<div>Background: Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the important cereal crop and its demand is increasing due to its versatile use but the productivity in India is still low. The basic requirement for improving the crop productivity is soil fertility and it is highly related with soil organic matter. Due to unavailability of organic manure and their higher cost, cheaper the organic source available at farm should be explored to meet the requirement. 
 
Methods: A field experiment was conducted at College Agronomy Farm, B.A. College of Agriculture, AAU, Anand during summer-kharif seasons of years 2017 and 2018 to examine the impact of legume crop residue and nitrogen levels on maize crop. Experiment comprised of three legume crops grown in summer season viz., green gram, groundnut and cluster bean, two residue management treatments viz., residue removal and incorporation and three nitrogen levels in kharif maize viz., 100%, 75% and 50% recommended dose of nitrogen. 
 
Result: Results indicated that cluster bean-maize sequence provided the highest leaf area and leaf area index at 60 days after sowing, chlorophyll content and dry matter production at 30 and 60 days after sowing and crop growth rate for of maize crop. Incorporation of legume residues also had significant effect on plant height, dry matter production and chlorophyll content; leaf area and leaf area index at 60 days after sowing and crop growth rate and absolute growth rate of maize crop. Application of 100% RDN beneficially affected all the growth parameter and indices. Overall, summer legume cropping with their residue incorporation and higher nitrogen levels favourably impacts on various growth parameters and growth indices of maize crop.</div>

<div>Effect of Legume Crop Residues and Nitrogen Management on Growth Parameters and Growth Indices of Maize (Zea mays L.)</div>

Background: At the present situations, sole croppingand generalized fertilization recommendations could not produce advantageous results for neither profitable crop production nor for a sustainable environment. Therefore, the study focuses on evaluating the response of pearl millet to various cropping systems and different nutrient management techniques for enhancing crop productivity and sustaining soil fertility.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The field trial took place at the instructional farm of Karunya Institute of Technology and Science in the Coimbatore district of western Tamil Nadu, India. The trial spanned over two growing seasons and followed a factorial randomized block design, with 2 factors: cropping systems and nutrient management, replicated three times. The design resulted in a total of 12 treatment combinations, comprising 3 levels of cropping system viz., sole cropping of pearl millet, pearl millet with black gram and cowpea intercropping systems; and 4 levels of nutrient management comprising different doses of fertilizer levels in combination with biofertilizers such as Azospirillum and PSB and foliar sprays of 2% urea and 3% Panchagavya.&nbsp; 
 
Result: The experimental findings indicated that intercropping treatment, Pearl millet + Black gram at a 1:1 ratio, exhibited superior results in enhancing plant growth, improving the crop nutrient uptakeand enriching soil fertility. In the case of nutrient management treatments, application of 75% of recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) + Azospirillum and phosphate solubilizing bacteria + foliar application of 2% urea at 15 and 35 days after transplanting (DAT) resulted in producing higher plant height, enhanced dry matter production, efficient crop nutrient uptake, improved soil fertility status for sustainable agriculture.&nbsp;

Evaluation on the Influence of Cropping Systems and Nutrient Management Practices in Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum) Growth, Crop Nutrient Uptake and Soil Fertility Status

<div>Background: Okra is an important vegetable crop in India, Method of fertilization also plays an important role in supplying the nutrient to the plants because, the efficacy of fertilizers applied in soil being low due to various losses and fixation, mainly in area of problematic soil. Water and fertilizers are the two important inputs which are used scientifically and judiciously through precision farming technologies to increase productivity, profitability and nutrient use efficiency in okra seed yield and quality.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The experiments were conducted during kharif 2016 and kharif 2017 to study the effect of precision farming technologies including fertigation and black polythene mulching to know the crop growth, yield, quality of seeds and root studies in okra seeds var. Arka Anamika and at ICAR-IIHR Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru. The experiment was laid out in RBD with three replication and four treatments each with mulch and&nbsp;on mulch&nbsp;viz., 100:50:75 N:P2O5:K2O kg ha-1 100:50:100&nbsp; N:P2O5:K2O kg ha-1&nbsp;T3-150:75:112.5 N:P2O5:K2O kg ha-1 T4- 150:75:150 N:P2O5:K2O kg ha-1 compared with soil application treatments. &nbsp; 
 
