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A field experiment was conducted during rabi seasons of 2012-13 and 2013-14 to study the effect of moisture conservation and zinc fertilization on quality, nutrient uptake, profitability and moisture use indices of chickpea in pearlmillet-chickpea cropping sequence under limited moisture conditions. Moisture conservation and zinc fertilization brought considerable improvement in quality, nutrient uptake, profitability and moisture use indices of chickpea during both the years of study. Chickpea planted under flat bed with 5.0 t/ha crop residue recorded significantly higher protein yield and total uptake of N, P and K during both the years of study as compared to flat bed without crop residue and flat bed with 2.5 t/ha crop residue. However, in terms of protein content during 2012-13 and soil profile temperature during both the years all the treatments received crop residue remained at par with each other and proved significantly superior over flat bed without crop residue. Planting of chickpea under narrow bed and furrow fetched significantly higher net returns ( 55,871 and 55,263/ha) and production efficiency ( 372.5 and 337.0/ha/day) and moisture use efficiency (12.34 and 11.05 kg/ha-mm) during both the years of study over flat bed without crop residue and flat bed with 2.5 t/ha crop residue. Whereas, this treatment recorded significantly higher B:C ratio over flat bed with 5.0 t/ha crop residue. Under zinc fertilization, direct application of 5.0 kg Zn/ha significantly improved the protein content in grain during 2013-14 and protein yield, total uptake of N and P, net returns and production efficiency during both the years of investigation over lower levels. But application of 5.0 and 2.5 kg Zn/ha being at par with each other proved significantly better over control in terms of protein content during 2012-13 and total uptake of P, B:C ratio and moisture use efficiency of chickpea during both the years. Residual effect of zinc fertilization was also found to be significant on chickpea. The significant improvement in quality, nutrient uptake, profitability and moisture use efficiency were observed only up to 2.5 kg Zn/ha.

Aim : Methodology :Results : Interpretation :Increase in agricultural productivity with minimal energy utilization without any adverse impact on the environment is a pre-requisite of present agricultural practices through best agronomic management of crop production. The present investigation aimed to identify the most energy efficient cropping system and nutrient supply option which exert minimal impact on the environment.The experiment was carried out for two consecutive years at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi for the evaluation of soybean-based cropping systems with five nutrient supply options with respect to energy parameters, as well as carbon emission equivalents. The different inputs used in raising the crops and output of crops were converted into energy and carbon equivalents using standard conversion factors and used for computation of different energy and carbon efficiency indices.The soybean-potato-mungbean system recorded significantly highest system productivity in terms of soybean seed-equivalent yield (7.68 t ha ), however soybean-chickpea-fodder sorghum system recorded highest net energy (333.9 ×10 MJ ha ), energy efficiency (9.56), energy productivity (179 gMJ ), energy profitability (8.6 MJ ha ), human energy profitability (105.2) and energy intensiveness (6.76). Soybean-chickpea-fodder sorghum system maintained higher carbon output and carbon efficiency which was 22.9 and 15.6% higher over soybean-wheat system, respectively. Among the nutrient supply options, application of 50% RDF + 50% RDN through FYM accounted for the highest energy output (286.1 MJ ha ), net energy (240.3 MJ ha ) and energy output efficiency (968 MJ ha day ) and also reduced the carbon flux to the atmosphere as compared to 100% RDF. The cropping system followed and sources of nutrient supply had considerable impact on utilization of energy, as well as carbon emission equivalents. Therefore, besides looking only upon productivity of a particular cropping system and management level, their relative energy efficiency and resultant impact on the environment should also be taken into consideration for ensuring judicious use of nonrenewable resources.

Context: Viral hepatitis caused 1.34 million deaths in 2015, a number comparable to the deaths caused by tuberculosis and higher than that caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Hepatitis A virus (HAV) and hepatitis E virus (HEV) are important causes of acute viral hepatitis (AVH) and acute liver failure (ALF). Due to the paucity of data, the exact burden of the disease in western India is not established. Objective: Considering this background, the present study aims to determine the prevalence, epidemiology, and biochemical correlation in AVH due to HAV and HEV. Setting and Design: It was a retrospective observational study conducted over 3 years from January 2018 to December 2020 in a tertiary care hospital of Western India. Material and Methods: The study population included 1,807 patients (outdoor and hospitalized) having clinical features of AVH. All serum samples from these patients were tested in duplicate for immunoglobulin M (IgM) anti-HAV and IgM anti-HEV antibodies using commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. The liver function tests (LFTs) were also monitored. Results: Of the 1,807 specimens processed from the patients with AVH, 120 (6.70%) were positive for IgM anti-HAV antibodies and 154 (8.5%) were positive for IgM HEV antibodies. A total of 11 patients (0.60%) were positive for both anti-HAV IgM and anti-HEV IgM antibodies indicating HAV-HEV coinfection. Our study shows that the HAV infection was more prevalent in the pediatric age group. The HEV infection was seen in all age groups and more prevalent in the age group of 20–30 years. The infection was more prevalent from June to October, that is, during monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. Total serum bilirubin, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were elevated at 85.84, 86.79, 91.5, and 83.96%, respectively, in HAV-infected and elevated at 78.12, 93.75, 67.18, and 57.03%, respectively, in HEV-infected patients. The patients with HAV-HEV coinfection had all deranged LFTs indicating more severe disease. Conclusion: The present study emphasizes the importance of screening all hepatitis viral markers (A, B, C, E) for early diagnosis and curtailment of outbreaks and epidemics by the public health sector reducing morbidity and mortality.

The present study was conducted at the research farm of IARI, New Delhi for two consecutive years from 2012-13 to 2013-14 to find out the impact of moisture conservation and zinc fortification on system performance and soil fertility status of pearlmillet-chickpea cropping system under limited moisture conditions. Planting of pearlmillet and chickpea under the flat bed with 5.0 t/ha crop residue recorded significantly higher system productivity in terms of pearlmillet grain equivalent yield (8.98 t/ ha), moisture use efficiency (16.13 kg/ha-mm) and total uptake of nutrients (N, P, K, Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu) over flat bed without crop residue and flat bed with 2.5 t/ha crop residue. However, the significantly higher system net returns of ` 83,367/ha along with B: C ratio of 1.71 was observed under narrow bed and furrow with 2.5 t/ha crop residue. Residue applied, moisture conservation practices also showed remarkable improvement in soil fertility status at the end of cropping seasons as compared to without residue applied treatment. Under zinc fertilization treatments, application of 5.0 kg Zn/ha to pearlmillet recorded significantly higher system productivity, profitability, moisture use efficiency and total uptake of N, K and Zn over the lower levels. However, total uptake of P, Fe, Mn and Cu were increased significantly only up to 2.5 kg Zn/ha. Fertilization of chickpea with 5.0 kg Zn/ha also registered significantly higher system productivity, profitability, moisture use efficiency and total uptake of nutrients (except P) as compared to lower levels. Zinc fertilization treatments also brought significant improvement in organic carbon, available N, K and DTPA extractable Zn content in soil at the end of the experiment.