Aruna Kumari

Nutrient Profile of Native Woody Species and Medicinal Plants inNortheastern Mexico: A Synthesis

Leaf nutrients have an important role in governing the trees growth and development of trees and are sources of nutrients for ruminants in forest. The present paper makes a synthesis of two earlier studies undertaken on macro and micronutrients of 1) 37 woody species and 2) 44 medicinal plants used traditionally of Northeastern Mexico. In the both the studies we estimated the contents of six nutrients in the leaves, three macronutrients (P, Mg, K, protein, C, N, C/N and three micronutrients (Cu, Fe, ZN) both for woody species and medicinal plants. A large variability exists in nutrient contents in woody species and medicinal plants. The species selected for the highest macronutrients and micronutrients may be utilized for confirming their physiological efficiency and probable better growth and productivity as well as good sources of macro and micronutrients for grazing wild animals. Similar to the results of woody trees, medicinal plants also exhibited a wider variability in macro and micronutrients. Based on the analysis of macro and micro nutrients the following species Phalaris canariensis, Eruca sativa, Ocimum basilicum, Tragia ramosa, Mentha piperita, Mimosa malacophylla, Acalypha monostachya, Salvia hispanica, Tillandsia usenoides, Letsea glauscens, Tagetes lucida, Erygium heterophylla, Dyssodia setifolia, Nicotiana glauca, Ruta graveolens, Olea europea, Equisetum hyemale, Rosamrinus officinalis are selected containing a majority of each of these nutrients.

Climate Change: Its Impact on Bio-resource and Sustainable Agriculture

Climate change is a complex alteration of climate, which is subtle and continuous, yet extremely important through its consequences for vegetation of various types that thrived under constant or relatively unchanged climates. Potential adaptation strategies for management of the impact of climate change—viz developing cultivars tolerant to heat and salinity stress and resistant to flood and drought, modifying crop management practices, improving water management, adopting new farming techniques such as resource-conserving technologies, crop diversification, improving pest management, better weather forecasting and crop insurance, and harnessing the indigenous technical knowledge of farmers—are briefly discussed. The chapter makes a brief assessment of research undertaken on the effects of global warming and climate change on various aspects—(1) impact of climate on agricultural production and forestry; (2) crop production; (3) impact of an increasing level of carbon dioxide on security of life; (4) impact of climate change on food inflation; (5) suggestion of various mitigation strategies for climate change; (6) carbon sequestration technology to reduce carbon pollution; (7) climate-smart agriculture; (8) conservation practices under rain-fed agriculture; (9) intercropping; (10) genotype × environment; and (11) impact of climate on livestock production—and discusses technologies that need to be adopted to combat climate change.

Physiological Basis of Crop Productivity

This chapter reviews various aspects of the physiological basis of crop production under climatic changes and the use of different crop geometry planting techniques and their influence on yield. This includes diurnal variations in canopy temperature and stress degree, and various abiotic and biotic stress factors such as chlorophyll, nitrogen and potassium content under post-flowering moisture stress in sorghum, sodium and potassium accumulation under salt stress, chlorophyll-scavenging enzymes under drought stress, physiological responses to foliar spray of organic manure, zinc, integrated nutrient management, application of nutrients for shelf life, sustainable land water and crop management, nutrient cycling and distribution, foliar application of zinc, boron, GA, plant growth regulators, and application of low-cost technologies such as Rhizobium and PSB for soil fertility improvement. It also discusses the role of biotechnology and genetic engineering, green technology, nanotechnology, bio-fortification in bio-resource and stress management, with a special emphasis on pest management.

Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology

This chapter give a concise review of research trends in crops, dealing with various aspects of breeding such as evaluation, genotypic variability, genetic advancement, character association, path coefficients, combining ability, etc., and biotechnology in various crops. Several high-yielding cultivars are evaluated for genetic divergence and stability characters across environments. It also discusses the research advances in screening of genotypes against abiotic and biotic stresses, the development of early-maturing hybrids, the expression of stability traits against environments, the interactive effect of genotype and environment, heterosis, and attributes for selection of genotypes.

