Samastipur District Research Articles

Effect of different crop establishment methods on yield attributes, yield and economics of rice in Bihar

An on-farm trial on rice crop was conducted during Kharif season of 2017-18 & 2018-19 to evaluate the effect of different crop establishment methods on yield attributes, yield and economics of in Samastipur district of Bihar. It was laid out in a randomized block design (RBD) with three number of treatments and replicated thrice. Three treatments were farmer’s practices/ transplanting of root washed seedlings (T1), direct seeded rice on no-tilled condition (T2) and direct seeded rice on tilled seedbed (T3). The results showed that higher grain yield (40.35 q/ha) was obtained in manual transplanting followed by direct seeded rice on tilled condition and direct seeded rice on no-tilled seedbed condition. Manual transplanting/farmer’s practice also had maximum number of effective tillers compared to other treatments. The highest average gross returns (₹ 66,988/ha) recorded in farmer’s practice/manual transplanting while average net returns (₹ 22,074/ha) and B: C ratio (0.533) was recorded in direct seeded rice on tilled seedbed.

Use of Dry Cow Therapy for Control of Mastitis in Dairy Animals

An on-farm study was conducted during different season at farmers field in Samastipur district of Bihar to assess the effect of dry cow therapy as an intervention for control of mastitis in dairy herd. Twenty one crossbred cows were selected at dry-off and distributed in three group with 7 animals each. The experimental treatment groups were T1 (Control- No dry cow therapy), T2: dry cow therapy with Spectramast D C at last day of milking) and group: T3dry cow therapy with Spectramast D C along with application of Intavita H 5ml I/M. Daily milk yield was recorded for 30 days after 15 days of post-partum to find out the effect of dry cow therapy on milk production. The finding of the study showed that dry cow therapy in combination with Intavita H (T3) or alone dry cow therapy were effective protocol to control mastitis with reduced mastitis cases as compared to T1(control). However, dry cow therapy in combination with Intavita H (T3) was more effective against control of mastitis. The milk quantity and quality were also improved with treatment of dry cow therapy.

Assessment of Land Use/Land Cover Change using Geo-informatics in Catchment of Burhi Gandak River, Bihar

Land use/land cover (LULC) information is essential for proper management, planning and monitoring of natural resources of any region. The present study delineated the catchment of a part-length of Burhi Gandak river falling under Samastipur district of Bihar, estimated its area and LULC change over a period of ten years (2008-2018) using Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. LULC mappings were done by supervised classification technique using GIS. Overall accuracy of image classification processes was 79.07 % and 75 %, whereas Kappa coefficients were found to be 0.71 and 0.68 for the year 2008 and 2018, respectively. Over the 10-year period, the area under agricultural land increased by 3,329 ha (6.51 %), settlement increased by 4,554 ha (58.20 %), and wasteland (barren and sand) increased by 685 ha (34.05 %); while natural vegetation cover reduced by 6,523 ha (33.58 %) and water bodies reduced by 2,045 ha (54.23 %). Hence, a significant portion of land under natural vegetation and water bodies in the catchment had been converted into either agricultural land or settlement (e.g. buildings) during the period. This change might affect the ecosystem of the area.

PESTICIDE RESIDUES IN MARKET SAMPLES OF VEGETABLES

The presence of pesticide residues in food commodities has always been a matter of serious concern. Farmers apply pesticides repeatedly to ward off the pest and pick the vegetables at short intervals. The samples of vegetables were collected from market in three blocks of Samastipur district purposively as per multistage random sampling design to monitor the residues in market vegetables. GC-MS analysis was applied for evaluation of pesticide residues in the sample. The data obtained so far showed that out of 50 samples of vegetable analyzed 24 (48%) were contaminated with different pesticides and 3 samples (6%) samples contained residues above MRL. The overall pesticide occurrence was in the order as Endosulphan > Quinalphos > Dimethoate > Chlorpyriphos > α-HCH > δ-HCH > β-HCH. Pesticide contamination was higher in cabbage than cauliflower.

