<div>Background: Micronutrient formulation is a liquid mixture of micronutrients which can be used as a fertilizer. It is a mixture of two solutions viz., solution A and solution B. Solution A is a mixture of zinc sulphate (50 gL-1), boric acid (10 gL-1), copper sulphate (20 gL-1), manganous sulphate (0.5 gL-1), ferrous sulphate (10 gL-1) and ammonium molybdate (0.5 gL-1) whereas solution B is an organic acid which act as a chelate. The mixture can be diluted to specific concentrations for application. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of micronutrient formulation as seed treatment and foliar nutrition.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The study was conducted at College of Agriculture, Padannakkad, Kerala Agricultural University and Regional Agricultural Research Station, Pilicode during 2018&ndash;19. The investigation was carried out in three parts: (i) standardization of micronutrient formulation for cowpea (ii) seed treatment study (iii) field experiment. The proportion of mixing micronutrient formulation and the duration for seed treatment was standardized in experiment I. In experiment II, a seed treatment study was carried out in a completely randomised design with seven treatments and three replications which included seed treatment with micronutrient formulation @ 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1, 1.5 and 2 percent as T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6 respectively. T7 (seed treatment with water) was the control. Three, a field experiment was carried out in randomized block design (factorial) with twelve treatments and three replications. The treatment consisting of combination of four levels of seed treatment - factor A [no seed treatment (S1), seed treatment with rhizobium (S2), seed treatment with best concentration from experiment 1 (S3) and second best seed treatment from experiment 1 (S4)]&nbsp;and three levels of foliar application of micronutrient - factor B [no foliar application (F1), one foliar application at 15 DAS (F2) and two foliar applications at 15 and 30 DAS (F3)]. 
 
Result: Through lab experiments, solution B was standardized and the formulation was developed by mixing solution A and solution B in the ratio 1:2. Duration for seed treatment was also standardized as 6 hours. Thus micronutrient formulation was standardized. In seed treatment study, seeds treated with 2% micronutrient formulation (T6) showed highest plant height at three leaf stage (24.23 cm) and seedling vigour index (2423). In the field experiment seed treatment with 2% micronutrient formulation (S3), foliar spray at 15 and 30 days after sowing (F3) and their interaction (S3F3) was found to be highly effective to the crop in terms of plant height, stem diameter, number of pods per plant, pod weight per plant, grain yield and nutrient content in grain. These results clearly indicate the role of micronutrient formulation in enhancing the growth, yield and nutrient content of cowpea.</div>

Evaluation of Micronutrient Mixture as Seed Treatment and Foliar Nutrition in Grain Cowpea

Background: Maize followed by pulses is the predominant cropping system in many parts of India. After harvesting sweet corn, most farmers leave their land unplanted, even though it has significant potential for growing a second crop during the rabi season. Greengram is one of the best options for farmers, as it not only increases their income but also utilizes the soil&cent;s residual nutrients and moisture. Greengram, a short-duration crop, is one of the key pulse crops in India and serves as a protein-rich food. In light of the aforementioned considerations, an experiment was conducted to evaluate whether the foliar application of micronutrients mixture to the previous kharif sweet corn crop had any residual effects on the productivity and profitability of the subsequent greengram crop. 
 
Methods: The experiment, which included ten treatments was carried out in two consecutive rabi seasons during 2022 and 2023 at the College of Agriculture, V.C. Farm, Mandya, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, was designed using a randomized block design (RBD) with three replications. After sweet corn stubbles were incorporated into the soil, greengram was planted as a follow-up crop to preserve soil fertility. With the exception of absolute control, the recommended dosage of NPK fertilizers (20:50:50 kg ha-1) for greengram was common. 
 
Result: The pooled data showed that the foliar application of MM2&nbsp;(0.2%) + Humic acid @ 0.5% greatly enhanced growth parameters and yield attributes over absolute control, resulting in the highest net return (Rs. 45,203 ha-1) and benefit:cost ratio of 2.47 among the residual effect of micronutrients mixture.

Response of Greengram (Vigna radiata L.) as Succeeding Crop to Residual Effect of Micronutrients Mixture Administered in Preceding Sweet corn [Zea mays (L.) Saccharata]

<div>Background: French bean or kidney bean is a rich source of protein, fibers and minerals in diet and is used by poor people in several Asian countries as a cheap source of protein and mineral vegetable/seed grain. Thus, the study on micronutrient variations in French bean local genotypes was undertaken to screen for Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn content in comparison to developed varieties.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: Selected twenty local genotypes/accessions and four released varieties of French bean were grown in the field. The morphological characterization was carried out as per crop descriptors. The micronutrient analysis for Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu content was carried out using AAS. Further, accessions were screened using fourteen SSR markers linked to Fe and Zn content. 
 
