Category: Agriculture

** Money spider, ant-mimicking spider discovered at Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary

Discovery by researchers of Christ College, Irinjalakuda

Money spiders, commonly found in European meadows, have been reported for the first time in the country from the Muthanga range of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. The species is called so as it is “believed to bring luck” to the person who comes in contact with it.

Researchers of Christ College, Irinjalakuda, Thrissur, have discovered the spider that belongs to the family of dwarf spiders ( Linyphiidae) under the genus  Prosoponoides. It has been given the name  Prosoponoides biflectogynus.

“Only six species of spiders belonging to this genus have been identified from across the world so far. It is the first report of this genus from India and hence no extensive studies have been conducted on this species of spiders in the country,” said Dr. Sudhikumar A.V., Head, Department of Zoology, Christ College.

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** The Indian leg of the Great Backyard Bird Count records an impressive 1,017 species

Hobby birders and students collaborated with naturalists from across the country at the 10th edition of biggest four-day bird-o-thon and documented over 1000 bird species

A pair of bright yellow eyes stared right back at Angeline Mano, a 23-year-old birder, as she zoomed in with her binoculars. Angeline was at Stanley Reservoir in Salem, one of the largest fishing reservoirs in South India, documenting birds for the recently-concluded, annual Global Backyard Bird Count (GBCC). The bulky bird with a finely streaked breast, was a brown fish owl, perched on a branch just 10 metres away.

The India leg of the four-day event, coordinated by Bird Count India, allowed participants to count birds for as little as 15 minutes from a particular location. They upload their sightings online, on eBird (www.ebird.org/india), the world’s largest biodiversity-related citizen science platform.

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** Thiruvananthapuram scientist generates electricity from tapioca leaves

Tapioca is in vogue in Kerala. First, the government created a buzz with its idea to make spirits from tapioca. Now, a scientist based in Thiruvananthapuram has developed a technique to produce electricity from its leaves.  The concept of clean energy from cassava leaves — ‘Cassa Dipah’ — was a by-product of the biopesticide manufacturing process, said Dr C A Jayaprakas, principal scientist at the ICAR- Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI) here. 

The CTCRI has been engaged in biopesticide production from tapioca leaves for several years. With patented technology, the centre has developed three brands of biopesticides — ‘Nanma’, ‘Menma’ and ‘Shreya’. 

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** VVCE students design low-cost cooling solution to keep fruits and vegetables fresh

The model requires the vendors to charge it once in a day at home

A low-cost cooling solution harnessing solar power to help vegetable vendors in keeping the perishable produce fresh has been designed by four students of Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering in Mysuru.

H.V.Naveen, Shubham Sain, S.Supreeth and Vivek Chandrashekar who took up the project are students of Mechanical Engineering branch and are in the sixth semester. The project addresses one of the major problems that vegetable vendors face every day: that of keeping the vegetables fresh when they are out in the market selling it under the scorching sun.

The students have designed the cart in such a way that the refrigeration of the cart can be maintained in a temperature range between 0 degree C and 10 degree C. Generally, a temperature in the range of 5 degree C to 10 degree C is required to keep the vegetables fresh. But the students have gone a step ahead and have extended the utility of the cart to help those selling diary products as well.

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** Telangana: Feast on pink and yellow tomatoes soon, courtesy Wanaparthy genetics professor

The professor has also developed a variety of red amaranth (thotakura), which is a high-yielding variety and contains anthocyanin pigment. 

In yet another feather in the cap of the College of Horticulture, Mojerla of Wanaparthy district, Associate Professor in Genetics and Plant Breeding, Pidigam Saidaiah (41) has developed promising seed varieties of pink tomato, yellow tomato, red amaranth and yardlong beans using a pedigree method. Developed by crossing two extreme varieties, these hybrids have several advantages over the common ones. The seeds have been sent to the Horticulture Centre of Excellence in Jeedimetla for testing and are expected to be released in the market soon.

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** Wayanad Seed Fest begins today

The Wayanad Seed Fest, a community event to assess the seed diversity in Wayanad district, will be held at Puthurvayal here on Friday and Saturday.

The festival, being organised by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in association with Seed Care, an organisation of traditional rice farmers in the district, will take place at the Community Agro-Biodiversity Centre of the foundation.

Kerala

** IIT Kanpur-incubated start-up’s composting machine converts waste to manure in 10 days

Taking a step towards sustainable and efficient waste management, Agnys Waste Management Private Limited, a start-up incubated at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, has developed an automatic composting machine that can convert waste to manure in just 10-20 days.

The start-up has named the machine BHOOMI which is an acronym for Bio-composting of horticulture & organic waste into manure indigenously.

** International Women’s Day: Odia scientist Dr Mamoni Dash invents polymer for pest control

This new invention in the field of agriculture has made her one of the 75 achievers under 50 in the field of Science and Technology in India.

A native of Baripada, Dash has done her post graduate from NIT, Rourkela and PhD from University of Pisa, Italy. After her post-doctoral degree from Belgium, she had joined ILS as a Ramalingaswami Fellow in 2018 and as a faculty in 2021.

** Biodegradable nanoparticles to protect crops from diseases

Developed by scientists and researchers of University of Hyderabad, IRRI and IIT-Kanpur

A novel nanoparticle-based bio-degradable-carbonoid-metabolite (BioDCM) that can protect agricultural crops from pathogens has been developed jointly by scientists and reseachers of the University of Hyderabad (UoH), Indian Institute of Rice Research-Hyderabad and IIT-Kanpur.

The invention of these novel nanoparticles would act as shields to protect crops, especially the rice crop, from infection and diseases. The technology serves as a protective biological alternative that can be used to enhance crop protection against various diseases in rice crops, said an official release.