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ThesisItem Restricted Status of trace elements and electrolytes in pregnancy induced hypertension and its effect on neonatal health(Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Himlesh; Grover, KiranThe present study was conducted to assess the prevalence and determinants of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) along with the effect of maternal status of trace elements and electrolytes on neonatal health in Punjab. The prevalence of pregnancy induced hypertension was found to be 8.1 percent which was further observed as gestational hypertension (90%), preeclampsia (7.5%) and eclampsia (2.5%). The history of chronic hypertension (r=0.86), diabetes Mellitus (r=0.38), hypothyroidism (r=0.37), Poly Cystic Ovarian Disease (r=0.22) and family history of hypertension (r=0.22) was observed as the significant (p<0.05) determinants of pregnancy induced hypertension. The comparative assessment of trace elements and electrolytes between normotensive (n=30) and hypertensive antenatal subjects (n=30) conducted in Government Rajindra Hospital, Patiala revealed a significantly (p<0.05) higher mean Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure of hypertensive subjects. A significant difference in daily food intake and serum concentration of trace elements (calcium, magnesium, iron, selenium, copper and zinc) and electrolytes (sodium, potassium and chloride) was also observed. The effectiveness of diet counseling was evaluated by selecting two groups of pregnancy induced hypertensive subjects i.e. Experimental (with diet counseling) and Control (without diet counseling). The diet counseling based on Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) was provided to experimental group for 3 months at a regular interval of 15 days. The findings reported significantly lower Systolic ( 143.8±20.6 vs 150.7±11.4 mmHg) and Diastolic (93.5±3.9 vs 96.8±5.96 mmHg) Blood Pressure in experimental group. The counseling resulted in significantly (p<0.05) higher mean intake of fruits, vegetables, milk and milk products in experimental group. Further, the trace elements levels were also observed to be significantly (p<0.05) higher in experimental group with better neonatal outcome. Hence, nutrition and diet counseling should be provided to all the women of reproductive age group to manage the pregnancy related complications for better health of neonates.ThesisItem Embargo Effect of biochar and bacterial endophytes on salinity tolerance in oats (Avena sativa L.)(Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Arshdeep Kaur; Gupta, NamartaThe present investigation was carried out to study the effect of biochar and plant growth-promoting bacterial endophytes for salt tolerance in oats (Avena sativa L.). Forty four morphologically distinct salinity-tolerant endophytic bacteria were isolated from the leaf, stem and root samples of oats on nutrient agar with 2.5% NaCl and screened for the production of ammonia, auxins, siderophore and HCN; solubilization of Ca3(PO4)2, ZnO, Zn3(PO4) and ZnCO3 and salt tolerance up to 12% NaCl. Bacterial isolates showing high salt-tolerance and plant growth-promoting traits were selected and tested for growth promotion of oats on 1% H2O agar plates. Three potential isolates were identified based on polyphasic approach as Enterobacter quasiroggenkampii O1SE4, Bacillus inaquosorum O3SE2 and Bacillus safensis O4SE1. The SEM analysis showed the colonization of the plant tissues by all the three bacterial strains. Total 25 genotypes were screened for germination parameters viz. percent germination, shoot length, root length, seedling length, fresh weight, dry weight, vigour index I and II, proline, SOD, POD and CAT under salt stress conditions and were grouped into highly salt tolerant, moderately salt tolerant, moderatly salt sensitive and highly salt sensitive. Among seed treatments, the combination of biochar (2%) and Bacillus safensis maximally improved the above parameters as compared to the other treatments of Enterobacter quasiroggenkampii, Bacillus inaquosorum and biochar (1%). The evaluation of biochar and bacterial strains was done in two salt tolerant and two salt sensitive genotypes grown in the pots. The highest plant height, SLW, NAR were observed with the bacterial treatment (Bacillus safensis) + biochar (2%). Among biochemical parameters chlorophyll, carotenoid, total soluble sugar, starch, total soluble protein and free amino acids along with activities of antioxidant enzymes SOD, POD and CAT were enhanced by the application of Bacillus safensis and biochar (2%). Na+/K+/Ca2+/Mg2+ homeostasis was maintained by biochar and bacteria application. In conclusion, it is stated that the combined use of biochar and halotolerant endophytic bacteria can be used for improving the crop growth under salt stress in oats.ThesisItem Embargo Understanding sunflower - Macrophomina phaseolina interaction under water stress conditions(Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Navkiran