Adaptation Approaches for Direct Seeded Rice to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emission in the Perspective of Climate Change

A field experiment was conducted at research farm, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, India during 2017 and 2018 to gain insight crop phonology mediated greenhouse gas emission under different tillage and nitrogen management practices in direct seeded rice (DSR). The experiment was conducted in split plot design with two tillage viz. zero tillage (ZT) and conventional tillage (CT) as main plot and four nitrogen management practices viz. 100% nitrogen through neem coated urea (S1), SPAD based nitrogen management (S2), 75% through neem coated urea + 25% nitrogen through vermicompost, (S3) and ¼ nitrogen as basal and rest in equal three splits at 20, 40, 60 DAS (S4) as sub plot, in three replication. The highest yield (4.69 t ha-1), net return (Rs 46440 ha-1) and B:C ratio (1.44) were recorded from zero tilled DSR. Further, highest yield (4.82 t ha-1), net return (Rs 44880 ha-1) and B:C ratio (1.36) was obtained under split application of nitrogenous fertilizers among other subplot treatments. The range of methane (0.57- 1.47 mg m-2 hr-1) carbon dioxide (0.32- 0.61 mg m-2 hr-1) and nitrous oxide (19.58- 38.79 µg m-2 hr-1) emission was recorded lowest in zero tilled plots and split application of nitrogenous fertilizer also emitted lowest values of 1.59 mg m-2 hr-1 methane, 0.86 mg m-2 hr-1 carbon dioxide and 46.76 µg m-2 hr-1 nitrous oxide at maximum tillering stage of crop growth. Moreover, methane and nitrous oxide emission was gradually decreased from maximum tillering to harvesting stage. Zero tilled DSR with split nitrogen fertilizer application ascribed lowest greenhouse gas intensity among the other crop establishment and nitrogen management options. Thus, zero tilled method of crop establishment with split application of nitrogenous fertilizer could be a remunerative and environmentally stable method for direct seeded rice cultivation.

Isolated post-traumatic right-sided diaphragmatic hernia.

A 3-yr-old boy presented with respiratory distress of 2 days duration. There was a history of blunt trauma to the lower chest having occurred 5 days earlier. Although missed initially, serial chest X-rays and a computed tomographic (CT) scan revealed an isolated traumatic right-sided diaphragmatic hernia without any injury to the viscera or the ribcage. Laparotomy with reduction of the herniated right lobe of the liver and the transverse colon was performed. Recovery was uneventful. The presentation, diagnosis and management of this relatively uncommon injury is discussed. The need for a high index of suspicion and critical evaluation of appropriate investigations to prevent diagnostic delay and optimize management in patients with traumatic diaphragmatic injury is emphasized.

A cheap and convenient modification of arsine generator used for arsenic estimation.

In a study observing the effect of spirulina in the treatment of chronic arsenic poisoning quantitative estimation of arsenic in the urine of the patients was necessary. It was decided to try a modification of the arsine generator in the process. An alternative apparatus was designed following the structure of arsine generator by White (1976) using a 50-ml conical flask with rubber cork, 4-ml injection vial, two 3" long glass tubes and a glass test tube. An experiment was carried out with solutions containing known amounts of arsenic. The alternative arsine generator was tried in the estimation of arsenic content in those solutions. The results revealed that the apparatus permitted correct measurement of arsenic concentration. The alternative arsine generator was cheap easy to use and provided authentic results in estimation of arsenic concentration in the urine of patients with chronic arsenic poisoning.

Positron annihilation studies in lysozyme and catalase.

Positron annihilation studies have been carried out in two enzymes, lysozyme and catalase. Temperature dependence of the positron lifetimes in these two enzymes has been investigated. The results explained in terms of the free volume model and fluctuations between different conformational microstates of enzyme structures provide a new insight into the mechanism of bio-activity of these enzymes.

Intestinal endometriosis.

Two cases with intestinal endometriosis, one with a right iliac fossa mass and the other with subacute intestinal obstruction, are presented. In both the cases, the diagnosis was not suspected clinically and was reached only on histological examination of the resected specimens.