EJournal

Mysore J. Agric. Sci., 51 (1) : 45-51, 2017 Forests and Climate Change : An Indian Perspective A. N. ARUNKUMAR, GEETA JOSHI AND K. N. NATARAJA Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru-560 003 ABSTRACT Climate change is considered to be the most important challenge the forests are likely to face in the future. Among various forests, it is the tropical forests that are highly susceptible and the climate change impact can be observed on the structural, functional and services aspects of these forests. Various models have been used to understand the response of forests to climate change. The four important regions of India viz., Himalayas, Western Ghats, North East and Coastal line has been projected to respond in different ways. However, with certain inbuilt reduced robust methodologies, the projection thus obtained does clearly show a significant effect of climate change on the forests in these regions. At species level, highly valued commercial species such as teak (Tectona grandis) seems to be highly vulnerable. In Sikkim Himalaya, there is a certain shift in the species at various elevations. Though studies on climate change on India’s forest is far and few, we are of the opinion that policy intervention, sensitizing the society for mitigating climate change along with setting up of long term monitoring plots is the ideal way to face the imminent climate change.GLOBAL patterns of natural ecosystems along with bio- due to increased precipitation. Human pressuresphysical diversity of the region is basically determined are, however, expected to slow these changes. Theby the climate. Climate change would be the most United Kingdom Government in its report on theimportant event and challenge that we all face specially economics of climate change in 2006 clearly mentionsfrom the perspective of its impact not only on our that, acting to lessen the impacts of climate change issociety but also emphasising the need for joining hands a far better economic strategy than managing the socialat global level to mitigate it. Climate change in terms and economic crises that arises when mitigationof global warming is evident from the fact that the measures are not taken. India is the fourth largest GHGtemperature now is rising by 0.2 degree centigrade emitter, accounting for 5.8 per cent of global emissionsper decade (Hansen et al., 2006) and increased (Boden et al., 2016). Considering the impact of climategreenhouse gases (GHG) emission which would change on various sectors, government of India hasfurther raise the temperature. Wide range of taken serious view on the impact of climate changeinformation in terms of critical review and scientific and series of measures are in place. India ratified theproof on climate change and earth systems is being Paris agreement on climate change, which is ancontinuously updated by Intergovernmental Panel on agreement within the United Nations FrameworkClimate Change (IPCC). Being a specialised body, Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealingIPCC was jointly established in 1988 by United Nations with GHGs emissions mitigation, and adaptation. AsEnvironmental Programme and the World per the agreement, India plans to reduce its carbonMeteorological Organisation which has a mandate to emission intensity.prepare scientific assessments on various aspects ofclimate change. The Third Assessment Report of Among the natural ecosystems, the intricateIPCC in 2001 is supposed to be highly credible and impact of forest ecosystem and its role inauthoritative source. The fifth Assessment Report of biogeochemical cycle which in turn influencing climateIPCC in 2014 which dwells on the impact of climate change has emerged as an important topic for debatechange on various sectors like agriculture, trade, health and discussion globally as well as regionally. Forestsand such others specifically mentions in case of forestry play a significant role in world’s carbon cycle and thewith reference to India as – a third of forest areas in various substantial changes occurring in forestryIndia are projected to change by 2100, with sector promotes the fact that forestry can contributedeciduous forests changing into evergreen ones substantially in mitigating climate change. Considering

46 A. N. ARUNKUMAR et al.temperature and moisture as two important factors, it ‘sequestration’ – increasing the existing carbon poolis the boundaries of forest biomes which closely follow size and ‘substitution’ – by substituting biologicalclimate variable patterns (Stephenson, 1990). products for fossil fuels or energy intensive products.Therefore, there is a close link between forests andclimate change and any disturbance in either of them Forest as an ecosystem in India is highlywill have influence on the other (FAO, Forestry Paper susceptible to multiple pressures primarily due to2013). Therefore, IPCC (IPCC, 2014) clearly mentions anthropogenic factors. Some of the important factorsthat on the basis of paleo-ecological records forest that have contributed in creating enormous pressurevegetation has the ability to respond for the climate and vulnerability on India’s forests are –shiftingchange and the response duration may vary from within cultivation, increasing demand for fuelwood, timberyears to a few decades. The report also categorically and non-timber forest products, grazing, forest fires,projects that in the 21st century, forests are impacted invasive species, conversion of land for agriculturalby the climate and non-climate stressors resulting in and industrial purpose, forest fragmentation,die back of forests, loss of biodiversity and reduced afforestation, sivilcultural practises, and the insectecological benefits. outbreaks. It is an established fact that forests are inherently dynamic as they are continuously subjected Agriculture does play a significant role in climate to climatic variations and also has the resilience tomitigation, but when it comes to the option of CO2 adapt to the environmental changes. Therefore, forestssequestration forestry plays a major role. India has are considered to be resilient when they are wellbeen endowed with a diversity of natural biomes conserved (Drever et al., 2006) which results in highconsidering its varied climate regimes, enormous biodiversity and thereby evolving complex structuregeographical area, topography, lengthier coastline and primarily due to complete absence of anthropogenicoceanic islands. The forest cover which is around interference (Thompson et al., 2009). In contrast,79.42 million has (as of 2015) constitutes different highly disturbed forests are inherently vulnerable duetypes of forest types. The National Mission for Green to forest fragmentation, poor germination and adverseIndia is one of the eight Missions outlined under the influence of invasive species (Kant and Wu, 2012).NationalAction Plan on Climate Change by the Ministry But, the climate change is so swift and debilitatingof Environment Forests and Climate Change, that forests are not unable to adapt and re-establishGovernment of India. It aims at protecting, restoring (Afreen et al., 2011). Among various forests, it is theand enhancing India’s diminishing forest cover and tropical forests that are highly susceptible to this andresponding to climate change by a combination of the climate change impact can be observed on theadaptation and mitigation measures. It also has a goal structural, functional and services aspects of theseto 5 million hectares over the next five years which forests (Betts et al., 2008).would have an annual mitigation potential of 55 Mt ofCO2 equivalent. Some of the other initiatives include An assessment by Ravindranath et al. (2006)green highways policy, financial incentive for forests, about forest ecosystems in India using the Regionalplantations along rivers, Reducing emissions from Climate Model of Hadley Centre considering twodeforestation and forest degradation-plus and other different elevated CO2 concentrations as 740ppm (A2policies. Afforestation is given a massive boost to such scenario) and 575 ppm (B2 scenario) reveal interestingan extent of about 6.9 billion US dollars is transferred information. The climate projection by the year 2085,to the states on the basis of forest cover and it is about 77 and 68 per cent of the forested grids areprojected to reach upto 12 billion US dollars by 2019- expected to experience shift in forest types. Chaturvedi20. Therefore, forests and climate change are et al. (2011) predicted that based on the numberintimately connected and IPCC had already identified of forested grids selected (35899 grids), 39 and 34in 2001 that the biological approaches that can be used per cent of these forested grids would undergoto reduce the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere is by vegetation type change under the A2 and B2 scenario,‘conservation’ – conserving the existing carbon pool, respectively. Some of the states such as Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh having dominant forest

FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE : AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE 47area are projected to undergo changes to an extent of and 2.5 per cent in B2 scenario. In case of tropical73, 67 and 62 per cent, respectively. A vulnerability evergreen forest and it is expected to increase fromindex for India was developed on the basis of observed the current scenario of 2-2.5 to 35 per cent, whiledata sets of forest density, biodiversity and model tropical savanna would increase 21.5 to 26 per centpredicted vegetation type shift. As per IPCC Working (A2) and 18 per cent (B2) from the current scenariogroup II, Vulnerability is “the degree, to which a of 4 per cent (Table I). Considering the forest typessystem is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, classified by Champion and Seth, Gopalakrishnanadverse effects of climate change, including et al. (2011) reported that among the forest typesclimate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a (considering the Champion and Seth classification),function of the character, magnitude, and rate of Himalayan moist temperate forests are significantlyclimate change and its variation to which a system vulnerable to climate change (Table II). Eventhough,is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive all these models have certain inherent technicalcapacity”. The vulnerability index under A1B climate assumptions and deficiencies, the fact that climatescenario (atmospheric CO2 concentration of 490 ppm) change is having its impact is well accepted and evenby 2035 was used to assess the impact of climate an impact of mere 20 per cent what the predictionchange with reference to vegetation type on four says becomes true, it can be safely assumed that ourimportant regions of India – Himalayas, Coastal region, forests are highly susceptible for climate change.Western Ghats and North East region. It wasinteresting to note that, Himalayas due to their higher While considering different forest ecosystems, itelevations and North East region is most and least is also essential to consider the mangrove forests andvulnerable while coastal region and Wester Ghats are its response to climate change. Sunderbans located atmoderately vulnerable. Considering Western Ghats the North East region of India at the tip of Bay ofwhich is one of the rich biodiversity hot spots of the Bengal represents largest contiguous mangroveworld, it is predicted to have fragmented forests in its ecosystem in the world. These forests provide somenorthern parts, but also vulnerable to higher risk of of the most essential ecosystem services as they haveforest fire and pest attack. Within the Western Ghats, a direct impact on the socio-economic, environmentalnorthern and central parts appear to be vulnerable to functions on the coastal livelihood. Considering aboveclimate change. As the regions are less fragmented, ground biomass of the three dominant mangrovesouthern Western Ghats forests are quite resilient as species viz., Sonneratia apetala, Avicennia alba andthey are comparatively less fragmented, highly diverse Excoecaria agallocha significant spatial variation andand would support the tropical wet evergreen forests better growth was observed in the western sector(INCCA, 2010). Considering the Himalayan region, compared to the central sector which is primarilyout of the 98 grids studied, it is projected that 56 per attributed to the changes in the salinity. Though, Rahacent of them would undergo change in 2030s while et al. (2012) mentions that it is difficult to differentiatethe net primary productivity (NPP) would be increasing between the effect of climate change andby about 57 per cent. In case of Western Ghats the anthropogenic effect, they conclude that cumulativelyNPP of the forest would increase by 20 per cent. In their role have impacted the diversity and productivitycase of North eastern and coastal lines, the NPP of mangrove. They stress that long term monitoring iswould increase on an average by 23 per cent and 31 crucial and policies have to lay major emphasis on thisper cent, respectively. aspect. In case of various forest vegetation types in India, While assessing vulnerability of forestry sectorRavindranath et al. (2006) predicted based on the to long term climate change, it is also of paramountnumber of grids selected, under the two scenarios of importance to understand the impact of climate changeA2 and B2, tropical xerophytic shrub land is expected on species level. Though Himalaya being an importantto undergo maximum change compared to current hot spot for biological diversity, impact of speciesscenario (from 40%) to about 2 per cent in A2 scenario response to climate change has not yet been very well

48 A. N. ARUNKUMAR et al. TABLE IAnnual rainfall and temperature changes scenario for the year 2085 in the different forest types of India (according to Forest Survey of India, FSI) considering CO2 at 575 ppmForest Type Mean annual Change in rainfall Mean Change in rainfall (mm) (mm) temperature (ºC) temperature (ºC)Fir 730.1 221.6 9.5 3.0Blue-Pine 763.0 223.5 10.5 3.0Chir-pine 1373.4 437.4 17.1 2.8Mixed conifer 930.1 375.9 9.3 3.0Hardwoods Conifers mix 1560.7 585.6 13.1 2.8Upland Hardwoods 1523.8 476.9 16.4 2.7Teak 1314.6 353.0 26.1 2.9Sal 1435.2 348.3 24.6 2.7Bamboo Forest 2268.3 564.9 23.8 2.7Mangrove 1734.3 280.8 26.6 2.5Miscellaneous forest 1679.8 374.5 23.0 2.7Western evergreen forest 3111.3 368.7 25.4 2.4(Source: Ravindranath et al., 2006) TABLE II Percentage of FSI grids projected to undergo change, aggregated by Champion and Seth forest typesForest type on the basis of Number of FSI Projected to change Projected to change Champion & Seth grids by 2035 (%) by 2085 (%)Tropical dry evergreen forest 37 70.27 72.97Sub-tropical dry evergreen forest 133 54.14 67.67Himalayan dry temperate forest 106 52.83 76.42Himalayan moist temperate forest 1144 52.62 88.02Sub-alpine and alpine forest 400 49.75 77.50Tropical thorn forest 1278 41.39 75.12Tropical semi evergreen forest 1239 30.67 50.36Littoral and swamp forest 28.57 28.57Tropical dry deciduous forest 7 25.62 46.73Tropical moist deciduous forest 9663 22.63 37.88Sub-tropical pine forest 11266 20.64 17.39Sub-tropical broadleaved hill forest 1662 15.10 15.10Tropical wet evergreen forest 192 14.61 14.68Montane wet temperate forest 2862 5.64 0.32 940(Source: Gopalakrishnan et al., 2011)

FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE : AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE 49documented. One such attempt was carried out by (2008) suggested that germplasm transfer of thisTelwala et al. (2013) in their study on Sikkim species must be commenced in a single direction i.e.,Himalayas where they recorded a shift of 23–998 m from drier to wetter zones.in species’ upper elevation limit and a mean upwarddisplacement rate of 27.53±22.04 m / decade. Climate change science and possible impacts ofWarming-driven geographical range shifts were it on forests in general and tropical forests in particularrecorded in 87 per cent of 124 endemic plant species. is not understood well, the options of speculations areHowever, they were of the opinion that more focused still continuing. However, there is a general consensusstudies are needed to understand the impact of human that what we call the saturation point in general senseactivities on the regional Himalayan climate change. when impacted as regards forest ecosystem isAnother such assessment was carried out through concerned, the catastrophic effects cannot be ruledmodelling by Gopalakrishnan et al. (2010) on a out and we have to equip ourselves to face it.commercially important tree species Tectona grandis Therefore, we have the narrow options of tolerating(teak). Keeping aside the inherent deficits in the and treating as the way forward when it comes tomodelling methodology, it is projected that 30 per cent forest ecosystem. Rollinson (2007) lists some of theof the teak grids in India are vulnerable to climate important actions needed to be considered as far aschange. However, due to increase levels of elevated forests and climate change is concerned. They includeCO2 the net primary productivity and biomass are reducing deforestation on one hand and encourageexpected to increase. They opined that it is essential sustainable management of existing forests on the otherto impart long term studies on such commercial trees hand to conserve carbon stocks. Through the activitiesas they have both social and commercial ramifications. of afforestation and reforestation to enhance carbonThe studies must also be extended some of those sequestration, sustainable use of biomass as aspecies which are endemic as well. A similar study substitution of fossil fuel is required to reduce carbonwas carried out in the neighbouring country on one of emissions. Another important effort would be greaterthe important threatened species Dysoxylum and sustainable use of wood and its products inbinectariferum reveals an interesting aspect. The reducing carbon foot prints. Therefore, a newmodel clearly predicts that a complete loss of suitable momentum with clear strategic response from forestshabitat for D. binectariferum in the studied area by and forestry sector is the need of the hour as it canboth 2050 and 2070 (Sohel et al., 2016). Therefore, become a major institution in itself to support theusing species distribution models in predicting the likely political and economic actions to mitigate climatechanges in the distribution of species in future climate change. Understanding the impact of CO2change scenarios is of paramout importance. responsiveness on the older forests ecosystem,Agroforestry must be provided with great attention not interaction between elevated CO2 and other bioticonly at national, but international level as it has a direct and abiotic factors is still not understood. Significancerelevance to social and environmental impacts (Mbow of adaptive genes in trees need to be examined foret al., 2014). Effects of climate change on agroforestry which focussed research on tree breeding and genomicis yet to be fully understood though there are extensive studies are essential. All these pertinent aspects areefforts in modelling climate analogs and future climate probably still not known in case of tropical forests.impacts models (Luedeling et al., 2014; Mbow et al.,2014). Climate change considerations being carefully Forest management plans must aim at reducingmeasured with reference to matching for the tree the negative impacts of climate change on forests. Bycomponent in case of agroforestry is far and few. One determining the timing and direction of forestsuch study was carried out on Prosopis africana in adaptation, vulnerability of the forests can be reduced.the semi-arid region in West African Sahel, where seed Though, most of the impact of climate change on forestdistribution strategy was adopted. Based on the sector seems to be sensitive, there is an urgent needrelationship of growth parameters, survival and wood to incorporate the climate change adaptation strategiesdensity with reference to rainfall pattern, Weber et al. as an integral component while documenting forest management plans (Spittlehouse and Stewart, 2003).

50 A. N. ARUNKUMAR et al.Therefore, what is paramount importance in Indian BODEN, T. A., MARLAND, G. AND ANDRES, R. J., 2016, Regionalcontext is to assess all the ongoing and proposed and national fossil fuel CO2 emissions, carbon dioxideafforestation programmes especially with reference information analysis center, Oak Ridge Nationalto climate change impact and arrive at suitable methods Laboratory, Tennessee USA, doi 10.3334/CDIAC/that encourages adaptation and participatory 00001_V2016.programmes aiming at strengthening the forests to facethe climate change impacts both at regional and national CHATURVEDI, R. K., GOPALAKRISHNA, R. AND JAYARAMAN, M.,level (Afreen et al., 2011). 2011, Impact of climate change on Indian forests: a Dynamic vegetation modelling approach. Mitigation Using the process based and dynamic vegetation Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 16:models, it has been possible to obtain spatial, temporal 119–142.information at plant functional types, biomes or majorvegetation types. Sukumar et al. (2016), are of the DREVER, C. R., MESSIER, C., PETERSON, G., BERGERON, Y. ANDview that under future climate prediction, most of the FLANNIGAN, M., 2006, Can forest management basedforest grid points in higher rainfall zones are less likely natural disturbances maintain ecological resilience?to be impacted when compared to that of drier forests. Canadian J. Forest Res., 36:2285-2299.They are of the opinion that nearly one third of theIndia’s forested area is to be impacted to such an FAO, 2013, Climate change guidelines for forest managers,extent that they may be modified in character to another FAO forestry paper 172. Food and Agriculturetype before the end of the century and already studies Organisation, Rome.by Telwala et al. (2013) in Sikkim Himalaya supportsit. Considering the impact of climate, there is no doubt GOPALAKRISHNAN, R., JAYARAMAN, M., BALA, G. ANDthat India, during 21st century is highly susceptible to RAVINDRANATH, N. H., 2011, Climate change and Indianthe climate change. Singh and Kushwaha (2016) forests. Cur. Sci., 101:348-355.stressed that there is need to develop capabilities todetect and predict the impact of climate change on GOPALAKRISHNAN, R., JAYARAMAN, M., CHATURVEDI, R. K.,deciduousness through long-term phenological network BALA, G. AND RAVINDRANATH, N. H., 2011, Effect ofin tropics. Remote sensing techniques can generate climate change on teak in India: A modeling basedvaluable ecological information such as leaf level approach. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies fordrought response and phenological patterns. Global Change, 16:199-209.Deciduousness has the potential to emerge as animportant focus for ecological research to address HANSEN, J., SATO, M., RUEDY, R., LO, K., LEA, D. W., ANDcritical questions in global modelling, monitoring, and MEDINA-ELIZADE, M., 2006, Global temperature change.climate change. Immediate attention not only by the Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 103, 14288-14293.policy makers, but, also by the end users of variousforest produces is needed. INCCA, 2010, Climate change and India: A 4x4 Assessment, Government of India. REFERENCES KANT, P. AND WU, S., 2012, Should adaptation to climateAFREEN, S., SHARMA, N., CHATURVEDI, R. K., GOPALAKRISHNAN, change be given priority over mitigation in tropical R. AND RAVINDRANATH, N. H., 2011, Forest policies and forests? Carbon Management, 3:303-311. programs affecting vulnerability and adaptation to climate change. Mitigation and Adaptation LEUDELING, E., KINDT, R., HUTH, N. I. AND KOENIT, K., 2014, Strategies for Global Change, 16:177-197. Agroforestry systems in a changing climate – challenges in projecting future performance. CurrentBETTS, R. A., MALHI, Y. AND ROBERTS, T. J., 2008, The future Opinion in Environental Stability, 6:1-7. of the Amazon: new perspectives from climate, ecosystem and social sciences. Philosophical MBOW, C., SMITH, P., SKOLE, D., DUGUMA, L. AND BUSTAMANTE, Transactions of the Royal Society B., 363:1729-1735. M., 2014, Achieveing adaptation to climate change through sustainable agroforestry practices in Africa. Current opinion in environmental sustainability, 6: 8-14. RAHA, A., DAS, S., BANERJEE, K. AND MITRA, A., 2012, Climate change impacts on Indian Sunderbans: time series analysis (1924-2008). Biodiveristy Conservation, 21:1289-1307.

FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE : AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE 51RAVINDRANATH, N. H., JOSHI, N. V., SUKUMAR, R. AND SAXENA, SUKUMAR, R., SHARMA, J. K., CHATURVEDI, R. K. AND A., 2006, Impact of climate change on forest in India. RAVINDRANATH, N. H., 2016, The impacts of climate Cur. Sci., 90:354-361. change on biodiversity and ecosystem in India. In: Tropical conservation: perspectives on local andROLLINSON, T. J. D., 2007. Forests and climate change: global priorities (Ed: AGUIRRE, A. A. AND SUKUMAR, conclusions and the way forward. In: Forestry and R.), Oxford University Press. climate change.(Eds: F REER SMITH, P. H., BROADMEADOW, M. S. J. AND LYNCH, J. M.), CABI, TELWALA, Y., BROOK, B. W., MANISH, K. AND PANDIT, M. K., Wallingford. 2013, Climate-induced elevational range shifts and increase in plant species richness in a HimalayanSINGH, K. P. AND KUSHWAHA, C. P., 2016, Deciduousness in Biodiversity Epicentre. PLoS ONE, 8: e57103. tropical trees and its potential as indicator of climate doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057103. change: a review. Eclogical Indicators, 69:699-706. THOMPSON, I., MACKEY, B., MCNULTY, S. AND MOSSELER, A.,SOHEL, S. I., AKHTER, S., ULLAH, H., HAQUE, E. AND RANA, P., 2009, Forest resilience, biodiversity, and climate 2013, Predicting impacts of climate change on forest change: a synthesis of the biodiversity/resilience/ tree species of Bangladesh: evidence from threatened stability relationship in forest ecosystems. Secretariat Dysoxylum binectariferum (Roxb.) Hook.f. ex Bedd. of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, (Meliaceae).iForest, 10:154-160. Technical Series, No. 43:1–67.SPITTLEHOUSE, D. L. AND STEWART, R. B., 2003, Adapting to WEBER, J. C., LARWANOU, M., ABASSE, T. A. AND climate change in forest management. Journal of KALINGANIRE, A., 2008, Growth and survival of Ecosystems and Management, 4:7-17. Prosopis africana provenances related to rainfall gradients in the West African Sahel. Forest EcologySTEPHENSON, N. L., 1990, Climatic control of vegetation and Management, 256:585-592. distribution: the role of the water balance. The Americal Naturalist, 135 : 649-670.(Received : January, 2017 Accepted : February, 2017)

Mysore J. Agric. Sci., 51 (1) : 52-62, 2017 Small Millets : Climate Resilient Crops for Food and Nutritional Security PRABHAKAR Project Coordinator (Small Millets), ICAR, UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru - 560 065 ABSTRACT Small millets are considered as nutri cereals and are a source of food, feed and fodder. The crops are grown in a variety of agro-ecological situations like plains, coast and hills as well as in diverse soils and varying rainfall. They are known for resilience and drought enduring capacity and are relatively less prone to major pests and diseases. Crop improvement efforts focused to state / regional needs from the point of developing appropriate agro production technology for maximizing production / productivity. Package of practices such as time of sowing/ planting, choice of varieties, time and method of application of fertilizers have been developed for different regions of the countryfor cultivation various small millets. Plant protection measures to control economically important diseases and pests have been evolved. Rich diversity of small millets crops has made them well suited for contingency crop planning and also to address the issues of climate change. Small millets are superior in some or most of the nutritional components compared to most widely consumed rice and wheat. These millets contribute towards balanced diet, and can hence ensure nutritional security more easily through regular consumption along with keeping the environment safe as they are low input crops mostly adapted to marginal lands.Smallmillet crops are viewed as important for health and wellness of people and can help in preventing many kinds of diseases related to modern life style including obesity, diabetes. Of late, plenty of elite food chains have begun selling millets and millets based products on their shelves as health food. The importance of regular food use of nutrient dense millet for achieving a holistic food and nutritional security is widely recognized. This paper deals with all aspects of small millets with reference to varietal improvement, food and nutritional security.SMALL millets are a group of six crops comprising of and hills as well as in diverse soils and varying rainfall.finger millet, kodo millet, little millet, foxtail millet, They are known for resilience and drought enduringbarnyard millet and proso millet. They are considered capacity and are relatively less prone to major pestsas nutri cereals and are a source of food, feed and and diseases. These are indispensable in tribal and hillfodder. They are grown from sea level to mid hills agriculture where crop substitution is difficult.right from Tamil Nadu in the South to Uttarakhand inthe North, and Gujarat in the West to Arunachal Small millets have always been of local andPradesh in the Northeast. The crops are grown in a regional important and as a result have attracted littlevariety of agro-ecological situations viz., plains, coast attention both at national and International level. Millets Crop Major Growing StatesFinger millet Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh., Jharkhand, Orissa ,Little millet Chattisgarh and GujaratKodo millet Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh , Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa,Barnyard millet Gujarat and ChattisgarhFoxtail millet Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, KarnatakaProso millet Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh., North East and Tamilnadu Telangana, Andhra Pradesh., Karnataka, Rajastan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Chattisgarh Bihar, North East, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra

SMALL MILLETS : CLIMATE RESILIENT CROPS FOR FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL SECURITY 53 Crop Scientific Name Chromosome No Place of DomesticationFinger millet Eleusine coracana 2n=36 (4x) East AfricaFoxtail millet Setaria italica 2n=18 (2x) Central Asia-IndiaProso millet Panicummliaceum 2n=36 (4x) Central Asia-IndiaBarnyard millet Echinochloa frumentacea 2n=54 (6x) IndiaKodo millet Paspalumscrobiculatum 2n=40 (4x) IndiaLittle millet Panicum sumatrance 2n=36 (4x) Indiain general stated receiving with attention with with head quarters at The University of Agriculturallaunching of All India Coordinated Millets Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru. With the inception ofImprovement Project (AICSMIP) in 1969. In this separate AICRP on Small Millets, research on smallproject small millets also started receiving some millets has been getting focused attention forattention at a selected few centres. Small millets developing varieties and other agro production andimprovement received the major boost during 1978- protection technologies suitable to different regions.79 with the establishment of five crops specific leadresearch centres in the country under IDRC Area, production and productivity trends: Theassistance. They were Almora in Uttarakhand total area under these crops is around 1.92 m ha, of(barnyard millet), Dholi in Bihar (proso millet), Dindori which finger millet alone occupies 1.19 m ha. Five-in Madhya Pradesh (kodo millet), Semiliguda in Odisha yearly analysis of data indicates a steady decline in(little millet) and Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh (foxtail the area from 7.56 m ha during 1951-55 to 1.92 m hamillet). The IDRC project continued till 1985 and the during 2011-15; with a drastic decline in the area ofAll India Coordinated Small millets Improvement small millets other than finger millet from 5.29 to 0.73Project (AICSMIP) was established in the year 1986 m ha (Table I). The production of finger millet TABLE I Quinquennial area, production and productivity of small millets in India Finger millet Small milletYear Area Production Productivity Area Productivity Production (‘000 ha) (‘000 t) (kg ha-1) (‘000 ha) (kg ha-1) (‘000 t)1951-55 2274 1605 704 5290 2177 410 5022 1955 3891956-60 2454 1873 764 4677 1889 404 4741 1784 3761961-65 2555 1888 743 4489 1745 388 4326 1743 4021966-70 2420 1887 779 3459 1391 401 2754 1198 4371971-75 2442 2227 909 1950 851 439 1492 738 4351976-80 2588 2650 1021 1173 510 435 970 467 4801981-85 2474 2612 1054 731 467 6391986-90 2306 2510 10881991-95 1891 2511 13311996-00 1718 2413 14022001-05 1563 2088 13312006-10 1350 1976 14712011-15 1190 1941 1631

54 PRABHAKAR TABLE II Decade wise compound growth rates (CGR) for area, production and yield of finger millet and small millets during 1951 to 2010 Compound growth rate (CGR) Ragi Small Millets Year Area Production Yield Area Production Yield1951-1960 1.57 4.48 2.85 0.57 0.32 -0.121961-1970 -0.28 -1.00 -0.72 -0.32 -1.68 -1.351971-1980 1.25 4.28 2.99 -0.76 -0.51 0.251981-1990 -1.21 -0.10 1.13 -4.35 -3.26 1.361991-2000 -1.80 0.93 2.78 - 5.36 - 5.38 - 0.092001-2010 -3.17 -1.73 1.70 - 4.92 -2.93 2.08 TABLE III Area, production and productivity in recent years Finger millet : The major finger millet growingArea, production and productivity in finger states are Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Tamil millets (Average of 2009-10 to 2013-14) Nadu, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. Of the total area under finger millet Karnataka alone occupiesState Area Production Productivity 60 per cent followed by Uttarakhand and Maharashtra with 10 per cent each (Table III). (lakhs ha) (lakhs ha) (kg / ha) Karnataka contributes nearly 70 per cent of fingerKarnataka 6.96 12.54 1801 millet production in the country followed byMaharashtra 1.25 1.34 1070 Uttarakhand and Maharashtra with about 9 per cent.Uttarakhand 1.22 1.68 1372 Tamil Nadu has the highest productivity (2580 kg /Tamil Nadu 0.87 2.24 2580 ha), followed by Karnataka (1801 kg / ha) andOther states 1.66 1.40 843 Uttarakhand (1372 kg / ha).All India 11.96 19.2 1604 Other Small Milletsfluctuated between 1.61 m t in 1951-55 and 1.94 m tin 2011-15 with high of 2.65 m t during 1976-80 despite In other small millets, the area declined is veryhuge reduction in area. This was due to doubling of drastic leading to lowering of production without anyproductivity of finger millet from 704 kg / ha to 1631 visible increase in productivity. This is largelykg/ha and wide spread cultivation of high yielding blast attributable to confinement of these crops to marginaltolerant varieties (Table I) (Anon., 2016). areas, non availability of quality seed of improved varieties and poor extension support. Compound growth rates (CGR) for area,production and yield of finger millet and small Madhya Pradesh (32%) has the largest areamillets : The area under finger millet showed a declining under other small millets, followed by Chattisgarhtrend in all the decades’ except during 70’s. Similarly, (18%) and Uttarakhand (9%). Madhya Pradesh andproduction showed the positive growth rate only during Uttarakhand contribute 19 and 18 per cent of smallthe 70’s and 90’s. However, the productivity was millets production which is closely followed by Gujaratpositive during all the decades except in 60’s. The other 15 per cent. Productivity of other small millets as asmall millets had negative trend both in area and whole is high in Uttarakhand and Gujarat (Table IV).production. However, productivity trend was marginallypositive, but was positive for yield during 70’s, 80’s In spite of the extraordinary nutritional qualitiesand 2000’s. (Table II). of millet grains and capacities of millet farming

SMALL MILLETS : CLIMATE RESILIENT CROPS FOR FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL SECURITY 55 TABLE IV * Plateauing of yields due to genetic barriers and dependence of narrow genetic baseArea, production and productivity in small millets (other than finger millet) * Non availability of sustainable and profitable (Average of 2009-10 to 2013-14) cropping systems for maximizing returns to farmersState Area Production Productivity * Instability in production and productivity on (lakhs ha) (lakhs ha) (kg / ha) account of vulnerability to biotic and biotic stresses.Madhya Pradesh 2.40 0.92 384 * No organized programme for production andChattisgarh 1.41 0.29 212 supply of seeds of improved varieties.Uttarakhand 0.71 0.88 1226 · Under exploitation of potential of value chain for diversified uses.Maharashtra 0.64 0.30 471 Research achievementsGujarat 0.47 0.46 995Other states 1.95 1.40 843All India 7.58 4.39 580 Crop improvement: Research on crop improvement focused to state/regional needs from thesystems, the area under millet production has been point of developing appropriate agro productionshrinking over the last five decades. The period technology for maximizing production/ productivity.between 1961 and 2009 saw a dramatic decrease in The work is multi-disciplinary and applied in nature.cultivated area under millets, more so in case of small Crop improvement led to development of high yieldingmillets (80 per cent for small millets other than finger varieties with resistance to blast disease, quality fodder,millet, 46 per cent for finger millet). The area under early and medium maturity and white seed in fingerall small millets other than finger millet has declined millet, resistance to head smut in kodo millet anddrastically in all states and the total production of small resistance to shoot fly in both proso and little millets.millets has declined by 76 per cent. The productivity So far, a total of 256 varieties in 6 small millets havehas remained more or less stagnant in the last two been released in the country (Table V).decades. The area declined by 83 per cent from firstfive year plan to 12th plan, whereas, the production Out of 86 varieties were released before 1986also fell by nearly 80 per cent. The productivity of (pre coordinated era and 170 during 1986-2016 (postsmall millets (other than finger millet) remained almost coordinated project era). The break up for variousstagnant till 12th plan with a slight decline during 3rdand 4th plans. TABLE VCritical gaps in Small millets cultivation and Varieties released in small millet cropsutilization in India Crop No. of Varieties The desired impact of the project, which has releaseddeveloped many high yielding cultivars, improvedtechnology has not reached the end users in desired Before After Totallevels in all millets other than finger millet. There has 1986 1986been a decline in area and some of the major reasonsfor these appear to be ; Finger millet (1918-2016) 45 78 123 Foxtail millet (1942-2016) 12 22 34* Crops grown on diverse soil types and varying Little millet (1954-2016) 6 17 23 moisture regimes under rainfed conditions. Proso millet (1954-2016) 8 16 24 Barnyard millet (1949-2016) 4 17 21* Non adoption of improved varieties and crop Kodo millet (1942-2016) 11 20 31 management practices. Total 86 170 256

56 PRABHAKARsmall millets is 123 in finger millet, 34 in foxtail millet, Andhrapradesh Foxtail Millet23 in little millet, 31 in kodo millet, and 21 in barnyard Karnatakamillet. Pure line selection has been the approach so Tamil Nadu SiA 3088, SiA 3156, SiA 3085,far in little and kodo millet and as a result the genetic Rajasthan Lepakshi, SiA 326gain made has been very limited and the varieties are Uttar Pradeshless diverse too. On the country recombination Uttarakhand SiA 326, HMT 100-1 and PSbreeding has been the approach especially in finger 4,Sreelaxmi, KO 12,Narasimharaya,millet resulting in creation highly diverse and productive SiA 3088, SiA 3156varieties (Table VI). TNAU 196 and TNAU 43, CO (Ten) TABLE VI 7,TNAU 186, CO 1, CO 2, CO 4, CO 5, K2, K3State wise important / popular varieties in small millets Prathap Kangani (SR 1) and SR 51, SR 11, Sreelaxmi, SR 16, SiA 3085State Varietites Finger Millet PRK 1 and PS 4, SiA 3088, 3085, Sreelaxmi, Narasimharaya, S-114, SiA 326 PS 4 and PRK 1, Sreelaxmi, SiA 326Karnataka GPU 28, GPU-45, GPU-48, PR 202, MR Orissa Little Millet 1, MR6, Indaf7, ML-365, GPU 67, GPU Madhya Pradesh 66, KMR 204, KMR 301, KMR 340 Andhra Pradesh OLM 203, OLM 208, OLM-217 Tamil Nadu JK-4, JK 8 and JK 36Tamil Nadu GPU 28, CO 13, TNAU 946 (CO 14), OLM 203, JK 8 CO 9, CO 12, CO 15 Chattisgarh Paiyur 2, TNAU 63 and CO Karnataka 3,C0-4,K1, OLM 203, OLM 20Andhrapradesh VR 847, PR 202, VR 708, VR 762, VR Gujarat JK 8, BL 6, BL-4, JK 36 900, VR 936 Maharashtra OLM 203, JK 8 GV 2, GV 1, OLM 203, JK 8Jharkhand A 404, BM 2 PhuleEkadashi, JK 8, OLM 203Orissa OEB 10, OUAT 2, BM 9-1, OEB 526, OEB-532Uttarakhand PRM-2, VL 315, VL 324, VL-352, VL Tamil Nadu Co-5, TNAU 151, TNAU 164, 149, VL146, VL-348, VL-376, PES 400 TNAU 145, TNAU 202, CO 4, K2, CO 3,CO 2, GPUP 21, GPUP 8Chattisgarh Chhattisgarh-2, BR-7, GPU 28, PR 202, VR 708 and VL 149, VL 315, VL 324, VL 352, VL376 Proso MilletMaharashtra Dapoli 1, PhuleNachani, KOPN 235, Uttarakhand PRC 1, TNAU 145, 164, 151, CO 4 KoPLM 83 Karnataka GPUP 8 and GPUP 21, TNAU 145, 164Gujarat GN 4, GN 5, GNN 6 Bihar BR-7, TNAU 164, 145, PR 18 Andhra Pradesh Sagar, Nagarjuna, CO 4, CO 3Bihar RAU 8Madhya Pradesh Kodo Millet RK-65-18,JK 439, RBK 155, JK 13, JK Uttarakhand Barnyard Millet 65 and JK 48, JK 137, RK 390-25, JK 106, GPUK 3 Uttar Pradesh VL 172, VL 207, PRJ 1 and VL Tamil Nadu 29, PRS 1Tamil Nadu KMV 20 (Bamban), CO 3, TNAU 86, Karnataka VL 172 and VL 207, Anurag, VL 29 GPUK 3 Gujarat CO 1 and CO 2, VL 181, VL 29 VL 172, RAU 11, VL 181Gujarat GK 1 and GK 2, GPUK 3 Gujarat Banti- 1Chattisgarh RBK 155 and JK 439, Indira Kodo-1, Indira Kodo- 48, GPUK 3Karnataka GPUK 3, RBK 155

SMALL MILLETS : CLIMATE RESILIENT CROPS FOR FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL SECURITY 57 Germplasm conservation, evaluation and Seed production: Large, scale seed productionutilization: Recognizing the importance and and distribution which is the key to success in spreadconservation and easy access to germplasm, of HYV’s is very weak in many states especially inAICSMIP established a separate germplasm unit at crops other than finger millet in the entire country.Bengaluru in 1979. This unit since then has been making This has led to opportunity deprivation of benefits ofefforts to collect as well as pool the available improved varieties to farmers in most parts of thegermplasm from various sources and make it available country. The harnessing of yield advantages from theseto breeders in the country. Project coordinating unit is improved varieties is the need of the hour in order toalso recognized as National Active Germplasm Site make small millets cultivation competitive and(NAGS) by ICAR / NBPGR and has the mandate to economically viable. The success of GPU-28 varietyassist in collection, conservation, evaluation and of ragi in Karnataka is a best example in harnessingdocumentation of small millets germplasm in the the benefits of a good seed production and distributioncountry. Presently the unit at Bengaluru is maintaining program involving line departments like Karnatakaone of the largest collections of more than 10,000 State Seed Corporation Limited and Karnataka Stateaccessions of 6 small millets. Department of Agriculture In order to improve the efficiency for utilization Crop production and protection technologies:of germplasm, core subsets have been formed and Package of practices such as time of sowing/ planting,made available to breeders working at different choice of varieties, time and method of application ofcentres. Selected germplasm have also been fertilizers have been developed for different regionsevaluated in the all India testing network and a number of the countryfor cultivation various small millets.of superior accessions were identified and a couple of Management practices for aberrant weather conditionsthem have been released for general cultivation in for mitigating early, mid and late season drought havedifferent parts of the country. (Ravikumar et.al., 1990, been worked out. Remunerative cropping systemsByregowda et.al., 1999, 2000, Gowda et.al., 1990) involving different pulse crops in millet for different regions have been evolved (Krishne Gowda et.al., Majority of the accessions have been screened 2004). Technology transfer attempted through frontlinefor agronomic, physiological, pathological and even demonstrations on the farmer’s field and on large scaleimportant grain quality parameters. There is good data station demonstrations have helped in narrowing downbase available for most accessions and germplasm the yield gap that existed between farmers field,catalogues have been brought out (Seetharam et al., demonstration plot and research station trials.2006). In order to improve the efficiency for utilization (Seetharam and Krishne Gowda, 2008; Anon., 2011;of germplasm, core subsets have been formed and Seetahram, 2015a, b).made available to breeders working at differentcentres. The exotic collections especially from Africa Plant protection measures to control economicallyin finger millet have been largely used in recombination important diseases and pests have been evolvedbreeding resulting in release of many superior high (Seetahram 2015a, b). Several blast resistant linesyielding varieties in many states. The African were identified from the germplasm available at NAGSgermplasm have thick stem, dark leaves, robust growth, and crop protection for management of blast diseaseslarge ears, and high grain density and source of has been recommended. Two sprays of P. fluorescensresistance to blast disease (Naik et al., 1993). (0.2%) or P. fluorescens+T. harzianum (0.2%) wereHybridization betweenAfrican and Indian elite varieties comparable to edifenphos (0.1%) for controlling ragihas been highly rewarding and has resulted in the blast especially under organic production situations.release of many high yielding varieties in the country Three new diseases viz., Banded sheath blight of ragi,(Seetharam, 1998; Paroda et.al.,1989; Seetharam Head smut of barnyard millet and Udbatta of kodoet.al., 1993; Seetharam, 2006). millet were recorded and reported. New donors resistant to banded sheath blight and smut have been identified. An IPM package involving clean cultivation,

