The effect of sole application of inorganic fertilizers (NPK) (N:P:K:: 30:26:25
kg
ha
−1) and combined application of farmyard manure (FYM) @ 4
Mg
ha
−1 and inorganic fertilizers (NPK
+
FYM)
...vis-a-vis non-application of fertilizers and manures (control) on changes in soil physical properties and plant growth characteristics of soybean (cv. JS 335) was studied in a deep Vertisol at the Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal during the year 2001–2004. The results indicated that conjunctive use of recommended dose of fertilizer and farmyard manure (NPK
+
FYM) resulted in significant (
P
<
0.05) decrease of bulk density (9.3%), soil penetration resistance (42.6%) and increase in hydraulic conductivity (95.8%) and mean weight diameter of the water stable aggregates (13.8%) and soil organic carbon content (45.2%) compared to control. Among the aggregates, in macro-aggregate fraction (250–500
μm and 500–1000
μm size fraction) and in large macro-aggregate fraction (>2000
μm) maximum soil organic carbon concentration was recorded under NPK
+
FYM. The root mass of soybean was mostly (98%) confined to 15
cm soil depth. Combined application of NPK and FYM recorded significantly higher (
P
<
0.05) root length density and root mass density of soybean in the 0–15
cm soil layer at flowering stage over NPK (28 and 65%) and control (63 and 175%). The root length density of soybean was significantly negatively correlated with the penetration resistance (
r
=
0.98,
P
<
0.05). Application of FYM @ 4
Mg
ha
−1 with NPK significantly (
P
<
0.05) improved the biomass partitioning towards pod over NPK and control. The grain yield, water use efficiency and nitrogen use efficiency of soybean under NPK
+
FYM were significantly (
P
<
0.05) higher than NPK and control. The total above ground biomass and the leaf area index at R8 stage could account for respectively, 89 and 63% variation in grain yield of soybean. Therefore in every crop season, integrated use of farmyard manure at 4
Mg
ha
−1 and recommended dose of chemical fertilizers may be practised in Vertisols for improving soil physical environment and achieving higher soybean productivity through efficient utilization of water and nutrients.
► PVA–gum acacia hydrogels with AgNPs were synthesized by γ-irradiation. ► Silver nanoparticle loaded hydrogel was found to be thermally more stable. ► The particle size of the AgNPs synthesized was ...in the range of 10–40nm. ► The gel point (25.34kGy) was determined rheologically. ► Hydrogels with AgNPs showed good antibacterial activity.
A simple one-pot method for in situ synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), within polyvinyl alcohol/gum acacia (PVA–GA) hydrogel matrix, by gamma radiation-induced cross-linking is reported here. The synthesized hydrogels were characterized by FT-IR, thermogravimetry, dynamic light scattering and inductively coupled mass spectrometry method. The thermal stability was found to be more for the hydrogel loaded with silver nanoparticles and also the percentage silver loading was found to increase with increase in cross-linking density. The influence of gum acacia (GA) concentration on the equilibrium degree of swelling of the synthesized hydrogels, and also on the silver release from hydrogel matrix, was investigated. The size of the silver nanoparticles formed in the hydrogel matrix was in the range of 10–40nm. The rheological gel point was found to be at 25.34kGy of radiation dose, for a typical hydrogel synthesized, using 5% GA, 3% PVA and 1mM AgNO3. The antibacterial studies of the synthesized nanosilver-containing hydrogels showed good antibacterial activity against gram-negative bacterium, Escherichia coli.
Balanced application of inorganic fertilizer and organic amendments greatly influence the accumulation of organic matter in soil and also influence the soil physical environment. An investigation was ...carried out to study the long-term impact of fertilizer and manure application in a soybean–wheat–maize (fodder) crop rotation on soil organic carbon status and physical properties of a vertisol (Typic Haplustert or Pellic Vertisols) in sub-humid sub-tropical India. Five treatments namely, control (no fertilizer and manure), 100% of the optimum rate for nitrogen (100% N), 50% of the optimum rate for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (50% NPK), 100% of the optimum rate for NPK (100% NPK) and 100% NPK
+
farmyard manure at 15
Mg
ha
−1 (100% NPK
+
FYM) from a long-term fertilizer experiment continuing at Jabalpur, India, were chosen for this study. Soil samples were collected from the topsoil horizon (0–15
cm) of all the four replications of the selected five treatments in April 2000 after 28 crop cycles and analyzed for physical and chemical properties. The results showed that the soil organic carbon (SOC) content in 100% NPK and 100% NPK
+
FYM treatments increased, respectively, by 22.5 and 56.3% over the initial level (1.14
kg
m
−2). The electrical conductivity, SOC content, aggregation, water retention, microporosity and available water capacity of the soil were increased while the bulk density was reduced significantly with the 100% NPK
+
FYM treatment over all other treatments. However, the use of imbalanced (100% N) and suboptimal rate of inorganic fertilizer (50% NPK) as compared to the unfertilized control showed no significant effect on the physical properties of the soil. The study indicates that application of balanced rate of fertilizers in combination with organic manure could sequester soil organic carbon in the surface layer, improve the soil physical environment and sustain higher crop productivity under this intensive cropping system.