Result: Application of water soluble fertilizer @ T4-150:75:150 NPK kg/ha through fertigation either mulch (14.05q/ha) or non mulch (11.83q/ha) recorded significantly higher seed yield than fertilizer through soil application (9.92 q/ha).Similarly significantly higher value of Absolute Growth Rate (AGR) Crop Growth Rate (CGR) and root character were observed in the NPK fertigation treatment with or without mulch than the soil application of fertilizers (NPK soil application @ 100:50:100kg per ha (T9) and NPK soil application @ 150:75:150kg per ha (T10). Significantly higher root parameter tap root length (21.03cm), average length of primary roots (64.63cm), number of primary roots (10.83 nos), fibrous roots arising from main stem (26 nos) and root dry weight (23.07 g/plant) were recorded in the T4-150:75:150 NPK kg ha-1 through fertigation (WSF) with mulch than the fertigation without mulch and fertilizer applied through soil.</div>

<div>Effect of Fertigation and Mulching on Root Studies and Crop Growth Indices for Seed Production in Okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench]</div>

<div>An experiment was conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during 2015 and 2016 to study the effect of priming, different seed rate on growth and seed yield of soybean planted under bed and flat method. The study was planned in factorial split plot design, keeping two planting techniques (flat sowing and bed sowing) and two seed priming treatments ( non primed seeds and 100 ppm GA3 primed seeds) in main plot and three seed levels ( 50, 62.5 and 75 kg ha-1) in sub plot. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of seed priming on growth and productivity under different planting techniques with the use of varying seed rates. The results revealed that growth attributes viz. emergence count, plant height, dry matter accumulation, leaf area index and photosynthetic active radiation interception (%) was significantly higher under bed planting technique as compared to flat sowing method. The pooled seed yield was increased by 15.6 % in bed planted soybean crop as compared to flat planted crop. &nbsp;Soybean seeds primed with 100 ppm GA3 recorded significant results in all the growth parameters. Primed seed recorded increase in yield 15.3 % than non primed seeds. Seed rate of 62.5 kg ha-1 recorded significantly higher emergence count, plant height, dry matter accumulation, leaf area index and photosynthetic active radiation interception (%) which was statistically similar in results with 75 kg ha-1 seed rate in both the two years. Pooled seed yield of 62.5 kg ha-1seed rate was 4.61 % higher than 75 kg ha-1 and 12.6 % than 50 kg ha-1 seed rate.</div>

<div>Influence of primed seed and varying seed rate on growth and productivity of soybean (Glycine max L.) under different planting techniques</div>

<div>Background: Pulses, supplemented with cereals, provide a perfect mix of vegetarian protein of high biological value. The productivity of pulses in India is less than half of the productivity levels in the USA and Canada. Present investigation was aimed to Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth in three pulse crops in the state of Rajasthan from 2000-01 to 2017-18. 
 
Methods: In the current study, the Tornqvist Theil Index was used to compute the total output index, total input index and total factor productivity index. The Tornqvist Index is exact for the homogenous translog production function that can deliver a second order approximation to an arbitrary twice differentiable homogenous production function. The translog function does not require perfect substitutes for inputs. If the relative price of input increases, the producer decreases its use (substituting other inputs) until all marginal productivities are proportional to the new prices. 
&nbsp;&nbsp; 
Result: The results of this study has indicates low TFP in Gram (0.98%) despite a 59.23 per cent share in the total pulse output of the state. The annual compound growth rate of TFP of black gram increased at the rate of 1.11 per cent per annum (moderate growth) and the contribution of TFP to output growth was low; at about 41.63. Whereas, the compound growth rate of TFP of annual green gram crop increased at the 2.38 per cent per annum (high growth) while its TFP to output growth was about 66.43 per cent. The real cost of production of gram, black gram and green gram crop increased by 0.77, 1.49 and 1.57 per cent per annum, respectively.</div>