58 PRABHAKARearly sowing with higher seed rate (one and a half Small millets are more nutritious compared to finetimes) followed by trapping the adult flies with fish cereals. Finger millet is the richest source of calciummeal traps was found effective in mitigating the (300-350 mg/100 g) and other small millets are goodmenace of shootfly in little, barnyard, kodo and source of phosphorous and iron. The protein contentproso millet. ranges from 7 to 12 per cent and fat content from 1 to 5.0 per cent. The millet protein has well balancedSmall millets for nutritional security amino acid profile and good source of methionine, cystine and lycine. These essential amino acids are of Physical properties and nutritional profile: special benefit to those who depend on plant food forThe small millets are small seeded grains and resemble their protein nourishment. The millet grain containspaddy or rough rice in the morphological features of about 65% carbohydrate, a high proportion of whichkernel. The kernel consists of distinct husk, bran and is in the form of non starchy polysaccharides andendosperm tissues. Normally, husk accounts to 15 to dietary fibre which help in prevention of constipation,20 per cent of the kernel where as the bran amount to lowering of blood cholesterol and slow release ofabout 5 per cent and the endosperm to about 75 per glucose to the blood stream during digestion. Lowercent of the kernel, respectively. The seed coat and incidence of cardiovascular diseases, duodenal ulcerhusk of foxtail, little and proso millet are generally of and hyperglycemia (diabetes) are reported amongsingle entity with glossy appearance, whereas, kodo regular millet consumers. Millet grains are also rich inand barnyard millet contain multiple layered seed coat. important vitamins viz., Thiamine, riboflavin, folin andNormally the seed coat of kodo millet is of brown niacin. Millets are comparable to rice and wheat orcolour, foxtail millet is yellowish where as the other rich in some of the minerals. (Tables IX to XII).millets are grayish coloured. The husk is non-edibleand unusually hard to digest similar to the husk in paddy, From the data presented here it is evident thatwhere as the bran is edible. To prepare edible items small millets are superior in some or most of theout of millets, the husk is separated by milling and along nutritional components compared to most widelywith that generally, the bran is also separated similarto milled rice (Malleshi, 2015). TABLE IX Nutrient composition of millets compared to fine cereals (per 100 g)Food gain Carbohydrates Protein Fat (g) Energy (k Cal) Crude Mineral Ca P Fe (g) (g) fibre water (mg) (mg) (mg) (g) (g)Finger millet 72.0 7.3 1.3 328 3.6 2.7 344 283 3.9Kodo millet 65.9 8.3 1.4 309Proso millet 70.4 12.5 1.1 341 9.0 2.6 27 188 0.5Foxtail millet 60.9 12.3 4.3 331Little millet 67.0 7.7 4.7 341 2.2 1.9 14 206 0.8Barnyard millet 65.5 6.2 2.2 307Sorghum 72.6 10.4 1.9 349 8.0 3.3 31 290 2.8Bajra 67.5 11.6 5.0 361Wheat (whole) 71.2 11.8 1.5 346 7.6 1.5 17 220 9.3Rice (raw, milled) 78.2 6.8 0.5 345 9.8 4.4 20 280 5.0 1.6 1.6 25 222 4.1 1.2 2.3 42 296 8.0 1.2 1.5 41 306 5.3 0.2 0.6 10 160 0.7(Source: Nutritive value of Indian foods, NIN, 2007; MILLET in your Meals, http://www.sahajasamrudha.org/)

TABLE X Essential amino acid profile of millets (mg / g of N)Millet Arginine Histidine Lysine Tryptophan Pheny I Tyrosine Methionine Cystine Threonine Leucine Isoleucine Valine AlanineFoxtail 220 130 140 60 420 - 180 100 190 1040 480 430 410 410Proso 290 110 190 50 310 - 160 - 150 760 400 480 SMALL MILLETS : CLIMATE RESILIENT CROPS FOR FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL SECURITY 370 350Finger 300 130 220 100 310 220 210 140 240 690 360 410 270 340Little 250 120 110 60 330 - 180 90 190 760 260 330 300 380Barnyard 270 120 150 50 430 - 180 110 200 650 220 280Sorghum 240 160 150 70 300 180 100 90 210 880Bajra 300 140 190 110 290 200 150 110 140 750Rice 480 130 230 80 280 290 150 90 230 500Wheat 290 130 170 70 280 180 90 140 180 410(Source: Nutritive value of Indian foods, NIN, 2007; MILLET in your Meals, http://www.sahajasamrudha.org/) TABLE XI Vitamin profile of milletsMillet Thiamin (mg) Niacin (mg) Riboflavin Vit. A (carotene) Vit. B6 Folic Acid Vit. B5 Vit. E (mg / 100g) (mg / 100g) (mg / 100g) (mg / 100g) (mg / 100g)Foxtail 0.59 3.2 0.11 32 - 15.0 0.82 31.0Proso 0.41 4.5 0.28 0 - - 1.2 -Finger 0.42 1.1 0.19 42 - 18.3 - 22.0Little 0.3 3.2 0.09 0 - 9.0 - -Barnyard 0.33 4.2 0.1 0 - -- -Kodo 0.15 2.0 0.09 0 - 23.1 - -Sorghum 0.38 4.3 0.15 47 0.21 20.0 1.25 12.0Bajra 0.38 2.8 0.21 132 - 45.5 1.09 19.0Rice 0.41 4.3 0.04 0 - 8.0 - -Wheat 0.41 5.1 0.1 64 0.57 36.6 - -(Source: Nutritive value of Indian foods, NIN, 2007; MILLET in your Meals, http://www.sahajasamrudha.org/) 59

60 PRABHAKAR TABLE XII Micronutrient profile of millets (mg / 100g) Millets Mg Na K Cu Mn Mb Zn Cr Su ClFoxtail 81 4.6 250 1.40 0.60 0.070 2.4 0.030 171 37Proso 153 8.2 113 1.60 0.60 - 1.4 0.020 157 19Finger 137 11.0 408 0.47 5.49 0.102 2.3 0.028 160 44Little 133 8.1 129 1.00 0.68 0.016 3.7 0.180 149 13Barnyard 82 0.96 - 0.090Kodo 147 - - 0.60 1.10 - 3 0.020 - -Sorghum 171 4.6 144 1.60 0.78 0.039 0.7 0.008 136 11Bajra 137 7.3 131 0.46 1.15 0.069 1.6 0.023 54 44Rice 90 10.9 307 1.06 0.59 0.058 3.1 0.004 147 39Wheat 138 2.29 0.051 1.4 0.012 - - 0.14 2.7 - - 17.1 284 0.68 128 47(Source: Nutritive value of Indian foods, NIN, 2007; MILLET in your Meals, http://www.sahajasamrudha.org/)consumed rice and wheat. These millets contribute * Basic and strategic research for Improvementtowards balanced diet, and can hence ensure nutritional for :security more easily through regular consumption alongwith keeping the environment safe as they are low i. Resistance to biotic (blast in finger millet,input crops mostly adapted to marginal lands. Declining shoot fly in little, proso and foxtail millets)small millets cultivation has resulted in reduced and abiotic stresses (drought, temperature,availability of these nutritious grains to needy salinity).population and also the traditional consumers havegradually switched over to more easily available fine ii. Development of parental lines and hybridcereals due to Government policies. This is a disturbing technology in finger millet using GMS.trend and needs urgent focus by the agricultural expertsand policy makers. Immediate policy and market iii. Gene discovery and allele mining from smallsupport, value addition and promotional activity are millet genetic resources (water and nutrientnecessary for arresting the further decline not only in use efficiency and nutritional quality).cultivation but also consumption. Improving productivityand enhancing demand should be the twin approaches. iv. Basic research on host plant resistance toDevelopment of health foods and their commerciali- major diseases and understanding of causalzation should receive focused attention to promote organisms.the millets among the urban elite, which wouldlead to reduction in life-style related disorders v. Taxonomy and biology of major insect pests(Malleshi, 2015). (stem borer, shoot flies etc) on specific host plants.Future research priorities vi. Value addition.* Utilization of trait specific germplasm for crop improvement activities * Varietal diversification in all small millets * Emphasis on developing innovative water moisture conservation practices, better crop establishment, crop geometry, efficient nutrient management/soil health and precision farming.

SMALL MILLETS : CLIMATE RESILIENT CROPS FOR FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL SECURITY 61* IPM technology for mitigating menace of shoot such as flakes, quick food cereals, ready to eat snacks, flies in little, barnyard, kodo and proso millets and supplementary foods, extrusion cooking, malt based studies on taxonomy and biology of major insect products, weaning foods and more importantly health pests of (stem borer, shoot flies etc) on specific foods. The importance of regular food use of nutrient host plants. dense millet for achieving a holistic food and nutritional security is widely recognized.* Selective mechanization of key operations such as ploughing, inter cultivation and harvesting. REFERENCES· Research on value addition to increase the utility ANNONYMOUS, 2011, Results of frontline demonstrations of small millets in food, feed and other allied (2000-2010) technologies for increasing small millets industries and development of suitable versatile production in India, Technical bulletin, Project milling machinery for small millets. Coordinatig Unit, Univ. Agric. Sci., Bengaluru.* Small millets are a rich source of nutra-ceuticals ANNONYMOUS, 2016, Annual Progress Report, Project and other health beneficial components. Validation coordination Unit, All India coordinated Research of these properties by generating relevant data in Project on Small Millets, Univ. Agric. Sci., Bengaluru. order to enhance their value as food and health promoting grains. BYRE GOWDA, M., SHANKARE GOWDA, B. T. AND SEETHARAM, A., 1999, Selection for combining grain yield with highFuture prospects protein and blast resistance in finger millet (Eleusine coracana), Indian. J. Genet., 59 (3): 345 - 349. After years of neglect, small millets, which cansuitably designated as climatic resilient crops or climate BYRE GOWDA, M., SEETHARAM, A. AND SHANKARE GOWDA,smart crops or nutri-cereals are now receiving more B. T., 2000, Possibilities of combining high proteinattention in agricultural Research and Development content with grain yield in finger millet. Ind. J. Gent.,agenda in the country. Rich diversity of small millets 60 : 387-390.crops has made them well suited for contingency cropplanning and also to address the issues of climate GOWDA, B. T. S., SEETHARAM, A., VISWANATH, S. ANDchange. The plasticity exhibited has made them SANNEGOWDA, S., 1986, Incorporation of last resistanceflexible for apparent early as well as delayed planting, to Indian elite finger millet cultivars from African cv.very low and high rainfall areas, various elevations IE 1012, Sabrao J., 18 : 119 - 120.and different soil regimes. These positive features havenot been duly recognized and exploited in the KRISHNE GOWDA, K. T., JENA, B. K., RAMAMOORTHY, K., DUBEY,country.The versatile small millets like foxtail millet, O. P., VENKATESHWARA RAO, T., SHANKARLINGAPPA, B.barnyard millet, proso millet and little millet would fit C. AND ASHOK, E. G., 2004, Augmenting legumesin any situations of climatic change and would save production in small millet based cropping systems,the farmers from a total crop failure. The farmers Technical bulletin, Project Coordinated Unit, Univ.who had shifted from millets to other crops are keen Agric. Sci., Bengaluru.to go back to millets in view of the stable harvestsensured, easy crop production, drought resistance, and MALLESHI, N. G., 2015, Post harvest processing technologiesecofriendly production. for enhanced food and allied uses for millets in India, In Millets: Promotion for food, feed, fodder, nutritional Small millet crops are viewed as important for and environment security, [(ed.) V. A. Tonapi, B.health and wellness of people and can help in Dayakara Rao and J. V. Patil], ICAR-IIMR, Hyderabad.preventing many kinds of diseases related to modernlife style including obesity, diabetes. Of late, plenty of NAIK, B. J., GOWDA, B. T. S. AND SEETHARAM, A., 1993, Patternelite food chains have begun selling millets and millets of variability in relation to domestication of fingerbased products on their shelves as health food. Small millet in Africa and India, (In) Recent Advances inmillets can be further processed towards various foods small millets. [(ed.) K. W. Riley, S. C. Gupta, A. Seetharam and J. Moshanga)]. Proc. Second Intl. Small Millets Workshop. Oxford-IBH Publishing Company.

62 PRABHAKARPARODA, R. S., 1989, Research advances in crop sciences. SEETAHRAM, A., 2015a, Small Millets research: Achievements (In) 40 years of Agricultural Research and Extension during last 50 years, In Millets: Promotion for food, in India. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New feed, fodder, nutritional and environment security, Delhi. [(ed.) V. A. Tonapi, B. Dayakara Rao and J. V. Patil], ICAR-IIMR, Hyderabad.RAVIKUMAR, R. L., SEETHARAM, A. AND GOWDA, B. T. S., 1990, Identification of sources of stable resistance to finger SEETHARAM, A., 2015b, Genetic improvement in Small Millets, millet (Eleusine coracana Gaertn.) blast, Sabrao J., In Millets-Ensuing climatic resilience and nutritional 22 : 117-121. security: [(ed.) V. A. Tonapi, B. and J. V. Patil], ICAR- IIMR, Hyderabad.SEETHARAM, A., GOWDA, B. T. S., SUBBA RAO, A. AND PRABHU, U. H., 1993, Genetic parameters and relation of SEETHARAM, A., PATEL, D. P. AND HALASWAMY, B. H., 2006, morphological characteristics associated with fodder Small millets (In) Plant Genetic Resources - Food Grain yield and quality in finger millet (Eleusine coracana), Crops. [(ed.) B. S. Dhillon, S. Saxena, A. Agrawal and (In) Feeding of ruminants on fibrous crop residues. R. K. Tyagi], Narosa publishing house, New Delhi. Proc.Int. Workshop, [(ed) Kiran Singh, J. B. Schiere]. ICAR, New Delhi and Agriculture University, SEETHARAM, A., AND KRISHNE GOWDA, K. T., 2008, Production Wageningen. The Netherlands. and utilization of small millets in India, (In) Food uses of small millets and avenues for further processingSEETHARAM, A., 1998, Small millets – Achievements during and value addition. Project Coordination Unit, All 1947 - 97, Indian J. Agric. Sci., 68 (Suppl) : 47-54. India Coordinated Small Millets Improvement Project, Univ. Agric. Sci., Bengaluru.SEETHARAM, A., 2006, Millets, In: Hand book of Agriculture, ICAR, New Delhi.(Received : January, 2017 Accepted : February, 2017)

Enhancing Climate Resilience of Crop Plants : An Approach using Endophytes G. RAVIKANTH, M. M. VASANTHA KUMARI, K. N. NATARAJA AND R. UMA SHAANKER Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Srirampura, Bengaluru-560 064 ABSTRACT The importance of increasing crop production in light of extreme events due to climate change and ahuman population growth projected to reach nine billion this century is a major challenge. Endophytic fungi andbacteria offer a novel approach to enhance agricultural productivity while reducing environmental costs.Endophytes have been shown to aid several plant growth processes. Endophytes could also help increase cropproduction and reduce yield losses by improving resistance to both biotic and abiotic stresses. With climatechange projected to have drastic impact on agriculture especially in arid and semi-arid regions, endophytescould play a major role in sustaining agricultural production. In concert with other novel agronomictechnologies and management, endophytes could help in mitigating the impacts of climate change. This reviewfocuses on the ability of endophytes in promoting growth as well as in imparting stress tolerance in the contextof climate change.WATER and food security are two of the key issues developed to ensure a climate-secure agriculture, it isthat are threatened by climate change. The impacts feared that global food production will be deeplyof climate change on water resources and agricultural compromised by climate change (Wheeler and von-yield, worldwide, are beginning to be documented Braun 2013, Davidson, 2016).(Wheeler and von-Braun, 2013). The average globaltemperatures are expected to increase by 1.4–5.8 °C I. Plant responses to stress and cropand this could result in substantial reduction in improvement programagricultural yield by the end of the 21st century (Misra,2014). Increase in temperatures could also result in Abiotic stresses such as extremes ofvariations in precipitation patterns and river flows temperatures, salinity, drought, and flooding limit cropbesides rise in sea level (Solomon et al., 2007, IPCC productivity worldwide. Despite plants being sessilereport 2008). Quite obviously, countries in the arid and in nature and lacking mechanisms to escape thesesemi-arid regions that are largely dependent on adverse conditions, they have over evolutionary periodprecipitation for their agriculture are likely to be most of time, developed unique and sophisticated responsesaffected. Erratic and extreme rainfall events could to environmental stresses. These mechanisms includeresult respectively, to frequent drought and floods. tolerance, resistance or avoidance. Plants that developEvidence is mounting to suggest that, in recent years, tolerance to a given stress can, over time, overcomeboth the frequency and intensity of drought have the effects of abiotic stress without injury. In case ofincreased in many parts of the world (Solomon et al., resistance, plants have developed counter measures2007). A few studies have indicated that agricultural to overcome the stressful environment. Similarly, plantsyields will be severely affected due to unprecedented have also developed avoidance mechanisms to preventrates of change in the climate system (Thornton exposure to stress.et al., 2011). At a landscape level, global warming ispredicted to increase desertification and double the In recent years, understanding the molecularloss of arable area in the world (IPCC, 2008). In mechanisms of abiotic stress tolerance as well assummary, climate change, coupled with the demands inducing stress tolerance some crops has been exploredmade by a steadily increasing human population, which (Parvathi et al., 2013; Sajeevan and Nataraja, 2016;is expected to rise to 9 billion by 2050, poses a serious Parvathi and Nataraja, 2017). A number of efforts havechallenge to maintaining world food security. Unless been made to understand molecular, physiological andappropriate mitigation and adaptation strategies are metabolic aspects of stress tolerance to facilitate the development of crops with an inherent capacity to withstand abiotic stresses. These include molecular

64 G. RAVIKANTH et al.breeding for new varieties by exploiting the genetic possible implications in ensuring a climate-securevariability existing for these traits, screening and agriculture where, crop plants, could be made climateselection of the existing germplasm of potential crops, resilient. In this paper, we briefly review the role ofproduction of genetically modified (GM) crops, endophytes in ameliorating abiotic stress in plants andexogenous use of osmoprotectants etc. (Kathuria, discuss how this knowledge could offer excitinget al., 2009; Pruthvi et al., 2014). possibilities of using endophytes as a possible approach to make agriculture climate resilient.II. Endophytes and their role in climate resilientagriculture III. Modulating abiotic stress tolerance using endophytes As opposed to an active modulation of plantresponses to abiotic stresses, through conventional and a) Modulation of plant responses tomolecular genetic approaches, a little or lesser known temperature and drought : Among abiotic stresses,approach that is recently gaining attention is modulation drought is a major stress that adversely affects cropof plant growth by plant microbiome. Plants are growth and productivity worldwide. Global warmingintimately associated with a diversity of microbiome is projected to increase the severity and frequency ofand these have been known for long to influence plant drought in the future leading to a possible decrease ingrowth and productivity (Redmann, 2002). The global food production. It is estimated that more thanassociation of microbiome with plants span 50 per cent of the arable land would be affected byrelationships including commensalism, mutualism and drought by 2050, severely affecting plant growthin the extreme cases, to symbiosis. One such (Vinocur and Altman, 2005). Drought stress affectsmicrobiome is the endophyte. water relations at cellular, tissue and organ levels impairing biochemical and physiological mechanisms Endophytes (both bacterial as well as fungal) are in plants and reducing their growth and developmentubiquitous plant symbionts that reside in intercellular (Beck et al., 2007). Similarly, heat stress interruptsspaces of stems, petioles, roots, reproductive parts and plant growth by impairing important physiological andleaves of plants without causing any overt negative morphological processes such as germination,effects (Mohana-Kumara et al., 2013). Many plant photosynthesis and flowering (Hasanuzzaman et al.,processes have been attributed to be shaped by 2013; Sgobba et al., 2015).endophytes. Endophytic fungi play a major role instructuring plant communities and in shaping processes In plants, drought stresses could be relieved tosuch as colonization, competition, coexistence and soil some extent by the infecting endophytes, which evokenutrient dynamics (Schulz et al. 2002). Several studies various natural mechanisms to help plants sustain theirhave also demonstrated the role of endophytic fungi growth even under stressful conditions (Vardharajulain imparting tolerance to plants against abiotic and et al., 2011). Under both drought and heat stress,biotic stresses (Mohana-Kumara et al., 2013). endophytes have been able to mitigate the stress byBesides their role in aiding several plant growth producing a number of phytohormones (Khan et al.,processes, endophytic fungi are known to produce a 2012; Waqas et al., 2014). Endophytes also benefitlarge number of secondary metabolites (Tan and Zou, the host plants by improving the uptake of nutrients2001). Endophytes have been recognized as an and water, water-use efficiency and endogenousimportant repository of novel bioactive products hormone levels (Khan et al., 2012). The endophyticincluding alkaloids, steroids, terpenoids, isocoumarins, association with host plants has been reported toquinones, flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, lignans, positively alter primary and secondary metabolitespeptides, phenolics, aliphatics, and volatile organic (Khan and Lee, 2013) under abiotic stress. Free aminocompounds with potential application in agriculture, acids, particularly proline, glutamine, and leucinemedicine, and food industry (Suryanarayanan et al., accumulated in endophyte-infested soybean plants.2017). In the context of the association of endophytes Among these, the osmo-protectant proline is importantwith plants, it would be interesting to explore their for growth restoration and tolerance under abiotic stress (Khan and Lee, 2013).

