Emerging Issues in Agricultural Sciences Vol. 9

The effectiveness of thermotherapy in treating CMD in the field and under etiological settings in the Central African Republic is examined in this paper's findings. Finding low-cost, easily implemented management strategies that may be made popular in rural regions received special consideration. Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is one of the most important root staple crops. An estimated 30% of Zambians, over 4 million people, consume cassava as part of their daily diet. Cassava is mostly grown by subsistence farmers on fields of less than 1 ha. Cultivation of cassava is hampered by several biotic constraints, of which cassava mosaic disease (CMD) is currently the most important factor limiting cassava production. The most significant biotic limitation, cassava mosaic disease (CMD), significantly lowers production. According to certain research, thermotherapy can be used to manage CMD in Africa. Diseased cassava cuttings were treated in a heated water bath at temperatures ranging from 43°C to 51°C for 30 min before being grown for 12 months in the field. Temperatures from 43°C to 49°C were found to have no deleterious effect on either the survival of cuttings or on plant regeneration. One month after planting (MAP), up to 40% of the cuttings treated at 47°C to 49°C had regenerated a plant with no CMD symptoms compared to 7% of untreated cuttings. Between two and five MAP, cassava cuttings treated at 49°C produced plants with a significantly lower incidence of CMD than plants produced from untreated cuttings. All plants grown from treated cuttings developed significantly less severe CMD symptoms than untreated cuttings between 8 and 12 months after planting. The highest tuberous root yield was obtained with diseased cuttings treated at 49°C (4.7 kg/plant), equivalent to the yield from untreated symptomless cuttings (4.6 kg/plant). Our data clearly demonstrate the value of thermotherapy to maintain a high level of production using local cultivars under severe CMD epidemic conditions.

Blackgram, scientifically known as Vigna mungo, holds a significant place in Indian agriculture and cuisine. India is one of the world's leading producers of blackgram, playing a vital role in fulfilling both domestic consumption and export demands. The yield of blackgram, a significant pulse crop in India, is influenced by a multitude of interconnected factors that collectively shape its production outcomes. Weed infestation poses a significant challenge to the yield of blackgram, an important leguminous crop. Weeds not only hinder the crop's access to vital resources but also create favorable conditions for pests and diseases, further compromising yield potential. Effective weed management practices are crucial to mitigate these negative effects. Present chapter describes the management of weeds using herbicides. The study concluded that the Echinochloacolona (29.39%) and Dinebraretroflexa (24.30%) were predominant weeds in blackgram. Further, the post emergence application of propaquizafop+imazethapyr mixture from 53+80 was found the suitable for effective control of composite weed flora associated with blackgram in central India.

The goal of this study is to learn more about how young farmers perceive various aspects of vocational education as they relate to American Farm School students enrolled in the Vocational Training Institute (VTI). The intent of vocational education is to prepare students for careers as technologists, craftspeople, or tradesmen. Another way to think about vocational education is as the kind of education that is given to a person in order to provide them with the required skills for gainful work or self-employment. Processed data arriving from specially formulated Likert level questions revealed that young farmer students find it absolutely necessary to participate in training programs governed by experiential learning methodologies, while recognizing that these processes are linked to their knowledge and skill improvement for developing a firm future professional consignment in the agrofood sector. To that extend, experiential learning applications would subsequently assist program participants to cultivate and grow a better understanding for innovation, which undoubtedly affect the path of agribusiness investment sustainability. Although current national sectorial progress has taken significant steps ahead, seems that still not being satisfactory in terms of competitiveness. However, there has to be always tension to gradually execute such methods of professional experiential learning from specialized educational organizations to concretely reach out higher levels of improvement in rural development alongside with other important eminent and specialized factors.

