<div><strong>Background:&nbsp;</strong>Onion is a widely accepted as vegetable as well as spice crop, sharing a 14.31 lakh ha area with 267.3 lakh MT production in 2020. Improved management structure and healthy seedling are important factors in overcoming the cause and even developing effective transplanter. The information of morphological properties is essential before designing modern farming equipment.<br />
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<strong>Methods:</strong> Present study focuses on the properties and age of seedlings for automated transplanting, five majorly cultivated varieties of onion Light red <em>gavran</em>, N-53 <em>Nasik red</em>, AFDR, KSP-117 and Nafed were selected. The morphological (height, weight, diameter) and mechanical (compressive strength and static coefficient of friction) properties were measured under 10 days intervals to compare 30-70 days seedling.<br />
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<strong>Result:</strong> Bulb and stem diameter were in the range from 2.82 to 3.82 mm and 0.86 to 2.12 mm, respectively. The model was found significantly different with concerning days. Plywood and aluminium had less influence on the seedling&rsquo;s outer surface moisture content. The morphological parameters and compressive strength increased while a static coefficient of friction reduced with an increase in the age of the seedling. Regression and ANN (using FFBP method) models were developed for the prediction of compressive strength of seedling stem as well as a bulb with respect to the age and diameter. The ANN model was found best with the coefficient of determination of 0.76. It is concluded that 60 and 70 days, seedling is best suited for mechanical or automated transplanting.</div>


<p>Morphological and Mechanical Characteristics of Onion Seedlings Insight to Mechanized Transplantation</p>


<div><strong>Background:</strong> The present investigation is an attempt to study the effect of different harvesting and threshing methods on germination and seedling vigour of dhaincha. The use of a combine harvester to harvest dhaincha will be an effective alternative method that has not been widely tried. However, work on different methods of harvesting and threshing of dhaincha is limited. Hence, a study was conducted to evaluate the impact of various harvesting and threshing methods on germination and seedling vigour of dhaincha.<br />
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<strong>Methods: </strong>This study was conducted at Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu. The dhaincha crop was harvested and threshed using four different methods <em>viz</em>., manual harvesting and manual threshing, manual harvesting and threshing by tractor treading, manual harvesting and mechanical threshing&nbsp;and harvesting and threshing by combine harvester. The resultant seeds were tested for mechanical damage and germination potential. The experiment was laid in completely randomized block design. Germination was tested by roll towel method using 100 seeds in four replications. Germination percentage, root and shoot length were measured in seven days after sowing from ten randomly selected seedlings in each replication. For the estimation of dry matter production, ten seedlings were selected at random and kept in a hot air oven maintained at 85<sup>o</sup>C for 24 hours after measuring their root and shoot length and vigour index was calculated. Mechanical damage to seeds was observed by ferric chloride test. Seed recovery per cent was calculated based on the 100 kgs of dhaincha seeds were cleaned and graded treatment wise using cleaner cum grader and the seeds retained on the bottom sieve were weighed and expressed as per cent of total quantity of seed.<br />
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<strong>Result:</strong> The results revealed that the significant difference was found among the different harvesting and threshing methods. The seeds harvested and threshed by manual method recorded 85 per cent germination followed by seeds harvested manually and threshed by mechanical threshing (84 per cent) and seeds harvested manually and threshed by tractor treading (80.5 per cent). The lowest germination of 80.0 per cent was recorded by combine harvesting. From this study, it could be inferred that combine harvester is a modern method for harvesting of dhaincha that saves time and labour when compared to all other methods.</div>


<p>Harvesting and Threshing Methods on Seed Quality of&nbsp;Dhaincha (<em>Sesbania aculeata</em>)</p>


<div style="text-align: justify;">Harvesting and threshing operations contribute to overall post harvest losses. The speed of manual cutting operations risks significant crop losses due to delayed harvesting in developing countries. When harvest is delayed, shatter loss is the most-often mentioned cause of losses. Estimates of harvest losses range from 5 to 16% for rice and 8 to 18% for a range of different cereal crops. All of the cereal, oilseed and pulse crops have a narrow range of moistures for optimally-low harvest losses and high crop quality. The optimal moisture for harvest of all crops is nearly always too high to allow safe storage. Increased harvest mechanization can enable more timely harvest with lower losses, and would likely to create a gender shift in harvest workers. Training is essential for developing mechanized harvest operator skills. Most non-mechanized threshing systems have an inadequate means for separation and containment of harvested grains, oilseeds, and pulses. Threshing, separating and cleaning losses for well-trained combine operators can be very low, rice 0.3%, maize 0.4%, soybeans 0.75 - 1%, and wheat 1% of yield or less. Losses will go higher when the header is included but in general, rice should be less than 1.25 - 2.2%, maize less than 1.8%, soybeans less than 3%, and wheat less than 2% of yield in good standing crop.&nbsp;</div>