Study on adoption of cimate-smart system of wheat intensification (SWI) technology among the farmers of Bihar

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is world’s most widely cultivated food crop. At initial decades of 21st century, one probability of a great famine appeared in the world due to long drought in tropics and subtropics and at the same time it appeared more dangerously because of the climate change threat. System of Wheat Intensification (SWI) which is based on the principles of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a new wheat cultivation technique which might act as a significantly new weapon as a part of climate-smart farming. It is one of the promising technologies to increase productivity which ultimately contributes to the household level food security of rural marginal farmers. The present study was conducted in Samastipur district of Bihar state in India. 4 panchayats (Thahara, Morsand, Indarwara, Sarangpur) were selected from 2 blocks of Samastipur based on assumption that these blocks have the largest number of adopters of SWI technology. The total number of respondents (beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries) selected for the study was 60. Frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation and t-test were used as the statistical tools. As the result, it was found that majority of the adopters (50%) had medium level of adoption followed by high level of adoption (40%) whereas; majority of the non-adopters (60%) had low level of adoption. The adopters have significantly higher mean adoption scores (46.96) than that of non-adopters (29.73). The computed t-value (13.61) was found to be highly significant which referred a significant difference in the mean adoption scores of adopters and non-adopters. Moreover, it was discerned that maximum number of respondents in partial adoption was due to lack of information source (80%) and maximum number of respondents in non-adoption was due to non-availability of labourers as well as lack of delivery system at village level (100%).

Assessment of Land Use/Land Cover Change using Geo-informatics in Catchment of Burhi Gandak River, Bihar

Land use/land cover (LULC) information is essential for proper management, planning and monitoring of natural resources of any region. The present study delineated the catchment of a part-length of Burhi Gandak river falling under Samastipur district of Bihar, estimated its area and LULC change over a period of ten years (2008-2018) using Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. LULC mappings were done by supervised classification technique using GIS. Overall accuracy of image classification processes was 79.07 % and 75 %, whereas Kappa coefficients were found to be 0.71 and 0.68 for the year 2008 and 2018, respectively. Over the 10-year period, the area under agricultural land increased by 3,329 ha (6.51 %), settlement increased by 4,554 ha (58.20 %), and wasteland (barren and sand) increased by 685 ha (34.05 %); while natural vegetation cover reduced by 6,523 ha (33.58 %) and water bodies reduced by 2,045 ha (54.23 %). Hence, a significant portion of land under natural vegetation and water bodies in the catchment had been converted into either agricultural land or settlement (e.g. buildings) during the period. This change might affect the ecosystem of the area.

Role of women in decision making process to rice-based farming system: A Study of North Bihar, India

Women play a vital and significant role in agriculture, particularly in developing countries where they make up a large percentage of the agricultural labour force. They are actively involving in all range of agricultural works including pre-harvesting, and post-harvesting activities. But it is unfortunate that they remain invisible workers. Therefore, their participation as decision- makers regarding these works is questionable. Hence the study was concentrated to analyse the role of farm women in decision-making in rice-based farming system of North Bihar. To analyse their decision making process, the study was conducted in Samastipur district of North Bihar. For the purpose of the study out of 20 blocks two rice growing blocks were selected randomly. Two villages were selected from each block randomly making a sample of four villages. The sample of forty farm families from each of the selected villages were taken by proportionate stratified random sampling technique on the basis of land holding possessed by them. Therefore, the total sample consisted of 160 respondents. Results indicated that men took independent decisions was 54.97 percent and women took independent decisions was 18.71 percent of all farm and money related decisions. Joint decisions were taken 26.86% of all farm and money related decisions. This revealed that men dominated women in all farm and money related decisions.

Prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthes in cattle and buffalo in Samastipur district of Bihar

A total of 366 faecal samples including 225 cattle and 141 buffalo of different age groups were randomly collected and analyzed for presence of gastrointestinal helminthes parasites from five different blocks on both sides of Burhi Gandak River in Samastipur district of Bihar in 2015-16. Among cattle 115 (51.11 %) and among buffalo 88 (62.40%) samples were found positive for different species of gastrointestinal helminthes. The prevalence of trematodes, nematodes and cestodes in cattle were 44, 6 and 8 percent, respectively and in buffalo were 35, 18 and 15 percent, respectively. Mixed infection in cattle and buffalo faecal samples was 6.8% and 5.6%, respectively. 4.40 % cattle and 6.60 % buffalo were severely affected, in which egg count per gram was more than 1600. In 1-90 days age group calves 65.6 % cattle and 90.47 % buffalo were positive.

