Mandi District Research Articles

Analysis of Diversity and Distributional Pattern of Fish along an Altitudinal Gradient in the Rana Stream, Mandi District, Himachal Pradesh, India with Special Focus on Their Relationship with Aquatic Parameters

The fish fauna diversity and distribution patterns were investigated in the Rana stream situated in the Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh, India. Given the considerable variations in altitude and climatic conditions within the study area, a stratified systematic sampling approach was adopted. The stream was stratified into two zones, upstream and downstream, based on the altitudinal gradient. A total of five fish species were identified, representing 4 genera and 2 orders, namely Cypriniformes and Channiformes. Cypriniformes emerged as the predominant order between the two. The Spearman correlation between fish species and selected abiotic parameters of stream water was examined. Several diversity indices, including Simpson's index, Simpson's diversity index, the Shannon index of diversity, Pielou's evenness index, and Margalef's richness index, were employed to evaluate fish diversity in the stream. The Water Quality Index (<i>WQI</i>) values varied from 49.65 to 55.14, representing that water quality spanning from «good» to «poor». Species diversity was found to be higher in the downstream altitudinal zone compared to the upstream zone. Similarly, microhabitat pools exhibited greater species diversity. It has been found that the low gradient and slow current velocity in downstream locations leading to increased nutrient deposition in deep pools thereby favoured higher fish species abundance.

Limnological Analysis with Main Emphasis on the Influence of Physico-Chemical Parameters on Phytoplankton and Fish Faunal Diversity Distributional Pattern in Beru Stream, Mandi District, Himachal Pradesh (India)

the current investigation entails a comprehensive assessment of the limnobiological conditions within Beru stream, located in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. It examines both abiotic and biotic aspects, focusing on phytoplankton and fish diversity. Six phytoplankton genera were identified, falling under <i>Bacillariophyceae</i> and <i>Chlorophyceae</i> classes. Concurrently, 5 fish species were documented, belonging to the <i>Cyprininae, Danioninae</i> and <i>Sisorinae</i> subfamilies. Furthermore, our research involved the analysis of various abiotic parameters, including air and water temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, total hardness, Ca<sup>2+</sup> and Mg<sup>2+</sup> hardness, chloride concentrations, as well as phosphate and nitrate levels. These abiotic parameters were correlated with both phytoplankton and fish population size. The study also undertook a statistical examination of the relationship between phytoplankton and fish population sizes. In order to evaluate the diversity within the stream, several diversity indices, including Simpson's index, Simpson's index of diversity, Shannon index of diversity, Pielou's index of evenness and Sorenson similarity index were employed. The calculated values of the water quality index (WQI) were found to fall within the range of 33.91 to 59.16. These values suggest that the water quality within Beru stream spans a spectrum from "good" to "poor" according to the WQI classification. Notably, it was observed that the presence of excessive nutrient levels, particularly phosphates and nitrates, could lead to the heightened presence of a diverse array of flora and fauna during the month of March. Consequently, based on the WQI assessment, March was documented as a period characterized by poor water quality.

A preliminary study on avifaunal diversity of Tehsil Karsog in Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract The avifaunal diversity assessment is a valuable ecological tool, providing a significant measure for assessing the quality and quantity of various habitats. Karsog is located in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, India, in the Pir Panjal Himalayan range. Avifaunal study was conducted on a monthly basis in the Tehsil Karsog from December 2023 to June 2024. The study revealed the presence of 91 bird species, spanning over 63 genera, 38 families, 12 orders. The Order Passeriformes was the most diverse with 64 species, while Bucerotiformes and Strigiformes were represented by one species each. The Muscicapidae, with 12 species, was the dominant family in the study area. Analysis of data on relative abundance showed that of the 91 species recorded, 23 species (25.27%) were very common, 27 species (29.67%) were common, 26 species (28.57%) were uncommon, and 15 species (16.48%) were rare. Among the documented avifauna, 2 species, the Alexandrine Parakeet and the Himalayan Griffon are Near Threatened species as categorized by the IUCN Red List (2024). Assessment of data on feeding guild shows that, out of 91 species, 2 species (2.19%) are granivores, 3 species (3.29%) are carnivores, 11 species (12.08%) are omnivores, 17 species (18.68%) are insectivores and 58 species (63.73%) have varied type of feeding habits. It shows that 22 species (24.17%) have a narrow feeding guild meaning that they rely on limited type of food resources. Further analysis of data on the population status reveals that 17 species (18.68%) have declining population trend as per the IUCN global population trend assessment. This emphasizes the importance of implementing conservation strategies in the area under investigation.