Kaur; Sharma,PankajA total of 35 isolates of Macrophomina phaseolina causing charcoal rot were collected from eleven kharif and rabi crops from different districts of Punjab and adjoining states. Macrophomina phaseolina isolated from sunflower field, Ludhiana was characterized on cultural and morphological and molecular basis. The isolates infecting sunflower showed highest sequence homology of ITS genomic region with M. phaseolina isolate from Indore, Madhya Pradesh NCBI accession no. MT127404. This isolate was further used to standardize the inoculation techniques under field and polyhouse conditions. Tooth pick inoculation technique was found most effective for large scale screening while sorghum grain inoculation method was proficient under polyhouse conditions. A set of 71 sunflower genotypes were evaluated using tooth pick inoculation technique against charcoal rot under irrigated and restricted irrigation conditions. Four genotypes viz; 75B, EC6078261, OPH137, and OPH 172 were found moderately resistant under irrigated conditions whereas only two genotypes 75B and EC6078261 showed moderately resistant reaction in restricted irrigated conditions. The present study was first attempt to investigate the water stress-Macrophomina phaseolina interaction on different components of physiological, plant growth and yield parameters along with disease incidence. A significant reduction in total chlorophyll content (54.78 %), relative water content (47.06 %), membrane stability (51.75 %), sugar (69.00 %), protein (13.90 %) and proline (56.66 %) content was observed with inoculum density of 4 g/kg soil at soil moisture levels of 40 % and 60 %. The inoculum density of 4 g/kg of dry soil resulted in maximum mortality during seedling stage and growth period. Thus, varied inoculum density and water stress conditions made the sunflower plants more prone to dismissive physiological alterations. It led to biomass reduction viz; root length (41.27 %), root width (76.74 %), root weight (85.37 %), shoot length (56.71 %) and shoot weight (79.06 %). Thus it resulted in per plant seed yield reduction (95.45 %) at 52.62 to 100 % disease severity at higher inoculum density (4g, 6g, and 8g/kg dry soil). The expression levels of the defense related genes LOX, ACCO1, PAL, SOD, and APX were also modified under varying degree of water stress and inoculum density. The strong correlation between low soil moisture and disease severity implies that the proper irrigation of the field can be suggested as cultural management practices for the farmers.ThesisItem Restricted Development and Control of a Suitable Robotic Manipulator for Wash Root Paddy Nursery(Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Jaideep; Manjeet SinghThe study aimed to develop a robotic manipulator for the singulation and transplanting of seedlings from a bunch of wash-root paddy nursery. Previous attempts to develop mechanical transplanters for wash root paddy nursery faced challenges, leading to the exploration of robotic systems for seedling singulation. To develop robotic manipulator, study was conducted to determine physical and mechanical properties of wash root seedlings at different growth stages for consecutively two years in 2020-21 and 2021-22. The collected data was used in the development of the robotic manipulator and different electro-mechanical mechanisms used for seedling segregation and conveying. During the evaluation phase, the electro-mechanical mechanisms showed inadequate segregation from the bunch of wash-root seedlings. Modifications were made in the robotic manipulator’s design, enhancing its arm reach and end-effector design to achieve the desired functionality. The approach to program the robotic manipulator for pre-specified positions instead of image processing technique was considered for more flexibility and adaptability in segregating the wash-root seedlings. The Jetson Nano microprocessor was utilized for control and coordination, enabling execution of the manipulator’s operations. A forward kinematic analysis using the standard Denavit-Hartenberg (D-H) algorithm and RoboAnalyzer software were used for the control of robotic manipulator. Python language was used for the programming to control the manipulator’s actions and interactions with the wash-root seedlings in tray. Seedling height ranged from 153.3 mm (PR-121 variety) to 553.4 mm (PB-1125 variety) across different ages and varieties. PB-1125 variety is the longest variety, and PB-121 variety is the shortest variety amongst all four varieties selected for the study. Cross-sectional area of the wash-root seedlings varied from 3.63 mm2 (PB-1509 variety) to 9.46 mm2 (PB-1125 variety). Average tensile force and compressive force varied 6.72-26.53 N and 5.74- 14.74 N respectively for all 3 varieties and 3 growth stages of the seedlings. During the evaluation of robotic manipulator, the minimum percentage of cycles i.e., 15.33% missing the seedlings were observed for the washed seedlings of varieties PB-1121 and