Value chain analysis of different types of maize hybrid seed: a comparative study of public and private sector in Bihar

In the Samastipur district of Bihar, one of the top five maize-producing states in India, a study was conducted in 2017–18 to map the value chain of public and private seed systems and estimate the value addition at each successive stage of seed movement. Statistically significant differences were found in gross income, net income, and benefit–cost ratio of maize seed production of single-cross hybrid (SCH) and double-cross hybrid (DCH) with potato intercropping system. Enabling infrastructure and a policy environment, and innovating public–private partnership models across the seed value chain, is necessary for overall sectoral growth.

Assessment of remote sensing and GIS application in identification of land suitability for agroforestry: A case study of Samastipur, Bihar, India

Abstract Agroforestry provides the foundation for climate-smart agriculture to withstand the extreme weather events. The aim of the present study was to identify the land of Samastipur, Bihar, India for agroforestry, based on GIS modeling concept utilizing various ancillary (soil fertility) and satellite data (DEM, wetness, NDVI and LULC) sets. This was achieved by integrating various thematic layers logically in GIS domain. Agroforestry suitability maps were generated for the Samastipur district of Bihar, India which showed 48.22 % as very high suitable, 22.83 % as high suitable, 23.32% as moderate suitable and 5.63% as low suitable. The cross evaluation of agroforestry suitability with LULC categories revealed that the 86.4 % (agriculture) and 30.2% (open area) of land fall into a very high agroforestry suitability category which provides the huge opportunity to harness agroforestry practices if utilized scientifically. Such analysis/results will certainly assist agroforestry policymakers and planner in the state of Bihar, India to implement and extend it to new areas. The potentiality of Remote Sensing and GIS can be exploited in accessing suitable land for agroforestry which will significantly help to rural poor people/farmers in ensuring food and ecological security, resilience in livelihoods.

Diabetic foot ulcer: A review

The study revealed that exposure to training, by department of microbiology, basic science, RPCAU Pusa, Samastipurhad increased the skill of rural farm women regarding all the subcomponents of mushroom production and empower a woman is to improve their stander of living among family member. There is an urgent need to make rural farm women economically independent and we cannot think of a better alternative than entrepreneurship development. The study was conducted in Samastipur district of Bihar. Total 75 rural women were selected from adopted villages to study the impact of mushroom cultivation on economical status of rural women through skill development. Relevant data were collected with the help of personal interview. The data were analyzed using appropriate statistical tools. keeping in view the above facts the present study was conducted to find out the impact of mushroom cultivation on economical status of rural women through skill development in Samastipur district of Bihar and its importance.

Participation of rural women to rice-based farming system: A Study of North Bihar, India

Rural women in Bihar play a crucial role in agriculture and related activities, participating extensively in tasks from pre-harvest to post-harvest. Despite their significant contributions, these women often remain unrecognized, commonly referred to as “invisible farmers.” This study was conducted in the Samastipur district of North Bihar to examine the extent of rural women’s involvement in various agricultural activities. Two rice-growing blocks were randomly selected from a total of 20, with two villages chosen at random from each block, resulting in a sample of four villages. A total of 160 respondents were selected from 40 farm families in each village using a proportionate stratified random sampling technique based on landholding size. The study highlights that women’s independent participation in farm and allied activities within rice-based farming systems was 50.05 percent, surpassing men’s independent participation of 31.28 percent, while joint participation was recorded at 18.87 percent. This research underscores the essential yet often overlooked role of rural women in agriculture in Bihar.