“Ensembled transfer learning approach for error reduction in landslide susceptibility mapping of the data scare region”

Landslide susceptibility map (LSM) plays an important role in providing the knowledge of slopes prone to future landslides. However, the applicability of LSM is often hindered due to high cost of data collection especially in mountainous region such as Himalayas. Therefore, this study proposes transfer learning approach (TL) to improve the performance of LSM by transferring the information from the data rich region (source) to data scare region (target). Two machine learning based model are trained in source area which is then transferred for prediction in target area and a source trained model combined with the knowledge of target is used for the prediction in the target area. The applicability of the proposed approach is tested considering Mandi district as source area and Kullu and Rudraprayag districts as target areas. Independent variables which included 11 landslide conducive factors from the source and target area, the independence was critically analysed using multi-collinearity test, while the geomorphic similarity was assessed using KL divergence method. Efficient machine learning method such as random forest (RF) and multi-layer perceptron (MLP) was used to train the models in both areas, statistical measure such as AUC-ROC, precision, recall, F-score, and accuracy were used to evaluate the performance of the LSMs. The results demonstrated the proposed approach for target area 1, the AUC value increased from 0.908 (Target trained on itself), to 0.942 (Target-Transfer Learned (TL)) and 0.959 (Target Combined) for RF and 0.896, 0.907 and 0.946 for MLP. Additionally, an increase in the precision was observed in RF while all other statistical measures increased to 0.023 for precision, 0.022 for recall, 0.023 for F-score and 0.066 for accuracy in the case of MLP. While on the other hand, in the case of target area 2, the AUC value for RF, ranged from 0.95 (Target area trained on itself), 0.80 (target TL) and 0.98 (target combined) and for MLP the AUC ranged from 0.82 for the source trained model while 0.84 for LSM obtained when both target and source data was used. Thus, the results revealed that proposed TL approach can be effective in improving the performance of LSM in data scare region in Himalayan region, thereby providing a promising approach in overcoming the issue of data limitation.

ARIMA-Based forecasting of monthly rainfall in Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh

ABSTRACT To anticipate monthly rainfall time series, autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) modelling was performed using R studio. For a period of 30 years (in mm), the monthly rainfall data were gathered for eight localities in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh: Bharol, Chachiyot, Jogindernagar, Karsog, Kataula, Mandi, Sarkaghat, and Sundernagar. The augmented Dickey–Fuller test was performed to determine whether the rainfall data were steady before applying the ARIMA model. The minimal values of the Akaike information criterion, Bayesian information criterion, autocorrelation function, and partial autocorrelation function were used to select the best models. The best fit was determined to be ARIMA (0,0,2) (2,1,0)12 for five stations and ARIMA (0,0,0) (1,1,0)12 for the remaining three stations. A box test is performed to validate the ARIMA model and verify the autocorrelation in the data. Using the ARIMA model, forecasts are made for the 10 years (2021–2030). The validity and performance of the ARIMA models were evaluated using error statistics (mean absolute error = 34.65, root-mean-square error = 33.58, and R2 = 0.93). The projected data's mean and standard deviation were close to the actual data. As a result, the ARIMA model's monthly rainfall prediction parameters were satisfactory.

Vulnerability of highways to landslide using landslide susceptibility zonation in GIS: Mandi district, India

Vulnerability of highways to landslide using landslide susceptibility zonation in GIS: Mandi district, India

Identification of Agroforestry Systems and Socio-Economic Status of Farmers in Rural Areas of Jogindernagar in Mandi District of Himachal Pradesh, India

The present study was carried out in rural areas of Jogindernagar in Mandi District of Himachal Pradesh with the aim of identifying the agroforestry systems and assessing the demographic features and socio-economic status of farmers. The methodology followed for the present study in order to site selection, sampling procedure, identification of agroforestry systems, data collection, an analytical framework and valuation. The study site was selected by multistage random sampling technique. The study revealed that there are six agroforestry systems viz., agrisilviculture, agri-silvi-horticulture, agri-horticulture, agri-silvipastoral, pastoral-silviculture and pastoral-horticulture which prevails among different categories of farmers. In the medium and small categories of farmers, all the six agroforestry systems were present, while in the marginal category of farmers, the agri-silvipastoral system was absent. The average family size of the sampled households was 5.59 individuals per family. The highest sex ratio was observed in marginal farmers (990) and the lowest in medium farmer category (834). The literacy rate was recorded at its highest (91.70) in the marginal category of farmers. Most of the women were employed in the agroforestry and their livelihood depends on the farm’s income. The highest percentage of local breeds of cows was found in the all three categories of farmers. Overall, average land holding was recorded at 3.07 hectares in all sampled categories of farmers. The average land holding area was found to be maximum (1.58 ha) in medium, followed by small (1.01 ha) and marginal (0.48 ha) categories. Thus, small scale agroforestry viz., Agri-silvi-horticulture system in the subtropical region of Himachal Pradesh is recommended for social, economical and environmental benefits to the rural population for their livelihood and food security in the climate change era.