Harvesting and threshing methods their impact on seed quality: A review&nbsp;

<div>Harvesting methods adopted for paddy crop are largely dependent on the land size of the farmers. Mechanized methods are completely implemented by the farmers of medium and large categories. On the other hand, the marginal and small farmers are struggling between manual and mechanized methods because of unavailability of implements that can suit to their land size an economic level. Cutting and threshing operations are performed separately which are responsible for more input cost and grain loss. Various methods of harvesting were studied and the loss of grain associated with the methods is emphasized. In manual method, before threshing, the cutting, collecting, bundling and transportation operation requires which consumes time, energy and cost and increase the grain loss significantly. In mechanized methods, the time, energy and input cost can be minimized. The manual crop cutting requires about 8 to 12 and 25 to 45 times, respectively, more man-hours per hectare compared to rotary blade cutter and vertical conveyor reaper. The field capacity of manual harvesting methods is 4 to 10 times less than the mechanized methods.</div>


<p>Harvesting and Threshing Methods for Paddy-I: A Review</p>


<div style="text-align: justify;">India is the largest producer of many kinds of millets and most important minor millets in India are finger millet, proso millet, barnyard millet, kodo millet and little millet. Threshing is based on the principle that, some impact is given on crops, the grains are separated from panicles, cobs and pods. The performance of the threshing unit with development of five different shapes of pegs for threshing Kutki (little millet). Kukti millet was evaluated with an average moisture content of 13.4% wet basis and pegs was tested at two different speeds 712 rpm and 1068 rpm. The use of disc shape peg at 1068 rpm in plot size thresher for little millet at 13% moisture content (wb) with highest threshing efficiency 99.67 % highest cleaning efficiency 98.64 %, moderate output capacity 20 kg/ha, unthreshed &nbsp;grain percentage and seed damage was found 0 %. is recommended in view of minimum cost requirement, timeliness of operation, low cost of operation was achieved.</div>

Development of threshing cylinder for small millets

<div>Threshing of paddy crop is carried out using manual, animal or mechanized power sources depends on the farmland size. In a thresher, rasp bar, spike tooth, peg tooth and wire-loop type threshing elements can be fitted with the threshing cylinder irrespective of direction of crop feed and flow. Different elements are responsible to thresh the crop with different actions which include impact, rubbing, combing, squeezing and their combination. This review was carried out to explore the effect of different threshing elements and threshing methods on performance of paddy threshing. Unlike threshing of other cereal crops, hull removal is not required in paddy. Selection of threshing elements based on the crop to be threshed. The type of threshing element determines the threshing efficiency, energy requirement and grain loss. Among rasp bar, spike tooth, peg tooth and wire-loop type threshing elements, wire-loop type was found to be most suitable for paddy threshing. Factors like cylinder speed, cylinder type and diameter, concave clearance and throughput rate affect the threshing performance. A low speed of cylinder produces more un-threshed grains. It can be compensated using for axial flow thresher as it has high crop retention period. Contrarily, a high speed is responsible for better threshing efficiency along with the more grain breakage and energy consumption. Using tangential flow thresher crop retention period can be minimized. The work rate of pedal and power thresher was, respectively 2 and 10 times more than that of manual threshing. The average threshing efficiency of pedal thresher, power thresher and combine harvester was reported to be 97 to 99%, 96.30 to 99.75% and 98.5%, respectively.&nbsp;</div>


<p>Harvesting and Threshing Methods for Paddy-II: A Review</p>


<p><strong>Background: </strong>The traditional methods of threshing operations are most time consuming, energy intensive, labour intensive, drudgery prone and uneconomical. The development of mechanical sesame thresher has clearly an edge over conventional methods and reduces the drudgery of work to a great extent.<br />
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<strong>Methods: </strong>The pertinent variables that influence the development of sesame thresher were identified and levels of variables were selected. The interactive effect of&nbsp; selected levels of variables&nbsp; <em>viz</em>., peripheral velocity of the threshing cylinder (7.9, 11.0 and 14.1 ms<sup>-1</sup>), concave clearance (10, 15 and 20 mm), type of&nbsp; &nbsp;threshing cylinder (wire loop, spike tooth and rasp bar) and moisture content of harvested sesame capsule&nbsp; 21.4, 16.8 and 15.1 per cent moisture content (d.b) was investigated on threshing efficiency, cleaning efficiency and per cent damage caused to the threshed sesame grains using an experimental sesame thresher test rig under laboratory condition.<br />
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<strong>Result:</strong> Threshing effectiveness of experimental sesame thresher was found to be affected significantly by moisture content of harvested sesame capsule followed by type of threshing cylinder, peripheral velocity of threshing cylinder and concave clearance. The combination level of 11.0 ms<sup>-1</sup> peripheral velocity of threshing cylinder, 15 mm concave clearance, spike tooth type cylinder and 16.8 per cent (d.b) moisture content of harvested sesame capsule which yielded the maximum threshing efficiency of 99.0 per cent, maximum cleaning efficiency of 99.4 per cent and minimum per cent visible damage to threshed sesame grains of 0.79, is optimized for the sesame thresher.</p>