Assessment of green gram varieties for better yield in Samastipur District of Bihar

Green gram (Vigna radiata) is commonly known as Moong an important pulse crop in India and more than 70 per cent of world's green gram production comes from India. In Samastipur, farmers sow the moong after harvesting of Toria as well as wheat crop during summer season. The present study was conducted during summer seasons of the year 2016 and 2017 in three villages of Samastipur district to assess the suitable variety of green gram. Twenty farmers’ field were randomly selected and sown three high yielding improved varieties of green gram namely TMB 37, SML 668 and HUM 16 with five replications with one check variety already grown by the farmers. The data like average number of branches, pods/plant, grain/pod, disease incidence (%) and grain yield (q/ha) were recorded during investigation. Among all the varieties assessed, variety TMB37 proved to be the best with highest number of pods/plant (38.4) and minimum incidence of yellow mosaic disease of 6.2 per cent resulting in the highest yield of 16.65 q/ha followed by SML668 with disease incidence of 7.3 per cent, 34.8 pods/plant and yield of 14.95q/ha. Hence, it was inferred that TMB37 variety of green gram proved better followed by SML668.

Participation of Elected Women in Panchayati Raj System in Bihar

The present study was undertaken to know the extent of participation of elected women members in Panchayati Raj institutions. Atotal of seventy five women representative randomly selected from all the panchayats of Pusa and Kalyanpur block of Samastipur district in Bihar from forty villages selected randomly from two blocks. An interview schedule was used to collect the necessary data. In order to determine the conditions governing the participation of women, the data were subjected to multiple correlation, regression and path analysis. Participation was taken as dependent variable. The findings revealed that maximum 8.0 per cent of these elected women village members “Always” participated in “Construction, repair and maintenance” of public property. More than ninety per cent respondents spoke positively with respect to different life situation as a consequence of their association with Gram Panchayats. The results of correlations and multiple regression analysis between participation and socio-economic and psychological variables of elected village panchayat was positively and significantly correlated with caste (r = 0.668) and interaction style (r = 0.353) at 1 present level of probability and value of social linkage was negative but significant at 5 present level of probability.

Influence of different age seedlings mat type characteristics at different speed of self-propelled 8-row rice transplanter in district of Samastipur, Bihar, India

In south-east Asian countries, paddy is the most important cereal crop and staple food. In India, it is grown on an area of more than 41 million ha with a production of about 111 million tones of paddy. In India establishment of rice basically depends on the availability of moisture, climatic condition, age of the variety, availability of inputs and human labour. Labour shortage and labour costing is one of the major concerns to failure of scheduled transplanting of rice. To overcome, there is a need of mechanization in the field of rice cultivation by using rice transplanter as major tool in this process. The impact of different age seedlings related to paddy cultivation and its influence was studied in the farm of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agriculture University for sustainable farming in Samastipur district. Three different age seedlings were sampled and cultivated along with all necessary cultivation requirements. The survivability and quality efficiency was measured and comparative studies were done. A strong positive correlation between seedlings age and production efficiency was observed. This practice appears useful as the results indicate high production efficiency with 26 days age seedlings transplanted with the help of self propelled 8-row rice transplanter. It can be accomplished by timely updating and application of improved technology, for instance, to uphold the quality and nutritional values of rice. Transplanting mat type seedling is becoming more popular due to its superior performance and reduced labour requirement (50 man-h/ha).

Energy utilization pattern by farming community in Pusa and Kalyanpur block of Samastipur district

Energy utilization pattern by farming community in Pusa and Kalyanpur block of Samastipur district

