UMESH KAMBLE

Polydextrose was used as a substitute of fat in the preparation of bread, muffins and cookies. Polydextrose is a carbohydrate-based, water-soluble, and low-calorie fat replacer. Fat was replaced by polydextrose at 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent levels. Polydextrose incorporation improved the farinographic characteristics, particularly water absorption (WA) and stability. Fat substitution by polydextrose up to 75 % in bread did not affect its quality in terms of loaf volume, loaf height, loaf weight and sensory scores. In muffins, fat substitution up to 75 % was found to be desirable, as the crust turned to coffee-coloured, and appearance and texture were improved. Organoleptic and cookie-making qualities were improved up to 50 % level of substitution. The calorific values of the products were lowered by 13-47 %. The relative costs of products increased by a ratio of 1:1.2 after incorporation of polydextrose.

Introduction: As per Indian minimum seed certification standards, minimum germination percentage for certified rice seeds needs to be above 80%. During storage and transport of seeds, it is likely to be affected by high humidity and temperature fluctuations which subsequently can lead to loss in seed viability and vigour. Priming technology has proven in reversing the detrimental effects of seed deterioration and increasing seedling vigour, seedling length and seedling dry weight. Therefore, standardization of a priming technique is imperative to ameliorate deteriorated seeds affected due to natural ageing or variable storage conditions. Materials and Methods: In the present study, two rice cultivars viz., PRH-10 and KMR-3 were initially subjected to an accelerated ageing test and further osmo-primed with various chemicals viz., potassium nitrate, polyethylene glycol, zinc sulphate, potassium dihydrogen phosphate and salicylic acid. Effect of various osmo-priming treatments and its effect on seed germination, vigour and biochemical properties were analysed. Results and Discussion: Exposition of seeds to accelerated ageing test of both the varieties resulted in reduction of germination percentage, and vigour index I and II. However, with different osmo-priming treatments, germination percentage, seedling dry weight and vigour indices I and II were found to increased notably in accelerated ageing test seeds. Conclusion: Among the various treatments, seeds osmo-primed with ZnSO4 and salicylic acid were found to beneficial in improving seed germination in PRH-10 and KMR-3 varieties.

Undernourishment of nutrients, also known as hidden hunger, affects over 2 billion populace globally. Even though stunting among children below five years of age has decreased in India in the last ten years, India is home to roughly thirty percent of the world’s population of stunted pre-schoolers. A significant improvement has been witnessed in the targeted development and deployment of biofortified crops; approximately 20 million farm households from developing counties benefit from cultivating and consuming biofortified crops. There is ample scope for including biofortified varieties in the seed chain, ensuring nutritional security. Wheat is a dietary staple in India, typically consumed as wholemeal flour in the form of flatbreads such as chapatti and roti. Wheat contributes to nearly one fifth of global energy requirements and can also provide better amounts of iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn). As a result, biofortified wheat can serve as a medium for delivery of essential micronutrients...

Undernourishment of nutrients, also known as hidden hunger, affects over 2 billion populace globally. Even though stunting among children below five years of age has decreased in India in the last ten years, India is home to roughly thirty percent of the world’s population of stunted pre-schoolers. A significant improvement has been witnessed in the targeted development and deployment of biofortified crops; approximately 20 million farm households from developing counties benefit from cultivating and consuming biofortified crops. There is ample scope for including biofortified varieties in the seed chain, ensuring nutritional security. Wheat is a dietary staple in India, typically consumed as wholemeal flour in the form of flatbreads such as chapatti and roti. Wheat contributes to nearly one fifth of global energy requirements and can also provide better amounts of iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn). As a result, biofortified wheat can serve as a medium for delivery of essential micronutrients...

The germination potential (viability) of soybean is short lived owing to its high susceptibility to mechanical injury and damage occurring during post-harvest handling. This adversely affects the viability and vigour of soybean seed during storage as compared to other oilseed crops and often viability is reduced prior to planting time. Studies on effect of seed invigoration with different antioxidants (Ascorbic acid, α-tocopherol, Butylated Hydroxytoluene) as a mid-storage correction treatment was carried out on four cultivars of soybean viz., JS-335, DS-228 and KDS-726 and Type-49 during 2017-18 and 2018-19 at Seed Technology Research Unit, MPKV, Rahuri. Activities of antioxidative enzyme superoxide dismutase activity and lipid peroxidase activity were studied at initial, 120 and 240 days of storage among four soybean varieties. Seed invigorated with α- tocopherol (200 ppm) and ascorbic acid (100 ppm) significantly enhanced activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. Wherein, the rate of lipid peroxidase activity was delayed at 240 days of storage as compared to control. Among the varied interactions, the seeds of variety Type 49 invigorated with 200 ppm of α-Tocopherol showed significantly higher superoxide dismutase activity and lower lipid peroxidase activity as compared to other treatments. This summarises that, the 200 ppm of α-Tocopherol invigoration treatment enhances the activity of antioxidative enzyme superoxide dimutase (SOD) and reduces lipid peroxidation during storage.

