Yield limitation and widespread sulphur (S) deficiency in pearl-millet-nurturing dryland soils has emerged as a serious threat to crop productivity and quality. Among diverse pathways to tackle moisture and nutrient stress in rainfed ecologies, conservation agriculture (CA) and foliar nutrition have the greatest potential due to their economic and environmentally friendly nature. Therefore, to understand ammonium thiosulphate (ATS)-mediated foliar S nutrition effects on yield, protein content, mineral biofortification, and sulphur economy of rainfed pearl millet under diverse crop establishment systems, a field study was undertaken. The results highlighted that pearl millet grain and protein yield was significantly higher under no-tillage +3 t/ha crop residue mulching (NTCRM) as compared to no-tillage without mulch (NoTill) and conventional tillage (ConvTill), whereas the stover yield under NTCRM and ConvTill remained at par. Likewise, grain and stover yield in foliar S application using ATS 10 mL/L_twice was 19.5% and 13.2% greater over no S application. The sulphur management strategy of foliar-applied ATS 10 mL/L_twice resulted in significant improvement in grain protein content, protein yield, micronutrient fortification, and net returns (₹ 54.6 × 1000) over the control. Overall, ATS-mediated foliar S nutrition can be an alternate pathway to S management in pearl millet for yield enhancement, micronutrient biofortification and grain protein content increase under ConvTill, as well as under the new NTCRM systems.

The study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of foliar sulphur (S) nutrition through Ammonium Thiosulphate (ATS) under conservation management on the growth, photosynthetic efficiency and productivity of rainfed pearl millet in dryland and rainfed ecologies of New Delhi in 2021 and 2022 crop years. The pearl millet established under conservation management (ZTCR^ret) achieved significantly higher crop growth rate (CGR) and relative growth rate (RGR) as a result of improved photosynthesis efficiency in terms of net assimilation rate (NAR) and a higher rate of productive tiller production (RPTP). The productivity of rainfed pearl millet under ZTCR^ret was improved by 26.6 and 13.5 % during 2021, and by 27.6 and 12.7 % over zero tillage (ZTCR^rem) and conventional tillage (ConTil), respectively. The application of a recommended dose of S at 30 kg ha^-1 resulted in a dramatic improvement in growth indices and photosynthetic efficiency over control and ATS doses upto 0.5% twice. Foliar application of ATS at 0.5% once and successively higher doses were found to improve the growth and productivity of pearl millet over S control, however, the dose of ATS at 1.0% twice could only achieve statistically similar levels of CGR and RGR to RDS that led to the higher RPTP with higher photosynthetic efficiency which resulted in non-significant yield difference. Therefore, the pearl millet established under zero tilled and crop residue retained plots supplemented with foliar feeding of ATS at 1.0% at 20 DAS (4-6 leaves stage) and 50 DAS (flowering stage) can be practiced under rainfed ecologies without significant yield loss.

The attempts were made to introduce and evaluate the performance of selected exotic vegetable cultivars such as Chinese cabbage (pak choi and pe-tsai), lettuce (iceberg and loose leaf), celery, Swiss chard, red cabbage, and broccoli under protected conditions during winter season of 2019 at Defence Research Laboratory Research and Development Centre Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh). The commercial cultivars of these vegetables were evaluated based on the growth parameters, yield performance and price advantage under protected conditions. In general, these exotic crops and their respective cultivars performed satisfactorily in terms of yield per unit area. However, the cv. Choko of Chinese cabbage (pak choi), cv. Spring Sun 60 of Chinese cabbage (pe-tsai), cv. Green Rapid of lettuce (loose leaf type), cv. Bright yellow of Swiss Chard, cv. Super Red of red cabbage and cv. Green Magic of broccoli were found superior in terms of yield as compared to their respective cultivars under study. Although, the yield advantage of selected exotic vegetables, except celery and Chinese cabbage (pak choi), over their respective control crops was little lower side, the price advantage of these crops was found quite high which could bring lucrative returns and proved them as high value and remunerative vegetables over conventional crops. Therefore, these vegetables and their superior cultivars can be recommended for the commercial cultivation under protected conditions in high altitude areas of Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh).

The study has been undertaken to evaluate the performance of locally available commercial cultivars of cabbage in open field during summer season of 2019 at Defence Research Laboratory Research and Development Centre Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh). The commercial cultivars of these vegetables were evaluated based on the growth parameters and their yield performance under open field with paired row system of planting. It was found that the cultivar Green Express performance was outstanding among test edcultivars and it superseded cv. Royal Ball BC-51 and cv. Blue Jayes in terms of growth parameters as well as marketable yield (2.62 kg/m2) and biological yield (3.47 kg/m2). The cv. Royal Ball BC-86 was also found next best performing cultivar after cv. Green Express as former was at par with growth and yield parameter and harvest maturity of later. The head of cv. Green express attended harvest maturity (149.25 days) approximately one week earlier as compared to cv. Blue Jayes (155.0 days). However, the productivity of cultivars Green Express and Royal Ball BC-86 was found within the range of national average, therefore, these two cultivars could be recommended for the commercial cultivation with paired row system of planting under open field cultivation during summer season in high altitude areas of Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh).

A study was conducted at Defence Research Laboratory Research and Development Centre (DRL R&D Centre) Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh; AR), located at an altitude of 3015 m asl to introduce and evaluate two cultivars of strawberry namely cv. Sweet Charlie and cv. Winter Dawn and to standardize its cultivation under protected conditions in the year 2019.The cultivars were evaluated based on the growth parameters, fruit quality, functional and organoleptic characters, and their yield performance. Based on present studies, it has been found that the strawberry has immense potential for its commercial cultivation in Tawang region of AP. The cv. Sweet Charlie and cv. Winter Dawn were found significantly different with respect to few growth parameters, fruit quality, functional and organoleptic properties. However, the cultivars were on par in major growth parameters and yield per unit area. The performance of these cultivars is at national level. Hence, the cultivars Sweet Charlie and Winter Dawn can be recommended for the general cultivation under protected condition in high altitude areas of Tawang, AP.

An experiment was undertaken at Defence Research Laboratory, Tezpur, Assam during the winter season of 2020 to evaluate the performance of pak choi in the vertical system and nutrient film technique (hydroponics) against conventional method of soil cultivation. The soilless nursery of pak choi cv. Choko was raised under standard conditions at the station itself and planted under different cultivation methods. Growth attributes such as the number of leaves and leaf blade length registered a dramatic increase under the NFT system over the soil cultivation method as control. Yield in terms of fresh weight grams per plant under nutrient film technique in combination with hydroton was recorded highest followed by soil cultivation and soilless vertical cultivation being the least. Although the pak choi under soilless vertical cultivation yielded the lowest, it could be recommended as a suitable method for the production of baby pak choi, whereas, the NFT which was found approximately 14 to 16 days early in harvest maturity could be recommended for the areas where soil cultivation is either not possible or not feasible owing to different soil and environmental issues.