Now and in the future, meeting the global demand for healthy food for the ever-increasing population is a crucial challenge. In the last seven decades, agricultural practices have shifted to the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to achieve higher yields. Despite the huge contribution of synthetic fertilizers in agronomy, their adverse effects on the environment, natural microbial habitat, and human health cannot be underrated. Besides, synthetic fertilizers are manufactured from non-renewable sources such as earth mining or rock exploitation. In this context, understanding and exploiting soil microbiota appears promising to enhance crop production without jeopardizing the environment and human health. This chapter reviews the historical as well as current research efforts made in identifying the interaction between soil microbes and root exudates for crop improvement. First, microbial consortium viz. bacteria, algae, fungi, and protozoa are briefly discussed. Then, the application of bio-stimulants followed by genome editing of microbes for crop improvement is summarized. Finally, the perspectives and opportunities to produce bioenergy and bio-fertilizers are analyzed.

ABSTRACT The flower morphology and phenology of 10 healthy, profusely flowering wild male kiwifruit (Actinidia callosa var. strigillosa C. F. Liang) accessions growing in North Sikkim district in Sikkim state, Northeast India, were analysed in 2021–2022. There was distinct variation among the accessions in the number of flowers per inflorescence, number of sepals and petals, colour of the sepals, arrangement of the petals, and average number of stamens, as well as the timing and duration of flowering. Accessions SKNFF-04 and SKNLC-21 were superior in terms of pollinating traits, with the highest average numbers of flowers and stamens per vine and the longest duration of flowering. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that the first and second principal components (PC1 and PC2) had eigenvalues greater than 1 and together explained 95.13% of the variation. Hierarchical cluster analysis categorised the accessions into two major clusters: Cluster I with eight accessions and Cluster II with the two superior accessions. The presence of the pleiochasium inflorescence type among all the observed accessions is of particular significance, as it can increase the efficacy of male selection in kiwifruit breeding programmes. This research sets the stage for further investigations into the potential advantages and unique characteristics of wild kiwifruit germplasm.

ABSTRACT Intensive cultivation coupled with scrupulous use of fertilizers could be detrimental to soil health and quality of the produce in the long run. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the predominant protected/polyhouse and open field vegetable production on soil quality. The changes in soil quality in comparison to control (fallow) indicate, whether the management practices being adopted under both the systems are sustainable or not. Thus, a study was conducted to identify the most appropriate soil quality indicators and finally to know about the status of soil quality both under polyhouse and open field system of cultivation in mid hills of North western Himalayas. Principal component analysis (PCA), a data reduction tool was employed to get the minimum data set for the assessment of soil quality. Geo-referenced soil samples were collected from 25 progressive farmers’ cultivating vegetables under polyhouse, as well as open field conditions and analyzed for various physical, chemical and biological indicators of soil quality. The PCA was performed which screened out the three principal components (PCs) with eigen value > 1. Average soil quality index (SQI) for different sites was observed to be on higher under polyhouse conditions (0.815) as compared to open field cultivation for vegetables (0.760) and control (0.703). Where, soil organic carbon contributed maximum to soil quality (75.6%) followed by pH (13.9%), water holding capacity (6.8%) and EC (3.6%). Conclusively, polyhouse cultivation system revealed high category of soil quality. Whereas, open field cultivation system revealed medium category of soil quality.

Abstract The present study is focused on the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles derived from Sapindus mukorossi pericarp extract. Silver nanoparticles were synthesized successfully by employing biological methods of synthesis. In this research, silver nitrate was used as a precursor and Sapindus mukorossi pericarp extract was used as a reducing agent for synthesis. The obtained silver nanoparticles were characterized by using UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform electron microscopy (FTIR) and High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). The UV-Vis spectra and visual observation showed that the color of pericarp extract of Sapindus mukorossi turned from golden yellow to dark brown after the addition of AgNO3 precursor and showed the highest absorption peak at 410 nm. In addition, XRD pattern revealed the face-centered cubic structure of silver nanoparticles. The FTIR measurements confirmed the presence of different functional groups within the extract that were directly involved in the reduction and stability of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles. HR-TEM images revealed the particles to be nearly spherical with a few irregular shapes and particles size ranging from 5 to 50 nm. The study highlights the antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticles that were tested against gram negative bacterium viz., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis. The results confirmed that the prepared silver nanoparticles showed good antimicrobial potential against all the tested microorganisms. The antioxidant potential of aqueous extract and biosynthesized silver nanoparticles was evaluated using DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) method and revealed that both aqueous extract and obtained silver nanoparticles exhibit maximum antioxidant activity.

Abstract Potatoes are one of the widely consumed staple foods all over the world. The prices of potatoes were more unstable than other agricultural commodities due to factors such as perishability, production uncertainties, and seasonal fluctuations. These factors make it difficult for farmers to manage and predict production levels, resulting in supply and price fluctuations. Therefore, it is essential to develop predictive models that can accurately forecast the pricing of agricultural commodities like potatoes. The study attempted to explore the pattern of potato prices in major markets of northern India using different time series models. The empirical findings indicated positively skewed data distributed with a high instability index. In terms of forecasting accuracy, the EEMD-ANN model exhibited the best performance among the various time series techniques, generating the lowest MAPE values of 9.10%, 12.97%, and 4.27% for the Chandigarh, Delhi, and Shimla markets, respectively. Meanwhile, the EEMD-ARIMA model yielded the most accurate prediction results for the Dehradun market, with a MAPE value of 12.97%. The outcomes of this study offer significant insights to farmers, consumers, and government bodies for making informed decisions regarding the production, consumption, and distribution of potatoes. Moreover, the effectiveness of various time series models in handling complex agricultural price series was also investigated.

