17β-estradiol and testosterone are naturally occurring steroids that co-occur in poultry litter. The effects of litter on sorption of these hormones to soil are not known. Sorption isotherms were developed for C-labeled testosterone and H-labeled estradiol in a Cecil sandy clay loam with and without poultry litter addition. The effect of applying the hormones alone (single-sorbate) or together (multisorbate) was also investigated. C-testosterone sorption in soil increased from 2 to 48 h and remained relatively constant thereafter. H-estradiol sorption in soil was relatively constant from 2 to 24 h and then decreased to 72 h. These differences may reflect transformation of the parent hormones to products with different solid-phase affinity. The maximum sorption coefficient () in soil for C-testosterone (20.2 mL g) was similar to that for H-estradiol (19.6 mL g) in single-sorbate experiments. When hormones were applied together, sorption of both hormones in soil decreased, but the C-testosterone (12.5 mL g) was nearly twice as large as the H-estradiol (7.4 mL g). We propose this resulted from competition between the hormones and their transformation products for sorption sites, with C-testosterone and its expected transformation product (androstenedione) being better competitors than H-estradiol and its expected transformation product (estrone). When poultry litter was mixed with soil, sorption increased for H-estradiol but decreased for C-testosterone. This may have been because poultry litter slowed the transformation of parent hormones. Our results show that poultry litter could have important effects on the mobility of estradiol and testosterone.

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Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) though indigenous to Africa, has become endemic to many Asian, African, European and American countries. Castor is an industrial oilseed crop, wide spread in the tropical region as a spontaneous plant and widely being cultivated in India, China and Brazil. The main advantage of castor is its tolerance to drought stress and adaptation to variable agro-climatic conditions. The castor bean contains 40% oil, 1-5% ricin and 0.3-0.8% ricinin and nutritionally rich as it contains 4.3% nitrogen (N 2 ), 1.8% phosphorus (P 2 O 5 ) and 1.3% potassium (K 2 O). However, the great paradox of castor poisoning haunts globally before commercial application of such nutrient rich natural product in animal husbandry sector including aquaculture. The present paper reviewed the prospects of castor bean as nutrient source in animal husbandry considering its poisonous effects and processing mechanisms.

The present study was carried out during two consecutive Kharif, seasons of 2020 & 2021 at Instructional Farm, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture & Technology, Udaipur, Rajasthan to assess the response of maize crop under foliar application of zinc based nanofertilizer and varying fertility levels on quality, yield and economics in Southern Rajasthan. The experiment was laid out in a factorial randomized design with three replications comprising four foliar application of nanofertilizer (Control, at knee high stage, at 50% tasseling stage and both at knee high stage and at 50% tasseling stage) and four fertility levels (100% RDF, 90% RDF, 80% RDF and control). Significantly highest protein content of maize (11.13 % and 10.97 %) was found in with dual foliar application of nanofertilizer and 90 per cent RDF, respectively. The significantly highest net return and B:C ratio were found under dual foliar application of nanofertilizer 82956 and 3.04) and soil application of 90 per cent RDF (Rs. 86112 and 3.15) in tested maize crop.