Hailstorms, one of the untimely extreme weather events caused severe damage to standing crops in northern and central parts of India during 2014 and 2015. Frequent occurrences of these hail events call for stronger relief measures to minimise the crop losses. Developing technologies for the same is however, constrained by highly unpredictable and localized nature of hail storm events. In this regard, a number of experiments were conducted to identify the role of nutritional supplement, plant bio-regulators and canopy management for accelerating the recovery of plants from hail injury were conducted at the research farm of ICAR-National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management and adjoining farmers’ fields in Baramati, Pune, India. Amongst the various post-hail management options tried in brinjal, removal of uppermost damaged parts helped in maintaining sufficient number of effective branch, flowers, and fruits and also improved the access of fruits to more photosynthates being produced. But urea drenching along with salicylic acid induced significant recovery in maize crop. In case of onion leaf, neck and bulb tissues are injured and hail damage reduces functional leaf area and predisposes the plant to infection by plant pathogens including bacteria and fungi. Storms can also affect bulb growth and development, and storage quality and longevity. Here drenching with humic acid (2ml/L) along with KNO₃ sprays were quite effective in inducing recovery and minimise the damage.

Onion crop at 2 DAH                                                               Recovered onion crop at 30 DAH

Hail damaged brinjal crop (2 DAH)                                          Recovered crop after treatment (30 DAH)

Eddy covariance (EC) is a micro-meteorological technique which uses state-of-the-art instrumentation facility to provide measurements on energy and mass (e.g. trace gases or greenhouse gases) fluxes, representative to large area, at very high temporal frequencies. The method assumes importance as such measurements are necessary to comprehend the various physical processes in the Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Continuum, to develop vegetation productivity models and to calibrate and validate satellite based model algorithms for improving quality of pixel/area based land surface data products. 

Employing the EC technique for the above measurement becomes easier when there is a large and flat terrain of uniform cover under a single crop/crop species or vegetation type. However, obtaining reliable flux data using EC system in complex agricultural landscapes that are typical to the arid or semi-arid climatic regions (e.g. field mosaics or checkerboard appearance of field due to fragmented land holding and soil/crop heterogeneity arising of inherent soil variability and water scarcity) is not straightforward. At present, there is no single EC methodology that can be applied to all cases.

For measurement of fluxes from three different crop types, viz. green manuring crop (Sesbania spp.), cereal (wheat) and legume (soybean) grown in the typical deccan plateau landscape of western Maharashtra scarcity zone (MH-6), standard protocol was formulated. Sensor placement height was determined based on maximum crop height and fetch availability, for ensuring data quality screening was done based on frictional wind velocity, obstruction due to tower hardware, occurrence of rainfall events, signal strengths during data acquisition and some instrument diagnostic criteria. Data gaps in the quality controlled time series were filled using mean diurnal variation technique of specific window size based on prevailing weather and crop growth dynamics during the measurement period. Turbulent flux measurement was validated through energy balance closure check. For validation of area integrated flux trend with the crop biophysical dynamics of the season and with the leaf/plant level processes, a strategy was developed based on the local wind rose. The protocol consists of a complete set of rules for final flux estimation using EC method. This include rules for selection of sensors, instrument assembly installation, data processing such as quality control, time series gap filling etc. and various thresholds for data screening parameters. 

More number of cloudy days and increase in atmospheric aerosol concentration is expected in future climate change scenario which will result in reduction in photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Soybean is a photosensitive crop, will be highly affected by this change in near future. To understand the response of different soybean genotypes under moisture stress condition, irrigation was withhold at 60 DAS and per cent reduction in terms of number of pods per plant was recorded. It was recorded minimum in indeterminate Kalitur (7.48%), followed by JS-93-05 determinate (25.26%) and semi-determinate JS-335 (33.33 %). Due to moisture stress, per cent reduction in terms of grain yield (q/ha) was recorded minimum in indeterminate (7.43%), followed by semi-determinate (17.80%) and determinate (37.09 %). Under moisture stress condition, indeterminate genotype (26.42 q/ha) performed better in terms of number of grain yield (q/ha) as compared to semi-determinate JS-335 (23.87 q/ha) and determinate (15.13 q/ha). The only problem with the indeterminate soybean genotype (Kalitur) was more shattering of the pods, if kept for longer time in the field after harvest maturity. Over all the semi-determinate genotype performed better under normal irrigated conditions in terms of grain yield as compared to determinate and indeterminate soybean types, whereas, under moisture stress condition (60 DAS), indeterminate soybean genotype performed better as compared to semi-determinate and determinate genotypes. The light saturation points for determinate (JS-93-05), semi-determinate (JS-335) and indeterminate (Kalitur) soybean genotypes were estimated as 800, 1100 and 1000 PAR with photosynthetic rate of 20.77, 21.95 and 28.88 µmol m^-2s^-1, respectively. In conclusion indeterminate soybean genotypes may perform better in terms of photosynthetic rate which is directly proportional to the yield in reduced PAR condition as well as moisture stress condition under future climate change scenario.