The North-eastern (NE) India, comprising of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, possess diverse array of locally adapted non-Basmati aromatic ...germplasm. The germplasm collections from this region could serve as valuable resources in breeding for abiotic stress tolerance, grain yield and cooking/eating quality. To utilize such collections, however, breeders need information about the extent and distribution of genetic diversity present within collections. In this study, we report the result of population genetic analysis of 107 aromatic and quality rice accessions collected from different parts of NE India, as well as classified these accessions in the context of a set of structured global rice cultivars. A total of 322 alleles were amplified by 40 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers with an average of 8.03 alleles per locus. Average gene diversity was 0.67. Population structure analysis revealed that NE Indian aromatic rice can be subdivided into three genetically distinct population clusters: P1, joha rice accessions from Assam, tai rices from Mizoram and those from Sikkim; P2, aromatic rice accessions from Nagaland; and P3, chakhao rice germplasm from Manipur corrected. Pair-wise FST between three groups varied from 0.223 (P1 vs P2) to 0.453 (P2 vs P3). With reference to the global classification of rice cultivars, two major groups (Indica and Japonica) were identified in NE Indian germplasm. The aromatic accessions from Assam, Manipur and Sikkim were assigned to the Indica group, while the accessions from Nagaland exhibited close association with Japonica. The tai accessions of Mizoram along with few chakhao accessions collected from the hill districts of Manipur were identified as admixed. The results highlight the importance of regional genetic studies for understanding diversification of aromatic rice in India. The data also suggest that there is scope for exploiting the genetic diversity of aromatic and quality rice germplasm of NE India for rice improvement.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Facial expression recognition plays a significant role in human behavior detection. In this study, we present an efficient and fast facial expression recognition system. We introduce a new feature ...called W_HOG where W indicates discrete wavelet transform and HOG indicates histogram of oriented gradients feature. The proposed framework comprises of four stages: (i) Face processing, (ii) Domain transformation, (iii) Feature extraction and (iv) Expression recognition. Face processing is composed of face detection, cropping and normalization steps. In domain transformation, spatial domain features are transformed into the frequency domain by applying discrete wavelet transform (DWT). Feature extraction is performed by retrieving Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) feature in DWT domain which is termed as W_HOG feature. For expression recognition, W_HOG feature is supplied to a well-designed tree based multiclass support vector machine (SVM) classifier with one-versus-all architecture. The proposed system is trained and tested with benchmark CK+, JAFFE and Yale facial expression datasets. Experimental results of the proposed method are effective towards facial expression recognition and outperforms existing methods.
The unprecedented scale and rapidity of dissemination of re-emerging and emerging infectious diseases impose new challenges for regulators and health authorities. To curb the dispersal of such ...diseases, proper management of healthcare facilities and vaccines are core drivers. In the present work, we assess the unified impact of healthcare facilities and vaccination on the control of an infectious disease by formulating a mathematical model. To formulate the model for any region, we consider four classes of human population; namely, susceptible, infected, hospitalized, and vaccinated. It is assumed that the increment in number of beds in hospitals is continuously made in proportion to the number of infected individuals. To ensure the occurrence of transcritical, saddle-node and Hopf bifurcations, the conditions are derived. The normal form is obtained to show the existence of Bogdanov-Takens bifurcation. To validate the analytically obtained results, we have conducted some numerical simulations. These results will be useful to public health authorities for planning appropriate health care resources and vaccination programs to diminish prevalence of infectious diseases.
This paper is concerned to a mathematical model for the management of hospital beds when a new infection emerges in the population with the existing infections. The study of this joint dynamics ...presents formidable mathematical challenges due to a limited number of hospital beds. We have derived the invasion reproduction number, which investigates the potential of a newly emerged infectious disease to persist when some infectious diseases are already invaded the host population. We have shown that the proposed system exhibits transcritical, saddle-node, Hopf, and Bogdanov-Takens bifurcations under certain conditions. We have also shown that the total number of infected individuals may increase if the fraction of the total number of hospital beds is not properly allotted to the existing and a newly emerged infectious disease. The analytically obtained results are verified with the help of numerical simulations.
In this paper, a non-linear mathematical model for the effects of awareness programs on the spread of infectious diseases such as flu has been proposed and analyzed. In the modeling process it is ...assumed that disease spreads due to the contact between susceptibles and infectives only. The growth rate of awareness programs impacting the population is assumed to be proportional to the number of infective individuals. It is further assumed that due to the effect of media, susceptible individuals form a separate class and avoid contact with the infectives. The model is analyzed by using stability theory of differential equations. The model analysis shows that the spread of an infectious disease can be controlled by using awareness programs but the disease remains endemic due to immigration. The simulation analysis of the model confirms the analytical results.
Intensive cropping with conventional tillage results in a decline of soil organic carbon (SOC) with consequent deterioration of soil physical properties. Some studies indicate that this decline in ...SOC can be arrested by way of organic manure application and improved nutrient management practices. This study was conducted to find out the long-term effects of inorganic fertilizer, manure and lime application on organic carbon content and physical properties of an acidic Alfisol (Typic Haplustalf) under an annual soybean–wheat crop rotation. Six treatments namely, control (CON), nitrogen fertilization (NIT), nitrogen and phosphorus (NP), nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK), NPK plus manure (NPKM) and NPK plus lime (NPKL) from a long-term fertilizer experiment continuing at Ranchi, India, were chosen for this study. Soil samples were collected from the selected treatments after 29 crop cycles and analyzed for physical and chemical properties. The results indicated that SOC content in all the treatments decreased from initial levels, but the decrease was considerably less in NPKM (8.7%) and NPKL (10.9%) treatments than that in NIT (28.3%) treatment. The SOC at 0–15 and 15–30 cm depth was lowest in NIT and CON. The NPKM, NPKL and NPK treatments up to 30 cm soil depth recorded significantly higher SOC than NIT and CON. Application of balanced fertilizer along with manure (NPKM) or lime (NPKL) improved soil aggregation, soil water retention, microporosity and available water capacity and reduced bulk density of the soil in 0–30 cm depth over CON. In contrast, soil aggregate stability, microporosity and available water capacity were significantly lower in the NIT plots than that in CON. The study thus suggests that soil management practices in acidic Alfisols should include integrated use of mineral fertilizer and organic manure or lime to maintain the organic carbon status and physical environment of soil.
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