Now, Farmers Can Check Water-Level In Soil

To help farmer reduce consumption of water, a scientist from Sugarcane Breeding Institute in the city has developed a soil moisture indicator to help farmers understand the moisture level of the soil and irrigate accordingly.

K Hari, a senior scientist at the institute, invented the device, which was tested for around a year among sugarcane farmers. "This can be immersed into the soil. By pressing the side button, the water levels can be understood. Different colours will represent the water levels; such as blue for adequate water and red for less water," he added.

According to the scientists, farmers can decide on when to irrigate looking at the indicators. D Puthira Prathap, who was the principal investigator of the project, says that "The indicator can be taken to different areas of the land and the moisture levels can be checked. The soil need not be irrigated, if there is enough water."

Farmers who used the equipment in Erode, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri shared their experiences in the sensitisation workshop organised as part of "Water Day" celebrations in the institute.

EK Subramanian, a farmer from Koothampoondi in Erode said he used the soil moisture indicator in half of his farm and found it beneficial. "I have one hectare of sugarcane cultivation. In half the land, I used this equipment to compare with the normal process of irrigation. I placed the indicator in several locations of the land to understand the availability of water. In the other portion of the land, we irrigated as usual. Using the indicator, I could manage with 20% less water. The land which used this equipment cultivated 8 tonnes more than the other portion," he said.

"I could reduce about 30% to 40% water consumption in the areas where I used the equipment compared to the land where I did not use it. The harvest was ten tonnes more," said P Saravanan, a farmer from Palacode in Dharmapuri district.

N Vijayan Nair, director of the institute said "Indian farmers use more water for agriculture. The usual reason is that we don't know when the soil requires to be irrigated. This leads to over irrigation which damages the soil."

The soil moisture indicator can check water-levels of the soil from around 15cms to 45cms. Hari says that this is enough for farms and plants in pots. "This is simple to use and affordable. We are looking for entrepreneurs interested in manufacturing this on a large scale," he added.

Fruit And Vegetables 'Give A Healthy Glow'

Even a few weeks of eating fruit and vegetables could improve your skin color, it is claimed.

University of St Andrews researchers monitored diet in 35 people, finding more coloration in those eating more greens.

Other research suggests these changes may make you more attractive.

Other scientists said the study, in the PLoS One journal, might not fully reflect the link between consumption and appearance.

It has been known for some time that certain yellow and red pigments called carotenoids found in many types of fruit and vegetables, can have an effect on skin tone.

However it is not clear exactly how much influence a normal healthy diet can have on this effect.

The St Andrews scientists recruited 35 students, mostly white, who were quizzed on their fruit and vegetable intake over a six week period.

The volunteers were told not to use sun beds, fake tan or make-up.

An instrument was used to analyze their skin tone before, during and after the test period.

The results suggested that changes in fruit and vegetable consumption might be related to changes in skin tone, with more fruit and vegetables contributing to a deepening of natural red and yellow skin coloration.

Earlier research by the team had found links between the perceived attractiveness of faces and even subtle changes in these skin tones.

"It is possible that even smaller dietary changes are able to produce perceptible benefits to skin coloration," they wrote.

However, they did concede that the effects on older people might be different, and that more research into non-white volunteers would be needed.

Food preparation

Dr Glenys Jones, from the Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research laboratory at Cambridge University, said that another issue was that food preparation techniques made a big difference to how much of the carotenoids were available from food, and the study did not take this into account.

She added: "With the vast majority of the population not consuming the recommended five-a-day of fruits and vegetables, this could be another way of encouraging people through our own innate vanity to increase fruit and vegetable intake.

"After all fruits and vegetables contain a wide range of nutrients that are good for not just for our complexion, but for our overall health."

Dr Catherine Collins, a dietician at St George's Hospital in London, said that although people heavily exposed to sunlight were excluded from the study, all the areas of skin studied were those exposed to daylight, and the effects of this could not be ruled out.

However, she echoed the point that anything which encouraged people to eat more fruit and vegetables was a good thing.

"For the rest of us post-university people, it's another potential reason to carry on eating your greens - and red/orange/yellow veggies as well.

"The grown-up way of serving them cooked, or as part of an overall meal along with other foods, boosts bio-availability of these useful phytochemicals, which may contribute to overall health - as well as beauty!"

Health Benefits Of Kumquats

A small round to oval citrus fruit, the kumquat resembles a tiny orange. The kumquat grows on trees that originated in China. It can be found in California, Florida, the Mediterranean countries, China, Japan, Indochina, Indonesia, Israel, Peru, and Brazil.

