Impact of Foliar Spray of NPK and Zn on Soybean for Growth, Yield, Quality, Energetics and Carbon Footprint under Dryland Condition at Indore

Background: Dryland is characterised by drought/dry spell (s) of 10 to 15 days and is the main reason for decline in soybean production. The aim of this study was to develop a strategy of drought amelioration by using foliar sprays and enhancement of yield, quality, energetics and carbon footprint. Methods: A field experiment was carried out at Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, College of Agriculture, Indore, (M.P.) during 2017-18 under spilt-plot design having two main plot treatments viz., foliar application at dry spell (F1), foliar application after dry spell (F2) and seven sub plot treatments i.e. different variants of foliar sprays (DVFS). Different growth, yield, quality, energetic and carbon footprint traits were recorded. The data were analyzed using standard statistical procedures. Result: The highest growth, yield, quality and energetic parameters were recorded for F1 as compared to F2. In case of DVFS, foliar application of water soluble complex fertilizer 19:19:19 (NPK) @ 0.5% + 0.5% ZnSO4 (T4) produced maximum values for growth, energetics, carbon footprint, oil (22.5%) and protein (43.1%) content as well as produced maximum yield.

THE 500 HPA SUB-TROPICAL ANTICYCLONE DURING APRIL AND MAY 1988 AND THE WEATHER OVER INDIA

The sub-tropical ridge at 500 hPa in April has a considerable synoptic scale fluctuation. In April 1988, it showed a steady southward displacement to the equator. In May 1988, a fresh sub-tropical anticyclone formed in northern latitudes by the anticyclonic recut-mg of the dry northwesterlies of extra-tro-pical origin. By extending southward the northerlies ushered a dry spell extensively to the south of the sub-tropical ridge (STR). This was an event contrary to the normal northward progress of equatorial weather belt and the STR. Thus the mean April 500 hPa ridge does not provide a logical parameter for long range forecast-ing of the southwest (SW) monsoon rainfall over India.

Climatology of dry and wet spell over Vidarbha region during monsoon months

In this investigation 10-day period-wise simple probability, 10-day period-wise probability of consecutive dry and wet spells of different lengths, and month-wise different parameters, and properties of Markov Chain Model over Vidarbha region during south-west monsoon months have been studied. For this purpose, daily rainfall data (1 June – 30 September) of 11 stations covering all the districts of Vidarbha for the period 1960-90 have been utilized. The study reveals that over Vidarbha during monsoon season (June - September) probability of a day being wet and probability of consecutive wet spell of different lengths are by and large high during the last and first 10-day periods of July and August respectively when the monsoon is at its peak. During the first two 10-day periods in June and last two 10-day periods in September, the probabilities of a dry day and that of consecutive dry spell of different lengths and quite high. During July and August a maximum of 12-14 wet days are expected and wet spell, on an average, lasts for 2 days. Stationary probability of the occurrence of wet day (pi2) is found to be maximum during July making it the most humid month in the monsoon season.

A study on effective monsoon and dry spells of short return periods The Indian mountain ranges during monsoon months in two north Bengal districts

This article uses daily rainfall data (April-October) of Cooch Behar (1971-90) and Jalpaiguri (1972-90), the two predominantly rainfed farming districts of Terai zone of West Bengal, to study the, nature of different rainfall parameters of this area. It was observed that the mean date of Onset of Effective Monsoon (OEM) of this region is about one month in advance from the normal occurrence of monsoon over Kerala. However, the monsoon rains, here, retreat at about the same time with those of Kerala. Distribution of the duration of dry spell has been studied to have some idea of the nature of critical dry spells during the monsoon season. The article also examines how prolonged, on the average, are the monsoon breaks for different return periods. Expected length of dry spell (in days) for 2, 5, 10 and 20 years return periods have been estimated with the help of suitably fitted curves for each location.

Water balance studies for the crop planning in Ranchi, Jharkhand

The rainfall data of 35 years was analyzed to quantify the rainfall efficiency for increased production for Ranchi region. The actual evaporation in driest year due to prolonged dry spell gives rise to severe drought condition affecting the crop growth adversely. No surplus water was recorded during driest year. In respect of coefficient of variation, the month of July registered the lowest coefficient of variation of 35 per cent followed by August (38 per cent) indicating lesser variability during this month. The threshold level of coefficient of variation ranges of 50-100 per cent was associated with April to October and indicated the dependability of rainfall in these months as compared to other months. The maximum length of growing season of 28 week, while minimum 12 week was recorded. In normal conditions, the length of growing season were recorded 18 week. Therefore, short duration paddy variety Birsa Gora-101, maize, i.e., Devki, Ganga-11, Suran and kharif pulses are suitable for the region.