Table . Yield and yield attributes under normal irrigation (NI) and moisture stress at 60 DAS (MS) in determinate, semi-determinate and indeterminate soybean genotypes

(a)                                                                                                                  (b)

Fig. Light saturation point (a) and CO₂ saturation point (b) of determinate, semi-determinate and indeterminate soybean genotypes

Heat is a major stressor which can impact livestock production. One approach to overcome the effect of heat stress on dairy cattle is to exploit the genetic variability and the selection of animals to achieve better relative thermotolerance in a population. The present study was designed to develop molecular tools to identify the genetic markers within the HSP genes in Indian dairy cattle, Sahiwal and Frieswal. The first method developed was PCR-RFLP, used to identify the deletion of cytosine within the AP2 box of HSP70.1 promoter.  Initially a set of primers were used to generate specific gene fragment. Further mutated set of primers were used to re-amplify the gene keeping the single ScrFI restriction site intact. The RFLP had generated the DNA band pattern that helped to diagnose the genotype of the animal (Fig 1). The second method developed was allele specific-PCR, used to identify the genotype of intronic region within HSP90AB1. A set of two forward primers with the mutation at 3’ end and common reverse primers were used in two separate reactions to generate partial gene fragment. The results of amplification clearly indicated the genotype of the animal with respect to SNP within HSP90AB1 (Fig 2). Double PCR-RFLP and allele specific PCR could easily detect the genotype of HSP genes in cattle.  These techniques will help to study the heat stress response in dairy cattle and further selection for the better relative thermotolerance and milk production traits.

Large areas of barren and uncultivable terrain as developed from superficially subdued basalt igneous rocks exist in peninsular India. There is general lack of techniques for the quicker disintegration of the murrum so that the land can be put into cultivations. Therefore, a long term experiment has been initiated at NIASM farm. The pH of raw spent wash and post methaneted spent wash was 3.8 and 6.7, respectively and the former was having higher EC, TSS, TDS, OC, total P and total K. The spent wash was initially applied @ 0.4 million L ha-1.  Initial analysis of the soil samples collected from the experimental field revealed that the soil fraction (< 2mm) of the land was only about 23 %. The fertility status of the land was very low with organic carbon~0.07 % and available N, P and K was only 14.7, 0.47, and 18.2 kg ha^-1, respectively. After completion of three year experimentation it has been observed that treatment comprising spent wash generated in 3.08 to 3.74 per cent higher soil while irrigated conditions has also facilitated disintegration of murrum disintegration. The overall, disintegration of murrum has followed the trend: Sugarcane + spent wash > Soybean- Wheat + Spent wash > Napier grass > Sugarcane > Subabul > Soybean-Wheat > Lucerne > Subabul (R-Rainfed) > Maize-Fodder Sorghum > Control + spent wash > Anjan (R) > Fodder Sorghum (R) > Control (Table 1). Sugarcane equivalent yield was recorded maximum  in Sugarcane + spent wash which was significantly superior to all other treatments and has followed the decreasing trend  in the order of Sugarcane + spent wash > Napier grass > Sugarcane >  Soybean- Wheat fb wheat residue incorporation + Spent wash > Lucerne > Soybean- Wheat > Maize- Fodder sorghum in irrigated condition and Anjan > Fodder Sorghum in rainfed condition. Application of spent wash also improved growth and yield of crops.

