There is an urgent need to match food production with increasing world population through identification of sustainable land management strategies. However, the struggle to achieve food security should be carried out keeping in mind the soil where the crops are grown and the environment in which the living things survive. Conservation agriculture (CA), practising agriculture in such a way so as to cause minimum damage to the environment, is being advocated at a large scale world-wide. Conservation tillage, the most important aspect of CA, is thought to take care of the soil health, plant growth and the environment. This paper aims to review the work done on conservation tillage in different agro-ecological regions so as to understand its impact from the perspectives of the soil, the crop and the environment. Research reports have identified several benefits of conservation tillage over conventional tillage (CT) with respect to soil physical, chemical and biological properties as well as crop yields. Not less than 25% of the greenhouse gas effluxes to the atmosphere are attributed to agriculture. Processes of climate change mitigation and adaptation found zero tillage (ZT) to be the most environmental friendly among different tillage techniques. Therefore, conservation tillage involving ZT and minimum tillage which has potential to break the surface compact zone in soil with reduced soil disturbance offers to lead to a better soil environment and crop yield with minimal impact on the environment.

A BPH-resistant locus designated as Bph34 identified in Oryza nivara acc. IRGC104646 on long arm of chromosome 4 using high-resolution mapping with 50 K SNP chip. BPH resistance contributed by locus showed dominant inheritance in F and F. The Bph34 locus is 91 kb in size and contains 11 candidate genes. In addition to SNP markers, SSR markers, RM16994 and RM17007 co-segregated with the BPH resistance. These two SSR markers can facilitate marker-assisted transfer of the Bph34 locus into elite rice cultivars in all labs. Brown planthopper (BPH, Nilaparvata lugen Stål) is one of the most destructive insects of rice (Oryza sativa L.) causing significant yield losses annually. Exploiting host plant resistance to BPH and incorporating resistant genes in susceptible commercial cultivars is economical and environmentally friendly approach to manage this pest. Here, we report high-resolution mapping of a novel genetic locus for resistance to BPH, designated as Bph34 on long arm of rice chromosome 4. The locus was mapped using an interspecific F population derived from a cross between susceptible indica cultivar PR122 and BPH-resistant wild species, O. nivara acc. IRGC104646. Inheritance studies performed using F and F populations revealed the presence of single dominant gene. Construction of high-density linkage map using 50 K SNP chip (OsSNPnks) followed by QTL mapping identified single major locus at 28.8 LOD score between SNP markers, AX-95952039 and AX-95921548. The major locus contributing resistance to BPH designated as Bph34 and explained 68.3% of total phenotypic variance. The Bph34 locus is 91 Kb in size on Nipponbare reference genome-IRGSP-1.0 and contains 11 candidate genes. In addition to associated SNP markers, two SSR markers, RM16994 and RM17007, also co-segregated with the Bph34 which can be used efficiently for markers assisted transfer into elite rice cultivars across the labs.

This investigation was carried out to evaluate the effect of active and passive modified atmosphere packaging on quality and shelf life of yellow bell pepper fruits. Yellow bell pepper fruits were packaged in 150 gauge LDPE packages with oxygen absorbers for active modification and without oxygen absorber for passive modification of headspace and were stored at different temperatures i.e. 5, 10 and 15 °C and RH of 85 ± 5%. Headspace gas concentration within the packages was monitored regularly. The quality of packaged fruits was studied in terms of physiological loss in weight, firmness, total colour difference antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content. The actively modified packages attained steady state levels of 4.8% O 2 and 7.1% CO 2 on 4th day of storage as compared to passively modified packages in which steady state was not attained even at end of storage period of 12 days. The retention of quality attributes was observed to be higher in active packages than in passive packages. Moreover, the shelf life of actively packaged fruits was enhanced to 28 days as compared to 12 days for passively packaged fruits. The in-pack atmosphere attained in active packages hence proved beneficial in retarding the senescence thereby extending the shelf life.

The polyols namely glycerol, sorbitol and mannitol were incorporated at 2, 4 and 6 % level in flour for bread making and their effect on textural properties, bread making quality and sensory acceptability of bread was studied. The effect of incorporation revealed the increased bake absorption, bread weight and decreased specific volume. The overall acceptability scores were maximum for bread prepared with glycerol at 2 % level, followed by sorbitol at 4 % level and mannitol at 4 % level. During storage of packed bread, moisture content and water activity were higher for bread prepared from polyols as compared to control and it was observed that moisture content was higher in bread packed in Polypropylene. Formation of free fatty acid content (% oleic acid) was observed to be higher in the breads stored at ambient condition and packed in Low density polyethylene packaging material. The overall acceptability of bread decreased with the increased storage period.

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1. Both larval and adult dung beetles depend on dung resources for nutrition. The quality of the dung resources utilised by beetles can influence adult morphology, adult biomass, and life history parameters of dung beetles. Although several studies have compared dung nutrients of different vertebrate dung types, variation in dung nutrients over time has been less studied.2. Here, moisture content and chemical parameters of dung were analysed at monthly intervals over 12 months. The reproductive output of Onthophagus binodis fed dung collected at four different months of the year is also measured to assess the relationship between dung resources and dung beetle performance. The experiments were carried out under controlled conditions: 25 ± 1 ∘ C: 15 ± 1 ∘ C (L: D) and 60 ± 5% RH, respectively, with a photoperiod of 14L:10D.3. Over the 12-month sampling period, the maximum number of broods and highest brood weight were observed from beetles utilising dung collected in the Austral summer (February 2018). The analysis of dung over the 12-month period showed that the electrical conductivity and phosphorous, manganese, and magnesium content of dung were highest in February 2018.4. The results suggest that the variation in dung resources, such as moisture and minerals, across the year affected the reproductive performance of Onthophagus binodis, which was highest when beetles were provisioned with summer dung.

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