ENHANCING CLIMATE RESILIENCE OF CROP PLANTS : AN APPROACH USING ENDOPHYTES 65 Heat stress due to global warming is often sustainable agricultural development and food securityassociated with drought stress (Sgobba et al., 2015). (Connor et al., 2012). Saline environments tend toGlobal temperatures are predicted to rise by 2-5 0C hinder agricultural production by lowering crop yields,by the end of this century affecting crop growth and often quite substantially. Applying excess water wasproductivity. The occurrence of heat shock waves will one of the traditional approaches to leach out thefurther affect agricultural production (Fragkoste excess salts from the root zone. However, in case offanakis et al., 2014). As in case of drought stress, climate change, reduced water supplies in arid andendophytes have also been reported to impart thermo- semi-arid regions where salinity is an issue worktolerance to plants as reported in case of against such a response. Climate change, furthermore,Dichanthelium lanuginosum (panic grass), which may compound salinity challenges in basins wherethrives in the geothermal soils of the Yellowstone declining inflows provide less dilution. WithoutNational Park, Wyoming (Redman et al., 2002). The reductions in salt loads, lower flows result in higherendophyte Curvularia sp. is reported to confer salt concentrations (Connor et al., 2008).thermotolerance to plant and this plant/fungal symbiosisis responsible for survival of both, in geothermal soils. The use of fungal endophytes can be an excellentWhen grown separately, the plant and endophytic opportunity to minimize the negative effect of abioticfungus exhibit maximum growth at 40 0C and 38 0C factors, such as salinity, on crop yield. Associationrespectively. However, when the the plant and the with endophytes has been shown to amelioratefungus are grown together in an symbiotic plant responses to salinity stress (Singh et al., 2011).association, they are able to tolerate temperature The gibberellic acid producing fungal strains,regimes upto 70 0C. Pennicillium funiculosum and Aspergillus fumigatus, significantly improved growth of soybean One of the mechanisms of endophyte mediated under moderate-/high-salinity stress (Khan et al.,thermo-tolerance involves interaction with the heat 2011). In the presence of the endophyte, the host plantshock proteins of the host (McLellan et al., 2007). reprograms its salinity-stress response by regulatingThe endophyte Paraphaeosphaeria quadriseptata phytohormones and antioxidant enzymes (peroxidases,can affect expression of heat shock proteins and catalases) that scavenge reactive oxygen species toenhance thermotolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana minimize cellular toxicity from the secondary oxidative(McLellan et al., 2007). Similarly, another endophyte stress (Khan et al., 2015a; Khan et al., 2015b).Morchella increased biomass and fecundity of its local Contreras-Cornejo et al. (2014) reported the salinity-cheat grass (Bromus tectorum) host, as well as stress tolerance induction potential of Trichodermasurvival of seeds exposed to heat in the seed bank species in Arabidopsis seedlings. Plant-growthduring a cheat grass fire (Baynes et al., 2012). promotion under saline and normal conditions was related to increase in endogenous auxin (IAA) by b) Modulation of plant responses to salinity : fungal association that promotes a larger number ofThe effects of climate change on the quantity and, to lateral roots and hairs. Inoculation of Trichodermaa lesser extent, the variability of water supplies and spp. also enhanced the antioxidant and osmo-protectantthe consequent impact on soil salinity may pose an status of Arabidopsis seedlings under salinity stressadditional, albeit lesser-known, challenge. Nearly one- (Contreras-Cornejo et al., 2014).third of the irrigated land worldwide is affected bysalinization (Schwabe et al., 2006). Increased c) Modulation of plant responses to flooding:irrigation to meet the growing world food demand has Apart from drought and salinity, flooding is anotherfurther led to more arable land becoming saline major abiotic stress determining agricultural(Connor et al., 2012). Global climate change has also productivity worldwide (Ahmed et al., 2013). Floodingresulted in sea water level rise, resulting in inundation results in waterlogging and is regarded as one of theand salinity intrusion in many low lying areas. Salinity most hazardous natural occurrences in low-lyingis thus expected to pose a serious threat to the countries (Ahmed et al., 2013), and accumulating

66 G. RAVIKANTH et al.evidence suggests that climate change will increase infection processes for pathogens as well asthe risk of geographic coverage of floods in the future determining rates of reproduction of arthropods that(Woodruff et al., 2013). Water logging, results in either vector pathogens (Coakley et al., 1999). As weathersoil hypoxia (deficiency of O2) or anoxia (absence of patterns change, disease risk also changes, requiringO2) (Zabalza et al., 2009), and alters soil that strategies for management be updated to newphysiochemical properties such as soil pH and redox conditions.potential of the soil (Ashraf, 2012). Association with endophytes aid the plant hosts Plant responses to waterlogging, in which roots to tolerate various biotic stressors. Endophyte infectedand some portion of the shoot are submerged, vary leaves are often not defoliated by leaf-cutting antswith species as well as with water level, duration and (Estrad et al., 2015). Introducing entomopathogenictiming of waterlogging (Pucciariello and Perata, 2013). endophytes Purpureocillium lilacinum andWaterlogging has been shown to induce leaf Beauveria bassiana in cotton inhibited aphidsenescence, reduce chlorophyll content and leaf area, reproduction in greenhouse and field conditions (Lopez,inhibit photosynthesis and plant growth (Gibbs et al., et al., 2014). Similarly, the Bt cotton plants which2011). Song et al., (2015), show that Hordeum experience lesser insect visitations support lessbrevisubulatum plants which are infected with endophyte load in their tissues suggesting a positiveEpichloe endophyte are able to have higher resistance correlation between insect damage and density ofto water logging compared to endophyte free plants. endophyte colonization of plants (SuryanarayananThe endophyte infected plants showed significantly et al., 2011). While the exact mechanism of insectless damage to waterlogging and produced significantly deterrence by endophytes is not known, it isgreater content of chlorophyll, more tillers, higher hypothesized that production of secondary metabolitesshoots and higher under-ground biomass compared to by these endophytes could make the plants toxic/endophyte free plants. Water logging induced distasteful to the insects or reduce fitness of insectsosmoprotective proline production particularly in (Bittleston et al., 2011). Endophytes have also beenendophyte infected plants and had lower reported to reduce disease severity caused by fungalmalondialdehyde content and electrolyte leakage, pathogens by up-regulating many defence-relatedsuggesting that endophyte infection positively genes of the plant host (Mejía et al., 2014).affects osmotic potential and oxidative balance of the Piriformospora indica, a root endophyte of manyhost plant. plants confers resistance to some pathogens by stimulating the host’s OXI1 pathway, which activatesIV. Enhancing biotic tolerance the host defense reaction (Camehl et al., 2011). Climate change is likely to influence disease Endophytes with biocontrol effect have alsoepidemics in cultivated plants and natural vegetation received attention as an alternative to chemical diseaseand threaten global food security and natural control, substantially reducing the use of hazardousecosystems. Climate also affects agricultural pests. chemicals (Porras-Alfaro and Bayman, 2011).The spatial and temporal distribution and proliferation Bacterial endophytes from maize (Bacillus subtilisof insects, weeds, and pathogens is determined, to a and Bacillus mojavensis) have shown great potentiallarge extent, by climate, because temperature, light, in the biocontrol of Fusarium moniliforme in maizeand water are major factors controlling their growth and reduced seedling blight of wheat caused byand development. Increasing infestation by insect Fusarium graminearum and related speciesherbivores and pathogenic fungi in response to climate respectively (Bacon et al., 2001; Bacon and Hinton,change will inevitably impact agricultural production 2007). Similarly, Trichoderma spp. and other(Rosenzweig, 2001). Plant disease and pests can endophytic fungi isolated from Theobroma cacaocause substantial losses to agricultural production, have shown antagonistic effect against a number ofcausing famine in some cases, and also damage to important pathogens of cacao (Phytophthoranatural plant systems. Temperature influences

ENHANCING CLIMATE RESILIENCE OF CROP PLANTS : AN APPROACH USING ENDOPHYTES 67palmivora, Moniliophthora roreri, and via biological nitrogen fixation (Pankievicz et al., 2015,Moniliophthora perniciosa) (Bailey et al., 2006; Doty et al., 2016), enhancing the bioavailability ofMejía et al., 2008). It is demonstrated in several phosphorous (P), iron (Fe) and other mineral nutrientspathosystems that the endophytes are effective (Bulgarelli et al., 2013), production of phytohormonesbiocontrol agents that reduce disease severity of plant including indole acetic acid, abscisic acid, gibberellicdiseases (Wicklow et al., 2005). acid, brassinosteroids, jasmonates , salicylic acid (Sharma and Abrams, 2005; Javid et al., 2011; StraubV. Enabling growth and increasing yield et al., 2013; Fahad et al., 2015), generation of antioxidants (Mitter et al., 2013). Although the Climate change is expected to drastically alter interaction between endophytes and their host plantsglobal patterns of food supply and demand. Reduced is not fully understood, several studies havecrop production, as expected due to warming demonstrated the positive effects of inoculation oftemperatures and greater incidence of extreme endophytes to increase plant productivity.weather events, could lead to significant reductions incrop yields and increased vulnerability to malnutrition VI. Adaptation to climate variabilityand hunger in developing countries. Growing populationespecially in the developing countries and the shortage Application of endophytes to crop plants toof land and water could pose serious challenges for modulate their growth under climate variability asenhancing agricultural production. Further, the cost of mentioned above should be factored in as part of theproduction is also likely to rise in a changing climate ongoing technological development in agriculture,as farmers need to change their crop varieties and including molecular breeding, irrigation management,species, schedule more operations for land and water application of information and communicationmanagement, and invest in new technologies and technology etc. To avoid or at least reduce negativeinfrastructure. effects of climate change and enhance possible positive effects, endophytes should be exploited in large In recent years, there has been a growing scale especially in crop plants as well as in horticulturalevidence to suggest that the endophytes not only impart plants. Endophytic fungi associated with distinct plantsbiotic and abiotic stress tolerance to crop plants but and habitats (such as medicinal plants, land races/wildalso are able to enhance plant growth as well as yield relatives of crop plants/extreme habitats) could beby promoting nutrient availability, biological nitrogen expected to have evolved novel bioactive moleculesfixation, and the production of phytohormones (Shishido and intrinsic mechanisms to tolerate abiotic and bioticet al., 1999; Ryan et al., 2008; Kim et al., 2011). They stresses and other such habitat specific adaptations.have also been reported to enhance growth by As integral component of plants, the endophytic fungiindirectly reducing microbial populations that are could passively or actively facilitate their host plantspathogenic to plants acting as agents of biological to tolerate abiotic and biotic stress over and above thecontrol through competition, antibiosis, or systemic plants’ own defenses. They could also provision theirresistance induction (Sturz et al., 2000; Ramamoorthy hosts with a number of secondary metabolites thatet al., 2001). For example, Serratia marcescens, an directly and indirectly may help enhance the hostimportant rice endophyte (Gyaneshwar et al., 2001), fitness. Thus, enrichment of plants with endophyticinduces plant growth by stimulating phytohormone fungi can actually enhance crop productivity under bothproduction and phosphate solubilization (Chen et al., biotic and abiotic stress (Fig. 1). Endophytes could2006; Selvakumar et al., 2008) along with also be exploited to enhance early seedling vigor as inimprovement of nitrogen supply in non-symbiotic forest nurseries and during transplantations toassociations (Islam et al., 2010). Similarly, this overcome transplanting stress. With increasing stressendophyte has also been reported to increase plant on recovering saline soils and wastelands, endophytesheight, new leaf production, and leaf biomass in tea could play a role in enhancing the establishment ofseedlings (Chakraborty et al., 2010). Endophytes have large-scale planting. However, research will also havebeen reported to confer benefits to their host plants to deal with some unknown aspects that due to their

68 G. RAVIKANTH et al.Crops sensitive Targeted Conventional Crop adaptation improvement to climate and molecular to climate change breeding changeMitigation Plant Crops resilient microbiome (eg: to climate endophytes) changeFig. 1: Enhancing climate resilience of crop plants through conventional genetic approaches and through use of plant microbiomecomplexity have not yet been studied in detail. These ASHRAF, M. A., 2012,Waterlogging stress in plants: a review.include the effect of endophytes on secondary factors Afr. J. Agric. Res., 7 : 1976-1981.of agricultural production (e.g. weeds), the effect onthe quality of crop, the effect of changes in frequency AZAD, K. AND KAMINSKYJ, S., 2016, A fungal endophyteof isolated and extreme weather events on agricultural strategy for mitigating the effect of salt and droughtproduction, and the interaction with the surrounding stress on plant growth. Symbiosis, 68 : 73 - 78.natural ecosystems. BACON, C. W. AND HINTON, D. M., 2007, Potential for control The ability of endophytes to confer stress of seedling blight of wheat caused by Fusariumtolerance to plants may provide a novel strategy for graminearum and related species using the bacterialmitigating the impacts of global climate change on endophyte Bacillus mojavensis. Biocontrol Sci.agricultural and native plant communities. Endophytes Technol., 17 : 81 - 94.could play a significant role in stress management,once their unique properties of tolerance to extremities, BACON, C. W., YATES, I. E., HINTON, D. M. AND MEREDITH, F.,their ubiquity, and genetic diversity are understood and 2001, Biological control of Fusarium moniliforme inmethods for their successful deployment in agriculture maize. Environ. Health Perspect, 109 : 325 - 332.production are developed. These endophytes alsoprovide excellent models for understanding stress BAILEY, B. A., BAE, H., STREM, M. D., ROBERTS, D. P., THOMAS,tolerance mechanisms that can be subsequently S. E., CROZIER, J., SAMUELS, G. J., CHOI, I. Y. AND HOLMES,engineered in crop plants. In summary, the use of K. A., 2006, Fungal and plant gene expression duringendophytes, besides other conventional approaches, the colonization of cacao seedlings by endophyticcould help accelerate efforts towards developing crop isolates of four Trichoderma species. Planta, 224 :plants resilient to climate change. 1449 - 1464. REFERENCES BAYNES, M., NEWCOMBE, G., DIXON, L., CASTLEBURY, L. AND O’DONNELL, K., 2012, A novel plant–fungal mutualismAHMED, F., RAFII, M. Y., ISMAIL, M. R., JURAIMI, A. S., RAHIM, associated with fire. Fungal Biology, 116 : 133 - 144. H. A., ASFALIZA, R. AND LATIF, M. A., 2013, Water logging tolerance of crops: breeding, mechanism of BECK, E. H., FETTIG, S., KNAKE, C., HARTIG, K. AND BHATTARAI, tolerance, molecular approaches and future prospects. T., 2007, Specific and unspecific responses of Bio Med Res. Int., 963525. plants to cold and drought stress. J. Bioscience, 32 : 501 - 510.ANIL KUMAR MISRA, A. K., 2014, Climate change and challenges of water and food security. IJBES, 3 : BULGARELLI D., SCHLAEPPI K., SPAEPEN S., VAN THEMAAT 153 - 165 E. V. L., SCHULZE-LEFERT, P., 2013, Structure and functions of the bacterial microbiota of plants, Ann. Rev. Plant Biol., 64 : 807 - 838.

ENHANCING CLIMATE RESILIENCE OF CROP PLANTS : AN APPROACH USING ENDOPHYTES 69CAMEHL, I., DRZEWIECKI, C., VADASSERY, J., SHAHOLLARI, B., in crops through modulation of heat stress SHERAMETI, I., FORZANI, C. AND OELMÜLLER, R., 2011, transcription factor and heat shock protein networks. The OXI1 kinase pathway mediates Piriformospora Plant Cell Environ., 38 : 1881 - 1895. indica - induced growth promotion in Arabidopsis. PLoS Pathog., 5 : e1002051. GIBBS, D. J., LEE, S. C., ISA, N. M., GRAMUGLIA, S., FUKAO, T., BASSEL, G. W., CORREIA, C. S., CORBINEAU, F.,CHAKRABORTY, U., CHAKRABORTY, B. N. AND CHAKRABORTY, T HEODOULOU , F. L., BAILEY - SERRES, J. AND A. P., 2010, Influence of Serratia marcescens TRS-1 HOLDSWORTH, M. J., 2011, Homeostatic response to on growth promotion and induction of resistance in hypoxia is regulated by the N-end rule pathway in Camellia sinensis against Fomes lamaoensis. J. Plant plants. Nature, 479 : 415-418. Interact., 5 : 261-272. GYANESHWAR P., JAMES, E. K., MATHAN, N., REDDY, P. M.,CHEN, Y. P., REKHA, P. D., ARUN, A. B., SHEN. F. T., LAI, W. A. REINHOLD-HUREK, B. AND LADHA J. K., 2001, Endophytic AND YOUNG, C. C., 2006, Phosphate solubilizing bacteria colonization of rice by a diazotrophic strain of Serratia from subtropical soil and their tricalcium phosphate marcescens. J. Bacteriol., 183 : 2634-2645. solubilizing activities. Appl Soil Ecol., 34 : 33-41. HASANUZZAMAN, M., NAHAR, K., ALAM, M. M.,COAKLEY, S. M., SCHERM, H. AND CHAKRABORTY, S., 1999, ROYCHOWDHURY, R. AND FUJITA, M., 2013, Climate change and plant disease management. Physiological, biochemical, and molecular Annual Review of Phytopathology, 37 : 399 - 426. mechanisms of heat stress tolerance in plants. Int. J. Mol. Sci., 14 : 9643 - 9684.CONNOR, J. D., SCHWABE, K., KING, D. AND KNAPP, K. 2012, Irrigated agriculture and climate change: the influence IPCC., 2008, Climate change and water, Intergovernmental of water supply variability and salinity on adaptation. panel on climate change technical report IV. Ecological Economics, 77 : 149 - 157. ISLAM, R., TRIVEDI, P., MADHAIYAN, M., SESHADRI, S., LEE, G.,CONTRERAS - CORNEJO, H. A., MACÍAS - RODRÍGUEZ, L., YANG, J., KIM, Y., KIM, M., HAN, G., CHAUHAN, P. S. AND ALFARO - CUEVAS, R. AND LÓPEZ - BUCIO, J., 2014, SA, T., 2010, Isolation, enumeration, and Trichoderma spp. improves growth of Arabidopsis characterization of diazo- trophic bacteria from paddy seedlings under salt stress through enhanced root soil sample under long-term fertilizer manage- ment development, osmolite production, and Na+ experiment. Biol Fertil Soils, 46 : 261-269. elimination through root exudates. Molecular Plant- Microbe Interactions, 27 : 503 - 514. JALLOW, M. F. A., DUGASSA - GOBENA, D. AND VIDAL, S., 2004, Indirect interaction between an unspecializedDAVIDSON, D., 2016, Gaps in agricultural climate change endophytic fungus and a polyphagous moth. Basic research. Nature Climate Change, 6 : 433 - 435. and Applied Ecology, 5 : 183 - 191.DOTY S. L., SHER A. W., FLECK, N. D., KHORASANI, M., KHAN, JAVID, M. G., SOROOSHZADEH, A., MORADI, F., SANAVY, S. A. Z., KO, A. W. K., KIM, S. H. AND DELUCA, T. H., 2016, M. M. AND ALLAHDADI, I., 2011, The role of Variable nitrogen fixation in wild Populus, PLoS One, phytohormones in alleviating salt stress in crop 11 : e0155979 plants. Aust. J. Crop Sci., 5 : 726 - 734.ESTRADA, C., WCISLO, W. T. AND BAEL, S. A. 2013, Symbiotic KHAN, A. L., HAMAYUN, M., AHMAD, N., HUSSAIN, J., KANG, fungi alter plant chemistry that discourages leaf S. M., KIM, Y. H., ADNAN, M., TANG, D. S., WAQAS, M., cutting ants. New Phytol, 198 : 241 - 251. RADHAKRISHNAN, R., HWANG, Y. H. AND LEE, I. J., 2011, Salinity stress resistance offered by endophyticFAHAD, S., HUSSAIN, S., BANU, A., SAUD, S., HASSAN, S., fungal interaction between Penicillium minioluteum SHAAN, D., KHAN, F. A., KHAN F., CHEN Y., WU, C., LHL09 and Glycine max . L. J. Microbiol Biotechnol., TABASSUM, M. A., CHUN, M. X., AFZAL, M., JAN, A. AND 21 : 893 - 902. JAN, M. T., 2015, Potential role of phytohormones and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria in abiotic KHAN, A. L., HAMAYUN, M., WAQAS, M., KANG, S. M., KIM, stresses; consequences for changing environment. Y. H., KIM, D. H. AND LEE, I. J., 2012, Exophiala sp. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., 22 : 4907 - 4921. LHL08 association gives heat stress tolerance by avoiding oxidative damage to cucumber plants. BiolFRAGKOSTEFANAKIS, S., RÖTH, S., SCHLEIFF, E. AND SCHARF, Fertil Soils, 48 : 519 - 529 K. D., 2015, Prospects of engineering thermotolerance

