<div style="text-align: justify;">Mature compost with good agronomic properties can be used to control nitrogen loss from soil. Soil incubation and leaching experiments were conducted to determine the effects of paddy husk compost addition on controlling ammonium and nitrate losses from Bekenu Series soil. Retention of soil exchangeable ammonium and available nitrate were significantly improved in soil amended with paddy husk compost treatments compared with urea alone thus, reducing leaching of these ions. At 30 days of the leaching experiment, ammonium and nitrate losses were highest in urea without paddy husk compost addition compared with co-application of urea and paddy husk compost because the treatment significantly improved retention of soil exchangeable ammonium and available nitrate. Urea can be co-applied with paddy husk compost to improve release of ammonium and nitrate and to retain nitrogen availability.</div>

Paddy husk compost addition for improving nitrogen availability

<div>The recent developments of urban areas change the climate in the ecosystem and decreasing the arable land became the pressurized problems for all the producers of the present world. Moreover organic agriculture optimizes the application of biocomposts to improve soil fertility and productivity while minimizing the environmental implications and also it is necessary for sustainable agriculture. The study was conducted at St Josephs College for Women (A), Visakhapatnam andhra Pradesh. Agro-industrial wastes of Paddy and Coffee husk were collected and were used for the biocomposting process using Pleurotus eous, P.florida, Trichoderma asperelloides and Eisenia fetida. The vermicompost was used for the growth of black gram with 6 treatments. The plant was analyzed for root length, shoot length, number of leaves, number of nodules, fresh weight and dry weight at different stages (20,40 and 60 DAS). On 90th day the yield parameters like number of pods/plant, number of seeds/plant, length of the pod, weight of the seeds/pod, fresh weight and dry weight of the pod were analyzed. The experimental study results revealed that the treatment 6 (Pre decomposed Coffee husk, Consortium of Pleurotus eous, P.florida, Trichoderma asperelloides and Eisenia fetida) has shown a significant increase in root length (7.9,12.2 and 16.5 cm), shoot length (11.8, 25.8 and 30.7 cm), number of leaves(19.0,37.0 and 41.0) number of nodules(10.0,30.0 and 17.0), fresh weight (2.77,7.37 and 15.39 g) and dry weight (0.52,3.67 and 5.73 g) of the plant on 20 DAS, 40 DAS and 60 DAS and the yield parameters also showed the increase in number of pods/plant (39), number of seeds/plant (5), length of the pod (5.6 cm), weight of the seeds /pod (2.384 g), fresh weight of the pod (2.95 g) and dry weight (1.195 g) on 90th Day of black gram when in comparison with the control. It is to conclude that treatment 6 can be a better manure to enhance the growth and yield of plants and also it can be a great help for the farmers.</div>

​Impact of Paddy and Coffee Husk as the Bio Compost and its Effect on the Growth and Yield of Black Gram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper]

<div>Background: Amidst of emerging world with the new technologies we are in the dangerous condition regarding the disposal of agro industrial wastes which creates a serious problem. Organic manures can prevent and can enhance the productivity in the plants as well as can reduce the environmental issues. 
 
Methods: The study was conducted in the month of September to November 2019 at St. Joseph&rsquo;s College Campus, Visakhapatnam, A.P. with the bio composting process of paddy and coffee husk along with Pleurotus eous, Pleurotus florida, Trichoderma asperelloides and Eisenia fetida, with 6 treatments. The plants were analyzed for root length, shoot length, number of leaves, number of nodules, fresh weight and dry weight of the plant on 20, 40 and 60 DAS and the yield parameters were analyzed on 90th day of the plant. 
 
Result: The results showed a great increase in the treatment 6 (Pre decomposed coffee husk, consortium of Pleurotus eous, P. florida, Trichoderma asperelloides and Eisenia fetida) in root length (8.5, 12.9 and 16.1 cm) shoot length (15.2, 30.3 and 43.2 cm) number of leaves (11, 18 and 49) number of nodules (12, 20 and 9) fresh weight (4.83, 8.98 and 15.47 g) and dry weight (1.11, 3.56 and 4.37 g) when compared with the other treatments and control. The yield parameters also showed significant results in number of pods (27), length of the pod (5.7 cm), number of seeds/pod (6), weight of the seeds/pod (2.89 g), fresh weight of the pod (1.653 g) and dry weight of the pod (0.986 g).</div>

The Effect of Paddy and Coffee Husk as the Organic Manure on the Vegetative and Yield Parameters of Moth Bean [Vigna aconitifolia (Jacq) Marechal]

