A total of seventy irrigation water samples were collected from Leh, Ladakh, India, to determine their hydrochemistry profile and water quality for irrigation purposes. Water quality indices such as total hardness (TH), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), potential salinity (PS), permeability index (PI), Kelly's ratio (KR), sodium absorption ratio (SAR), corrosivity ratio (CR), and chloroalkaline indices (CAI) were measured. The Piper diagram, Durov's diagram, and United States Salinity Laboratory (USSL) diagram were drawn to determine the water types, ion exchange processes, and rock–soil–water interaction. The findings indicated that the hydrochemical characteristics of irrigation water are naturally alkaline. Furthermore, water quality parameters revealed that the study area’s surface water is suitable for irrigation purposes, despite relatively high TH and MH levels. The level of CR indicated that water should not be transported using metal pipes. The CAI and Durov's plot indicated direct ionic exchange processes controlling water chemistry. Additionally, this irrigation water is mainly dominated by the Ca²⁺–Cl⁻–SO₄²⁻, Na⁺–K⁺–CaCO₃ + HCO₃⁻, and Na⁺–K⁺–Cl⁻ type, which indicates silicate rock weathering along with some anthropogenic input. The USSL salinity diagram indicated a medium salinity and low Na hazard. Hence, it is concluded that the rock weathering cycle is the natural source of all the cations and anions, and these ions pass directly from water to rock and vis-à-vis, along with some input of anthropogenic activity.

Monitoring water quality of surface water resources is the key concern in determining the potable water quality in high-altitude region. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate different parameters affecting water quality of river and identify the most important variables and factors significantly affecting water quality. In the present study, multivariate statistical methods including cluster analysis and principal component analysis/factor analysis were applied to analyze the Indus River water quality in the Trans-Himalayan region of India. For this total 25 no. of physicochemical parameters were analyzed in water samples taken from seven different monitoring sites in summer and winter season. All the physical, microbial, chemical, and mineral parameters were analyzed by using the standard methods of American Public Health Association, whereas minerals were determined with the inductively coupled plasma optical emission of spectroscopy method. Thereafter, experimental two-season (28 samples × 25 parameters) matrices of both the seasons were run through the multivariate statistical data analysis. The varifactors obtained from the FA of both the seasons and results indicate that the parameters responsible for water quality variations are mainly related to discharge and temperature (natural), organic pollution (point source: domestic sanitary waste), and nutrients (non-point sources: agriculture) in the summer season. However, in the winter seasons, results showed that the river water was less affected by anthropogenic activities and natural weathering process. Therefore, it is concluded that quality of Indus River water is affected by agricultural, domestic, and hydrogeochemical sources in the summer season. These findings corroborate suitability of multivariate statistical techniques in the elucidation of various parameters for water quality monitoring and determination of different contamination sources.

The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of physico-chemical parameters and soil macro-nutrients to know the nutrient uptake status during sowing time (ST) and after the harvesting (AH) of crops of Leh-Ladakh. In this context, total 55 no. of soil samples were collected from the eleven villages. Thereafter, soil texture, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), organic carbon (OC), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) were analyzed as per the standard methods. The results exhibited variation in different studied parameters at ST and AH, are OC (ST- 1.70 ± 0.11; AH-2.31±0.08), N (ST- 171.54±11.40; AH- 212.03±13.18), P (ST- 75.62±8.16; AH- 96.32±11.56), pH (ST- 8.12±0.05; AH- 8.16±0.06), EC (ST- 0.48±0.04; AH- 0.58±17), TDS (ST-309±22.41; AH-189±16.42) and soil texture gradient (Sand: ST-75.16±1.27 & AH-71.75±1.26, Silt: ST- 18.55±1.09 & AH- 20.66±1.02 and clay: ST- 6.33±0.53 & AH- 7.76±0.63). The comparison of physico-chemical parameters, macronutrients, soil texture, and organic carbon at sowing time (ST) and after harvesting (AH) revealed significant difference in some macronutrients, EC, and organic carbon, whereas no changes were observed in soil texture, pH and phosphorus. Hence, this study highlights the need of physico-chemical parameters management during crops sowing for enhancing macronutrients availability to crops in trans-Himalayan high altitude region.

Correction for ‘Synthesis of non-toxic, biocompatible, and colloidal stable silver nanoparticle using egg-white protein as capping and reducing agents for sustainable antibacterial application’ by Kalaiyarasan Thiyagarajan et al., RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 23213–23229, DOI: 10.1039/C8RA03649G.

High-altitude Bactrian camels (double-hump) are in limited numbers and become a vulnerable species of high-altitude livestock biodiversity. These camels are an important livestock resource, contributing as an integral part of the animal husbandry-based livelihood of agrarian society in the upper Himalayan Mountains of the Leh-Ladakh region of India. There is no standardised methods supported with scientific study for feeding, husbandry, or health management, so the welfare and conservation efforts of this unique animal resource, which is well adapted to hypobaric-hypoxia and extreme temperature, are limited. Furthermore, people prefer loading and riding male camels over female ones, although there is no study to support this preference and gender-based variation in physiological, biochemical, phenotypic (body measurement), and performance parameters in the Bactrian camels of high altitude. Therefore, the current investigations were done to evaluate comparative sexual dimorphism in various parameters of phenotypic measurement, physiological responses, hematological, and biochemical indices in four adult Bactrian camels of each sex from the high-altitude region. The findings revealed (p < 0.05) higher body length and body circumference in males than in females. There was no variation in physiological responses between the sexes. Interestingly, significantly (p < 0.05) higher platelet count was recorded in the male Bactrian camel than the female, whereas other haematologically parameters were not significantly different between the sexes. Similarly, the values of albumin, total protein, and HDL were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the male than the female camels. These findings suggested sexual dimorphism in some parameters of hematological, biochemical, and phenotypic (body measurement) characteristics in high-altitude Bactrian camels, which could be the basis of better endurance work performance of male Bactrian camels while both sexes exhibit comparable physiological stability under high-altitude conditions. This study findings will also be a reference baseline data for future studies on Bactrian camels and useful for their scientific management of health and welfare in high-altitude regions.