Is Reexamining the Roots of Agriculture Needed?

The world’s population is increasing, while areas for productive farming and water supplies are diminishing or already utilized. Thus, intensification of existing systems and new systems (ocean or factory based) are needed. However, what existing farming system can intensify without harming the environment or increasing cost of production? Perhaps the oldest systems may need to be revisited. Early land-based farming systems in Asia and Native North America relied on polycultures and integrated systems. Chemical use for pests and fertilizer was not needed, provided by natural pest inhibitions and recycling. Western systems that followed in North American used slash (clear) and burn and plowing virgin land for short term productivity. 

Once soil fertility was exhausted, farms moved on to new sites, and eventually chemical additions were needed in the form of fertilizers and pesticides. Polluting runoff and unintended targets, including humans, resulted. But family-run farms were small and to a degree integrated. Monocultures, often involving international agribusinesses, became the norm by replacing labor with machinery, and by engineering systems and cultured species for maximum production.

Isolation and identification of Soil Fungi from Wheat Cultivated Area of Uttar Pradesh

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important cereals in the world and is part of a staple diet for nearly 35% of the world’s population. It is grown in about 102 countries of the world covering about220.69 million hectares of land which is 32% of the total cultivated land of the world. The area and production increased to 0.83 million hectare and 1.84 million metric tons, respectively in 2000.

Soil fungi play an important role as major decomposers in the soil ecosystem. There are about 75,000 species of soil fungi in the world. Fungi are one of the dominant groups present in soil, which strongly influence ecosystem structure and functioning and thus plays a key role in many ecological services. Therefore, there is a growing interest in assessing soil biodiversity and its biological functioning.The yield was 2.8 t/ha in 2011-2012cropping year which is very low compared to those in the research farm level(3.5 t/ha to 5.1 t/ha). Coupled with many other factors, diseases also play an important role in lowering the yield .The process of decomposition is governed by the succession of fungi at various stage of decomposition nutrient level of soil, crop residue and prevailing environmental conditions.The current study was aimed detection of soil fungi from wheat field. The study involved isolation, identification and screening of soil fungi of fungal species prevailed Allahabad, Varanasi, and Mirzapur districts of Uttar Pradesh in India.

Dendrimers as an Efficient Catalyst for the Oxidation of Multi Substituted Alcohols

Ideally, dendrimers are perfect mono disperse macromolecules with a regular and highly branched three-dimensional architecture. Dendrimers are produced in an iterative sequence of reaction steps, in which each additional interaction leads to a higher generation material. The first example of an iterative synthetic procedure towardwell-defined branched structures has been reported by Vogtle,who named thisprocedure a “cascade synthesis”. A few years later, in the early 1980s, Denke walter 2-During the early years, the area blossomed and dendrimers based on a variety of repeat units appeared: these included amides, amines, carbo silanes, siloxanes, esters, ethers, phenyl acetylenes, various organometallics, amino acids and even nucleic acid based dendrimers.

In addition, secondary function was also incorporated into these systems. These included porphyrins, phthalocyanines, saccharides, mesogens, anionic and cationic groups and various chromophores. Over the next few years more and more applied systems began to be developed and this area ofapplied research is now one of the most vibrant areas of dendrimer chemistry. Examples of such applications are many and diverse: they include encapsulation and solubilisation,medicinal and bio mimetic applications,novel materials, and catalysis.

Evaluation of the Colour of Dried Dutch Rose Flowers Using a Colorimeter

The visual appearance of flowers, fresh fruits and vegetables is one of the first quality determination made by the consumer. Often the appearance of the commodity is the most critical factor in the initial sale. The flower colour of fresh and dried Dutch rose varieties at Regional Horticultural Research and Extension Centre, UHS (Campus) GKVK, Bengaluru was documented using a Minolta CR-10 portable tristimulus colorimeter. With the colorimeter, flower chromaticity was recorded in Commission Internationale d’ Eclairage L*, C* and h° colour space coordinates. In this system of colour representation the values L*, C* and h°, where L value corresponds to the brightness of the flower, C describes the intensity of the colour and h° represents the hue angle. The colorimeter, however, allowed the description of colours that fell between the colour charts and had the ability to compare the specific colour attributes of different varieties of similar and different colour. The ability to interpolate colours with the colorimeter allows a greater precision in documentation and discrimination of flower colour.

 

Rose as cut flower has great demand in the internal as well as export markets. The demand for cut flowers is increasing day by day with the increasing standard of living, aesthetic sense and awareness in the people. Fresh rose flowers though exquisite in their beauty are highly perishable and delicate in nature and cannot retain their beauty and fresh look for a long time in spite of using best chemicals for enhancing vase life. Moreover, there is a non-availability of fresh flowers all-round the year in all places. In this context rose flowers can be dried, preserved and processed to retain its beauty as well as everlasting value. Dried flowers are long lasting, can be used several times and also meet the decorative demand throughout the year. With growing eco-consciousness, the use of more and more nature-friendly things like dry flowers come as a natural choice for decoration. The life of dried flowers varies according to the species, texture of their petals and total consistency of flowers. Dried flowers can be effectively used for making decorative floral craft items for interior decoration and commercial exploitation. Considering the potential of Dutch roses in dry flower trade, the present studies were undertaken to evaluate the colour of dried Dutch rose flowers of different drying methods using a colorimeter Minolta CR-10. It was selected as an improved colour measurement to more accurately describing the colour.