70 G. RAVIKANTH et al.KHAN, A. L., HUSSAIN, J., AL-HARRASI, A., AL-RAWAHI, A. AND PANKIEVICZ ,V. C., DO AMARAL, F. P., SANTOS, K. F. D. N., LEE, I. J., 2015, Endophytic fungi : resource for AGTUCA, B., X, U, Y., SCHUELLER, M. J., ARISI, A. C. M., gibberellins and crop abiotic stress resistance. Crit. STEFFENS, M. B. R., DE SOUZA, E. M., PEDROSA, F. O., Rev. Biotechnol., 35 : 62 - 74. STACEY, G. AND FERRIERI, R. A., 2015, Robust biological nitrogen fixation in a model grass-bacterial association,KHAN, A. L. AND LEE, I. J., 2013, Endophytic Penicillium Plant J., 81 : 907 - 919. funiculosum LHL06 secretes gibberellin that reprograms Glycine max L. growth during copper PARVATHI, M. S., AND NATARAJA, K. N., 2016, Emerging tools, stress. BMC Plant Biol., 13 : 86. concepts and ideas to track the modulator genes underlying plant drought adaptive traits: AnKHAN, A. L., WAQAS, M. AND LEE, I. J., 2015A, Resilience of overview. Plant Signal Behav., 11 (1) :1074370. Penicillium resedanum LK6 and exogenous gibberellin in improving Capsicum annuum growth PARVATHI, M. S., NATARAJA, K. N., YASHODA, B. K., under abiotic stresses. J. Plant Res., 128 : 259 - 268 RAMEGOWDA, H. V., MAMRUTHA, H. M., AND RAMA, N., 2013, Expression analysis of stress responsiveKIM, Y. C., LEVEAU, J., MCSPADDEN GARDENER, B. B., PIERSON, pathway genes linked to drought hardiness in an E.A., PIERSON III, L.S., RYU, C. M., 2011, The adapted crop, finger millet (Eleusine coracana). J. multifactorial basis for plant health promotion by Plant Biochem. Biotech, 22 (2) : 193-201. plant-associated bacteria. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 77 : 1548 - 1555. PORRAS-ALFARO, A. AND BAYMAN, P., 2011, Hidden fungi, emergent properties: endophytes and microbiomes.LÓPEZ, M. J., NICHOLS, N. N., DIEN, B. S., MORENO, J. AND Annu. Rev. Phytopathol., 49 : 291 - 315. BOTHAST, R. J., 2004, Isolation of microorganisms for biological detoxification of lignocellulosic PUCCIARIELLO, C. AND PERATA, P., 2013, Quiescence in rice hydrolysates. Applied Microbiology and submergence tolerance: an evolutionary hypothesis. Biotechnology, 64 : 125 - 131. Trends in Plant Science, 18 : 377-381.MCLELLAN, C. A., TURBYVILLE, T. J., WIJERATNE, E. M. K., RAMAMOORTHY, V., VISWANATHAN, R., RAGUCHANDER, T., KERSCHEN, A., VIERLING, E., QUEITSCH, C., WHITESELL, PRAKASAM, V. AND SMAIYAPPAN, R., 2001, Induction of L. AND GUNATILAKA, A. A. L., 2007, A rhizosphere systemic resistance by plant growth promoting fungus enhances Arabidopsis thermotolerance rhizobacteria in crop plants against pests and through production of an HSP90 inhibitor. Plant diseases. Crop Prot ., 20 : 1-11. Physiology, 145 : 174-182. REDMAN, R. S., SHEEHAN, K. B., STOUT, R. G., RODRIGUEZ, R. J.MEJÍA, L. L., ROJAS, E. I., MAYNARD, Z., VAN BAEL, AND HENSON, J. M., 2002, Thermotolerance generated S. A., ARNOLD, A. E., HEBBAR, P., SAMUELS, G. by plant/ fungal symbiosis. Science, 298 : 1581-1581. J., ROBBINS, N. AND HERRE, E. A., 2008, Endophytic fungi as biocontrol agents of Theobroma ROSENZWEIG, C., IGLESIAS, A., YANG, X. B., EPSTEIN, P. R. AND cacao pathogens. Biological Control, 46 : 4 - 14. CHIVIAN, E., 2001, Climate change and extreme weather events; implications for food production, plantMEJÍA, L. C., HERRE, E. A., SPARKS, J. P., WINTER, K., GARCÍA, diseases, and pests. Global change and human M. N., VAN BAEL, S. A. AND MAXIMOVA, S. N., 2014, health, 2 : 90 - 104. Pervasive effects of a dominant foliar endophytic fungus on host genetic and phenotypic expression RYAN, R. P., GERMAINE, K., FRANKS, A., RYAN, D. J. AND in a tropical tree. Frontiers in microbiology, 5 : 479. DOWLING, D.N., 2008, Bacterial endophytes: recent developments and applications. FEMS Microbiol.MOHANA KUMARA P., SHWETA S., VASANTH KUMARI, M. M., Lett., 278 : 1-9. SACHIN, N., MANJUNATH, B. L., SAGAR JADAV S., RAVIKANTH, G., GANESHAIAH, K. N., UMA SHAANKER, R., SAJEEVAN, R. S., AND NATARAJA, K. N., 2016, Molecular cloning 2013, Endophytes and plant secondary metabolite and characterization of a novel basic helix–loop–helix- synthesis: molecular and evolutionary perspectives. 144 (bHLH144)-like transcription factor from Morus In: Advances in Endophytic Research. Editors Verma, alba (L.). Plant Gene., 5 : 109 - 117. Vijay and Gange, Alan C. Springer. pp. 177 - 190. SCHULZ, B., BOYLE, C., DRAEGER, S., RÖMMERT, A. K. ANDMITTER, B., PETRIK, A., SHIN, N. W., CHAIN, P. S., LOTTE- KROHN, K., 2002, Endophytic fungi: a source of novel HAUBERG, REINHOLD -HUREK B., N OWAK J . AND biologically active secondary metabolites. SESSITSCH, A., 2013, Comparative genome analysis of Mycological Research, 106 : 996 - 1004. Burkholderia phytofirmans PsJN reveals a wide spectrum of endophytic lifestyles based on interaction strategies with host plants. Front Plant Sci., 4 : 120.

ENHANCING CLIMATE RESILIENCE OF CROP PLANTS : AN APPROACH USING ENDOPHYTES 71SCHWABE, K. A., KAN, I. AND KNAPP, K. C., 2006, Drain water SURYANARAYANAN,T. S., GOPALAN, V. R., UMA SHAANKER R., management for salinity mitigation in irrigated SENGUPTA, A. AND RAVIKANTH, G., 2017, Translating agriculture. American Journal of Agricultural endophyte research to applications: prospects and Economics, 88: 135–149. challenges. In: Diversity and Benefits of Microorganisms from the Tropics. Edited by JoãoSELVAKUMAR, G., MOHAN, M., KUNDU, S., GUPTA, A. D., JOSHI, Lúcio Azevedo; Maria Carolina Quecine (In press). P., NAZIM, S. AND GUPTA, H. S., 2008, Cold tolerance and plant growth promotion potential of Serratia SURYANARAYANAN, T. S., VENKATACHALAM, A. AND marcescens strain SRM (MTCC 8708) isolated from GOVINDARAJULU, M. B., 2011, A comparison of flowers of summer squash (Cucurbita pepo). Lett Appl endophyte assemblages in transgenic and Microbiol., 46 : 171-175. non-transgenic cotton plant tissues. CurrSci., 101 : 1472 - 1474.SGOBBA, A., PARADISO, A. AND DIPIERRO, S., 2015, Changes in antioxidants are critical in determining cell TAN, R. X. AND ZOU, W. X., 2001, Endophytes: a rich responses to short and long-term heat stress. Physiol. source of functional metabolites. Nat. Prod. Plant, 153 : 68 - 78. Rep., 18, 448 - 459.SHARMA, N. AND ABRAMS, S. R., 2005, Uptake, movement, THORNTON, P. K., JONES, P. G., ERICKSEN, P. J. AND CHALLINOR, activity and persistence of an abscisic acid analog A. J., 2011, Agriculture and food systems in sub- (80 acetylene ABA methyl ester) in marigold and Saharan Africa in a 4 °C world. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. tomato, J. Plant Growth Regul., 24 : 28 - 35 . A: Math. Phys. Eng. Sci., 369 : 117 - 136.SHISHIDO, M., BREUIL, C. AND CHANWAY, C. P., 1999, VARDHARAJULA, S., ALI, S. Z., GROVER, M., REDDY, G. AND Endophytic colonization of spruce by growth- BANDI, V., 2011, Drought-tolerant plant growth promoting rhizobacteria. FEMS Microbiol Ecol., promoting Bacillus spp.: Effect on growth, osmolytes, 29 : 191-196. and antioxidant status of maize under drought stress. J. Plant Interaction, 6 : 1 - 14.SINGH, L. P., GILL, S. S. AND TUTEJA, N., 2011, Unraveling the role of fungal symbionts in plant abiotic stress VINOCUR, B. AND ALTMAN, A., 2005, Recent advances in tolerance. Plant Signal. Behav., 6 :175 - 191. engineering plant tolerance to abiotic stress: achievements and limitations. Current Opinion inSOLOMON, S., QIN, D., MANNING, M., CHEN, Z., MARQUIS, M. Biotechnology, 16 : 123 - 132. AND AVERYT, K., 2007, Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contributions of Working WAQAS, M., KHAN, A. L. AND KANG, S. M., 2014, Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Phyto - hormone-producing fungal endophytes and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. hardwood - derived biochar interact to ameliorate Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. heavy metal stress in soybeans. Biol. Fert. Soils., 50 : 1155 - 1167.SONG, M., LI, X., SAIKKONEN, K., LI, C. AND NAN, Z., 2015, AN asexual Epichloe endophyte enhances WHEELER, T. AND VON BRAUN, J., 2013, Climate Change water logging tolerance of Hordeum Impacts on Global Food Security. Science, 341 : brevisubulatum. Fungal Ecology, 13 : 44 - 52. 508 - 513.STRAUB, D., YANG, H., LIU, Y., TSAP, T. AND LUDEWIG, U., WICKLOW, D. T., ROTH, S., DEYRUP, S. T. AND GLOER, J. B., 2013, Root ethylene signalling is involved in 2005, A protective endophyte of maize: Miscanthus sinensis growth promotion by the bacterial Acremoniumzeae antibiotics inhibitory to Aspergillus endophyte Herbaspirillum frisingense GSF30T. flavus and Fusarium verticillioides. Mycological J. Expt. Bot., 64 : 4603 - 4615. Research, 109 : 610 - 618.STURZ, A.V., CHRISTIE, B. R., MATHESON, B. G., ARSENAULT, ZABALZA, A., VAN DONGEN, J. T., FROEHLICH, A., OLIVER, W. J. AND BUCHANAN, N. A., 2000, Endophytic bacterial S. N., FAIX, B., GUPTA, K. J., SCHMALZLIN, E., IGAL, M., communities in the periderm of potato tubers and their ORCARAY, L. AND ROYUELA, M., 2009, Regulation of potential to improve resistance to soil-borne plant respiration and fermentation to control the plant pathogens. Plant Pathol., l48 : 360-369. internal oxygen concentration. Plant Physiology, 149 : 1087-1098.(Received : January, 2017 Accepted : February, 2017)

Mysore J. Agric. Sci., 51 (1) : 72-77, 2017 Drip Irrigation : A Climate Smart Irrigation Practice for Sustaining Crop Productivity, Water Saving and Mitigating Green House Gases (GHG’s) in Rice NAGARAJU, GURURAJ KOMBALI, S. ANUSHA, D. S. PRABHUDEV, H. P. DILEEPKUMAR, K. S. SOMASHEKAR, V. BHASKAR AND D. C. HANUMANTHAPPA Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru-560 065 E-mail : [email protected] ABSTRACT Over the past decade, we have witnessed a growing scarcity and competition for water around the world. Rice being a moisture loving crop, commonly grown in puddled condition which consumes 50 per cent of irrigation water in the world besides leading destruction of soil aggregates, reduced water and nutrient use efficiency and emission of green house gases like methane and nitrous oxide. Hence, drip irrigation in aerobic rice could be a good choice as an alternative rice growing method with higher water productivity, boosted yields and reduced green house gases emission. The objective of this paper is to review the climate smart irrigation system with sustained production with efficient use of resources. Under drip irrigation, aerobic method of rice cultivation showed better performance with 15 to 20 per cent higher grain yield, 40 to 50 per cent water saving, besides reduced pollution risk to the environment by minimizing emission of methane and nitrous oxide, which is clearly noticed from the results of experiments reviewed in this literature.RICE (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important The traditional rice production system not onlyfood crops in the world for more than half of its leads to water wastage but also causes destruction ofpopulation which is mainly grown in Eastern and soil aggregates, reduction in micro pores and reducesSouthern Asia. It is grown in a wide range of fertilizer use efficiency (Soman, 2012a). The increasingenvironments and productive in many situations where scarcity of water threatens the sustainability ofother crops would fail. Rice-growing environments are irrigated rice production system. The conventionalbased on their hydrological characteristics which practice of rice production keeps the soil flooded andinclude irrigated, rainfed lowland and upland. Water - therefore anaerobic almost throughout the rice season.nature’s gift to mankind is not unlimited and free Wetland rice system emit large quantities of greenforever. The amount of water present in the universe house gases like methane (CH4) and nitrous oxideis only about 1520 million cubic kilometers, 97 per cent (N2O) which account for 8.7 to 28 per cent of totalis ocean and sea water, 2 per cent is frozen arctic anthropogenic emissions (Moiser et al., 1998).waters and only 1 per cent is water in lakes, riversand underground water, which is portable water for Therefore, a more efficient climate smart methoddirect use to humans (Shaker, 2004). of rice cultivation with higher water productivity is the need of hour. Looking into problems associated with In India, rice is grown in an area of 44.5 m ha traditional flood method of rice cultivation, a novel andwith an annual production of 106.5 m t. More than 50 eco-friendly practice of growing aerobic rice underper cent of the irrigation water in the world is used for drip irrigation along with fertigation seems to berice (Fan, 1996; Anon., 2010; Anon., 2010b) which is satisfying from the results of studies discussed in thisnot different in the State of Karnataka, where rice is literature.the largest consumer of irrigation water and accountingfor more than 47 per cent. Conventional puddled Performance of aerobic rice under drip irrigationtransplanted rice cultivation uses more than 2000 mmwater in many command areas of India. Demand for rice in India is increasing every year and it is estimated that by 2025 AD, the increasing

DRIP IRRIGATION : A CLIMATE SMART IRRIGATION PRACTICE FOR SUSTAINING CROP PRODUCTIVITY 73requirement would be 140 m t. To sustain present significantly higher number of productive tillers hill-1self-sufficiency in food production and to meet future (26.9) and 20 per cent higher grain yield (7803 kgfood requirements, India has to increase its rice ha-1) as compared to puddled (15.7 and 6573 t ha-1,productivity by 3 per cent per annum against the respectively) transplanted rice (Table I). Though thebackdrop of diminishing natural resources mainly water extent of increment in yield varied in differentthat pose a real challenge for scientific community. establishment methods at different places, the results are in accordance (Table II). The growth attributes varied significantly due todifferent methods of crop establishment and cultivation The higher yield in drip irrigation may be the(Anusha et al., 2015; Soman, 2012b). Significantly resultant of higher nutrient uptake (Rekha et al.,2015)higher growth parameters like plant height, total tillers wherein soil moisture was held at field capacityand leaf area lead to more accumulation of dry matter (Geethalakshmi et al., 2011) due to uninterrupted andin plant parts (Gururaj et al., 2016; Sundrapandiyan, continuous moisture supply meeting the crop2012). Aerobic rice with drip irrigation registered requirement (Vanitha et al., 2012; Vijaykumar, 2009). TABLE IInfluence of different establishment methods on tiller production and grain yield of riceMethod of establishment Productive tillers hill-1 Grain yield (kg ha-1) 2013 2014 Pooled 2013 2014 PooledAerobic rice with surface irrigation 18.8 18.1 18.4 6238 5965 6101 7934 7672 7803Aerobic rice with drip irrigation 27.2 26.7 26.9 6659 6487 6573 425 338 280Puddled transplanted rice 16.1 15.4 15.7CD @ 5% 0.98 1.24 1.09 TABLE II Representative yield increment in drip irrigated rice in different placesLocation Yield achievement % Increment over Reference (t ha-1) conventional methodMadhurai, TN (India) 6.20 24 Vijaykumar, 2009Andhra Pradesh (India) 9.38Maharashtra (India) 7.56Punjab (India) 8.20Rajasthan (India) 9.20 40-200 Soman, 2012bTamil Nadu (India) 8.50Uttar Pradesh (India) 5.50Bangalore, KA (India) 6.59 90 Gururaj et al., 2015Coimbatore, TN (India) 4.29 21 Parthasarathi et al., 2013Shanghai (China) 8.38 16 Modinat et al., 2014Mandya, KA (India) 4.96 28 Balaji Naik et al., 2015Bangalore, KA (India) 7.80 18 Anusha et al., 2015

74 NAGARAJU et al.Water use and water saving in aerobic rice under has the right amount of water it needs, neither toodrip irrigation much nor too little (Andreas and Karen, 2002). Rice being a moisture hungry crop and prolific Drip irrigation system for cultivation of rice underuser of water, requires 3000-5000 litres of water to aerobic condition seems to be promising in reducedproduce one kg of grain which is almost 2 to 3 times use of water with boosted yield levels (Nagaraju,higher than any other cereal crops such as wheat and 2014). Among different methods evaluated (Table III),maize (Anon., 2009). The water supply- demand gap drip irrigation has recorded least water use (77.7 cm)in India is projected to be 25 per cent by the year 2020 with higher water use efficiency (103.0 kg ha-cm-1)(Sunder Singh et al., 1996). as compared to puddled transplanted rice (150.9 cm and 43.7 kg ha-cm-1, respectively). Reducing water input in rice production can havea high societal and environmental impact, if the water Drip irrigation is the most energy and watersaved can be diverted to areas where competition is efficient of all the irrigation systems. Water savingshigh. A reduction of 10 per cent in water used in of up to 50 per cent as compared to conventionalirrigated rice would free 150,000 million m3, puddled rice (Anusha et al., 2015; Gururaj et al.,corresponding to about 25 per cent of the total fresh 2016). Ideally, water is applied in the proper amountwater used globally for non-agricultural purposes to the root ball of the plant, minimizing water leaching(Klemm, 1999). Therefore efficient irrigation system from the root zone. The higher water use efficiencyis necessary to reduce the use of water for rice with drip system was attributed to reduced water losscultivation without impacting on its yield level.Although and efficient water use by the plants resulting in highervarious types of irrigation techniques differs in how yield (Parthasarathi et al., 2013). Similar results werethe water obtained from the source is distributed within noticed by several authors from studies indicatedthe field, generally, the ultimate goal is to supply the (Table IV).entire field uniformly with water, so that each plant TABLE IIIWater use and water use efficiency (WUE) of aerobic rice in different methodsMethod of establishment Water use (cm) WUE (kg ha-cm-1) 2014 Pooled 2013 2014 Pooled 2013Aerobic rice with surface irrigation 101.16 119.25 110.20 61.6 49.8 55.7 89.25 77.70 120.2 85.9 103.0Aerobic rice with drip irrigation 66.16 159.80 150.93 46.7 40.8 43.7Puddled transplanted rice 142.05 TABLE IV Comparison of different rice growing methods for their water useLocation Water use in drip % water save Reference irrigation (cm) over floodingCoimbatore, TN (India) 64.7 44.0 Parthasarathi et al., 2013Bangalore, KA (India) 77.0 30.8 Anusha et al., 2015Bangalore, KA (India) 70.6 39.0 Gururaj et al., 2016Madhurai, TN (India) 67.4 42.0 Vijaykumar, 2009Farmers field trials (India) 80.0 40.0 Soman, 2012b

DRIP IRRIGATION : A CLIMATE SMART IRRIGATION PRACTICE FOR SUSTAINING CROP PRODUCTIVITY 75Effect of irrigation practices on emission of green higher than 20 ppm. In this experiment, the resulthouse gases showed that drip irrigation could effectively prevent or greatly reduce this gas emission from rice fields. Methane is one of the major green house gases Jayadeva (2007) also reported higher methane flux(GHG) contributing to global warming. The annual from puddled transplanted rice as compared to SRImethane emissions from rice fields are 3 -10 per cent and aerobic method of rice cultivation from hisof global emissions of about 600 Tg. Estimates of experiments. Similar results (Table V) were obtainedannual methane emissions from the principal rice from studies conducted at NICRA in different riceproducers, China and India, are in the range of 10-3 establishment techniques with drip irrigation.Tg (Bouman et al., 2007). The total methane emissionsfrom a paddy field are determined by methane TABLE Vproduction, oxidation and transport (Frenzel et al.,1999). These in turn are affected by the physical, Impact of different water saving technologies onchemical and biological properties of the soil, quantity greenhouse gas emissions in riceof organic residues, temperature, plant physiology andwater regime (Minami, 1995). Emission of methane Irrigation practice CH4 (kg GWPfrom rice fields is very sensitive to management ha-1) (kg CO2 eq.practices (including water management), so improvedmanagement of rice to reduce GHG is an important ha-1)target (Wassmann et al., 2004). DSR - Drip irrigation 0.04 797 Emissions of CH4 from SRI method are hard to 847pin down. In an aerobic system, there would be a net DSR - Conventional irrigation 0.14 715sequestration of methane, but in a partially anaerobic 1100system we would still expect methane production, but SRI - Drip irrigation 7.52 1688at a lower level than in fully anaerobic systems.Controlled irrigation trials can be used as a surrogate. SRI - Conventional irrigation 22.42These do not include the other aspects of SRItechniques such as wider spacing and earlier Conventional transplanted rice 56.97transplanting, but methane emissions are dominatedby the water regime, so these are likely to be less DSR - Direct seeded rice; SRI - System of rice intensificationimportant. From these studies (Peng et al., 2011a;Peng et al., 2011b; Hou et al., 2012 and Suryavanshi Drip irrigation has the highest water use effi-et al., 2013) there is a considerable range in methane ciency with water saving of 40 to 50 per cent besidesemissions compared to conventional irrigation, but with increasing the yield to the extent of 15 to 20 per centa mean proportion of 0.58 methane emitted per area. as compared to traditional method of rice cultivation. The merit of environmental friendliness of drip irriga- Drip irrigation could be a good choice as an tion was achieved from the experiments, especiallyalternative rice cropping system since it reduced with the methane gas emission which was obviouslygreenhouse gas emission greatly and with comparable decreased in the drip irrigation system.yield as in paddy field condition. One of the factorsresulting in methane gas emission from rice fields is REFERENCESthe standing water and the anaerobic decompositionof organic matter (Modinat et al., 2014). In this study, ANONYMOUS, 2009, Farm data-Rice ecosystems, 30.methane gas emission from the drip irrigation field Distribution of rice season area, by environment,basically maintained a lower level, equivalent to that 2004-2006. In; IRRI(Ed). IRRI World Rice Statistics.of the open air, less than 5 ppm, while the paddy field International Rice Research Institute, Lon Banos,produced significantly higher methane gas emission, Philippines. ANONYMOUS, 2010b, World Bank, World development indicators. ANONYMOUS, 2010a, Aquastat. Food and agriculture organization of the United States. ANDREAS, P. S. AND KAREN, F., 2002, Irrigation manual : planning, development, monitoring and evaluation of irrigatedAgriculture with farmer participation. Harare, 1:1-6.