Biotic Stress: Insect Pests

The productivity of crops is influenced by abiotic and biotic factors. Insects are the major pests contributing to severe yield losses. This chapter makes a concise review of the researches undertaken on insect incidence, influence of photoperiod and environment on insect multiplication and the specific control measures in various crops, viz., rice, maize, sorghum, chickpea, green gram, pigeon pea, black gram, safflower, sunflower, castor, groundnut, cotton, cabbage, okra, chilli, tomato, tobacco, banana, mango and sugarcane. It also discusses the various rearing media employed for the study of biology of insects, the integrated pest management, the compatibility of insecticides with the fungicides and various weed control measures.

Bioresource and Stress Management

The growth and economy of a society is highly dependent on profitable utilization of bio-resource, plants and animals for livelihood and survival. This chapter discusses the efficient utilization of native plants, trees and other bio-resources as well as various abiotic stress factors affecting crop productivity under sustainable agriculture. Various innovative techniques, agrotechnology and organic fertilizers need to evolve for increasing productivity under sustainable agriculture. The reserve of organic carbon fixed in the soil by soil microorganisms is the long-term carbon that is released into the environment by increased burning of fossil fuels. It helps to limit the global changes that are continuously increasing due to rapid changes in the amounts of greenhouse gases. Certain tree species have the capacity to capture about 50 % of carbon, viz. Leucophyllum frutescens, Forestiera angustifolia, Bumelia celastrina and Acacia berlandieri which may be recommended for planting in highly contaminated areas to reduce pollution and carbon dioxide load in the atmosphere. This chapter urges the necessity for judicious utilization and conservation of native species and also the ethnic knowledge on plant uses inherited from generation to generation. Nature provides us a variety of goods and services, and for every moment of our life, we use the resources that it has provided. The air R.K. Maiti ( ) Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Carr. No 85, km 145, NL 67700 Linares, Mexico e-mail: ratikanta.maiti@gmail.com A. Kumari Department of Crop Physiology, Agricultural College, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Polasa, Jagtial, Karimnagar 505 529, Telangana, India e-mail: arunasujanagcjgl@gmail.com encircling the earth enables us to breathe; the plants grown in the soil provide the food to eat, shelter to animals, vegetation and pastures. The energy provided by the sun, coal or fossil fuels are used for several purposes. In a similar manner, the water that falls to the ground in the form of rain is used for irrigation and to meet the various day-to-day needs. It is thus evident that we are dependent on nature to a large extent to meet all of our basic needs – air, food, water, shelter, energy, etc. The growth and economy of a society is highly dependent on profitable utilization of

Social Necessity of an Efficient Management and Conservation of Bio-resource and Stress Management

The growth and economy of a society is highly dependent on profitable utilization of bio-resource, plants and animals for livelihood and survival. This chapter discusses the efficient utilization of native plants, trees and other bio-resources as well as various abiotic stress factors affecting crop productivity under sustainable agriculture. Various innovative techniques, agrotechnology and organic fertilizers need to evolve for increasing productivity under sustainable agriculture. The reserve of organic carbon fixed in the soil by soil microorganisms is the long-term carbon that is released into the environment by increased burning of fossil fuels. It helps to limit the global changes that are continuously increasing due to rapid changes in the amounts of greenhouse gases. Certain tree species have the capacity to capture about 50 % of carbon, viz. Leucophyllum frutescens, Forestiera angustifolia, Bumelia celastrina and Acacia berlandieri which may be recommended for planting in highly contaminated areas to reduce pollution and carbon dioxide load in the atmosphere. This chapter urges the necessity for judicious utilization and conservation of native species and also the ethnic knowledge on plant uses inherited from generation to generation.