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<p>Optimization of Pertinent Variables for Threshing of Sesame Crop using a Test Rig</p>


<div style="text-align: justify;">The present study was aimed at optimizing operational and crop parameters influencing the mechanized harvesting and threshing of mung-bean crop with combine harvester. Two varieties of summer mung-bean SML-668 and SML-832 and one variety of kharif mung-bean ML-818 were selected for the study. Concave clearance was kept as 25 mm at front side and 10 mm from rear side. The height of cut the crop ranged from 8-9.5 cm. Threshing efficiency was more than 98% at cylinder peripheral speeds C3 and C4 in all varieties except SML-832. The percent grain damage was higher for higher cylinder peripheral speed and lower for higher forward speed. The grain damage ranged from 1.54 &ndash; 3.22 percent for C1, C2 and C3 cylinder peripheral speed in all crop varieties. Peripheral speed of 18.91 m/s and forward speed of 1.5 km/h was found to be optimum for harvesting mung-bean with combine harvester for all crop varieties.</div>

Optimization of operational parameters for mechanized harvesting of mung-bean (<em>Vignaradiata (L.) Wilczek</em>) with combine harvester

<div>Rice (<em>Oryza sativa </em>L.) is one of the most important cereal crop globally and it is the staple food of more than half of world population. Current average yield is 10 to 15% lower than its potential yield. There are many reasons for this yield gap such as biotic and abiotic stresses, management strategies as well as nutrient deficiencies. Salinity is one of the most serious factors limiting the productivity of rice, with adverse effects on germination, plant vigor and crop yield. This salinity may be natural or induced by agricultural activities such as irrigation or the use of certain types of fertilizer.Salinity induced ionic imbalance and osmotic stress affect water and nutrient uptake, stomatal closure, gas exchange, photosynthesis, transpiration, carbon assimilation and hence decrease in rice yield. Studying the response of rice at physiological, genetic and molecular level is the mandate to develop salt tolerant rice varieties. This review described the impact of salt stress in rice, various types of salt tolerance mechanisms in rice, including the ion homeostasis, production of compatible organic solutes, antioxidative genes, salt responsive regulatory elements, role of ion transporters and channel proteins. Further, the future perspective of developing salt-tolerant varieties using landraces <em>via</em>., marker assisted breeding, genome editing tool, utilization of beneficial microorganisms.</div>


<p>Salinity Tolerance Mechanisms in Rice: A Review</p>


<div>Autophagy is a basically survival mechanism of body in which cell digests its own content to maintain cellular homeostasis in multiple stress conditions and starvation. The term &lsquo;autophagy&rsquo; was first described in 1963 by Christian de Duve, a Japanese cell biologist to describe presence of double-membrane vesicles containing cytoplasmic constituents within the cell. These vesicles that encapsulate cytoplasm, organelles and proteins, are known as autophagosomes. After formation of autophagosome it fuses with endosomes and travels via cytoplasm to fuse with lysosomes for degradation. In lysosomes internal content material of autophagosome is degraded with the action of acid hydrolases. Autophagy is very important for regulation of diverse cellular functions i.e., growth, differentiation, response to nutrient deficit and oxidative stress, cell death and macromolecule and organelle turnover. Nutrient starvation is most typical trigger of autophagy. Depending on the mechanism by which intracellular materials are delivered into lysosome for degradation, there are four types- Macroautophagy, Microautophagy, Chaperon mediated autophagy and Crinophagy. Autophagy is important in normal development and it responds to changing environmental stimuli. It plays role in cancer and numerous important diseases such as bacterial and viral infections, liver and kidney diseases, Diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, several myopathies and cardiovascular diseases.</div>


Morphological and Mechanical Characteristics of Onion Seedlings Insight to Mechanized Transplantation

Harvesting and Threshing Methods on Seed Quality of Dhaincha (Sesbania aculeata)

Harvesting and threshing methods their impact on seed quality: A review

Harvesting and Threshing Methods for Paddy-I: A Review

Development of threshing cylinder for small millets

Harvesting and Threshing Methods for Paddy-II: A Review

Optimization of Pertinent Variables for Threshing of Sesame Crop using a Test Rig

Optimization of operational parameters for mechanized harvesting of mung-bean (Vignaradiata (L.) Wilczek) with combine harvester

Salinity Tolerance Mechanisms in Rice: A Review

Autophagy A Cellular Mechanism: A Review