ABSTRACT An analysis of wild kiwifruit (Actinidia callosa var. strigillosa) fruit samples from North Sikkim district of Sikkim state of Northeast India resulted in the identification of six promising female accessions, viz. SKNLA-11, SKNBC-01, SKNBC-02, SKNLC-02, SKNLC-07, and SKNZM-02. These selections exhibited significant variation in performance across desirable horticultural traits. Morphological parameters, including fruit weight (3.69–6.33 g), length (18.76- 26.71 mm), diameter (16.26- 19.76 mm), size (length × diameter) (342.56- 495.20 mm2), length-to-diameter ratio (1.03–1.57), stalk length (13.31–18.56 mm), and fruit yield (2.50- 8.50 Kg/vine), were assessed. Biochemical characteristics such as total soluble solids (17.20 −17.76 °B), titratable acidity (0.84–1.19%), total sugars (9.52–10.60%), reducing sugars (7.14–8.30%), non-reducing sugars (1.87–2.68%), sugar-acid ratio (8.26–11.33), ascorbic acid (31.20–41.60 mg/100g), and total phenols (33.31–94.88 mg GAE/100g) were examined. Sensory evaluation was carried out by a panel of judges, rating flavour (6.00–8.00), texture (5.40–8.20), aroma (5.80–8.50), taste (6.00–8.00) and overall acceptability (5.90–7.88) on a scale of 1 to 9. Notably, SKNBC-01, SKNLC-02, and SKNBC-02 excelled in overall acceptability. These selected accessions displayed significant variation in bloom date, anticipated harvest date, and harvesting period (in days).

Water pollutants are an emerging environmental hurdle for crop production and human health risks. In recent decades, the removal of contaminants from water using a cutting-edge approach like biosorbents is a strategy that is both cost-efficient and sustainable. For instance, since biowaste from fruit crops implies the frequent occurrence of average annual waste, it is imperative to formulate strategic initiatives to mitigate this emerging problem while simultaneously recognizing the potential for reutilization and reintroduction of such waste into the industrial sector. Fruit crops such as peels, seeds, skins, branches and stalks can be altered into biosorbents for water treatment. Partially mitigating the adverse impacts of biowaste that estimate to incur costs of billions of dollars around the world would be achieved with this engineering application. This review provides a perspective on the existing literature and brings up-to-date information and findings in the field of pomological crop waste as biosorbents for environmental remediation. In this way, we review the detrimental impact of environmental contaminants on biological organisms and different types of fruit crop waste and their utilization for wastewater treatment, with special emphasis on the formulation of biowaste sorbents (removal efficiency is > 80%) and their application for capturing pollutants such as heavy metals, organic and inorganic dyes and oils. Besides, the newly invented techniques for the characterization of fruit-based biosorbents, the parametric evaluation of biosorbents and their comparison with other available biosorbents are discussed. This review will be helpful for remediating contaminants in wastewater and a panacea for practical engineering solutions.

Species richness pattern along the elevation gradient forms precious tools in understanding diversity gradients and their principal mechanisms. Himachal Pradesh, one of the hubs of biological diversity has congenial atmospheric conditions and is homeland for large number of insects. Despite being one of the major biodiversity hotspots several insect families remain poorly studied in the state including, Cicadellidae: Hemiptera. A total of 85 leafhoppers species belonging to 61 genera of 12 subfamilies of Cicadellidae were recorded from all the 12 districts of the state covering 25 locations. Four species, Gurawa monorcephala Pruthi, Leofa pulchellus Distant, Olidiana kirkaldyi (Walker) and Paralimnellus cingulatus (Dlabola) appeared to be new records from Himachal Pradesh and one species, Pseudosubhimalus sp. Nov was new from India. Species richness as well as diversity increased with rising altitude from Sub-mountain low hills zone I (350-650m amsl) with a hump at mid hills zone II (651-1800m amsl) following a declining trend towards high hills wet temperate zone III (1801-2200m amsl) and high hills dry temperate zone IV (above 2200m amsl). This elevational disparity in species richness might be due to variations in the physiological requirements, host preference and changing climate. Abundance of leafhopper species as observed in temperate regions is of serious concern of global warming, due to their job in transmission of plant viruses and phytoplasmas, of which the world has still no control, therefore the future of food security lies in the paradigm of uncertainty.

ABSTRACT The present study was performed to investigate the effect of fungicides (mancozeb, copper oxychloride, thiophanate methyl, and metalaxyl + mancozeb) on the functional response of a phytoseiid predator, Neoseiulus longispinosus (Evans), to eggs of Tetranychus urticae Koch. The predatory mite females were treated with fungicides and after 48 h, progeny from live females were evaluated for the residual toxicity effect on the functional response of predatory mites. All the tested stages of N. longispinosus (protonymph, deutonymph, adult female and male) exhibited a type II functional response to eggs of T. urticae in fungicide treatments and untreated control. With an increase in prey density, the number of prey consumed increased, then levelled off and the proportion of prey consumed decreased. When compared with control, no significant differences across treatments were observed in the attack rate and handling time of the predator stages. The adult female showed maximum searching efficiency with attack rate and handling time ranging between 0.226–0.204 h−1 and 3.069–3.457 h, respectively, across fungicide treatments. This study suggests that even under the exposure of fungicides, N. longispinosus could possess a promising predatory potential against T. urticae on tomato.