Feature Article

The biological improvement of fertilizer nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is hampered by the poor characterization of the phenotype and genotype for crop N response and NUE. In an attempt to identify phenotypic traits for N-response and NUE in the earliest stages of plant growth, we analyzed the N-responsive germination, respiration, urease activities, and root/shoot growth of 21 Indica genotypes of rice (Oryza sativa var. indica). We found that N delays germination from 0 to 12 h in a genotype-dependent and source-dependent manner, especially with urea and nitrate.

Understanding coping and adaptation behaviour of different population groups in the context of global environmental change has become increasingly important, especially in regions with high vulnerability such as Sub-Saharan drylands.

Wastage of chemical inputs and environmental degradation have been a serious issues with conventional methods of pesticide application in agricultural and horticultural engenderment, resulting in fruit poisoning.

Entomophagy is practised on a large scale by the tribal communities in North East India compared to eastern and southern states. Termites, honey bees, grasshoppers, stink bugs, aquatic insects and silkworms are common and preferred insect species because they contain high amount of protein, fat, minerals and vitamins.

The present study was carried out to assess floristic diversity, community composition and regeneration status of different forests in Nanda Devi National Park after prohibition of human activities in 1983 with a view to understand the impact of ban, and provide a basis for assessing subsequent changes on plant diversity and composition.

The energy produced by solar photovoltaic (SPV) modules is directly connected with the solar accessible irradiance, spectral content, different variables like environmental and climatic components. Dust and bird droppings are considered as the real challenges for SPV performance.

The social cost of carbon (SCC) is a commonly employed metric of the expected economic damages from carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Although useful in an optimal policy context, a world-level approach obscures the heterogeneous geography of climate damage and vast differences in country-level contributions to the global SCC, as well as climate and socio-economic uncertainties, which are larger at the regional level.

The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 is more fully understood in the context of three key developments: the political and legal challenges to Aadhaar, Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, and the “tech-lash” against the dominance of some of the largest United States-based tech companies at the expense of the domestic industry. In the bill, the interplay between these distinct pieces of context explains why there is work to be done to improve this bill in its journey to becoming a law.

The third UN High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) on Sept 27, 2018, will review national and global progress towards the prevention and control of NCDs, and provide an opportunity to renew, reinforce, and enhance commitments to reduce their burden. NCD Countdown 2030 is an independent collaboration to inform policies that aim to reduce the worldwide burden of NCDs, and to ensure accountability towards this aim. In 2016, an estimated 40·5 million (71%) of the 56·9 million worldwide deaths were from NCDs.

Extreme climate events such as droughts and heat waves exert strong impacts on ecosystems and human well-being. Estimations of the risks of climate extremes typically focus on one variable in isolation. In this study, we present a method to examine the likelihood of concurrent extreme temperature and precipitation modes at the interannual scale, including compound cool/dry and cool/wet events during the cold season as well as compound hot/dry and hot/wet events during the warm season.