76 NAGARAJU et al.ANUSHA, S., NAGARAJU, MALLIKARJUNA, G. B. AND GURURAJ MINAMI, K., 1995, The effect of nitrogen fertilizer use and KOMBALI, 2015, Influence of drip irrigation scheduling other practices on methane emission from flooded on growth and yield of direct seeded aerobic rice rice. Fertilizer Research, 40:71-84. (Oryza sativa L.). The Ecoscan, 9 (1):329-332. MODINAT, A., ADEKOYA, ZAOCHANG LIU, ELI VERED, LIGUOBALAJI NAIK, D., KRISHNA MURTHY R. AND PUSHPA, K., 2015, ZHOU, DEYAN KONG, JIANYING QIN, RUIFANG MA, Yield and yield components of aerobic rice as XINQIAO YU, GUOLAN LIU, LIN CHEN AND LIJUN LUO, influenced by drip fertigation. International J. Sci. 2014, Agronomic and ecological evaluation on growing and Nature, 6(3):362-365. water-saving and drought-resistant rice (Oryza sativa L.) through drip irrigation. J. Agric. Sci., 6(5): 23-29.BOUMAN, B. A. M., FENG, L. P., TUONG, T. P. AND WANG, H. Q., 2007, Rice: feeding the billions. In: [(ed)Molden, MOISER, A. R., DUXBURY, J. M., FRENEY, J. R. AND HEINEMEYER, D.], Water for food, water for life : A comprehensive O., 1998, Assessing and mitigating N2O emissions assessment of water management in Agriculture. from agricultural soils. Climatic change. 40: 7-38. London: International Water Management Institute. NAGARAJU, ANUSHA, S., GURURAJ KOMBALI, REKHA, B.,FAN, R. S., 1996, Assessment of water resources in China, SHESHADRI, T. AND SHANKAR, M. A., 2014, Drip irrigation Beijing: Hydro and Electricity Press, pp. 14-65.. and fertigation in direct seeded aerobic rice in Karnataka, India - Research status. In: Proc. 4thFRENZEL, P., BOSSE, U. AND JANSSEN, P. H., 1999, Rice roots International rice congress, 27th October -1st and methanogenesis in a paddy soil: ferric iron as an November, Bangkok, Thialand, pp: 1042-1043. alternative electron acceptor in the rooted soil. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 31:421-430. PARTHASARATHI, T., MOHANDAS, S. AND SENTHILVEL, S., 2013, Effect of drip irrigation systems on yield of aerobicGEETHALAKSHMI, V., RAMESH, T., AZHAGU PALAMUTHIRSOLAI rice. Environment and Ecol., 31(4A): 1826-1829. AND LAKSHMANAN, A., 2011, Agronomic evaluation of rice cultivation systems for water and PENG, S., HOU, H., XU, J., MAO, Z., ABUDU, S. AND LUO. Y., grain productivity. Archi. Agron. Soil Sci., 57 (2): 2011a, Nitrous oxide emissions from paddy fields 159-166. under different water managements in southeast China. Paddy and Water Env., 9:403-411.GURURAJ KOMBALI, NAGARAJU, REKHA, B., SHESHADRI, T., ANUSHA, S. AND MALLIKARJUN, G. B., 2015, Performance PENG, S., YANG, S., XU, J. AND GAO. H., 2011b, Field of aerobic rice under drip fertigation. The Ecoscan, 9 experiments on greenhouse gas emissions and (1 & 2) : 01-04. nitrogen and phosphorus losses from rice paddy with efficient irrigation and drainage management. ChinaGURURAJ KOMBALI, NAGARAJU, REKHA, B., SHESHADRI, T., Tech Sci., 54:1581-1587. THIMMEGOWDA, M. N. AND MALLIKARJUN, G. B., 2016, Optimization of water and nutrient requirement REKHA, B., J AYADEVA, H. M., GURURAJ KOMBALI, through drip fertigation in aerobic rice. Int. J. Bio-Res GEETHAKUMARI, A. AND MUNIRATNAMMA, C. M., 2015, and Stress Manag., 7 (2): 300-304. Effect of source and rate of fertilizer application through drip irrigation on yield and nutrientHOU, H., PENG, J., XU, S., YANG AND MAO, Z., 2012, Seasonal budgeting in aerobic rice. Green Farming, 6 (6):1350- variations of CH4 and N2O emissions in response to 1352. water management of paddy fields located in Southeast China. Chemosphere, 89:884-892. SHAKER, B. A., 2004, Effect of drip irrigation system on two varieties of Phaseolus bean production under theJAYADEVA, H. M., 2007, Studies on nitrogen losses, methane open field condition of Sudan. M.Sc. (Agri.).Thesis emission and productivity of rice under crop (in Arabic), Omdurman Islamic University, Khartoum, establishment techniques. M.Sc. (Agri.) Thesis, Univ. Sudan. of Agric. Sci., Bengaluru. SOMAN, P., 2012a, Drip irrigation and fertigation technologyKLEMM, W., 1999, Water saving in rice cultivation. In: for rice cultivation, pp.1-7. http://www.scribd.com/ Assessment and orientation towards the 21st Century. doc/88516713/2012-AIF-D2S6b. Proceedings of 19th Session of the International Rice Commission, pp. 110-117. Cairo, Egypt, 7–9 September, 1998. FAO, Rome.

DRIP IRRIGATION : A CLIMATE SMART IRRIGATION PRACTICE FOR SUSTAINING CROP PRODUCTIVITY 77SOMAN, P., 2012b, Drip fefrtigation for rice cultivation, In: VANITHA, K., MOHANDAS, S. AND CHELLAMUTHU, S., 2012, Proc. Asian Irrigation Forum, 11-12 April, ADB, Increasing water productivity in aerobic rice under Manila, Philippines. surface and sub-surface drip irrigation. In: Proc. International symposium on 100 years of rice scienceSUNDER SINGH, SRISANKRI, C., SWAMINATHAN, N., ASHOKARAJA and looking beyond, January 9-12, 2012, Tamil Nadu AND MOHAMED ALI, A., 1996, Promising H2O use Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India. efficiency in tank irrigated productivity. Indian J. Agric Sci., 37: 139-142. VIJAYKUMAR, P., 2009, Optimization of water and nutrient requirement for yield maximization in hybrid rice underSUNDRAPANDIYAN, R., 2012, Study on the effect of of drip drip fertigation system. M. Sc. (Agri.) Thesis, Tamil biogation on the productivity of aerobic rice, M.Sc. Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. (Agri.) Thesis, Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore. WASSMANN, R., NEUE, H. U., LUDHA, J. K. AND AULUKH, M . S., 2004, Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions fromSURYAVANSHI, P., SINGH, Y. V., PRASANNA, R., BHATIA, A. AND rice-wheat cropping system in Asia. Environment SHIVAY, A. S., 2013, Pattern of methane emission and development and sustainability, 6: 65-90. water productivity under different methods of rice crop establishment. Paddy and Water Environment, 11:321-329.(Received : January, 2017 Accepted : February, 2017)

Research PaperTemporal Patterns of Insect Diversity in Bengaluru - A Study Using Light Traps JOSHUA MATATA KIMONDIU, GYNESHWAR JHA, A. R. V. KUMAR AND K. N. GANESHAIAH Department of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture, GKVK, Bengaluru-560065 E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Studied the temporal pattern of all insects attracted to light trap from May 2015 to December 2016 at GKVK,Campus was studied. The results indicated that, both the abundance and richness of insects is high duringsummer seasons than winter and rainy seasons. Assessed the effect of temperature, relative humidity andrainfall on the species richness and abundance was studied through correlations and multiple regressionanalysis. Three kinds of analysis were attempted: impact of these parameters on (a) the day of sampling, (b)cumulated over the period of three days, and (c) cumulated over three weeks. Correlation studies indicated thatthe rainfall and relative humidity over three days before sampling affected the insect diversity significantly andthe total insect activity (as reflected by abundance) was affected only by rainfall over three days beforesampling. Temperature did not appear to impact on the insect activity and diversity. However, multiple regressionanalysis showed that temperature cumulated over three week period negatively impacted the species richnessand diversity though the abundance was not affected. The temperature on the day of sampling or cumulatedover three day period did not have any direct impact. Thus, the study demonstrates that the temperature affectinsect activity over long term than short term. Other parameters did not show any direct effect on diversity andabundance of insects. In other words, the insect activity may be reduced by increasing temperatures of theglobe- a concern in the context of climate change. This effect however appears to be confounded when analyzedwith other parameters.ASSESSING diversity is central to ecology and in seasonal peaks in abundance and species richness.conservation. Different methods can be used to assess The abiotic environment often varies along altitudinalinsect diversity: Sweep netting, light trap, pit fall trap, gradients, with consequences for composition andhand picking etc. Light traps capture highly diverse activity of arthropod assemblages. Insects often showorders of insects like Coleoptera, Hemiptera, specific annual activity patterns frequently linked toLepidoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera etc. Efforts to phenology often triggered by photoperiod in combinationconserve or manage insect communities require some with temperature and humidity (Van Asch and Visser,knowledge of the total number of species present, 2007) causing high insect activity in some seasons thanwithin habitat patches and, perhaps, the relative others. In this paper, an attempt has been made to testdegree of species turnover among habitats or regions the impact of temparature on insect species richness.(New, 1999). MATERIAL AND METHODS Insect activity is important because the movementof insects is associated with various ecological services Study arearanging from pollination (Johnson, 1996), pest control(Johnson, 1992) to seed dispersal (Bond, 1994), but Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra (GKVK) campusalso spread of disease (Epstein et al., 1998) and of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru,predation of economically important crops (Ward and Karnataka State, India which is located about 15 kmsMasters, 2007; Sana and Samways, 2015). While, north of Bangalore City. Geographically, the place ismany arthropod species depend on plants for food located at 12°58’ latitude North and 77°35’ longitudeand are influenced by vegetation structure (Scherber East. The centre is at an altitude of 930 meters aboveet al., 2014), their activity is also influenced by sea level. The annual rainfall ranges from 679.1 mmdifferent abiotic factors like rainfall, altitude, to 888.9 mm.temperature or wind (Addo-Bediako et al., 2000;Briers et al., 2003 and Rahbek, 2005). This can result GKVK falls under the Eastern Dry Agro-climatic zone of Karnataka. Sampling site was ‘K’ block situated near ZARS, GKVK, Bengaluru and located

TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF INSECT DIVERSITY IN BENGALURU 79at 13°081’ longitude North and 77°571’ East at an Fig. 1: Proportional distribution of insects attracted toaltitude of 930 meters above mean sea level. mercury vapour lamp light traps at GKVK, Bengaluru from 8th May, 2015 to 6th December, 2016 (Table I).Data collection Fig. 2: Proportional distribution of insect species attracted Sampling method : Insects were collected using to mercury vapour lamp light traps at GKVK,a light trap. The source of light used was a mercury Bengaluru from 8th May, 2015 to 6th December, 2016vapour lamp of 165 Watts (Philips). Light traps were (Table I).run once every 21 days from 8-05-2015 to 6-12-2016period. Insects attracted to light were collected in a species richness data could not be easily understoodcontainer placed at the bottom of the trap provided when plotted linearly (Fig. 3). This necessitated thewith an insecticide as the killing agent. study to explore analysis on a circular distribution (Fig. 4) and (Fig. 5), correlation (Table II) and Processing of collections : All collected regression (Table III) in an effort to delineate anyspecimens were air dried and processed. Larger variations that may exist.specimens were easily separated and smaller onessorted under a stereo-zoom microscope. All insects Fig.3: Relative diversity of species richness and individuals’were further sorted into different morpho-types collected from 8th May, 2015 to 6th December, 2016 using mercury vapour light trap at GKVK, Bengaluru Identification of specimens : Each morpho-type (Table I).was then verified for uniformity based on the externalmorphology and assigned an Operational TaxonomicUnits (OTU). As a consequence, each morpho-typewas in principle, represented as a taxonomic species.Assistance from Agricultural Entomology Departmentwas sought to identify OTUs according to theirtaxonomic positions. Identified morpho-types wereclassified into their respective families and orders andtheir numbers counted. All the specimens were storedin packets labeled with sampling date, OTU andspecies count for further examination. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONInsect species composition Samples taken through use of a Mercury vapourlamp light trap at 21 day interval period from 5th May2015 to 6th December 2016 at GKVK yielded a totalof 209,098 individuals (Fig. 1) belonging to 764 morpho-species (Fig. 2), representing 103 families.Pattern of insect species richness and abundance Sampled data on species richness and abundancewas analyzed at various levels in relation to seasons.Patterns of both abundance and richness of insectswas found to be higher during summer seasons thanwinter and rainy seasons (Fig. 3). The abundance and

80 JOSHUA MATATA KIMONDIU et al. Number of Observations 5474 Number of Observations 2124 Mean Vector (µ) 250.233° Mean Vector (µ) 257.065° Length of Mean Vector (r) Length of Mean Vector (r) Rayleigh Test (p) 0.178 Rayleigh Test (p) 0.197 Watson’s U² Test (Uniform, U²) < 1E-12 Watson’s U² Test (p) < 1E-12 Watson’s U² Test (p) 95% Confidence Interval (-/+) for µ < 0.005 12.605 248.385° Species Richness < 0.005 99% Confidence Interval (-/+) for µ 265.744° 245.659° Abundance 268.471°Fig.4: Circular bar graph of insect species and the relative azimuth, ‘α’, collected in catches attracted to mercury vapour lamp light traps at GKVK, Bengaluru from 8th Fig.5: Circular bar graph of insects and the relative azimuth, May, 2015 to 6th December, 2016. Circular bars indicate ‘α’, collected in catches attracted to mercury vapour lamp the number of insect species caught in corresponding light traps at GKVK, Bengaluru from 8th May, 2015 to days of sampling conside-ring the bimodal distribution 6th December, 2016. Circular bars indicate the number of insects caught in corresponding days of sampling plotted at modulo 360° (Table I). considering the bimodal distribution plotted at modulo 360° (Table I).Correlation analysis of insects, Simpson’s index of diversity, Shannon- The Pearson product moment correlation Wiener index of diversity and climate variables.coefficient was used to determine the relationship Although correlation studies indicated temperature toamong temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, have no impact on insect diversity (Table II), multipleSimpson’s and Shannon-Wiener indices of diversity, regression analysis (Table III) showed that temperaturespecies richness and abundance. The results of the cumulated over three week period was reducing thecorrelational analysis as presented in Table II shows species richness and diversity and not abundance.that significant correlations were observed betweenspecies richness and rainfall (n=26; r= 0.34, p<0.05), This study demonstrates that temperature on theabundance and rainfall (n=26; r= 0.34, p<0.05), species day of sampling may not have any impact on insectrichness and relative humidity (n=26; r= 0.355, p<0.05) activity and diversity but cumulative temperature does.and abundance and relative humidity (n=26; r= 0.355, Among the abiotic factors (rainfall, temperature,p<0.05) over three days before sampling. Temperature relative humidity, wind speed, etc.), temperature is andid not appear to have any impact on the insect activity important force to drive the insect population dynamicsand diversity. However, results from multiple regression a reason as to why multiple regression analysis wereanalysis indicate otherwise (Table II). undertaken to elucidate this confounding effect ofMultiple regression analysis We used a multiple linear regression to analyzethe relationships between species richness, abundance

TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF INSECT DIVERSITY IN BENGALURU 81 TABLE ICircular statistical measures of species richness and abundance of insects collected from 8th May, 2015 to 6th December, 2016 using mercury vapour lamp light trap at GKVK, Bengaluru Basic statistics Species richness AbundanceNumber of observations (N) 5474 2124Mean vector (μ ) 250.233° 257.065°Length of mean vector (r) 0.178 0.197Concentration 0.362 0.401Circular standard deviation 106.471° 103.342°Standard error of mean 3.054° 4.427°Rayleigh test (Z) 173.225 82.097Rayleigh test (p) p< 0.001 p< 0.001Watson’s U² test (Uniform, U²) 12.605 5.907Watson’s U² test (p) p< 0.005 p< 0.005 TABLE IIRelationship between species richness, abundance, simpson index of diversity, shannon index and meteorological variablesParameters Species richness Abundance Simpson index Shannon index of diversity of diversityTemperature 21days 0.0646 -0.0054 0.0791 0.0530before sampling 0.1446 0.0594 0.0936 0.0989 0.2130 0.1666 0.0833 0.0656Temperature three days -0.2702 -0.0329 -0.1502 -0.1805before sampling -0.3551* -0.2173* -0.2510 -0.2232 -0.0694 -0.0278 -0.0450 0.0109Temperature at time of 0.0769* -0.0008* 0.1041 0.1214sampling -0.3397 -0.3399 0.1869 0.1350 -0.1005 0.0038 -0.2405 -0.1502Relative humidity 21daysbefore samplingRelative humidity threedays before samplingRelative humidity at dayof samplingRainfall 21days beforesamplingRainfall three daysbefore samplingRainfall at day ofsampling* Correction is significant at p=0.05 level.