Maize Production under Abiotic Stress Conditions: An Empirical Analysis

Maize in Samastipur is grown during kharif season at 22% of cropped area, during Rabi season on less than 12% area, as sole crop and 26% as intercrop. However summer maize occupies only 6 percent of the cropped area in the region. The district frequently faces problems of abiotic stress due to flash floods and drought conditions. Keeping in view frequent abiotic stress faced by farmers, the present study was planned and data solicited from 120 farmers under different categories from six villages selected from Patori and Vidhyapatinagar blocks of, Samastipur district, Bihar. The study finds that farmers save Open Pollinated Variety (OPV) maize seeds for future use but buy hybrid seeds through input dealers. The estimated total cost of production per hectare in case of hybrid varieties during, Kharif, Rabi and Summer seasons worked out to be Rs 8689.46, Rs.20918.43 and Rs.16126.63 respectively. However, in case of OPVs it was lower at Rs 9956.57 in Kharif, Rs 6797.44 in Rabi and Rs 11907.87 in summer season. Use of human labour and chemical fertiliser had higher share in the cost structure across the seasons and varieties. So far as the disposal of produce was concerned, 64 to 72 % was sold at price ranging from Rs 789 to Rs 854 per quintal. The study found that adoption of OPVs was a strategy by farmers to counter the abiotic stress conditions, as it was more tolerant. The hybrid variety is mostly cultivated for selling in the market and not for home consumption. The study suggests that suitable varieties and technologies should be developed for abiotic stress situations so that area and productivity could increase in future. The increase in productivity will have a positive impact on food and nutrition security. Improvement in marketing support to the crop was essential to ensure so that income and remuneration will increase and finally uplift the socio- economic conditions in the study area.

Level of Adoption of Rice Production Technology: A Study of North Bihar

The present study was conducted in the Samastipur district of North Bihar, focusing on two randomly selected rice-growing blocks out of the district’s 20 blocks. From each block, two villages were randomly chosen, resulting in a total sample of four villages. The study involved 160 rural farm women, categorized into marginal, small, and medium-scale farmers. The research assessed the level of adoption of eleven improved rice production practices, including land preparation, ploughing, puddling, use of high-yielding variety seeds, seed treatment, nursery raising, transplanting, integrated nutrient management, integrated pest management, water management, chemical weed control, and post-harvest operations. The findings revealed significant differences in the adoption levels of these practices among the three categories of rural farm women.

Socio-economic profile and training needs of beekeepers in Samastipur district of Bihar

Bee benefit, the plants not only increasing their yield, but also improve crop quality since beekeeping does not compete for inputs with other farming or crop, it is an ideal programme for integration. Keeping the importance of beekeeping a study was undertaken to find out the socio-economic and psychological profile and training needs of beekeepers. The study highlighted that majority of the respondents belonged to middle to young age group, medium to high level of family education, socioeconomic status, innovativeness and risk bearing capacity. The results also showed that majority of respondents had low to medium level of extension contact and size of land holding, respectively. In respect to training needs of beekeepers in different areas, it was found highest in protection of bee pests, diseases and other hazards followed by the business of bees, beehive products and their extraction, processing and medicinal values, management of bee colonies during different seasons and essential operations.

Constraints faced by elected women village Panchayat members in role performance

Women have been an integral part of social structure not only because their importance in the perpetuation of human race but also by virtue of their significant contribution in socio-economic progress. Despite this, time and again they have been subjected to discrimination due to gender bias and have been denied equality of status and opportunities in social economic and political spheres of life. The present study was an effort to know the profile of elected women village Panchayat members and constraints faced by elected women Panchayat members in role performance. Total seventy five women representatives randomly selected from Pusa and Kalyanpur block of Samastipur district in Bihar. The study reveals that majority of the women members of the Gram Panchayat were within 35 years of age (73.33%), 46.66 per cent of respondents were from forward caste, a large majority (98.66 % and 97.33%) of EWVPMs were married and were housewives only, respectively, personally possessed low (up to 8 standard) level of education (48.0%) and also had high family education (29.33%). They by and large enjoyed a nuclear family (64.00%) but the majority had 3-5 members (42.66%), these respondents owned land up to 2.5 acre (58.66%) and lived with low material possession (84.0%). The family income of more than half of the members (64.0%) of respondents had low income group below 20,000 annually, having as many as (42.66%) of the members had mixed house (76.0%) of respondents had not membership of any social institution. Out of 11 constraints of role performance by EWVPMs, 8 viewed as most serious were lack of resources for development work (90.66%), lack of fund on time for carrying out the work of the projects (88.00%), lack of knowledge to the members (82.66%), nonavailability of persons well versed with the rural projects (80.0%), lack of interest in Mukhiya for developmental works (80.0%), carelessness among villagers for development works (74.66%) lack of education among Panchayat members (69.33%) and bribery and misappropriation of funds (54.66%). The maximum number of EWVPMs considered economical constraints to be acting as the greatest hindrance in the way of their role performance (93.33%).