Accelerating land-use change (LUC) in the Nilgiri Hill Region (NHR) has caused its land to mortify. Although this deterioration has been documented, the destruction of buried gem soil has not been reported. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the impact of LUC on soil-carbon dynamics in the six major ecosystems in the NHR: croplands (CLs), deciduous forests (DFs), evergreen forests (EFs), forest plantations (FPs), scrublands (SLs), and tea plantations (TPs). Sampling was conducted at selected sites of each ecosystem at three depth classes (0–15, 15–30, and 30–45 cm) to quantify the carbon pools (water-soluble carbon, water-soluble carbohydrates, microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass nitrogen, dehydrogenase, and different fractions of particulate organic carbon). We found that the LUC significantly decreased the concentration of carbon in the altered ecosystems (49.44–78.38%), with the highest being recorded at EF (10.25%) and DF (7.15%). In addition, the effects of the LUC on the aggregate size of the organic carbon were dissimilar across all the aggregate sizes. The relatively high inputs of the aboveground plant residues and the richer fine-root biomass were accountable for the higher concentration of carbon pools in the untouched EFs and DFs compared to the SLs, FPs, TPs, and CLs. The results of the land-degradation Index (LDI) depicted the higher vulnerability of TP (−72.67) and CL (−79.00). Thus, our findings highlight the global importance of LUC to soil quality. Henceforth, the conservation of carbon pools in fragile ecosystems, such as the NHR, is crucial to keep soils alive and achieve land-degradation neutrality.

Improper nutrient management is one of the major challenges for sustainable production of tuberose cultivation. The present study has utilized drones to deliver agricultural inputs, particularly nutrients, in tuberose cultivation over 2 seasons (2022-2024) in Sathiyamangalam, Tamil Nadu. Present study has conducted with 10 treatments replicated thrice in a randomized block design, the treatments included NPK 19:19:19, micronutrients, humic acid and GA3 at various concentrations. Nutrients were applied via foliar spray using drones and knapsack sprayers. Results demonstrated a significant positive impact of drone-facilitated foliar nutrient application on tuberose growth and yield. Drone spray of micro nutrient mixture + 0.5 % poly feed + 0.6 % humic acid + 150 ppm GA3 with spray fluid of 50 L ha-1 recorded the maximum plant growth and yield attributes over other treatments. The study showed enhanced flowering attributes in tuberose, including a reduced time to first spike emergence (77.18 days), increased spike length (99.22 cm) and number of florets per spike (43.39). Additionally, higher yield and quality parameters were observed, such as hundred floret weight (221.57 g), floret diameter (4.36 cm), floret length (6.88 cm), spike weight (126.89 g) and yield per plant (390.51 g). Physiological parameters were also higher in plots treated with a drone spray of MN mixture + 0.5 % poly feed + 0.6 % humic acid + GA3 at 150 ppm, followed by those treated with a knapsack spray of the same mixture. The findings revealed that foliar application of nutrients and growth regulators using drones significantly improved the growth, yield and quality of tuberose.

This study presents a comprehensive account of Telosma cordata and related species, focusing on taxonomy, distribution and distinguishing morphological traits. To elucidate the phytochemical landscape of the species, floral samples were subjected to Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The resulting chromatographic profiles revealed a diverse spectrum of primary and secondary metabolites, including volatile oils, phenolic compounds and bioactive flavonoids. The study identifies several major phytoconstituents with potential medicinal and nutritional relevance. The richness of antioxidant and antimicrobial metabolites in the methanolic extract suggests potential applications in developing natural therapeutic agents against oxidative stress and microbial infections. On the other hand, the hexane extract, dominated by heptadecanamine, indicates strong antimicrobial activity with possible use in pharmaceutical and industrial applications. Together, these findings emphasise the pharmacological potential of T. cordata flowers and justify further studies, including bioassays and formulation development.

Background: Canna lily (Canna indica L.) is an edible herbaceous perennial plant in which flowers and rhizomes were commonly used as a food additive and its potentiality was not fully utilized in India. To stun these hindrances, morphological characterizations are needed to determine the genetic variability to improve flower quality and rhizome yield in canna lily. Methods: In the present research, a field experiment was conducted during 2022-2023 in Botanical Garden, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Twelve accessions were investigated by using a randomized block design with 3 replications. All the observations for 23 quantitative traits were carried out at 0.05 and 0.01 probability. Results: The wide range of genetic variability was observed, a high genetic coefficient of variation ranged from 8.49 to 75.62 % and a phenotypic coefficient of variation ranged from 8.83 to 76.50 % was observed in 20 traits except in time taken for first flowering, rhizome diameter, number of nodes per rhizome. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as a percent of mean was observed for 21 traits except in time taken for flowering and number of nodes per rhizome. Character association analysis revealed that stem diameter and inflorescence length showed highly significant and positively correlated with flower yield and rhizome yield per plant. Path analysis specified that the number of leaves per clump had a very high and positive direct effect on fresh flower yield per plant.

Essential oils (EOs) are intricate blends of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds sourced from various plant tissues like flowers, buds, leaves and bark. However, their clinical utility is significantly constrained by inherent physicochemical properties that limit bioavailability-including high volatility, poor water solubility and susceptibility to degradation. Encapsulation has emerged as an effective approach to overcome these challenges by entrapping the essential oil within polymeric nanocarriers, which acts as a shield, preserving their integrity. Techniques like spray drying, freeze drying, molecular inclusion and coating have been investigated for the encapsulation of these flower crop essential oils, with significant outcomes. Key findings reveal that cyclodextrin inclusion complexes increased the half-life of rose oil terpenoids by 300 %, while chitosan-based nano emulsions enhanced antimicrobial efficacy of jasmine oil by 5-fold. Additionally, liposomal encapsulation of lavender oil demonstrated a 70 % improvement in dermal penetration compared to non-encapsulated forms. This review provides key insights on using encapsulation for unlocking the full potential of flower crop-based essential oils. With optimization of techniques and careful material selection, encapsulation can successfully enhance bioavailability, stability and efficacy.

As an innovative way of cultivating seasonal and off-seasonal crops, protected cultivation has enormous potential for improving productivity, generating employment and ensuring effective utilization of land. However, its adoption remains low due to several constraints faced by the farmers during adoption. In this regard, the present study aims to identify and assess these constraints using the Henry Garrett ranking technique among 120 farmers from Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts under five different dimensions. It can be concluded that the rapidly growing population, declining cultivable land, increased pests and diseases, rising pollution levels, global warming and changing climate all underscore the importance of sustainable agriculture, along with the need for higher crop productivity through protected cultivation techniques. Hence, the government and policymakers should take necessary steps to eliminate these constraints and promote adoption of protected cultivation.