TABLE III 82 JOSHUA MATATA KIMONDIU et al.Multiple regression analysis of species richness, abundance, Simpson index of diversity, Shannon index and meteorological variablesDependent variable: Species richness Meteorological variables Coeff. Std.err. t p R^2N: 26 Constant 1065.4 604.51 1.7625 0.097082 0.0041733Multiple R: 0.66293 Temperature 21days before sampling -28.236 24.413 -1.1566 2.64E-01 0.020912Multiple R2: 0.43947 Temperature three days before sampling 9.2672 27.923 0.33189 0.74428 0.045384Multiple R2 adj.: 0.12418 Temp Temperature at time of sampling 8.2816 18.738 0.44197 0.66443 0.073059 Relative humidity 21days before sampling -2.5738 6.4756 -0.39746 0.69628 0.12611ANOVA 1.3938 Relative humidity three days before sampling -12.307 7.1959 -1.7102 0.10654 0.00483F: 9, 16 Relative humidity at day of sampling 5.8647 5.5978 1.0477 0.31036 0.0059153df1, df2: 2.69E-01 Rainfall 21days before sampling 12.668 7.8563 1.6125 0.12641 0.11546p: Rainfall three days before sampling -4.5722 7.0732 -0.6464 0.52718 0.010112 Abundance Rainfall at day of sampling -0.83162 1.4551 -0.5715 0.5756Dependent variable 26 R^2N: 0.55533 Constant Coeff. Std.err. t pMultiple R: 0.30839 Temperature 21days before sampling -3801.9 54977 -0.069155 0.94572 2.95E-05Multiple R2: -0.080644 Temperature three days before sampling 261.97 2220.2 0.11799 0.90754 0.0035395Multiple R2 adj.: Temperature at time of sampling -1920.7 2539.4 -0.75637 0.46042 0.027785 0.79271 Relative humidity 21days before sampling 1991.9 1704.1 1.1689 0.25958 0.0010887ANOVA 9, 16 Relative humidity three days before sampling 698.17 588.92 1.1855 0.25313 0.047222F: 0.62781 Relative humidity at day of sampling -967.36 654.44 -1.4782 0.15878 0.00077803df1, df2: Rainfall 21days before sampling 329.07 509.1 0.64638 0.5272 6.59E-07p: Shannon Rainfall three days before sampling 194.49 714.49 0.27221 0.78895 0.11556 26 Rainfall at day of sampling -762.07 643.28 -1.1847 0.25345 1.49E-05Dependent variable 0.67648 -61.851 132.34 -0.46737 0.64653N: 0.45763 R^2Multiple R: Constant Coeff. Std.err. t pMultiple R2: Temperature 21days before sampling 10.421 2.9917 3.4832 0.0030704 0.0028139 Temperature three days before sampling -0.27339 0.12082 -2.2628 3.79E-02 0.0097946 0.24785 0.13819 1.7935 0.091806 (contd....)

TABLE III (Contd.)Dependent variable: Species richness Meteorological variables Coeff. Std.err. t p R^2Multiple R2 adj.: 0.15255 Temperature at time of sampling -0.11444 0.092736 -1.234 0.23501 0.0043054 TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF INSECT DIVERSITY IN BENGALURUANOVA Relative humidity 21days before sampling -0.019196 0.032048 -0.59898 0.55757 0.032588F: 1.5 Relative humidity three days before sampling -0.082373 0.035613 -2.313 0.034355 0.049824df1, df2: 9, 16 Relative humidity at day of sampling 0.049395 0.027704 1.7829 0.093576 0.00011892p: 2.30E-01 Rainfall 21days before sampling 0.039748 0.038881 1.0223 0.32185 0.014743 Rainfall three days before sampling 0.079275 0.035006 2.2646 0.037777 0.018236Dependent variable: Simpson Rainfall at day of sampling -7.92E-03 7.20E-03 -1.1003 0.28746 2.26E-02N: Meteorological variables Coeff. Std.err. t p R^2Multiple R:Multiple R2: 26 Constant 1.335 0.21973 6.0754 1.61E-05 0.006265Multiple R2 adj.: 0.68519 Temperature 21days before sampling -0.015727 0.095378 0.008765 0.46948 Temperature three days before sampling 0.013301 0.0088738 -1.7723 0.20853 0.0069503ANOVA 0.17107 Temperature at time of sampling -0.0062662 0.37124 0.022565F: Relative humidity 21days before sampling 0.00080279 0.01015 1.3105 0.7375 0.063008df1, df2: 1.5733 Relative humidity three days before sampling -0.0074454 0.011666 0.0020275p: 9, 16 Relative humidity at day of sampling 0.0037194 0.0068111 -0.92 0.086266 0.01084 0.20557 Rainfall 21days before sampling 0.001668 0.5673 0.034954 Rainfall three days before sampling 0.0060641 0.0023538 0.34106 0.031397 0.057853 Rainfall at day of sampling -0.00093018 0.097754 0.0026157 -2.8465 0.0020348 1.8279 0.0028557 0.5841 0.0025711 2.3586 0.00052893 -1.7586 83

84 JOSHUA MATATA KIMONDIU et al.temperature. Temperature might affect any stage of extinction? Philosophical Transactions of the Royalthe insects’ lifecycle and therefore limit distribution Society B Biological Sciences, 344(1307) : 83-90.and abundance through the effects on survival,reproduction and development (Tauber and Tauber, BRIERS R.A., CARISS, H. M. AND GEE, J. H., 2003, Flight activity1981). Temperatures above the specific optimum range of adult stoneflies in relation to weather. Ecologicalwill lead to decreased growth rates, reduced fecundity Entomology, 28(1):31-40.and increased rates of mortality (Van Asch and Visser,2007). Temperature thresholds for insect flight vary CHAMBERS L. E., ALTWEGG, R., BARBRAUD, C., BARNARD, P.,both among and within species, with season and also BEAUMONT, L. J. AND CRAWFORD, R. J., 2013,with region (Chambers et al., 2013). Cumulative Phenological changes in the Southern Hemisphere.temperature and therefore climate change can cause PloS one, 8(10) : e75514- 112.major changes to the dynamics of insect individualspecies and to those communities in which they EPSTEIN, P. R., DIAZ, H. F., ELIAS, S., GRABHERR, G., GRAHAM,interact. Climate change is likely to involve a higher N. E. AND MARTENS, W. J., 1998, Biological and physicalfrequency of biotic disturbance. Depending on the signs of climate change: focus on mosquito-bornedimension of disturbance, local to regional dynamics diseases. Bulletin of the American Meteorologicalof insect populations and species composition may be Society, 79(3): 409-417.affected. Thus our study demonstrates that thetemperature affected insect activity over long term JOHNSON, S., 1992, Plant-animal relationships, in the ecologythan short term. Other parameters did not show any of fynbos nutrients, fire and diversity, Cowling RM,direct effect on diversity and abundance of insects. In Ed. Oxford University Press, Cape Town, pp. 174-205.other words, the insect activity may be reduced byincreasing temperatures of the globe- a concern in JOHNSON, S. D., 1996, Pollination, adaptation and speciationthe context of climate change. This effect however models in the Cape flora of South Africa. Taxon,appears to be confounded when analyzed with other 59-66.parameters. NEW, T. R., 1999, Limits to species focusing in insect The results suggest the importance of weather conservation. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am., 92: 853– 860.parameters and stratification based on period whensampling insects is paramount to understanding the RAHBEK, C., 2005, The role of spatial scale and the perceptioninsect structure and composition and further of large scale species richness patterns. Ecologyrecommend that conservation biologists should letters, 8(2) : 224-239.exercise caution when attempting to predict totalspecies diversity of insects in ecosystems that are SASA, A. AND SAMWAYS, M., 2015, Arthropod assemblages associated with wild and cultivated indigenous proteascharacterized by significant effects of seasonality. in the Grabouw area, Cape Floristic Region. African Entomol., 23(1):19-36. REFERENCES SCHERBER, C., VOCKENHUBER, E., A., STARK, A., MEYER, H.ADDO-BEDIAKO, A., CHOWN, S. L. AND GASTON, K. J., 2000, AND TSCHARNTKE, T., 2014, Effects of tree and herb Thermal tolerance, climatic variability and latitude. biodiversity on Diptera, a hyperdiverse insect order. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series Oecologia. B Biological Sciences, 267(1445) : 739-745. TAUBER, C. A. AND TAUBER, M. J., 1981, Insect seasonalBOND, W., 1994, Do mutualisms matter assessing the impact cycles: genetics and evolution. Annual Review of of pollinator and disperser disruption on plant Ecology and Systematics, 12 : 281-308. VAN ASCH, M. AND VISSER, M. E., 2007, Phenology of forest caterpillars and their host trees the importance of synchrony. Annu. Rev. Entomol., 52:37-55. WARD, N. L. AND MASTERS, G. J., 2007, Linking climate change and species invasion: an illustration using insect herbivores. Global Change Biology, 13(8):1605-1615.(Received : January, 2017 Accepted : February, 2017)

Mysore J. Agric. Sci., 51 (1) : 85-88, 2017 Influence of Farm Ponds towards Imparting Climate Resilience to Rainfed Farming : Success from NICRA VillagesD. V. SRINIVASA REDDY, SREENATH DIXIT, N. LOGANANDHAN, MANJUNATH GOWDA, B. MOHAN, S. SHEEBA, B. O. MALLIKARJUNA AND M. ANITHA ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, MRS, Hebbal, Bengaluru-560024 ABSTRACT Farm ponds are recommended for fragile dry-land ecosystems to harvest rainwater ex-situ as a sustainability measure. Through National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) under Zone VIII, water was harvested in 146 farm ponds in drought prone villages under KrishiVigyan Kendras since 2011 in five locations (Chickballapura, Davangere and Tumakuru of Karnataka; Namakkal and Villupuram of Tamil Nadu) and utilized the harvested waste for cultivation of a variety of crops. This also helped to enhance the cropping intensity from 23.18 to 185 per cent in the study area.WATER, the most crucial resource for sustainable MATERIAL AND METHODSagricultural production in the dryland / rainfed areas,is not being used fully. Much of the rainfall runs off The study was conducted with farmers’the ground. The runoff not only causes loss of water participatory research mode involving the farmersbut it also washes away precious top soil. Rainfed under NICRA implemented by three KVKs ofarea which constitutes over 55 per cent of the net Karnataka and two KVKs of Tamil Nadu. Annualcultivated area in the country contributing 40 per cent rainfall analysis in the study area indicates thatof the food grains, supporting 60 per cent livestock Karnataka received more annual rainfall during kharifand 80 per cent of the pulses and oilseeds (Anon., season, where as Tamil Nadu received more annual2011) is suffering from land degradation and socio rainfall during rabi season (Table.I). The watereconomic constraints of farmers. harvested in the farm ponds in each year was utilized for providing protective irrigation to the crops during The Indian farmers have evolved various coping long dry spells in the same season or utilized formechanisms over time, but these mechanisms are not cultivating crops in the subsequent season. The waterable to cope with the extreme weather aberrations in in the farm pond was lifted either manually or usingthe recent years. Therefore, there is a need to use small capacity oil pump.modern science combined with indigenous knowledgeof farmers to enhance the resilience of Indian Five KVKs implemented farm pond structures,agriculture to climate change. In order to deal with of which three in Karnataka (Chickballapura,the climate change and its impacts, the Indian Council Davanagere and Tumakuru) and two in Tamil Naduof Agricultural Research (ICAR) initiated National (Namakkal and Villupuram) to harvest runoff waterInnovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA), under the NICRA project. In Chickballapura KVK,a multi- institutional, multi- disciplinary network project water was harvested in 8 farm ponds during 2012 toin 2011. The project aims to enhance resilience of 2015 with dimensions (m) of 10 x 7 x 2. The pondsIndian agriculture to climate change and climate were constructed without lining material and watervariability through strategic research and technology storage capacity was 140 m3. In Davanagere, waterdemonstration. The Technology Demonstration was harvested in 24 farm ponds during 2012 to 2015Component (TDC) of NICRA as on-farm participatory with dimensions (m) of 10 x 10 x 3 and water storagedemonstrations of available technologies is being capacity of 300 m3. The farm ponds were constructedimplemented in 121 most vulnerable districts with the without lining material. In Tumakuru,water washelp of 121 Krishi Vigyan Kendras coordinated by harvested in 81 farm ponds during 2012-2016 withCRIDA and Agricultural Technology Application two different dimensions (m) of 20 x 20 x 2 andResearch Institutes in the country. 10 x 10 x 2 and water storage capacity of 800 and

TABLE I 86 D. V. SRINIVASA REDDY et al. Rainfall during last five years (2011-15) in NICRA villages of KVK under Zone-VIII NICRA Year Normal Total rainfall No. of No. of No. of No. of Water inundation Rainfall (mm) distributionKVK District rainfall (mm) from rainy days dry spells> dry spells> highest rainfall floods> 10 days across season (mm) 10-15 days intensity events (No. of events) Jan-Dec 15 days (> 60 mm) day Khairf Rabi Summer 2011 107.5 12 2 1 0 0 52 55.5 0 2012 4 2 2013 799.9 28 4 4 2 2 452.5 97 250.4 2014 5 0Chickballapura, 2015 740.0 827.5 33 3 4 4 1 611.6 61 154.9Karnataka 353.7 17 3 0 230.2 0 123.5 1163 47 2 3 499 492 172 2011 213.6 28 3 1 0 0 185.5 33.7 0 2012 1 0 2013 371.9 36 2 - 2 0 195.6 0 134.3 2014 0 1Davanagere, 2015 648.1 699.9 67 1 1 2 0 383.9 35 281Karnataka 786.3 67 1 0 576.8 150 59.5 653 36 1 0 410 100 143 2012 779 49 3 1 1 0 310 193 276 2013 0 1Tumakuru, 2014 696.0 824 50 4 0 3 0 500 169 155Karnataka 2015 1 3 1082 63 2 0 560 225 297 1132 67 1 0 335 460 337 2011 405.46 31 1 1 0 0 0 316 0 (Sep-Dec)Namakkal, 469.6 30 2 9 2 0 146.8 245 76Tamil Nadu 2012 7 4 2013 410.0 639 24 5 7 1 0 284 269 48 2014 8 0 2015 548.3 32 4 0 307 217.3 24 8 2 487 29 5 8 2 0 270 208 0 6 2 2011 936.5 45 4 7 2 0 428 373.5 135 2012 957.5 48 5 4 5 2013 1058.0 1158.1 53 3 0 352 595 10.5 2014 1095.75 51 5Villupuram 2015 1262.5 55 5 0 731.8 362.75 63.5Tamil Nadu 0 502 459.5 134.25 1 322.5 940 0

TABLE II INFLUENCE OF FARM PONDS TOWARDS IMPARTING CLIMATE RESILIENCE TO RAINFED FARMING Details of farm pond and their capacityNICRA No. of Farm Total Amount No. of Area Crops cultivated Net returns (`) Increase in KVK ponds and of water stored Supplemental brought varied for the area croppingDistrict Water storage in farm pond irrigation in under intensity (%) capacity (m3) Kharif /Rabi protective cultivated (m3) irrigation (ha) 100 crop/Both As low as `46,000/- in 185 season 2012 and as high as `1,28,150/- in 2015 100Chickballapura 8 3331 42 15.7 Groundnut, Finger millet,(2012-15) (140) Castor, Redgram and intercrop As low as `42,700/- in 23.18 of Groundnut + Redgram 2012 and as high as `3,32,745/- in 2015 42.75Davanagere 24 9414 27 7.4 Cotton, Tomato, Fodder crops,(2012-15) (300) Tomato, Beans and intercrop of As low as `79,000/- Maize + Redgram 2015 to as high as `8,50,000/- in 2016Tumakuru 81 18519 187 61.0 Groundnut, Maize, Finger millet,(2012-16) (800 and 200) Tomato, Aerobic paddy and Asterin As low as `52,240/- in 2012 and as high asNamakkal 15 230.25 207 11.42 Groundnut, Sorghum, Onion, `2,61,625/- in 2013(2012-14) (387 and 713) Jasmine, Paddy and Vegetable crops As low as `36800/- inVillupuram 18 16000 30 5.0 Groundnut, Sugarcane and Paddy 2013 to as high as(2012-15) (1680) `107980/- in 2012 87

88 D. V. SRINIVASA REDDY et al.200 m3. In Namakkal, water was harvested in 15 farm varied from `52,240/- in 2012 from 1.4 ha area toponds of different dimension (m) of 14.02 x 10.36 x `2,61,625/- in 2013 from 4.81 ha area (Table II). LDPE1.52 to 22.86 x 16.76 x 1.82 during 2012 to 2014 with film lining which was tried on an experimental basisa water storage capacity varying from 387 to 713 m3. for the past several years is now extensively beingAll these ponds were lined with silpauline sheet. In used in states like West Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthan,Villupuram, water was harvested in 18 farm ponds of Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and the irrigationdimension (m) 30 x 28 x 2 with a water storage capacity departments of other states. The experience indicatesof 1680 m3. The ponds were constructed without lining that lining with plastic films saves sufficient quantitymaterial. of water from seepage (Singh and Kumar, 2007). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In Villupuram, about, 16000 m3 of water was harvested during the year 2012-15 and cultivated In Chickballapur, 3331 m3 of water was harvested groundnut, sugarcane and paddy crops in 5 ha areaused for cultivated groundnut, finger millet, castor, and the harvested water was used for 30 protectiveredgram and intercrop of groundnut + redgram in about irrigations during rabi season. The net returns15.7 ha area through 42 protective irrigations during ranged from `36,800/- in 2013 from 0.4 ha area tokharif seasons. The net returns varied from as low `1,07,980/- in 2015from 2.0 ha area (Table II).as `46,000/- from 3.7 ha area in 2012 to as high as`1,28,150/- in 2015 from 4.6 ha area. It has also been Runoff harvesting in farm ponds and itsreported earlier that supplemental irrigation, using a subsequent recycling for crop production helped tolimited amount of water, if applied during the enhance cropping intensity ranging from 23.18 to 185critical crop growth stages can result in substantial per cent in the study area. Many small and marginalimprovement in yield and water productivity (Oweis farmers have found farm ponds to be ideal solutionsand Hachum, 2003). to their water struggles. They are small in size and can be filled with small amounts of rain. Furthermore, Between 2012 and 2015, 9414 m3 of water was since they are individually managed farmers can freelyharvested in Davangere KVK and the utilized for use the harvested water without any competition orcultivation of cotton, tomato, fodder crops, tomato, conflict. Farm ponds can also provide an additionalbeans and intercrop of maize + redgram in about 7.4 source of income for families by supporting activitiesha area through 27 protective irrigations during kharif like fish rearing and growing vegetables.and rabi seasons. The net returns ranged from aslow as `42,700/- from 4.6 ha areain 2012 to as high REFERENCESas `3,32,745/- in 2015from 5.4 ha area. ANONYMOUS, 2011, Common guidelines for watershed In Tumakuru, between 2012 and 2016, 18,519m3 development project, National Rainfed Area Authorityof water was harvested and used for giving 187 (NRAA), Ministry ofAgriculture and Farmers Welfare.protective irrigations for groundnut, maize, finger millet,tomato, aerobic paddy and aster in about 61 ha area OWEIS, T. AND HACHUM, A., 2003, Improving waterduring kharif and rabi seasons. The net returns varied productivity in the dry areas of West Asia and Northfrom as low as `79,000/- in 2015 from 2.0 ha area to Africa. In: Water Productivity in Agriculture: Limitsas high as `8,50,000/- in 2016 from 31.0 ha area. and Opportunities for Improvement, [(ed.) Kijne, W. J., Barker, R. and Molden, D.], CAB International, Between 2012 and 2014, 230.25m3 of water was Wallingford.harvested in Namakkal and used for providing 207protective irrigations to groundnut, sorghum, onion, SINGH, RAJBIR AND KUMAR, S., 2007, Plastic films in efficientjasmine, paddy and vegetable crops in about 11.42 ha water management. [(ed). K. K. Singh], Kalyaniarea during kharif and rabi seasons. The net returns Publisher (Pvt.) Ltd., Ludhiana.(Received : January, 2017 Accepted : February, 2017)

Mysore J. Agric. Sci., 51 (1) : 89-92, 2017 Studies on Growth and Yield of Maize as Influenced by Drip Fertigation J. S. VENKATA SHIVA REDDY AND R. KRISHNA MURTHY Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, College of Agriculture, V. C. Farm, Mandya ABSTRACT A field experiment was conducted during Kharif 2015 at Zonal Agricultural Research Station, V.C. Farm,Mandya, Southern Dry Zone of Karnataka to study the growth and yield of maize as influenced by drip fertigation.The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications and eleven treatmentscomprising two levels of irrigation and four levels of fertilizers, absolute control, package of practice and pairedrow of spacing 45 x 75 cm. Highest plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf area and total dry matterproduction was observed in the treatment irrigation @ 100 per cent CPE + DF 125 per cent RDF (206.10 cm, 13.19plant -1, 5701.78 cm2, 360.00 g plant-1 , respectively) followed by irrigation @ 100 per cent CPE + DF 100 per centRDF (203.90 cm, 12.98 plant -1, 5695.11 cm2, 350.67 g plant-1, respectively) and absolute control (173.28 cm,9.40 plant -1, 3572.51 cm2, 260.67 g plant-1, respectively). Irrigation @ 100 per cent CPE + DF 125 per cent RDFwas found higher kernel yield (7763 kg ha-1) this might be due to more cob weight (160.16 g), higher cob length(16.12 cm), more rows per cob (17.56) and higher kernels per cob (527.65). Lowest was in absolute control(1531 kg ha-1).MAIZE (Zea mays L.) is becoming very popular cereal rooting zone. One of these technologies is fertigation,crop in India, because of the increasing market price which is the direct application of water and nutrientsand high production potential of hybrids in both irrigated to plants through a drip irrigation system. Keeping inas well as rainfed conditions. In India, about 50 to 55 this view, an experiment was conducted to study theper cent of the total maize production is consumed as growth and yield of maize as influenced by dripfood, 30 to 35 per cent goes for poultry, piggery and fertigation.fish meal industry and 10 to 12 per cent to wet millingindustry (Arun Kumar et al., 2007).It occupies an area MATERIAL AND METHODSof 9.4 m.ha in India with a production of 23 mt. (Anon.,2014). In Karnataka maize is grown in an area of 1.28 A Field experiment was conducted during Kharifm.ha with a productivity of 3018 kg ha-1 (Anon., 2012). 2015 at ZonalAgricultural Research Station, V.C.Farm,For increasing the profitability of maize, farmers are Mandya, Southern Dry Zone (Zone-6) of Karnataka.cultivating the crop intensively with the large use of The experimental site is located between 12º 51' andchemical fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides, etc. Maize Latitude and 77º 35' E Longitude at an altitude of 930crop has better yield response to chemical or inorganic m above mean sea level (MSL). The soil was sandyfertilizers. Hence, heavy doses of these fertilizers are loam with organic carbon content of 4.1 g kg-1. Theapplied. Though these practices help in temporary initial nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium status of theincreasing of crop production; deterioration of natural soil were 250.30, 26.50 and 175.69 kg per ha,resources (viz., land, water and air) is also another respectively. The soil pH was 6.5 with an EC of 0.32side of such high input intensive cultivation has been dSm-1. The experiment was laid out in randomizedassociated with decline in soil physical and chemical complete block design with eleven treatments and threeproperties and crop yield (Paul Hepperly et al., 2009). replications. Improper management of water has contributed The drip line was passed in between paired row,extensively to the current water scarcity and pollution which includes 18 emitters in each row at a distanceproblems in many parts of the world, and also a serious of 30 cm with a total of 180 emitters per plot. Thischallenge to future food security and environmental system included pump, filter units, fertigation tank,safety. This issue requires an integrated approach to ventury, main line and sub line for each replicationsoil-water-plant nutrient management at the plant and a lateral for each plot.The calculated quantity of phosphorus was applied to all the treatments through