A study on occupational aspirations of senior secondary school students of a selected school of Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh

Background: Life is full of struggles and an individual has to face numerous challenging situations where there is need to make right decisions. In the era of advancement of scientific knowledge and gradual development of materialistic outlook, it is believed that education should enable the individual to earn his living. Occupational aspirations in the early years of life influence the vocational choice in the later life, which determine individual’s success in regard to job satisfaction, productivity and adjustment. Hence this study was undertaken with a view to make an attempt to study the occupational aspirations of senior secondary school students of Mandi district. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional survey method was used. A sample of 100 students (50 girls and 50 boys) of senior secondary level (classes XI and XII) was randomly selected from the selected Government senior secondary school. Occupational aspiration scale by Dr. J. S. Grewal was used to collect data for the study. For data analysis, percentage, mean, standard deviation and t-test were used. Results: Majority, i.e., 76% senior secondary students were found to have average occupational aspiration level. No significant difference was found in occupational aspiration level between urban and rural senior secondary students. Conclusions: Majority of senior secondary students were found to have average occupational aspiration level, thus highlighting the importance of guiding the students from secondary education stage towards selection of a right career according to their occupational aspirations.

Multi-Model Analysis to Predict the Potential Suitable Habitat for Quercus oblongata D. Don (Fagaceae) in the Western Himalayan Region

Quercus oblongata D. Don is an economically and ecologically important tree species. It is distributed in the western Himalayan region of India as well as Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The present study explored the potential distribution and habitat suitability of Q. oblongata using ensemble modeling. Eleven environmental variables (eight bioclimatic and three topographic), and 121 occurrence records were used in the analysis. Four algorithms: Generalized Additive Model (GAM), Generalized Linear Model (GLM), Random Forest (RF), and Maximum Entropy (Max Ent) were used to build the ensemble model for potential suitable habitat of Q. oblongata. To evaluate the model performance, AUC and TSS metrics were used, which showed high AUC (>0.94) and TSS (>0.86) metrics for all the models. The environmental variables that displayed high contribution in the prediction were temperature annual range (bio7, 48.5%), precipitation of wettest period (bio13 ; 41%), and elevation (elev ; 40%). The total suitable area was 22634 km2, including the least (12546 km2), moderate (7935 km2), and highly (2153 km2) suitable areas. Habitat suitability of Q. oblongata is predicted in most of the regions of Nainital, Almora, central Tehri Garhwal, eastern Mussoorie and Chakrata region of Dehradun District of Uttarakhand. A sizeable wide patch was found in Southern Chamba with Northern Kangra District, including the northern region of Mandi District of Himachal Pradesh. The predicted suitable habitat can be used for future exploration for the study of genetic diversity and conservation purposes.

Failure mechanism and landslide fragility of reinforced concrete buildings considering uncertain flow properties

ABSTRACT This study examines the failure mechanism and landslide fragility of regular and irregular reinforced concrete (RC) buildings under flow-type landslides. Efficient intensity measures to evaluate landslide fragility of regular flat land buildings and irregular buildings, having step-back and split foundation configurations, are proposed. Further, a methodology is proposed to consider the uncertain flow properties in the investigation of failure mechanisms and landslide fragility. Uncertainty in landslide properties is considered based on some database of past landslide events and laboratory experiments conducted on the soil samples collected from four landslide-active sites in the Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh, India. Overturning moment (hv) is found to be the efficient as well as most proficient intensity measure (IM), among several other IMs for landslide fragility assessment of regular and irregular RC buildings. Further, it is concluded that the landslide performance of RC buildings is directly related to the seismic design level of the building. Moreover, the buildings with step-back configuration are found to be more vulnerable than their split foundation counterparts. Furthermore, structural deficiency of the short columns, typically observed in the considered building configurations, under landslide loading is highlighted and design recommendations are presented for improvements.

