Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University

Microstructure is a fundamental determinant of the quality, functionality, and stability of dairy products, governing critical attributes such as texture, rheology, meltability, and shelf-life. Conventional compositional analyses are not sufficient to fully explain processing-induced changes and product defects, necessitating microscopic approaches. This review examines the role of microstructural analysis as a quality assessment and process optimization tool for several dairy products, including fluid milk, fermented products, cheese, ice cream, butter, traditional dairy products, and milk powders. Emphasis is placed on the application of complementary microscopy techniques, light microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and cryogenic imaging methods, to elucidate the spatial organization and interactions of casein networks, fat globules, aqueous phases, air cells, and crystalline components. The review discusses evidence linking microstructural features with macroscopic product properties, demonstrating influence of processing variables such as homogenization, heat treatment, fermentation, freezing, and ripening on the changes in structural organization and, consequently, product characteristics. Furthermore, it illustrate the utility of microscopy in defect and critical control point identification, and industrial troubleshooting, including syneresis in yoghurt, textural defects in cheese, recrystallization in ice cream, and poor rehydration of milk powders and establishes microscopy as an indispensable tool for dairy product design, and quality control, providing considerable potential for enhancing consistency, functionality, and processing efficiency for dairy industry.

This study utilized mineral-based additives namely kaolin, coal fly ash (CFA), and CaCO3, which can potentially mitigate biomass (agro-residue) ash-related issues in boilers and furnaces. It examined the effects of these additives mixed with biomass at a 950 °C combustion temperature with concentrations ranging from 2 to 10 wt

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.

Genetic divergence was evaluated in 38 grain amaranth genotypes to assess the variability and identify diverse parents for hybridization programmes. The experiment was conducted during the rabiseason of 2024-25 at the Centre for Crop Improvement, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar. Twelve quantitative characters were assessed using Mahalanobis D² statistics. The genotypes were grouped into ten distinct clusters following Tocher’s method. Cluster I was the largest (15 genotypes), while Clusters III, IV, V, VIII, and X were solitary. The maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between Cluster V and Cluster IX (24.27), indicating high genetic diversity. Cluster VIII exhibited the highest mean values for grain yield per plant (29.09 g), harvest index, and test weight. Cluster VI recorded the highest protein and lysine content. Days to 80% maturity (39.26%) and biological yield per plant (24.47%) contributed maximally to the total divergence. The evaluation of these genotypes suggests that crossing diverse parents from distant clusters could effectively improve yield and quality in grain amaranth.

The experiment was conducted in compact family block design with three replications during rabi (October, 2022–March, 2023) 2022–23 at Centre for Oilseeds Research, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat, India to study heterosis and inbreeding depression for seed yield and its contributing characters in Indian mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern & Coss.]. The expression of heterosis and heterobeltiosis was maximum for seed yield plant-1 followed by number of siliquae plant-1, number of secondary branches plant-1 and 1000 seed weight. For seed yield plant-1, cross III (GDM 4×PM 30), cross IV (GM 6×PDZM 31) and cross VI (RB 50×NUDHYJ 4) depicted significant and positive relative heterosis and heterobeltiosis. The cross III also showed significant and desirable estimates of relative heterosis and/or heterobeltiosis for days to flowering, days to maturity, number of primary and secondary branches plant-1, number of siliquae on main branch, number of siliquae plant-1 and 1000 seed weight, while cross IV exhibited significant and desirable relative heterosis and/or heterobeltiosis for days to flowering, days to maturity, number of secondary branches plant-1, number of siliquae plant-1, length of siliqua and oil content. The magnitude of inbreeding depression was found positive and significant for days to maturity, plant height and erucic acid in cross VI. While significant negative inbreeding depression was observed for 1000 seed weight (cross V); oil content (cross VI); oleic acid (cross II and V) and linoleic acid (cross VI), hence these crosses would likely to yield transgressive segregants for the characters under consideration.