Chlorpyrifos (CP) is the most commonly used pesticide in agricultural fields worldwide. Exposure to CP and its metabolites creates severe neuron-disorders in human beings. Improper handling and uncontrolled application of CP by farmers have lead to the contamination of surface and ground water bodies. Biodegradation offers an efficient and cost effective method for the removal of CP and other toxic organophosphorus pesticides from the contaminated environment. The degradation of CP by various microorganisms has been investigated by several researchers over the past few years. This review presents a critical summary of the recent published results on the biodegradation of CP. A diverse range of bacterial species such as Agrobacterium sp., Alcaligenes faecalis, Enterobacter sp. Arthrobacter sp. Bacillus pumilus, Pseudomonas sp. etc., fungal species like Trichoderma viridae, Aspergillus niger, Verticillium sp., Acremonium sp. Cladosporium cladosporiodes, etc. and certain algal species viz. Chlorella vulgaris, Spirulina platensis, Synechocystis sp., etc., have been shown to degrade CP. The efficacy of these communities for CP degradation in batch and continuous modes has also been discussed but more studies are required on continuous reactors. Also, the available published information on kinetics of biodegradation of CP along with the available results on molecular biological approaches are discussed in this work.

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Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT v4.5) Cropping System Model (CSM) was used to study the impact of climate change and variability on productivity of different kharif (rice, maize, jowar and bajra) and rabi crops (wheat and barley) at Varanasi. Keeping in view the observed trends in climate variability, productivity of different kharif and rabi crops were simulated under plausible synthetic climatic scenarios of changes in temperature, solar radiation and carbon dioxide. Productivity of kharif crops viz. rice, maize, jowar and bajra and rabi crops viz. wheat, and barley decreased with an increase in temperature or a decrease in solar radiation above normal. However, productivity of different kharif and rabi crops increased under expected enhanced CO2 concentrations. Highest productivity decreased in barley crop (40.7%) of rabi season and minimum in rice crop (5%) of kharif season with an increase of 3.0 0C in temperature from normal. Whereas, maximum productivity decreased in barley crop (5.0%) of rabi season and minimum in jowar crop (1.8%) of kharif season with a decrease of 2.5 per cent in solar radiation from normal. Highest productivity increase in barley crop (58.2%) of rabi season and lowest in jowar crop (4.2%) of kharif season were simulated under expected enhanced CO2 concentration of 660 ppm. The maximum decrease in productivity of barley crop (45%) in rabi season and minimum inrice crop (7%) in kharif season were simulated when a decrease in temperature by 3 0C and solar radiation by 2.5 per cent from normal. Highest counter-balance on productivity of rice crop (13%) in kharif season and lowest in barja crop (-23%) of kharif season were simulated when an increase in temperature by 3 0C from normal under expected enhanced CO2 concentration of 660 ppm.

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In this paper, we theoretically study the propagation dynamics of a q-Gaussian laser beam in a plasma by considering the relativistic and ponderomotive nonlinearities. The q-Gaussian laser beam exhibits unique characteristics while interacting with the plasma. The q-Gaussian laser beam redistributes the plasma density in a different way, which affects the laser self-focusing. A comparative study of the self-focusing for Gaussian and q-Gaussian laser beams is reported. The results obtained from numerical analysis reveal a stronger self-focusing of the q-Gaussian laser beam in plasmas, which is desirable to excite a large amplitude plasma wave for electron acceleration by extending the interaction length. We then extended this study to investigate the electron plasma wave excitation by the q-Gaussian laser beam. The electron plasma wave is driven more efficiently by the q-Gaussian laser beam. Our results show that the electron plasma wave field intensity enhances more than twofold for the q-Gaussian laser beam in comparison with the case of a Gaussian laser beam. The electron plasma wave excited by a q-Gaussian beam can accelerate the plasma electrons to higher energies. Numerical results are presented for the established set of laser and plasma parameters.