It has been previously argued that application of organic residues added in soils has a great impact on soil quality, grain productivity as well as greenhouse gas emissions. Substitution of chemical fertilizers has become a common practice in agricultural systems which consequently affect the greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural fields. To observe the effects of organic manures and crop residues amendments, five fertilizer treatments including conventional inorganic nitrogen fertilizer-NPK, cow manure, rice straw, poultry manure and sugarcane bagasse were applied in the field for two consecutive pre-monsoon rice seasons. Addition of rice straw, poultry manure and sugarcane bagasse decreased the cumulative N2O emissions by 14% and 31%, and by 1% and 7% and 5% and 3% in 2012 and 2013 respectively when compared with conventional fertilizer treatment (NPK) in both the seasons. Yield differences were not significant (p > 0.005) amongst the treatments, however, a slight increase was observed due to rice straw amendment over control. Soil organic carbon decreased by 11%-17% under the application of organic residues which might have contributed to lower N2O emissions from the plots. Results of carbon equivalent emission (CEE) and carbon efficiency ratio (CER) indicated that incorporation of rice straw during premonsoon rice season had the potential to reduce the N2O emissions and yield scaled emissions of rice production at lower level than the conventional farmers' practice of using chemical fertilizers (NPK).

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Experiments were conducted in an attempt to study the impact of different organic residuesas fertilizers on grain yield, magnitude of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and soil characteristics. Five fertilizer treatments including conventional nitrogen (N) fertilizer, cow manure, rice straw, poultry manure and sugarcane bagasse were applied in the rice field during 2012. Maximum reduction in seasonal N2O emissions (10-27%) was observed under the influence of rice straw application over conventional N fertilizer. The experiment was repeated for a second season during 2013 with the same treatments for further confirmation of the results obtained during the first year of experimentation. Application of rice straw also showed a slight advantage in increasing grain yield (4.38 t ha -1 ) over control. Important soil properties and plant growth parameters were studied and Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 16:38 16 June 2016A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 2 their relationships with N 2 O emission were worked out. Incorporation of organic residues helped in restoring and improving the soil health and effectively enhancing grain yield with reduced N 2 O emission from rice fields.

Purpose Progress accomplished by the disabled entrepreneurs on the fronts of profits, turnover, return on investment (ROI), employees engaged, capital employed and diversification shall be studied and prevalence of gender differences in such progress shall be assessed. Design/methodology/approach The proposed research is descriptive in nature, based on primary data, collected by personally administering a well-structured interview schedule to 201 disabled entrepreneurs in Puducherry selected using a snowball sampling technique. Data collected has been analyzed using SPSS 21, using the tools of mean, one-way ANOVA, factorial ANOVA and chi-square (χ2) analysis. Findings The prevalence rate of entrepreneurship among female disabled is very low. Female disabled entrepreneurs manage higher turnover than their male counterparts and manage insignificantly higher progress in terms of capital employed, while male disabled entrepreneurs have managed insignificantly higher progress in terms of profits, diversification and ROI. Illiterate disabled, both men and women, struggle to manage decent turnover while the better educated manage better turnover. Research limitations/implications This paper has highlighted the low prevalence rate of entrepreneurship among women disabled though the fewer women disabled entrepreneurs are performing better than their male counterparts in operating their business. Originality/value The findings of this paper may be taken as base for formulation of effective government policies in empowering disabled persons in general and women disabled in particular.

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