerant donors as one of the parents. The aim of the study was to assess the degree of genetic diversity for yield and its related traits in order to identify high temperature tolerant lines that could be utilized in hybridization programme. The 98 genotypes were grouped into 13 diverse clusters. Cluster III with three genotypes viz., IR 86970 – 112 – 3, IR 86977 – 122 – 1 and IR 86991 – 103 – 2 involving three heat tolerant donors exhibited the maximum intra cluster distance of 162.33. The inter cluster distance was high between VI and XII (329.80), XIII and VI (265.50) and XII and V (263.45). Hybridization between the genotypes of these clusters and also between I and VI may offer scope for further selection. Total number of tillers per plant (44.03 %) and single plant yield (26.29 %) contributed more towards genetic divergence.

The present investigation was conducted on twenty-four Surti buffaloes and their calves maintained at Livestock Research Station, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari with the objective to study the effects of artificial rearing of Surti buffalo calves on milk yield, composition, somatic cell count and postpartum oestrus interval in Surti buffaloes. Calves were weaned on the day 6 after calving and were raised under natural suckling method where they were allowed to suckle their dam before and after milking whereas calves raised artificially were maintained on whole milk (T1) and milk replacer (T2) fed through milk feeding bottle for first 90 days of their life. Calves and their mother were raised under loose housing and group management systems. Perusal of data revealed that a non-significant difference in milk yield was found among the three groups at all test days. Milk protein (%) of T1 group was significantly higher than control group of animals on the day 6. There was significant difference (p<0.05) in milk fat (%) between T1 (6.83±0.17 %) andT2 (6.13±0.24 %) group on day 76 and between control (7.06±0.18 %) and T2 (6.23±0.27 %) group at day 90 of the study. T1 group of buffaloes had significantly (p<0.05) lower SNF (9.80±0.28 %) than control (10.46±0.19%) and T2 (10.63±0.18 %) group of animals at day 20. There was non-significant difference in the milk lactose (%) among three groups of buffaloes. A non-significant difference was observed (p<0.05) in the somatic cell count (SCC) among three groups of animals. The post-partum estrus interval was comparatively lower in artificially reared than natural suckling group of Surti buffaloes.

This study was aimed to assess perception of farmers regarding climate change. The study was conducted in Banaskantha of District of Gujarat State and random sampling procedure was followed in selection of respondents and total sample size was 150. Farmers’ perceptions were assessed through a summative rating scale which consisted of five dimensions: scientific understanding of climate change in relation to agriculture, its causes, changes in climatic parameters, effects of climate change on agriculture and adaptation and mitigation to climate change in agriculture. The data collected were analyzed with descriptive statistics (frequencies, per cent, mean score and rank). The results from the study showed that The respondents perceived scientific understanding of major climate change items viz. climate change is really happening (MS 4.13), monsoon is becoming more irregular with long dry spell (MS 3.87) and incidence of heavy rainfall in one day (MS 3.84), further they perceived the important causes of climate change viz. indiscriminate tree cutting (MS 3.96), forced maturity of fruits due to climate change (MS 3.17) and increased use of chemical fertilizers leads global warming (MS 2.80). The respondents perceived the major changes in climatic parameters viz. summer is becoming more hotter (MS 4.15), there are changes in the timing of onset of monsoon (MS 4.09) and seasonal precipitation and distribution of rainfall patterns have drastically changed (MS 3.98). Moreover, the respondents perceived the major effects of climate change viz. reduction in area of cultivable land due to water erosion (MS 3.89), poor quality of product affects the market price (MS 3.65) and more incidence of pest-disease due to climate change (MS 3.64). The respondents perceived the important adaptation and mitigation measures of climate change viz., rain water harvesting of water in monsoon help farmers in the time of scarcity (MS 4.12), weed-control reduces nutrient losses (MS 3.85) and a forestation helps in maintaining ecological balance (MS 3.82).