Timely and reliable estimation of crop yield is an important dimension in agriculture as it aids in effective and timely policy decisions. Weather is a the most important factor, affecting crop yield in the agricultural domain and rice crop is no exception. The present study has been taken up to identify the effect of weekly weather parameters namely bright sunshine hours, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, morning relative humidity, evening relative humidity, and weekly total rainfall on rice crop yield being an important staple food of India. In order to suggest a suitable neural network model for rice yield estimation, Ranga Reddy District of Telangana state was chosen and weekly averages of weather variables from the 30th to 47th meteorological standard weeks (MSWs) of 31 years and rice yield data from 1988-89 to 2018-19 were considered in the study. Back A back propagation neural network and two activation functions namely logistic sigmoid and linear were employed in the neural network model. The proposed neural network model “F” (Input Neurons =11, Hidden Neurons=12, Output Neuron=1, Train Data Size = 80 % and Test data Size=20%) exhibited better results with the low MAE and AEER% while estimating rice yields. All the estimated yields of respective years were close to the actual yields as the multiple correlation coefficients (R) values for train and test data were also close to 1. The errors of simulated estimation of rice yield ranged between -8.1 to -3.8 % for the proposed neural networks model. Thus, better rice yield was estimated by using the proposed neural network model “F”.

Carpet weaving is one of the most tedious professions, requiring long hours of static work. It is also a high-risk occupation for developing MSDs as awkward posture; repetitive movements, contact stress, long working time and no rest pauses are common. Eye strain, and insufficient lighting results in an awkward posture, for weavers, who incline their heads, necks and backs to be able to look closer at their work and prolonged exposure to occupational risk factors increases the risk of disorders. During carpet, weaving weavers were exposed to dyestuff, wool and cotton dust. Continuous exposure to this fine dust over years will be a threat to their lung function. This review paper made an attempt to explore the occupational health problems faced by workers in the carpet weaving industry.

Plastics have become ubiquitous ever since their introduction into our environment in the 1950s. it is currently extensively used in our day-to-day life. Various properties of plastic, its functionality, and relatively low cost make them a preferred choice for the creation of a wide range of products. Today it is very difficult to imagine life without the use of plastic products in one or the other form. Even agriculture cannot be excluded from the use of plastic products. Various modern agricultural practices employ a wide range of plastic products like mulches, irrigation pipes, etc., to help improve productivity. Although initially the use of plastic was intended to make life easy for humans but gradually due to its extensive use it has started becoming a problem for the environment. The properties that make plastics so useful, concomitantly create problems for the environment when they reach the end of their intended lives. Due to the use of diverse polymers and additives blended into plastic sorting and recycling becomes more difficult also being a man-made polymer, it can only be degraded by very few microorganisms. This results in plastic remaining persistent in the environment for many decades once they enter it. As the world’s demand for plastics increases, leakage into the environment also increases thereby hindering efforts to mitigate environmental contamination. Once they enter the environment plastic can cause harm in several different ways. The adverse effect of large plastic polymers is very well documented in various studies conducted on the marine environment but when these large polymers degrade their impact becomes more adverse as it starts not only individuals at the cellular level but also potentially the entire ecosystem. Thus the current review is intended to stimulate a discussion on making use of plastic products in agriculture only where they are very essentially required keeping in mind their hazardous effect on human health as well as the environment. It also aims at transforming the agricultural production system and achieving sustainable food security without compromising the health of the ecosystem.

