NOPR Collection:

Fate of tribenuron-methyl in soil and water

2013-12-24T16:41:06Z

Title: Fate of tribenuron-methyl in soil and water Authors: Mukherjee, Irani; Kumar, Aman; Das, T K Abstract: Persistence of tribenuron in different soil types (namely alluvial, black and red soil) having different pH values maintained at field capacity moisture regime and in water at three different pH levels i.e. 4, 7 and 9.2, respectively was studied under laboratory conditions at two levels of application, 1.0 and 2.0 mg^–1. Samples were processed periodically and analyzed by HPLC. Tribenuron dissipated to 91.04-90. 41% in alluvial and black soil, whereas in red soil with pH 6.64, it dissipated to 94.7% by day 5 after fortification. The half-life values calculated from the first order dissipation kinetics varied from 1.67 in red soil with pH 6.1 to 3.47 in alluvial soil with pH 8.1, indicating that tribenuron is more persistent in soil with basic pH and degrades faster in acidic soil. Slowest dissipation was recorded at neutral and basic pH. Page(s): 52-54

Effect of weather variability on Mustard crop

2014-01-03T16:44:40Z

Title: Effect of weather variability on Mustard crop Authors: Vashisth, Ananta; Singh, Ravindra; Jain, A K Abstract: Field experiments were conducted at research farm of IARI, New Delhi to observe the effect of weather variability on mustard crop at different stages of growth. Different varieties of mustard were sown on different dates to generate the different weather conditions for different phenological stages of the crop. All growth parameters, leaf area index, biomass and chlorophyll content were measured in all the varieties under different weather conditions. Observations were also taken for the aphid infestation. Results showed that the leaf area index, biomass and chlorophyll content had less value in November sown crop as compared to October sown crop. This reduces the yield and percentage oil quantity in November sown crop as compared to October sown crop. The aphid infestation was also found to be more in November sown crop as compared to October sown crop because of favourable weather conditions. The temperature was found to be higher during grain filling stage in November sown crop. Therefore, the seed yield was reduced by 15 to 60 per cent in different varieties in November sown crop as compared to October sown crop. The heat unit such as heilo thermal unit, photo thermal unit and GDD was found to be more accumulated in October sown crop as compared to November sown crop. This results in more yield and percentage oil in mustard. Weather has major role in the yield of any crop, therefore, for obtaining maximum yield produce, sowing of any variety of crops can be done after studying the weather parameters. Page(s): 46-51

Photonics and fiber bragg grating sensor

2013-12-25T16:43:41Z

Title: Photonics and fiber bragg grating sensor Authors: Poddar, G C; Jain, S C; Tewari, Umesh; Neeru; Mehla, N S; Kapur, Pawan Abstract: In the recent years, photonics has emerged as a large area consisting of different waves of electro-magnetic radiations (Electro-magnetic Spectrum) which are being applied in the communications , Sensors, Laser, Quantum Optics, Opto-mechanics, Electro-optics and Opto & Quantum Electronics etc. In photonics, fiber optic sensor is an important new subject which is being proved very useful in the applications of Health Monitoring of Civil, Mechanical and Aeronautical structures. FBG sensor is one of them which is widely discussed in this research paper. In photonics, Bragg grating is defined as the periodic modulation of refractive index inscribed permanently in the core of fiber from which a particular wavelength (λ_B) is reflected with high intensity on launching Ultraviolet light. This wavelength (λ_B) depends upon the grating pitch. FBG sensor performs as a Band Pass Filter that reflects the wavelength with high intensity after filtering it from the grating. This paper focuses on Fiber Bragg Grating Writing Techniques, its experiments and applications. Page(s): 31-37

Seed treatment with plant derived smoke water for enhancing the seedling growth in maize

2014-01-02T16:46:19Z

Title: Seed treatment with plant derived smoke water for enhancing the seedling growth in maize Authors: Pandey, Rakesh; Paul, Vijay Abstract: Various chemicals and growth regulators can improve seed germination, seedling growth and vigour. Such biologically active compounds are also present in smoke. Available research literature from the most reputed sources indicates that the discovery of role of smoke in enhancing germination was done by De Lange and Bowsher in 1990. But, in fact, credit of this discovery should be given to Indian scientists (P. Parija, PD Dixit and GV Challam) who found in 1940 (50 years earlier than De Lange and Bowsher) that dormancy in paddy can be broken by smoking the seeds. The growth promoting response due to smoke treatment is due to the presence of butenolides (or karrikins) and cyanohydrins. In the present study, maize seeds were imbibed in different dilutions of smoke water derived from wheat plants and the seedling growth was measured at 21 days after sowing. The diluted smoke water (200x) treatment lead to enhancement in growth as compared to control. It was as follows : seedling height (12.2%), maximum root depth (44.3%), leaf area per plant (30.4%), leaf area per leaf (26.6%), total root length per plant (106.3%), root weight per plant (37.5%), shoot weight per plant (19.3%), leaf weight per plant (30%), leaf weight per leaf (27%) and total dry matter per plant (23.6%). The most significant increase was observed in terms of root growth. Such smoke based treatments also have several potential advantages in terms of simplicity, cost-effectiveness and no risk to environment and health. Further research studies and standardization can make smoke water treatment a useful technology for better management of different crops. Page(s): 27-30