  Table 1: Sugarcane equivalent yield and disintegration of murrum under various treatments

Output:

• Raw spent wash a byproduct of sugar factory: Accelerates the disintegration of Murrum
• Sugarcane with annual application of spent wash (4 lakh litres/ha) cropping system: Recommended for getting maximum production under recently developed murrum type land various agro-chemical treatment

The economic longevity of sapota, pomegranate and guava  orchards is limiting factor for obtaining higher yield and profitability  in orchards grown on shallow basaltic soils of Deccan region facing sever water scarcity during summer periods. Therefore, an experiment was conducted for developing techniques to overcome these problems with the help of studying the effect of various planting methods and soil mixtures on performance of plants under these conditions. Plant height, diameter and canopy spread in guava was monitored with pit and trench planting filled up with mixture of native murrum and black soil. The maximum yield was recorded in mixed soils and further high yield was noticed in those treatments where the rocky layer was subjected to microblasting (Fig 2.34).  This could be attributed to imporved soil moisture regimes resulted from rainwater conservation with blasting (19.5%) than without blasting (15.0%). Pits made by auger filled with black soil recorded more moisture in deeper soil. Trench or pit planted Sapota; Guava and Pomegranate orchards are performing better than Auger planting . Growth and physiology of plants were better in mixtures of black soil and native murrum than in 100 % black soil under limited moisture conditions.

(a)                                                                                     (b)

Fig.  Impact of planting methods and filling mixtures on guava yield with (a) and without microblast treatments

Micro-blasting

In hard terrain the underlying rock even after one metre of digging pits and trenches often hinders the plant growth for deep rooted plants like sapota, ber and guava. In such cases the hard rocky portions left after 1 m depth can be shattered by site specific controlled micro-blasting. For this purpose series of holes of approximately 50 mm size could be drilled using semi-automated tractor operated drill machine at spacing 0.5-1 m and 0.6-0.9 m depth depending upon the hardness of the rock along a line defining where the rock should split. With proper electrical and blasting circuit, these cords should be connected perpendicular together to single current source at a safe location from the blast area. The generator blasting machines type exploder consist of a small, hand-driven electric generator are used for firing of electrical cap. When activated, it produces a direct current pulse that fires the electric blasting caps. The generator connects to the blasting circuit when the blaster pushes down the handle. The low to high initiation impulse ranged from 1.5-2500 mJ/ohm and corresponding current 1.5-35 A are used for blasting depending upon nature of hard rock. Blasting releases energy in the form of fragmentation and displacement of rock, vibration of ground and air blast. These cracked rocks could further facilitate the root penetration and water conservation. In pomegranate, the research findings from ICAR-NIASM revealed that the highest plant height, girth, canopy spread and pruned wood removal was recorded with pit and trench planting filled up with mixture of native murrum and black soil. Soil moisture observation revealed that moisture retention was more with blasting (19.50%) than without blasting (18.00 %). The top 20 cm soil showed more soil moisture content than 20-40 and 40-60 cm soil depths. In conclusion, the pomegranate plants planted with the mixtures of soil, micro-blasted and planted either in trench or pit performed better.

Ripping and chaining with heavy machineries                            Making pits using hole diggers

Microblsting                                                                                 Pomegranate orchard

Raised broad beds                                            Stone/ gravel mulching in Nagpur mandarin

Raised Broad bed planting

Alternatively, in a place where surface soils are available, micro-blasting and trench making are cumbersome, planting saplings in raised broad beds is an alternate option. Normally raised beds of 0.3-0.4 m height are recommended for planting fruit trees. But under arid, basaltic conditions, the broad raised beds of 1.5 m width with the minimum height of 0.8-1.0 m are made to provide loose and friable soil for root growth. The wide furrows formed in between the two raised beds could be used to conserve the rain water in situ. This structure is highly suitable for fruit trees like mandarin and lime which are surface feeder and their active roots are mostly constrained to 1 m depth.

Stone/ gravel mulching

Limited and erratic precipitation in the dry semi-arid region of India often results in low crop yields and sometimes total crop failure. Therefore, an increase in the quantity of water available to crops could lead to an improvement of the reliability of production as well as the productivity. The water availability for crop production can be improved through various soil and water management practices. Gravel mulch is one such technology which has been used to conserve the sporadic and limited rainfall in a region of rapidly draining soils. Stone mulching is demonstrated to be of practical value in reducing soil erosion by wind and water and in resisting surface runoff. Stone mulch due to dew formation, helped to reduce the evaporative loss of water.