Biomass Variation in The Alpine Pastures of Mandi District, Himachal Pradesh

Biomass Variation in The Alpine Pastures of Mandi District, Himachal Pradesh

Indigenous livestock care practices in Kamlah, Mandi District, Himachal Pradesh: A preserving heritage

Cattle production has been an important source of livelihood for the rural communities. Current study aimed to documenting the indigenous traditional knowledge and practices related to livestock health care system among the people of Kamlah region of Sandhol tehsil of district Mandi (Himachal Pradesh). Reconnaissance surveys were conducted in this region from 2021 to 2022. A total of 65 informants (35 males & 30 females) were interviewed. Ethnoveterinary data was collected through semi-structured interviews and group discussions with elderly people, women, farmers and local herbal healers. In this study, 28 plant species belonging to 23 families were identified; in which herb (57%) were the maximum used life forms and leaves (43%) were the commonly used plant parts. The highest number of species recorded in families were Asparagaceae and Fabaceae (3 species each). A wide range of diseases or disorders of cattle such as bone fracture, eye infection, fever, heat stroke, insect bite, prolapsed uterus, skin disorders and stomach disorders are treated by the people of study area with the help of indigenous medicinal plants. The data was analysed using three ethnobotanical indices i.e., use value (UV), fidelity level (FL) and informant consensus factor (ICF). According to quantitative analysis, plant species with high UV values for curing live stock were Mentha spicata L. (0.92), Cassia fistula L. (0.77) and Stephania rotunda Lour. (0.77). FL% values ranged from 25 to 100% and ICF values ranged between 0.97 to 1.00. These findings were at primary level and provide basic information to the researchers for carrying out phytochemical and pharmacological investigations, to create more effective veterinary drugs.

Perception, adoption and utility of weather based agro advisory services by farmers of Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh

Perception, adoption and utility of weather based agro advisory services by farmers of Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh

Problems and Prospects of Small Tea Growers in Himachal Pradesh: A Study of Kangra and Mandi Districts

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to East Asia, which probably originated in the border hands of South Western China and Northern Myanmar. Tea has a stimulating effect in human primarily due to its caffeine content. Tea production in small holding has been growing worldwide. The contribution of small tea plantations has been growing significantly and currently shares a good proportion in the total tea production in the country. The small tea growers (STGS) are an alternative tea model of tea cultivation that fosters the growth of entrepreneurship and provides both direct and indirect employment. Emergence of small tea growers (STGs) has made the country self-reliant in the production of the beverage and to meet domestic requirements and exports. STGs have also helped local economic conditions and livelihood of the people in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The land holding of 96 percent of Small Tea Growers of Himachal Pradesh is less than 0.5 hectare. The average annual production of tea is around 10 lakh kg of which 4000kg tea is exported to the UK, Germany and France. Himachal Pradesh Small Tea Growers contribute 59.2 percent of the total production. The present study is an attempt to identify major problems and future prospects of small tea growers in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The study is descriptive and analytical in nature for which data have been collected through primary as well as secondary sources. The study found major problems faced by Small Tea Growers like, lack of subsidy, high cost of transportation, high labour rates, high labour turnover, lack of knowledge, high effect of climate changes, low quality of tea leaves etc. The study highlighted significant suggestions to overcome the major problems faced by Small Tea Growers and to improve the production of Small Tea Growers.

An inventory of moths (Lepidoptera: Heterocera) from Kullu and Mandi districts of Himachal Pradesh

The current research work was done to evaluate the diversity and distribution of moths (Lepidoptera) from Kullu and Mandi districts of Himachal Pradesh. The sample of moths was collected from 4 villages in Mandi (Sadar Mandi, Joginder Nagar, Sarkaghat, and Sunder Nagar) that lie at an altitude of 750–1,200 m above the main sea level and 5 villages in Kullu (Banjar, Tandi, Chethar, Bini, and Bahu) that lie at an altitude of 1,300–2,000 m above the main sea level. The collection was done in the months from August 2020 to October 2020 and June 2021 to October 2021. The collection of moths was done at night because moths are nocturnal species, using a light trap method. The samples were then sacrificed using a few drops of ethyl acetate in a killing jar. Afterward, the samples were pinned and stretched. A total of 300 samples (230 from Kullu and 70 from Mandi) were collected, which belong to 82 species, 67 genera, 20 subfamilies, and 14 families were collected and identified. From Kullu district, we collected 43 species, and from Mandi, we collected 13 species. Other than these, 26 species were found to be common in both Kullu and Mandi districts, making a total of 69 species from Kullu and 39 species from Mandi. The genitalia dissection of 54 moth’s samples was also performed. The most species-rich family was Erebidae, which includes 40 species, and the most abundant species during the study was Nyctemera adversata (Schaller, 1788). The moth’s population was found to be highest in the Kullu district, and the diversity of moths was highest in the months of July- September and declined from October onward.

