Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University is central agricultural university located in Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh. The university was established by the government of India through the Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University Act - 2014, passed by parliament in 2014. The first academic session of university was started from July 2014. The university follows a semester system with two semesters every year.
Salmonella enterica serovar Richmond is an emerging pathogen from contaminated animal food, posing a risk of global foodborne outbreaks. Few reports have documented this species in live aquatic organisms. In this study, Salmonella Richmond COFI-RLBCAU-I was isolated from live Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, and its pathogenicity was tested on the three most culturable fish species, P. hypophthalmus, Labeo rohita, and Oreochromis niloticus. The results showed that the bacteria are non-pathogenic to these three species. Techniques, including β-hemolytic activity, Gram staining, biochemical tests such as IMViC, nanopore-based whole-genome sequencing, and in silico serotyping, identified this strain as S. enterica subsp. enterica serovar Richmond. The de novo-assembled genome totalled 4,919,008 base pairs with a GC content of 52.06
Guava is the third richest source of ascorbic acid, an excellent antioxidant. Four guava genotypes namely, Lucknow-49, Shweta, Pant Prabhat, and Arka Kiran were studied concerning ascorbic acid accumulation at 35, 65, 95, and 115 days after fruit set during rainy and winter seasons. Two-way factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) design with four genotypes as factor 1 and four stages as factor 2, was performed in four replications for the rainy and winter season at 5
Drought stress severely limits maize germination and early seedling growth by reducing germination percentage, seedling vigor, water uptake, and biomass, while prolonging mean germination time. This study evaluated the ameliorative effects of seed priming with gibberellic acid (GA3) and melatonin on 10 maize genotypes (CLO 2450, DHM 117, SML 1, VQL 1, SKM 1, SML 2, LM 13, SML 163, SML 165, and SML 28) under 10% PEG-induced osmotic stress. Germination traits, water relations, biomass accumulation, and biochemical parameters, including α-amylase activity, total soluble sugar, proline, total phenolic content, soluble protein, lipid peroxidation, and electrolyte leakage, were assessed at 1, 7, and 14 days. Drought stress markedly suppressed enzymatic activity, carbohydrate mobilization, osmolyte accumulation, and protein content, while increasing oxidative damage and membrane leakage. GA3 priming (100 ppm) partially restored germination and metabolic traits, whereas higher concentrations showed diminished recovery. Melatonin priming (200 µM) consistently improved germination (>92%), seedling length (~19–20 cm), water uptake (~88%–90%), biomass, and antioxidant defenses, while limiting lipid peroxidation and electrolyte leakage. Violin plot and heatmap analyses confirmed that melatonin treatments closely resembled control performance, whereas GA3 provided intermediate recovery.
IntroductionGuava (Psidium guajava L.) productivity and fruit quality are frequently constrained by nutrient imbalances during reproductive development, leading to yield losses and physiological disorders such as fruit cracking. Potassium (K) and calcium (Ca) play critical roles in plant physiological regulation and cell wall stability, yet their coordinated effects on yield, fruit quality, and underlying trait relationships in guava remain insufficiently understood.MethodsIn this study, we evaluated the influence of foliar-applied K and Ca compounds on vegetative growth, leaf nutrient status, fruit yield, quality attributes, and fruit cracking in the high-yielding guava cultivar ‘VNR Bihi’ under subtropical humid conditions. A total of 13 treatments comprising different concentrations of potassium nitrate, potassium sulphate, calcium nitrate, and calcium sulphate, along with an untreated control, were applied at fruit set and one month thereafter.ResultsFoliar nutrient application significantly enhanced leaf growth, chlorophyll content, and post-treatment leaf K and Ca concentrations compared with the control. Yield parameters responded positively to nutrient supplementation, with potassium nitrate at 2.0% producing the highest fruit yield (41.44 kg tree⁻¹; 27.60 t ha⁻¹), accompanied by marked reductions in fruit drop and cracking. Fruit physical and biochemical quality traits, including fruit weight, total soluble solids, sugars, and ascorbic acid, were also improved by K and Ca treatments. Multivariate analyses revealed clear treatment-wise clustering based on fruit retention, drop, and cracking, while partial least squares regression demonstrated a strong predictive relationship between leaf physiological traits and fruit quality (R2 = 0.877).DiscussionOverall, the results indicate that foliar K and Ca application modulates guava yield and fruit quality through coordinated physiological and nutritional responses, providing a trait-based framework for reducing fruit cracking and enhancing productivity.
Challenges of climate-resilient agricultural production, along with environmental sustainability, guided the study on livestock-based integrated farming systems (LIFS) to explore their merits and implications for sustainable farming. Consequently, a 3-year life cycle assessment of a 3-ha LIFS with 30 adult cattle units and diversified components (45 % food crops, 33.8 % fodder, 17.5 % vegetables, 2.5 % flowers, 1.3 % fruits, and allied activities) was conducted to evaluate among its components and against the traditional groundnut-wheat cropping system (GWCS). The study assessed ecosystem services, including resource recycling, productivity, profitability, employment, and energy-carbon dynamics involving the life cycle assessment approach. Findings reveal that LIFS yielded 80,178 kg wheat equivalent ha(-1) yr(-1), US$8952 net returns, 4,55,368 MJ energy output, and 33,974 kg carbon output from inputs of 90,791 MJ energy and GHG emissions equivalent to 14,942 kg carbon. Compared to GWCS, LIFS achieved 8.4x higher productions, 6.4x greater returns, 6.6x more employment, 3.0x higher energy productivity, and 4.6x greater net carbon gain due to crop-livestock synergy with improved management. Among components, livestock dominated inputs (86 % cost, 66 % energy, 92 % carbon) and outputs (77 % production, 66 % returns, 59 % employment), thus playing a crucial role in production and environmental sustainability. However, horticultural crops showed higher unit productivity and returns. The carbon footprint of LIFS (0.69 kg CO2 eq.) was higher than GWCS but better than similar livestock + crop systems. Conclusively, LIFS enhances climate resilience and ecosystem services; however, optimizing livestock's energy-carbon use can further impart greater environmental sustainability, offering valuable insights for researchers and policymakers to focus on immediate adoption of LIFS for stable livelihood, along with setting the long-term goal for sustaining the energy-carbon use to evolve a 'total sustainability' of production systems in study region as well as similar agroecology worldwide.
