Background: The advancement of pulse crops, especially lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) in acid soils is very challenging due to poor nodulation efficiency and nitrogen fixation. The build-up of Rhizobium population near the germinating seeds (spermosphere) in acid soils with seed inoculation alone is not sufficient, thus limiting its survivability, multiplication and poor Rhizobium-legume interactions. The present investigation aimed at effectiveness of native Rhizobium strain tolerant to acid soil through seed inoculation and through enriched compost fortified with Rhizobium. 
&nbsp; 
Methods: For this a field experiment on lentil crop (variety PL-8) was conducted in acid soil with 9 treatments combination: T1: 100% RDF (@20:60:20 kg N-P-K ha-1&nbsp;), T2: 50% RDF, T3: seed inoculation (SI) with NR2+EC 1+50% RDF, T4: SI with ER (CK1)+EC 1+50% RDF, T5: SI with NR2+EC 2+50% RDF, T6: SI with ER (CK1)+EC 2+50% RDF, T7: SI with NR2+EC 4+ 50% RDF, T8: SI with ER (CK1)+EC 5+50% RDF, T9: SI with NR2+ EC 3+50% RDF. 
&nbsp; 
Result: The nodulation efficiency, pod and seed yield and the soil parameters after the harvest of crop were significantly higher in treatments receiving enriched compost amended with Rhizobium, PSB and RP. Thus, seed inoculation along with enriched compost amended with native Rhizobium, PSB and RP had showed great potential in supporting higher nodulation efficiency and yield of lentil crop grown under acid soil.

Comparative Effectiveness of Bio-inoculant and Enriched Compost on Lentil (Lens culnaris Medik.) Yield under Acid Soil

<div style="text-align: justify;">Dairy cattle and buffaloes (n=101) suffering from chronic diarrhea (&gt;3 weeks) with complete history of duration of diarrhea, systemic effects, body condition and faecal abnormalities were included in this study. Faecal samples, whole blood and rectal biopsies from selected animals were collected for the detection of Mycobacterium avium-subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). Faecal smears were prepared and examined for the load of acid fast bacilli (AFB). Acid fast clumps were recorded in 40.6 per cent (41/101) of diarrheic animals and PCR confirmation was made byIS900 primers. MAP was detected in blood samples of four animals (4/41), while faecal samples were positive only in two of these 4 animals. All the four animals had persistent watery diarrhea and progressive loss in body weights and productivity. Rectal biopsies of two animals were positive by PCR. Remission of clinical signs was observed in these animals within 2-months. Biotyping of MAP-DNA from blood samples by IS1311 PCR-REA revealed restriction pattern of 67, 218 and 325 bp suggesting that MAP DNA belonged to &lsquo;Bison type&rsquo;, which is a major biotype infecting domestic livestock in India.</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">Bio-incidence and Bio-type of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in diarrheic dairy cattle and buffaloes of Punjab area in India</div>

<div>Background: For the successful adoption of organic farming especially under protected cultivation conditions there is a dire need to enrich and fortify the different composts for meeting out the requirements of crops. Experiments were conducted at Model Organic Farm, Department of Organic Agriculture and Natural Farming, CSKHPKV, Palampur and at farmers field in Akrot, Una and Rajol Kangra of HP with an objective to evaluate different enriched composts under protected organic farming conditions. 
 
Methods: The experiments were conducted with 9 treatments viz. Matka khad (M) + Rock phosphate (RP), Matka khad + Gypsum (G), Matka khad + Patent kali (PK), Matka khad + Lime (L), Matka khad + control, Matka khad + Combination of RP,G,PK,L + Tricoderma + Rhi/Azoto + PSB, Panchgavya + Combination of RP,G,PK,L + Tricoderma + Rhi/Azoto + PSB, Jeevamrit + Combination of RP,G,PK,L + Tricoderma + Rhi/Azoto + PSB and Vermicompost. These treatments were selected after preparation of enriched and fortified FYM and its evaluation by microbial and nutrient analysis. Pea crop variety Pb-89 and Capsicum crop variety California wonder were selected for the experiments under polyhouse at research farm and at farmer&rsquo;s field.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Results showed that inoculation of biomass with matka khad along with additives i.e. rock phosphate, gypsum, patent kali and lime @ of 1% and fortification with Tricoderma, suitable biofertilizer (Rhizobium/Azotobacter) along with PSB increased the yield of Pea crop more than &nbsp;40% at organic farm and farmers fields, whereas in case of capsicum the increase in yield was to the tune of 14% at model organic farm and more than 40% at &nbsp;two different sites of farmers field.</div>