The experiment was conducted to examine the actenomycetal populations under Dung and Inorganic Fertilizers in the Soil. . Cow Dung and Inorganic Fertilizer on Alfisol soil was laid down at Samaru for more than 60 years to determine whether the yield potential of tested crops could be maintained under continuous cultivation and the best combination of organic and inorganic fertilizers needed to achieve this. Ever increasing the demand for food has intensified the determination for Cow Dung and Inorganic fertilizers as pre-requisite for development. Hence, the impact of these to tremendous microbial communities in the Sudan Savanna. This study attempts to identify whether the influence of cow dung and inorganic fertilizer on population of actinomycetes, its effect and to maintain yield potential of tested crops under continuous cultivation. The experiment consisted of 4 treatments (Cow Dung, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium) each at 3 levels (0, 1, and 2) applied annually in all possible combination. Each combination had one replicates only and there were 81 plots arranged in 9 blocks. The laboratory experiment involves an analytical study of the number of actinomycates in the soil as influence by organic and inorganic fertilizers. Generally, soil amendments have been found to affect actinomycates numbers to about 60% increased. Where phosphorus has been continuously applied at 2 and 1 levels, the actinomycetal counts were observed to be higher than where no amendments were made. The fertilization with N.P.K, particularly nitrogen in form of (NH₄⁺)₂ SO₄ resulted in acidification of the soil and strong development of actinomycates. Actinomycates were found to help in the decomposition of organic matter in to humus and release of nitrogen. However, there is still much to be done in inorganic fertilizer on actinomycetal counts.

The objective of the study was to assess the condition and performance efficiency of drip irrigation systems as part of a project that aimed to develop a WUE model for smallholder irrigation systems. This study was performed at four selected Agri-Parks in Gauteng province of South Africa, namely: Rooiwal, Soshanguve, Tarlton, and Westonaria. South African agriculture accounts for 62% of the national water demand. Almost 45% of the water is wasted through pollution and other losses. Consequently, irrigation systems are under pressure to improve their water-use efficiency (WUE). There is a paucity of information on WUE at smallholder irrigation schemes in the country, including at the Agri-Parks in Gauteng province due to many reasons that include a lack of simple tools that are friendly to mostly semi-literate irrigators. The Agri-Parks used in the study were irrigated using drip and microjet irrigation systems but the study focused on portions under drip systems. The condition and performance efficiency of the irrigation infrastructure were investigated. Field data collection took place from February to March 2021. Each irrigation system was divided into five components for convenience. Condition assessment was performed using a Condition Assessment Model (CAM) developed by ARC-NRE/AE, where enumerators visually observed the system component and assigned condition scores as guided by a template. The condition scores were uploaded into the CAM to generate condition indices (CI). Water conveyance efficiency (CE) and distribution uniformity (DU) were assessed on delivery and infield systems, respectively. CE was computed at the component level based on the inflow-outflow approach, while DU was computed based on measured emitter discharges. Overall, CI values ranged from 2.12-6.29, implying significant deterioration had occurred. The corresponding CE ranged 61-78% indicating water losses in the range 22-39%. On the other hand, DU was in the range of 60-95%, which was poor performance relative to expectations for drip irrigation systems. Overall, performance efficiency exhibited positive correlations with condition indices, pointing to possible opportunities for using condition state to predict the performance efficiency of drip irrigation system infrastructure, at least at the Agri-Parks in Gauteng province, South Africa. Nevertheless, further investigations covering a longer period, more locations and the role of maintenance are recommended. The role of non-physical parameters, e.g., management practices and choices, also needs further exploration.

This chapter evaluates the farm level technical efficiency and yield gap of paddy production in Andhra Pradesh, India. Farm efficiency is a broad area, which can be examined by comparing the economic efficiencies of various types of farm groups (small, medium and large), or farming systems (irrigated and non-irrigated) or ecological zones. The study used the latest available data for the year 2016-17 with an objective to calculate the technical efficiency and yield gap. For calculating technical efficiency Data Envelopment Analysis technique was employed.

The secondary data set contained 541 paddy producing farms/units across Andhra Pradesh state under five agro climatic zones viz North coastal, Godavari, Krishna, Southern and Scarce rainfall zones was studied. The results showed that the overall technical efficiency of the entire sample is 86.8 per cent inferring that about 13 per cent of the potential paddy yield is lost because of technical inefficiency in Andhra Pradesh. The level of technical efficiency is directly related to the agro climatic zones of Andhra Pradesh. Among different agro climatic zones technical efficiency is found highest in Godavari zone with 0.883 and found lowest in scarce rainfall zone (0.808). Technical efficiency varies according to farm size. It shows the marginal farmers are slightly more technical efficient than semi-medium and medium farmers. The technical efficiency varies according to farm size .Farm-size wise technical efficiency of paddy in Andhra Pradesh.  The marginal farms are found to be slightly more technically efficient than semi-medium and medium farms. The yield gap was found to be 981.10 kg/ha in Godavari zone and a minimum yield gap of 335 kg/ha in North coastal zone with an average yield gap of 663 kg/ha for Andhra Pradesh indicating domestic paddy production could be significantly increased only by improving farmers practices with the current amount of resource they are using. In order to increase technical efficiency, capacity building on the use of relevant scientific information to capture the highest potential resource use efficiency with less cost, creative ways to cut waste, and dissemination of all relevant farm knowledge material should be encouraged.  