Fig. Various methods of planting methods to be adapted in rain shadow rocky terrains

Experiment was conducted during kharif 2015 to study the impact of duration of water logging on physiological manifestation and yield of late kharif onion var. Bhima Shakti. Fifteen days after transplanting, water logging was imposed by flooding for 0, 2, 4, and 6 days. Soil and foliar application of chemicals were attempted to alleviate the stress. The results indicated that under normal condition additional nutrient application significantly increased bulb weight and over all yields irrespective of mode of application over control.  Water logging up to two days did not affect the yield significantly and the plants recovered rapidly in response to the applied nutrients. The effect was predominant with foliar application of KNO₃ and spermidine.  Water logging beyond four days reduced the yield to an extent of 40% of control. The plants were unable to after six days of flooding. However, the application of chemicals improved the yield of waterlogged plants recover by at least 10-15%. Increase in the duration of waterlogging enhanced the occurrence of thick neck bulb. This was significantly reduced with foliar and soil application of chemicals. The improvement was much better with foliar application of KNO₃, spermidine and thiourea, whereas sulphur and K application along with humic acid through soil performed better than N application. Application of N through soil negatively influenced some of the quality and bulb parameters. Sporadic flowering and thick neck bulb percentage was increased. Total soluble sugar (TSS) decreased with the increase in water logging. This ultimately decreased the pungency of the bulb which was reflected through decrease in pyruvic acid content. However, this could be negated with the foliar application KNO₃.

Table: Influence of Onion yield (t/ha) under various foliar and soil treatments

Table: Influence of foliar and soil application of chemicals on Onion yield under water logging

1. Heat stress is considered to be one of the major concerns in poultry industry often affecting production and weakening immunity. Understanding genetic basis of heat stress and its effect on immunity is crucial for successful poultry production and welfare.
2. A study is initiated to address above mentioned issues. Briefly, batches of commercial layer birds were reared under summer heat stress for the period of three weeks. The birds were under moderate to severe heat stress (avg. temp. of 29 to 36°C) during the entire experimental period.
3. The optimization of PCR parameters for amplification of HSP gene polymorphic regions i.e., HSP 70 promoter region (364 bp) and 3’ Untranslated region (434 bp) was achieved (Fig. 1). Gene expression analysis was performed for HSP-70 gene in the poultry birds reared under heat stress (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1. PCR amplification of HSP70 promoter region and 3’ Untranslated region from the genomic DNA extracted from heat stressed poultry birds.

Fig. 2. Gene expression analysis of HSP-70 gene from heat stressed poultry birds

• Atmospheric brown clouds are well known phenomenon which have a higher impact on surface dimming and PAR reduction.
• Surface dimming reduces PAR and hampers the yield potential of many agricultural crops particularly photosensitive crops like soybean.
• Therefore, three shade net structures of different shapes namely; rectangular (6 m length ×4 m width × 3 m height), octagonal (6 m diagonal length, 3 m height) and semicircular dome (6 m dia., 3 m height) were constructed to check the uniformity of PAR available inside the shade-net structures.
• Among all, dome shape structure (Fig.1) was found better in term of uniformity in light interception though the PAR observation recorded randomly at different height of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 m from the ground level.
• Dome shape with research grade net structure is the best option to simulate the dimmed PAR scenario for conduct of field experimentation without compromising on its stability and microclimatic parameters except light/PAR.

Fig.1. Experimental dome shape shed net structure

1. The impact of rearing temperatures of 25, 30 and 34°C on white muscle morphology of Labeo rohita was investigated. Increased Hypertrophy was observed in fishes exposed to 30°C. The 20µm, 60 µm and 120µm muscle cells were counted. It was observed that the 60µm cells increased from 38.9% to 44.9% from fishes exposed to 25°C and 30°C. Decline in the 60 µm cells was exhibited in fishes treated at 34°C.
2. Labeo rohita fingerlings were analyzed for expression of hsp70 and myostatin gene. The fishes exposed at 30°C and 34°C exhibited increased expression of hsp70 suggesting protective role of heat shock protein in Labeo rohita when exposed to high temperatures. Similarly myostatin gene , a negative regulator of muscle was observed to be increased expression at 34°C.

