Birsa Agricultural University

The Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) remain highly climate vulnerable, where farmers experience limited access to timely, trusted, and contextualized risk information necessary for adaptation. This study examines how exposure to risk communication, along with key socio-psychological determinants, shapes behavioural responses to climate change. Using the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, six constructs were conceptualized and validated-Risk Communication, Social Participation, Institutional Awareness, Risk Perception, Negative Emotions, and Behavioural Change. A multistage sampling approach was applied across Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, engaging 240 farmers. PLS-SEM was used to develop indicators, evaluate construct validity, and test structural relationships. Among the significant predictors, Negative Emotions strongly impacted Behavioural Change ((3 = 0.961), while Institutional Awareness significantly influenced both Negative Emotions ((3 = 0.817) and Risk Perception ((3 = 0.711). Beyond model fit, the validated indicators generated through this study can support future assessment of climate risk communication effectiveness and serve as reference metrics for extension and sustainability research. Overall, the study offers a contextually grounded and empirically strengthened risk communication model that can inform more responsive and farmer-centric advisory strategies to enhance climate resilience in the IGP. It provides valuable insights for designing more effective, psychologically informed risk communication strategies to strengthen climate resilience among vulnerable farming communities.

A field experiment was conducted on sandy loam soil during the Rabi season of 2025-26 at the Research land of the Agriculture College Garhwa, Bishumpur, Garhwa, Jharkhand to study the influence of sulphur (S) levels on the growth and development attributes of mustard crop. The experiment consisted of six sulphur levels (control, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 kg S ha-1) and was laid out in a randomized block design with three replications. The results revealed that all growth and development attributes of mustard were significantly influenced by different sulphur levels compared to the control. Plant height, number of leaves plant-1, leaf area index (LAI), number of branches plant-1, dry matter accumulation plant-1 and number of siliques/pods plant-1 were significantly higher with the application of 30 kg S ha-1. Significant positive correlations were observed between siliques/pods plant-1 and growth parameters. Therefore, the present investigation indicates that application of 30 kg S ha-1 in mustard cultivation enhances growth and development, leading to higher yield potential of the crop.

Millets are frequently described as climate-resilient cereals because several species maintain production under heat, intermittent drought and low-input conditions that constrain major cereals. That description is directionally correct but agronomically incomplete: resilience is strongly conditioned by soil fertility, rooting environment, rainfall timing, crop establishment, genotype, weed pressure and the way water and nutrients are co-managed. This critical narrative review evaluates soil and crop management strategies for sustaining and increasing millet production under changing climate conditions, with emphasis on pearl millet, finger millet and representative small millets in rainfed and semi-arid systems. Literature published from 2000 to 5 August 2026 was identified through AGRIS, PubMed, OpenAlex, OpenAIRE, DOAJ, Semantic Scholar and Google Scholar, supplemented by citation searching and authoritative institutional sources. Evidence was appraised for design quality, duration, environmental representativeness, resource-use measurements and transferability. Across the literature, the most defensible conclusion is that no single practice provides climate resilience across environments. Integrated nutrient management, site-specific fertiliser targeting, strategic microdosing, residue retention, moisture conservation, timely sowing, stress-adapted cultivars and diversified millet-legume systems can improve yield or resource-use efficiency, but benefits are highly contingent on soil constraints and rainfall pattern. Nutrient microdosing is effective in low-input Sahelian systems yet may create nutrient-balance risks when not paired with organic matter and wider nutrient replenishment. Sensor-guided or soil-test-based fertilisation is promising, although evidence remains geographically concentrated. Water management is most effective when aligned with reproductive-stage sensitivity and soil water storage rather than treated as an irrigation-only intervention. Intercropping can improve land productivity but does not uniformly buffer severe drought. Future progress requires multi-year, multi-location experiments that test management bundles, quantify yield stability and soil change, include economic and labour outcomes, and explicitly evaluate genotype-by-management-by-climate interactions. Climate-resilient millet production should therefore be framed as adaptive soil-crop system management rather than as an inherent crop property.

Phytophthora diseases have been identified as one of the major causes of citrus decline. The present study investigates the prevalence of Phytophthora-induced gummosis, crown rot, collar rot, and foot rot in mature Nagpur mandarin orchards under flat (conventional) versus raised bed planting systems. An intensive rapid roving survey was conducted during two seasons of 2023 and 2024 to assess the incidence of gummosis-affected trees using a 0–4 disease rating scale. Results revealed a significantly lower incidence of gummosis in raised bed orchards (3.12%-21.66%) compared to flat/conventional systems (34.61%-59.44%). Similarly, the Phytophthora propagule density in soil was markedly lower in raised bed orchards (2.01%-3.01%) than in conventional orchards (28.63%-33.75%). Raised beds (600 mm height, 2–2.5 m width) provided better drainage, improved soil aeration and enhanced root stability, collectively reducing disease incidence and improving the tree resilience under adverse conditions. These findings highlight that most farmers still follow conventional flat planting methods, which favor water stagnation and disease development. Therefore, large-scale demonstrations and promotion of raised bed planting techniques are strongly recommended for effective management of Phytophthora diseases in Nagpur mandarin, especially in orchard facing waterlogging issue during rainy seasons, a common feature prevalent in central India.

The present investigation entitled “Evaluation of micronutrient doses for enhancing growth, yield andquality of rose (Rosa × hybrida L.) cv. Arka Savi under open-field conditions of Eastern India” was conductedduring rabi season of 2024–2025 with ten treatments replicated thrice under Randomized Block Design atthe AICRP on Floriculture unit, Department of Horticulture, Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand,India. The results revealed that treatment T6 (soil application of Zn @ 5 kg ha–¹ + B @ 2 kg ha–¹ + Fe @ 2.5kg ha–¹ along with foliar spray of Zn+B+Fe micronutrient mix @ 0.5%) recorded maximum plant height (89.00cm), plant spread (75.00 cm in E–W direction and 66.33 cm in N–S direction) and early flower bud initiation(27.33 days). The same treatment also produced superior floral quality with maximum flower diameter (7.16cm), longer flowering duration (124 days) and enhanced shelf life (7.36 days). Yield parameters were significantlyimproved under T6, recording the highest number of flowers per plant (59.66), flower yield per plant (609.68g) and hundred flower weight (1087.82 g). Leaf nutrient analysis indicated higher concentrations of macroand micronutrients, while post-harvest soil analysis showed significant changes in N, P, K and Zn availability.Economic analysis showed that T6 recorded the highest benefit-cost ratio (3.92:1), indicating its economicfeasibility. Thus, treatment T6 proved to be the most effective for improving growth, yield and quality of rosecv. Arka Savi under eastern Indian conditions.