<div>Evaluation of Different Enriched Composts under Protected Organic Farming in Capsicum-pea based Cropping System</div>

Background: Groundnut is an economically important edible oilseed crop. Groundnut suffers from seed, soil and foliar diseases. Among the groundnut diseases, collar rot is one of the economically important diseases. Collar rot is damaged regularly due to its seed and soil-borne nature. This disease is prevalent in almost all groundnut-growing states. Collar rot disease of groundnut is one of the most serious, destructive diseases and yield losses range from 13 to 52% and can be as high as 93.6% in some areas. Being mainly a soil-inhabiting pathogen, many environmental and soil factors are responsible for disease development. 
 
Methods: Field experiment was conducted for four years to find out effective control of collar rot of groundnut. Eight treatments including fungicides/bio agents along with control were laid in randomized block design with three replications. Efficacy of deep summer ploughing with mould board plough+Seed treatment with Tebuconazole followed by PGPR+Soil application of Trichoderma enriched in 250 kg FYM/ha at 35 and 80 DAS along with farmer practices as well as control was tested at ARS, Bikaner in RBD design during kharif season from 2017 to 2020 for management of collar rot diseases of groundnut.&nbsp; 
 
Result: The result of experiment revealed that deep summer ploughing with mould board plough+Soil application of Trichoderma @ 4 kg/ ha enriched in 250 kg FYM/ha+Seed treatment with Tebuconazole 2 DS @ 1.5 g/kg of seed followed by seed treatment with PGPR @ 625 g/ha of seed+Soil application of Trichoderma @ 4 kg/ha enriched in 250 kg FYM/ha at 35 and 80 DAS (T4) gave maximum germination (93.00%), minimum collar rot incidence (6.17%) and highest pod yield (4066.3 kg/ha) followed by deep summer ploughing with mould board plough+Seed treatment with Tebuconazole 2DS 1.5 g/kg seed followed by PGPR @ 625 g/ha of seed+Soil application of Trichoderma @ 4 kg/ ha enriched in 250 kg FYM/ha at 35 and 80 DAS (T1) where germination (89.30%), collar rot (7.04%) and with pod yield (3661.9 kg/ha). All the treatment significantly were superior as compared to control, where minimum germination (82.00), maximum collar rot incidence (15.59 %) and minimum pod yield (2125.1 kg/ha) were recorded. As regard to ICBR, in different treatments, maximum ICBR ratio (1:20.68) was recorded in treatment consisting (T4): Deep summer ploughing with mould board plough+Seed treatment with Tebuconazole 1.5 g/kg seeds+Soil application of Trichoderma @ 4 kg/ha enriched in 250 kg FYM/ha at 35 and 80 DAS followed by treatment (T1).

Management of Collar Rot Disease in Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Caused by Aspergillus niger in Rajasthan Through Bio-control Agents

<div style="text-align: justify;">The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of zinc enriched Farm Yard Manures (FYM) on zinc deficient loamy sand soil and yield of mungbean[Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek.]. Treatments consisted of 15 combinations of three levels of FYM i.e. F0 (no FYM), F1 (FYM @ 5 t ha-1) and F2 (FYM @ 10 t ha-1) and five treatments of enrichment i.e. Zn enrichment (EnZn1, EnZn2, and EnZn3) at three levels of Zn (2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 kg Zn ha-1) @ 500 kg ha-1 FYM and without enrichment (Zn0 and Zn1) at two levels of Zn (inorganic salts) i.e. 0 kg and 5 kg Zn ha-1, replicated thrice in factorial randomized block design (FRBD)during 2012. The enrichment process was started 50 days before their use in kharif season experiment on mung bean.The average improvement in seed yield of mungbean was 1179 kg ha-1. Zinc-enriched FYM and their straight application produced (10983kgha-1) 31.86 and 22.83% higher grain yield, respectively, relative to control Zn0 (8959kg ha-1).The yield was increased due to enrichment and it was achieved by 9.04 % over straight application of zinc. Zn uptake was recorded significantly higher under the EnZn2 (143.96 g ha-1) which was at par with EnZn3 (148.23 g ha-1) followed by EnZn1 (118.50 g ha-1) all these values are significantly higher than Zn0 (92.02 g ha-1).The average improvement in total uptake of Zn by mungbean was 48.71%higher due to zinc enriched FYM than the straight application of zinc. The application of zinc enriched FYM significantly increased available N, organic carbon andDTPA-extractable Zn with increasing the level of enrichment.The application of zinc enriched FYM had non-significant effect on bulk density, saturated hydraulic conductivity and moisture retention at 1/3 and 15 bar and CEC than control.Application of 2.5 kg Zn ha-1which wascomparable to enriched with FYM,in terms of higher seed yield of mungbean.</div>

