Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Nayar river is vanishing - a yatra reveals conservation goes beyond science and policy" appearing in ‘The Down To Earth’ dated 03.06.2025. The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Nayar …
A FUNGUS that virtually eats into every conceivable part of the, rubber tree - Hevea brasiliensis - has finally met its match in an environment-friendly deterrent. Researchers from the Rubber Research Institute, (RRI) in Kottayam, Kerala, have developed a new ecofriendly fungicide from wood extracts of five locally available tree. …
An unusual orange-coloured cucumber has been developed by scientists at the us department of agriculture. The cucumber, alongwith its inherent properties, also contains the nutritional qualities of carrot and its colour. The beta carotene pigment not only imparts the orange colour to carrots, but is also a rich source of …
Apart from its cosmetic and medicinal properties, henna (Lawsonia inermis the natural dye -is ideal as a commercial crop for drylands cultivation, say researchers at the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) in Andhra Pradesh. Capable of growing with the minimal maintenance, the plant does not require protective irrigation …
THE bullets were not meant to kill rice cells; they were aimed to impart resistance in them to fight off a destructive menace - bacterial leaf blight, a disease that routinely destroys rice crops around the world. Researchers led by Pamela Ronald from the University of California, us, recently performed …
SCIENTISTS at the Philippines- based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) are currently field testing a prototype of a new and sturdier variety of rice on the institute's experimental plots. This new and robust variety shall have thicker grain-bearing stems apart from having greener and more erect leaves. The redesigned plant …
FROM rendering aroma to curries and pickles to warding off mustard pests - the common spice fennel or Foeniculum vulgare (popular name saunf) has come a long way indeed. At the Lucknow- based Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), experiments demontrated that saunf grown in between rows of …
THE propagation of bamboo is certainly beset with problems like long flowering cycles and inadequate technology for storing seeds. Not so anymore - say experts who have evolved an innovative technique for vegetative propagation of bamboo (Science for Villages, No 193/194, August 1995). A giant fast growing grass, the bamboo …
Australian researchers have devised a novel method to deal with caterpillars that create havoc in their cotton fields. They have developed a variety of cotton that kills the caterpillars (New Scientist, Vo1148, No 1998). Genetic engineers at the CSIRO, Australia's national research organisation, have introduced a gene for a natural …
The scientists at the Nicherei and Tokita Shubyo corporations, Japan, have crossed tomatoes of two colours and have jointly developed a mini-tomato variety of yellow colour (Vatis update, Food processing, Vo13,No 13). The product, called "Cherry Gold", has a higher sugar content. Estimated to be around 8.5 to 9 per …
Viruses pose a great threat to agriculture. An effective method for controlling the menace is raising plantlets by in vitro propagation in expensive greenhouses which require artificial lighting. Now, scientists at the Institute of Plant Research and Biotechnology (IPRB) in Cuba, have invent- ed a method that does away with …
With tastes for organically pro duced food growing by the day, increasing number of Japan farmers swear by organic metho of cultivation. Roughly 3 to 5 n lion people throughout Japan, larly eat organic produce claim that it tastes better. Organic pro cers, have succeeded in obtain yields that are …
The Switzerland-based coalitim group, the Blumen-Kampag (Flower Campaign) which campaigns against pesticide usad worldwide has notched xipU-Actory. it-has forced Ciba-Geigy, the SVA4 company and AgrEvo, the Gertmin company to withdraw their mal controversial pesticides from the Colombian flower industry. Cibj Geigy will no longer sell phos- pharaidon, dichlorvos and di …
FIELD experience of farmers and extensive research conducted in the farms of Tamil Nadu-based Sakthi Soyas Ltd., have established the profitability of soyabean intercropping with sugar cane. During the last 3 years, soyabean intercropping with the major cultivated crops was tried and its intercropping with sugar cane was found to …
ACKNOWLEDGED by farmers since time immemorial, the significance of spiders in pest management of crops is all the more being recognised now in view of the ill-effects of chemical pesticides. Following this trend, entomologists at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines have recently recorded 7 species of …
WITH farmers using primitive methods offood storage that provide easy access to a variety of pests, the storage scenario in India is quite depressing at present. In view ofthis problem, A Thimmaiah and A Ravishankar of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute have come up with a down-to-earth method for small-scale …
The World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a couple of other UN bodies have launched a global integrated pest management facility to reduce excessive and costly pesticide use which threatens both human health and environment (Pesticide News, No 28). The pilot projects under the new programme will focus …
The slasb-and-burn method of cultivation is ecologically disastrous and economically fruitless for the tribals. To provide a viable alternative to this shifting cultivation, the Social Forestry Project of Orissa in collaboration with the Swedish International Development Agency chose 14 landless tribals in Bhatiguda village of the state as beneficiaries under …
Brazilian farmers frequently using pesticides in their farm operations, unknowingly make their children susceptible to kidney cancer. Recently, researchers established that 18 per cent of Wilms' turnours - which affect kidneys - among Brazilian children, are due to exposure of their parents to pesticides (American Journal ofEpidemiolop@ Vol 141). Colin …
TWO groups of scientists have developed techniques to genetically alter banana (Musa species) cells to make the plant disease- resistant and introduce other improvements in it. This is significant when one considers that in some areas of the world up to half the banana yield is lost to fungal and …
Scientists at the Cuttack-based Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI) have developed a high yielding variety of rice called Lunishree that requires the minimal use of fertilisers, has a high resistance to salinity and a long grain. CRRI director B Venketaswarlu says that Lunishree yields are 28-30 per cent greater than …