Result: The results revealed that accession IC342273 exhibited significantly higher dry pod (58.94 g) and seed yield (809.74 g) per plot. The accession IC538420 (177.31 ppm) exhibited significantly higher mean Fe content and was on par with Arka Suvidha (176 ppm). Accession EC500226 showed significantly higher Zn (26.91 ppm), Mn (15.31 ppm) and Cu (8.55 ppm) content over other accessions and varieties. Among fourteen SSR primers amplified, two genomic SSR markers (BM154 and BM211) exhibited higher polymorphism among the accessions. The SSR markers classified the accessions and varieties into two clusters, which can be used in crop improvement programmes on French bean for micronutrients bio-fortification studies.</div>

<div>Screening of Bush Type French Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Accessions for Micronutrient Variations and Characterization of Selected Genotypes using Micronutrient Content Linked Markers</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">Mixture Experiments are very common in real life experiments. Designing a mixture experiment involves selection of the proportion of the mixture components in a fashion such that a mathematical model can be fitted adequately and the parameters could be estimated. In agricultural experiments, the mixture components may be several sources of the input applied or input may be applied at different crop growth stages in splits such that total quantity applied to the crop is constant. Efficient designs for mixture experiments are useful when the response is assumed to depend on the relative proportions of the ingredients present in the mixture. A number of algorithms and heuristics are available in literature; however, a limited work has been done in the use of algorithms for mixture experiments. There is a need to develop designs for mixture experiments in smaller number of runs for a specific model for varying proportions using algorithmic approach. In this study we have developed algorithms to construct saturated designs fort mixture experiments. The algorithm provides a greater flexibility in design construction in comparison to the traditional approach in terms of models to be fitted; number of runs to be requited etc. These designs are very well suited in real life experiments. The use of algorithms in construction of designs for mixture experiments not only reduces the computational cost but also results in a more efficient search of the design in a continuous design space.</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div>

Construction of Saturated Designs for Mixture Experiments

Micronutrients are essential for plant growth, but plants require relatively in smaller quantity. They include iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), boron (B), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo) chlorine (Cl). In oilseeds these micronutrients play a major role in translocation of photosynthates, increasing seed setting percentage, essential for translocation of sugar, germination of pollen grains, stigma receptivity, amino acid and protein synthesis which ultimately increase the productivity of oilseed crops. &nbsp;

Micronutrients and productivity of oilseed crops - A review

<div>Micronutrients play an important role in increasing yield of pulses and oilseed legumes through their effects on the plant itself and on the nitrogen fixing symbiotic process. Indian soils have become deficient not only in major plant nutrients like (NPK) but also scarce in some micronutrients like zinc, iron, molybdenum and boron. These situations suggest the need of application of micronutrients along with biofertilizers under intensive cultivation of legumes as it is directly involved in biological nitrogen fixation through nitrogenase enzyme activity. In the present research investigation, different micronutrients iron, molybdenum and their combination in the form of ferrous sulphate, ammonium molybdate and ferrous sulphate+ammonium molybdate @2.0, 2.0 and 2.5 kg/h are added into micronutrient deficient soil for plant growth promotion of mungbean under pot house condition. Among various treatments, ammonium molybdate application (@2.0kg/h along with rhizobial isolate HSR1 and PSB increases nodulation(28.6%), plant biomass (18.5%), seed yield (41%) as compared to sole application of biofertilizer.</div>

<div>Evaluation of combined effect of micronutrients and rhizobial inoculation on mungbean productivity</div>

The purpose of this study was to classify Anatolian buffalo using Gaussian mixture regression model according to discrete and continuous environmental effects. Gaussian mixture model performs separately regression analysis both within and between groups. This is an important property of Gaussian mixture models which makes it different from other multivariate statistical methods. The data were obtained from 1455 Anatolian buffalo lactation milk yield records reared in seven different locations in Bitlis province, Turkey. Age of dam, lactation duration and locations were considered as environmental effects on lactation milk yield. Data set was divided into three homogenous subgroups with respect to AIC and BIC in the Gaussian mixture regression, based on environmental effects on lactation milk yield. Estimated mean for lactation milk yields and mixing probabilities for the first, second and third subgroups were determined as 1494.33 kg (16.9%), 540.33 kg (45.2%) and 847.61 (37.9%), respectively. The numbers of buffalo in each subgroup according to mixing probability were obtained as 159, 756, and 540 for the first, second, and third groups, respectively. The effects of lactation period, age of dam and villages were found statistically significant on lactation milk yield in subgroup 1 that was highest mean for lactation milk yield (p&lt;0.01). &nbsp; In conclusion, results showed that Gaussian mixture regression was an important tool for classifying quantitative traits considering environmental effects in animal breeding.

Modeling with Gaussian mixture regression for lactation&nbsp;milk yield in Anatolian buffaloes

<div>Background: Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp] is one of the primary grain legume crops grown in India for its high quality vegetable protein, animal feed and fodder. It is affected by various fungal and viral diseases. Among these, leaf blight caused by Alternaria alternata is one of the most destructive diseases and recently the disease of minor importance becomes major one in Tamil Nadu. Use of resistant cultivar is the most effective, economically viable and eco-friendly tool for combating the plant diseases. The micronutrients play a key role in many physiological and biochemical functions of the plants which influences plant pathogenic interaction. The micronutrients viz., Zn.Mn,Cu and Fe found to have greater impact on reducing the plant disease severity. Developing integrated disease management strategy involving disease resistant variety, micronutrient and fungicide application would be the best sustainable method for controlling the pigeonpea leaf blight. 
 
