Fertilizers play a pivotal role in improving the productivity across the spectrum of crops. The nutrient use efficiencies of conventional fertilizers hardly exceed 30-35 %, 18-20 %, and 35-40 % for N, P, and K which remained constant for the past several decades. Nano-fertilizers intended to improve the nutrient use efficiencies by exploiting unique properties of nanoparticles. The nano-fertilizers are synthesized by fortifying nutrients singly or in combinations onto the adsorbents with nano-dimension. Both physical (top-down) and chemical (bottom-up)

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Surface modified nano-zeolite (SMNZ) was used as carrier to develop nano-zeolite based nano-sulphur fertilizer. A laboratory study on sulphur nano-fertilizer and conventional sulphur fertilizer were studied with percolation reactor system to evaluate the slow release of sulphur from both fertilizers in ambient temperature. SMNZ and sulphur nano-fertilizer were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Zeta Analyzer, Raman Spectroscopy, XRD and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Raman spectroscopy confirmed the sulphur attachment at 480 cm -1 in the SMNZ. The FTIR spectra at 1030 cm -1 confirmed the sulphate attachments in the SMNZ spectrum. Zeta analyzer showed the surface charge of sulphur nano-fertilizer had (-) 52.6 mV. SEM imaged the sulphur loaded SMNZ in irregular flake like structure. A comparative study of the release of sulphate (SO 4 2-) from fertilizer-loaded SMNZ and (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 fertilizers were performed using the percolation reactor. The results showed that the SO 4 2-supply from fertilizer-loaded SMNZ was available even after 912 h of continuous percolation, whereas SO 4 2-from (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 was exhausted within 384 h. These properties suggest that SMNZ has a great potential as the fertilizer carrier for slow release of SO 4 2-.

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Abstract:Organic manure from different sources could be an effective substitute of chemical fertilizers. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted to study the impact of various sources of organic manures viz., sole application of composted pressmud, vermicompost, sewage sludge and farmyard manure and its combination with various levels of inorganic fertilizers on growth attributes, biomass yield, yield attributes, secondary nutrient uptake and its available status and quality parameters of bhendi (A. esculentus (L.) Moench). The results indicated that application of pressmud @ 5 t ha -1 with 50 per cent recommended dose of fertilizer had recorded the highest calcium and magnesium uptake of 30.9 and 15.4 kg ha -1 respectively and biomass yield of 2233.2 kg ha -1, In comparison to control, the increases in biomass yield and calcium and magnesium uptake were 20 and 51 and 136% higher under the same set of treatment combinations . The results revealed that treatment received with pressmud application @ 5 t ha -1 along with 50 per cent recommended dose of fertilizers registered highest available calcium and magnesium content of 0.14 and 0.28% respectively. In addition to that, there was an improvement in growth parameters such as plant height andnumber of branches plant -1 at all the growth stages of crop and also quality attributes viz., crude fibre (10.2%) and mucilage content (1.56%) were recorded significantly highest by same treatment compared to control (15.0 and 1.2% respectively). Among the organics, pressmud based inorganic fertilizers application was suitable for higher biomass yield, improvement in quality parameters and also maintaining the fertility status of the secondary nutrients in soil.

A study was carried out in two Second objectives to analyze the factors influencing the consumption pattern of three major livestock products, namely milk, egg and meat. Multistage sampling procedure was adopted to select 160 household consumers, 80 from each of the cities. Relevant data were collected through personal interview with the help of a pilot-tested interview schedule. Semi revealed that family size, education, region of sample household and dummies for children, income and physical exertion were found to be significantly influencing the consumption of milk. However, egg consumption was influenced by family size, education, food habits, region, presence of children/aged in the household, income levels and physical exertion of family members. Of the independent factors chosen for the model fitted for household meat consumption, family size and dummie region, aged and income categories were found significantly influencing the consumption of meat.As the consumers are segmented by the key quality attributes of livestock products and by socio factors, strategies are necessarily to be identifiable sub-groups.