Temperature change with concomitant change in canopy temperature influences crop growth and productivity. A three year (2005-06 to 2007-08) experiment was carried on wheat varieties PBW 343, HD 2733, HW 2045, PB 533 and K9107 in subplot treatments sown on three dates of 18 th November, 3 rd and 18 th December in main-plot treatments in a split-plot design with three replications. Canopy temperature was measured at CRI, tillering, flowering and milking and stress degree day index was computed. Late sown crop experienced highest canopy temperature, varieties of K 9107 and HW 2045 recorded lowest and highest respectively. Canopy temperature and stress degree day index significantly and negatively correlated to dry matter accumulation in leaf, stem and ear at different phenophases. Grain yield reduce significantly with the delay in sowing. Canopy temperature at 11.30h during CRI, tillering or flowering stages significantly and negatively affected grain yield.

A field experiment was conducted at Kendrapara, Odisha to find out suitable and cost effective weed management practices for jute. Different doses of pre-emergence butachlor (both liquid and granule formulation) and post-emergence (quizalofop-ethyl) herbicides followed by (fb) one hand weeding (HW) were tested in jute crop and the treatment effects were compared with unweeded and two hand weeding treatments. Application of quizalofop-ethyl 60 g/ha at 20 days after crop emergence (DAE) followed by one HW at 15-20 days after herbicide application recorded higher weed control efficiency (78.3%), plant height (351 cm), basal diameter (1.40 cm) and fiber yield (2.9 t/ha) of jute as well as higher B:C ratio (2.13) compared to other weed control treatments. Values of the said parameters recorded with the quizalofopethyl treatment were statistically at par with those recorded with two hand weeding. Butachlor 1.5 kg/ha fb one HW at 20 DAE was the next best treatment with respect to weed control efficiency (68.7%), plant height (341.0 cm), basal diameter (1.39 cm), fibre yield (2.64 t/ha), and B:C ratio (1.99). Thus application of pre-emergence herbicide butachlor 1.5 kg/ha or post-emergence herbicide quizalofop-ethyl 60 g/ha in combination with one manual weeding may be recommended to the jute growers as more effective and economic weed control practices compared to the existing manual weeding practice.

Age -related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause for the loss of central vision associated with aging. It is a complex disorder caused by many factors. Beside choroidal neovascularization and pigment epithelial detachment, geographic atrophy (GA) is a frequent cause of severe destruction of sharp, central vision in patients with AMD. Pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying the atrophic processes and causes which influence the dynamics of GA are poorly understood at present. Time course data on the development of GA from 114 patients recruited in the FAM -Study were used for the analysis. The data provide evidence for differences of speed regarding GA growth for individual patients. There are also differences in GA growth for individual eyes within patients. Two linear mixed models for describing the dynamics of GA were investigated and discussed. Both models help to detect mechanisms which determine the dynamics of GA and allow to identify variance components and assessments of hypotheses on the data observed. Main purpose is to chose the best model for describing reality. The first model predicts a linear increase in GA growth. The other one involves an exponential growth, which means a more rapid development. These models are essential for the planning of future clinical trials to determine things which reduce the speed of GA growth. Information about sources of variance (e.g. various methods of measurement) are important for the study design. Time course data provide evidence for strong individual effects on the progression of GA. This may imply the role of prognostic factors which are not assessed so far. Future research activities could focus on the implementation of models for investigating that a proposed classification based on geometric features of the GA lesion can explain differences in GA dynamics between patients.

Aim: Wind profile over a crop canopy affects several physiological processes. The nature of the wind profile above the crop canopy of a single crop has been reported in the literature. However, under intercropping system, the nature of wind profile isn’t well discussed. Methodology: With this background, a two-year experiment was conducted with five different crop combinations (T1- sole wheat, T2- sole mustard, T3- two wheat: six mustard, T4- four wheat: four mustard and T5- six wheat: two mustard) in  Rndomized Block Design (RBD) of 54 m2 plot size. Wind speed was measured at 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 m above the crop canopy from 9:30 to 13:30 hour at two-hour interval. The observations were taken from 30 to 80 days after emergence (DAE) at weekly interval. Results: Results showed that the wind speed gradually increased with the increment of height over the sole wheat. Wind speed sharply declined under intercropping over the wheat canopy. The percentage reduction in T3 was maximal on 58 DAE. The wind speed gradually increased with height for all observations in mustard irrespective of treatment combinations. However, under intercropping, wind speed reduced marginally at 0.5 m above mustard height compared to the sole mustard. Conclusion: Reduced wind speed over wheat canopy causes reduction of mass and momentum transfer thus reducing the carbon exchange rate which might be one of the reasons for lower biomass production in wheat-mustard intercrop in comparison to sole wheat crop.

A field experiment was carried out during 2019–20 to 2020–21, at Kendrapara, to study the effect of nutrient management with magnesium and farm yard manure on yield, nutrient uptake and economics of tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius L.) under rainfed situation. Application of 80 kg N, 40 kg P2O5 and 40 kg K2O/ha (recommended dose for tossa jute) along with MgSO4. 7H2O @ 10 kg/ha + FYM (@5t/ha) to jute crop recorded the highest fibre yield (3.24 tonnes/ha), This resulted an fibre yield increase of 36.6% over the recommended dose of fertilizers . Application of MgSO4.7H2O, helped to increase the fibre yield of 0.2,2.1 and 1.6q/ ha over the recommended fertilizer dose, indicating better response of jute plants to secondary nutrients.Nutrient uptake (N,P,K,Ca, Mg and S) of jute increased owing to combined appliacation NPK + 10 kg MgSO4,when preceded with FYM@5t/ha.The maximum net returns (Rs. 22,628/ha) and the highest benefit : cost ratio (1.71) were recorded with the recommended NPK along with MgSO4 and FYM under rainfed condition.