Jan - June 2024
VOLUME - III
SPECIAL THEMATIC ISSUE - 1
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE ARCHIVES
ENVIRONMENT, FARMING SYSTEMS AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
Last Date of Submission: JUNE 30, 2024
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
Dr. Maninderjit Singh
Assistant Professor (Horticulture)
Department of Agriculture
Khalsa College Amritsar, Punjab, India 143001
EDITORIAL MEMBERS
Dr. Ali Husain Jasim
College of Agriculture
University of Babylon, Iraq
PUBLISHED PAPERS
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10658243
Environment, Farming Systems and Sustainable Agriculture
This editorial explores the intricate interplay between agricultural systems, environmental health and principles of sustainable agriculture. It emphasizes the importance of long-term profitability and ecological equilibrium in farming practices. The article discusses various sustainable agricultural methods including organic farming, crop rotation, precision agriculture, agroforestry, and efficient water management. These practices strive to enhance soil quality, preserve biodiversity, and conserve water resources while addressing the challenges posed by global population growth and environmental concerns. The present article explores recent advancements in sustainable agriculture, highlighting its potential to create a more resilient and eco-friendly agricultural future. It offers insights into the challenges and the essential policy and educational support needed to promote its adoption.
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10965975
Impact of Metallic Nanoparticles on Eisenia fetida Vermicomposting Efficiency, Growth and Nutrient Status
The proliferation of nanotechnology has led to a significant influx of nanoparticles (NPs) into the environment, with a particular focus on soil ecosystems where earthworms, a prominent megafaunal species, are continuously subjected to these NPs. The present investigation focuses on examining the impact of metal oxide NPs (namely iron and zinc) on the vermicomposting efficacy of Eisenia fetida. The earthworms were subjected to iron oxide NPs (30 nm and 100 nm) and zinc oxide NPs (20 nm and 240 nm), respectively, spiked in the artificial soil at various doses (250, 500, 750, and 1000 mg/kg of soil). The iron (zinc) oxide NPs with a diameter of 30 nm (240 nm) exhibited the most significant augmentation in the weight of earthworms, with a percentage increase of 4.10% (30.76%), when administered at a concentration of 250 (750) mg/kg in the soil. However, using 100 nm iron oxide NPs and 20 nm zinc oxide NPs, the weight gain reached its maximum value of 11.50% and 21.05%, respectively, at a concentration of 750 and 500 mg/kg of soil, respectively. The treatment that involved the administration of a blend of iron (zinc) oxide NPs with varying sizes exhibited the highest increase in weight, measuring 8.06% (16%) at the NPs concentration of 500 (750) mg/kg of soil. The shortest duration for converting the substrate (farm yard manure) into vermicompost of 84 days was observed in the treatment involving a combination of zinc oxide NPs of sizes 20 nm and 240 nm (@750 mg/kg of soil). In contrast, for iron oxide NPs treatment, the shortest duration of 82 days was observed for the control. The nutrient analysis conducted on the vermicompost derived from the substrate indicated a consistent pattern of elevated concentrations of total nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus (%), accompanied by declining pH levels and total organic carbon content (%). The results suggest that the vermicompost produced by adding NPs exhibited higher nutrient content than the control, despite the prolonged duration (additional 2-13 days compared to the control) required for vermicomposting. The experimental results further indicated that using a combination of different sizes of iron and zinc oxide NPs resulted in the highest nutrient content in final vermicompost. Hence, it is plausible for marginal farmers in underdeveloped nations to investigate the possible effects of metal oxide NPs on vermicomposting as a mean to enhance agricultural practices.
