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Integrated farming systems (IFS) entail a holistic approach to farming aimed at meeting the multiple demands (impart farm resilience, farmer livelihoods, food security, ecosystem services, and making farms adaptive and resilient, etc.). IFS are characterized by temporal and spatial mixing of crops, livestock, fishery, and allied activities in a single farm. It is hypothesized that these complex farms are more productive at a system level, are less vulnerable to volatility, and produce less negative externalities than simplified farms. Thereby, they cater the needs of small and marginal farmers, who are the backbone of agriculture in India. Our review of literature shows that IFS have the potential to improve farm profitability (265%) and employment (143%) compared to single enterprise farms. The literature showed that IFS enhance nutrient recycling through composting, mulching, and residue incorporation and, as a consequence, have the capacity to reduce the external purchase of inputs. The nutrient recycling in turn helps to increase the soil quality indicators such as soil nutrient availability and also improves soil microbial activity. The IFS play a major role in biodiversity conservation through adoption of diversified cropping system and through integration of indigenous livestock breeds. IFS also played important role in improving soil organic carbon from 0.75 to 0.82%. Due to increased carbon sequestration, biomass production by trees, reduced consumption of fertilizers, and pesticides the greenhouse gas emission could be reduced significantly. This results in a linked system making it sustainable and climate‐resilient. The main challenge associated with adoption of IFS is it requires skill, knowledge, resources, labor, and capital which are not always available with small and marginal farmers. There is a need for integrating productivity, profitability, and environmental sustainability variables in a single evaluation framework to effectively generate information toward enhancing adaptability of IFS.

Adoption of an integrated farming system (IFS) is essential to achieve food and nutritional security in small and marginal holdings. Assessment of IFS to know the resource availability and socio-economic condition of the farm household, farm typology plays a critical role. In this regard, a sample survey of 200 marginal households practicing mixed crop-livestock agriculture was conducted during 2018–2019 at Southern Coastal Plains, which occupies 19,344 ha in Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala, India. Farming system typology using multivariate statistical techniques of principal component analysis and cluster analysis characterized the diverse farm households coexisting within distinct homogenous farm types. Farming system typology identified four distinct farm types viz. resource constrained type-1 households with small land owned, high abundance of poultry, very low on-farm income, constituted 46.5%; resource endowed type-2 households oriented around fruit and vegetable, plantation crop, with a moderate abundance of large ruminant and poultry, high on-farm income, constituted 12.5%; resource endowed type-3 household oriented around food grain, extensive use of farm machinery, with a moderate abundance of large ruminant, low on-farm income, constituted 21.5%; and resource endowed type-4 household oriented around fodder, with high abundance of large ruminant, medium on-farm income, constituted 19.5% of sampled households. Constraint analysis using constraint severity index assessed the severity of constraints in food grain, horticulture, livestock, complementary and supplementary enterprises in each farm type, which allowed targeted farming systems interventions to be envisaged to overcome soil health problems, crops and animal production constraints. Farming system typology together with constraint analysis are therefore suggested as a practical framework capable of identifying type-specific farm households for targeted farming systems interventions.

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A coconut-based integrated farming system (IFS) model suited for lowlands was developed at the Integrated Farming System Research Station (IFSRS), Karamana, Kerala State, India, under Kerala Agricultural University. The area of the model was decided as 0.2 ha, matching the average per capita land availability of a marginal farmer in the State. Apart from the major crop coconut, intercrops, such as vegetables, fruit crops, spices, fodder and tuber crops were included in the model. The allied enterprises integrated were livestock, azolla, and agroforestry. Tree components of the model comprised of teak, jack, breadfruit, garcinia and mango. Research data for five years revealed that the model generated food products above the requirement of a four-member family, and the surplus production could contribute to farmer’s income. The productivity under the IFS model was enhanced ten-folds compared to that under the sole crop of coconut for the same area. Plant nutrients were generated within the farm through organic recycling, which contributed to the substantial saving of chemical fertilizers. The system was found climate-smart because of reduced use of chemical fertilizers and net negative emission of greenhouse gases mostly achieved through agroforestry. This IFS model could also ensure considerable employment generation. The model could be adopted by farmers of lowland tracts of Kerala having similar agro-climatic features for better economic returns and environmental benefits.

A 67-year-old man was referred to the renal team following an episode of acute kidney injury on a background of chronic kidney disease. He had a 9-year history of steroid-sensitive arthritis, epigastric pain and isolated submandibular gland enlargement. He was noted to have a raised eosinophil count, total serum protein and total immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) level as well as a serum hypocomplementaemia. A renal biopsy showed a tubulointerstitial nephritis with lymphoplasmacytic infiltrates, fibrosis and IgG4-positive plasma cells on immunohistochemistry. A diagnosis of IgG4-related disease was made based on clinical presentation and pathology. Renal function improved with glucocorticoids and the patient was successfully transitioned to azathioprine as a steroid-sparing agent.

Background: Cowpea is a leguminous crop of indeterminate growth habit and continues to produce flowers throughout its life cycle. In order to realize the genetic yield potential of cowpea, nutrient requirements of later formed flushes also needs to be met. Hence the present study was formulated to assess the effect of foliar application of water-soluble macro nutrient fertilizers viz., NPK 19:19:19 and potassium nitrate and micronutrient fertilizers viz. zinc sulphate and solubor for yield maximization in bush vegetable cowpea. Methods: The field experiment was conducted at Coconut Research Station, Balaramapuram, during Rabi 2020-21. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with 13 treatments in three replications. The treatments comprised of recommended dose of conventional fertilizers (RDF) NPK 20:30:10 kg ha-1 as control and RDF + foliar application of water-soluble fertilizers 19:19:19 (0.5%) and potassium nitrate (0.5%) with zinc sulphate (0.05%) and solubor (0.025%) in twelve different combinations. Result: Results revealed that compared to RDF alone, RDF + foliar application of water-soluble macro and micro nutrient fertilizers at 45 DAS significantly improved the dry matter production, number of pods per plant and pod weight and recorded a yield enhancement of 22 to 55 per cent. Among the treatments, RDF + foliar application of 19:19:19 (0.5%) and solubor (0.025%) at 45 DAS recorded the highest dry matter production per plant (39.51 g), pods per plant (30.88 no.), pod yield (7410 kg ha-1), net return (82651 Rs ha-1) and B:C ratio (2.26). The treatments, RDF + foliar application of 19:19:19 (0.5%) at 45 DAS; RDF + foliar application of 19:19:19 (0.5%), zinc sulphate (0.05%) and solubor (0.025%) at 45 DAS; and RDF + foliar application of potassium nitrate (0.5%) and solubor (0.025%) at 45 DAS also recorded comparable number of pods per plant, green pod yield, net return and B:C ratio. Considering the highest green pod yield, net return and B:C ratio, RDF + foliar application of NPK 19:19:19 (0.5%) and solubor (0.025%) at 45 DAS could be recommended for yield maximization in bush type vegetable cowpea.

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