Effect of zinc enriched farm yard manures on yield of mung bean and Physico-Chemical Properties of soil

<div>The term &lsquo;bio-regulator&rsquo; has been used to encompass the natural and synthetic compounds that regulate various plant growth and developmental processes. Plant bio-regulators (PBRs) previously called plant growth regulators. Use of PBRs with a unique fact finding support assistance from biotechnology made a new approach of manipulating plant biological activities for enhancing growth, yield, quality, nutritive value and an important tool to reduce biotic and abiotic stress in plants. PBRs like jasmonic acid (JA) and its derivatives act as an omnipresent signaling molecules which mediate plant responses to biotic and abiotic stress. Salicylic acid (SA) and methyl salicylate are endogenous signal molecules, also playing pivotal roles in regulating stress responses. A polyamine is low-molecular weight organic compound having two or more primary amino groups, act as ethylene repressor. Prohexodione calcium is a new generation anti-gibberellin. Along with listed names several other bio-regulators are in vogue to improve plant growth, development, stress resistance, pathogenic defense and productivity. In this review, it&rsquo;s an attempt to portray existing advanced knowledge about under utilized bio-regulators role and utility in cultivation of fruit crops.</div>

Advances in Application of Unexploited Plant Bio-regulators for Fruit Production: A Review

<div>Background: The uncertainty of groundnut productivity in the rainfed areas could be minimized by in situ conserving the soil moisture received through precipitation during the cropping period and improving the nutrient status.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: A field experiment was conducted at the Department of Agronomy, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai, Tamil Nadu during 2014-2015 rabi season to find out the effect of charred rice husk and other organic materials enriched with or without fertilizer nutrient on the moisture retention and nutrient supply during the deficit period of crop growth. The treatment consists of charred rice husk, biochar, lignite and farm yard manure alone and enriched with the recommended dose of nitrogen (10 kg ha-1) and phosphorus (10 kg ha-1) fertilizer and compared with the absolute control and recommended dose of fertilizer (10:10:45 kg NPK ha-1). 
 
Result: The structural morphology of organic materials was studied using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) showed that the particles of charred rice husk were uneven and the diameter varied from 3-4 &igrave;m with clod and block appearance, the particles of biochar were irregular in shape, uneven sized and diameter varied from 2-3 &igrave;m with block appearance and the lignite particles found spherical and aggregated. The chemical composition of organic manure with nutrient examined under SEM-EDAX revealed that the charred rice husk contains 64.31% carbon, 28.42% oxygen and 5.96% silica. Results of the study revealed that, application of enriched FYM at 5 t ha-1 recorded significantly higher pod yield (2190 kg ha-1). The enriched biochar and charred rice husk produced comparable pod yield of 2010 kg ha-1 and 1983 kg ha-1, respectively.</div>

<div>Enriched Charred Rice Husk to Improve the Nutrient Management in Rainfed Groundnut</div>

<div style="text-align:justify">
Background: The normal maize contains high zein fraction and devoid of lysine and tryptophan thus making lysine as second limiting amino acid in it. The opaque-2 and floury-2 mutants produce higher levels of lysine and tryptophan. Through plant breeding programme, bio-fortified maize (Provitamin-A enriched) is being produced. Therefore, the study was conducted to determine the effect feeding different bio-fortified maize based diets in Vanaraja birds.

