NewsletterHappeningsFebruary 2017, No. 1738

The 45 years were all about finding every opportunity to improve the lives of smallholder farmers in the drylands of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The timeline takes you on a journey of milestones that shaped the science done by ICRISAT today.

We welcome readers to leave comments about the timeline and share feedback on http://www.icrisat.org/icrisat45years/

Share your view and images about ICRISAT on social media using #icrisat45

Launching ICRISAT’s 45th anniversary timeline and ‘my wish’ for the drylands

Web updates

Despite minimal rainfall, farmers in Tharaka Nithi County are defying the harsh weather conditions by farming alternative crops. With the help of ICRISAT, Mr Shadrack Kithome, a farmer from Chiakariga Ward in Tharaka Nithi County, has adapted to the farming of drought tolerant crops. Chiakariga ward lies in a semi-arid region where rainfall averages 150mm to 800mm annually with high temperatures during hot seasons.

Read how Sorghum farming is helping kenyan farmers cope with drought

New Blogs

Webinar Healthy villages are smart villages: Health, energy and development

Intersections of health and energy will be explored in the webinar. Healthy villages are smart villages where people can live healthy lives with longer lifespans, fewer childhood illnesses and deaths, and greater well-being.

Click here to register for the webinar.

2ICRISAT Happenings February 2017 1738

New PublicationsWater needs and productivity of Jatropha curcas in India: myths and facts

Authors: Wani SP, Garg KK and Chander G

Published: 2016, Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining, 10(03): 240-254. ISSN 1932-1031

Abstract: Results from experiments and case studies in semi-arid tropical locations in India indicated that evapotranspiration (ET) demand for Jatropha ranges between 750 and 1000 mm under optimal conditions. Jatropha extracted water from soil layer 150 cm below with transpiration requirements of 600–800 mm with increasing age. The yield potential of current genotypes is low (2–3 ton/ha) for realizing the potential of Jatropha cultivation on wastelands subject to limited availability of nutrients and water. Jatropha curcas is drought tolerant, but contrary to belief, it is not a crop that requires less water: in fact, it requires 750–1000 mm water to achieve economic production. However, Jatropha curcas demonstrated good potential for enhancing green water use efficiency without adversely affecting the blue water component, and for promoting crop management options facilitating carbon sequestration and nutrient recycling when grown on degraded lands.

http://oar.icrisat.org/9527/

Current status of wilt/root rot diseases in major chickpea growing areas of Ethiopia

Authors: Damte T and Ojiewo CO Published: 2016, Archives of Phytopathology and Plant Protection. 01-17. ISSN 0323-5408

Abstract: Wilt/root rot diseases are a major chickpea production constraint in Ethiopia causing yield losses by reducing the number of plants. To determine the current status of disease incidence and distribution, surveys were conducted in the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 cropping seasons in major chickpea growing zones of Ethiopia. Despite recent efforts in dissemination of improved varieties, low to high incidence of 0.0–83.4, 0.0–27.6, 1.3–19.8 and 0.0–16.3% and 1.0–81.9, 0.0–25.5, 3.0–13.9 and 1.0–21.5% in East Gojjam, Southwest Shewa, North Shewa and West Shewa in 2013/2014 and 2014/2015, respectively. Therefore, integrated pest management strategies should be developed and availed to farmers.

http://oar.icrisat.org/9528/

Estimating household demand for millet and sorghum in Niger and Nigeria, Series Paper Number 39

Authors: Cheng Z and Larochelle C

Published: 2016, Discussion Paper, ICRISAT, Patancheru, Telangana, India.

Abstract: This research analyzes the response of household demand for millet and sorghum to income and prices in Niger and Nigeria using the latest Living Standards

Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) data by a two-stage method. In the first stage, a Working-Leser model is estimated to obtain the elasticity of food expenditure with respect to household total expenditure. In the second stage, a Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) model, incorporating household socio-demographic characteristics and regional dummy variables, is estimated for rural and urban households separately. Unconditional expenditure elasticities, own-price elasticities, and cross-price elasticities are obtained by combining the results of first and second stages.

http://oar.icrisat.org/9529/

Discrimination of maize crop with hybrid polarimetric RISAT1 data

Authors: Uppala D, Venkata RK, Poloju S, Rama SSMV and Dadhwal VK

Published:2016, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 37(11): 2641-2652. ISSN 0143-1161

Abstract: Microwave remote sensing provides an attractive approach to determine the spatial variability of crop characteristics. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image data provide unique possibility of acquiring data in all weather conditions. Several studies have used fully polarimetric data for extracting crop information, but it is limited by swath width. This study aimed to delineate maize crop using single date hybrid dual polarimetric Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT)-1, Fine Resolution Stripmap mode (FRS)-1 data. Raney decomposition technique was used for explaining different scattering mechanisms of maize crop. Supervised classification on the decomposition image discriminated maize crop from other land-cover features.

http://oar.icrisat.org/9531/

Penicillium citrinum VFI-51 as biocontrol agent to control charcoal rot of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench)

Authors: Sreevidya M and Gopalakrishnan S

Published: 2016, African Journal of Microbiology Research, 10(19): 669-674. ISSN 1996-0808