<div style="text-align: justify;">Paddy straw is a major agro-residue fed to ruminants in India. Feeding only rice straw does not provide enough nutrients to the ruminants even for maintenance due to the low nutritive value of this highly lignified material containing high concentration of anti-nutrition factors like lignin, silicates and oxalates. Despite the improvements of crop residues through various processing methods such as physical and chemical, the efficient utilization to desirable extent is still awaited. So utilization of paddy straw in association with concept of complete feed along with biological agents is need of the hour to maximize advantage from given feeds in animal production systems.</div>

Improved paddy straw as ruminant feed: A review

<div>Background: Sun drying is a popular post-harvest operation to maintain rice quality during the storage period. Farmers use different pads and thicknesses for sun drying of paddy in Ampara district, Sri Lanka. A study was conducted to evaluate the suitability and effectiveness of the drying pad and thickness as practiced by local paddy farmers during the sun drying process. 
 
Methods: The grain with an initial moisture content of 28% (dry basis) was sun dried with four types of drying pads and five levels of thickness of grain. This experiment was conducted between 8.30 am and 4.30 pm at the South Eastern University of Sri Lanka in August 2020. The moisture contents of the grain were measured at regular time intervals. 
 
Result: It was found that the duration of drying of paddy from 28% to 13% moisture content on a dry basis was 300 to 540 minutes depending upon the drying pad and thickness. The tarpaulin is reasonable at shallow thickness with less time to reach the necessary moisture level than other drying pads. Black polythene and fertilizer bag can be utilized for sun drying of paddy at 4 cm thickness with 130 minutes. It was found that with an increase in the thickness of paddy from 0.5 cm to 4 cm, the drying time increases. A statistically significant interaction was obtained between drying pads and thickness level on moisture removal of paddy. Therefore, the moisture removal rate differs with the drying pad and thickness of the paddy under open sun drying.</div>

Effect of Pads and Thickness of Paddy on Moisture Removal under Sun Drying

<div>Background: The uncertainty of groundnut productivity in the rainfed areas could be minimized by in situ conserving the soil moisture received through precipitation during the cropping period and improving the nutrient status.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: A field experiment was conducted at the Department of Agronomy, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai, Tamil Nadu during 2014-2015 rabi season to find out the effect of charred rice husk and other organic materials enriched with or without fertilizer nutrient on the moisture retention and nutrient supply during the deficit period of crop growth. The treatment consists of charred rice husk, biochar, lignite and farm yard manure alone and enriched with the recommended dose of nitrogen (10 kg ha-1) and phosphorus (10 kg ha-1) fertilizer and compared with the absolute control and recommended dose of fertilizer (10:10:45 kg NPK ha-1). 
 
Result: The structural morphology of organic materials was studied using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) showed that the particles of charred rice husk were uneven and the diameter varied from 3-4 &igrave;m with clod and block appearance, the particles of biochar were irregular in shape, uneven sized and diameter varied from 2-3 &igrave;m with block appearance and the lignite particles found spherical and aggregated. The chemical composition of organic manure with nutrient examined under SEM-EDAX revealed that the charred rice husk contains 64.31% carbon, 28.42% oxygen and 5.96% silica. Results of the study revealed that, application of enriched FYM at 5 t ha-1 recorded significantly higher pod yield (2190 kg ha-1). The enriched biochar and charred rice husk produced comparable pod yield of 2010 kg ha-1 and 1983 kg ha-1, respectively.</div>

<div>Enriched Charred Rice Husk to Improve the Nutrient Management in Rainfed Groundnut</div>

<div>Background: The dairy industry is one of the largest industries in India. The exports were made to 105 countries in the world. Dairy production is one of the major sustenance factors for the rural economy of India. Notably, India ranks first in Isabgol production (98%) and is the sole supplier of seeds and husk in the international market. Among medicinal plants, Isabgol is the first ranked foreign exchange earner for the country. India is the largest producer and the main supplier of seed and husk to the world market. It contains a significant number of proteins and husk yields colloidal mucilage which are valued for medicinal application and is used in Ayurveda, unani and allopathic systems of medicines. It is the main constituent of a number of laxative preparations. The psyllium is high in soluble fibre content with detoxing effect over digestive system makes it a very apt nutraceutical.&nbsp;Basundi is one of the heats desiccated indigenous products popular in Western part of India, mostly Maharashtra and Gujarat. It can be classified in the condensed milk group along with rabri, khoa, mithai and kheer and can be considered similar to sweetened condensed whole milk. 
 
Methods: The present investigation indicates utilization of encapsulated lactic acid bacteria culture (Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus) and modified psyllium husk for the preparation of probiotic basundi. The prepared probiotic basundi was analyzed for sensorial, physicochemical and microbial quality parameters. Probiotic basundi was prepared from 1000 ml of milk, 90 gm sugar, 02-03 pieces of cardamom, saffron and encapsulated LAB culture having (107, 108 and 109 cfu/gm containing equal proportions of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus) with 0.65 per cent hydrochloric acid modified psyllium husk. The probiotic basundi was then stored at refrigerated conditions at 4&deg;C for 08 hrs. 
 
