Life Sciences

A field experiment was conducted during rice fallow season 2012 under deep clay soil at experimental farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu to study the effect of foliar nutrition on growth, yield attributes and yield of rice fallow blackgram. The experiment was conducted in randomized block design and replicated thrice. The experiment comprised of nine treatments viz., control, seed soaking with different liquid organic manures alone and along with foliar application of jeevamrutha, panchagavya, vermiwash and cow urine.

The study was undertaken with the objective of determining the suggestions expressed by the tribal farmers in Pachaimalai hills in Trichy district. Pachaimalai hills occupies a prominent position of Tamilnadu. A sample size of three hundred tribal farmers was selected from four blocks of Pachaimalai hills. From each block, five villages were selected based on their maximum population. The total number of respondents to be selected from twenty villages was on the basis of proportionate random sampling techniques.

In this study the effect of cyanobacteria as a biofertilizer on growth and yield attributes of rice (ADT38) were evaluated. The experiments were designed with three replications. The growth parameters such as shoot and root length and yield attributes of rice like plant height, number of tillers, number of panicle and   grain weight  were observed. The present results suggest that the application of cyanobacteria enhances growth and yield attributes of rice when compared to control.

The standard soil invertebrate toxicity tests developed by OECD (Organization of Economical Cooperation and Development) and ISO (International Organization of Standardization) use an artificial soil as the test substrate, which contains sphagnum peat as a component. This type of peat is not widely available in tropical country like India. Investigation of possible alternative substrates using locally available materials therefore is vital for performing such ecotoxicity tests, particularly in the tropics.

An experiment was conducted to study the “Influence of organic substances on quality attributes of grapes cv. Muscat”. The various organic inputs were given as foliar application in the form of seaweed extract, humic acid, panchakavya, vermiwash at the rate of 0.1% and 0.5% at pea and marble stage. The vermiwash application @0.5% showed the best result by recordingthe maximum reducing sugars(%), titrableacidity(%), juice content(%), total soluble solids( °Brix) than other treatments and also enhanced the shelf life by retaining grape berry in stalk for about 7 days from harvest.

Diseases are serious constraints affecting dairy cattle production and these diseases affect livestock production in various ways, such as reduced growth rate, milk production, fertility and value of hides and mortality, thus cause considerable economic losses to livestock keepers. Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease of many wild and domestic cloven-footed mammals and many other animals. Hence, this study was planned to estimate the incidence of Foot and Mouth Disease among dairy cows in the Cuddalore District of Tamil Nadu.

The effect of crude seaweed extracts from the green seaweed Ulva lactuca and the brown seaweed Sargassum wightii was studied on germination and protein profile of five different crops viz., Amaranthus roxburghinus (sirukeerai), A. tricolor (mulakeerai), Arachis hypogea (ground nut), Capsicum annum (chilli) and Tagetes erecta (marigold) seedling. The seeds of five different test plants were treated with 1.0% SLF of both seaweeds for 6h durations and allowed to grow under laboratory conditions. Five day old seedlings of Amaranthus roxburghinus, A.

To study the influence of foliar spraying of different organic compounds namely panchagavya, humic acid and kunapanjola on the yield of maize and their impacts on soil microbes after the harvest of the crop a field experiment was conducted at experimental farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Chidambaram. It was laid out in Randomized Block Design with eleven treatments and replicated thrice.

The present study is aimed to analyse the physico-chemical parameters in two stations of Pichavaram mangroves. In the present study the physico-chemical parameters such as temperature, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen and total dissolved solids were analysed during 2009. The station was selected for the present study (Station-1: Agricultural land and Station-2: Mud flats). The temperature, pH and salinity were increased during summer season and dissolved oxygen and total dissolved solids were lowered in summer season.

Contamination of soils with toxic metals has often resulted from human activities, especially those related to mining, industrial emissions, disposal or leakage of industrial wastes, application of sewage sludge to agricultural soils, manure, fertilizer and pesticide use. Phytoremediation is the term applied to a group of technologies that use of plants to reduce, remove, degrade, or immobilize environmental toxins, primarily those of anthropogenic origin with the aim of restoring area sites to conditions usable for private or public applications.