ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE ARCHIVES
CLIMATE CHANGE, RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
Last Date of Submission: December 15, 2022
July-Dec, 2022
VOLUME - I
SPECIAL THEMATIC ISSUE - 1
ESA is an International multidisciplinary online journal with a wide scope for publications in the field of environmental sciences. ESA is a peer-reviewed/ refereed six-monthly open access journal that publishes original research papers as well as review articles in all areas of environmental science.
SPECIAL ISSUE
Papers are invited on the theme of SPECIAL ISSUE. Any paper related to the theme - Climate Change, Resource Conservation and Sustainable Agriculture is solicited. Papers will be assigned DOI numbers and will be available to the viewers under OPEN ACCESS. All the papers published under this special issue will be charged with an article processing charges as applicable.
EDITORIAL TEAM
GUEST EDITOR
Dr. Rakesh Sharma
Associate Professor
Department of Agriculture
Khalsa College Amritsar, Punjab, India 143001
Dr. Pardeep Kaur
Assistant Professor
Department of Botany
Khalsa College Amritsar, Punjab, India 143001
EDITORIAL MEMBERS
Dr. Maninderjit Singh
Assistant Professor (Horticulture)
Department of Agriculture
Khalsa College Amritsar, Punjab, India 143001
Dr. Priyanka Sharma
Assistant Professor (Agricultural Extension)
Department of Agriculture
Khalsa College Amritsar, Punjab, India 143001
Published Papers
Climate Change and Resource Conservation: Approaches to Sustainable Agriculture
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7126052
The developing nations of the world continue to face the two most critical concerns i.e. rapidly growing population and corresponding food consumption. These challenges could be achieved by boosting agricultural productivity using mineral fertilizers and pesticides. However, such agricultural techniques inspired by the green revolution have led to the dramatic decrease in soil fertility and ecological resilience (Singh et al., 2019). So, it argues for sustainable agriculture techniques that combine traditional healthy practices with contemporary agricultural growth. As a result, sustainable farming techniques are expected to be resource-efficient and robust to the current scenario of climate change.
Beeswax Coating Loaded with Putrescine to Enhance the Quality and Shelf Life of Plum cv. Satluj Purple
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7479908
Climacteric ripening in plum fruit is characterized by enhanced respiration rate accompanying by an autocatalytic ethylene production that results in fruit decay, loss of flavour and easily susceptible to softening. The present investigation was carried out to enhance the quality and storability of plum cv. Satluj Purple with different concentrations of beeswax and putrescine i.e. beeswax (5 %) + putrescine (1 mM), beeswax (5 %) + putrescine (2 mM), beeswax (5 %) + putrescine (3 mM), beeswax (10 %) + putrescine (1 mM), beeswax (10 %) + putrescine (2 mM) and beeswax (10 %) + putrescine (3 mM), while control fruits were dipped in distilled water. All the treated and control fruits were dried, packed in CFB boxes with 5 % ventilation and stored for 15 days under ambient conditions. The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design replicated thrice. Fruits from each treatment were analyzed for physico-biochemical characteristics at an interval of three days. Results revealed that physiological loss in weight, spoilage and carotenoids content increased with the advancement of storage period whereas fruit firmness, TA, total phenols, ascorbic acid and chlorophyll ‘a’ and chlorophyll ‘b’ showed declining trend with the increase in storage intervals. Other parameters like TSS, total and reducing sugars showed an increasing trend at earlier stages of storage afterwards started declining towards the end of storage period. Based on this, it was concluded that treatment beeswax (5 %) + putrescine (3 mM) and beeswax (10 %) + putrescine (3 mM) was effective in delaying the ripening process and can be used to extend the shelf life of plum fruit.