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.11424887
Brassinosteroid a Potential Plant Growth Regulator to Alleviate Drought Stress in Apple Cultivars
The objective of this study was to understand the effect of foliar application of brassinosteroid (BRs) to mitigate the adverse impacts of drought stress on one year old apple seedlings of two cultivars i.e. Super Chief and Red Chief. Both the cultivars were pre-treated by foliar application of brassinosteroid (0.05 and 0.10 ppm), 3 days before imposition of drought. Drought was imposed on plants withholding water for 15 and 30 days. Adequate moisture was maintained in control plants near to field capacity. Results of this study revealed that drought for 15 and 30 days led to a reduction in Physio-biochemical characteristics with a higher reduction under 30 days of drought. Pre-treatment with brassinosteroid at 0.05 and 0.10 ppm concentration prior to subjecting to drought helped in minimizing the detrimental effect of drought in both cultivars. However, 0.05 ppm was more effective in counteracting the effect of drought by maintaining vital physiological and biochemical changes. The chlorophyll fluorescence, photosynthetic rate, canopy temperature depression, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate showed significant increase under 0.05 ppm brassinosteroid treatment as compared to 15 and 30 days of stress. However, brassinosteroid at both concentrations could help in the relative accumulation of osmoregulating substances (proline) and activities of anti-oxidant enzymes namely peroxidase under different stress durations and treatments. Foliar application of brassinosteroid (0.05 ppm) prior to imposition of stress can prove the way for reversal of deleterious effects of water stress on apple plants. Therefore, it may be concluded that foliar application of BRs prior to drought has the potential to reverse the deleterious effect of drought in apple plants.
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10838406
Monocrotophos Induced Changes in the Life Cycle Parameters of Fruit Fly
Current study investigated the chronic effect of monocrotophos exposure, a globally used pesticide on 3rd instar larvae and pupae of fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Study commenced with the investigation of chronic median lethal concentration (LC50) which was found as 0.68 µg/mL for 3rd instar larvae and 0.56 µg/mL for pupae. Accordingly five sub-lethal concentrations such as 0.2, 0.25, 0.3, 0.35 and 0.4 µg/mL were selected for experimental set up. Treated larvae manifested altered feeding habit, changed life cycle duration and reduced body weight and length in both larval and pupal stage. Interestingly alteration in sex-ratio and gender biased population was encountered after exposure to monocrotophos. Since D. melanogaster shares significant molecular and physiological homologies with higher vertebrates, hence the present findings could be alarming for other non-targeted organisms who are getting direct or indirect chronic exposure to this chemical.
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.11424734
Serological Detection of Viruses causing Tomato Mosaic Disease
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) belongs to solanaceous family and is sensitive to many plant viruses during the different crop stages and viruses are spread by insect vectors. Mostly plant viruses with ss-RNA infect the crop vulnerability and cause huge losses, including Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), and Potato mosaic virus (PVY). The survey was conducted in the subtropical climate zone of Jammu province in different locations viz. Gajansoo, Pinjore, and Lalyal from Marh, Badayal Brahmna, Laswara and Purobana from RS Pura, Makhanpur, Salehar, and Kothe from Bishnah and Chatha Farm during 2020 and 2021. It was observed that the overall incidence of disease in Marh was 32.44% in Gajansoo and a minimum (16.67%) in Makhanpur of Bishnah during 2020 while during 2021, a maximum disease incidence of 30.66% was recorded from Gajansoo of Marh and minimum (15.75%) was recorded from Purobana of RS Pura. Host resistance for different plant viruses has always been a successful management strategy in the control of plant viral diseases, which are ecologically and economically valid. Twenty germplasms of tomato viz. Pusa Ruby, EC-620406, Arka Vikas, EC-771607, EC-676791, Hisar Anmol, EC- 514109, EC- 514109, EC-677191, EC-677049, EC- 677123, Avinash 2, Arka Sourabh, Kashi Vishes, Local, Kajal, Hiasr Arun, Money Maker, EC-620417, Arka Ananya, EC-617048 obtained from NBPGR were screened against ToMV, CMV and PVY under field conditions to know the host resistance to three plant viruses which are detected serologically through DAS-ELISA.
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12161291
Foliar Nutrition of Micro-nutrients on Physico-biochemical Characters of Pear cv. Patharnakh
The present investigation was carried out in the orchard, Department of Agriculture, Khalsa College, Amritsar during the year 2022-2023. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with ten treatments, replicated thrice and results were statistically analyzed at p≤0.05 level of significance. The pear plants were sprayed with different concentration of micro-nutrients i.e. Borax (0.2 %, 0.4 % and 0.6 %), ZnSO4 (0.2 %, 0.4 % and 0.6 %) and FeSO4 (0.2 %, 0.4 % and 0.6 %). It was concluded from the present study that boron (0.6 percent) proved to be the most effective treatment in enhancing the fruit length, fruit breadth, fruit weight, fruit volume, TSS, TSS/TA, juice pH and minimum titratable acidity of fruit.