​​Estimation of Total Factor Productivity Growth of Major Pulse Crops in Rajasthan, India

Background: Productivity, as a source of growth has been a significant premise of analytical investigation in economics all along, however it gained an empirical momentum in the recent years only and has become a necessary index to growth. Present paper estimates growth rate of area, production and productivity of food grain and oilseed crops in Rajasthan.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: To analyse growth performance of food grain and oilseed crops Rajasthan time series, data on area, production and yield were collected from 1976-77 to 2018-19. The time-series data were collected on area, production and yield of selected crops from the Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES), Directorate of Agriculture (DOA) and Rajasthan State Agriculture Department. The compound growth rates (CGRs) of area, production and productivity of selected crops in Rajasthan were calculated using the exponential function. 
 
Result: The study revealed that production, productivity and area of total food grains was recorded a positive and highly significant annual growth at the rate of 3.18%, 2.19% 0.63% per annum, respectively. The production, productivity and area of total oilseed was observed a positive and highly significant annual growth rate of 7.63%, 2.07% and 4.27% per annum, respectively. The area under barley, gram and sesamum reduced during the study period. Therefore, the technological support through the varietal improvement and extension support is required.

An Analytical Study on Growth Performance of Major Food Grain and Oilseed Crops in Context of Food Security: Rajasthan, India

<div style="text-align: justify;">The growth rate and instability of mango production is studied for the period 1992-93 to 2013-14. For studying the growth rate, linear and compound models are fitted with and without spline. Spline model is fitted to take care of abrupt jumps in the data and evaluate the change in the trend of time series data.The entire period of study is divided into two sub-periods, 1992-93 to 2002-03 as sub period-I and 2003-04 to 2013-14 as sub-period-II as there is maximum percentage change in area, production and yield of mango in the year 2002-03. The best fitted model is selected by considering the model evaluation criteria, such as, Adj. R2 and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The compound model without spline, compound model with spline and linear model with spline was found to be best fit forarea, production and yield respectively. The growth rate in area, production and yield is found by using the best fit model. &nbsp;The growth rate for area is found to be positive and significant but for yield it is found to be significantly negative for each sub period and for the entire period of study. For this, though the production shows positive growth rate but it is insignificant for sub-period-Iand also for the whole period. The instability in mango production is studied with the help of coefficient of variation.As coefficient of variation is affected by long term trend, it is computed after eliminating trend from the data.From study of instability, it is found that area under mango in India shows lesser instability than production and yield. Though there is increase in production of &nbsp;mango but the increase is mainly due to the positive growth in area under mango. The yield of mango is declining at a significant rate. Decomposition analysis carried out by hazel&rsquo;s decomposition technique reveals that change in mean area made a great positive contribution towards the change in mean production, whereas, change in mean yield and change in area &ndash; yield interaction both made negative contribution towards change in mean productionfrom sub-period I to II.</div>

Fitting of appropriate model to study growth rate and instability of mango production in India

<div>Background: The year round green forage supply for better health and productivity of the animals can be ensured by mixed cropping of cereal and legume forages along with proper nutrient management. Keeping these facts in mind an experiment was carried out to analyse growth, productivity and profitability of fodder sorghum and clusterbean as influenced by mixed cropping and nutrient management. 
 
