Livestock Census is a regular quinquennial exercise of Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD). The first Livestock Census was conducted in the year 1919 and last census i.e. 20th Livestock Census was conducted in 2019. The 21st Livestock Census exercise has been launched across the country on 25th October, …
Lignin, one of the most abundant biopolymers on Earth, derives from the plant phenolic metabolism. It appeared upon terrestrialization and is thought critical for plant colonization of land. Early diverging land plants do not form lignin, but already have elements of its biosynthetic machinery. Here we delete in a moss …
This paper is a critique of Srivastava and Kolady1 who reported a macro analysis of the benefits of Bt cotton in India using state wide average data. The analysis is in error with respect to the economic benefits, biological underpinnings, and the effects of Bt cotton technology adoption on resource-poor …
Agricultural systems for space have been discussed since the works of Tsiolkovsky in the early 20th century. Central to the concept is the use of photosynthetic organisms and light to generate oxygen and food. Research in the area started in 1950s and 60s through the works of Jack Myers and …
Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) Sponsored Short Course on Reshaping Agriculture and Nutrition Linkages for Food and Nutrition Security is being organized at ICAR - Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (ICAR - CRIDA), Hyderabad during 17-26, November 2016. This publication is an outcome of compilation of lecture notes/book …
The study on the socio-economic value of plant breeding in the European Union clearly shows the breeding sector has a strong positive impact on growth and employment, as well as on environmental protection and biodiversity preservation. According to study author Steffen Noleppa, plant breeding activities in the EU in the …
Bacteria living on and in leaves and roots influence many aspects of plant health, so the extent of a plant’s genetic control over its microbiota is of great interest to crop breeders and evolutionary biologists. Laboratory-based studies, because they poorly simulate true environmental heterogeneity, may misestimate or totally miss the …
The development of crop varieties that are better suited to new climatic conditions is vital for future food production. Increases in mean temperature accelerate crop development, resulting in shorter crop durations and reduced time to accumulate biomass and yield. The process of breeding, delivery and adoption (BDA) of new maize …
Creativity and innovation are important factors for sustainable agricultural growth. Intellectual property right (IPR) is the key driver of innovation. However, many argue against this view, as it would benefit only a certain section in a country. The present study analyses the perception of stakeholders on Indian IPR system for …
Genetically modified foods do not pose a threat to human health or the environment and will aid in feeding a growing world population in a sustainable manner, the Royal Society says. It published a factual Q&A; guide aimed at dispelling myths and misconceptions about GM food. The document, written by …
In an age of free international shipments of mail-ordered seeds and plants, more policing will not stop the global migration of hitchhiking pests. The solution is in a preemptive response based on an internationally coordinated genomic deployment of global biodiversity in the largest breeding project since the “Garden of Eden.” …
For millennia, seeds have been freely available to use for farming and plant breeding without restriction. Within the past century, however, intellectual property rights (IPRs) have threatened this tradition. In response, a movement has emerged to counter the trend toward increasing consolidation of control and ownership of plant germplasm. One …
Domestication and breeding have influenced the genetic structure of plant populations due to selection for adaptation from natural habitats to agro-ecosystems. Here, we investigate the effects of selection on the contents of 51 primary kernel metabolites and their relationships in three Triticum turgidum L. subspecies (i.e. wild emmer, emmer, durum …
Agricultural practices routinely create opportunities for crops to hybridize with wild relatives, leading to crop gene introgression into wild genomes. Conservationists typically worry this introgression could lead to genetic homogenization of wild populations, over and above the central concern of transgene escape. Alternatively, viewing introgression as analogous to species invasion, …
We conducted a synthesis analysis on data from 86 published field experiments conducted from 1903 to 2014 to explore the specific consequences of post-silking N accumulation (PostN) in New Era vs. Old Era hybrids on grain yield (GY) and recovery from plant N stress at flowering (R1 stage). The Old …
Improving environmental adaptation in crops is essential for food security under global change, but phenotyping adaptive traits remains a major bottleneck. If associations between single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) alleles and environment of origin in crop landraces reflect adaptation, then these could be used to predict phenotypic variation for adaptive traits. We …
Humans require resilient, rapidly renewable and sustainable supplies of food and many other plant-derived supplies. However, the combined effects of climate change and population growth compromise the provision of these supplies particularly in respect to global food security. Crop wild relatives (CWR) contain higher genetic diversity than crops and harbour …
While the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act 2001 is a progressive piece of legislation that recognises farmers' rights to seed, it demands payment of an annual maintenance fee by the farmers to protect the varieties which they have been cultivating and conserving for years, only because these …
Ministry of Environment & Forest and Climate Change vide its notification No. S.O. 3232 dated 17.12.2014 has, in consultation with the National Biodiversity Authority, declared that the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation may, from time to time specify such crops as it considers necessary from amongst the crops listed in …
India is the first country to provide substantial rights to farmers and registration of their varieties for IPR under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act. Obviously, in the initial years the filing of applications was slow and inconsistent, and it was restricted to few crop species. …
Two green crusaders in West Bengal have made it to the record books for breeding plants to record heights and growing them two-way to counter effects of global warming. However, their lack of formal education as scientists is proving a deterrent for the duo in delivering their novel ideas to …
