Reply by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in compliance to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order dated January 21, 2024 in the matter of ‘News item titled “Feeling anxious? Toxic air could be to blame” appearing in Times of India dated 10.10.2023’. NGT had directed CPCB to file a …
We studied the soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics in two types of tropical ground cover (grasses predominantly as C4 functional type and herbaceous predominantly as C3 functional type), located in a permanent plot of the Department of Botany, the M.S. University of Baroda, Vadodara, India. T
Cry1Ac toxin concentration was assessed in leaves of Bt transgenic cotton hybrid grown on shallow (<60 cm) and deep (>90 cm) black soils of Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. Cry toxin concentration increased up to 80 days after sowing followed by a steep decline. In general, toxin concentration was greater …
Widespread adaptation of biomass production for bioenergy may influence important biogeochemical functions in the landscape, which are mainly carried out by soil microbes. Here we explore the impact of four potential bioenergy feedstock crops (maize, switchgrass, Miscanthus X giganteus, and mixed tallgrass prairie) on nitrogen cycling microorganisms in the soil …
A soybean seed racket has been unearthed in Akola, Maharashtra. The scam comes on the heels of the large scale soy seed germination failure in the state and further erodes the credibility of government seed corporations. (Read: Seeds of failure) The racket came to light after Ajay Parate, agriculture officer …
To convert deserts into arable, green landscapes is a global vision, and desert farming is a strong growing area of agriculture world-wide. However, its effect on diversity of soil microbial communities, which are responsible for important ecosystem services like plant health, is still not known. Original Source
Nitrogen (N) limits the productivity of many ecosystems worldwide, thereby restricting the ability of terrestrial ecosystems to offset the effects of rising atmospheric CO2 emissions naturally. Understanding input pathways of bioavailable N is therefore paramount for predicting carbon (C) storage on land, particularly in temperate and boreal forests. Paradigms of …
Nitrogen (N) limits the productivity of many ecosystems worldwide, thereby restricting the ability of terrestrial ecosystems to offset the effects of rising atmospheric CO2 emissions naturally. Understanding input pathways of bioavailable N is therefore paramount for predicting carbon (C) storage on land, particularly in temperate and boreal forests. Paradigms of …
“My major work on the farm is just picking the harvest,” says Raghava with a straight face. It takes some time for the fact to sink in that this young farmer is not joking. One begins to believe him only after visiting his coconut plantation in village Mallanayakanahalli in Karnataka’s …
Most of us detest weeds. They have a tendency to pop up at the wrong place at the wrong time. They have extraordinary genetic pluck that enables them to take astonishing levels of abuse and rough treatment—the harder the better. Plantain likes to be trodden underfoot. Danish scurvy-grass thrives on …
ABOUT 30,000 farmers in Maharashtra are feeling cheated. The soybean seeds they had purchased from the state seed corporation, Mahabeej, failed to germinate this season. Over 40,000 hectares (ha) of farms in seven districts have been affected. Mahabeej has 45 per cent share in the soy seed business in the …
The projections of climate change-induced decline in food production have become a matter of grave concern for food security across the world. Experimental evidences of elevated CO2-induced reduction in grain micronutrients content, particularly Zn and Fe, further add to the problem. (Correspondence)
Dynamics of nitrous oxide (N2O) emission and the relationship of soil properties with N2O emission were studied from the tea ecosystem of North East India situated at north bank plain agroclimatic zone at Tezpur, Assam. The gas samples were collected from the tea bush at weekly intervals from 30 August …
The chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), CP Gautam, on Sunday said more than 60% of distilleries in the state do not comply with pollution control laws, becoming a major source of soil pollution. He was delivering the keynote address at a day-long workshop on ‘Zero liquid discharge …
Jason Clay identifies eight steps that, taken together, could enable farming to feed 10 billion people and keep Earth habitable. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v475/n7356/full/475287a.html
Soil microbial biomass is the living and active part of soil organic matter, which is re-established after disturbance of the land. Study of recovery time of microbial biomass is important for the development of self-sustaining ecosystem in mine degraded land. Increase in soil microbial biomass and organic carbon contents increases …
Red sandy dunal soils of Tamil Nadu is called Theri soils. They occupy about 20,000 ha. Tuticorin district has the largest area 11,200 ha. Different interpretative systems have indicated that these are not suitable for agriculture. In this study, tank silt is used to amend the soil and the different …
AMID countrywide agitations over land acquisition and growing food security concerns, the Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj is considering reserving land for agriculture. The ministry has suggested a bill that would make it mandatory for all states to declare the most fertile land (or category I agricultural land) …
Why have yields stagnated? Yield stagnation at an average of 520 kg fibre per hectare over the past five years could be because of several factors, including bad weather and poor agronomic management. But over 800 Bt cotton hybrids developed by private seed companies have been approved for commercial cultivation …
There have been many studies on the effects of enriched levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide on soils. A meta-analysis shows that emissions of other greenhouse gases increase under high-CO2 conditions. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v475/n7355/full/475177a.html
Arctic tundra soils store large amounts of carbon (C) in organic soil layers hundreds to thousands of years old that insulate, and in some cases maintain, permafrost soils. Fire has been largely absent from most of this biome since the early Holocene epoch, but its frequency and extent are increasing, …