Abstract: In the present investigation, P. citrinum VFI-51 was further evaluated for its antagonistic potential against Macrophomina phaseolina, the causative agent of charcoal rot in sorghum. P. citrinum VFI-51 inhibited M. phaseolina in both dual culture as well as secondary metabolite production assays. In the in vivo blotter paper assay, under light chamber conditions, P. citrinum VFI-51 controlled 85% of the charcoal rot disease on the roots when compared to the positive control. Under greenhouse conditions, when M. phaseolina was inoculated by tooth pick method in to the stalk of sorghum plant, the charcoal rot disease was controlled by 75% in P. citrinum VFI-51 treatment over the positive control. This study demonstrates the biocontrol potential of P. citrinum VFI-51 against charcoal rot of sorghum.

http://oar.icrisat.org/9532/

Breeding Biofortified Pearl Millet Cultivars with high iron density

Authors: Govindaraj M and Rai KN

Published: 2016, Indian Farming, 65 (12). pp. 53-55. ISSN 0019-4786

Abstract: HarvestPlus Biofortification Program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has initiated the development and dissemination of improved crop cultivars with elevated levels of these micromarients in several crops including pearl millet. Pearl millet, grown on 8-9 million ha in India, is major dryland cereal in the arid and semi-arid regions. It serves as a significant source of dietary energy and contributes 19-63% of the Fe and 16-56% of the Zn intake from all food sources to a vast population in parts of some of the major pearl millet growing states of India.

http://oar.icrisat.org/9534/

Molecular cloning, characterization and expression analysis of a heat shock protein 10 (Hsp10) from Pennisetum glaucum (L.), a C4 cereal plant from the semi-arid tropics

Authors: Nitnavare RB, Yeshvekar RK, Sharma KK, Vadez V, Reddy MK and Reddy P S

Published: 2016, Molecular Biology Reports, 43 (8). pp. 861-870. ISSN 0301-4851

Abstract: Heat shock proteins (Hsp10) belong to the ubiquitous family of heat-shock molecular chaperones found in the organelles of both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Chaperonins assist the folding of nascent and stress-destabilized proteins. A cDNA clone encoding a 10 kDa Hsp was isolated from pearl millet, Pennisetum glaucum (L.) by screening a heat stress cDNA library. The full length PgHsp10 cDNA consisted of 297 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a 98 amino acid polypeptide with a predicted molecular mass of 10.61 kDa and an estimated isoelectric point (pI) of 7.95. PgHsp10 shares 70–98 % sequence identity with other plant homologs.

http://oar.icrisat.org/9535/

Assessing the value of diverse cropping systems under a new agricultural policy environment in Rwanda

Authors: Isaacs KB, Snapp SS, Chung K, and Waldman KB

Published: 2016, Food Security, 8 (3): 491-506. ISSN 1876-4517

Abstract: In this paper we use a mixed methods approach to evaluate inter cropping and sole cropping systems against farmers’ criteria for success: yield, market value, contribution to nutritional quality, and land-use efficiency. We used qualitative interviews to understand the criteria by which farmers evaluate cropping systems, and data from crop trials to assess common bean ((Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and maize (Zea mays L.)) sole crops and inter crops against those criteria.

http://oar.icrisat.org/9537/

Climate Change Adaption and Mitigation - Role of Extension

Authors: Kesava Rao AVR, Wani SP and Patil MD

Published: 2016, Advances in Agricultural Extension: Towards Changing the Lives and Livelihoods. BS Publications, Hyderabad, pp. 420-433. ISBN 9789352301201

Abstract: Global atmospheric concentration of C02 has increased from pre-industrial level of 280 parts per million (ppm) to 400 ppm in 2014. Global projections indicate higher temperature of 1.5 to 4.5°C by the year 2050, as a result of enhanced greenhouse gases. Climate change predictions for India indicate that warming is likely to be above the global mean and fewer very cold days are very likely. Frequency of intense rainfall events and winds associated with tropical cyclones are likely to increase. The global average surface temperature in 2015 broke all previous records by a strikingly wide margin, at 0.76 ± 0.1°C above the 1961-1990 average. For the first time on record, temperatures in 2015 were about 1°C above the pre-industrial era, according to a consolidated analysis from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO, 2016).

http://oar.icrisat.org/9539/

Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture and Food Security

Authors: Kesava Rao AVR and Wani SP

Published: 2016, Capacity Building for Climate Smart Agriculture. BS Publications, Hyderabad, pp. 27-52. ISBN 9789352300938

Abstract: Evidences over the past few decades show that significant changes in climate are taking place all over the world as a result of enhanced human activities in deforestation, emission of various Green-house gases, and indiscriminate use of fossil fuels. Global atmospheric concentration of CO2 has increased from preindustrial level of 280 parts per million (ppm) to 400 ppm in 2014. Global projections indicate higher temperature of 1.5 to 4.5°C by the year 2050, as a result of enhanced greenhouse gases. Climate change predictions for India indicate that warming is likely to be above the global mean and fewer very cold days are very likely. Frequency of intense rainfall events and winds associated with tropical cyclones are likely to increase.

http://oar.icrisat.org/9540/

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