(a)                                                                                                        (b)

Fig. (a) Expression of hsp70 in Labeo rohita exposed to 25, 30 and 34°C (b) Expression of myostatin in Labeo rohita< exposed to 25, 30 and 34°C

3. Oreochromis mossambicus Tilapia Critical Thermal maxima tolerance was analyzed. The CTmax of fishes exposed to 25, 30 and 34°C was 40.3, 41.7 and 42.7°C.
4. Labeo rohita fish exposed to 25°C and 34°C were used for generating high throughput sequence data. The transcriptome data is under process. The RNA integrity was determined to be 7.5 and 8 of the 25°C and 34°C exposed fishes.

• Heteropneustes fossilis (Stinging catfish) is a native freshwater fish species to India and Indian sub-continent
• It is an excellent candidate catfish for culture in derelict water bodies and drought prone areas as it is able to survive in low  oxygenated water due an accessory respiratory organ
• It can be cultured under extensive and semi-intensive  commercial scale in low rainfall area
• An attempt was made to develop low cost breeding and larval rearing technology in Maharashtra

Ovaprim Induced Breeding

• Heteropneustes fossilis naturally breed during the South-West monsoon and North-East monsoon in flooded river and ponds in southern part of India
• Brood stock was collected from Ujani reservoir  and kept in FRP tanks for maturation
• Male genital papilla is elongated pointed, female abdomen, gravid genital papilla is round
• The brood fish of 45-50 grams size were used for induce breeding
• Intramuscular injection of ovaprim @ 1 ml/Kg administered to male and female in afternoon
• Injected fish released in the breeding tank of dimension 1 m x 0.8 m x 0.5 m
• Fish released the eggs after 15-18 hrs after injection, early in morning
• Eggs were green colored with brick red ting and 45-50 g female laid 8000-9000 eggs

Egg incubation

• Fertilized eggs were uniformly distributed in plastic container provided with aeration
• Hatching was within 22-23 hrs and water exchanged daily
• After hatching the yolk-sac larvae are collected by siphoning from the incubation tank to transferring larval rearing tubs
• Yolk-sac larvae measure 3-4 mm in length

Rearing of larvae

• 600-700 yolk sac larvae were reared in 4 liters water with water depth of 4 cm with mild aeration
• Larvae congregated to each other and were not fed during first 4-5 days as yolk sac provide nutrition
• After yolk sac absorption larvae measured 5-6 mm in length, the larvae were then fed with zooplankton
• It is necessary to provide good care of the larvae for better survival during the transition phase through yolk sac absorption to feeding stage
• Larvae reached size of 2-3 cm fry during 12-15 days and were transferred to outdoor rearing tanks of size 1 meter x 1 meter x 1 meter
• The fry were fed with zooplankton and minute crushed formulated feed
• Aeration should be provide to fry rearing tanks

• Understanding of effects of water stress on yield formation is essential for planning irrigation and other mitigation strategies in arid and semiarid regions.
• A long term field experiment (2012-15) was conducted to study the interactive effect of exogenous application of plant bioregulators (PBR’s) and irrigation levels on grain yield and water productivity of spring wheat (Triticum aeastivum L.) using line source sprinkler system(Fig.1).
• PBR's applied through exogenous sprays included: 10 mM thiourea (TU), 10 μM salicylic acid (SA), 15 g L^-1 potassium nitrate (KNO₃), 25 ppm gibberellic acid (GA₃), 8 ppm ortho-silicic acid (OSA) at crown root initiation (CRI), flag leaf and seed milking stages and control (no PBR).
• Application of PBR’s improved grain yield (5.9-20.6%), total biomass (4.8-15.3%) and water productivity(1.20-1.35 kgm^-3)  
• Combining use of PBR’s lowered the rate of yield decline with deficit irrigation as well as the water required (19-56%) to water productivity equivalent to maximum without PBR’s(Fig.2)
• PBR’s like thiourea (10mM) and salicylic acid (10µM) showed a major role under medium (IW:CPE 0.40-0.69) and sever (0.10-0.39) water stress  conditions and can help to boost the productions vis-a-vis profitability of wheat under  water scarcity conditions. 

Fig.1 Response of wheat to PBR’s at different irrigation levels Fig.2. Water productivity as affected by PBR’s at various quantities of applies water