Methods: Twenty four pigeonpea genotypes along with two local varieties viz., CO5 and CO6 were evaluated in the field for their resistance against Alternaria alternata leaf blight disease, consecutively for three years from 2015-16 to 2017-18 using the disease resistance scale ranging from 0 to 9. Field experiments were also conducted for three consecutive Kharif season from 2015 to 2018 to evaluate the efficacy of the foliar application of different micronutrients and combination fungicide viz., carbendazim 12% + mancozeb 63% on the incidence of leaf blight disease.&nbsp; 
 
Result: A total of 24 pigeonpea genotypes were screened for their resistance against leaf blight under field condition. Among these, four genotypes viz., BDN2, IPA 8F, IPA 15F and MA6 were found resistance and nine genotypes were moderately resistant and remaining 11 genotypes showed susceptible reaction to leaf blight. The results of the field experiment on micronutrient and fungicide application revealed that foliar spraying of MnSO 4 @0.2% on 30 days after sowing and carbendazim 12%+ mancozeb 63%@ 1g / lit on 45 days after sowing recorded the lowest leaf blight incidence of 8.1 PDI (Per cent Disease Index) with the highest disease reduction of 76.9% as against 35 PDI in the untreated control plot. The above treatments also recorded the highest grain yield of 905 kg/ ha as against 703 kg/ in the untreated control.</div>

<div>Management of Alternaria Leaf Blight in Pigeonpea through Host Plant Resistance and Micronutrient Application</div>

Background: The article presents the results of field experiments on the use of micro fertilizers on sunflower. The object of the study was a hybrid of sunflower Fausto from the company &ldquo;Strube DandS GMBH&rdquo;. Field experiments were carried out with micro fertilizers of the German company &ldquo;Lebozol&rdquo;, the Russian &ldquo;Polydon Agro&rdquo; and the Lithuanian &ldquo;Acoustic Biotechnologies (brand Humic Land&rdquo;). 
 
Methods: Foliar application with micronutrients and their treatment of sunflower seeds and their combination were studied. As studies have shown, the variant with the use of micronutrients for seed dressing against the background of foliar application showed the greatest effectiveness. Foliar application without treating seeds with trace elements did not significantly increase the yield and oil yield. Also, the oil content of the seeds according to the variants in the years of research did not differ significantly. In general, the condition of sunflower plants during the years of research before harvesting was satisfactory. At the same time, it should be noted that in 2022 abnormal precipitation affected the quality of sunflower seeds. 
 
Result: The analysis of the obtained results indicates the need for further search for optimal ways of using micronutrients to increase the yield of sunflower and its quality. It should also be taken into account the fact that according to economic calculations, the costs of applying micro fertilizers during seed treatment will not exceed 10 rubles/ha and with &agrave;oliar application they will amount to 1300-2300 rubles/ha. accordingly.

Sunflower Yield Depending on the Application of Micronutrients

<div style="text-align: justify;">The research was carried out to determine the effects of different mixture ratios and cutting times on dry-matter yield and silage quality of mixtures of bersem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) with Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) &nbsp;in Adana province, Turkey. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with four replications during the years of 2011-2013. The mixture-ratios ( 80% &nbsp;BC + 20% IR, &nbsp;60% BC + % 40 IR, &nbsp;40% BC+ % 60 IR, 20% BC + 80 % IR, pure berseem clover (BC) and Italian ryegrass (IR) ) were main plots, and harvest times (beginning of the flowering, mid flowering and full flowering of BC) were sub-plots. From the result of the study, it was concluded that the mixture of 60 % BC &nbsp;+40 % IR harvested at full flowering of BC was superior in terms of dry matter yield and silage quality.</div>

Evaluation of Micronutrient Mixture as Seed Treatment and Foliar Nutrition in Grain Cowpea

Response of Greengram (Vigna radiata L.) as Succeeding Crop to Residual Effect of Micronutrients Mixture Administered in Preceding Sweet corn [Zea mays (L.) Saccharata]

Screening of Bush Type French Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Accessions for Micronutrient Variations and Characterization of Selected Genotypes using Micronutrient Content Linked Markers

Construction of Saturated Designs for Mixture Experiments

Micronutrients and productivity of oilseed crops - A review

Evaluation of combined effect of micronutrients and rhizobial inoculation on mungbean productivity

Modeling with Gaussian mixture regression for lactation milk yield in Anatolian buffaloes

Management of Alternaria Leaf Blight in Pigeonpea through Host Plant Resistance and Micronutrient Application

Sunflower Yield Depending on the Application of Micronutrients

Effects of mixture ratio and cutting time on forage yield and silage quality of intercropped berseem clover and italian ryegrass