Beeswax Coating Loaded with Putrescine to Enhance the Quality and Shelf Life of Guava Fruit cv. Allahabad Safeda
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7480036
The present investigation entitled “Beeswax coating loaded with putrescine to enhance the quality and shelf life of guava fruit cv. Allahabad Safeda” was conducted in Department of Agriculture, Khalsa College, Amritsar during 2021-22. The fruits were harvested and treated with beeswax 5 % + putrescine 1 mM, beeswax 5 % + putrescine 2 mM, beeswax 5 % + putrescine 3 mM, beeswax 10 % + putrescine 1 mM, beeswax 10 % + putrescine 2 mM and beeswax 10 % + putrescine 3 mM while control fruits were dipped in plain water. All the treated and control fruits were packed in corrugated fibre boxes (CFB) and stored at ambient condition as well 95 % RH for 15 days. The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design replicated thrice. The fruits from each treatment were analyzed for physico-biochemical characteristics at an interval of three days. The results revealed that physiological loss in weight, spoilage loss, TSS/TA and carotenoids of fruits increased with storage intervals whereas fruit firmness, TA, total phenols and chlorophyll ‘a’ and chlorophyll ‘b’ showed declining trend with the advancement of storage period. Other parameter like TSS showed an increasing trend at earlier stages of storage and later on start declining. The results reflected that beeswax @ 5 % + putrescine @ 3 mM showed a significant reduction in weight loss, spoilage loss and carotenoids while maintained highest firmness, TSS, titratable acidity, total phenol content, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b as compared to other treatments as well as uncoated fruit.
Shelf Life of Daisy Tangerine as Influenced by Different Treatments during Cold Storage
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7483901
The present investigation entitled “Shelf life of Daisy tangerine as influenced by different treatments during cold storage” was conducted in P.G. Department of Agriculture, Khalsa College, Amritsar during 2021-22. The fruits were harvested at colour break stage and coated with Stafresh, Citra shine wax, Rice straw wrapping, Packing in CFB with paper shredding, Packing in CFB covered with polysheet 100-gauge, Butter paper wrapping, HDPE 10 µm, HDPE 20 µm, LDPE 100 gauze, LDPE 200 gauze, while control fruits dipped in plain water. All the treated and control fruits packed in corrugated fibre board (CFB) boxes and stored under cold storage conditions for 100 days with cold conditions (0-5 ºC temp & 90-95 % RH). The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. The fruits from each treatment were analyzed for physico-biochemical characteristics at an interval of fifteen days in cold storage conditions respectively. The Results revealed that physiological loss in weight, spoilage and TSS/TA of fruits increased with storage intervals whereas, TA, juice content and ascorbic acid content showed declining trend with the advancement of storage period. Others parameters like TSS, organoleptic rating, total sugars, reducing sugars and non-reducing sugars showed an increasing trend at earlier stages of storage and later on start declining. Citrashine wax showed a significant reduction in weight loss, spoilage and maintained TSS, TA, sugars and ascorbic acid contents as compared to other treatments and uncoated fruit. The various organoleptic parameters in terms of flavour, taste, appearance, colour and overall acceptability were also found superior in fruits treated with citrashine wax. on the basis of the study, it was concluded that postharvest application of citrashine wax was effective in delaying the ripening process, extend the shelf life and storage of Daisy tangerine with acceptable fruit quality up to 60th day to 75th day respectively.
Incidence of Airborne Spores in Context to Fungal Diseases on Glycine max L. (Soybean) from Niphad Tehsil of Nashik District, Maharashtra
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7496787
Soybean (Glycine max L.) is one of the most important oilseed cash crops and the fastest growing crop in India as well as in the world due to its high productivity, profitability and vital contribution towards maintaining soil fertility. The present investigation was carried out over the Soyabean field during the Kharif season by using a Tilak air sampler. The correlation with environmental parameters and airborne fungal spores plays an important role in the seasonal development of many plant diseases. The present study reveals the actual disease incidence and prevalence of airborne pathogenic fungal spores were responsible for diseases on certain crops. Some of them are Alternaria leaf spot (Alternaria), Target Leaf Spot (Corynespora cassiicola), Frogeye leaf spot, (Cercospora sojina) and Anthracnose (Colletotrichum). The present study will be sustainable for agro-economy and beneficial for growers to enhance the current knowledge on identification and determining incidence levels of different diseases of a certain crop. Knowing the disease history of a field and keeping abreast of reported disease development during the growing season helps to protect yield potential.