PB-1509 at the age of 30 DAS. It was concluded that average seedlings picked per cycle varied in the range of 1.45 to 1.88 with highest seedlings picked at 25 DAS and lowest picking was of seedlings at 35 DAS. Data analysis showed that the percentage of more than 3 seedlings picked per cycle varied in the range of 10.00-20.67% with the highest percentage was observed at 25 DAS of the seedlings and lowest percentage was recorded for seedlings aged 35 DAS. Overall, the performance of developed robotic manipulator was better for the seedlings of all the selected varieties at the age of 35 DAS.ThesisItem Embargo Development of process protocol for the production of powder from stevia (stevia rebaudiana)(Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Kalsi, Baldev Singh; SandhyaStevia rebaudiana leaves, renowned for their natural sweetness, have gained prominence as a healthier alternative to artificial sweeteners. The present research explores various aspects of Stevia leaf processing such as drying, extraction, and grinding, with a vision of optimizing both quality and efficiency. The fresh stevia leaves were dried using different methods: sun drying, convective drying (30-80°C), microwave drying (180 to 900 W) and multistage/hybrid drying: convective pre drying at 50 °C until reaching moisture content of 0.18 g/g, 0.43 g/g and 1.50 on dry basis (db) and then microwave finishing drying at power levels of 360, 540, and 720 W. The Artificial Neural Network (ANN) exhibited a reasonably good fit across all drying conditions to predict drying kinetics, surpassing the maximum R2 range and minimum χ2 and RMSE from the mathematical model. The multistage drying done at 1.50g/g-540W achieved the lowest total color difference (ΔE) value i.e 1.97 compared to other methods, indicating minimal color alteration. Furthermore, ascorbic acid content showed maximum retention after multistage drying at conditions of 1.50g/g-540W (23.50 mg/100g), followed by 1.50g/g-720W (23.04 mg/100g). Further, the total phenolic content also showed excellent results, with multistage drying at 1.50g/g-720W yielding the highest value (58.88 mg GAE/g), followed by 1.50g/g-540W (58.26 mg GAE/g). Additionally, very high antioxidant activity (78.67 %) was retained at the multistage drying at 1.50g/g-540W. The multistage drying at 1.50g/g-540W was selected as best drying as it not only significantly reduced drying time but also preserved the quality and bioactive compounds of Stevia leaves. A lab scale ohmic heating setup was also developed for extracting stevioside and bioactive compounds from dried leaves. The optimization of the ohmic heating assisted-extraction was executed using response surface methodology with temperatures (40-70°C), time (5-15 min) and solvent/ leaf powder ratio (10:1-30:1 ml/g) as independent parameters. The optimized conditions observed were 51.02˚C for 10.297 minutes using Solvent/leaf powder ratio of 30:1 ml/g for maximum stevioside, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity with overall desirability of 0.91. The innovative ohmic heating extraction method proved highly efficient, achieving an approximately 50% higher extraction efficiency for natural compounds from Stevia leaves compared to conventional thermal extraction. Besides enhancing the yield of valuable components, the novel approach also reduces processing time. After considering both visual decolorization and the impact on important quality parameters, the extract decolorized with 1g of activated carbon per 100 ml of stevia extract was deemed the most optimal choice. To combat the hygroscopic nature of Stevia extract powder, inulin (10% w/v) was introduced as an encapsulating agent before the spray drying process. The resulting spray-dried powder displayed favorable characteristics, ensuring improved stability. Moreover, successful crystal formation of stevia powder was achieved using Erythritol. The developed process demonstrated economic viability. In conclusion, this comprehensive study resulted in a process protocol for development of powder from stevia leaves keeping in view consumer preferences.ThesisItem Embargo Detection, variability and translocation of Potato virus Y (PVY) infecting potato in Punjab and identification of host plant resistance(Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Belludi, Rakesh; Sharma, AbhishekThis study aimed to investigate the variability of Potato virus Y (PVY) infecting potato crop of Rabi season in Punjab, encompassing symptomatology, serology and molecular aspects. The study revealed prevalent symptoms, such as mild mosaic, chlorotic patches, interveinal chlorosis, puckering, veinal necrosis and stem necrosis, on potato plants caused by various potato viruses including PVY. ELISA tests confirmed the presence of six out of seven viruses in potato samples. Among them, PVX exhibited the highest incidence (78.08%), followed by PVYN (51.37%), PVM (20.55%), PVYO/C and PVS (13.01%). PLRV exhibited a lower incidence (2.74%) and no samples tested positive