Medicinal importance of wild edible fruits of mandi district of Himachal Pradesh

Medicinal importance of wild edible fruits of mandi district of Himachal Pradesh

Assessing the Performance of Chickpea Cultivars in Mandi District of Himachal Pradesh, India

This study assessed the yield gaps of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh where a total of 240 trials on improved chickpea cultivars viz. GNG 1581, GPF 2 and Himachal Chana 2 along with best practices were conducted by KVK in Mandi for three consecutive years under the Cluster Front Line Demonstration (CFLDs) program during Rabi 2015-16 to Rabi 2017-18. The study revealed that the demonstration yield of chickpea cultivars viz. GNG 1581, GPF 2 and Himachal Chana 2 were significantly better than the farmer's practice. Overall, a seed yield of 616 kg ha-1 was achieved in the three years of data collected in the demonstration plot, which was 40.32 percent higher than the farmer's practice. The technology and extension gap in the data collected under the three-year CFLDs program were 1546.5 kg ha–1 and 177 kg ha–1 respectively. The improved technology package not only improved water use efficiency, chickpea profitability in terms of gross and net returns, but also improved the benefit-cost ratio (BC). The overall technology index of 71.51 percent revealed a satisfactory performance of technology interventions, which can be further strengthened in the region by bridging the gaps through more effective research and extension services.

A comprehensive exploration of the floral wealth of Sarkaghat forest range of Mandi District Himachal Pradesh

A comprehensive exploration of the floral wealth of Sarkaghat forest range of Mandi District Himachal Pradesh

Genetic Variability and Divergence Studies in Quantitative Traits of Wild Pomegranate (Punica granatum L)

The mean performance and variability in quantitative traits of Punica granatum seed sources collected from five different districts comprising of ten seed sources. Two seed sources were considered from each district viz; Narag and Neripul from Sirmour district, Waknaghat and Sadhupul from Solan district, Sundernagar and Rewalsar from Mandi district, Mohal and Banjar from Kullu district, Basantpur and Sunni from Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh, India, were evaluated during the year 2018-19. The quantitative traits viz., morphological and seedling characteristics of seed sources varied significantly among the different districts and within the districts. The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) for all the characters was slightly higher than genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), which signified the presence of environmental influence to some degree in the phenotypic expression of characters. Collar diameter had the highest PCV (76.83) and GCV (26.67). Genetic advance was recorded as maximum for tree diameter per plant (5.57), whereas genetic advance as percent of mean was highest for tree height (4.86). Highest heritability (H2 , 99.77) was coupled with higher genetic advance (5.57) estimated for tree diameter per plant, which indicated that the character is controlled by additive genes and therefore further improvement could brought by selection. Tree diameter was significantly and positively associated with most of the characters except number of branches per plant, at both genotypic and phenotypic levels; therefore, these are important prerequisites to formulate a successful improvement program. Cluster analysis was performed and the seed sources were grouped into three clusters. The results showed significant variance among different morphological characters, traits namely tree height (m), tree diameter (cm), crown spread E-W (m), crown spread N-S (m), fruit weight (g), leaf length(cm), internodal length(cm), collar diameter (mm), number of branches per plant and leaf petiole (cm)

Farmer’s Perception towards Adoption of Eco-Friendly Natural Farming System in Mandi District of Himachal Pradesh, India

Over the past three decades, farming in India has become more and more unsustainable through the conventional farming system. The system had been set up for maximum output with little regard for the environment or the individual's existence. To overcome this, the best alternative is eco-friendly natural farming, which is economical and has been embraced by several Indian states. The objective of this research is to study the resource use efficiency, factors affecting adoption, and problems faced by farmers under the natural farming system in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. Out of 12 districts, the Mandi district has been selected purposively due to a large number of farmers switching to the conventional farming system. A simple random sampling technique was used to select the farmers in the study area where a sample of 60 farmers was selected to analyse the Cobb-Douglas production function, Logit, Chi-square, and Garett ranking techniques were used. The study highlighted that out of the total cultivated area, the maximum area was under natural farming i.e., 64.83 per cent as compared to 35.17 per cent under a conventional farming system. The factor affecting the adoption of natural farming were chemical input cost, decreased pest attacks, health benefits, and quality yields with significant values of 0.006, 3.82, 4.16, and 3.94, respectively. It shows the rate of change in the adoption of natural farming systems with a 1 per cent change in the value of these factors. Besides this, there were some major constraints reported by farmers which hindered its widespread among farmers in the state.