Globally, between one quarter and one-third of total grains produced each year are lost during storage mainly through infestation of insect pests. Among the available control options such as chemical and physical techniques, fumigation with aluminum phosphide (AlP) is so far considered the best control strategy against storage insect pests. However, these insect pests are now developing resistance against AIP due to its indiscriminate use due to non-availability of any effective alternative control option. Resistance to AIP among storage insect pests is increasing, and its inhalation has shown adverse effects on animals and human beings. Nanotechnology has opened up a wide range of opportunities in various fields such as agriculture (pesticides, fertilizers, etc.), pharmaceuticals, and electronics. One of the applications of nanotechnology is the usage of nanomaterial-based insecticide formulations for mitigating field and storage insect pests. Several formulations, namely, nanoemul...

Along with the rapid development of Internet technologies, the instant messaging has become nowadays an important medium for a huge number of people to communicate with friends, family, and even colleagues while working. People who come from different corner of the world speak different nativelanguages. Even if the instant messaging technology is now so developed, there is a barrier to communication for people having different native-languages. This application tries to let people easily chat without having to be familiar with the others’ native language by integrating "instant messaging" and "machine translation" technologies. This shall overcome the language barrier to communication. Furthermore, with proper design, this mechanism can also facilitate conversation practice.

Quality seed production differs from commercial or grain crop production in several aspects. Special methods, precautions and operations are needed to deploy to produce seed of optimum quality. Seed processing influences the quality as well as marketability of seed and could be effectively deployed for elimination of diseased and damaged seeds from healthy seeds. Karnal Bunt (KB) of wheat is an internationally regulated disease and adversely affects the yield, seed appearance and trade. Therefore, effective seed testing and processing is vital to check the spread of disease through the seed. In the present study, efficacy of mechanical seed processing with recommended screen sizes were tested in six different wheat varieties and found that DBW-222 and DBW-187 shown highest recovery percentage of 90 and 89%, respectively. HD-2967 and HD- 3086 recorded seed recovery of 87 and 86%, respectively. Lowest recovery was observed in case of durum wheat variety i.e. DDW-47 (85%). Further, eleven seed lots were tested for eight seed quality parameters and it was found that all carry over and fresh seed lot maintained germination above Indian Minimum Seed Certification Standards i.e. 85%. Further, processed seed lot showed lower KB infection as compared to un-processed seed lots, being minimum in processed seed lot of DBW-187 (0.15%) produced at Meerut. However, seed lot of DBW-187 and DBW-222 produced at Karnal recorded 0.17% KB incidence, followed by HD-3086 and HD-2967 (0.18%) both produced at Meerut. Further, DDW-47 recorded 0.23% of KB incidence which was higher among all the varieties after processing. Among two methods adopted for KB detection, NaOH method was found to be more sensitive (processed as well as un-processed seed lots) as compared to dry inspection method.

Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) having adverse effects on both crop yields and quality, is one of the major constraints of wheat production in areas with high rainfall. In the northeastern parts of India and also many areas of the world receiving rainfall during the late maturity stages of the crop affects both grain yields and quality. PHS trait is polygenic trait and affected by number of environmental factors. The available diversity in germplasm for the trait is very limited and for improving tolerance to PHS newer sources needs to be identified. The primary cause of pre-harvest sprouting is the breakdown or lacking of seed dormancy under humid and wet conditions along with the degradation of starch in the germinated seeds due to enhanced alpha amylase activity. This review describes the factors affecting the pre-harvest sprouting tolerance, genes associated with it, physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanism involved, screening technique and breeding approaches to develop PHS s tolerant wheat genotypes.

Paddy is an important cereal crop of the country and Uttar Pradesh, which is second largest producer of paddy in the country with 11.99 per cent share. The current study was conducted on primary data collected from 50 farmers from Mau district of Uttar Pradesh during the agricultural year 2017-18. The fixed and variable cost ratio in paddy seed production was 20:80. Human labour was the major cost component (42.21 per cent of total cost) followed by manures and fertilizers (11.85 per cent), bullock & machine labour (11.80 per cent), plant protection chemicals (4.53 per cent), irrigation (3.18 per cent) and seed (1.99 per cent). Total cost incurred in seed production of paddy was Rs. 51882 per hectare, while the net and gross returns were Rs. 28506 and Rs. 80388 per hectare respectively with the BC ratio 1.55. Total cost pertinent to paddy certified seed production was 11.36 per cent higher than grain production. The gross return was 18.92 per cent higher in seed production (Rs. 8038...