for PVA. Notable regional variations noticed, with Ludhiana showing high incidences of PVYN (78.43%), PVYO/C (31.37%), PVM (33.3%) and PVS (35.29%). Conversely, Kapurthala displayed a 100% PVX incidence, while Jalandhar had the highest PLRV (19.05%) incidence. In nucleic acid-based detection through RT-PCR, the primer NIb2F/3R effectively amplified the desired ~350bp amplicon in all PVYN and PVYO/C seropositive samples. Whereas, the qPVY NIb F2/CP R2 primer generated the ~1.5kb fragment in only 24 out of 67 samples, further confirmed via BLASTn sequence analysis as PVYO, PVYNTN and PVYN-Wi strains. Further virus translocation studies revealed a wide range of carryover rates, spanning from 40% to 92.46%, from infected mother plants to daughter tubers, exhibiting significant variation in viral titre across genotypes and among tubers. Spatial translocation within the tuber's root zone revealed that the bottommost tuber displayed a relatively lower PVY titre. Interestingly, freshly harvested tubers exhibited a higher viral titre at the heel end (stem end) compared to the rose end eyes in all examined tubers. After storage, a contrasting trend emerged in sprouted tubers, where the highest PVY titre was found in rose end eyes and the lowest in heel end eyes. In germplasm screening against resistance to PVY, one germplasm (KP -16-19-14) displayed high resistance (HR), while 16 exhibited resistant (R), 20 moderately resistant (MR), 22 moderately susceptible (MS), 10 susceptible (S) and two were highly susceptible (HS) to PVY. Following PVY inoculation, significant reduction was observed in chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, viz., Fv/Fm, Y(II), qP, and qL values in susceptible cultivars, accompanied by notable increases in NPQ, Y(NO) and qN values. Susceptible genotypes displayed yield losses ranging from 13.64 to 58.84% with viral titre ranging from 0.014 mc to 419.673 mc. Finally, a farmer-friendly and cost-effective vertical flow assay (VFA) was developed for rapid PVY detection in potato leaf samples. The sensitivity of the developed assay was equivalent to commercially utilized ELISA. Specificity test confirmed assays precision for prevalent PVY strains and its non-specificity to other potato viruses. Developed assay exhibited 95% accuracy compared to RT-PCR.ThesisItem Restricted Weather based forewarning of wheat diseases using artificial neural networks under Punjab conditions(Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Shubham Anand; Sandhu, Sarabjot KaurThe field experiments were carried out at the Research Experiment Farm, Department of Climate Change and Agricultural Meteorology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana and Regional Research Station, Gurdaspur during rabi seasons of 2021-22 and 2022-23. The experiment was laid out in Split Plot Design with three wheat varieties viz., PBW 725, HD 2967 and HD 3086 sown on different dates (14th-15th October, 8th-9th November and 3rd-4th December) with two microclimate modification levels M1 (recommended irrigation) and M2 (additional water sprays) with four replications. The micrometeorological parameters viz., photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and relative humidity within crop canopy were recorded at different phenological stages. Weekly observations on severity of yellow rust, brown rust, foliar blight and incidence of Karnal bunt at harvest were determined under different treatments. Among the three different sowing dates, the yellow rust severity in variety HD 2967 was reported to be highest (56.14%, 56.17%) at Ludhiana and Gurdaspur (56.75%, 58.42%) in early sowing under M2 than other treatments during rabi 2021-22 and 2022-33, respectively. The brown rust severity was higher (65.44%, 68.21%) at Ludhiana and Gurdaspur (61.76%, 63.5%) in early sowing under M2 than other treatments during rabi 2021-22 and 2022-33, respectively. It was observed that early date of sowing (15th October) recorded higher foliar blight severity (28.52%, 29.35%) at Ludhiana and Gurdaspur (21.69%, 30.65%) in variety HD 3086 in M2 than other treatments during rabi 2021-22 and 2022-23. The Karnal bunt disease incidence was relatively higher at Ludhiana (17.9% and 11.6%) and Gurdaspur (21.4% and 15.9%) in variety PBW 725 under M2 during normal sowing than other treatments during both the years of study, respectively. From correlation coefficient and regression analysis, it was concluded that temperature (maximum and minimum), sunshine hours and rainfall were observed as key parameters in spread of wheat diseases. Grain yield during rabi 2021-22 and rabi 2022-23 were higher in early sowing (43.3q/ha, 48.1 q/ha) at Ludhiana and Gurdaspur (44.5 q/ha, 50.8 q/ha) than other dates of sowing during both the years under study. In variety x microclimate modification levels treatments, grain yield was higher (43.1q/ha, 47.2q/ha) at Ludhiana and Gurdaspur (44.0 q/ha, 50.2 q/ha) in variety PBW 725 under M1 than other treatments during both years under study. Early date of sowing