Aims: To evaluate the yield performance, environmental responsiveness and stability of wild-abortive cytoplasmic male-sterile (WA-CMS)-derived rice hybrids for agronomic and grain-quality traits across three locations. Study Design: Multi-location evaluation in a randomised block design with three replications. Place and Duration of Study: Rajendranagar, Kampasagar and Kunaram during the kharif 2025 season. Methodology: Thirty-six hybrids developed from three WA-CMS lines and 12 restorers, together with 15 parents and four standard checks, were evaluated for 22 agronomic and grain-quality traits. Environmental indices, genotype means, regression coefficients (bᵢ) and deviations from regression (S²di) were summarised using the Eberhart–Russell stability framework. Inferential joint-regression tests must be confirmed from the original plot-level data before formal stability categories are assigned.Results: Environmental indices differed among locations and traits. For total grain yield, the indices were 0.001 at Rajendranagar, 0.038 at Kampasagar and −0.039 at Kunaram. CMS-59 × SN-2183 and CMS-59 × SN-2717 recorded the highest reported mean yield (0.59 kg plot⁻¹), followed by RMS-2 × SN-2183 (0.57 kg plot⁻¹) and CMS-64 × SN-2705 (0.55 kg plot⁻¹). Their regression coefficients indicated contrasting responses to environmental improvement. These entries are considered candidates for further evaluation rather than formally validated stable hybrids. Conclusion: The results provide a preliminary shortlist of WA-CMS-derived hybrids for further testing. Because the evaluation covered three locations in one season, and inferential stability statistics require confirmation, multi-year and multi-location validation is necessary before recommendation.
Kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum L.) is difficult to dehull because of its multilayered, closely adhering husk, which can reduce head grain recovery during mechanical processing. This study evaluated continuous microwave preprocessing to improve dehulling efficiency and head recovery while limiting kernel breakage. Experiments were conducted in July 2026 at ICAR–Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology, Ludhiana, using Kodo millet cultivar JK-439. A three-factor, three-level Box–Behnken design comprising 17 runs examined microwave power levels of 60–100%, treatment durations of 60–120 s and initial grain moisture contents of 12–16% (wet basis). Treated grains were subsequently milled in a single pass using a rubber roll sheller, and their performance was compared with that of untreated grain. The untreated control recorded 76.68% dehulling efficiency, 52.57% head recovery and 8.05% kernel breakage. Numerical optimisation identified microwave power of 81.4%, treatment duration of 91.8 s and grain moisture content of 14.48% as preferred conditions, with a reported desirability of 0.964. Triplicate validation trials under these conditions yielded 86.62% dehulling efficiency, 61.98% head recovery and 7.25% breakage. Compared with the control, these outcomes represent increases of 9.94 and 9.41 percentage points in dehulling efficiency and head recovery, respectively, and a 0.80-percentage-point reduction in breakage. Continuous microwave preprocessing therefore improved the measured milling outcomes under the conditions evaluated.
Agricultural pest surveillance is shifting from periodic manual inspection towards digitally mediated observation, combining automated traps, computer vision, environmental sensors and statistical or machine-learning forecasts. The technological literature reports increasingly sophisticated species recognition, remote counting and near-real-time data transmission. Whether these capabilities generate reliable estimates of pest pressure or improve integrated pest management, however, depends on ecological sampling, field validation and decisions taken after an alert. This critical narrative review evaluates the measurement-to-decision pathway rather than treating classification accuracy as evidence of agronomic benefit. Peer-reviewed research and relevant methodological literature were identified through accessible scholarly sources, with thematic emphasis on camera-equipped pheromone, light and adhesive traps; image-recognition architectures; optical, acoustic and environmental sensing; predictive modelling; and operational evaluation. The synthesis indicates that instrumented traps and image-processing methods can reduce some observation burdens and produce useful within-system temporal information. Their reported performance is nevertheless strongly conditioned by trap selectivity, target species, illumination, specimen overlap, annotation quality, seasonal distribution shifts and the choice of validation dataset. Forecasting approaches can exploit temperature, phenology and historical trap catches, but retrospective fit does not establish transferable warning value. Ecological inference also requires distinguishing insect activity, trap catches, abundance, crop injury and economic risk. The most consequential weaknesses are limited independent multi-site prospective testing, incomplete uncertainty reporting, insufficient comparison with manual scouting, and few controlled evaluations of management consequences. A deployment-oriented framework is proposed in which measurement validity, calibration, forecast skill, decision thresholds, costs and non-target effects are appraised as connected requirements. Progress will depend less on marginal improvements in benchmark detection scores than on prospective, locally calibrated studies that measure timeliness, intervention quality, labour, pesticide use, yield and biodiversity outcomes.
Aims: Agricultural extension advisory services (EAS) aim to facilitate development of agriculture and rural sector through transfer of agricultural information and technology. However various literature were published in different forums on various challenges faced by the EAS agents in disseminating effective service to farmer. Hence, this study was taken to evaluate various factors of EAS impacting agriculture development to benefit farming community and for effective policy framing. Study Design: Exploratory-diagnostic research design was employed in the study. Place and Duration of Study: Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. January 2012 to January 2024. Methodology: A meta-analysis of selected EAS articles from international data base (Scopus) was carried out with an objective to identify the variables explaining EAS and analysing the relationship between the variables for policy making. Results: On analysing the variables of EAS, four major factors of EAS were identified namely, EAS Purpose, EAS Strategies, EAS Process and EAS Product. The study also revealed that studies focusing on Agricultural and Rural credit were very few, which play a vital role in up scaling of farmers and agricultural sector. The study revealed the need for framing EAS policy for effective facilitation of Agricultural and Rural Credit for the development of agricultural and rural sector. Conclusion: The study found that while the EAS process included agricultural and rural credit support, its focus was primarily on transferring agricultural information. However, the progress of the agricultural sector relies heavily on farmers' financial capacity to address modern challenges. Integrating EAS with improved credit access could help overcome barriers to scaling up agricultural and rural development. This underscores the need for policies that align EAS with credit facilitation to promote long-term sustainability for farmers.
This study evaluates the efficacy of different novel insecticides, including flubendiamide, emamectin benzoate, indoxacarb, chloropyriphos, spinosad, and bifenthrin, against Leucinodes orbonalis in brinjal cultivation. The investigation was conducted at the field experiment farm of R. B. S. College Bichpuri, Agra during the Kharif season of 2023-24, selected for its historical prevalence of L. orbonalis infestations in brinjal crops. Results indicated that flubendiamide achieved the highest reduction in pest incidence (75.30%), followed by emamectin benzoate (59.41%) and indoxacarb (57.09%). The findings underscore the potential of these novel insecticides as effective alternatives to traditional chemical controls, contributing to integrated pest management strategies that minimize environmental impact while enhancing brinjal production.