The present research work was conducted to assess the genetic variability present in elite turmeric germplasm comprising 50 genotypes. A total of nine morphometric traits including plant height, number of tillers, leaf growth parameters and rhizome yield attributes were recorded in these fifty genotypes. The genotypes exhibited a high degree of variation for all the characters studied. The magnitude of GCV and PCV were higher for the number of tillers, mother rhizome yield per plant, finger rhizome yield per plant and dry rhizome recovery percentage. Moderate to medium heritability estimates were recorded for leaf length, mother rhizome yield per plant, finger rhizome yield per plant, and dry rhizome recovery percentage and high heritability estimates were recorded for plant height, number of leaves, leaf breadth, number of tillers and total rhizome yield per plant. High heritability together with high genetic advance was registered for the number of tillers. Total rhizome yield per plant showed a significant positive correlation with finger rhizome yield per plant, mother rhizome yield per plant, leaf length and plant height. Among the various characters studied, mother rhizome yield per plant and finger rhizome yield per plant exhibited the highest positive direct effect on total rhizome yield per plant. Plant height, number of leaves, leaf length and leaf breadth exhibited a positive indirect effect on total rhizome yield via mother rhizome yield per plant and finger rhizome yield per plant.

Strawberry is the well-known crop in Dehradun (Uttarakhand) and is highly appreciated by the consumers in this region. The problem is to get qualitative yield. The present study was conducted to improve quality of the fruits regarding this an experiment was conducted at the main experiment station, DCAST, Dehradun during the years 2018-19 and 2019-20 for the optimization of physico-chemical characteristics of strawberry fruit through organic manure and inorganic fertilizers with the aid of bio-fertilizers. The experiment was statistically conducted in a completely Randomized Block Design (CRBD) with three replications having nine treatments with different doses of NPK, FYM, Azotobactor and PSB either single or in combination.The data noted for different physico-chemical characters vizFruit size, Weight of berry and Volume of berryTSS, Acidity, Ascorbic acid, Reducing sugar, Non-reducing sugars, Total sugars, and Anthocyanin were found significantly superior with soil application of T₅– 100% FYM+NPK (25:120:80) kg/hac+Azotobacter (20kg/ha)+PSB (20kg/ha) during both the year of experimentation 2018-19 and 2019-20 whereas all the treatment were noted better result for the different characters while the treatment T₁-50 ton FYM/ha was noted lowest result among all other treatments.

Cereals are a significant part of the global diet and staple food in developing nations. The majority of developing nations rely heavily on rice as a staple food. The consumption of grains that sprouted is good for health as germination triggers the activation and synthesis of hydrolytic enzymes that improve nutrient absorption and digestibility for health benefits. The use of short duration rice varieties for value addition can also help in additional income generation to primary producers.  In the present study, the germination parameters of rice (WGL 44) were assessed. The findings showed that germinated percentage was highest at 48 hours with 98.00 ± 0.06% and a mean score of 68.28±7.84%. The non-germination percentage was highest for 6 hours with 91.32±0.06 and mean score of 31.71±7.84. The vitamin C content for 24 hours of germinated rice was highest with 78.25 ± 0.15 mg/100g at 24 hours and mean value of 35.6±4.03 mg/100g from 0 to 54 hours of germination. The milling yield of raw and 24 hours germinated rice were highest with 80.59±0.02 and 76.24±0.01% respectively. Similarly, the husk percent of raw and 24 hours germinated were 19.41±0.02 and 23.63 ±0.01% respectively which was lowest among the various time intervals with significant differences at p<0.01 for milling yield and husk percentage at different intervals. The sensory parameters for cooked rice were best at 24 hours germinations and the best-accepted germination time was 24 hours. There was a statistically significant differences at p ≤ 0.01 for the sensory attributes at the different duration of germination after cooking.

An experiment was conducted in the wire net house of the Department of Crop Physiology, C. S. Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur, during the Kharif season of the year 2019. The experiment was conducted to find out the effects of Zn, B, and Mo combinations on growth, yield, and attributes of Black gram laid out in CRD with 7 treatments and 3 replications. The study found that black gram grown with T7-Zn +B + Mo @ 0.5% + 0.2% +0.1% grew significantly better, as evidenced by taller plants (33.65 cm), more leaves/plant (12.55), more branches/plants (7.77), dry weight of the leaves/plant (4.41g), number of nodules/plants (10.72), number of pods/plants (25.99), dry weight of pod/plant (16.86 g), dry weight of stem/plant T₇-Zn +B + Mo @ 0.5% + 0.20% + 0.1% also increased leaf area per plant (121.75 & 196.98), chlorophyll intensity (46.15 & 34.10), days to 50% flowering (59.10), days to pod formation (64.20), grain yield per plant (3.45 g), and protein content (21.89%). In the same way, yield characteristics (number of seeds per pod, number of seeds per plant, and weight of 1000 seeds in grams) were also significantly higher with the same treatment.