Varieties

Kumquat hybrids, when crossed with other citrus fruits, include the limequat, lemonquat, orangequat, and the calamondin (a cross with the mandarin orange).

Buying and storing tips

Kumquats are occasionally sold with a decorative stem and leaves attached. Avoid fruits with damaged skin and those that feel soft.

Availability

The peak season for kumquats is November through February.

Preparation, Uses, and Tips

In this fruit, the rind is edible, tender, and sweet, while the flesh can be dry and very tart, compared with oranges. Kumquats are usually eaten raw, as whole fruit, excluding the seeds. They make a striking garnish, especially when used with the leaves still attached. As with other citrus fruit, kumquats can be candied, marinated, prepared as marmalade, added to fruit salad, poached, or preserved whole.

Nutritional Highlights

• Kumquat (raw), 1 fruit (19g)
• Calories: 12
• Protein: 0.17g
• Carbohydrate: 3.1g
• Total Fat: 0.02g
• Fiber: 1.25g
• *Good source of: Vitamin C (7.1mg)

*Foods that are an “excellent source” of a particular nutrient provide 20% or more of the Recommended Daily Value. Foods that are a “good source” of a particular nutrient provide between 10 and 20% of the Recommended Daily Value.

Health benefits and concerns

Allergies and sensitivities (food and chemical)

A low-allergen diet, also known as an elimination diet, is often recommended to people with suspected food allergies in order to find out if avoiding common allergen foods gives relief from symptoms. This diet eliminates foods and food additives considered to be common allergens, including citrus fruits. Some popular books offer guidance to people who want to attempt this type of diet. Most elimination diets are quite restrictive and increase the likelihood of nutritional deficiencies. A successful elimination diet is usually followed by reintroduction of eliminated foods one at a time, to see which ones are truly allergens for the individual person and therefore need to be eliminated indefinitely. Strict avoidance of allergenic foods for a period of time (usually months or years) sometimes results in the foods no longer causing allergic reactions. Restrictive elimination diets and food reintroduction should be supervised by a qualified healthcare professional.

Hives

Allergy to foods and food additives is a common cause of hives, especially in chronic cases. Citrus fruits are among those foods most commonly reported to trigger hives. Numerous clinical studies demonstrate that diets that are free of foods that commonly trigger allergic reactions typically produce significant reductions in symptoms in 50–75% of people with chronic hives. People with hives should investigate the possibility that food allergies are causing their problem by consulting with a doctor.

Kidney stones

Citric acid is found in citrus fruits and may protect against kidney stone formation. Lemons are the best food source commonly available. One preliminary trial found that drinking 2 liters (approximately 2 quarts) of lemonade per day improved the quality of the urine in ways that are associated with stone prevention. Lemonade was far more effective than orange juice. The lemonade was made by mixing 4 oz lemon juice with enough water to make 2 liters. The smallest amount of sweetener possible should be added to make the taste acceptable. Further study is necessary, however, to determine if lemonade can prevent recurrence of kidney stones.

The Female Face Of Farming: Infographic

Water - Every Drop Counts

After air, the next most vital thing for our survival is water. While at the moment we have enough water for our needs, a time is likely to come when our water supply runs out and we have to buy water at a price similar to fuel. The solution, which some people have implemented, is to save and store rainwater

More Efficient Renewable Resource.

New biofuel process generates energy 20 times higher than existing methods, and uses agricultural waste:

A new biofuel production process created by Michigan State University researchers produces energy more than 20 times higher than existing methods. The results, published in the current issue of Environmental Science and Technology, showcase a novel way to use microbes to produce bio fuel and hydrogen, all while consuming agricultural wastes.

Gemma Reguera, MSU microbiologist, has developed bioelectrochemical systems known as microbial electrolysis cells, or MECs, using bacteria to breakdown and ferment agricultural waste into ethanol. Reguera's platform is unique because it employs a second bacterium, which, when added to the mix, removes all the waste fermentation byproducts or non-ethanol materials while generating electricity.

Similar microbial fuel cells have been investigated before. However, maximum energy recoveries from corn stover, a common feedstock for biofuels, hover around 3.5 percent. Reguera's platform, despite the energy invested in chemical pretreatment of the corn stover, averaged 35 to 40 percent energy recovery just from the fermentation process, said Reguera, who co-authored the paper with Allison Spears.

