Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture & Technology (CSAUA&T) is an agricultural university at Kanpur in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is named after the Indian revolutionary Chandrashekhar Azad. Besides Kanpur, it also has constituent colleges (also known as campuses) in Etawah and Lakhimpur Kheri district who are fully functional and an upcoming in Hardoi. The university caters to the needs of the farming community of 29 districts of Uttar Pradesh.
Background: Keeping in view the majority population under marginal and small category, dairy enterprise is considered as one of the major agri-allied sectors. It has capability to improve economics of rural households and hence hunger, poverty and sustainability. Using cutting-edge statistical techniques, this study assesses the productivity, resource allocation and economic efficiency of dairy farms in four significant bovine-rearing states in India. Methods: Four hundred farms (smallholder, family-operated and semi-commercial) in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh were selected using stratified simple random sampling. Data envelopment analysis (DEA), principal component analysis (PCA), cluster analysis and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) were used to analyze the data. Result: Findings indicate notable typological and geographical variations in profitability, input use and efficiency. Due to input misallocation and a lesser adoption of technology, smallholder farms fell behind semi-commercial farms in terms of technical and economic efficiency. Input access, customized extension services and best-practice scaling are highlighted in policy proposals. Additionally, the results provide solid benchmarks and practical advice for policy development and farm improvement.
Yellow mosaic disease (YMD) remains the most destructive viral threat to mungbean production in India, with increasing reports of resistance erosion in several released cultivars. Because earlier screening efforts rarely confirmed the identity of the infecting begomovirus, the stability of resistance under current mungbean yellow mosaic India virus (MYMIV) pressure remains uncertain. This study re-evaluated the resistance status of 30 released mungbean cultivars across four environments: Summer 2024, Summer 2025, Kharif 2024, and Kharif 2025, under natural epiphytotic conditions at Kanpur. Disease incidence (PDI) and severity (PDS) were recorded at maturity, and genotypes were categorized for resistance. Species-specific PCR assays confirmed MYMIV as the sole causal agent in all evaluated symptomatic samples of susceptible check DGGV2, and full-length DNA-A and DNA-B sequencing validated four MYMIV isolates consistently associated with field infections. Multi-environment ANOVA revealed significant effects of both genotype and environment for PDI and PDS. Several cultivars including GM-6, ML-131, SML-668, Pusa-9531, Pusa M-0672, MH-1142, IPM 2-3, IPM 205-7, and Shalimar Mung-2 exhibited consistently low disease expression, indicating stable and durable resistance to MYMIV. In contrast, cultivars such as HUM-16, Co-8, IPM 99-125, IPM 512-1, and Pusa-Ratna showed higher environmental sensitivity. Factor analysis of mixed data and Random Forest classification (100% accuracy) robustly separated resistant and moderately resistant genotypes, with PDS emerging as the key discriminatory trait. Conclusively, the study provides a MYMIV-validated, multi-season reassessment of varietal performance and identifies reliable donor lines for resistance breeding and further multi-location validation under MYMIV pressure.
The present investigation was conducted during June to February for two consecutive years i.e., 2024–25 and 2025–26, in the Department of Fruit Science, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur, to evaluate the influence of integrated nutrient management (INM) on soil nutrient status and economics of guava (Psidium guajava L.) cv. L-49. Ten treatments comprising vermicompost, dry leaf or paddy straw mulch, Panchagavya, Jivamrit, Amritpani, Azotobacter, and phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) were evaluated in a randomized block design with three replications. Treatment T₉-Vermicompost (1.0 kg tree-1)+dry leaf mulch+Panchagavya (5%)+PSB (50 g tree-1)+Azotobacter (50 g tree-1) recorded the highest available phosphorus (41.54 kg ha-1), bacterial population (7.61×10⁶ CFU g-1), and fungal population (5.72×10⁴ CFU g-1 soil). fruit yield (13.83 and 15.22 t ha-1), gross returns (Rs. 276,642 and ` 417,124 ha-1) and net returns (Rs. 164,104 and Rs. 304,586 ha-1) during the first and second years, respectively. Treatment T₈ recorded the highest available potassium (215.27 kg ha-1), T₃ recorded the highest soil pH (7.33) and organic matter (1.11%), whereas T₂ recorded the highest available nitrogen (207.00 kg ha-1). The highest benefit: cost ratio was obtained with T₁₀-Vermicompost (1.0 kg tree-1)+paddy straw mulch+Jivamrit (20%)+PSB (50 g tree-1)+Azotobacter (50 g tree-1) (1.57 and 2.73). Correlation and principal component analyses confirmed the positive influence of integrated nutrient management on soil nutrient dynamics. Overall, integrated nutrient management proved effective in improving soil fertility, productivity and profitability of guava cultivation in the plains of north India.
Bio-fertilizers play an important role in sustainable agriculture by improving the availability of nutrients in the soil. The rising awareness about the environment and sustainable agriculture has made these fertilizers more important, particularly for farmers. They supply nutrients to plants through the process of nitrogen fixing, solubilizing phosphorus, and producing growth hormones. However, there is a need for more adoption of efficient bio-fertilizers techniques by farmers to get better and higher-quality yields. The first stage of the innovation adoption process is the knowledge stage. There is a lack of standard and reliable tools to measure the knowledge of farmers regarding bio-fertilizers. The present study aimed to develop and standardize a knowledge test on bio-fertilizers and their application. It was conducted in the Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh with 30 randomly selected farmers using bio-fertilizers techniques. Initially, 29 items were selected and evaluated for reliability and validity. Finally, 24 items were retained with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.890, a discrimination index of more than 0.25, and a point biserial correlation coefficient of more than 0.3. These results indicate strong internal consistency and validity of the tool. It could assist extension staff in designing training programs and help in formulating policies to promote bio-fertilizer use.
Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is a climacteric fruit and its ripening and post-harvest quality is regulated by complex interactions of genetic, hormonal, biochemical and molecular regulatory networks. Ethylene is a major regulator of fruit ripening, inducing 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase (ACS) and ACC oxidase (ACO) which control processes associated with fruit ripening such as cell wall degradation, pigment accumulation, aroma production and sugar metabolism. Fruit quality is controlled by the interaction of ethylene with abscisic acid, jasmonic acid, salicylic acid and reactive oxygen species (ROS) pathways that regulate fruit maturation, antioxidant metabolism and defence responses. The main post-harvest pathogens Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Lasiodiplodia theobromae utilise changes related to ripening to shift from latent infection to active disease development. Recent advances such as treatment with 1-methylcyclopropene, hexanal formulations, controlled atmosphere storage etc., have shown potential to delay ripening, maintain antioxidant capacity and reduce post-harvest losses. New technologies such as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR/Cas) genome editing, RNA interference, multi-omics approaches and nanotechnology-based delivery systems are emerging opportunities that manipulate ripening and disease-resistance pathways. However, the balance between extending shelf-life and retaining flavour, consumer acceptance, biosafety and environmental sustainability remains to be addressed. Future research in transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics and epigenomics will be critical to identify molecular targets and develop precision-based strategies to improve mango shelf life, quality and resistance to post-harvest pathogens.