Deterioration of Soil Health Due to Stubble Burning: Solution to its Root Cause
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7129322
Stubble burning has a great impact on environment, health of soil. The most often burned material is sugarcane leaves, followed by wheat and paddy. One centimeter of soil is heated by burning paddy straw, raising the soil's temperature to 33.8 to 42.2°C. According to reports, the fire steadily reduced soil biological activity and organic matter by eradicating the bacterial and fungal populations necessary for a fruitful soil. Carbon in the ash cannot exist as a food source for the micro-organisms and acts only as a support for them. Thus, the activity of micro-organisms and their population declines which results in disruption of various biological processes in the soil.
Seed Priming for Improving Seed Germination and Growth of Peach cv. Sharbati
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7480050
The experiment entitled “Seed priming for improving seed germination and growth of peach cv. Sharbati” was carried out in Horticultural Experimental Area, Nursery, P.G. Department of Agriculture, Khalsa College, Amritsar during the year 2021-22. In this study, peach seeds were treated with different pre-sowing treatments and planted in polythene bags having size 7×7 inches. The experiment was performed in Randomized Block Design with three replications and was assessed to know the effect of different treatments on seed germination and growth. Ten treatments comprised soaking of peach seeds in H2SO4 for 5 and 10 minutes, KNO3 (1% and 2%) for 24 hours, kinetin (0.50 ppm) and kinetin (0.75 ppm) for 24 hours, GA3 @ 500, 1000 and 1500 ppm for 24 hours and control (untreated seeds). The result obtained in the present studies showed that among different treatments, seeds treated with GA3 @ 1500 ppm for 24 hours recorded the minimum days (22.00 days) required for initiation of germination, 50 per cent germination (28.66 days), complete germination (35.66 days) and maximum germination (46.66 % and 66.66 %) which was at par with the application of GA3 @ 1000 ppm for 24 hours while the maximum days (39.66 days) taken for germination were recorded with control (without soaking). Application of GA3 @ 1500 ppm also proved to be superior in the production of maximum plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, stem diameter at 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 DAS
Effect of Seed Priming on Seed Germination and Growth of Kainth
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7480085
The experiment was conducted at Horticulture Experimental Area, Nursery, P.G. Department of Agriculture, Khalsa College, Amritsar during 2021-2022 to study the germination and growth parameters of Kainth. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design replicated thrice, comprising ten treatments conc. H2SO4 for 5 and 10 minutes, KNO3 (1 % and 2 %) for 24 hours, Kinetin (0.50 ppm and 0.75 ppm) for 24 hours, GA3 (500 ppm, 1000 ppm and 1500 ppm) for 24 hours and control (untreated seeds). The results of the present study revealed that the Kainth seeds primed with GA3 @ 1500 ppm for 24 hours has recorded the minimum days required for initiation of germination (23.66 days), 50 per cent and complete germination (27.66 days and 34.66 days respectively) and maximum germination per cent (42.33 % and 64.33 %) was also recorded with seeds primed with GA3 @1500 ppm at 30 and 60 DAS respectively, which were statistically at par with the seeds treated with GA3 @ 1000 ppm for 24 hours. GA3 @ 1500 ppm treatment has also proved to be superior in the production of vigorous plant height (17.56 cm) with maximum number of shoots (14.00), stem diameter (4.27 mm), leaf number (45.00) and leaf area (39.90 mm2) at 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 DAS.
Growth Regulators and Sucrose Application to Improve the Success Rate of Grape Cuttings
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7483976
Cuttings are the most convenient and cheapest method for obtaining the true to type plants. To develop early rooting in cuttings, an experiment was conducted to enhance the rooting of grape cv. Perlette. Hardwood cuttings were treated with Indole butyric acid (IBA 1000, 2000, 3000 and 4000 ppm), Poly-3-hydroxy butyrate (PHB 500, 750 and 1000 ppm), Sucrose (10, 20, 30 and 40 g/L) and water (control) by quick dip method. Periodical observations were taken after 120 days. The treated lots in every instance had a greater percentage of rooted cuttings with a higher number of roots per cutting. Among the various treatments IBA @ 3000 ppm resulted into highest number of roots per cutting, more fresh weight of roots, minimum days to first sprouting, highest sprouting percentage, a greater number of shoots per cutting, high average stem diameter, a greater number of leaves and total leaf area. Hence, it can be concluded from the present investigation that IBA @ 3000 ppm is proved to be best in term of root and shoot enhancement of grape cv. Perlette.