We report ambient atmospheric ammonia data collected from sites near Princess Anne, Somerset County, and near Pocomoke City, Worcester County, on the Lower Eastern Shore (LES) of Maryland. Concerns about atmospheric ammonia have recently been highlighted by people on the LES, which runs between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean on the Delmarva peninsula. Agriculture, fisheries, and tourism account for a substantial portion of the LES's economic activities. According to the USDA's 2017 census, there were 100 Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in Somerset and Worcester Counties, raising roughly 63 million chickens every year. CAFO activities hold 1.6 million birds inside a two-mile radius of the Worcester County location.  The Princess Anne site is similar to the Pocomoke City site in terms of agricultural use and population demographics, however there are only a few chicken houses within two miles. The initial 33 months of LES ammonia data are provided, and their relevance is addressed in relation to other ammonia investigations. The 33-month average ammonia concentration in Pocomoke was 10.3 ± 0.08 ppb, more than double that of Princess Anne, which was 4.7 ± 0.04 ppb.

This chapter aims to reveal viruses in fruit tissues of date palms by developing a particular bioinformatics workflow. The study of RNA-Seq data can significantly advance our understanding of viruses and how they interact with their hosts. In order to identify the related plant viruses, the current work performed transcriptome studies of date palm (P. dactylifera) fruit from 20 public libraries.  While the viruses Pittosporum cryptic virus-1 (PiCV-1) and Grapevine leafroll-associated virus (GLRaV) have been recognized previously, thirty-seven additional plant viruses have been found by using a workflow analysis constructed in this study to detect partial nucleotide sequences of their RdRp and Replicase genes. At the nucleotide level, all of the viral sequences found were nearly identical (100%) and many of the isolates had been added to GenBank. On P. dactylifera trees, however, there have been prior reports of an extremely uncommon viral infection. Therefore, it is necessary to do research in order to ascertain the virome of the date palm tree.

This study employed multivariate statistical techniques to analyze soil nutrient data for crop classification, focusing on the "Potato" and "Raagi" crops. The analysis revealed highly significant differences in soil nutrient profiles between these crop types, with specific soil nutrients exhibiting substantial variability. The Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis demonstrated exceptional discriminative power, achieving perfect crop separation. The confusion matrix indicated high classification accuracy, with "Potato" reaching 100% accuracy and "Ragi" at 96.15%. The ROC value of 0.992 further validated the model's effectiveness in crop discrimination. These findings highlight the utility of multivariate statistical approaches for crop classification and selection based on soil nutrient characteristics.

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] is an important grain legume as well as a potential bio-resource crop (source of vegetable oil). However, drought is one of the environmental stress that affects not only crop yield and growth but also tends to influence presence of native Rhizobium, rooting and root nodulation in legumes such as soybean. The main objectives of this study was to screen the presence of native Rhizobium in soils of Juba and assess the impact of drought on rooting ability,  nodulation potential and yield of eighteen (18) soybean genotypes. The results showed that soybean plants that grew under drought produced the highest mean root length of 44.33 cm which were significantly longer than 33.17 cm highest mean root length in the normal treatment (non-drought). Soybean plants that were subjected to drought stress produced the highest number of nodules of 4.67 which was significantly lower than the average number of nodules in the normal treatment (non-drought). It was, therefore, concluded that the root characteristics, nodulation potential and seed yield of soybean was affected by limited water supply. It was also noted that native Rhizobium was present in soils of Juba but it failed to initiate nodulation in some soybean accession. There was significant reduction of seed (grain) yield with accession TGx 2006-3F having the highest seed yield and TGx 1448-3E scoring the lowest. Harvest index (HI %) was comparatively higher in TGx 1485-D and TGx 2010-3F. It is therefore recommended that soybean plants should be supplied with optimum water supply for proper nodulation, growth and yield. Consequently, optimal water supply for soybean growing in pots should be studied for better irrigation management and optimal performance of the plant. For further research, it was suggested that it is of particular importance to inoculate soybean seeds before planting in order to enhance nodulation for improvement of soil fertility through biological nitrogen fixation (BNF).