90 J. S. VENKATA SHIVA REDDY AND R. KRISHNA MURTHYsingle super phosphate by soil application, whereas, production was observed in the treatment irrigationnitrogen and potassium were supplied through drip in @ 100 per cent CPE + DF 125 per cent RDF (T8)equal splits (starting from 12th days after sowing up (206.10 cm, 13.19, 5701.78 cm2, 360.00 g plant-1,to silking stage) using water soluble urea and muriate respectively) followed by T9: irrigation @ 100 per centof potash, respectively. The quantity of water to be CPE + DF 100 per cent RDF (203.90 cm, 12.98,irrigated was calculated based on daily pan evaporation 5695.11 cm2, 350.67 g plant-1, respectively) andand irrigated four days once. absolute control (173.28 cm, 9.40, 3572.51 cm2, 260.67 g plant-1, respectively) (Table I).The higher growth The growth parameters like plant height, number parameters at all the crop growth stages and at harvestof leaves, leaf areaand totaldry matter recorded at might be attributed toavailability of nutrients in rootharvest and yield parameters like cob length, cob zone of plants, where plants were able to utilize all theweight, number of kernel row per cob, number of nutrients and varying levels of nutrient managementkernels per cob, kernel and stover yield was recorded. obviously results in to greater variation in growth patterns of maize leading to different levels of yield RESULTS AND DISCUSSION (Abbas Soleimanifard et al., 2011). Growth parameters of maize at various growth Irrigation is one of the most important inputstages as influenced by levels of irrigation and influencing the plant growth and yield of maize. Waterdrip fertigation : Highest plant height, number of is the major constituent of physiologically active tissue.leaves per plant, leaf area and total dry matter It is the solvent in which salts, sugars and other solute TABLE IGrowth parameters of maize at various growth stages as influenced by levels of irrigation and drip fertigationTreatment Plant height Number of Leaf area Total dry (cm) leaves plant -1 (cm2) matter (g plant-1)T1: Absolute control 173.28 9.40 3572.51 260.67T2: Paired row (RDF+ FYM+ ZnSO4 soil application) 196.25 11.45 5258.63 343.33T3: UAS Package (spacing 30/60 +RDF+FYM+ ZnSO4) 200.32 10.40 5012.25 321.92T4: Irrigation @ 75 % CPE + DF 125 % RDF 202.14 12.30 5601.96 348.33T5: Irrigation @ 75 % CPE + DF 100 % RDF 197.28 11.50 5428.74 344.33T6: Irrigation @ 75 % CPE + DF 75 % RDF 195.9 10.90 5096.11 325.67T7: Irrigation @ 75 % CPE + DF 50 % RDF 179.10 9.89 4555.29 310.69T8: Irrigation @ 100 % CPE + DF 125 % RDF 206.10 13.19 5701.78 360.00T9: Irrigation @ 100 % CPE + DF 100 % RDF 203.90 12.98 5695.11 350.67T10: Irrigation @ 100 % CPE + DF 75 % RDF 200.10 11.89 5601.50 346.33T11: Irrigation @ 100 % CPE + DF 50 % RDF 177.24 10.20 4656.00 313.62S.Em. ± 0.48 256.67 5.68 1.55 762.60 9.00C.D. (p=0.05) 17.08 26.55Note : CPE: Cumulative pan evaporation DF: Drip fertigation RDF: Recommended dose of fertilizers

STUDIES ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF MAIZE AS INFLUENCED BY DRIP FERTIGATION 91move from cell to cell and organ to organ. It is essential reproductive stage (translocation from source to sink)for maintenance of the turgidity, necessary for cell determines the yield of a crop.enlargement and growth. Thus, highest growthparameters were attributed to the timely application Maize yield as influenced by levels ofof water to the root zone of the crop, which in turn irrigation and drip fertigation :Irrigation @ 100 perincreased the physiological activity of the cells (Sefer cent CPE + DF 125 per cent RDF was found higherBozkurti et al., 2011). kernel yield (7763 kg ha-1) this might be due to more cob weight (160.16 g), higher cob length (16.12 cm), Fertigation resulted in continuous supply of more rows per cob (17.56) and higher kernels per cobnutrients besides maintaining optimum water (527.65) and lowest yield was recorded in absoluteavailability which lead to higher uptake of nutrients control (1531 kg ha-1) (Table II & III). Application of(203.91, 52.10 and 173.37 kg ha-1) which in turn water in accordance with plant need (100% CPE) torecorded higher growth parameters. Similar results the root zone with required quantity and irrigationhave been reported by Abdesh et al. (2006), Hokam intervals through drip in combination with water solubleet al. (2011) and Richa Khanna (2013) in maize. fertilizers favored higher uptake of nutrients which contributed better growth and yield parameters and The economic yield is a fraction of the total yield of maize.The similar trends were also observedbiological yield of the crop (Donald, 1962). Total dry for stover yield. This higher yield parameters due tomatter production may reflect on the economic yield sufficient supply of nutrients to the root zone of thein view of the fact that, vegetative part of the plant crop and less moisture stress leads better transfer ofserves as the source and the kernels as sink. photosynthates from source to the sink (Abd El-Accumulation of dry matter (resultant of leaf area Rehman, 2009) and Richa Khanna (2013).duration and crop growth rate during the crop cycle)and its distribution to yield attributes during Kernel yield recorded with irrigation @ 100 per cent CPE + DF 100 per cent RDF (7619 kg ha-1) was TABLE IIYield parameters of maize as influenced by levels of irrigation and drip fertigationTreatment Cob lenght Rows per Kernels Test Cob (cm) cob per cob Weight (g) Weight (g)T1: Absolute control 10.95 12.01 390.10 25.01 101.18T2: Paired row (RDF+ FYM+ ZnSO4 soil application) 14.14 15.13 455.40 26.95 130.46T3: UAS Package (spacing 30/60 +RDF+FYM+ ZnSO4) 12.85 14.15 433.00 26.13 126.01T4: Irrigation @ 75 % CPE + DF 125 % RDF 15.50 16.67 488.16 28.10 147.87T5: Irrigation @ 75 % CPE + DF 100 % RDF 14.91 15.51 460.98 27.28 136.38T6: Irrigation @ 75 % CPE + DF 75 % RDF 13.50 14.45 445.40 26.42 128.91T7: Irrigation @ 75 % CPE + DF 50 % RDF 12.10 13.54 432.25 25.12 115.80T8: Irrigation @ 100 % CPE + DF 125 % RDF 16.12 17.56 527.65 28.80 160.16T9: Irrigation @ 100 % CPE + DF 100 % RDF 15.90 17.00 509.25 28.60 155.24T10: Irrigation @ 100 % CPE + DF 75 % RDF 15.23 16.10 470.38 27.81 139.19T11: Irrigation @ 100 % CPE + DF 50 % RDF 12.52 13.94 440.10 25.53 120.06S.Em ± 0.86 0.97 27.55 1.44 2.67 2.81 80.43 7.91CD at 5 % NS 24.07Note: CPE: Cumulative pan evaporation DF: Drip fertigation RDF: Recommended dose of fertilizers

92 J. S. VENKATA SHIVA REDDY AND R. KRISHNA MURTHY TABLE III REFERENCESMaize yield as influenced by levels of irrigation ABBAS SOLEIMANIFARD, RAHIM NASERI, TAHEREH EMAMI, AMIR MIRZAEI, HAMID KHOSHKHABAR AND REZA SOLEIMANI, and drip fertigation 2011, The effects of irrigation regimes and the planting patterns on yield and yields components of maize. Treatment Kernel Stover American-Eurasian J. Agric. Environ. Sci., 10 (2) : yield yield 278 - 282. (kg ha-1) (kg ha-1) ABD EL-RAHMAN, G., 2009, Water use efficiency of wheatT1: Absolute control 1531 1627 under drip irrigation systems at Al- Maghara area,T2: Paired row (RDF+ FYM+ ZnSO4 5902 6125 north Sinai, Egypt. American-Eurasian J. Agric.soil application) Environ. Sci., 5 (5) : 664 - 670.T3: UAS Package (spacing 30/60 5649 5824 ABDESH, K., SINGH, S. S., KHAN, A. R. AND SINGH, J. P., 2006,+RDF+FYM+ ZnSO4) 7383 7792 Effect of tillage, irrigation and nitrogen levels on weedT4: Irrigation @ 75 % CPE + DF 7278 7521 dry weight and leaf area index of winter maize125 % RDF (Zea mays L.). Int. J. Trop. Agric., 24 (3 - 4) : 379 - 383.T5: Irrigation @ 75 % CPE + DF ANONYMOUS., 2012, Directorate of Economics and Statistics,100 % RDF Department of Agriculture and Cooperation. http:// eands.dacnet.nic.in/At_A_Glance2011/4.11(a).T6: Irrigation @ 75 % CPE + DF 5839 601575 % RDF ANONYMOUS., 2014, Area, production and productivity of major cereals in India. www.indiastat.com.T7: Irrigation @ 75 % CPE + DF 3863 415850 % RDF ARUN KUMAR, M. A., GALI, S. K. AND HEBSUR, S., 2007, Effect of different levels of NPK on growth and yieldT8: Irrigation @ 100 % CPE + DF 7763 8159 parameters of sweet corn. Karnataka J. Agric. Sci.,125 % RDF 20 (1) : 41 - 43.T9: Irrigation @ 100 % CPE + DF 7619 7938 DONALD, C. M., 1962, In search of yield. J. Australia Inst.100 % RDF Agric. Sci., 28 : 194 - 198T10: Irrigation @ 100 % CPE + DF 7351 7650 HOKAM, E. M., EL-HENDAWY, S. E. AND SCHMIDHALTER, U.,75 % RDF 4104 4427 2011, Drip irrigation frequency: the effects and theirT11: Irrigation @ 100 % CPE + DF interaction with nitrogen fertilization on maize growth50 % RDF and nitrogen use efficiency under arid conditions. J. Agron. Crop Sci.,197 : 186 - 201.S.Em ± 247.5 213.6 PAUL HEPPERLY., LOTTER, D., ZIEGLER ULSH, C., SEIDEL, R. ANDCD at 5 % 751.3 656.4 REIDER, C., 2009, Compost, manure and synthetic fertilizer influences on crop yields, soil properties,Note : CPE:Cumulative pan evaporation, DF : Drip nitrate leaching and crop nutrient content. Compost fertigation, RDF: Recommended dose of fertilizers sci., 17 (3) : 80 - 85.found on par with the T8, but significantly over paired RICHA KHANNA., 2013, Effect of precision nutrient and waterrow (RDF+ FYM+ ZnSO4 soil application) (5902 kg management with different sources and levels ofha-1) and UAS package (spacing 30/60 +RDF+FYM+ fertilizers on maize production. M.Sc. (Agri.) Thesis (Unpub.), Univ. Agric. Sci., Bengaluru.ZnSO4) (5649 kg ha-1) treatments. The growthparameters viz., plant height, number of leaves and SEFER BOZKURTI, ATTILA YAZAR AND GULSUM SAYILIKAN MANSUROGLU, 2011, Effects of different drip irrigationleaf area were found higher in treatments, received levels on yield and some agronomic characteristics of raised bed planted corn. African J. Agric. Res.,fertilizers than absolute control resulted in production 6 (23) : 5291 - 5300.of higher photosynthates that contributes for higheryield. Balanced and optimum dose of macro andmicronutrients, which might have improved soilcondition, root proliferation and source to sinkrelationship. Similar results on maize yield wereobserved by Arun Kumar et al. (2007). (Received : December, 2016 Accepted : January, 2017)

Mysore J. Agric. Sci., 51 (1) : 93-97, 2017 Relative Performance of Silkworm Breeds Bombyx mori L. to Late Larval Flacherie as Influenced by Light Intensity MALASHREE MANKANI, C. DORESWAMY, K. G. BANUPRAKASH AND R. N. BHASKAR Department of Sericulture, College of Agriculture, UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru-560065 ABSTRACT Flacherie is a syndrome associated with infectious flacherie, densonucleosis, cytoplasmic polyhedrosis, bacterial disease and Thatteroga in silkworm. Relative performance of different silkworm breeds viz., Pure Mysore, CSR2 and PM x CSR2 showed higher variation in per cent larval weight reduction on 5th day of V instar (17.99, 27.13 and 23.00 %, respectively) at light intensity of 4.20 lux. Total larval mortality ranges from 44.00 - 65.00, 84.00 - 94.00 and 51.50 - 73.00 per cent, respectively with minimum being at 30.28 Lux and maximum being at 4.20 Lux. Deterioration in single cocoon weight was observed at the light intensity of 4.20 lux, when the silkworm were infected with pathogen. Among silkworm breed, CSR2 found more susceptible to late larval flacherie infection compared to PM and PM x CSR2 at different light intensities. Rate of mortality of silkworms decreases with an increase in intensity of light inside the rearing room.MULBERRY silkworm Bombyx mori L. is susceptible to symptoms and they start to die. In begining a patch ofnumber of diseases like flacherie, grasserie, pebrine 10 to 20 worms will be found dead in a tray and laterand muscardine. Among several infectious diseases, it will spread to the worms of the entire tray, furtherthe flacherie disease causes an extensive damage to which succumb to the disease within a day or two.silkworm cocoon crop leading to economic loss to the The dead worms exhibited symptoms viz., flaccid body,sericulturists. All the silkworm breeds are susceptible blackening of the skin, vomiting and diarrhea prior toto the virus and large difference exists among various death.breeds in their susceptibility to BmIFV (Watanabe,1986). The breed susceptibility of silkworm larvae Infectious flacherie virus multiplied in the midgutdepends upon the internal and external environmental epithelium to the same extent in the larvae of bothfactors. Several epidemiological and genetical studies susceptible and resistance breeds of silkworm. Indemonstrated that the silkworm breeds have different resistant breed, the infected goblet cells werelevels of susceptibility to various pathogens (Sudhakara discharged into the gut lumen at each moult andRao et al., 2011). regenerative cells rapidly developed into new goblet cells (Inoue, 1974; Bhattacharya, 1990). Hence, an The silkworm, Bombyx mori L. is affected by a attempt has been made to evaluate the popularnumber of biotic and abiotic factors. Among the biotic silkworm breeds for their performance when theyfactors, pathogenic microorganisms cause immense were infected at their late stages for flacharie asloss to cocoon crops. Selvakumar et al. (2002) influenced by light intensity.estimated the crop loss of about 11-15 kg cocoon lossper 100 DFLs which accounts for 27-35 per cent. MATERIAL AND METHODSAmong abiotic factors light intensity plays a pivotalrole causing flacherie at late larval stage and silkworm Collection of diseased samples : Fifth instarbreeds exhibits varied susceptibility in those conditions silkworms showing the symptoms of late larval(Doreswamy, 2002) flacherie disease viz., vomiting fluid, shrinkage of body, worms feeding sparsely due to loss of appetite, inactive The symptoms of Thatte disease have been and suffering from disease were randomly selectedreported by Prasad et al. (1999), they described that from the rearing house of sericulture farmer at Muttagithe disease appear suddenly on fourth and fifth day of village near Chamarajnagar district. The diseasedfinal instar. Thatte diseased worms look normal without samples were subjected for purification of pathogensshowing unequality or any other morphological and microscopic examination.

94 MALASHREE MANKANI et al. Isolation of pathogens : The silkworms RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONexhibiting the symptoms of late larval flacherie werecollected and surface sterilized by 70-95 per cent Per cent reduction in larval weight (5th dayEthanol for 2 minutes. The mid gut juice was collected of V instar) : The larval weight reduction in responseand homogenized aseptically with sterilized distilled of different breeds as influenced by light intensity andwater and filtered through double layered muslin cloth. late larval flacherie showed significant resultsThe stock suspension was prepared and from which (Table I). In case of Pure Mysore, the per centserial dilutions were prepared (10-1,10-2,10-3, 10-4, reduction in larval weight was significantly more10-5, 10-6) using 9 ml sterile water blanks. In the same (17.99 %) at the light intensity of 4.20 lux (black cloth)way haemolymph was also collected by cutting the followed by 12.51, 12.02 and 10.08 per cent recordedfront pair of prolegs and homogenated with sterile at the light intensities of 10.25 lux (white cloth), 18.34distilled water and filtered through filter paper to obtain lux (yellow cloth) and 20.23 lux (gunny cloth),the stock suspension from serial dilutions (10-1,10-2, respectively. Whereas, it was significantly less10-3, 10-4, 10-5, 10-6) using 9 ml sterile water blanks. (7.65 %) at the light intensity of 30.28 lux (uncoveredThe infected and dead larvae showing the symptoms with inoculated). In case of CSR2 breed, the per centof late larval flacherie disease were dissected and reduction in larval weight was significantly more (27.13midgut was collected. The midguts were homogenized %) at the light intensity of 4.20 lux (black cloth)in distilled water. The homogenated gut was further followed by 22.58, 19.42 and 17.80 per cent recordedfiltered and the filtrate was centrifuged at 3000 rpm at the light intensities of 10.25 lux (white cloth), 18.34for 10 minutes. The supernatant collected was again lux (yellow cloth) and 20.23 lux (gunny cloth),centrifuged at 15000 rpm for 20 minutes and the respectively. However, it was significantly lowerpurified virus particles were identified as BmIFV and (14.79 %) at the light intensity of 30.28 lux (uncoveredBmDNV (Nataraju et al., 1998; Siromani et al., 1994;Patil, 1990 and Chitra et al., 1975). TABLE I Response of different silkworm breeds Bombyx Treatments detail : Different coloured cloths viz., mori L. to late larval flacherie as influenced byblack cloth (T1), white cloth (T2), yellow cloth (T3)and gunny cloth (T4) were used to cover the rearing light intensity in relation to per centcage to create different light intensity inside the rearing reduction in larval weightcage, uncovered with inoculated (T5) and uncoveredun-inoculated (T6) controls were also maintained to Light Per cent reduction in larval weightstudy the effect of light intensity on late larval flacherie. Treatments intensity PM CSR2 PM x CSR2No. of treatments and replication used were six andfour, respectively and 50 worms were used per (Lux)replication. White cloth 10.25 12.51 22.58 17.21 The susceptibility of silkworm breeds viz., Pure (20.71) (28.31) (24.46)Mysore, CSR2 and PM x CSR2 were inoculated withpurified inoculums of late larval flacherie. The Black cloth 4.20 17.99 27.13 23.00inoculated V instar larvae of all the silkworm breeds (25.09) (31.39) (28.64)were exposed to different light intensity against latelarval flacherie of silkworm. Both inoculated and Yellow cloth 18.34 12.02 19.42 13.60respective control batches were reared. Ripened (20.26) (26.14) (21.57)worms in each case were mounted and cocoons wereharvested separately. The light intensity was measured Gunny cloth 20.23 10.08 17.80 13.78by using lux meter. The required observations were (18.50) (24.95) (21.77)recorded and compared. Uncovered 30.28 7.65 14.79 12.12 with inoculated (16.00) (22.60) (20.30) Uncovered 32.24 0.00 0.00 0.00 uninoculated (0.00) (0.00) (0.00) F.test ** * SEm ± 0.542 0.406 1.001 CD at 5 % 1.610 1.207 2.975 Values in Parenthesis arc Arcsine transformed values * Significant