"This is because the fermentative bacterium was carefully selected to degrade and ferment agricultural wastes into ethanol efficiently and to produce byproducts that could be metabolized by the electricity-producing bacterium," Reguera said. "By removing the waste products of fermentation, the growth and metabolism of the fermentative bacterium also was stimulated. Basically, each step we take is custom-designed to be optimal."

The second bacterium, Geobacter sulfurreducens, generates electricity. The electricity, however, isn't harvested as an output. It is used to generate hydrogen in the MEC to increase the energy recovery process even more, Reguera said.

"When the MEC generates hydrogen, it actually doubles the energy recoveries," she said. "We increased energy recovery to 73 percent. So the potential is definitely there to make this platform attractive for processing agricultural wastes."

Reguera's fuel cells use corn stover treated by the ammonia fiber expansion process, an advanced pretreatment technology pioneered at MSU. AFEX is an already proven method that was developed by Bruce Dale, MSU professor of chemical engineering and materials science. Dale is currently working to make AFEX viable on a commercial scale.

In a similar vein, Reguera is continuing to optimise her MECs so they, too, can be scaled up on a commercial basis. Her goal is to develop decentralised systems that can help process agricultural wastes. Decentralised systems could be customised at small to medium scales (such as compost bins and small silages, for example) to provide an attractive method to recycle the wastes while generating fuel for farms.

Worldwide, the market for biofuel production is expected to reach $100 billion by 2018, compared to $35 billion just a decade earlier.

The Story Of Water In India

India is a blessed country with 

Teach A (Wo)Man To Farm: the Agricultural Multiplier Effect

The Future Of Renewable Energy

The Global State of Agriculture

The U.S. humanitarian assistance organization provides this infographic to illustrate the need for increased food production by emphasizing the boom in the global population. The planet now supports 7 billion people, and USAID estimates food production must increase 70% by 2050 to meet the growing need.

The Story Of Agriculture And The Green Economy

The future of our world depends on addressing global challenges now. We need to create sustainable livelihoods, feed a growing population and safeguard the environment. We need to make the global economy green.

Hybrid Farming A Good Investment

The higher cost of producing hybrid rice is offset by the higher yields and income the farmers get, according to Dr. Frisco Malabanan, director of the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) rice program of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

“The use of hybrid seeds has tremendously increased our palay production by 1.47 metric tons (MT) per hectare, with per hectare yields hitting 6.01 MT against the 4.5 MT average produced by farmers using the inbred rice variety,” he said.

The DA official said the hybrid rice varieties have recorded a yield advantage of 33 percent more than those on inbred certified seeds. The yield advantage, he said, contributed to a sustained increase in the national palay production of the country.

He said in many provinces in the country, especially in Nueva Ecija, more and more farmers are now planting high-yielding hybrid rice seed variety and using the latest farming technology.

Henry Lim, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of SL Agritech Corp., the country’s top producer of hybrid rice seeds, said “hamak laki na ng inaani ngayon ng mga farmers sa Nueva Ecija na nagtatanim ng hybrid seed variety than before when they were planting the traditional or inbred rice variety and were not working as a group.”

He said the Bagong Buhay Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BBMPC) in Barangay Mabini in Sto. Domingo, Nueva Ecija, a cluster of 200 hectares, is one example where working together as a group or common sharing of resources, will have tremendous effect to increase production.

BBMPC has been named by the Department of Agriculture as a “model hybrid rice cluster” as its farmer-members have been posting an average harvest of 180 cavans or 10.09 metric tons (MY) per hectare using the SL-8H hybrid rice variety.

Lim at the same time commended the members of the BBMPC who, he said, “are receptive in adopting modern farm technologies and practices.”

He said that while “we are all aware of the important role played by technology in our massive food production efforts, there is the apparent need for all of us to keep abreast with the various technological approaches and to continuously be in search of new and better systems towards increase productivity.”

Will The World Go Hungry?

In the first half of this century, as the world’s population grows to around 9 billion, global demand for food, feed and fiber will nearly double while, increasingly, crops may also be used for bio-energy and other industrial purposes. New and traditional demand for agricultural produce will thus put growing pressure on already scarce agricultural resources. And while agriculture will be forced to compete for land and water with sprawling urban settlements, it will also be required to serve on other major fronts: adapting to and contributing to the mitigation of climate change, helping preserve natural habitats, protecting endangered species and maintaining a high level of biodiversity. As though this were not challenging enough, in most regions fewer people will be living in rural areas and even fewer will be farmers. They will need new technologies to grow more from less land, with fewer hands.