Traditional rice is gaining popularity worldwide due to its high nutritional and pharmaceutical value, as well as its high resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. This has attracted significant attention from breeders, nutritionists, and plant protection scientists in recent years. Hence, it is critical to investigate the grain metabolome to reveal germination and nutritional importance. This research aimed to explore non-targeted metabolites of five traditional rice varieties,viz., Chinnar, Chithiraikar, Karunguruvai, Kichili samba, and Thooyamalli, for their nutritional and therapeutic properties. Approximately 149 metabolites were identified using the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) library and Human Metabolome Database (HMDB) and were grouped into 34 chemical classes. Major classes include fatty acids (31.1–56.3%), steroids and their derivatives (1.80–22.4%), dihydrofurans (8.98–11.6%), prenol lipids (0.66–4.44%), organooxygen compounds (0.12–6.45%), benzene and substituted derivatives (0.53–3.73%), glycerolipids (0.36–2.28%), and hydroxy acids and derivatives (0.03–2.70%). Significant variations in metabolite composition among the rice varieties were also observed through the combination of univariate and multivariate statistical analyses. Principal component analysis (PCA) reduced the dimensionality of 149 metabolites into five principle components (PCs), which explained 96% of the total variance. Two clusters were revealed by hierarchical cluster analysis, indicating the distinctiveness of the traditional varieties. Additionally, a partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) found 17 variables important in the projection (VIP) scores of metabolites. The findings of this study reveal the biochemical intricate and distinctive metabolomes of the traditional therapeutic rice varieties. This will serve as the foundation for future research on developing new rice varieties with traditional rice grain metabolisms to increase grain quality and production with various nutritional and therapeutic benefits.

Introduction: Increasing nutrient use efficiencies is critical for sustainable crop production. A field experiment conducted over two cropping seasons in southern Taiwan compared the effects of four rates of rice husk biochar (0, 10, 20, 30 t ha ⁻¹ ) combined with mineral and organic fertilizers on okra growth, physiology, yield, nutrient use efficiency, and economic returns. Methods: Nine treatments were tested: negative control (CK), mineral fertilizer alone (MB0), mineral fertilizer + increasing biochar rates (MB10, MB20, MB30), organic fertilizer alone (OB0), and organic fertilizer + increasing biochar rates (OB10, OB20, OB30). Results: All biochar-amended treatments outperformed non-biochar and control treatments in terms of okra performance, with the highest biochar rate (30 t ha ⁻¹ ) achieving the best improvements. MB30 increased plant height and SPAD by 37–49.3% and 38.6–62%, while OB30 improved them by 35.3–37.8% and 36–64.2% compared to CK. Net photosynthetic rate rose by 168.2–178.9% (MB30) and 165.0–199.8% (OB30). Fruit yield increased by 45.6–143.0% and 41.8–127.0% under MB30 and OB30, respectively. Biochar contributions to yield increases were 10% higher under organic fertilizers, however, the study reported for the first time that this higher contribution of biochar to yield under organic fertilizers decreases with increasing biochar rates. Biochar also increased nutrient use efficiency, with MB30 showing 25.7% to 43.6% higher PFPN and PFPK than MB0; and OB30 showing 23.4% to 54.0% higher values than OB0, across two seasons, respectively. Although MB0 achieved the highest benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of 2.99 in season one, this trend reversed in season two, where MB30 reached the highest BCR (3.81) through productivity gains. Discussion: This study demonstrates that despite higher initial investment, biochar application offers a promising strategy to increase nutrient use efficiency, okra productivity, and economic returns.

Background: Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is crop of economic importance in global and national scale. India is the greatest producer of quality cotton, the third largest exporter and the second largest consumer. Conventional cotton farming creates environmental pressures and negative impact on public health. Organic farming is the sustainability option in cotton production. Cotton is the energy intensive crop, which uses high amount of input energy to produce seed cotton. Hence, energy budgeting is highly essential for better energy utilization and resource conservation and also measuring the input use efficiency of a farm/agronomic practices is vitally important in present day Indian agriculture. Methods: Sensing the economic importance of cotton, ten number of eco-friendly, ecologically safe organic nutrient management (ONM) practices were framed and field experiment was conducted in split plot design with two main plots (M) and five subplots (S) and replicated thrice. The direct and indirect energy used in different ONM practices were computed and energy coefficients were computed from energy equivalents and that has been used as inputs to generate efficiency coefficients by using an input oriented DEA approach. Result: Energy budgeting on field operation basis reported that, the field preparation and irrigation operation uses most of the energy (in non-renewable forms) which needs attention and there is the scope to find alternative energy conservation systems. Results on input use efficiency reported that the ONM practice, double green manuring followed by cotton and application of well decomposed poultry manure and foliar application of fermented fish extract at 5% concentration at 25 and 35 DAS are 100% efficient in terms of technical CRS, technical VRS, scale, allocative and cost efficiencies. This organic nutrient management practice would produce optimum output from the least amount of input and would be ideal for sustainable cotton production.

Background: Millets rank sixth among cereal grains which has a great potential in contributing to food and nutritional security. Little millet (Panicum sumatrense L.), a minor millet, quick germinating, short duration crop tolerant to drought, excess moisture and also rich in nutrients. Use of improved varieties and good agronomic management such as tillage practices, crop rotation, cropping system and fertilization by nutrient management through organic manures and foliar supplementation during critical stages helps in improving the soil fertility and maximize the crop productivity. Hence, there is a need to develop the organic nutrient management of minor millets for food production, nutritional security and maintaining the soil fertility as well as productivity. Based on this consideration, a new immersing attempt was made to develop and identify the suitable tillage prac­tices and nutrient management practices on growth and yield of little millet. Methods: Field experiments were conducted in the research farm of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during summer and rabi season 2022 in order to investigate the growth and yield performances of little millet under tillage and different nutrient sources. The experiment was laid out in strip plot design with 2 main plot and 7 sub-plot treatments. The main plot consist of tillage practices viz., conventional tillage and farmer’s practices whereas sub-plot consist of nutrient management practices includes organic manures along with foliar nutrition. Result: The results revealed that conventional tillage (Disc plough + Cultivator + Rotovator) with application of enriched vermicompost @ 1 t ha-1 followed by foliar spray of 3% panchagavya on 30th DAS and 5% of egg amino acid on 45th DAS had greater effect on growth parameters and yield attributes of little millet during summer and rabi season, 2022.

Background: Cotton crop is sensitive in its young stages i.e. stand establishment. Cotton seeds are fuzzy and messy in handling and field sowing. Delinting is a necessary process done commonly using acids and are comprehensively not protective. Optimal plant population, growth and persistence are strongly influenced by germination and establishment. In line with this, it is necessary and needful of an hour to find an alternative, eco-friendly, ecologically safe and low cost seed treatment method. Methods: The experiment was conducted in two methods viz., a petridish method and roll-towel method with seed treatment methods viz., cowdung and red earth mix treated with and without biofertilizer and compared with acid-delinted and fuzzy seeds. The germino-metrics were determined using GerminaR package, an interactive web application and statistical analysis was performed using R software package v. 4.2.1. Result: The summative effect of seed treatment with fresh cow dung, red earth and biofertilizer (Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria) per kg of seeds at respective quantities (0.5:0.25:0.12) recorded significantly maximal germination indices and seedling growth determinants. This present study would be a complementary to comprehensively promote the use of indigenously available natural materials as an alternative to acids in cotton seed delinting.