Methods: The experiment was conducted during January to April 2018 at ICAR-Directorate of Poultry Research. For the purpose, 175 day old chicks were randomly divided into 5 dietary groups each having 7 replicates with 5 birds each. Five experimental diets were formulated to contain normal maize (Diet 1), Vivek Hybrid 9 (Diet 2), APQH9 (Diet 3), Vivek QPM 9 (Diet 4) and white maize (Diet 5). The experimental diets fed ad libitum to all the chicks up to 6 weeks (nursery phase) and recorded performance parameters.

Result: Improved feed efficiency was recorded in the group fed diet with APQH9 (Diet 3) compared to other experimental diets. The decrease in abdominal fat and increased breast muscle among the birds fed diet contained Vivek QPM 9 (Diet 4) and APQH9 (Diet 3) was recorded in comparison to other dietary groups. Hence, it is concluded that the birds fed QPM and QPM + Provit A showed an improved feed efficiency, reduced abdominal fat and increased breast muscle in Vanaraja birds during nursery phase.
</div>

Effect of Feeding Bio-fortified Maize on Performance and Slaughter Parameters in Vanaraja Birds

<div style="text-align: justify;">Stem gall of coriander caused by Protomyces macrosporus Unger. is a highly devastating seed and soil borne pathogen in coriander and has emerged as one of the major disease causing substantial quantitative and qualitative losses. In the present studies, efficacy of six bio-products, namely, Neemazal, cow urine, butter milk, fresh milk, beejamrit and jeevamrit was screened against mycelial growth inhibition of P. macrosporus under in vitro conditions. Extracts of these bio-products were evaluated at three different concentrations (i.e 10, 20 and 30%) by poison food technique. Results revealed that that among the various bio-products evaluated against test pathogen, irrespective of concentration tested, all the bio-products resulted in significant inhibition in mycelial growth of test pathogen with neemazal giving the complete inhibition [100.00 % (90.00)] followed by fresh milk [30.66 % (28.44)] and butter milk [26.55 % (25.99)], though these treatments were statistically different from one another. Different concentrations (10 to 30 %) of bio-products, irrespective of the treatments showed that 30 per cent concentration of all bio-products was most efficacious in inhibiting the mycelial growth of the test pathogen giving 69.95 per cent (36.77) growth inhibition. This was followed 20 and 10 per cent concentration of bio-products resulting in 55.58 per cent (32.49) and 45.53 per cent (16.30) growth inhibition, respectively. The result regarding evaluation of bio-products under in vitro conditions against the P. macrosporus showed that Neemazal treatment was most effective at all concentrations and completely inhibited the test fungus followed by 30 per cent fresh milk resulting in the mycelial growth inhibition of 51.60 per cent.</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">In-vitro evaluation of six bio-product against coriander stem gall disease</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">Background: Foam fractionation technology works on the adsorptive bubble separation principle. This technique involves adsorption of the surface-active substances on to a gas-liquid interface and separation of these components from the liquid along with bubbles as foam. The foam separation technology has been successfully utilized in the recovery of proteins from solutions containing either a single protein or binary mixtures. To develop a foam fractionation technology for selective enrichment and recovery of whey proteins, it is essential to investigate the effect of different feed and process variables that affect the foam fractionation process. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of two important feed variables, such as pH and initial protein concentration on recovery and enrichment of total whey proteins as well as &alpha;-lactalbumin and &beta;-lactoglobulin. Methods: All the experiments were conducted in Agriculture and biosystems engineering lab and Alfred Dairy Science lab at South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota during 2011-2013. The experiments used four levels of initial protein concentration and five levels of feed pH. Yield and enrichment ratios were determined for total whey proteins, &alpha;-Lactalbumin (&alpha;-La) and &beta;-Lactoglobulin (&beta;-Lg).&nbsp; Result: Whey protein yields ranged from 51.58 to 90.92%, while the enrichment ratios were between 1.2 to 5. The yield of &alpha;-La varied from 59 to 94% and the highest enrichment ratio of 8.45 was obtained with the treatment combination of initial protein concentration of 109 mg/L and pH of 5.1. Selective enrichment of &alpha;-La over &beta;-Lg was observed at a pH of 4.65 with &alpha;-La to &beta;-Lg ratio of 0.49. These findings will be helpful in selective enrichment and recovery of valuable proteins from Cheddar cheese whey using the foam fractionation process.</div>