The concept of cultivation of vegetables is not new to tribal communities of India but is decreased due to climate vagaries, monkey menace and changing lifestyle preferences.  Hence, the idea of a kitchen garden encouraged tribals to cultivate natural produce in their backyards or farm bunds. A kitchen garden ensures a cost-effective model for a regular and handy supply of fresh vegetables to provide essential nutrients as tribals have access to resources like land and water but they lack scientific knowledge on the nutritional value of vegetables and easily-cultivable nutritious foods. As part of this, tribal communities in Enkoor (M), Khammam district were provided with seeds for year-round cultivation of vegetables like bhendi, cucumber, ridge gourd, bottle gourd, radish, carrot along with green leafy vegetables like palak, methi and coriander leaves.  Also, the farmers were encouraged to grow perennial trees like drum sticks, amla and acid lime as they provide much-needed antioxidants to the body.  The consumption of home-grown vegetables was very much felt during COVID-19 as these areas are far of places with minimal access to markets.  The farmers were able to save about Rs. 5200 to 6800 per household during a year with the harvest.   The consumption of green leafy and other vegetables increased by 2 to 3 times plus roots and tubers by 1 to 2 times per week as they are readily harvested at homes.  The consumption of eggs, non-vegetarian foods and snacks also improved by 2 to 3 times per week due to income saved on the purchase of vegetables.

Growing rice in the transplanted condition is a common practice across the globe in general and in India particularly. Since ages it is a traditional practice as it offers certain advantages like ease of transplanting, avoiding weeds and reducing deep percolation losses of water. Of late due to the increased cost of cultivation associated with traditional rice cultivation and with growing environmentally conscious, countries like India with the highest rice growing area are pointed out at global summits for their puddling activity and are blamed for environmental deterioration with release of methane and oxides of nitrogen. One of the recent advances happened in rice cultivation methodology is the introduction of direct-seeded rice (DSR), wherein rice is sown in unpuddled fields or uplands. Recent studies happening across the globe have reported its worthiness’ over puddled systems. With the aim of evaluating its potential in comparison to traditional transplanting, a comparative study was taken in three successive Kharif seasons from 2018 to 2020 at a farmers’ field in Khammam dist. of Telangana, India. Though numerically higher rice yield (60 q/ha) was recorded with the transplanting system it was statistically on par with DSR (57.2 q/ha). Whereas DSR system recorded higher monetary returns (Rs. 59835/ha), Benefit-cost ratio (B:C) (2.38) and productive tillers per meter (70.63) in comparison to the transplanted system where net returns, B:C ratio and productive tiller per meter are Rs. 52750/ha, 1.95 & 45.90 respectively.

Citrus trees (Citrus spp.) being the world’s most popularly known fruits, the excessive use of synthetic fertilizers in citrus trees poses a threat to human health and the environment. By improving crop productivity through integrated fertilization, citrus orchards maximize profits, increase plant resistance to biotic stresses, and conserve natural resources maintaining soil ecological equilibrium is imperative to the bacterial community. Rhizobacteria can be used in a variety of ways to promote plant development, including their ability to promote plant nutrition and health. This study thus sought to determine the extent to which bacteria can exert a positive influence on citrus development alternatively, bacterial inoculation influences yield without causing any type of damage consequently, biofertilizer commercialization has been accelerating in recent years, with companies and products being offered every year. Several benefits are provided by organic and biofertilizers, including increased nutrient availability in soils, increased tree productivity, improved fruit quality, better soil properties, increased rhizosphere microflora populations, and improved plant tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Environmental conservation, in particular, is aided by organic and biofertilizers. The purpose of this review is to summarize a group of research studies showing that microbes can act as plant probiotics in fruit and horticulture crops, which are important sources of food and should be included in balanced diets.