The key to provide microbiologically safe drinking-water lies in understanding the various mechanisms by which water gets contaminated. This study assessed the risk of contamination and microbiological and chemical quality of water from protected dug wells in five selected Panchayats in Kollam district, Kerala state, southern India. Sanitary inspection was conducted for 70 protected dug wells using World Health Organization established procedures for risk of contamination scoring. Microbiological and chemical analysis of water samples was done. The areas with higher incidence of hepatitis A had a higher proportion of wells with high risk of contamination scores (p = 0.006). High risk of contamination scores for wells were associated with higher incidence of fecal pollution (odds ratio 11.80; 95% confidence interval 1.87–74.86). The study highlighted the need to make the wells safe in this area, for control of waterborne diseases.
International responsibility is increasing in India to adopt a more pro-active role in greenhouse gas emission. Hence, it is important to develop a clear understanding of our emission inventory towards reducing Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Soils are an important pool of active carbon and tillage can lead to carbon emission from agricultural soils. This study assess the quantity of CO2 release from three major soils (red loam, coastal sandy and paddy field soil) of Kerala under different tillage practices(conventional, with cultivator and with rotovator) and to optimize the tillage practices with minimum CO2 emission. The CO2emission from soil surfaces was measured using base trap method with Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as base. The influence of soil temperature, soil moisture content, organic matter in soil, soil pH, bulk density, atmospheric temperature and relative humidity on CO2 emission was assessed. The conventional tillage resulted in the maximum CO2 emission followed by the tillage with cultivator and the least value was observed when tilled with rotovator. The maximum CO2 emission was observed in the paddy field soil followed by red loam and the least value was observed from the coastal sandy. The major quantity of CO2 was released just after the breakage of soil in all kind of tillage methods and became almost equal to the undisturbed condition after two hours of ploughing. The bulk density of soil was negatively correlated, organic carbon content was positively correlated, soil temperature was positively correlated and atmospheric temperature was positively correlated with CO2 emission from the red loam soil in all the tillage practices. No significant correlation was obtained between relative humidity and soil moisture with CO2emission.Tillage with rotovator contributed the minimum CO2 to atmosphere and significantly affects the concentration of CO2in the atmosphere, ultimately contribute in mitigation of global warming.
Thippali, Piper longum, is an important medicinal plant belonging to the family Piperaceae. An increase in root knot nematode attack was observed in thippali growing plots in Kerala. But the nematode species has not been identified. The study was conducted to identify the root knot nematode attacking thippali at
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