Background: Groundnut, also known as peanut is a vital crop worldwide, valued for its oil and protein-rich seeds. However, globally the production of groundnut is constrained by a number of biotic and abiotic factors, which significantly reduce yield. Among these, seed borne pathogen plays a major role.In order to manage plant disease and increase the yield, chitosan was used in this study since it is a natural polymer derived from chitin found in crustacean shells. Methods: Groundnut seeds were treated with chitosan 1.5 and 2.0% along with bio-control agents and carbendazim.Treated seeds were sown in field and observations viz., disease incidence (%), field emergence (%), plant height, flowering characters, yield attributing pod and seed characters were recorded. Result: The results revealed that no disease incidence was recorded in chitosan treated seeds. Seeds treated with chitosan 2% increased the field emergence and plant height up to 13 and 17 per cent over control, respectively. Chitosan 2% treated seeds-initiated flowers 4 days earlier than the control seeds and also quickly attained the 50% flowering. Apart from this, seeds treated with chitosan 2% increased the pod yield and seed yield ha-1 up to 27 and 29 per cent, respectively. In between the biocontrol agents, Bacillus subtilis showed an increased yield and yield attributing parameters.

Background: Groundnut, Arachis hypogaea is a leguminous crop grown in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Meloidogyne spp., is considered to be nematode pest of economic importance for the groundnut throughout the world. Plant metabolites with nematicidal property have been in use for a long time for nematode control that offer many environmental advantages. Methods: The nematicidal activity of methanolic leaf extract of Simarouba glauca on eggs and juveniles (Js) of root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita infesting vegetables was evaluated at three concentrations in vitro (100%, 50%, 25%) with control at three exposure times. Result: Results revealed that at 100% concentration, the methanolic leaf extract of S. glauca showed the least number of eggs hatched (7.85, 12.63, 16.30/egg mass) and the highest mortality (60.58, 70.23, 92.58/100 juveniles) at the exposure times of 24 hrs, 48 hrs, 72 hrs, respectively. The phytochemical compounds viz., Hexadecanoic acid-methyl ester, Isopropyl palmitate, Octadecanoic acid and Methyl stearate detected through GC-MS profiling of methanolic extract of S. glauca were found to inhibit the nematode activity. Pot and field studies proved that soil application of Simarouba leaf powder @ 10 g/plant and 5 kg/ha reduced the nematode infestation. This study implies that use of Simarouba leaf powder produces nematicidal effect against plant parasitic nematodes and reduced the nematode infestation in groundnut and is more suitable candidate in the context of biological control.

Background: Nowadays, minor millets becoming more popular than other cereals due to its inherent properties of adaptability to a range of marginal growing conditions, nutritious and withstanding severe biotic and abiotic stresses. However, underutilized and neglected in the cultivation part in several areas. It is also a known fact that the Theni, Madurai and Dindigul districts of southern Tamil Nadu has major population of scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST),”Paliyans”are living near the foothills of the Western Ghats, which is largely rural. These populations are really vulnerable communities which need better agricultural system for livelihood improvement and nutritional security. Attempts were made to popularize and adopt the high yielding variety and scientific methods of crop management practices in the farmers holdings of Theni district of Tamil Nadu through Front line demonstrations (FLDs) during 2016-19. The results exhibited that the average higher grain yield of 1559 kg/ha in barnyard millet and 1004 kg/ha in little millet were recorded in demonstration plots compared to 1250 kg/ha and 860 kg/ha respectively in farmers practice with a yield advantage of 24.7 and 16.7 per cent respectively. In summary, FLDs on village level were carried out by insisting worth of seed selection at farmers field and adoption of new variety under scientific methods of minor millet cultivation among the farming community for higher yield and income. Methods: The study was conducted in Western Ghats location of Theni, Madurai and Dindigul districts during 2016-19. The large-scale Frontline demonstrations were conducted in farmer’s field of selected villages of Aundipatti block of Theni district of Tamil Nadu during 2016-17 and 2017-18 in which need-based interventions were made on millet cultivation among the farmers who comes under SC/ST category of under privileged section. Result: The results of the Frontline demonstration confirmed that TNAU Barnyard millet varieties CO (Kv) 2 and MDU 1 and little millet variety CO (Sa) 4 with improved cultivation practices were found better than the local check at farmer’s field. Yield of the frontline demonstration trials and potential yield of the crop variety was compared to estimate the yield gap. Thus, the demonstration improved the skill of the farmer as well as the interest of adoption of new variety.