No abstract

and BS Tyagi. 2020. Response of malt barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) varieties to nitrogen and sulphur application under Agro-climatic zone IIIa (semiarid eastern plain zone) of Rajasthan.

An experiment was conducted to know the effect of different residual sodium carbonate (RSC) water, farmyard manure (FYM) and different levels of zinc fertilization on different zinc fractions of soil, yield attributes and yield of barley in loamy sand soil under semi-arid climatic conditions. The three levels of RSC of irrigation water (2.5, 5 and 10 mmol/ L), two levels of FYM (control and 15 t/ha) and four levels of zinc (control, 15, 30 and 45 kg ZnSO4/ha) were evaluated on barley production in split plots design. Results indicated that application of high RSC irrigation water (10 mmol/ L) significantly reduced the different fractions of soil Zn (except Occ-Zn), plant height, total and effective tillers, test weight and yield of barley during both the years, while 5 mmol/L of RSC irrigation level found at par with 2.5 mmol/L. Application of FYM significantly increased the different Zn fractions in soil (except Occluded- Zn) as well as yield attributes, grain and straw yield of barley. The increasing level of zinc application significantly increased the different fractions of soil Zn (except Occ-Zn), available soil Zn, yield attributes and yield of barley. It was observed that the grain yield of barley positive and significantly correlated with different fractions of Zn, viz. DTPA-Zn (r=0.888), Ads-Zn (r=0.525), Occ-Zn (r = 0.670), OC-Zn (r = 0.948) and Res-Zn (r = 0.923). The optimum dose of zinc for barley computed as 37.6 kg / ha ZnSO4 with corresponding optimum yield of 4365 kg/ha.

Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) represents the biggest current health challenge for the society. At the moment, the therapeutic strategies to deal with this disease are only supportive. It is well evident that zinc (Zn) possesses a variety of direct and indirect antiviral properties, which are realized through different studies during the course of time. Administration of Zn supplement has a potential to enhance antiviral immunity, both innate and humoral, and to restore depleted immune cell function or to improve normal immune cell function, particular in immune-compromised or elderly patients.In recent years, the increasing zinc (Zn) deficiency problem has garnered attention and appears to be the most serious micronutrient deficiency along with vitamin A deficiency. The concentration of Zn in cereal crops is inherently very low and growing cereals on potentially Zn-deficient soils further decreases grain Zn concentrations. It is, therefore, not surprising that high Zn deficiency in humans occurs predominantly on areas where soils are deficient in plant-available Zn. Biofortification (enrichment) of crops with Zn and breeding new cereal genotypes for high grain Zn concentration is the most realistic and cost-effective strategy to address this problem. However, this strategy is a long-term one, and the size of plant-available Zn pools in soils may greatly affect the capacity of Zn-efficient (biofortified) cultivars to take up Zn and accumulate it in grains. Therefore, application of Zn-containing fertilizers represents a quick and effective approach to biofortify cereal grains with Zn. It is obvious that enrichment of widely applied fertilizers with Zn and/or foliar application of Zn fertilizers appear to be a high priority with the strongest potential to alleviate Zn deficiency-related problems in India. A Government action and policy plan for enrichment of selected major fertilizers with Zn is required urgently.

A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2012 at the Instructional Farm, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur to study the phenology and productivity of maize cultivars under different sowing environments. The crop sown on June 16 required significantly higher number of days and accumulated GDD to attain various phenophases compared to July 1 and July 16 sown crops. Higher day temperature coupled with low humidity caused reduction in grain yield under July 16 sown crop. Soil moisture content at different depths was significantly lower at 75 DAS under July 16 sown crop as compared to June 16 and July 1 sown crop. The row spacing was not able to bring any significant difference in growing degree days. Among the cultivars, HQPM-1 required significantly more number of days and GDD for attaining reproductive and maturity as compared to PEHM-2 and Pratap-1. A significant negative correlation between grain yield and maximum temperature during reproductive phase was recorded.