Result: The organoleptic evaluation of probiotic basundi was carried out. As per the score of hedonic scale, basundi with encapsulated 10 per cent probiotic culture (109 cfu/gm) with 0.65 per cent hydrochloric acid modified psyllium husk had shown maximum consumer acceptability (8.3) among all samples.</div>

Exploration of Encapsulated Modified Psyllium Husk for Preparation of Probiotic Basundi

<div>Background: Several coastal regions in Vietnam have been suffered from salinity intrusion as a consequence of global climate change. However, there are limited studies on saline intrusion in Vietnam. This paper aimed to investigate the salinity intrusion of water and soil samples in paddy fields along Tam Giang lagoon, Thua Thien Hue province and clarify the factors affecting the salinity level.&nbsp; 
 
Methods:&nbsp;We measured the salinity concentrations (EC, Electrical conductivity) of water and soil samples in paddy fields at different distances (400, 600, 800, 1000 and 1200 m) from Tam Giang lagoon. The multiple regression analysis was performed to figure out the factors affecting the salinity concentrations.&nbsp; &nbsp; 
 
Result: The salinity concentrations of water were assessed as 48% high saline (10-25 dS m-1), 34% moderately saline (2-10 dS m-1), 2% slightly saline (0.7-2 dS m-1) and 15% non-saline (&lt;0.7 dS m-1). As for surface soil in paddy field, 14.3% moderately saline (4-8 dS m-1), 35.4% slightly saline (2-4 dS m-1) and 50.3% non-saline (0-2 dS m-1) were measured. A significantly positive correlation was found between salinity concentrations of water and soil (n = 175, r = 0.886, p&lt;0.01). The distances from salinity sources, Tam Giang lagoon and shrimp pond, were major factors affecting the salinity concentrations. The paddy fields near Tam Giang lagoon and shrimp pond have higher salinity concentrations compared to those areas close to the residential area. The surface water in the paddy field within 1000 m from the salinity source was assessed as saline that might harm the paddy soil and rice production. The results of this study provide highly useful information for local policymakers and farmers about the status of salinity intrusion in paddy land.</div>

Factors Affecting the Salinity Intrusion at the Paddy Field in Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam

<div>Background: The practice of rice-cum-fish is extensively practice by Apatani tribe living in Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh. The current study aimed to access the inputs impact on output, a resource-use-efficiency model on traditional paddy-cum-fish culture has been fitted. 
 
Methods: The present research investigation was carried out during the agricultural year 2014-15 with a total of 70 numbers of paddy-cum-fish respondents were selected by following a multi-stage simple random quota sampling technique. 
 
Result: Study reveals that the majority of the farmer&rsquo;s were dependent upon agriculture and traditional paddy-cum-fish culture, the total cost of cultivation of traditional paddy-cum-fish culture was ₹ 28,782.70 per ha with average yield of 2.76 q per ha. The constraints faced by the traditional paddy-cum-fish farmers during production and marketing viz: poor marketing channel, price fluctuation and exploitation of farmers by intermediaries thereby farmer receives less profit etc.</div>

​Priortization Strategies for the Resources of Traditional Paddy-cum-fish Culture in Lower Subansiri District

<div>Background: Paddy is a very important agricultural crop of Assam occupying 71.59 per cent of its total net cropped area. Among paddy, Sali paddy occupies 78.21 per cent of total paddy area in the state. Ranjit variety of Sali paddy developed by Assam Agricultural University found to be proven variety having yield potential of 6 ton per hectare in farmer&rsquo;s field. Hence University did large scale demonstration across the state and results were encouraging. 
 
Methods: The present study was an attempt to find out the impact of improved technology in enhancing the productivity and income of paddy farmers in Assam, India. Study was conducted during the year 2021-22. Sample for the study consisted of 88 randomly selected beneficiary farmers of improved technology intervention in Sali paddy cultivation undertaken by Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat in Dibrugarh district with proven variety Ranjit.&nbsp; 
 
Result: The study revealed that there was increase of productivity of Sali paddy by 2 times, gross return and net return&nbsp; by 3.48 times and 50.37 times, respectively, due to the adoption of improved technology and Benefit-cost ratio was 2.24 with adoption and 0.95&nbsp; without improved technology. Horizontal spread of technology increased by 61.54 per cent in number and 539.67 per cent in area cultivated. These implied the positive impact of technology intervention in paddy cultivation.</div>