The anti fungal effects of some plants extracts namely tobacco leaf, keora seed, keora, mahogoni, gaint indian milky weed, garlic and ginger at different concentrations (30%, 40%, 50%, 60% and 70%) on the growth and development of C. gloeosporioides, causal agent of anthracnose of mango were evaluated. Radial growth of C. gloeosporioides was recorded. The growth inhibition increase with the increase of concentration of all the plant extracts. Highest mycelial growth inhibition (74.35%) was observed in case of garlic extracts at 70% concentration. Garlic extract at 50% and 60% concentration were also effective than other treatments.

As the usage of fungicides catapulted with the onward march of the dial hour, fungicidal resistance by the pathogens emerged as a new constraint. This amalgamated with the growing demand by the farmers for crop protection agents with low use rates, a benign environmental profile and a low toxicity to human and wild life, further gave an impetus to the search of new molecule of fungicides with novel modes of action. Sheath blight of rice caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kühn is one of the devastating diseases in eastern part of India. Various attempts were taken to develop sheath blight resistant variety but till date no such varieties were released. Various cultural practices combined with use of fungicides are the most common option of managing the disease. Repeated use of same fungicides in the same field sometimes become less or not effective, may be due to development of resistance recombinant of R. solani. Several experiment proved strobilurin based molecules like azoxystrobin, trifloxystrobin, metominostrobin manage the disease effectively and eco-friendly way than other commercially available fungicides.

Natural calamities have adverse effects on the life of marginal and small farmer practicing rice cultivation in Sundarban areas. Through discussion and questionnaires opinion of farmers were obtained that was applied to mitigate the problem of rice cultivation. Rice varieties tolerant to stagnant flooding, submergence and salinity had great promise to improve food security and livelihoods of the poor farmers of Sundarban area. The study revealed that small and marginal farmers accepted the new varieties very readily if seeds were produced locally. Informal seed systems had better promise for small and marginal farmers live in fragile ecosystem of Sundarban. SAARC J. Agri., 17(2): 127-139 (2019)

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An Anderson personal cascade impactor was used to study the particle mass size distribution in the storage air of two major grain storage centers in Bangalore. Dust levels in storage air as well as the personal exposures of workers were determined along with a detailed study on the particle size distribution. Protein and carbohydrate content of the dust were also determined respectively in the phosphate buffer saline (PBS) and water extracts by using the standard analytical techniques. Personal exposures in both of the grain storage centers have been found to be much above the limit prescribed by ACGIH (1995-96). But the results of particle size analysis showed a higher particle mass distribution in the non-respirable size range. The mass median diameters (MMD) of the storage air particulate of both the centers were found to be beyond the respirable range. Presence of protein and carbohydrate in the storage air dust is indicative of the existence of glyco-proteins, mostly of membrane origin.