Assessing groundwater recharge rates, water quality changes, and agricultural impacts of large-scale water recycling.

The over-exploitation and insufficient replenishment of groundwater (GW) have resulted in a pressing need to conserve freshwater and reuse of treated wastewater. To address this issue, the Government of Karnataka launched a large-scale recycling (440 million liters/day) scheme to indirectly recharge GW using secondary treated municipal wastewater (STW) in drought-prone areas of Kolar district in southern India. This recycling employs soil aquifer treatment (SAT) technology, which involves filling surface run-off tanks with STW that intentionally infiltrate and recharge aquifers. This study quantifies the impact of STW recycling on GW recharge rates, levels, and quality in the crystalline aquifers of peninsular India. The study area is characterized by hard rock aquifers with fractured gneiss, granites, schists, and highly fractured weathered rocks. The agricultural impacts of the improved GW table are also quantified by comparing areas receiving STW to those not receiving it, and changes before and after STW recycling were measured. The AMBHAS_1D model was used to estimate the recharge rates and showed a tenfold increase in daily recharge rates, resulting in a significant increase in the GW levels. The results indicate that the surface water in the rejuvenated tanks meets the country's stringent water discharge standards for STW. The GW levels of the studied boreholes increased by 58-73 %, and the GW quality improved significantly, turning hard water into soft water. Land use land cover studies confirmed an increase in the number of water bodies, trees, and cultivated land. The availability of GW significantly improved agricultural productivity (11-42 %), milk productivity (33 %), and fish productivity (341 %). The study's outcomes are expected to serve as a role model for the rest of Indian metro cities and demonstrate the potential of reusing STW to achieve a circular economy and a water-resilient system.

Molecular epidemiology on seasonal variation of yellow mosaic disease incidence in blackgram (Vigna mungo L. Hepper) with its vector Bemisia tabaci.

The yellow mosaic disease (YMD) of blackgram caused by Mungbean yellow mosaic virus has emerged as a serious threat to grain legume production, especially in Southeastern Asia. Seasonal incidence of YMD with its vector population was assessed in three different agroclimatic zones of Tamil Nadu in India for three consecutive cropping seasons namely, Rabi 2018 (October-December), Summer 2019 (March-May), and Kharif 2019 (June-August) at three different time intervals viz., 20, 40, and 60 days after sowing (DAS). For all three seasons, disease incidence and whitefly count were recorded for a resistant and susceptible variety of blackgram in fields without any vector control intervention. The highest disease incidence (87%) was observed in the Panpozhi location during the summer season followed by Vamban and Coimbatore locations. The whitefly count was made through both visual count and yellow sticky traps. The whitefly population was highest at 20 DAS and decreased with the increasing age of crop for all the three locations assessed. Molecular epidemiology was analyzed by determining latent infection of mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV) using molecular diagnosis. Latent infection was found to be well pronounced in the Coimbatore location during the Kharif season, where the crop was asymptomatic in both the resistant and susceptible varieties for all the three time periods assessed. The latent infection of MYMV observed in Coimbatore and Vamban ranged from 16.6 to 83.3% in both resistant and susceptible varieties for all three seasons. In Panpozhi, the latent infection of MYMV ranged from 16.6 to 66.6% for the susceptible variety (CO-5) for all three seasons observed. However, in the Panpozhi location, the resistant variety (VBN-8) failed to record any latent infection.

Hypolipidemic and Antioxidant Properties of Oryzanol Concentrate in Reducing Diabetic Nephropathy via SREBP1 Downregulation Rather than ß-Oxidation.

SCOPE: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a micro-vascular complication of chronic diabetes. Sterol regulatory element binding protein1 (SREBP1) participation in the development of DN is reported. Oryzanol concentrate (OC) at 0.1% and 0.3% is tested for its antioxidant and hypolipidemic effects. The aim of the work is to study the involvement of OC in the amelioration of DN in STZ-induced diabetic animal model. METHODS AND RESULTS: Animals were grouped into starch, high-fat, and OC-treated control/diabetic groups (SFC/SFD, HFC/HFD, OFC/OFD). The markers of DN, increased glomerular filtration rate and kidney weight, were evident in HFD and reduced in OFD group by ≈1.09 and ≈1.3 fold, respectively. The amelioration of defensive antioxidant enzyme activities and lipid peroxidation, expressions of lipid-associated biomolecules (SREBP1 and FAS) were also observed. HFD showed increased ECM accumulation of glycoproteins, particularly Type IV collagen, fibronectin. SREBP1-associated gene transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß) was reduced on treatment (OFD ≈ 1.3 fold) as to HFD (≈2.7 fold). CONCLUSION: Oryzanol concentrate, having hypolipidemic and antioxidant properties, also downregulated the lipid biosynthesis through reduced SREBP1-TGF-ß interactions (EMSA) and could effectively ameliorate DN. Gene (ACC2, Cpt1, and ACOX) expression studies showed that ß-oxidation was not involved in reducing DN.