recorded more yield losses followed by late and normal sowing and losses were more at Gurdaspur as compared to Ludhiana. Average yield losses during rabi 2022-23 were higher i.e. 5.6% and 7.1% as compared to 1.6% and 2.3% during rabi 2021-22 at Ludhiana and Gurdaspur, respectively. From in vitro study, it was observed that urediniospore germination of pathotypes of Puccinia striiformis and Puccinia triticina was maximum at 15°C and 20°C, respectively at pH 7.0 and 1250 lux light intensity. So, if high temperatures along with sunny days prevail rust can flourish in wheat fields. The random forest regression (RF) for February month, support vector regression (SVR) for March month, SVR and BLASSO for 15 February to 15 March period and random forest for overall period surpassed the performance than other models for forewarning of Karnal bunt. From the CART analysis, it can be inferred that maximum yellow rust severity can occur if >9.2 sunshine hours/day and >9.1oC minimum temperature occurs or, dew point temperature is >14oC and mean temperature is <15oC or dew point temperature is < 14oC and humid thermal index is <2.4.ThesisItem Restricted Biology, population dynamics, crop losses and management of emerging pest, Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) in chickpea(Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Sidhu, Kawartej Singh; Ravinder SinghField and laboratory studies were conducted to determine the biology, population dynamics, crop losses and management of Spodoptera exigua in chickpea during Rabi 2021-22 and 2022-23 at PAU, Ludhiana. Eggs of S. exigua were laid in masses covered with scales. The larval and pupal period lasted for 16.79 and 9.37 days on chickpea, whereas on mungbean it was 14.69 and 8.46 days, respectively. The best developmental and reproduction values were recorded on mungbean as compared to chickpea. In population dynamics, early, normal, and late sown chickpea, mean number of larvae ranged from 0.00 to 15.10, 0.00 to 13.20, and 0.40 to 11.60, respectively. As the sowing dates delayed, number of egg masses, larval number and foliar damage by S. exigua decreased. In estimation of crop losses, there was no foliar damage where the crop was protected by nylon mesh cages. Protected treatment had significantly lowest mean foliar and pod damage than unprotected treatment. In insect density method, lowest mean seed yield was recorded in treatment with highest larval infestation of seven larvae per meter row (1079 kg ha-1) as compared to control (1623 kg ha-1). In cultural and mechanical control of S. exigua, highest mean yield (1628kg ha-1) was recorded in treatment consisting of hand collection and destruction of egg masses and young larvae of S. exigua followed by where 2 rows of linseed were sown as intercrop after 10 rows of chickpea (1527 kg ha-1). Among different biopesticides/biorationals tested against S. exigua in chickpea, chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC @ 125 ml ha-1 was found most effective over all other treatments. S. exigua is emerging as a serious pest of chickpea under Punjab conditions which can be managed by using cultural, mechanical and chemical methods.ThesisItem Embargo Amphibian diversity and abundance in relation to pesticide residues in rice fields and village ponds(Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Shelly; Rajwinder SinghSix amphibian species were recorded from transplanted rice crop fields of both Ludhiana (Duttaphrynus melanostictus, Duttaphrynus stomaticus, Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis, Euphlyctis adolfi, Fejerverya limnocharisi and Hoplobatarachus tigerinus) and in Panchkula (Hoplobatrachus crassus in place of Euphlyctis adolfi). However, 36.03-37.93% increase in amphibian population was recorded in unsprayed as compared to sprayed transplanted rice crop fields, respectively from Ludhiana and Panchkula. Total mean population in unsprayed fields was 37.05% higher as compared to sprayed fields. Increase in body weight of males (2.96-14.21%) was more than females (3.87-11.17%) in unsprayed than sprayed fields. Villages ponds included four species with Ludhiana as 22.23% more abundant than Panchkula. On land, population was 61.86-67.80% more than water. Residential areas included three species with Panchkula 2.32% more abundant than Ludhiana. Positive correlation was found between amphibian population with atmospheric temperature, relative humidity and rainfall. Pesticide residues were below the limit of quantification (0.01 mg kg-1) in soil, excretory contents and water samples without any amphibian morphological abnormality. Our findings imply that amphibian species may prefer agricultural environments, permanent ponds with good vegetation cover or crops and devoid of urbanization. Rice ecosystems helps amphibians in completing their life cycle, as rice cultivation practices provides a landscape mosaic of hydroperiods which further increases the diversity of regional species by providing habitats for a variety of species.
