ABSTRACT
Advances in the medical field and healthcare sector during the last few decades have resulted in increased longevity. Increased lifespans have in turn led to a rapid global rise of the elderly population. However, ensuring the health and quality of life, especially in the context of chronic age-related ailments, among the growing geriatric population is a challenge. Ageing is associated with several changes in body composition including a decline in the lean body mass usually accompanied by an increase in body fat content which have a bearing on the nutrient requirements for the elderly. The nutrient requirements currently recommended for Indian adults are primarily computed using a factorial approach, that considers the cumulative loss of nutrients and is adjusted for optimal body weights and bioavailability. It is logical that physiological and metabolic changes associated with ageing influence several of these factors: body weight, lean mass, energy expenditure, nutrient retention and bioavailability and thus alter nutrient requirements compared to the adult population. Acknowledging these age-related changes, some international organizations have suggested nutrient requirements specific to the elderly. Given the contextual differences in physiology, caution needs to be exercised in adopting these guidelines for the Indian elderly. In addition, in the Indian context, there is sparse information on the diet and nutrient intakes vis-à-vis nutritional status and physiology of the elderly. This status paper highlights some of the pertinent issues related to nutritional requirements for the elderly that advocate a need for deriving nutritional requirements for the elderly in India
ABSTRACT
A field experiment was conducted to study the influence of organic manures and chemical fertilizers on yield, nutrient uptake by finger millet and soil fertility status at harvest during kharif 2013 at Agricultural Research Station, Perumallapalle, ANGRAU. The results revealed that significantly highest grain yield (37.21 q ha-1), protein content (8.82%), N uptake (84.80 kg ha-1), P uptake (12.04 kg ha-1), No. of tillers/plant (2.5), No. of fingers/ear head (13) were recorded in inorganic treated plot when compared with organic treated plot (35.08 q ha-1 of grain yield, 8.61% of protein content,75.29 kg ha-1 of N uptake, 11.58 kg ha-1 of P uptake, 2.2 tillers/plant, 11 fingers/earhead). Organic carbon content in soil was increased in organic plot (0.02% only) when compared with intial value. In both the treatments available N was reduced and available K was increased when compared with initial available N and K.