Farmers' Perception, Adaptation Strategies, their Determinants and Barriers to Climate Change in the Bundelkhand Region of Central India

This study is based on a farm house hold survey (818 households) collected from 4 districts of drought prone region of central India and examines that how farmers perceive the climate change and adaptation strategies adopted over the past few decades. Nearly, 80.9%, 93.6% and 95.2% farmers’ perceived that the average temperature has increased, rainfall has decreased and occurrence of drought is more frequent, respectively during last 25–30 years. A significant decreasing trend was observed in annual rainfall at all the studied locations with a rate of 2.1 to 5.8 mm year–1. In most of the locations both maximum and minimum temperature showed an increasing trend during winter season (July-October) in the range of 0.8 to 1.2 and 0.4–1.5ºC per 100 year, respectively. However, only two locations viz., Jhansi and Banda district showed increasing trend in maximum temperature in the range of 0.8 to 2.3oC per hundred years during rainy season. This study revealed that the perceptions of rural farmers on climate change and variability are consistent with the climate trend analysis. Econometric model suggested a positive influence of age, agriculture experience, educational qualification, size of land holding, adequate access to credit facility and crop insurance, intermittent dry spell and adequate extension services on climate change perceptions and adaptation. The results further revealed that 69.8% respondent have implemented adaptation measures in response to dry spell. Furthermore, analysis showed that agriculture experience, educational qualification and intermittent dry spell and access to extension services are the key factors for adoption of various adaptation strategies particularly, irrigations scheduling, use of high yielding improved varieties, pesticides and change of planting date. Inadequate availability of irrigation resources and frequent drought as well as intermittent dry spells were considered as the most critical barriers for adaptation measures to climate change by farmers.

Development and application of SPI generator using open source for analyzing drought at a varying time scale

The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) is a probability index that gives a belier representation of abnormal wetness and dryness than any other drought indices. The primary objective of the current study is to develop a comprehensive tool to compute SPI on a spatial basis and analyze spa!iotemporal variability of drought in North West Indian region during 1951-2007 using APHRODITE waler resource data at 0.25-degree resolution. This tool was developed using the python programming language, and the site-packages such as Numpy, Scipy, Ma!plo!lib, Ne!CDF, PyQt were used. The result showed Iha! the SPI time series showed significant inter-annual and multi-decadal variations. In the whole data period, three consecutive droughts have occurred only once, 1999-2002. This prolonged drought hurt the agricultural and water resources sectors over the study area. The computed SPI for the year2002 showed an extreme dry spell over the study area signifying the major drought over India in the same year with a 56% deficit of rainfall in July. The computed 12-month SPI for the year 1996 shows a wet period over the northwestern part of India, especially over Haryana signifying medium to heavy rainfall, conforming 1996 flood. The developed SPI tool, portray a realistic picture of drought scenario over the Northwest region and improve the timely identification of emerging drought conditions that can trigger appropriate responses by the decision makers.

Agro-climatic onset of cropping season: A tool for determining optimum date of sowing in dry zones of southern Karnataka

The study was conducted to analyse the rainfall pattern of dry farming zones of Southern Karnataka to arrive at proper date of sowing by considering parameters like threshold rainfall (20 mm), threshold dry day (2.5 mm) and threshold dry spell period (10 days) as a main defining parameters for decision making in sowing of major crops (finger millet, pigeonpea, groundnut, etc.). In all the three zones, the agro-climatic onset of cropping season was earlier as compared to meteorological onset (June 1st week) due to bimodal distribution of rainfall having its peaks in May and September month. In Central Dry Zone, Southern Dry Zone and Eastern Dry Zone, fourteenth June, thirteenth June and twentythird May were the agro-climatic onset dates (average of all stations in each zone), respectively. Station wise analysis of the rainfall revealed different agro-climatic onset dates. Ninth May in central dry zone, eighth May in eastern dry zone and fifth May in southern dry zone were the earliest onset dates. These variations in between zonal and station specific onset dates were due to spatio-temporal variations in rainfall. Therefore, advancements in sowing of crops based on the agro-climatic onset should be taken into account for betterment of crop production.

Assessment of Temporal Effects of a Mud Volcanic Eruption on the Bacterial Community and Their Predicted Metabolic Functions in the Mud Volcanic Sites of Niaosong, Southern Taiwan

The microbial communities inhabiting mud volcanoes have received more attention due to their noteworthy impact on the global methane cycle. However, the impact of temporal effects of volcanic eruptions on the microbial community’s diversity and functions remain poorly characterized. This study aimed to underpin the temporal variations in the bacterial community’s diversity and PICRUSt-predicted functional profile changes of mud volcanic sites located in southern Taiwan using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The physicochemical analysis showed that the samples were slightly alkaline and had elevated levels of Na+, Cl−, and SO42−. Comparatively, the major and trace element contents were distinctly higher, and tended to be increased in the long-period samples. Alpha diversity metrics revealed that the bacterial diversity and abundance were lesser in the initial period, but increased over time. Instead, day 96 and 418 samples showed reduced bacterial abundance, which may have been due to the dry spell that occurred before each sampling. The initial-period samples were significantly abundant in haloalkaliphilic marine-inhabiting, hydrocarbon-degrading bacterial genera such as Marinobacter, Halomonas, Marinobacterium, and Oceanimonas. Sulfur-reducing bacteria such as Desulfurispirillum and Desulfofarcimen were found dominant in the mid-period samples, whereas the methanogenic archaeon Methanosarcina was abundant in the long-period samples. Unfortunately, heavy precipitation encountered during the mid and long periods may have polluted the volcanic site with animal pathogens such as Desulfofarcimen and Erysipelothrix. The functional prediction results showed that lipid biosynthesis and ubiquinol pathways were significantly abundant in the initial days, and the super pathway of glucose and xylose degradation was rich in the long-period samples. The findings of this study highlighted that the temporal effects of a mud volcanic eruption highly influenced the bacterial diversity, abundance, and functional profiles in our study site.