Methods: Experiment was laid out in factorial randomized complete block design with four seed rate combinations of sorghum and clusterbean (S1 - sole sorghum, S2 - sole clusterbean, S3 - 75% sorghum + 25% clusterbean and S4 - 60% sorghum + 40% clusterbean) along with six nutrient management treatments (N1 - 100% RDF, N2 - 100% RDF + PGPR, N3 - 100% RDF + seaweed extract, N4 - 75% RDF + PGPR, N5 - 75% RDF + seaweed extract and N6 &ndash; 50% RDF + PGPR + seaweed extract) in three replications. The growth of crops was evaluated in terms of plant height, leaf length, leaf width, number of leaves, leaf stem ratio and stem girth which all together contributed towards the fodder yield. 
 
Result: In sorghum crop the growth was not statistically different between the treatments S1 and S3 but in clusterbean sole crop recorded higher growth yet the influence was not significant on all parameters. Among nutrient management N1, N2 and N3 treatments recorded higher growth and thus yield in both crops which was not statistically different from N5 treatment. The correlation study indicated that cumulative influence of these growth parameters resulted in higher green and dry fodder yield under sole crop. Whereas in mixed cropping S3 treatment recorded significantly at par fodder yield to S1. The evidence presented above shows that 75% sorghum + 25% clusterbean mixed cropping treatment with 75% RDF + seaweed extract served its purpose of fodder yield enhancement.</div>

<div>Growth, Productivity and Profitability of Fodder Sorghum and Cluster Bean as Influenced by Mixed Cropping and Nutrient Management</div>

Pranic Agriculture (PA) is a supplementary approach to plant cultivation, incorporating the deliberate process of channeling prana-a fundamental life force energy-towards soil, seeds and seedlings to foster and enhance plant growth. This deliberate cleansing and revitalization process contributes to a harmonious and flourishing environment, fostering optimal conditions for plant development. This systematic review seeks to evaluate the influence of Pranic Agriculture by examining its impact on key crop parameters such as germination, plant dimensions, leaf characteristics, flowering, crop yield, chlorophyll content and plant polymorphism. By delving into seventeen pertinent studies conducted between 2009 and 2024 and published in reputable English peer-reviewed journals, this review aims to shed light on the potential viability of Pranic Agriculture.&nbsp;The selected studies, sourced from databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar and recognized journals by UGC and NAAS, were identified using keywords such as prana and agriculture, pranic agriculture, supplementary agriculture and complementary treatment in agriculture. Pranic Agriculture emerged from the reviewed studies as a catalyst for significant improvements in diverse growth parameters, spanning germination rates, shoot and root development, leaf morphology, early flowering and enhanced yield. In addition, an increase in chlorophyll content and polymorphism is noticed in plants treated by PA. Implementing Pranic Agriculture holds the promise of not only enhancing crop growth and yield, but potentially increasing farmer income. Continued research in this realm promises to deepen our understanding of the interconnected relationship between Pranic Agriculture and the broader environment, paving the way for sustainable agricultural practices that harmonise with nature.

Impact of Pranic Agriculture on Crop Growth and Yield: A Systematic Review

<div>Background: Alfalfa crops are subject to intercalation when grown continuously on the same field, and autotoxicity appears to be another factor in this thinning. Alfalfa fields are often thinned out and have lower yields during consecutive production, and autotoxicity is increasingly found to be a major reason. Hence, Therefore, understanding the seed germination and seedling growth and physiological mechanisms of the alfalfa under continuous cropping system becomes important for sustainable the use of alfalfa grassland.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The leaves, stem, root and rhizosphere soil of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L. cv ZhongMu No.1) were collected to determine the seedling growth germination index (GI) and vigor index(VI), physiological characters malondialdehyde (MDA), proline, Soluble sugar (SS), Soluble protein (SP), Superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD). 
 
Result: The germination rate, germination potential, germination index (GI) and vigor index decreased with the increasing extract contents, particularly in leaf extracts. In the extract of plant and soil, the concentration of malondialdehyde altered indistinctly, while the contents of osmo-regulatory substances and the activities of anti-oxidative enzymes generally decreased. Furthermore, the extract increased the seedling length of alfalfa and GI was negatively correlated with seedling growth characteristics.</div>